Chapter 42: Dividing the Spoils Among Four People

Because the Tree Immortal Lady had covered his eyes, Li Lin could not see what was happening outside. By the time he could see again, the enormous Fourfold Wonder True Lord above the county town had already disappeared.

At the same time, Li Lin knew that the Hundred-Faced True Lord at Bobai Town had certainly disappeared as well.

The Tree Immortal Lady floated beside him, very quiet.

“If a county-level True Lord is already this powerful, then what about a city-level one?” Li Lin asked.

The Tree Immortal Lady thought for a moment before saying, “Stronger.”

Li Lin immediately laughed.

This Tree Immortal Lady was truly humorous.

“Can you become as strong as them?”

“Yes.” The Tree Immortal Lady nodded. “Time!”

In other words, if given enough time, she could become that powerful as well?

It seemed the growth ceiling of gui was quite high.

There was just one thing Li Lin did not understand. Since these great ghosts were so powerful, capable of taking a person’s head from dozens of kilometers away, why... were they willing to remain bound by humans?

That altar or temple was the object binding them.

Four days passed in a flash.

Li Lin was practicing his fist techniques at home as usual when three visitors arrived, unexpected, yet entirely reasonable.

Su Huafang, Bai Liwei, and Zhao Hao.

The three sat inside the house while Xiaohu busied himself preparing tea and entertaining the guests.

“This kid’s vitality and blood energy already look quite substantial. Is he a talent you discovered? When are you taking him to register?” Su Huafang asked with a smile.

At present, there were only eight Spirit Hunters left in the entire Yulin County, and fresh blood was urgently needed.

Otherwise, there were too many places they could not properly oversee.

“Another half month,” Li Lin answered.

Zhao Xiaohu had only barely begun the Spring Renewal Health Preservation Art, and his speed at refining blood rice had increased somewhat. In another half month, his yang energy would be strong enough to protect his body. At that point, Li Lin would take him to the county yamen, register him as a Spirit Hunter, and let him draw a government salary.

To the villagers, anyone supported by government pay was a capable person.

Xiaohu would become a capable person in the future as well.

As they talked, Zhao Xiaohu finished brewing the tea and served it to each of them.

“All right, Xiaohu, go home first. I have matters to discuss with these seniors.”

“Okay.”

Zhao Xiaohu obediently left.

After confirming that no one was outside, Li Lin shut the door and sat back down.

“The three seniors want to retrieve all that money from there?”

The three nodded simultaneously.

“But it won’t be easy.” Li Lin smiled. “There are too many things and too few people.”

Those mountain-sized piles of gold and silver ingots, he had no idea how the people of the military town had acquired them.

It felt as though even the treasury of the county yamen did not contain that much money.

“We move it little by little,” Zhao Hao said.

Bai Liwei shook his head. “Impossible. A round trip takes at least four days. This time, the County Magistrate directly transferred troops from the border army to defend Bobai Town. At most a month, at least half a month... the four of us cannot disappear together for too long, otherwise others will become suspicious.”

Everyone realized that made perfect sense.

“Then we can only carry some back first.” Zhao Hao smiled. “We’ll hide the rest there for now. When an opportunity arises later, the four of us can come back together and take another portion.”

Su Huafang sighed. “That’s all we can do for now.”

“When do we leave?”

“Right now.” Li Lin stood up. “Quick trip, quick return.”

Li Lin took his spear and mask, packed some Shengxi Pills as well, and set out with the other three.

This time, Su Huafang had prepared thoroughly. Somehow, he had acquired Boundary-Warding Powder!

During both nights of the two-day journey, they used it to establish a safe space, then took turns standing watch. The quality of rest for all four was quite good.

On the morning of the third day, they arrived before the fortress.

Looking from afar, half of the fortress had already collapsed.

Li Lin examined it and found that the collapsed section of wall was facing the direction of the county town.

He could not help but admire it. “The Fourfold Wonder True Lord’s techniques are truly formidable. From so far away, he still managed to collapse the city wall. If there were an actual war, who could stop him?”

