Prairie under the night sky

  Prairie under the night sky

  Some people even speculated that this young man might have eloped with a beautiful female slave from a noble family and ran away to Balen. Others thought to themselves: If I had such a lovely and beautiful female slave, I would definitely dress her up beautifully, but not for others to see, only for myself... Actually, wearing nothing is the most beautiful, holding her in bed is simply a heavenly pleasure.

  Amun sipped his own wine, the crowd in the tavern each had their own thoughts and guesses, finally a drunken voice loudly asked: "Stranger, did you abduct this girl?"

  "It was she who brought me to this town, searching for a lost sheep."

  Yoon Na-na also smiled and said: "I wasn't kidnapped by him, I brought him here, he's a good person who helped me."

  At this time, the hotel owner hurried over to persuade: "He's drunk, don't mind him." Then the boss ran over again to persuade the drunken person, fearing that everyone would say something wrong and cause a conflict, smashing things in the tavern.

  Amon felt that the atmosphere around him was somewhat off, with some glances from certain corners carrying an inexplicable hostility. He no longer wanted to stay here for long. This copper coin a cup of inferior wine was indeed not very good to drink, and it wasn't even as good as the wild fruit wine brewed by the cave-dwelling barbarian tribe. Amon drank quickly, with Yin Nanna standing beside him constantly refilling his cup. After finishing his drink, Amon put down his cup and asked again: "Boss, what's the most expensive wine you have here?"

  The boss was surprised again, picked up a delicate copper bottle from behind the counter and walked to the table: "This is the best wine in our store, only two bottles, one bottle for one silver coin."

  Ah Mon felt his large leather pouch and found that the three silver coins he had taken out earlier were all gone, leaving only twenty scattered copper coins. He then took out a small leather pouch from his bosom, opened it, and took out two silver coins, saying: "I'll take both bottles of wine, how much is this jug of wine?"

  It's really cheap! The bottle of wine that the boss brought back is the same as the one his father gave him when he left Du Ke Town. In his hometown, it would sell for 15 silver coins, but here it only needs 1 silver coin. Amun didn't buy it to drink himself, he doesn't like drinking, these two bottles of wine are prepared for Xue Dingyan.

  The boss's eyes were slightly wide, he reached out to touch his forehead as if wiping sweat, and nodded repeatedly: "You bought these two bottles of wine, that one jug is free, no charge"

  Amon made a trip to the town today and had some extra gains. He bought clothes and got two pairs of shoes for free, bought mutton and got a whip as a gift, and bought wine and got another pot of wine for free. However, he didn't like this town very much, just wanting to hurry up and send Yinnana back, then cross the Youdi River and continue eastward. At least he learned one thing here, that many places in the outside world are indeed very different from Duketown.

  Amon easily put two bottles of wine into the large leather bag, Xue Ding was still shrinking inside and snoring loudly, without any reaction at all. He took Yin Nana away from the tavern.

  ……

  Two strangers left, but the tavern owner still stood there for a long time without moving. Someone next to him jeered and shouted: "Schutte, what's wrong with you? Has your soul been taken away by that female slave? Why didn't you negotiate and buy her at a high price? I really want to know how much such a beautiful female slave is worth?"

  Another voice also shouted: "That foreigner himself drinks the cheapest wine, but bought two bottles of the most expensive wine to take away. Is it for that female slave to drink at night? He is really good to that female slave, if I could afford such a female slave, I would also be willing to feed her with such expensive fine wine."

  The hotel owner, Shute, finally came to his senses and shouted loudly: "Buy her? What do you think I just saw? It's a divine stone, and there's not just one divine stone in the young man's money bag!"

  Amon didn't mean to show off when he paid, he just opened a small corner of his leather pouch, and the others couldn't see what was inside. But the boss standing next to him caught a glimpse of the divine stone's luster in an instant. This situation is too strange, the divine stone is a symbol of nobility, how can someone who has a handful of divine stones in their pocket drink inferior wine for a copper coin?

