Black Wind Stronghold
Zhu Wei returned to the main hall of the stronghold. Although the neighboring hall was littered with corpses of over thirty women and children, he was a soldier who had been through countless battles. He had crawled out from mountains of corpses and seas of blood. What was there to be afraid of? What was there to be afraid of?
He entered the hall and lit a candle. He then walked up to the chest and played with the silver. Just as he neared the chest, he heard a buzzing sound. The entire room turned cold as the candles and fire were extinguished. The entire room was plunged into darkness.
"Woo …." A cold wind blew in, as a ghostly fire appeared on the chest. Cries could be heard as the shadows of people who had been hacked to death appeared from within the black smoke.
"Who is it?"
Seeing these ghostly figures, Zhu Wei was not afraid at all. He pulled out his blade, "I am a soldier, and you are a traitor. It is only right and proper for me to kill you. If you want to cry injustice, you are committing treason. If I can kill you, then I can do it again."
As he said this, he swung his blade downwards. Strangely, as soon as he swung his blade, the cries and the shadows disappeared. Zhu Wei laughed out loud, but just as he retracted his blade, the black smoke congealed in mid air and transformed into a huge snake. With a "pu" sound, the snake bit the man in the chest.
"Ah!" Zhu Wei let out a groan as his body staggered. Within seconds, his face turned black. He was a man after all. Gritting his teeth, he threw his blade away.
The blade sliced through the air, and a "pu" sound was heard. Blood splattered everywhere, and a blurry shadow appeared. The man's expression changed, "Not good, I saw blood. My trance technique has been broken."
"Your Excellency, your Excellency!" The archers outside heard that something was wrong and barged in. Seeing a shadow sneaking out, they immediately called the police and checked on Zhu Wei.
"Not good, your excellency has been killed."
At this point, Cao San who was outside was shocked. His clothes were stained with blood. He threw away the wine and meat in his hands and rushed into the stronghold. These archers had been through a lot and were now in groups of three to five.
At this point, Pei Zi Yun and the rest of the villagers no longer stepped forward. They all watched on coldly, watching the farce unfold. Only Pei Zi Yun held onto his bow as he swept his gaze across the area. Gradually, he found a shadowy spot, where he drew his bow and pulled the bowstring.
"Whoosh", an arrow pierced through the darkness. A "pu" sound could be heard as a shadow outside the flames screamed in pain.
"Who, who?" The villagers shouted.
Pei Zi Yun didn't move forward. He looked at the man in white robes, who had been shot in the shoulder. With a loud shout, he pulled his bow back into a crescent shape. With a "pu" sound, the arrow pierced straight through. The man in white robes let out a muffled groan, his eyes filled with unwillingness. He stood there for a few seconds before falling to the ground.
"Alright!" Even Zhang Dashan's jaw dropped. This Pei Zi Yun was an Elementary Scholar … and yet he had such archery skills.
Pei Zi Yun stepped forward and saw that it was indeed a rogue cultivator. He then muttered to himself, "If it weren't for the fact that you were so angry that you wanted to kill Zhu Wei, I wouldn't have been able to kill you."
Even if he didn't kill Zhu Wei, Pei Zi Yun would still organize a search party. He then walked up to the rogue cultivator and started searching his body. His hands trembled as he thought to himself, 'I hope there's one!'
When he touched it, his heart was filled with excitement. He didn't even need to open it, as he could feel a sense of hope.
Pei Zi Yun saw a mountain pearl and a small booklet. The booklet's handwriting was neat and tidy. When he opened it, he saw that it was densely packed with records of cultivation. The Dao Arts didn't matter much, but the petals of the Plum Blossom were trembling slightly. It was obvious that this person had this booklet with him since he started cultivating. He treasured this booklet very much.
Pei Zi Yun then hid the pearl and the booklet in his sleeves. At this point, an enraged Cao San came out of the stronghold. Seeing this, he didn't say a word and started hacking at the corpse. After some time, he stopped and asked, "Elementary Scholar Pei, what do we do now?"
"What else can we do?" Pei Zi Yun stood up and said coldly, "Such a big matter has happened. We can only wait for the Chief Patrol Officer to come and deal with it personally."
As he said this, he ignored Cao San's unresigned expression and walked away.
…
The next day.
When the Chief Patrol Officer received the news, he rushed to the stronghold. Everywhere he looked, there was blood everywhere. The heads of the corpses had all been decapitated and piled up together.
The Chief Patrol Officer noticed that the corpses were all dressed in green, and were stained with blood. He could faintly see a black wolf's head embroidered on their clothes. The blood on the ground had already coagulated, but he ignored it.
What's wrong with a soldier killing a few people?
At this point, Cao San walked up and whispered to the Chief Patrol Officer. The Chief Patrol Officer's face twitched as he cursed under his breath, "Idiot! Not a single one of us died in the battle against the bandits. Only some of our men were injured. This is a great achievement. Instead, we were assassinated for money. What a shame! "
When the Chief Patrol Officer entered the stronghold, he sucked in a breath of cold air. He finally understood why Zhu Wei wanted to kill them. These gold and silver were the savings of the Black Wind Bandits.
The Chief Patrol Officer's heart skipped a beat as he smiled, "Elementary Scholar Pei, how do you think we should handle this matter?"
