Chapter 16: The Evil-Hating White Feather Sword

Li Qiuchen realized he had overlooked a problem.

He had thought he had considered every aspect, but he hadn’t thought about what the quality standards were for the pearls produced in this village.

Influenced by the mental inertia of his past life’s Remembrance, he subconsciously felt that pearls should be round.

Any pearl that wasn’t round was a defective product.

But after seeing the old man’s dumbfounded expression, he knew that the value of this mysterious pearl he had given him far exceeded his own estimates.

“Little brother… no, Immortal! Such great kindness, please accept this old man’s bow!”

Reading good books is so easy on Taiwan Books.

The old man’s face turned red with excitement, and he was about to drop to his knees in a grand gesture of respect, but Li Qiuchen quickly stopped him.

“Alright, alright, don’t do all this useless stuff!”

Li Qiuchen helped the old man onto a stool, signaled for him not to be too excited, and asked in a low voice, “I grew up in the mountains and don’t know the market prices out here. Since you specialize in this business, tell me how much a pearl like this could sell for?”

“That’s worth a massive fortune!”

The old man said with a trembling voice, “A mysterious pearl of this size is extremely rare by our small riverside. This single one could cover the annual taxes our village pays. If placed on the counter of a county town’s Treasure Hall, it would start at at least fifty taels of silver, and even then, there’d be a price but no supply. If a string could be formed with others of the same size, the price would quadruple!”

That valuable?

Li Qiuchen was startled. By rounding up, wasn’t he a millionaire now?

Seeing Li Qiuchen’s surprised expression, the old man suddenly understood and quickly leaned in to whisper, “I wouldn’t dare take such a treasure for nothing. If the Immortal takes a fancy to anything in my home, feel free to take it. If there are any other requests, though I am old, my sons and grandsons still have some strength and will certainly do their best!”

Li Qiuchen thought to himself, “Anyone can say nice things. If I wanted to eat young boys and girls, could you give them?”

But since he had already given it, and it was agreed to be in return for the meal, it would seem like he lacked class to raise conditions now.

Besides, sometimes proactively raising conditions doesn’t necessarily bring any benefits.

So he waved his hand as if he didn’t care and said, “Let’s leave it at that. Consider the meal paid for. You don’t need to call me ‘Immortal’; I don’t have that much ability. By the way, old man, is your village missing anyone today?”

The old man was greatly shocked upon hearing this. He was of a great age and had eaten more salt than Li Qiuchen had walked roads; how could he not hear the underlying meaning in Li Qiuchen’s words?

“Oh no, it must be Second Scabby! That boy has been no good since he was a child, gambling and whoring with a bunch of bad friends. I’ve always suspected he was involved with those bandits. Could it be that the boy went to report to them?”

“What should we do, Immortal…”

Seeing the old man’s expectant gaze, Li Qiuchen quickly raised his hand and said, “This is your village’s business and has nothing to do with me. As for the matter of banquetting the Mountain Lord yesterday, only you and I know the details. When the bandits come, I only hope you don’t sell me out.”

“That absolutely won’t happen!”

The old man quickly patted his chest in guarantee, “Rest assured, Immortal. If the bandits really ask about this, I’ll have my own explanation. I will never betray the Immortal!”

Li Qiuchen wasn’t reassured at all.

But this incident could serve as a whetstone to test the old man’s character.

People aren’t saints; everyone makes mistakes.

Li Qiuchen didn’t care if the old man was deep and calculating, if he bullied others in the village, or if he did other bad things behind people’s backs. He just wanted to see if the old man would betray him.

Only if he passed the test with the bandits would Li Qiuchen be able to temporarily trust him and continue to associate with him.

Two days later, the bandits indeed arrived.

Li Qiuchen hid far away in the old forest, secretly observing the movements in the village.

With his current vision, every blade of grass and tree two li away was clearly visible. Unless the other party was also a Cultivate, they shouldn’t be able to discover him from such a distance.

Logically speaking… a dignified Cultivate shouldn’t end up in a bandit’s nest, right?

But such things were hard to say. Li Qiuchen still didn’t understand the Cultivate system settings of this world very well, so it was hard to jump to conclusions.

Thirty to fifty bandits came, all riding horses, scruffy-bearded and in ragged clothes, looking like they weren’t doing very well.

The Bandit Leader at the head was quite imposing. From a distance, he looked over 1.8 meters tall, broad-shouldered, with a full beard and a large saber on his back.

The group blocked the village chief’s door. After a while, the old man was dragged out and hung up at the village entrance. A bandit stepped forward, took a horsewhip, and gave him a fierce whipping.

Li Qiuchen’s brow furrowed slightly.

It seemed these bandits didn’t want to follow Jianghu rules.

You came to demand a mysterious pearl, I gave it, yet you’re still not satisfied… then there’s only one possibility: the bandits are insatiably greedy and think that since the old man could produce one mysterious pearl, he could produce more.

The old man was very stubborn. He didn’t speak even after being whipped dozens of times and passing out.

