Chapter 37

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The bed creaked as Lu Liangsheng propped himself up a bit.

“Dad, Uncle Pan, what’s going on?”

He straightened the bedding by the side of the bed. The room had no decent furniture, so he made do by letting Lu Laoshi and Lu Pan sit by the bed.

Besides Lu Laoshi, Lu Pan seemed uninterested in sitting, casting his eyes around as if searching for where the female ghost was hiding. He stood respectfully by the bed and only responded when addressed.

“Liangsheng, we’ve finished taking all the loot from the bandit stronghold. There are two large chests, filled to the brim with silver ingots. We couldn’t count them all precisely, but there’s at least five thousand taels, if not seven thousand.”

Seven thousand…

Even though Lu Liangsheng was becoming more mature, his expression showed a stunned look. The enormous amount was somewhat overwhelming. He had thought that since the bandits were dead and the wealth was ill-gotten, they might as well take it. He hadn’t expected such a small stronghold to contain so much.

Meanwhile, Lu Pan, who was busy calculating the wealth, didn’t notice the young man’s expression.

“… There are also four ingots of gold in the chests. Here, I’ll show you.” He said, pulling out two gold ingots from the cloth wrapped around his waist. He could hardly hold them in both hands.

He placed them on the small table with a few thuds, making Lu Laoshi’s eyes widen in amazement.

“How much would these gold ingots be worth in copper coins…”

“Definitely a considerable amount.”

Lu Pan commented casually, then suddenly slapped his forehead and hurriedly took out a book from his robe. “This is something we found at the bandit’s place. Take a look and see what’s written in it.”

“A book?”

Lu Liangsheng took the yellowed, worn book. The cover was a little dirty, so he couldn’t see the writing on it. But as he turned a page, a sharp pain suddenly pricked his fingertip. He quickly pulled his finger back, and the book’s cover closed by itself.

Seeing that, Lu Laoshi and Lu Pan froze in place, their adam’s apple rolled, forcing out a small sound.

“Liangsheng, what’s up with the book? Why did it close on its own?”

The young man frowned at the now-closed book.

This book contains spiritual energy…

… To not let others touch it?

Hearing Lu Pan’s words, Lu Liangsheng placed the book aside. “This book contains spells, so others can’t handle it.”

Both men knew that the young man in front of them had apprenticed under a skilled master and had a ghostly companion, but hearing it directly from him brought a stunned silence to the room.

Lu Laoshi, feeling a surge of pride and astonishment, clutched the bedspread. He had lived an honest life, never expecting his family to have such a capable individual.

In the outside world, it could attract a highly skilled cultivator…

Feeling a profound sense of satisfaction, he let out a long sigh, slowly rising. Halfway through, he suddenly remembered the Daoist Lu Pan and the others had caught earlier.

“Daoist?”

Lu Liangsheng had seen one before, at the bandit stronghold, where he had scared the person away… Could it be that he had discovered he was faking it and returned to cause trouble? But why was he caught? Could it be a different person?

“Dad, Uncle Pan, you can decide how to distribute the silver, but make sure not to give too much to each household. Too much wealth… can make people lazy and complacent.”

“This is a phrase I love to hear. The village elder said before that if wealth corrupts morals, it wouldn’t be good.”

As for how to handle it, Lu Liangsheng suggested digging a special cellar for storing silver, with the key kept by Lu Laoshi. After discussing the details for a while, Lu Pan and the rest left.

“A Daoist…”

Lu Liangsheng returned his gaze to the book. “If it were the same person, could this book be his?”

As he was thinking, there was a sudden movement from under the bed. A rustling sound followed, and the Toad Daoist came out dragging a gourd. As if he had guessed the young man’s thoughts, he jumped onto the bed and sat down.

“That Daoist knew some spells. Earlier, he mistook your Master for a demon and chased him for a while.”

The Toad sighed, “If it weren’t for my lost cultivation, I wouldn’t have been so embarrassed by a little Daoist priest.”

Saying this, he opened the gourd, and a red pill fell into his webbed hand.

“Take this. Eating it will help heal some injuries.”

“Master, isn’t it because I ran out of energy?”

“Ran out of energy? If it were just depleted energy, it would be a small matter. I wouldn’t have gone through such hardship to pick medicine for you.” The Toad Daoist shook his head and placed the pill in his hand.

Watching as Lu Liangsheng swallowed the medicine, he casually lay down and rolled into the bed, facing the wall and waving his webbed hand.

“Your Master is also stuck in a difficult situation and can’t offer much help. Eat this and rest for a few months. You need to practice diligently then, and avoid lusting after women.”

A sound of “Bah!” came vaguely from the painting on the wall.

As a young man, Lu Liangsheng was naturally embarrassed, having never had experience with women. He quickly picked up the <Meng’s Sayings> on the table to cover his face and started flipping through it.

In less than half a stick of incense’s time, a warm sensation suddenly spread through his lower abdomen, likely the effect of the pill. In a moment, the warmth turned into a burning pain.

Hiss——

Lu Liangsheng furrowed his brow and sat up as if shocked. He was about to lift the blanket when the Toad Daoist, sleeping by the wall, said: “Endure it.”

“Mm…”

The young man clutched the blanket tightly, gritted his teeth, and his body almost bent like a shrimp. His entire body shrank into the covers, his skin gradually turning red. The pain was almost unbearable, making every bone in his body feel like it was breaking inch by inch. The area around his navel felt as if it were being hammered with an iron mallet.

His whole body trembled violently.

Nie Honglian in the painting sensed something was wrong, floated down, and with a wave of her long sleeve, a cold wind lifted the bedding. Like a steaming basket, white vapor rose and quickly filled the room, flowing out through the window.

“Young master!” She called out.