  The atmosphere in the tavern suddenly became lively, and people began to discuss loudly with red faces and ears, and the story of the outsider was retold as another.

  The young man should be a servant of some noble family, stealing his master's money and eloping with the beautiful female slave. The female slave must have been very favored by her original master, eating and dressing in the best way possible, and the young man was already quite frugal to spend so much on her. But this young man himself was also very stingy and didn't want to spend too much money to arouse suspicion, or he was just a poor devil who didn't know how to spend money.

  Someone started to count with his fingers, one divine stone is worth twenty gold coins, one gold coin is worth twenty silver coins, and one silver coin is worth one hundred copper coins. The skirt the young man bought for the girl was sixty copper coins. How many skirts can be bought with one divine stone? The correct answer is six hundred, and you still need to find a copper coin.

  No matter how you calculate it, no one can figure it out. In short, there are a lot of them, and everyone thinks that the skirt Ah Meng bought for Yinnana is really too cheap. With a divine stone in his pocket, he bought a dress worth only 60 copper coins for such a beautiful girl. The boy's money must be problematic.

  No one noticed, amidst the drunken crowd's wild guesses and discussions, that at the best, largest, and cleanest table in the corner, two people whispered a few words to each other, paid the bill, and hastily left.

  ……

  Amon asked outside the town: "Yin Nana, where do you live? Where should I send you?"

  Yin Nanna: "You can meet me at that place, my sheepfold is not far from there, I can walk back myself."

  Ammon thought for a moment and said: "Alright then, I'll send you back to where you came from. Take your little lamb and hurry home."

  Halfway back, the sky had gradually darkened. The half-moon rose, and under the quiet moonlight, you could just make out the rolling grassy slopes. The night was another kind of gentle and peaceful beauty.

  If the experience in the town just now was a little unpleasant, it has long been forgotten in this beautiful scenery. Walking under the moonlight can't be too fast, and the two of them are like taking a leisurely stroll together, with Yinnana's hand still holding a small lamb.

  Under the moonlight, Ah Mon had just walked a short distance when he suddenly stopped and his face turned solemn. Yin Nanna asked curiously: "What's wrong with you? Are you tired again?"

  Ammon shook his head: "No, someone is watching us."

  Yin Nanna's face showed a look of panic: "It's late at night, how can there be someone here? Where are they? Why didn't I see them?"

  Amon: "There are people in front and behind, they must be coming for us. ...Yoon Na-na, don't be afraid, I'll take care of them and make sure you get back safely."

  After finishing speaking, he let go of Yinnana's waist and raised the iron branch staff to shout loudly around: "Since you've come, why hide there? I don't know you, nor do I owe you money, so why are you coming with weapons in the middle of the night?"

  A cold laugh came from ahead, and two people walked out. The person in front was holding a long sword, while the person behind him surprisingly held a staff. The staff holder shouted: "Foreigner, you stole the master's money and eloped with the female slave, yet you still dare to swagger around in Sumel Town?"

  The man with the sword said: "We won't waste words either. Leave your money bag and female slave, and we might spare your life."

  As the voice spoke, three more people emerged from the grassy slope behind, holding axes and clubs, clearly with ill intentions. Yoon Na-na cowered beside Ammon, whispering: "Whatever you do, don't believe what they say. They want to rob your money and kidnap me. They'll definitely kill you to silence you. How can such a thing be spread around for people to know?"

  Amon didn't feel afraid, his first thought was of Ma Qi, the neighbor from Du Ke Town, that three extremes martial artist who tried to rob and murder in the Black Fire Forest but was killed by Old Crazy. His second thought was about the three things Old Crazy had told him, first being not to kill people easily, even if he had to kill someone, try to use the least amount of force possible.

  He asked strangely: "The person opposite you, holding a staff, is a divine technique master? Since he is a divine technique master, why do such things?"

