Chapter 12: The Choice

“Little brat, you don’t have much time left. In three days, your intestines will turn into a pile of rotten meat,” the bald old man said with a smile. “If you don’t want to die… it is quite simple. Just do as I say, and if you do it well, I will naturally give you the antidote.”

Su Tang had been tormented until his face was as pale as ash, and he stared blankly at the bald old man.

“Hehe… little brat, do you want some high-grade Martial Formulas?” The bald old man crouched down in front of Su Tang. “I always keep my word. As long as you are obedient, I will leave a few Martial Formulas for you when I leave. Whether you can understand them or not depends on yourself.”

Upon hearing about the Martial Formulas, Su Tang said with difficulty, “Old sir… what do you want me to do?”

“It is very simple. Pour this medicinal powder into the water well of Little Forest Castle.” The bald old man took out a small iron box and handed it to Su Tang.

Su Tang’s eyes shifted constantly as if he were weighing the pros and cons. Finally, he gritted his teeth and took the iron box from the bald old man’s palm.

“Hahaha…” The bald old man let out a satisfied laugh and then patted Su Tang on the shoulder. “Little brat, wait a moment.”

The bald old man stood up, made a gesture, and led the group to a spot about ten meters away from Su Tang, where they whispered about something.

They thought Su Tang could not hear them, but in reality, he heard every single word very clearly. The bald old man was asking Liu Mingsheng some questions about Su Tang. Liu Mingsheng looked down on Su Tang from the bottom of his heart, so he naturally had nothing good to say, mentioning things like cowardice, weakness, and stupidity. Liu Mingsheng’s evaluation matched Su Tang’s behavior from moments ago.

After a while, the bald old man brought the group back and asked, “Little brat, your Little Forest Castle has a flagpole, right?”

“Yes…” Su Tang replied in a low voice.

“After you put the powder in the well, keep a close watch. When they drink the well water and you see someone collapse, immediately find a white cloth and raise it on the flagpole, understand?”

“I understand…” Su Tang nodded.

The bald old man pondered for a moment and then asked, “Little brat, when those people entered Little Forest Castle, did you see anything… strange?”

“What do you mean, old sir…” Su Tang asked with a bitter face.

“Forget it. Let’s do this: no matter what you saw, tell me everything exactly as it happened.”

Su Tang told everything honestly—the silver-white giant tiger, the big man, and the carriage. However, when he was about to mention the guests taking out their plaques, Su Tang’s eyes flickered, and he hid that part. He only emphasized how bold and generous the guests were, mentioning the bag of gold coins several times.

The bald old man was a shrewd person and quickly realized what Su Tang was thinking, but he did not mind. After Su Tang finished speaking, he said with a smile, “Little brat, do you still owe a lot of money to Black Wind Castle? I will settle it for you and wipe the debt clean.”

Su Tang’s spirit suddenly lifted. “Old sir… you mean it?”

“Of course.”

Liu Mingsheng looked somewhat reluctant and opened his mouth to say something, but then swallowed his words. Clearly, he was very afraid of the bald old man.

“Alright, little brat, tidy yourself up and go back,” the bald old man said. “Be clever and don’t let anyone catch you.” He had no guard against a useless young master like Su Tang; a small poison pill was enough. No matter how much Su Tang struggled, he could not escape his palm. Compared to that, he was more worried that Su Tang would be caught in the act while poisoning the well.

Su Tang stood up shakily and then suddenly tilted, almost falling over. Fortunately, the bald old man reached out to support him. Seeing Su Tang in such a miserable state, the disdain in the eyes of the surrounding men, including Liu Mingsheng, grew even stronger.

Su Tang moved his legs and stumbled as he ran down the mountain. The bald old man coughed lightly. “Alright, find a place to rest yourselves and recover your strength first.”

“Old Fei, can that waste actually get the job done?” Liu Mingsheng said with a curl of his lip.

“We have to try. If it works, it saves us the trouble. If it doesn’t…” the bald old man said, “we will deal with it tonight.”

“Old Fei, if that kid gets caught, he will definitely expose us,” one of the men said. “What if they run away?”

“Run? Where could they possibly run to?” the bald old man sneered.

“If you ask me, why make it so complicated?” the gloomy-faced man said. “Old Fei, let’s just kill our way in!”

“Fool! I am thinking for your sake. Do you know anything other than killing?” the bald old man shouted. “Do you think they are little cats or dogs waiting for you to hack them? Last month, we lost six men. This time, I don’t want to see any more casualties.”

Su Tang was running with clumsy movements. Carelessly, he tripped over a tree branch and fell heavily into the grass. At the same time, he spat the black pill from under his tongue into his palm, climbed up, and continued running forward.

Those people could only vaguely see Su Tang’s back. If they had the chance to look directly into Su Tang’s eyes, they would surely have been frightened.

Su Tang’s eyes were full of ferocity. He originally wanted to remain neutral and stay away from this matter, but the actions of those people had completely enraged him.

Threats and poison—did they take him for a toy? As for some Martial Formula, anyone who believed them was a fool!

Those fellows did not seem like good people. If they won, the safety of Little Forest Castle and Su Tang himself would be hard to guarantee. Because of Liu Mingsheng, he would never bet on that group no matter what.

Then only one path remained: he had to stand firmly on the side of the guests. But what were the chances of winning? Or rather… what method should he use to increase the chances of winning?

Halfway through his run, he happened to encounter Zhu’er, Ke’er, and all the servants of Little Forest Castle. Hearing the farmer’s report that Su Tang had approached the Black Forest again, Zhu’er almost fainted on the spot. She immediately told Shang Bin to gather the servants and prepare to enter the forest to find Su Tang.

Seeing that Su Tang was fine and had returned on his own, Zhu’er felt an extraordinary sense of grievance after her relief. With teary eyes, she said to Su Tang, “Young Master, you just recovered from your illness, why did you start running around blindly again? This is intentionally…” Zhu’er wanted to say he was intentionally trying to kill her with worry, but looking at the surrounding servants, she chose to remain silent. Even if Su Tang acted too excessively, she had to save some face for him in front of everyone.

“I know, I know…” Su Tang smiled. “I will never go back to that broken forest again, I swear!” Su Tang spoke from his heart; he discovered that the Black Forest was bad luck for him, and every time he went there, something unlucky happened.