Chapter 677: Leave

Chapter 677: Departure

"Eldest Sister, could you come out for a moment? There is something I wish to ask you," Yang Xiaohai called out toward the wooden boat moored beside the platform that rose from the surface of the sea.

When he saw his eldest sister emerge from within, he led her a little further away, feigning hesitation before he spoke, "Eldest Sister, are you still short of hands on your side?"

"What is this? Had a falling out with your father, and now you want to come along with me? You are no longer a boy, stop acting like a child."

Yang Xiaohai remained silent, watching the monkey children holding several pieces of stone as they darted into the boat's canopy to exchange them for silver.

It was plain to see they were well-versed in such matters; they moved with a swift agility, making not the slightest sound.

After giving Yang Xiaohai a thorough scolding in the manner of an elder sister, she continued, "If you want to follow, so be it, but you must kowtow and apologize to your father. I know you are resentful, but no matter how harsh his words may be, he is your father after all."

"Once your father's anger has subsided, I will take you with me. You are my brother, and even if you cannot hold an official post for the time being, I can still find some other errand for you to do."

"And do not disdain it either; our Kingdom of Li is currently at war with the Later Shu, but anyone can see that the Later Shu is on its last legs. When the great victory comes, you will have a share of the credit."

Once he saw the monkey child leave with the silver in hand, Yang Xiaohai nodded with a display of obedience and walked back toward his own boat.

Upon entering the cabin and seeing the silver cradled in the monkey child's arms, Yang Xiaohai let out a great sigh of relief. "Good! Pack up quickly! We leave right now!"

In truth, there was little to pack; everything else had already been sold off by Chi Baishui.

Under the cover of night, Yang Xiaohai and the other four each took a portion of the silver and crept stealthily toward the shore, though their journey was not entirely without incident.

Yet whenever anyone chanced to be startled awake, the rotten wood ruyi never failed to soothe them into stillness; by the time they came to their senses, Yang Xiaohai was already far away, leaving them to believe it was merely an illusion or a dream.

Having finally left those wooden dwellings built upon the sea without further mishap, Yang Xiaohai and his companions trotted along the path, making their way toward the interior.

Though he was exhausted and the deep night was cold, Yang Xiaohai felt as though he had come alive once more. He was going home! Returning to his true home!

"Master! Let us rest a moment, the monkey child cannot keep up." Hearing the words from behind, Yang Xiaohai turned his head and saw the monkey child holding the silver, panting heavily from exhaustion.

Without a carriage, and with the silver being so heavy, running was naturally an arduous task. Glancing down the deserted dirt road, Yang Xiaohai reached out and stacked the monkey child's silver atop his own. "Very well, let us rest for a moment then, but we cannot sleep. Baishu and that Kingdom of Li are at war, we must hasten back to Qingqiu."

Just as Yang Xiaohai and the others sat by the roadside, gasping for breath, he suddenly saw torches flare up along the coastal road, resembling a long dragon of fire.

"Not good! They are awake!" Yang Xiaohai scooped up the silver, preparing to run again, but torches had appeared in the direction of the road ahead as well; he was surrounded!

With nowhere to flee, Yang Xiaohai soon recognized the faces illuminated by the torches; they were his Danjia relatives, led by his own biological father.

That in itself was nothing, but when Yang Xiaohai saw his own mother standing beside him with shifting, guilty eyes, his mind instantly felt as though it had been struck by an iron hammer.

To be discovered in his escape was of little consequence, but he had never imagined that it would be his own mother who betrayed him—that the very mother who had been so good to him would turn informer!

"Wonderful! Truly wonderful! Trying to run, are we! And trying to run with the silver, no less!" Chi Baishui appeared exceptionally furious, his face crimson, the veins on his forehead bulging out.

The eldest sister in the crowd also bore an ashen countenance; she now understood that Yang Xiaohai calling her out earlier had merely been a ruse to deceive her and reclaim the silver.

"Damn it, beat him thoroughly for me! Do not hold back, if he dies, it is on me!" As Chi Baishui spoke, Yang Xiaohai watched his eldest and second brothers, leading a band of young men, roll up their sleeves and advance toward him.