  As soon as these words came out, a voice from behind shouted in a slightly panicked tone: "Master Wennu, he has recognized you, we can't let him go now!"

  The man with the sword shouted, "Hansom, shut up!" Then he rushed at Amun and said, "Since you know there is a noble god here, why don't you hand over your purse and female slave to ask for forgiveness for your sins?"

  This group of people are inexperienced as bandits, and this is their first time committing murder for money. The two men in front were the sons of the mayor of Sumel town. The older brother was named Gai, a second-class warrior, while the younger brother was named Vinnu, a first-class divine spellcaster. Sumel town couldn't compare to Dok town which produced important strategic materials, so the mayor's position wasn't high, merely the lowest rank of nobility in the kingdom of Balen.

  The town mayor sent his youngest son to a nearby city-state to study divine magic, spending almost half of the family's wealth. Wen Nu became a first-class divine magician. This time he returned home from the city-state and asked his father for money to bribe the gods' officials, wanting to secure a position as a priest in the city-state's temple.

  However, the mayor's father was unwilling to take out so much money again and advised his son to become a priest in the temple in town. Anyway, after all, it was difficult for Winnie's family to come up with the money at once, so he took his brother Gai to the tavern to drink and vent their emotions.

  The result was that in the tavern, they saw Ah Mon and Yin Nan Na. They learned that Ah Mon had a large sum of money on him, and they began to have ideas. When people drink too much, their courage also increases, and they actually thought of doing something treacherous for wealth and murder. The two brothers discussed it and decided that the money would go to the younger brother, while the beautiful and unparalleled female slave would go to the older brother.

  The two brothers had made up their minds, and they took three sturdy servants with them, armed to the teeth, and left the town. They walked faster than Armon and blocked him here by taking a shortcut.

  The servant hadn't drunk, and it was the first time he had done such an evil deed, so he couldn't help but feel a little timid. As soon as Amun mentioned the sorcerer, the servant named Hanson thought he recognized Wen Nu, for in the town of Sumer there was only one sorcerer by that name, and no one needed to mention it to know who it was. Gai scolded the flustered servant, waiting for Amun to kneel down and beg for mercy.

  "Leave now, armed, and I will spare you." Amun said suddenly in a cold tone that no one expected, his voice filled with an inexplicable majesty, like a noble priest or simply like a god.

  Don't look at Ah Meng's young age, but when he's serious, he's very majestic. This temperament was cultivated unknowingly, don't forget that he was worshipped as a god in the Cave People tribe. Ah Meng himself doesn't like to put on airs, but the cat beside him has a bigger attitude than anyone else, watching Xue Dingshan every day and still can't learn from it?

  Wen Nu and Gai Yi were both startled, even having a momentary illusion - Ah Mon seemed like a king in disguise, they immediately thought this illusion was ridiculous, which king would wear straw sandals to walk at night?

  Guy burst out laughing, the laughter seemed to be encouraging himself, he drew his sword and stepped forward: "Foreigner, you're looking for death. According to Article 18 of the Balen Kingdom's law, civilians who steal or abduct others' slaves will be sentenced to death. Let me execute it here."

  Amon was afraid of hurting Yina, and didn't want to wait until everyone surrounded him before making a move. He took a step forward, swung the iron branch staff in his hand, and struck out at Gai's shoulder. Amon's staff looked like an ordinary tree branch, and when he swung it, it was light and airy, without any unusual signs.

  Guy's face was full of ridicule, his sword wasn't the best horse steel, but it was also a sharp fine iron made, which cost him 15 silver coins. This foreigner actually used a tree branch to attack him, Guy perhaps wanted to show off, suddenly shouted loudly with both hands holding the sword and exerting force, slantingly slashing towards the incoming "tree branch", wanting to cut Amun along with the tree branch into two segments at once.

