Chapter Fifty-Seven: Dreamy Slumber

  Li Xie's men cleared a patch of land in the woods, parked the carriage to one side, and had his family sit on top. A group of guards sat on the ground, lit a fire, and cooked simple meals.

  "Master, all the dishes are cooked."

  Lily held up a plate of food and placed it in front of Li Xie.

  "Well, let's all eat then."

  Li Xie took the plate himself, poured some fine wine, and Meow sat beside him. Seeing Li Xie holding the wine bottle, she licked her lips and meowed once.

  Li Xie smiled and said: "Little guy, you don't eat all day and just drink wine, when will you grow up? Here, this roasted meat is for you."

  Li Xie wanted to make Miao Miao into a Benming Beast, but this little guy always escaped quickly every time. After repeating several times, Li Xie also gave up on this idea.

  The little cat gave him a disdainful glance, and with a flash of its body, it appeared on Li Xie's head the next moment. The wine bottle in Li Xie's hand also disappeared, only to be found being held in the little cat's arms.

  "Drink yourself to death!" Li Xie cursed viciously and ignored the wine-loving cat, eating by himself.

  The other guards also ate their meals separately, tired from the journey, and were somewhat fatigued. They ate in silence. After finishing their meal, they didn't look for entertainment, but instead directly lay down on mats or other materials and fell asleep. Even the guards who were on duty slept soundly, leaning against trees or in the horse carriage.

  Such dereliction of duty should have earned a rebuke from Cano, but even he and the others were already lying on the ground fast asleep.

  It was just a moment after finishing dinner, and everyone in the Duke of Evil's mansion, including Li Xie, fell asleep.

  Not long after, a rustling sound came from the woods, and several figures surrounded the empty space that the guards had cleared. The figures were revealed in the firelight, and they were none other than the people from Dragon Tiger Fort, led by the one with the tiger-tail braid on his head, Lei Di Ga Ka.

  Lei Di? Ga Ga carried a two-meter-long, one-palm-wide large knife, his tiger eyes scanning the sleeping crowd, and coldly laughed: "Sleeping pills are indeed good stuff, unless it's an eleventh-level or higher expert, otherwise whoever eats a little bit will sleep for an hour, no matter how you call them, they won't wake up!"

  A strong robber next to him sneered: "Boss, how are we going to deal with them? Kill them all?"

  "Idiot!" Reddy? Gahga raised his knife and slapped it on the bandit's head, shouting: "That is Duke Xie, kill them! If we don't, the army will drive us to desperation! Listen up! Only take valuable things, no one is allowed to get hurt, nor touch any woman. I heard that Duke Xie has countless wealth, after finishing this job, we'll go settle accounts with Old Larry, and then we can retire. With money, there won't be a lack of women! Hahaha..."

  "Not good! Knowing I'm the Evil Duke, you should know I love money. Knowing I love money and still trying to rob me, it's really not too good."

  Li Xie, who had been sleeping soundly, suddenly sat up with a playful expression and smiled slyly at Reddy Gakka.

  The rest of the guards also sat up, one by one smiling, although surrounded by more than 200 robbers in the middle, no one's face had a worried expression.

  "Hah!"

  Van Di Sel let out a loud shout, and a carp suddenly stood up, its whole body surrounded by golden light, it was actually releasing its aura!

  "Ten Stages of Sword Sage! You, didn't drink the creek water? Impossible! My men saw you fetching water! Do you have an antidote?!"

  "Hoo-ah!"

  A loud dragon's roar shook like a great bell, startling birds into flight.

  Zayn nodded and stood up, coolly saying: "Scare them!"

  And he indeed scared off this group of robbers, even Li Xie's guards were frightened by Zayn Nard.

  Kano bumped his elbow on his shoulder: "Damn it, Vice Commander, you're yelling and screaming like a madman, making such a racket that I thought the giant dragon had arrived."

  Li Xie was calm and composed on one side, while Reddy Gaha's side was a series of heart-pounding, careful steps back. They couldn't afford to fight head-on; just the ten-tiered Sword Saint alone had the ability to wipe out their over 200 people, including Reddy Gaha!

  Li Xie saw them preparing to run away and shouted loudly: "Run, and I'll kill you! Stay, have a good talk, and I'll spare your lives!"

  "Big brother, what should we do? The opponent has a tenth-stage Sword Saint!"

  "Shut up!" Reddy, the notorious bandit leader, didn't disappoint. After being startled by Van Dyke, he quickly regained his composure and clasped his hands together: "What is it that you want to ask, Duke Evil? I'll answer anything, no matter what!"

  Li Xie nodded: "Mm-hmm, tell the person who called you to leave, and you stay."

  Lei Di hesitated for a moment before making a hand gesture.

  "Boss, we won't leave you behind!"

  "Shut up and go back to your camp! What kind of person is this evil duke? He will definitely keep his promise, nothing will happen to me."

  After all the bandits left, Li Xie said: "What's your name?"

  "In Netherland, he is called Reddy the Tiger!"

  "Lei Di? Ga Ga? It sounds familiar, but Li Xie can't remember where he heard it before. He didn't think much of it and continued to ask: "What is Sleeping Dream Fragrance?"

  Li Xie, who had just pretended to fall asleep, heard this and felt curious, so he asked. This was also the reason why Li Xie kept Reddy Gah around, maybe he could get some of that so-called Dream Incense from him! If what Reddy Gah said was true, that only a high-ranking master above the 11th level could resist it, then this thing might have great use in the future!

  "Since the Duke can interpret the Sleeping Dream Fragrance, why ask? If you're keeping me here to humiliate me, then please kill me!"