"Get back!" Enraged, Yang Xiaohai swung the rotten wood ruyi in his hand with great force, and the group instantly froze in place, their faces entirely blank with confusion.

This sight caused the surrounding Danjia people to recoil several steps in terror, staring at the object in his hand with unsettled spirits.

"What is that? What on earth is that?"

"A soul-snatcher, isn't it? The fifth child of the Chi family can snatch souls!"

Amidst the flurry of hushed discussions, the eldest sister suddenly spoke up with a look of pleasant surprise, "It is a Dharma artifact! That is a Dharma artifact capable of snatching souls! It is a rare treasure!"

"The County Magistrate said that by handing such an item over, one could exchange it for an official post of at least the eighth rank! And the better the item, the higher the rank of the post one can receive!"

As soon as these words were uttered, a fervent heat kindled in everyone's eyes, and a clamor of voices arose.

Seeing that these people were not intimidated by him but had instead grown excited, Yang Xiaohai knew at once that things had taken a turn for the worse.

"Follow me in a moment! We will charge into the forest! Once inside, scatter and run! Every man for himself!" Having spoken, Yang Xiaohai swung the ruyi forcefully toward the crowd on the left, and the eyes of the people in that direction began to cloud with confusion. "Go!"

Yang Xiaohai led his companions quickly through the bewildered crowd, forcing their way forward.

As Yang Xiaohai continued to wave the ruyi in his hand, large swathes of the Danjia people fell into a daze, but just as they were about to break through the encirclement, a cold gleam flashed from the left.

A barbed fish gig flew through the air in an instant, impaling itself directly into the back of Yang Xiaohai's hand, the very hand holding the rotten wood ruyi.

Under the excruciating pain, the rotten wood ruyi slipped from his grasp and fell a short distance away.

Enduring the agony, Yang Xiaohai was just about to step forward to retrieve it when another fish gig flew through the air, pinning his left foot directly to the ground.

With a smug expression, Chi Baishui picked up the rotten wood ruyi and walked over to Yang Xiaohai. Seeing the boy glaring at him with a face full of fury, he delivered a sharp slap directly across his face. "To think you possessed such a fine thing and yet kept it hidden away from us!"

"Master!" Zhao Xiumei shielded Yang Xiaohai, looking at Chi Baishui with a face of utter despair. "Father, we are all one family, there is no need to take things to such an extent."

"One family? Who is family with you!" Chi Baishui slapped Zhao Xiumei across the face.

Seeing Yang Xiaohai endure the pain to protect Zhao Xiumei behind his own back, Chi Baishui gave a cold sneer and said, "Fifth child, this wife of yours is truly not bad; she ought to fetch a handsome price. A young wife like this is far easier to sell than a small child."

"What do you think you are doing?!" Yang Xiaohai glared at him with eyes that seemed fit to devour a man.

"Oh my! You act as though you have been so gravely wronged. Look at what you have done: deceiving your mother! Deceiving your father! Stealing the family silver! And secretly hiding a precious treasure without telling your kin—are you even human!"

"Xiaohai?" An unfamiliar voice interrupted their exchange.

Everyone present turned their eyes toward the sound, and they beheld a Taoist priest dressed in a red robe, bearing three swords upon his back, squeezing his way through from the outside.

Li Huowang walked to Yang Xiaohai's side, glancing at his bleeding hand and foot, then at the rotten wood ruyi in Chi Baishui's grasp, and finally at the black cloth upon the eldest sister's shoulder nearby, understanding the situation in an instant.

"Are you a friend of his?" Chi Baishui asked with a look of disdain, before reaching out to rudely shove Li Huowang aside.

"A grown man like you, still mingling with a child, have you no shame? Begone, begone, begone! This is our family matter, what business does an outsider have meddling here."

Li Huowang looked him up and down, his right hand reaching behind his back to grip the hilt of the purple-tasseled sword, and spoke one word at a time, "Who the fuck are you?"

"Shhhk!" With a flash of cold light, Chi Baishui's astonished head soared into the sky.