Chapter 90 - 88: Doubting Life
The cautious were still watching and waiting, but the decisive had already begun to act.
Earth Dragon Gang.
"Old Chen, how’s it coming along?"
Vice Gang Leader Lu Shengchun asked an old man who was busy with some woodwork.
"Vice Gang Leader Lu, as far as I can tell, there’s no visible difference between them. His Wooden Token was made less than a year ago, and the wood is just ironwood from the island. All I had to do was find a similar piece of wood to make this; it didn’t even need to be artificially aged."
Old Chen handed two Wooden Tokens to Lu Shengchun.
The number "three" was carved on both tokens. They were the special Wooden Tokens used to command the Seated Mountain Eagle.
The Earth Dragon Gang had won the bid for the third Seated Mountain Eagle. The first thing they did upon returning was summon Old Chen, the gang member most skilled in woodworking, to have him forge a copy of the special Wooden Token.
"Let me see... Old Chen, your woodworking skills are truly impressive. I really can’t tell the difference between these two."
Lu Shengchun examined the two Wooden Tokens, turning them over and over. They felt completely identical.
"Which one is the fake?"
Lu Shengchun asked Old Chen.
"Um... This one, I think?"
After Lu Shengchun had turned the tokens over and over, even Old Chen became unsure for a moment. He hesitated before pointing to the one on the left.
"Lin, take this token and try to lead the Seated Mountain Eagle away."
Lu Shengchun said to a young man standing nearby.
"Yes, sir!"
It wasn’t a particularly dangerous task, so Lin took the Wooden Token and walked toward the Seated Mountain Eagle.
And then...
The Seated Mountain Eagle actually followed Lin away.
"Haha! It worked! It was that simple! Old Chen, you’ve rendered a great service! Quick, go and make copies of the Nuhai Gang’s and the Iron Palm Gang’s Wooden Tokens. When the time is right, we’ll steal their Seated Mountain Eagles!"
Lu Shengchun was ecstatic upon seeing this.
He had only intended to give it a casual try, figuring it wouldn’t matter if it failed.
He never expected it to be so simple.
’Once we steal the Seated Mountain Eagles from those two gangs, even if we can’t use them openly ourselves, we can ship them somewhere else and sell them.’
’That way, the Nuhai Gang and the Iron Palm Gang will each lose over one hundred thousand taels in an instant, and the Earth Dragon Gang can make at least a hundred thousand and change.’
"Um... Vice Gang Leader Lu, I think the one he took... might be the real one..."
Old Chen said, looking a bit awkward.
Lu Shengchun’s smile froze on his face.
"Lin, come here! Now try with this one!"
Lu Shengchun had no choice but to wave Lin over again.
Without a second thought, Lin walked over, picked up the other Wooden Token, and approached the Seated Mountain Eagle again.
He waved the Wooden Token in front of the Seated Mountain Eagle, then tried to lead it away.
The Seated Mountain Eagle glanced at the man and sent him flying several meters with a single kick.
"I guess that’s a no-go. To think it can actually tell if the Wooden Token is real."
Lu Shengchun clicked his tongue.
"Vice Gang Leader Lu, this token’s useless. Should I throw it away or what?"
Lin walked back, rubbing his rear.
Good thing he’s a Skin Refining Martial Artist. Otherwise, a kick like that would have seriously injured him.
"Throw it away? Are you kidding? This thing is worth twelve thousand taels of silver!"
Lu Shengchun shot Lin a glare, took back the fake Wooden Token, and stowed it away safely.
"Vice Gang Leader Lu, should I carve a few more?"
Lin suggested, his eyes glinting.
"Carve a few more? Haha! Lin, you’ve got a bright future ahead of you!"
"Old Chen, go ahead and carve a few more. It pays to be prepared."
Lu Shengchun thought for a moment. ’That’s not a bad idea.’
’If that Qianhai guy turns out to be a pushover, we might be able to swap the tokens multiple times.’
’He’s gone mad for money. The man has a Meridian Passage guard, for crying out loud.’
Old Chen grumbled inwardly but didn’t dare say anything out loud. He could only do as he was told.
Besides those like the Earth Dragon Gang who were trying to forge the Wooden Token, many others had followed Jiang Zuo to his seaside home and were now secretly staking it out.
The reputation of having a Meridian Passage guard was still a potent deterrent. Anyone on the island reckless enough to make a direct move would likely have been dead long ago.
However, as the days went by...
No one else was ever seen around Jiang Zuo, let alone a Meridian Passage guard.
"It’s a lie! There’s no Meridian Passage guard!"
"Even if his guard was hiding, it’s impossible to go this many days without eating or drinking, and without leaving a single trace."
"If there was someone there, there’s no way they could have escaped the notice of so many of us!"
"We move tonight! If we wait another two days, it’ll be too late!"
In a patch of woods not far from Jiang Zuo’s home, a small team of seven was holding a meeting.
Their leader spoke with unshakable conviction.
"Then let’s move tonight!"
The other six raised no objections.
All seven of them were skilled trackers and observers. They were one hundred percent certain that the so-called Meridian Passage guard simply did not exist.
That being the case, there was no reason to hesitate.
Thirty thousand taels of silver was enough to make a man risk his life. What’s more, the supposed guard didn’t even exist. If they didn’t make their move now and someone else beat them to it, they would regret it for the rest of their lives.
"It looks like She Laoliu and his crew are making their move tonight. Should we act as well? If we’re late, we won’t even get the leftovers."
However, their plans had been secretly overheard by another interested party.
"No need. Let them try. A bunch of toads lusting after a swan’s flesh!"