Pei Zi Yun looked at him and laughed, "Your excellency, the Chief Patrol Officer, personally led the archers to surround the Black Wind Bandits and annihilate them in one fell swoop. The bandits have been beheaded. This is a blessing for the people of this county. Leader Cao was also the vanguard of the vanguard. Only Zhu Wei, his excellency Zhu Wei, was the vanguard of the vanguard last night. Despite his bravery, he died in battle."
"As for these …." Pei Zi Yun walked up to the chest and took out a silver ingot. He then handed it over to the Chief Patrol Officer and said, "I'll take it myself."
He then turned around and left.
Seeing this, the Chief Patrol Officer sighed, "He's a true scholar!"
Seeing that Cao San still didn't understand, the Chief Patrol Officer said, "We soldiers can't compare to scholars. If he doesn't take this ingot, we won't be able to rest easy. If he takes this ingot, and only one ingot, he's giving us all the credit and wealth."
"Such a young and heroic man. I've only seen his excellency Xu with such strength of character. Men, bring the money and wealth back. We shall clean up the battlefield."
Snail Village, Pei Household
Pei Zi Yun was rushing home. When he reached home, it was almost noon. Pei Zi Yun's mother had already prepared lunch. After eating, he chatted with her for a while before returning to his room.
The newly renovated room was decorated very elegantly. There was a wooden couch in the middle of the room, and a bookshelf outside. The books on the bookshelf were neatly arranged. There were thousands of them, and they were all given to him by Zhao Ning. Apart from the bookshelf, there was a study table by the window. The window was covered with paper, and there were ink, ink, paper and brushes on the table.
Pei Zi Yun sat on the wooden couch, lost in thought. His emotions gradually calmed down. Although he had been calm before, he was now afraid. These patrolling officers who had retired were truly cruel.
'But I have the title of Elementary Scholar, and I've taken the dirty silver. In the future, I'll be safe. I can even sell them a favour.'
This was an ingot of official silver, and was worth ten taels. It was white and dark, and had a thin edge. In the past, it was a lot for the Pei family, but now it was just pocket money.
'Actually, after Zhu Wei's death, and a whole night had passed, I couldn't hide it any longer. If I had insisted, I could have gotten at least two or three hundred taels of silver. But why bother?'
'I didn't get much money, and even made enemies. Now, the patrolling officers are taking responsibility for everything, including Zhu Wei's death.'
'Besides, to me, I've gotten the lion's share!'
Pei Zi Yun drank a mouthful of tea and placed the bowl on the table. He exhaled and took out two items. He looked at the Mountain Pearl. In the previous life, the original owner was a decent cultivator, and thus had some knowledge about it. 'This Mountain Pearl can be used to refine a magical weapon, but it's of a very low quality.
'But if I were to sell it, I would be able to get a thousand taels of silver.'
'Let me take a look at this book.'
As soon as he opened the book, he saw that the handwriting was as red as blood. There were many talismans and drawings of men and women without clothes, laughing and playing. They were all drawings of erotic scenes, and there were even some ancient seals. Behind the drawings, there were many annotations and insights.
Pei Zi Yun didn't have much understanding of demonic techniques in his previous life, and thus started reading. Towards the end, he saw the handwriting of this rogue cultivator. When he read it carefully, he felt a chill run down his spine. So the demonic sect had already laid out their pawns, and this rogue cultivator was one of their pawns. Pei Zi Yun sighed, "Looks like there's proof that it's Zhang Jie Yu."
As he continued reading, he felt both angry and amused at the same time. He then said, "This rogue cultivator's foundation is weak, and these Dao Arts are all evil and devious. I think it has something to do with Holy Jail Sect's Dao Arts."
"If I were to learn it, I would be in deep trouble."
"Luckily, I don't need to learn it. All I need to do is steal a thread of inspiration."
He calmed himself down and picked up the book. He could feel the rogue cultivator's Dao Arts, and the strong feeling he had. "The Dao Arts are wrong, and the path is wrong. But this heart of seeking Dao, it's more or less the same, right?"
He placed the book under his pillow, and gently rested his head on it. He waited for the dream to begin. Once the dream was over, he would be able to gain spiritual wisdom and Dao Arts. When that happens, everything will be different.
He was really tired yesterday. Coupled with the effects of the Plum Blossom, after a few minutes, he fell into a deep sleep.
It was another sunny afternoon, different from the last time. It was nearing the end of spring, and the chill had mostly dissipated. The sun shone through the window, and into the room. Pei Zi Yun woke up.
Pei Zi Yun got off the bed and walked to the window. There were lotus flowers in the lake, and the sunlight reflected off the clear water. It was a beautiful sight. He looked at the sunlight, and realized that he hadn't slept for long. However, he wasn't happy, and frowned.
When he was asleep, he did have a dream. However, it was different from the previous two times. This time, it was a blur. When he woke up, he could only vaguely remember that the dream was about a person's life, but could not remember the details.
This wasn't right.
Could it be that this Dao Art wasn't working?
"System!" He didn't need to close his eyes to think. All he had to do was call out, and a small white Plum Blossom appeared in front of him. It grew bigger and bigger, and became a translucent information interface. It floated in front of him, and as he looked at it, information would appear.
"What? My current authority is only a single petal. In order to absorb supernatural Dao Arts, even the most basic ones, I have to form a second petal?"
"In order to form a second petal, my current Elementary Scholar status is not enough to satisfy my family's expectations. I have to become a High Scholar?"
Just as he was thinking, the information interface changed, and a line of words appeared.
"Mission 5: Become a High Scholar, and fulfill my mother's wish (Incomplete)"
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