Episode 33

  And then these dozens of bandits searching the mountain stronghold were led by a big leader, one place after another, searching and soon becoming fed up.

  "Hum! Those bird people, they dare to hide in our mountain stronghold!"

  "Exactly! This Noda is a huge mountain stronghold, when can we finish searching it!"

  "Three masters are too cautious!"

  "Shut up! You're going to get yourselves killed! Haven't you heard that a careful journey lasts a thousand miles? Search carefully!"

  That big head shouted loudly.

  "Yes."

  The thieves all responded in unison. They continued to search, but the mountain stronghold was really too big, so they had to divide into groups of three or four to search. Not being under the leader's eyes, and with no one supervising them, the thieves gradually became more and more lax. In the end, they just pretended to shout loudly a few times:

  "Ah! Come out, you son of a bitch, I saw you a long time ago."

  That's all. The backyard is so big that only five or six people came in. After calling out a few times, they didn't even finish walking the small path before returning to report back.

  Insufficient at first, five or six people came in and went straight to the small building where they were hiding. They stared tightly at the thieves, ready to fight to the death at any moment. But seeing that they didn't even have the intention of coming over, they put down their guard and sat back as usual, until Yinger said:

  "Not enough, brother! They've left too!"

  Just then he got up and said to Chang'er:

  "Chang'er, tonight we two will sneak out and escape to the yamen to report to the officials and bring soldiers to exterminate these bandits!"

  "Everything depends on older brother's decision!"

  Chang'e said softly.

  They waited for a whole day, without any movement. There were only two people, one was a middle-aged martial artist and the other was a young scholar. The two of them walked by from a distance, talking in a low voice, very relaxed. They didn't even make half a circle around the garden before they left again. Although there were several guards standing at the entrance of the garden's main and side doors, no one came to patrol the gardens' pavilions and small kiosks. It was all for nothing, being tense for so long. Only when they had both retreated did they finally put their minds at ease.

  It was already midnight, and they couldn't help but sneak down to the garden's side door. The door was tightly closed, with two lanterns hanging high above it, casting a faint glow on the red wooden door, which seemed to be locked. On either side of the door, there were two thieves leaning against the wall, one of whom was clearly asleep, with a knife tied around his waist and his head bowed in slumber. The other thief, however, seemed to be dozing off, but not quite asleep, as he shook his head from time to time, as if trying to stay awake. He let out a sigh and gazed up at the high wall surrounding the garden, which was several zhang tall and extremely wide. The night watchman on duty was indeed diligent in his work, patrolling back and forth with a long knife that shone brightly in the lantern light. After watching for a while, they made up their minds and pulled Qing'er towards the small woods near the water outlet. The water outlet was located under a bridge-shaped archway in the outer wall, which was about one zhang wide. Underneath the archway, there were iron railings that blocked the way, preventing people from entering or exiting. About ten zhang away from the water outlet, there was a small woods with trees of varying sizes, some tall and some short, with low shrubs both inside and outside. They hid in the woods with Qing'er.

  "Insufficient elder brother, shall we two go down to the water?"

  "Wait for a moment, until someone comes!"

  "What's going on?"

  Insufficient but did not answer her. Just staring at the wall patrol, mouth silently muttering to himself. About lunchtime, Insufficient said to that Chen'er:

  "Chang'er, that scoundrel has passed by, let's go!"

  Two people quietly slipped into the water, swimming to the iron railing, where they were whispering something. Although Xiang'er had doubts in her heart, she didn't dare ask questions. She just looked at the shadow on the wall moving back and forth. But Yizhuan was counting against the shadow. Suddenly, Xiang'er realized that Yizhuan's muttering was actually counting the time it took for the thieves to patrol the wall. Two thieves were meeting on the wall above this waterway, then each returned to their respective posts, patrolling towards another thief in the distance. When they met with that person and returned, they would come back to this waterway again. Yizhuan calculated the time it took for the thieves to pass by, and when they were about to return from afar, he lifted the iron railing with both hands, using force to break off a piece of stone from the slot where the iron bars fit. The stone was quite close to the water surface, and with only a faint muffled sound, it entered the water. In the gurgling sound of the flowing water at the entrance of the waterway, this one sound was not unusual at all. However, Yizhuan still stopped his hand, quietly counting the thieves' footsteps. When he saw that the two people had gone far away, he then used force again to break off another piece of stone. This time, the sound of it entering the water was a bit louder. Yizhuan immediately stopped his hand, holding his breath and listening carefully to the sound of the patrolling thieves' footsteps on the high wall above.

