Volume 1, Chapter 189 – Harvest

Hearing about the three hundred taels of reward silver, Shi Lan couldn’t help but frown.

Why so little?

With only a three-hundred-tael bounty, he clearly wasn’t anyone important. Looked at that way, the martial artists of this world were probably not weak at all.

The news she’d heard from Old Hong earlier—that the strongest fighters could only match a hundred men—was clearly not accurate.

Seeing Shi Lan lost in thought, the man lying on the ground forced himself to calm his injured heart meridians and, like beans spilling from a bamboo tube, poured out his background in full.

The wanted poster was pasted in Qingzhou City not far from here. If he kept his mouth shut now, he was surely dead. This woman could just find out tomorrow anyway. Why make things harder for himself?

Listening to his account, Shi Lan gained a rough understanding of the pair.

The burly man was named Liu Anfeng, and the one lying under the tree was Shi Yi.

According to Liu Anfeng, the strength of the two of them counted as third-rate in the martial world. They had previously taken to the hills at a place called Tianshui Ridge, turning bandit and waylaying travelers, demanding toll money from passing caravans. Life had been fairly carefree.

Later, during one such robbery, they accidentally seized a small shipment of military pay that the three-army commander of Yongnan Road had disguised and sent under escort.

That shipment of pay totaled three thousand taels. At first, the two thought they had scored a windfall and happily hauled the silver back to their mountain stronghold.

After unsealing the silver and discovering the official seal stamped beneath the ingots, they realized they’d kicked a hornet’s nest.

In their panic, they immediately thought about fleeing, but their greed made them reluctant to part with the three thousand taels of government silver. After some discussion, they buried the silver deep in the mountains.

Because of the delay, before they could escape, five hundred iron cavalrymen thundered up to Tianshui Ridge.

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Liu Anfeng and Shi Yi commanded no more than a few hundred rabble. How could they possibly stand against regular cavalry? They collapsed at first contact, and the two of them had no choice but to begin a life on the run.

Since only Liu Anfeng and Shi Yi knew the location of the three thousand taels of pay silver, the court issued a wanted notice and posted a three-hundred-tael reward for their capture.

If not for that, with just two bandits escaping, the court probably wouldn’t have bothered to care.

“Mmm…”

The man lying under the tree shifted slightly, showing signs of waking.

“That Red Dress Workshop and Fragrant Society you mentioned earlier—what kind of organizations are they? And why did you come here?”

Shi Lan pulled out the long blade pinned through Liu Anfeng’s palm, walked over to the tree, crouched down, and pressed lightly at Shi Yi’s neck, sending the man who was about to wake right back into unconsciousness.

“Red Dress Workshop… and Fragrant Society are… women’s organizations in the martial world. As for why we’re here, it’s because we heard that beggar talking with a few local thugs about you…”

At that point, Liu Anfeng broke off and didn’t continue.

After fleeing for so long, he’d been pent up for days. When he heard the beggar bragging about how outstanding Shi Lan’s looks and figure were, he’d planned to take her by force to relieve himself, then sell her to a brothel afterward to get some silver for expenses.

He hadn’t expected to slam straight into an iron wall.

Shi Lan went on to ask a few more questions about the martial world and roughly sorted out how the powers were distributed.

The strongest force in the martial world was a group called Xuanshi Dao. They were honored guests of the Qianyuan Dynasty’s imperial clan; matters like sacrifices and rituals were all handled by Xuanshi Dao.

The current Dao Master of Xuanshi Dao, Daoist Wuxu, was one of three Martial Grandmasters in the martial world and lived in the imperial palace year-round.

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Liu Anfeng didn’t know exactly how strong a Martial Grandmaster was. He only knew that even if you tied several hundred sturdy men together, they still wouldn’t be a match, and such a person could come and go freely within armies of thousands.

There was no division between righteous paths and demonic paths in the martial world, or perhaps the demonic path had long since been wiped out by the court. With several leading martial forces keeping watch, the martial world remained fairly peaceful.

Shi Lan pondered for a moment, then gave Liu Anfeng a measuring look before turning to the boy beside her. “How many steamed buns can you buy with three hundred taels?”

The boy lowered his head, looked at his hands, and counted on his fingers. “If they’re vegetarian filling, you can buy…”

“Three hundred thousand!”

After a long moment, the boy finally came to a conclusion.

Shi Lan was slightly surprised. The purchasing power of silver was far stronger than she’d expected.

“Miss, think it over carefully. Turning us in to the authorities only gets you three hundred taels of reward money. If you let the two of us go, those three thousand taels of government silver can all be yours!”

Sensing something off in her tone, Liu Anfeng grew a bit anxious.

Shi Lan remained unmoved. She had neither the time nor the interest to go searching a thousand miles away for some government silver. Her current problem was basic food and shelter.

The three hundred taels of reward silver were right in front of her. Why give up what was close to chase something far away? On top of that, going after the government silver meant risking offending the Qianyuan Dynasty ahead of time. That was not a good trade.

Still…

Shi Lan shifted her thoughts and asked:

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“Do the two of you have any money on you?”

Liu Anfeng was taken aback, then hurriedly replied after he caught on:

“Yes, yes, we do!”

Shi Lan had just been about to step forward and search him when the boy squatted down ahead of her and started pulling at Liu Anfeng’s clothes.

Shi Lan was quite pleased with the boy’s instincts. A lack of education wasn’t scary; you could learn later. What was scary was being stupid.

If she wanted to bring this continent under control, there was no way she could rely on herself alone. She would definitely need a team. The boy’s temperament wasn’t bad, and he wasn’t stupid either. He was good material. Shi Lan was already thinking about cultivating him.

Three years wasn’t that long, but it wasn’t short either. She still had time.

“What’s your name? Do you have any family left?”

Watching the boy work, Shi Lan asked.

“He’s been with me for two years now. Everyone calls him A Qi. There’s no one left at home.”

Old Hong had appeared at Shi Lan’s side at some point and answered for him, then quickly offered a compliment.

“Lady hero, your skills are truly something.”

Shi Lan only shook her head and said nothing.

Liu Anfeng was soon stripped down to nothing but his underpants. A Qi even pulled off his boots and slit open the soles with the long blade to see if there were any hidden compartments inside.

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With such a thorough search, they finally turned up a fifty-tael banknote and five or six taels in loose silver. The banknote was hidden in a compartment inside Liu Anfeng’s boot.

Other than that, there was a blade manual titled Leaping Body Blade.

Shi Yi was much more pitiful. All he had was three or four taels in loose silver.

Weighing the money pouch in her hand, Shi Lan tore all the clothes off the two men, ripped them into strips, knotted them together, and used them to bind the pair before tossing them into the ruined temple.

The other beggars, including that skinny middle-aged man, had all vanished without a trace. Who knew where they had run off to.

Shi Lan took a bottle of Flesh-Regrowing Powder from the system’s temporary storage, unwrapped the cloth she had used to bandage her leg, applied the powder, and then rewrapped the wound.

By the time she finished all this, the sky was already turning pale.

Shi Lan no longer felt sleepy. She patted A Qi on the head and smiled. “Come on, I’ll take you to Qingzhou City for some meat.”

A Qi looked about thirteen or fourteen, only reaching her chest in height. Combined with his thin frame, his constitution was far too poor for a boy.

If he was going to practice martial arts, his foundation would have to be built up first.

After a bit of thought, Shi Lan decided not to bring Liu Anfeng and Shi Yi along. The two of them might still be of some use to her.

Three thousand taels of silver wasn’t a small sum in this world. If she had a chance to get her hands on it, that would naturally be for the best.