Li Qiuchen realized he had overlooked a problem.
He had thought he had taken every aspect into account, yet he had never considered what standard of quality the pearls produced in this village actually had.
Influenced by the habits of thought from the memories of his previous life, he had subconsciously assumed that pearls ought to be round.
Pearls that were not round were defective goods.
But after seeing the old man’s dumbstruck expression, he knew that the value of the Xuan Pearl he had given the old man far exceeded his own estimate.
“Little brother… no, Exalted Immortal! For your great kindness, please accept this old man’s bow!”
The old man’s face flushed with excitement. He was about to drop to his knees in a grand kowtow, but Li Qiuchen hurriedly stopped him.
“All right, all right, don’t bother with these useless formalities!”
Li Qiuchen helped the old man onto a stool, signaling for him not to get too excited. Then he lowered his voice and asked, “I grew up in the mountains and don’t know the market prices outside. Since you specialize in this trade, tell me, how much could a pearl like this sell for?”
“That’s worth a fortune!”
The old man said in a trembling voice, “A Xuan Pearl this large is extremely rare along our little river. This one pearl alone could cover an entire year’s taxes for our village. If it were placed on the counter of a treasure shop in the county town, it would start at no less than fifty taels of standard silver—and even then, there’d be a price but no stock. If you could find pearls of the same size and string them into a necklace, the price would multiply several times over!”
It was that valuable?
Even Li Qiuchen was startled. Rounded up, didn’t that mean he was a millionaire now?
Seeing Li Qiuchen’s surprised expression, the old man immediately understood. He hurriedly leaned closer and whispered, “For such a treasure, this old man would not dare take it for nothing. If there is anything in my household that catches your eye, Exalted Immortal, please take it. If you have any other requests, although this old man is advanced in years, my sons and grandsons still have strength in their arms. We will certainly do our utmost!”
Li Qiuchen thought to himself, Who doesn’t know how to say nice things? If I asked for boys and girls to eat, could you give me those too?
But he had already taken it out, and he had already said it was to repay the old man for the kindness of a meal. If he brought up conditions now, it would make him seem petty.
Besides, sometimes when you took the initiative to state your terms, it did not necessarily bring any benefit.
So he waved his hand as though he did not care. “Let’s leave the matter here. Consider the meal paid for. And you don’t have to call me Exalted Immortal. I don’t have that kind of ability. Rather, old sir, has anyone in your village gone missing today?”
The old man was greatly alarmed when he heard this. He was already so old; the salt he had eaten was more than the roads Li Qiuchen had walked. How could he fail to hear the implication behind Li Qiuchen’s words?
“This is bad. It must be that Er Laizi! That boy never learned anything good since he was young—eating, drinking, whoring, gambling, and mixing with a pack of disreputable friends. I’ve always suspected he had dealings with those bandits. Could that brat have gone to tip them off?”
“What should we do, Exalted Immortal…”
Seeing the old man’s expectant gaze, Li Qiuchen hurriedly raised a hand. “This is your village’s affair. It has nothing to do with me. As for yesterday’s banquet for the Mountain Lord, only you and I know the specific details. When the bandits come, I only hope you, old sir, won’t sell me out.”
“I absolutely won’t!”
The old man hurriedly thumped his chest in guarantee. “Rest assured, Exalted Immortal. If the bandits truly ask about this matter, I have my own explanation. I absolutely will not betray you!”
Li Qiuchen was not reassured in the slightest.
But this incident could serve perfectly as a whetstone to test the old man’s character.
No man was a sage; as long as one was human, one would have faults.
Whether the old man was deeply scheming, whether he had bullied men and tyrannized women in the village, or whether he had done some other wicked things in secret—Li Qiuchen did not care about any of that. He only wanted to see whether this old man would betray him.
Only after the old man passed the bandits’ test would Li Qiuchen be able to put temporary trust in him and continue associating with him.
Two more days passed, and the bandits came as expected.
Li Qiuchen hid far away in the old forest, secretly observing the movements in the village.
With his current eyesight, every blade of grass and every tree two li away was clearly visible. Unless the other party was also a cultivator, they should not be able to discover him from such a distance.
Logically speaking… a dignified cultivator should not have fallen so low as to end up in a bandit den, right?
But there was no telling with such things. Li Qiuchen still did not understand the cultivation system of this world very well, so he could not rashly draw conclusions.
Thirty to fifty bandits had come. Each and every one rode a horse, with scruffy beards and ragged clothes. They did not look like they were doing particularly well.
The bandit leader, however, was powerfully built. From a distance, he seemed to be over 1.8 meters tall, with a broad back, a thick waist, a full beard, and a large saber on his back.
The group blocked the entrance of the village chief’s house. After a while, the old man was dragged out and hung up at the village entrance. One bandit stepped forward, took a horsewhip, and lashed him fiercely from left and right.
Li Qiuchen’s brows furrowed slightly.
It seemed this group of bandits did not intend to follow the rules of the jianghu.
You came to demand the Xuan Pearl. I gave it to you. Yet you were still unsatisfied… Then there was only one possibility: the bandits were greedy beyond measure and believed that since the old man could produce one Xuan Pearl, he could produce more.
