Chapter 44

"The coffin is already prepared, with one layer of coffin and one layer of outer casket; I have already had people fill the space between them with high-quality refined salt to ensure that Fourth Brother's corpse will not easily decay." Inside the largest coffin shop in Qingmu County, Chen Mo slowly gave his instructions.

According to Mo Hu's wishes, he intended to send Mo Dao back to his hometown in Shouren Fu, Tulong Xian, for burial, a journey of over a thousand miles.

Mo Dao's corpse would be exposed for at least half a month, so it had to be properly preserved, otherwise the situation would be dire by the time it was transported back home.

"Thank you so much for this time; I will pay you back later." Mo Hu said with a grateful tone and a very solemn expression of thanks.

He had not brought much money with him this time, and the cost of the coffin, the salt, and other items used for the funeral rites added up to nearly twenty taels of silver, all of which Chen Mo had helped pay for.

It is easy to add flowers to brocade, but difficult to provide charcoal in snowy weather; for him, this was undoubtedly providing charcoal in snowy weather.

"Fourth Brother is also my elder brother; let us brothers not speak such distant words." Chen Mo said.

The money he was spending now was not something he had saved up bit by bit, but rather what he had obtained from that Daoist earlier, so he naturally did not feel the pinch when spending it.

Moreover, Mo Dao was his Fourth Brother, and he had shown him kindness while alive, which he had not yet had the chance to repay.

Now that he had passed away, it was only right for him to spend as much as necessary to provide for his funeral.

"Let Fourth Brother be placed in the coffin first." Chen Mo said this only after seeing the coffin shop assistant bring over a basin of red medicinal soup.

This medicinal soup was a secret recipe of the coffin shop proprietor; it was said that using it to wash the corpse would allow it to be preserved for much longer.

Mo Hu did not say much, but wiped his slightly reddened eyes with force.

"Let's go out first." Chen Mo gestured, and he followed them out as well.

Before long, low sobs could be heard from inside the room.

Chen Mo waited outside for over an hour before a call came from inside the room.

Mo Dao's body had been washed clean, and the missing part was filled with cotton wrapped in a piece of high-quality silk.

After putting on his clothes, it was basically impossible to tell that anything was missing.

Mo Hu had already helped him put on a layer of undergarments; according to the customs of their hometown, at Mo Dao's age, he had to wear four inner and three outer layers, totaling seven garments.

Chen Mo stepped forward to help, and the two of them worked together to put the remaining five garments on Mo Dao.

"The Qingmu County County Lieutenant helped by sending over a piece of raw jade to be used as a mouth-filler for Fourth Brother."

Chen Mo took a piece of high-quality mutton-fat white jade from his Huai; judging by its quality alone, it was worth at least six or seven taels of silver.

According to Great Gan customs, when the deceased is placed in a coffin, they must have a mouth-filler.

The Son of Heaven uses a pearl, feudal lords use jade, the Scholar-official class uses green jade, while commoners can only use ordinary silver coins.

According to Mo Dao's status, he was originally only entitled to use green jade.

The so-called green jade is simply cyan jade.

However, after the Grand Ancestor of the current dynasty ascended the throne, he issued an edict to the world that all those involved in weddings and funerals could exceed their rank by one level in the use of rites.

Therefore, Mo Dao could now be buried with a white jade mouth-filler.

"I will have to trouble you, Thirteen, to thank him for me later." Mo Hu said.

If the County Lieutenant had not sent this piece of mutton-fat white jade, not only would they have had to spend more money to buy it now, but they might not even have been able to find one.

Qingmu County is not a large county, and white jade of this quality is not easy to find within it.

The two of them worked together to place Mo Dao into the coffin, then lifted the lid to close it, waiting until the formal burial to nail it shut.

Chen Mo called over a few Personal Soldiers to help lift the coffin; the carriage had already been prepared, and with two horses pulling it, transporting one coffin was not a difficult task.

"You can leave with peace of mind; I will go speak to our foster father."

With these words from Chen Mo, Mo Hu felt much more at ease leaving.

"Two Generals, my master has sent me to deliver ten taels of silver for you to use as travel expenses."

A young servant dressed in gray cloth, holding a purse, ran over all the way.

"Who is your master?" Mo Hu did not rush to take the money, but asked in return.

"The Qingmu County County Magistrate, Wang Shouzheng." The servant announced the name.

"Thank your master on my behalf." Mo Hu then accepted the silver.

With Mo Dao dead, the County Magistrate and the County Lieutenant were, after all, colleagues who had met him once; although the funeral was not being held here, the two of them still sent servants to deliver some items.

"Be careful on the road, and return quickly." Chen Mo gave a final instruction.

Mo Hu nodded slightly, drove the horse pulling the coffin, and went off into the distance.

Chen Mo walked back into the city to have the others rest in place; after the long journey, everyone was exhausted, and there was no need for them to rush back to the military camp immediately.

The reason for staying here had another purpose, which was to guard against that group of bandits passing through the territory.

If that group of bandits wanted to continue deeper into Xingyuan Prefecture, they had to pass through the territory of Qingmu County.