The Leader was very dissatisfied and dragged out the old man’s two sons, hanging them at the village entrance to continue the whipping.

sound mimicking a broken-beaked crane!

The White Crane stood beside Li Qiuchen, watching the events at the village entrance coldly, letting out a soft cry.

Feeling the Killing Intent being released from it, Li Qiuchen said helplessly, “Do you think the two of us can win against so many bandits?”

The White Crane glanced at him, raised a wing, and fanned it hard to the side.

A stream of light flashed by, and a sharp feather was firmly pinned into a tree ten zhang away.

Li Qiuchen was greatly shocked. “I didn’t know you were such a bird! I’ve raised you with such care for so long, and I didn’t even know you had such a trump card.”

The White Crane proudly raised its slender neck and glanced at Li Qiuchen, as if to say, “This bird isn’t one to be trifled with, don’t look down on birds!”

“There are thirty to fifty bandits in the village. How many feathers can you shoot?”

The White Crane snorted coldly, raised its wing, and gave a light beckon. The feather pinned to the tree actually flew back to it.

Wow! Amazing!

Li Qiuchen quickly cupped his hands in praise, “I thought you only knew how to sound mimicking a broken-beaked crane, I didn’t expect you to hide such a divine skill!”

A shadowless kick came flying at his face.

sound mimicking a broken-beaked crane!

The White Crane gestured with its beak toward the village.

Are we doing this or not?

“It’s not that I’m saying… where did you get such a strong sense of justice?”

Li Qiuchen checked the medicinal powders he was carrying and shook his head, “Wait a bit longer. Maybe these bandits are just establishing their authority and will stop after a few lashes. They say a rabbit doesn’t eat the grass near its burrow; we’re all neighbors, there’s no need to reach a point of life and death…”

Before he could finish his sentence, he saw a disheveled woman crawl out of the village chief’s house, and the surrounding bandits laughed loudly.

A man tied up at the village entrance suddenly began to struggle and curse loudly. The person whipping him pulled out a knife and plunged it straight into his chest.

Li Qiuchen fell silent.

The White Crane stared at him sideways without making a sound.

“I heard their mountain Fortress has over a hundred men, and less than half have come this time.”

Li Qiuchen was silent for a moment before saying in a low voice, “If we can’t take out everyone who came, then once someone escapes and leaks the news, if the bandits come back for revenge, the two of us won’t be able to protect the safety of the villagers.”

Ga—!

The White Crane spread its wings.

It had many feathers.

“Eighty?”

Li Qiuchen said a number, and the White Crane hesitated for a long time before nodding.

It certainly couldn’t shoot eighty feathers, but if it recycled them after shooting, it could shoot at least eighty times.

Eighty times definitely wasn’t enough.

After all, those were feathers, not Flying Swords.

If it were the Flying Sword used by the sword Immortal who visited Songlin Village that day, one would be enough.

It still wasn’t safe enough.

Li Qiuchen said seriously, “Going down to save people now definitely won’t work, but if they dare to come into the mountains, we can plan things out. Do you simply want to play the hero, or do you want to give these bandits an unforgettable lesson?”

sound mimicking a broken-beaked crane!

When the Stupid Bird got serious, its brain suddenly came online, as if it knew what it meant for the enemy to be strong and itself to be weak, and what it meant to take the long view.

“Listen to my arrangements. Do exactly as I tell you. If you don’t listen, I won’t save you even if you’re stewed, do you understand?”

Ga!

“Come on, let’s go set things up.”

After noon, the group of bandits finally got the information they wanted and swarmed toward the mountains.

The road leading out was not the same as the road into the mountains.

There were no roads in the mountains at all; only the riverside was relatively flat, but it was all covered in pebbles, and horses couldn’t be led through.

The group walked laboriously to the lakeside and looked at the calm surface of the lake in silence.

“Leader, it’s right here!”

Second Scabby, who was leading the way, pointed at the temporary stove built by the lake and said hurriedly, “That old fogey had people set up a stove and cook here. I don’t know who he invited to help…”

“Are you stupid? How could there be anyone in the mountains?”

Call Break Heaven wiped a handful of sweat from his forehead, kicked Second Scabby away, and squinted his eyes to look at the lake.

This mountain gully can produce mysterious pearls?

“San’er! Take the brothers who are good swimmers and go down to have a look!”

At his command, a small Leader brought seven or eight men forward, stripped off their clothes and shoes, and dove into the water.

The originally calm lake water was instantly churned into a muddy mess.

“Leader! There are mussels!”

Soon, someone surfaced and ran excitedly to Call Break Heaven with a mussel shell.

Call Break Heaven almost died of anger: “Why are you giving me a shell? I want the pearls inside!”

“No, Leader, think about it. If there are shells, it means there must be live mussels, right? It means we’ve found the right place!”

Hearing his subordinate’s explanation, Call Break Heaven grinned and laughed loudly, “You’re right! Brothers, work harder! Once we finish this job, our Fortress will prosper! We’ll have wine and meat whenever we want!”