  "Who told you we've broken off our romantic relationship?"

  "What about you? Haven't you drunk from the stream? But... could it be... Old Larry has betrayed us!"

  "Old Larry?" Li raised an eyebrow: "What Old Larry, we'll talk about that later. First tell me, what is Sleeping Beauty."

  Lei Di? Ga Ge replied: "Sleeping Dream Fragrance is a poisonous formula that I coincidentally obtained, made from several special medicinal powders. It can be sprinkled directly on someone or dissolved in water, colorless and tasteless. Just a tiny bit can make a person sleep for an hour without waking up. According to the formula, only those above the 11th level of mastery can resist the effects of Sleeping Dream Fragrance. I haven't tried it on anyone stronger than that, but I have poisoned several 6th and 7th level masters, and indeed, just as the formula says."

  "Hand over the prescription and I'll spare your lives." Li Xie realized that this thing was absolutely a great way to kill people and get rich!

  "The prescription has been destroyed, but I remember it. If you want, sir, I'll write a copy for you in exchange for our lives!"

  "Alright, deal!" Li Xie thought for a moment and added: "Don't try to cheat me, we've already taken note of your appearance. If you try to swindle me, you'll have nowhere to run!"

  "I understand!"

  People are the cutting board, I am the fish and meat. Ledi Gaga also understood it clearly and quickly copied a recipe for Shui Meng Xiang to Li Xie. Li Xie looked at the materials on it and was also confused, still doubting that Ledi Gaga had given him a fake recipe. He said: "You give me another set of materials, let me adjust the formula to produce Shui Meng Xiang, only then can we consider the transaction successful, no problem?"

  "Your Excellency, those materials are extremely difficult to find and very expensive. If they were easy to obtain, I would have used them already. To be honest, I don't even have the materials, nor can I afford to buy them."

  "Hmm, since that's the case..." Li Xie took out a blue crystal card and tossed it to Ledi Gagga: "There are 500,000 gold coins inside. You go help me get materials."

  Lei Di? Ga Ga received the crystal card and looked at the value on it, his whole body was stunned: "Five hundred thousand gold coins! You... you just threw it to me like that?!"

  Seeing Ledi's astonished appearance, the people in the Evil Duke's mansion were all smiling but not speaking. Li Xie shrugged his shoulders, and the crystal cards in his spatial ring were mostly in the millions, with several hundred thousand cards being quite hard to find.

  "You're not afraid, I'll take the gold coins and run away?" Reddy Gahga said again.

  Li Xie chuckled: "No problem, you can run if you want to. However, this duke believes that smart people understand the principle of having money but not being able to spend it freely!"

  In fact, Lidi Gaka really ran away with the money, and Li Xie couldn't do anything about it. He couldn't possibly ask Zainnarde or Vandi Sel to go after Lidi Gaka for 500,000 gold coins!

  However, threats are always there. With this threat, a shadow will be left in Ledi's heart, and he himself does not dare to run away with the money!

  "Leidy? Ga ga wu jian, a moment later, with both hands clasped in fists: 'I will definitely bring the materials to His Excellency the Duke! Your Excellency, there is one thing, I wonder if it can be told to me!'"

  "Speak!"

  "Has old Larry sold us out?!" Reddy gritted his teeth, his anger simmering just below the surface.

  "Who is Old Larry?"

  "Chrysanthemum flower city's substitute city master Larry Brown!"

  Li's mind stirred slightly, as if he had caught a whiff of something fishy, and he smiled: "This old fellow I really don't know, whether or not he has sold you out, I truly have no idea."

  "Then why didn't you guys sleep? Obviously, I saw you fetch water from the stream!"

  "Really......" Li Xie raised the right corner of his mouth: "Didn't you notice that we're all eating barbecue?"

  Barbecue!

  Are you kidding me?!

  He really didn't notice this point!

  "Please." Li Xie shook his head: "Your people have been following us for so long, didn't we notice? Do you think the two tenth-order sword saints under my command are vegetarians?"

  Two tenth-stage Sword Saints?

  Ledi's heart skipped a beat, her eyes fell on Zeinard!

  There are two 10th-level Sword Saints as escorts. The strength of this horse-drawn carriage... Damn that old Larry! I'll definitely kill him when I turn back!

  Lei Di felt like he was being deceived, his teeth itching with anger. Suddenly, he realized something and his gaze narrowed, focusing intently on Li Xie's body!

  He doesn't have any magical aura fluctuations?! A useless person?! Impossible! Even if he's a Grand Duke, how could a useless person make the proud tenth-stage expert follow him? Could it be that... he's an eleventh-stage Saint-level expert?! Damn old Larry! Even with Sleeping Dream Fragrance, it's impossible to put an eleventh-stage expert to sleep! If not for Evil Duke's mercy, our Dragon Tiger Sect would have been annihilated today!

  Old Larry! I'm not Reddy the fierce tiger if I don't kill you!

  Lei Di's eyes flashed with a cold light, his teeth chattering.

  Li Xie saw Lei Di Ga suddenly as if he had a deep hatred, but didn't know that this waste of magic and martial arts was misunderstood by others as an eleventh-tier Saint-level expert!

  Anyway, he is often misunderstood by people for no reason, it's just that he himself doesn't know!

  "Sir, if there's nothing else, I'll take my leave! The materials for the Sleeping Dream, I will deliver as soon as possible!"

  Look at his anxious appearance, he wants to go back immediately and gather people to avenge the old Larry in his mouth!

  "Slow down..." Li Xie smiled and said: "You say that Old Larry betrayed you, if the Duke didn't guess wrong, your robbery of the Duke's horse carriage team was not accidental, tell the Duke about it."