The leader of this other group sneered.
’Robbing that Qianhai character is the easy part. It only counts as yours if you can get away with the loot.’
However, not everyone was as confident in their ability to ambush the ambushers.
More than one or two other groups had independently come to the same conclusion as She Laoliu: they would strike tonight.
And upon learning that others were making a move, even more people decided to join the fray.
「That night.」
The bright moon hung high in the sky.
As She Laoliu and his companions crept quietly toward Jiang Zuo’s wooden cabin...
...he suddenly noticed many similar sounds all around him.
"Shit! There are so many people! What’s the point of sneaking around? Everyone, come on out! Let’s just go over there together!"
Peering into the darkness, She Laoliu counted at least twenty other people and couldn’t help but curse aloud.
’With this many people, what’s the point of trying to be stealthy?’
"She Laoliu’s got the right idea! Let’s go together! We’ll get the money from the kid first, and then figure out how to split it."
Someone immediately voiced their agreement.
With a rough estimate of over thirty people present, even if they split it evenly, each person would get nearly ten thousand taels.
For them, that was an unimaginably huge sum.
And so, a crowd of over thirty people surged forward under the moonlight, closing in on Jiang Zuo’s wooden cabin.
Great Black, who had been lying outside the cabin, opened his eyes. He rose to his feet, his gaze fixed intently on the forest.
"It’s that big black dog."
"Ignore it. That dog does nothing but eat and sleep all day; it’s absurdly lazy. If it dares to make a sound, though, kill it!"
The group paid Great Black no mind.
They ignored Great Black and moved to surround the cabin.
Great Black’s eyes narrowed. ’Are these guys badmouthing me?’
’Whatever. Master said I don’t have to hold back.’
’And with this many people, I’ll have to get serious. Don’t want to get hurt.’
With that thought, Great Black activated the Blood God Skill at full power.
Great Black’s body instantly swelled, growing a full size larger as a dense, blood-red aura erupted toward the heavens.
Under the bright moonlight, Great Black looked like a demon god descending upon the world.
"Q-Quick! Look at the big black dog!"
Of the thirty-some men, most had their eyes on Jiang Zuo’s cabin, but a few were watching Great Black.
When they saw Great Black’s transformation, their faces contorted in terror, and they shouted in trembling voices.
"Is that... that big black dog?"
"How did it transform into... that?"
Seeing Great Black’s new form, everyone began to panic.
They had never imagined that this creature, who seemed so unbelievably lazy, could be this terrifying.
"This pressure... it feels so familiar. It’s like a Meridian Passage Martial Artist!"
"Could it be? Was that kid telling the truth? The Meridian Passage guard is real... but it’s a dog?"
"A Meridian Passage realm dog?"
Murmurs of horror rippled through the crowd.
This was even more terrifying than a human at the Meridian Passage realm!
"ROAR!"
With a ferocious roar, Great Black lunged forward like a crimson blur.
"Run!"
Faced with this version of Great Black, not one of the thirty-plus men had any will left to fight.
But for these petty thugs, their speed was far too slow in the face of a Meridian Passage realm Great Black.
SMACK!
The man at the very back was the first to be overtaken.
With a single swipe of Great Black’s paw, the man’s body exploded into a mist of blood.
He wasn’t the only one. When Great Black attacked, it showed no mercy.
It was practically one man per swipe. In the blink of an eye, half of the thirty-plus men were dead beneath Great Black’s paws. Not a single one could withstand a single one of its blows.
"Great Black, come back. No need to pursue them."
Great Black was getting caught up in the slaughter and was about to finish off the dozen or so who remained when Jiang Zuo’s voice drifted out from the cabin.
Only then did Great Black cease its attack. It returned to the side of the cabin, dispelled the Blood God Skill, and once again flopped down lazily.
...
’What that Qianhai said was true!’
’The Meridian Passage guard is real!’
’It’s just... it isn’t a person, but a big black dog!’
’A Meridian Passage realm dog!’
Seeing this, the men hidden in the forest—the ones who had been planning to ambush the ambushers—dared not even breathe, terrified of being spotted by that horrifying dog.
It was too terrifying!
More than thirty men had charged in, and in the blink of an eye, fewer than ten remained.
That dog killed one man with every swipe. Anyone it hit was obliterated, not even their bones left behind!
If Qianhai hadn’t called it off, none of the survivors would have escaped.
No!
Even an ordinary dog could probably sniff them out, to say nothing of a Meridian Passage realm beast.
If Qianhai wanted them dead, not a single one of them could escape, even hiding in the woods.
At this thought, the men lost all courage to remain. They turned and fled in a panic.
「Before dawn.」
A terrifying piece of news had already spread to every gang on Fire Mist Island, large and small, as well as to the ears of other interested parties.
That Qianhai really did have a Meridian Passage guard!
Only, it was a big black dog at the Meridian Passage realm!
Upon hearing this news, nearly everyone’s first reaction was disbelief.
Only when the news was confirmed through multiple channels were they forced to accept it as truth.
Even Zhou Ruhai fell silent upon hearing the news, his mind reeling for a long time.
As a Meridian Passage realm expert himself, he knew exactly how arduous it was to reach that stage of Cultivation.
But now, people were saying that someone’s pet dog had reached the Meridian Passage realm.
And an incredibly powerful one at that.
For a moment, it made him question his very existence.
If even Zhou Ruhai felt this way, it went without saying for everyone else.
The next morning, as the news spread across Fire Mist Island, the name Qianhai became truly famous.
And with it, Jiang Zuo’s Beast Taming Reputation skyrocketed!