The other three looked at him strangely.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know that True Lords can’t act casually? Every time they act, the amount of vitality and blood energy they consume is enormous,” Bai Liwei asked in surprise.

Su Huafang smiled bitterly. “That’s my fault. I never explained these matters to Patrol Hunter Li.”

That was normal enough.

The more capable Spirit Hunters were always extremely busy, running from place to place with very little free time.

Everywhere needed their help in capturing ghosts and expelling evil.

The biggest reason Li Lin was living so comfortably was that he was still a newcomer whose reputation had yet to spread.

In a few more years, Li Lin would become just as busy.

“So, shall we go in now?” Zhao Hao asked with a smile.

“No rush!” Li Lin took out the mask and put it on. “Let me first see if there’s anything wrong around here!”

A cool sensation entered his eyes.

Li Lin surveyed the surroundings, then looked up at the city wall before finally nodding.

“For the moment, I haven’t found any problems.”

The other three sighed in relief.

Bai Liwei said, “Patrol Hunter Li, keep the mask on and help us monitor the surroundings. Leave the hard work of carrying things to us.”

“All right.”

Li Lin understood very well how important a scout was and did not refuse.

The four entered the fortress through the breach in the collapsed wall.

Inside, they found burn marks everywhere left by the raging fire.

There were also many more skeletons scattered across the ground.

Judging by the tattered or charred clothing, it was possible to identify who these people had been.

“Zhang Minsheng is here.”

Bai Liwei stood before a skeleton.

The clothing on that skeleton was indeed what Zhang Minsheng had been wearing that night.

The group searched the fortress for a while longer and soon discovered another shattered altar.

Two shattered altars stood side by side.

The place called Bobai Town seemed to have some kind of problem with its feng shui.

Meanwhile, Li Lin continued observing the surrounding situation.

After quite some time, Bai Liwei came over and asked, “How is it?”

“I haven’t found anything strange.”

“Then the three of us will go down first. Patrol Hunter Li, stay up here and keep watch.” Su Huafang smiled. “We’ll bring up your share as well.”

Li Lin nodded in agreement.

He stood at the entrance to the secret passage, vigilantly watching the surroundings.

Everything was quiet.

Occasionally, birds could be heard chirping.

Before long, the three emerged from the tunnel carrying four bundles.

“Each bundle contains thirty taels of gold, about 1.1 kg (~2.4 lb)!” Bai Liwei sighed. “Any more would be too heavy and would hinder travel.”

Li Lin nodded.

Everyone wanted to bring back more money, but too much money was also obvious and would make them easy to notice.

“Hide this place again!”

The three immediately picked up the hoes and shovels set aside nearby and buried the secret passage once more.

They even replanted the green vegetables on top of it.

“Everyone keeps this matter in their hearts and tells no one...” Bai Liwei said quietly. “Let’s make a gentleman’s agreement. If we ever return to collect gold, all four of us must come together. If one of us passes away first, he must tell his direct descendants about this matter. What do the three of you think?”

The other three all nodded lightly.

Li Lin felt that these three were worth befriending deeply.

After all, with so much gold and silver below, the other three had still kept their promise. Even now, they showed no hostility or killing intent whatsoever. It was obvious they could be trusted.

The other three were actually thinking the same thing.

The four hoisted their bundles and were about to leave when they suddenly heard voices coming from beyond the city wall, along with the sound of rattling chains.

The four exchanged glances and immediately found nearby cover and hid.

Li Lin gently set down the bundle on his back and put the mask on once more.

Very soon, several swaying figures appeared at the collapsed section of wall.

Then six people slowly walked over.

Through a narrow gap in the cover, Li Lin saw a young man walking in front, followed by five women bound in chains.

Judging from their clothing, they were all southern barbarian women.

The man looked around, then said to the southern barbarian women, “All right, it’s safe here. I’ll help remove your shackles.”