With Chen Mo and his men here, they could scout and prepare in advance to prevent any sudden situations.

This matter could only be handled by Chen Mo and his men; if they relied on the local garrison troops, they would likely only react once the bandits had already attacked their doorstep.

Of course, Chen Mo did not forget to send a few Personal Soldiers to first transport the bodies of the other comrades back to the military camp, and he also had them pass the news of the bandits' tracks to Sun Jiangjun.

This was the task they were meant to do from the start, and now that there was a situation, it naturally had to be reported.

The next two days were quite peaceful, and Chen Mo visited many of the small food stalls throughout the city.

During the two days they rested here, their food and lodging were naturally the responsibility of the county office; although the meals were decent, Chen Mo going out to eat at small stalls from time to time could only be considered an extra meal.

After finishing two bowls of the local specialty, slippery meat soup, and breaking into a sweat, Chen Mo rose from the food stall and prepared to return to the camp.

The camp where they were temporarily stationed was in the northern part of the county city, a somewhat old and large courtyard.

The remaining horses were temporarily kept in another courtyard, with a few Personal Soldiers specifically assigned to look after them for the time being.

Chen Mo walked into the area but did not return to the camp immediately; instead, he wandered through the many small alleys.

He had roughly looked over the environment in the vicinity on the first day he arrived, so he was quite familiar with it.

Even while wandering through the many small alleys, it was impossible for him to get lost.

"Are you looking for me?" Chen Mo quietly came up behind someone and spoke with a smile.

That person was wearing a very ordinary blue cloth garment; upon hearing the voice, they did not flee, but turned around with a look of terror on their face.

Immediately after, he saw a fist growing closer and closer to him.

Chen Mo took him down with one move and dragged the person into the temporarily stationed barracks.

This person's strength was not very high; their physical power was passable, but they lacked combat experience.

If it had been a Martial Artist with sufficient combat experience who discovered Chen Mo could circle behind them,

they would either have obediently surrendered or fought with all their might to flee forward.

Under no circumstances would they have wasted time turning around to look back.

Seeing Chen Mo drag a person into the barracks, several Personal Soldiers who were resting immediately gathered around.

"Get a few basins of cold water to wake him up, and prepare some torture instruments; I want to interrogate him," Chen Mo said, tossing the person onto the ground and giving the order.

The Personal Soldiers received the order and immediately got to work, first finding a sturdy wooden chair to tie the person to.

Then they splashed cold water to wake the opponent up and brought over torture instruments in preparation for the interrogation.

"Speak. What is your name, and why were you following me? Where are your accomplices? Are they inside or outside the city?"

Gao Dayou had only just opened his eyes when he heard a barrage of questions thrown at him.

Seeing that he did not answer, Chen Mo did not waste words and directly ordered the others to use torture.

Under severe torture, the opponent quickly spilled everything like beans pouring from a bamboo tube, making all matters perfectly clear.

Their group of over a hundred people was indeed in contact with the Qi Refiners of the Dutian Dao.

According to this person, they were ordered by the Immortal Masters to lie in wait here; as for what they were to do, they had not been told.

They only needed to wait here, and after some time, an Immortal Master would naturally come.

However, they waited and waited outside, yet they never saw anyone arrive.

The reason he followed Chen Mo was that a few days ago, Chen Mo's group rode horses into the city, causing such a commotion that they caught their attention.

He came in mainly to scout the movements of Chen Mo and the others to see when they would leave the county town.

Obtaining this information, combined with the intelligence previously gathered, everything converged in Chen Mo's mind.

Everything instantly became clear: the bandits had first entered Qingmu County to lie in wait, then the members of the Dutian Dao Sect acted, preparing to first harvest certain things within Qingzhou before coming here to rendezvous with them.

However, the Imperial Court had learned in advance that bandits were passing through, which is why they notified his foster father to send people to investigate the specific situation here.

Chen Mo and his group happened to encounter those Immortal Masters and engaged them in battle.

Of the five Immortal Masters, two were dead, one was severely injured and fled, and the remaining two, even if uninjured, would never dare to step into Xingyuan territory in the short term.

And this portion of people who had been dispatched in advance became abandoned pawns, left with no choice but to continue waiting bitterly here.

"Keep a close watch on him. From now on, no one except me is allowed in or out; even if you die, you are to die inside this courtyard."

Chen Mo ordered the group sternly; since there were truly over a hundred bandits entrenched outside the city, they had to go and suppress them.

These hundred-plus bandits were not ordinary mountain bandits or marauders; according to Gao Dayou, these hundred-plus people were all young and strong like him, had not practiced martial arts, but had basically tempered their physical strength, and each person was armed.

Chen Mo and his group currently had fewer than thirty Personal Soldiers, so it would truly be difficult to wipe them all out.

They had no choice but to find a way to quickly seek reinforcements and have his foster father send elites to suppress them.

And before that, this news must absolutely not be leaked, otherwise, by the time they rushed over, they would definitely arrive to find nothing.

Two days later, Sun Shouren personally led his elite subordinates to suppress the bandits, and Chen Mo charged the formation on horseback, beheading dozens of bandit leaders.

(End of chapter)