77: Chapter 76: A Thousand Gold Return 2 77: Chapter 76: A Thousand Gold Return 2 Three swords, three opponents!
This was Hou Niao’s harvest after training in the Soul Realm for several months—this was the capability of a professional sword cultivator.
At that moment, Hou Niao was brimming with confidence in the direction of his cultivation.
Without any courtesy, he immediately began to collect the spoils of battle—three longswords, five Treasure Gourds, and various personal items.
He was extremely poor, so he did not even spare the rings on their fingers!
There was no hurry to leave, since no one else was around, and his horse had just begun to graze and rest.
He led the opponents’ three horses over, which were far superior to the ones he had bought in the horse market.
This was one reason he had to rest before Poplar Forest.
Sitting on a rock, he began to check his loot, which included:
Three hundred low-grade Spirit Stones, two mid-grade Spirit Stones, eight bottles of various elixirs, dozens of talismans, several materials, and over a dozen skill manuals…
of course, there were also three swords and three horses—there was no need to go into detail about the mundane gold and silver items.
Lower than Tongxuan cultivators couldn’t set restrictions on their Treasure Gourds, so for him, the most useful things were actually the Gourds themselves.
If he added his own and the one gifted by Guan Immortal, he had a total of seven Treasure Gourds.
Could he string them together into a necklace, or perhaps a belt?
Upon checking the Gourds again to ensure he hadn’t missed anything, he found that the largest gourd contained a Jade Scroll.
Pulling it out, he read the following sentence:
‘Better not to meet than to meet without reason, why meet without achievement?
When the storm approaches, naturally…’
‘I graciously send three men your way, take them at your leisure, anonymous benefactor.’
It’s Chong Ling Daoist!
Did he mean they didn’t need to meet, but he sent him some ‘lay-low’ funds?
If he couldn’t retrieve it himself, wouldn’t others take it?
Upper Cultivators, all unfathomable in their actions.
One after another, Jin City has its three heroes, and Liuyang is full of oddities.
Hou Niao grumbled to himself, but it was fine—his travel bag was replenished, and his efforts were not in vain; concerning how Chong Ling managed to leave a Jade Scroll inside the leader’s Treasure Gourd, or how he incited three men to ambush him, these were not difficult tasks for a Tongxuan Upper Cultivator, were they?
After packing up, he chose a docile steed, taking four horses with him, and without minding the approaching dusk, he headed straight for Poplar Forest.
To him, last time was inadequate, as he was hampered by a group of mortals; but this time…
He entered the forest at a gentle pace, the dusk making the woods darker yet he was unconcerned.
There are times when you must rise from the very place you fell!
With such a state of mind, his quartet of horses ran freely through the woods, but to his surprise, there was no endless Beast Tide like last time—almost as if the forest had completely changed its character in a matter of days.
After running ten li, all was safe; another ten li, no ghosts seen; another ten li, utter silence…
An hour later, he had crossed the Poplar Forest, knowing something must have occurred.
Was it because they had been too brutal last time?
It seemed not entirely so!
He returned to the place where his team had once camped, only to find that the carriages left behind had disappeared.
From the tracks, it was clear they led to Ancient North Village!
Twelve robust men, pillars of the village, had been traded for twenty Spirit Stones and a pile of miscellaneous items.
Following the tracks to Ancient North Village, there were some loose ends that needed to be tied up, otherwise, he wouldn’t be able to get over it internally; not a single one of the twelve warriors shied away, embodying the resolute spirit of the borderland people.
Five days later, Hou Niao returned to Jin City.
The forty weapons in his Treasure Gourd were left at Ancient North Village, the only thing he could do for the border people; in this chaotic world, strong men and excellent weapons were the village’s guarantee for survival.
These were not ordinary weapons.
They could improve the combat capabilities of Ancient North Village by more than one level, and also provided some emotional solace, since he couldn’t compensate for the lost lives.
Upon his return to the city, Hou Niao immediately went to see the Daoist Wang.
He didn’t like to drag things out.
He was uncomfortable and also very curious about how this journey was viewed by Quanzhen, and what the Capital Commandant Li thought?
Daoist Wang just shook his head, “This trip of yours…
how many have you seen surviving?
Come with me, the commandant happens to be at the residence…”
It wasn’t the commandant’s residence; Hou Niao once again returned to the place where he first met Li Chuping, still in the same courtyard, still the same figure, holding a Spiritual Book…
Li Chuping gave this junior cultivator a faint glance.
He was a busy man and characters like Hou Niao normally wouldn’t reach a level to catch his attention.
It was only because of a fateful glance during a previous inquiry that they now had this affiliation.
This too was a way for a big shot to cultivate forces, helping a junior with potential at a critical time and then letting him fend for himself to see how he developed.
If one day he grew strong, he would take him under his wing, but he would not coddle him, which was not the style of the Demon Sect.
Likewise, he had arranged many such juniors, quietly lying in wait all over the Da Feng Plain and even further, testing their metal over time.
The great waves would sift the sand, ultimately revealing the true emergents or letting them disappear into obscurity.
But this Hou Niao from Anhe was rather troublesome!
With a trivial Realm, he could stir up the entire Tianfeng Plain through the incident at the Tianxiang Building;
Sending him to wish an old acquaintance a happy birthday, he almost wiped out the Demon Clan in the Poplar Forest even before reaching the destination.
That was deliberately set up as a barrier on the border between two nations.
Although weak, it was a force that significantly obstructed inter-state interactions.
Then it turned the old birthday star into a disaster star; the birthday celebration into a funeral…
terribly troublesome, far from the other pawns who were contented with their position and developed steadily.
In a place as mixed as Tianfeng Plain, he was bound to get himself in trouble sooner or later.
He wasn’t particularly interested in this junior cultivator, but he really wanted to know what was really going on with the old Immortal Guan?
“Did you give the items to the old Immortal?”
Hou Niao understood what the Capital Commandant meant; it wasn’t about the items, but what came after…
“I gave them to the old Immortal, and then the old Immortal gifted me the Treasure Gourd, offering some encouragement.
The old senior’s integrity and the Capital Commandant’s earnest heart have left me incredibly grateful.”
He did not take out the Treasure Gourd and pretentiously offer it back to its original owner.
It was just a gourd, after all; who was he to judge?
He briefly mentioned that he already understood where the gift had originated from; this was acknowledging the obvious.
Yet, he did not fuss over it, absolutely avoiding nagging, as people like Li, the Capital Commandant, certainly didn’t appreciate those who always hung their gratitude on their lips.
“Didn’t he say anything?” Li Chuping asked as he turned his Spiritual Scroll, offhandedly.
Hou Niao spoke the truth, “The old Immortal Guan said he has retired from the cultivation circles, washed his hands of the golden basin; all past matters have turned to smoke and clouds now…
so he didn’t pass any message for you…”