  The force he used was not small, this sword could cut down a tree trunk, let alone a withered branch. However, when the sword struck the branch, it made a metallic collision sound, and in the dark night, a dazzling spark was drawn out, a piercing shock, and the slender fine iron sword was actually broken off.

  The deformed sword tip flew out, and the other half of the hilt fell to the ground. Gai's tiger mouth was shattered. Amun's "branch" struck the sword with a light flutter, but it carried a kind of impact force and strange vibration, and the scattered shockwave drilled into his body, making half of Gai's body numb, and he couldn't even make a sound in his throat.

  Amon's staff broke through Gai's tempered long sword, seemingly without any hindrance or impact, and continued to swing towards the right shoulder of Gai, making a few faint "pffft" sounds. There was no blood splattering scene, but Gai's body suddenly softened and fell to the ground. He was a second-level warrior, while Amon used the power of several levels of warriors, which couldn't be seen. This was the technique of the miners in Duketown, only this time it wasn't using a large hammer, but an iron staff, and what was being struck wasn't ore.

  Amon's takedown of Gai was just one move, but that one move embodied the perfect combination of speed, power, agility, and accuracy. He wasn't proficient in martial arts, nor did anyone teach him various combat skills on the battlefield; when he practiced physical techniques with the Cave Bear Clan, he would also go hunting, having seen all sorts of ferocious beasts. Fighting against ferocious beasts isn't about fancy moves - it's about being simple and effective, and Amon always caught them alive, never killing a single beast on the spot, which was much harder than killing one.

  Amon has this habit, on the one hand, because living beasts brought back to the village can be slaughtered and eaten fresh at any time. On the other hand, Link also likes to experiment with raising various wild animals, trying not to let the tribespeople take risks hunting and having a constant food source. Amon doesn't care what kind of beast can or cannot be domesticated, as long as the tribespeople catch them alive and bring them back.

  So when he goes hunting, there is always a group of people following him. Some people are driving the beasts towards Amun's location in the mountains and valleys, while others follow Amun with ropes and clubs. Amun swings his iron rod to knock down one beast after another, and the cave-dwelling people rush up to tie them up with ropes and carry them away. Every time this happens, the tribe becomes lively like a festival.

  Amon often sparred with Ironclad Beast King, not really fighting but just testing skills. Gai's one sword looked like it was coming at him with great force, but compared to the tail whip of Ironclad Beast King Yun Meng, it was far inferior.

  With one strike, Ahmon strode past Gai's side, the iron staff swinging down in a smooth motion to tap his left shoulder in the same spot, then accelerated as he suddenly darted forward like a wild beast, the staff striking out with a whooshing sound, and a ball of flame was struck flying in all directions.

  Wen Nu is a divine magician, normally he should have cast a divine spell to cover or assist when Gai moved, but he didn't expect his own brother, a second-level warrior, to be knocked down by this outsider in the blink of an eye. Casting another divine spell was already too late, and in a hurry, he only managed to send a fireball towards Amun.

  A first-class divine spellcaster can only cast simple low-level divine spells. Fire elemental divine spells are powerful, dazzling and impressive, many people like to learn them first, and Wen Nu is no exception. This kind of divine spell has a huge power against ordinary people, and it's also very effective against general warriors, because this is a mysterious and unattainable power that others don't possess, with excellent intimidation and damage effects.

  But Amun's judgment was very accurate, and he wasn't afraid at all. He charged forward, scattering the fireballs like fireflies, without dodging or evading. Wen Nu let out a cry of surprise, his consecutive divine techniques couldn't be released in time. Amun's iron staff swung over, the tip bringing a sharp gust of wind that swept across his cheek, feeling a stinging pain as if he had been cut by a knife, only missing his brain by a hair's breadth.

  It wasn't his head that was smashed, but rather the sound of a loud crack. Wen Nu's staff was shattered into several pieces. His staff wouldn't have been able to withstand Amun's gaze anyway - it was just a hard walnut wood rod embedded with an ordinary divine stone through divine craftsmanship. Even if the walnut wood was extremely hard, how could it withstand Amun's sweep? As the staff broke, the divine stone at the tip turned into powder, and Wen Nu let out a muffled cry as he spat out blood and fell to the ground.