The old man’s mouth was very tight. He was whipped dozens of times in one go and passed out, yet he still did not speak.
The bandit leader was very dissatisfied. He had the old man’s two sons dragged out as well, hung them at the village entrance, and continued beating them.
“Ga!”
The white crane stood beside Li Qiuchen, watching the scene at the village entrance with cold eyes, and gave a soft cry.
Sensing the killing intent released from its body, Li Qiuchen said helplessly, “Do you think the two of us can beat that many bandits?”
The white crane glanced at him, raised a wing, and gave a forceful sweep to the side.
A streak of flowing light flashed past. A sharp feather nailed itself firmly into a tree ten zhang away.
Li Qiuchen was greatly shocked. I never thought you were this kind of bird! I’ve painstakingly fed and raised you for so long, and I didn’t even know you still had this sort of trump card.
The white crane proudly raised its long neck and glanced at Li Qiuchen, as if to say, This bird is no vegetarian. 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. It raised a wing and beckoned lightly, and the feather nailed into the tree actually flew back onto its body.
Wow! Too amazing!
Li Qiuchen hurriedly cupped his fists in praise. “I thought all you knew was how to go ga-ga. I never expected you to be hiding such a divine skill!”
A Shadowless Kick came straight at his face.
“Ga-ga!”
The white crane jerked its beak toward the village.
Are we doing this or not?
No, seriously… where did you get so much sense of justice?
Li Qiuchen rummaged through the medicinal powders he carried with him and shook his head. “Wait a bit longer. Maybe these bandits are only establishing their authority. They might stop after a few lashes. They say even rabbits don’t eat the grass beside their own burrows. Since they’re all from the same area, there’s no need to fight to the death…”
Before his words had even fallen, he saw a disheveled woman crawl out of the village chief’s house. The surrounding bandits roared with laughter.
One of the men tied up at the village entrance suddenly began struggling and cursing furiously. The man whipping him pulled out a knife and stabbed it straight into his chest.
Li Qiuchen fell silent.
The white crane stared at him sideways without making a sound.
“I heard their mountain stronghold has around a hundred men. Less than half of them came this time.”
After a moment of silence, Li Qiuchen said in a low voice, “If we can’t kill all the men who came, then once someone escapes back and leaks the news, the bandits will come back for revenge. With just the two of us, we won’t be able to protect everyone in the village.”
“Ga—!”
The white crane spread its wings.
It had many feathers.
“Eighty?”
Li Qiuchen named a number. The white crane hesitated for a long time before nodding.
The number of feathers it could shoot out was definitely not eighty, but if it retrieved them and reused them, it could shoot at least eighty times.
Eighty times was definitely not enough.
After all, those were feathers, not flying swords.
If it were the flying sword used by the Sword Immortal who had visited Songlin Village that day, one would be enough.
It still was not secure enough.
Li Qiuchen said seriously, “It definitely won’t work to go down and save people now. But if they dare come into the mountains, we can scheme against them properly. Do you simply want to play the hero, or do you want to leave this group of bandits with a lesson carved into their bones?”
“Ga-ga—!”
When the stupid bird got serious, its brain suddenly came online. It seemed to know what it meant when the enemy was strong and they were weak, and what it meant to make a long-term plan.
“Listen to my arrangements. Do whatever I tell you to do. If you don’t obey, then even if someone stews you, I won’t save you. Understand?”
“Ga!”
“Let’s go. We’ll make some preparations.”
After midday, this group of bandits finally obtained the information they wanted and came swarming up toward the mountains.
The road leading outside was not the same as the road into the mountains.
There was no road at all in the mountains. Only the riverbank was relatively flat, but even there it was all stones, and horses could not be led in.
The group made an arduous trek to the lakeside and stared at the calm surface of the lake in silence.
“Chief, this is the place!”
Er Laizi, who was leading the way, pointed at the temporary stove built by the lake and said in a flustered rush, “That old bastard had people set up pots and cook here. Don’t know who he invited to help…”
“Are you stupid? How the hell could there be people in the mountains?”
Jiao Potian wiped the sweat from his forehead, kicked Er Laizi aside, and narrowed his eyes as he looked toward the lake.
This mountain ravine could produce Xuan Pearls?
“San’er! Take the brothers who are good in the water and go down to feel around!”
At his command, a minor leader under him brought seven or eight men forward. They stripped off their clothes and shoes, bared their buttocks, and plunged into the water headfirst.
The originally calm lake water was instantly stirred up until mud and sand churned everywhere.
“Chief! There are mussels!”
Before long, someone surfaced, running excitedly to Jiao Potian with a mussel shell in hand.
Jiao Potian nearly died of anger. “Why the hell are you picking up a shell for me? I want the pearls inside!”
“No, Chief, think about it. If there are mussel shells here, doesn’t that mean there must be live mussels too? It means we found the right place!”
Hearing his subordinate’s explanation, Jiao Potian split his mouth into a loud laugh. “That’s right! Brothers, put your backs into it! Once we pull off this job, our stronghold will prosper! When the time comes, we’ll have wine when we want wine, and meat when we want meat!”