Chapter 199: Both Sides

Chapter 199: Both Sides

Cao Hai pushed open the door with caution, only to see Peng Longteng lying on the bed, allowing two physicians to dress the wounds on his neck.

"Aiya~!" Cao Hai walked in, came beside Peng Longteng, and stomped his foot vigorously.

"Have you gone mad? You actually killed several thousand people!"

Peng Longteng, who was resting with his eyes closed, spoke. "If war offers no pay, who will fight for them? If there are no rewards, who will fight to win for them?"

"Asking them for money is harder than killing them. Fine, since they have difficulties, I will claim my own reward!"

"Having fought on the battlefield for so long, I cannot treat my soldiers poorly!"

"You, you, you—" Cao Hai was so angry he could not speak.

"It's just a small town of a few thousand people. Look how anxious you are. I didn't even target a city; I've already been very kind to those Big Turbans."

"You make it sound so easy! Those are all subjects of Later Shu!" Cao Hai wiped away tears in anger, pacing back and forth in the room.

"Now the court is already in an uproar over natural disasters, and you insist on adding to their troubles! You have offended them all!"

Pushing away the physician who was stitching his neck, Peng Longteng sat up directly.

"What do natural disasters have to do with me? Even if the sky falls, soldiers must get paid! Besides, what are you afraid of? It's not the first time there has been a disaster."

"Oh my lady, if you want pay, just take the pay, why did you have to kill people?"

Complaining, Cao Hai held his fingers in a delicate orchid pose, wiping the bloodstains on Peng Longteng's armor with a handkerchief.

"Just coming down from the battlefield, with so many dead, yet no reward and no pay, the boys are holding in a breath of anger. If not released, they will riot within the camp."

Cao Hai's voice became much quieter. "No matter how you justify it, paper cannot wrap fire. If the court finds out what you did..."

"Let them know. Do you think those clever ones don't already know?"

"They embezzled the military pay of the convict soldiers. Did they really not guess how I would react?"

"Those above won't make a big scene. The Big Turbans will help cover it up. Otherwise, if it blows up, no one will look good."

"Isn't this great? They don't have to pay extra, we have our pay, no one loses out."

"Besides, I'm not acting blindly. There is a name for this action. Didn't you see I already blew up a few spies from Si Qi?"

Speaking of this, Peng Longteng thought of something, his face immediately darkened, and he reached out to touch his left cheek.

The cyan tattoo on that face had been mostly burned away, the curved characters 'Loyal and Faithful' appearing exceptionally terrifying.

Especially the left eye; Peng Longteng's once delicate phoenix eye was covered by a layer of white cloud, obviously blind now.

"Good lad, to escape from my hands and even injure me, you have guts!"

"Monitor, go communicate with the people of the Heaven Monitoring Bureau. When found, tell me the location. He must be killed by me."

"Ai, General, let it be. Since that lad is from the Ao Jing Sect, he is not under your jurisdiction. Let's return to camp."

"No way! I, Peng Longteng, hold no grudges overnight! Whoever provokes me, whoever it is, must die!"

"There is no reason for that. Oh, you lead troops running all over Later Shu. Do you really think you are the Emperor?"

"A general outside accepts not all orders. The Zhuoshan bandits have raised flags to rebel and prey on the people. This General goes to punish them."

Cao Hai's face was full of helplessness. "How have they rebelled? Were they not just subdued by you?"

"If I say he rebelled, then he rebelled!"

Peng Longteng's hand, wrapped in iron armor, smashed down forcefully, creating a hole in the sturdy wooden bed.

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The wolf-tooth mace with sharp teeth smashed down heavily, crushing the head of a two-meter-long big snake into mush.

Gao Zhijian reached out to pick it up, smiled with simple honesty, threw it over his shoulder, and headed back.

This was a stone forest. Although stones were everywhere, at least it was no longer as barren as before. Green plants brought some vitality to this place.

Walking not far, Gao Zhijian saw the others. It was a cave.

"Do... do... do..." He held the big snake high and approached.

"What do, do? Senior Brother Li does not allow lighting fires. Gnaw on dry rations."

However, Jin Shanzhao did not think so. He smiled and reached out to take the snake.

"Without fire one can still cook. This thing can be made into snake sashimi."

Saying this, he took out a small knife, peeled open the snake skin, carefully sliced the fresh snake meat into pieces, and arranged them meticulously.

Jin Shanzhao picked up bamboo chopsticks, clipped two pieces, dipped them in some chili powder, and put them into his mouth.

"Mm~! Truly incomparable deliciousness. Everyone come and taste."

The others gathered around, eating bite by bite.

Gou Wa, eating happily, stopped his chopsticks and shouted to Li Huowang in the distance: "Senior Brother Li, come eat snake meat. This raw snake meat in the mouth, honestly, feels like chewing fat meat."

At this moment, Li Huowang did not pay him any attention, holding his head and continuing to try his new ability.

"Shua~!" When Li Huowang opened his eyes again, he found his perspective had turned sideways, hanging on the stone wall. Below the stone wall was his own head.

"Closer... a bit closer... don't panic, take it slow..."

As Li Huowang hinted to himself in his heart, his perspective slowly changed, gradually moving to merge with his body into one.

This time there was no difference. After so many days of training, Li Huowang could already align it without the slightest error.

Looking left and right, Li Huowang's phantom suddenly rushed in front of Mantou, who was squatting.

The thing that suddenly appeared before its eyes startled it. Its head fell directly backward, falling to the ground.

Mantou climbed up, its erect ears drooped down, wagging its head and tail at Li Huowang's phantom.

Seeing this scene, Li Huowang thought secretly in his heart: "Regardless of how it came, this ability has great use."

"When fighting others, suddenly doing this has the effect of catching them off guard."

"But I must practice more. I must train until it is as skilled as my own hands and feet."

Li Huowang could now make his phantom appear at will about a zhang away from his body.

Similarly, he could leave the phantom in place and make his invisible true body appear elsewhere within one zhang.

If enemies attacked Li Huowang's phantom, Li Huowang would not suffer any harm, just like when fighting that female general before.

But this ability cannot be used recklessly. Others are not fools. Having suffered once, they will surely be careful if used again.

"Senior Brother Li, how is the mastery of the divine ability?" Bai Lingmiao carried a bowl of snake sashimi and walked over.

"Not bad." Li Huowang picked up chopsticks and began eating like eating noodles.

Raw snake meat was not tasty, but in Li Huowang's view, who was tired of dry rations, it was still quite good.

"Senior Brother Li, how long until we leave Later Shu?"

Li Huowang's chopsticks stopped. He took out the detailed map drawn by Jin Shanzhao from inside his robe and looked at it again.

"The main road cannot be taken. Afterwards we can only take small paths, or even not take small paths. But they do not know where our destination is. I have the initiative in this aspect."

"In two days, we can reach here. Walking upward for about seven more days, we should reach the border pass. We will not go through the pass, but bypass it from the side. As long as we leave Later Shu, we will be safe."

"But... we cannot endure much longer. Even rationing our dried provisions sparingly, they will sustain us for two days at most."

(End of Chapter)