  Wen Nu was injured, but it wasn't Ah Mon who hit him. While casting a spell, his staff was suddenly destroyed by someone, and the power that had already been activated had nowhere to vent, and if he couldn't control it, it would backlash onto himself. His body felt like it was being burned by fire. The divine stone wasn't smashed by Ah Mon either, Ah Mon wouldn't be so wasteful. It was also because his staff was destroyed while casting a spell.

  "Yin Nanna, come here... All of you, put down your weapons." Ah Mon grasped his staff with one hand and lifted a foot to press it against Wen Nu's cheek as he lay on the ground, coldly shouting at the three servants in the distance.

  Yin Nanna's skirt was already running quickly to Amun's side, and the three servants behind her had not reacted yet. They saw that the two young masters who were usually majestic and invincible were knocked to the ground in an instant. The younger master Wen Nu's head was even trampled underfoot, and his life was about to be taken at any moment. They dropped their axes and clubs, knelt down on the ground together, and shouted: "Foreigner, no, noble warrior, spare our young masters! If they die, we will also lose our lives!"

  Amon looked at them with a slightly strange gaze and asked, "You're quite interesting. Why are you asking me to spare these two young masters? Do your lives have anything to do with mine? Don't forget that you yourselves were armed and came to kill me. What right do you have to ask for mercy on behalf of others when I haven't even said I'll spare you?"

  "We are also forced to do this, we wanted to stop the two young masters but they wouldn't listen, and we didn't want to commit such a sinful act, but had no choice."

  Yin Nanna whispered beside Armon, "We can't let them off, not a single one. Armon, you're so surprising, with such great power... If it weren't for you defeating them today, they wouldn't have spared us. You would've been killed and robbed of your wealth, and I would've been taken away by force... Did they ever intend to spare you? They all deserve to die."

  Amun pointed at the three servants with his staff and said, "As servants, you should be able to persuade your own master, not me. I know what kind of punishment you will receive, so bear it yourself. It's not worth my effort to punish you again." Then he pointed at Gai who was lying on the grass slope: "Your power is useless, and if you had any, it would only bring more harm and disaster to yourself and others." Next, he pointed at Wen Nu under his feet: "You are not worthy of using a staff."

  After saying this, he kicked Wen Nu, who was vomiting blood, down the slope with one foot, and happened to roll to Gai's side. He then rushed to the three servants and said, "Hurry up and carry them back, get out of here now!"

  "Thank you for your kindness." The three servants bowed to the ground, then quickly got up and ran over to carry the two young masters on their backs. One of them picked up the remaining things and they hastily fled into the night.

  Wen Nu was casting a spell when the staff of his Invoking Divine Technique was suddenly destroyed, and the injury he sustained would leave a terrible shadow on a divine technique practitioner for life. Gai's injury was light, Amun only cracked the soft bone at the base of his shoulder, but this kind of injury was extremely difficult to heal, which meant that he might never be able to use his physical strength to wield a sword again.

  As for the three servants, Armon was not interested in taking them in and knew that if they went back, their fate would be worse than that of the two young masters. He remembered when they were in Duketown, Moses, the son of the mayor of Darton, had made a mistake while playing outside, and as punishment, he was not allowed to eat for a day and had to copy the divine teachings. However, the two slaves who were taking care of Moses were beaten half to death. The two young masters had caused such a big disaster and suffered such serious injuries right in front of the three servants, so it was easy to imagine how miserable their fate would be if they went back, or maybe they should escape now.

  As they walked away under the moonlight until their figures could no longer be seen, Ah Mon turned around and wrapped his arm around Yin Nan Na's waist saying: "Didn't scare you, did I? Don't be afraid, let's continue on our journey."