  "What's going on?"

  "I don't know. It seems like there's a sound coming from under the wall!"

  "Shh! Listen!"

  One of them said

  For about half a moment, the two of them couldn't hear any unusual sounds. However, they didn't retreat and instead lifted a lantern to shine it under the wall into the waterway. After taking a glance at their reflections in the water, as the thieves moved the lantern further away, their shadows gradually stretched out. He furrowed his brow in surprise. He gestured downwards with his hand towards E'rx and then slowly submerged himself in the water, only exposing his head. E'rx followed suit, but secretly cast a spell to make a withered tree branch from over ten zhang away fall into the water, creating a loud splashing sound.

  "Damn it, what bad luck! These two days have been made so nervous by those two little rascals that I'm on edge all the time."

  "It's alright, as long as nothing happens. San Dangjia has such a good temper, but these past few days have been continuously injuring several brothers, making everyone feel insecure."

  "It's all right, nothing serious, just a withered branch."

  The two thieves took the lanterns and continued their patrol as usual.

  Insufficient to calculate the distance they traveled, they took down the iron gate and followed the water with Chang'er to sneak out. After drifting out for over ten miles, the river gradually widened, and several streams flowed in. Many mountain springs and small streams converged into this river, but the water was still very clear. However, after all, the water in the mountains last night was icy cold and gloomy, so he didn't want Chang'er to suffer, so they both went ashore together. The two of them just slightly wrung out their clothes and looked at the position of the stars to determine the direction before walking.

  The mountain path was narrow and winding, with bandits' ambushes and sentry posts set up at every strategic point. Although he didn't explain it to Zhen Er, he carefully led the way, walking slowly and only on paths that were not well-trodden. Why? Because normally people would take the main road, but in this case, they had to do the opposite. The mountain path was rugged and difficult to traverse, but he used his great strength to protect Zhen Er and safely escort her out of the treacherous terrain. Several times, the two of them encountered steep cliffs that were impossible to climb down, and could only find another route to continue on. As dawn approached, they managed to make their way down from a cliff side. After that, they walked straight onto a main road, where miraculously they no longer encountered any bandit sentry posts or ambushes.

  "We're finally out of the mountains!"

  Chang'er let out a long sigh.

  "It's still far! This is just one of the paths leading to Sanjiao Town. Let's hurry up, or we won't be able to get out of the mountain until nightfall."

  An old peddler replied, "This is not enough for the few people who meet on the main road. They brought mountain goods from the mountains and went to the big market to sell them. The journey was treacherous, but the returns were rich. Because it's a monopoly business, and all the mountain goods are in urgent need of the mountain market outside."

  "When there is gain, there must be someone who plots for it. Such is the way of the world; it cannot be otherwise!"

  Sighing deeply with regret.

  "Old man, aren't you afraid of mountain bandits?"

  "Hush! Don't speak out of turn here!"

  The old man looked around cautiously and, seeing no one paying attention, spoke in a low voice:

  "It's not that we're not afraid of Lord Bei and other powerful men, but rather because we've paid our protection fees!"

  "Protection fee?"

  "Indeed! In these years, even bandits can't make a living! This place has few people, and how much profit can be made? We merchants have a good income. In the past, the mountain king robbed us severely, as a result, we had no food to eat, and they had less income. Now, in recent three or five years, he only asks us for protection fees, and both parties are happy!"

  "Ah! There's actually a capable person among these mountain bandits!"

  "It's not just a capable person, even the most capable people in the government can't compare!"

  "Hmm! Old man, I hear what you're saying, but it seems that thieves are better than the government?"

  "The robbers all know that the people have no extra grain, and yet the officials only care about taxes, not asking about the harvest or the people! Not to mention other things! Although I am an old fool, I don't know what is deep or shallow. But if there are no people in the world, how can there be officials?"

  "This is indeed letting the thieves off and not allowing the government! It's really a case of the tax burden being heavier than the bandits!"

  "Haha, nonsense from an old man, don't mind him, you two!"

  "Go, young one! It's time for you to gain some experience!"

  They arrived at the town of Sancha in the evening and stayed at the same inn, but they didn't see the dozen or so guests who had been kidnapped by the mountain bandits that day. Nor did anyone mention it, as if nothing had happened before. Even the stench of the corpses in the lobby of the inn was gone without a trace.