As the white mist dissipated, Lu Liangsheng, curled up on his side and clutching his stomach, was still relatively conscious. He squeezed out from between his teeth: “I’m fine.”

After a few more spasms, he lay down, completely limp.

Sweat soaking his body, he looked at Honglian standing at the foot of the bed and laughed: “It’s over… I feel a bit better now…”

Nie Honglian let out a sigh of relief. Hearing him still joking, she couldn’t help but roll her eyes at him, and then she took a cloth from the table and wiped the sweat off Lu Liangsheng’s forehead.

“You knew it was frightening. I won’t come out next time.”

“I wasn’t scaring you; it really did hurt, but it’s fine now.”

Indeed, Lu Liangsheng was fine. After the pain subsided, the relief made him feel completely relaxed, as if floating on water. He exchanged a few words with Honglian and gradually fell back to sleep.

When he woke up, it was already afternoon. The sun was setting in the west, casting red clouds on the mountain peaks. Lu Liangsheng felt his body was back to normal, even faintly stronger than before.

When he got down to the ground, he felt no discomfort. After glancing at the still-snoozing Toad Daoist, he opened the door and went outside.

“Master’s pill really is effective.”

After practicing the technique under the sunset, his spiritual energy had also recovered somewhat. He suddenly realized that his parents and Lu Xiaoxian had not yet returned. He washed his face, wiped off the sweat, tucked the Daoist book into his clothes, and headed towards the village.

The spoils from the mountain had mostly been distributed. The women and children had returned home, often jingling the coins in their pouches, listening to the clinking sounds with joy as they put a piece of meat into the pot and started a fire. The hungry children nibbled their fingers and circled around the pot.

The men gathered together had already dug a large hole in an idle piece of land in the village. Those with some knowledge of carpentry were working inside.

When Lu Liangsheng arrived, the men were passing baskets of mud and stones out of the hole, all sweating profusely.

The villagers who were replacing the workers stood straight upon seeing the young man. They had heard from those who went to the mountain stronghold that more than thirty bandits had met a horribly tragic end, and Liu Erlong, the notorious bandit from Tongling County, had been twisted into a pretzel.

Although it was the female ghost who had done the killing, she showed great respect to their nephew.

Each of the villagers restrained their former rudeness, they were somewhat at a loss and didn’t know how to address him.

“Liangsheng… why are you up? You should rest a bit longer.”

“Yes, yes, the cellar you mentioned this morning is nearly done. It should be ready in a few days.”

“…There’s no need for you to help here. Liangsheng, go back and rest.”

The excessive politeness made Lu Liangsheng a bit uncomfortable. He quickly changed the subject.

“I heard that you captured a Daoist. I’d like to see him.”

A villager, wiping the dirt off his rough hands, said, “I’ll take you there!” and promptly led the way, despite some of the men working nearby grumbling about him slacking off.

The woodshed where the Daoist was imprisoned was not far away, just to the side of a small courtyard where smoke was rising from cooking. A woman washing rice outside saw Lu Liangsheng approaching and immediately smiled, pointing towards the shed.

“That Daoist thief woke up once before. I was afraid he might take the chance to do something immoral to me, a woman, so I kept watch over him while he was awake and gave him another blow…”

Lu Liangsheng was momentarily stunned, and even the villager leading him was taken aback.

“Don’t beat him to death.”

The woman wiped the water from her hands and went to the shed, opening the door.

“He won’t die. Before I got married, I went hunting a few times with my father, only knocking them out, not killing them. I’m quite skilled at it.”

The door creaked open.

Worried that the Daoist might suddenly become violent, Lu Liangsheng first asked the woman and the villager to step outside. He held a brush in his sleeve and formed a hand seal with his other hand, approaching slowly.

Inside, the Daoist was tightly bound with hemp rope and had his mouth stuffed with a rag. Hearing footsteps, he quickly turned his head, and the sunlight streaming in from outside cast a shadow as he walked in.

“Woo woo woo…” Mistaking the newcomer for the woman, the Daoist frantically shook his head in a plea for mercy.

This Daoist had a sharp, monkey-like face, but his physique was somewhat similar to the Daoist he had seen at the stronghold. Lu Liangsheng crouched down, noticing that the Daoist’s forehead was cut open and one eye was bruised from the beating.

He reached out and removed the rag from the Daoist’s mouth.

“I am Lu Liangsheng. I heard from the villagers that you have been bullying the children here?”

“Nonsense! Do I look like someone who bullies children? Clearly, the villagers have been bewitched by a demon. If it weren’t for my master’s orders not to use spells against ordinary people, do you think I would be tied up here…”

Now that Sun Yingxian could speak again, he poured out all his grievances in one breath. Mid-sentence, he suddenly froze, staring at the young man in front of him, his lips trembling.

“I recognize your voice… I recognize it, from the stronghold…”

Lu Liangsheng didn’t respond to that. Instead, he pulled out a book from his clothes. “Do you recognize this?”

“That’s mine!!” The Daoist struggled to sit up, muttering an incantation, and suddenly, the ropes binding him loosened and fell to the ground. He reached out, saying: “Quick, give it back to me.”

: Defy common logic; attack where least expected.

The content of the book flashed in his mind.

Lu Liangsheng smiled and casually tossed the book across the room.

The book flew through the air, and Sun Yingxian instinctively caught it. He joyfully stroked the cover a few times, but then suddenly realized what he was doing. He raised his head in a daze, looking at Lu Liangsheng. He had expected the young man to make some demands, but instead, the book had simply been returned to him.

“You’re not asking for anything in return?”

Lu Liangsheng walked to the door, looked at him, and said with a smile: “This is your possession. I’m not a bandit.”

“You…”

The Daoist was silent for a moment, then clasped his hands together in gratitude. “Yingxian offers his sincere thanks!”