18: Chapter 18 The Maid

After the time it takes for an incense stick to burn, Xue Mingcai finally slowly withdrew her energy.

Her eyes snapped open, and she jumped up in great joy, running over to say, "Brother Su, I... I had a Breakthrough."

"I've become a Ninth-Rank Martial Artist!"

Looking at her radiant, flower-like smile, Su Jiuchuan nodded and said, "Oh! My shoulders are a bit sore; give me a back rub."

Xue Mingcai's smile instantly froze.

Su Jiuchuan glanced at her and said, "What? Didn't you promise earlier to be my maid?"

"What? Are you planning to go back on your word just after a Breakthrough?"

Xue Mingcai had originally thought it was just a joke, and never expected that Su Jiuchuan was actually serious. Although she lacked freedom at Qingyun Temple, she had never been required to do any menial labor.

Now that he was actually making her act as a maid, this guy was truly detestable.

"No, Young Master Su!" she said through gritted teeth.

Once she finished speaking, she really ran behind Su Jiuchuan and started pounding on his back. Unconsciously, she began to channel her True Qi; although she had only just entered the ranks, she was still a bona fide Martial Artist.

Her little fists landed with heavy thuds.

Su Jiuchuan, however, didn't care at all. This little girl had such high talent that she would definitely be an impressive figure in the future. Leaving her with some black history now would ensure she wouldn't dare act so arrogant in front of him later on.

Zheng Xinyue shook her head as she watched. At first glance, Su Jiuchuan seemed like an ordinary person, but who would have thought he had such a way with women? Seeing how he had enraged Xue Mingcai yesterday only to train her to be so obedient today, he clearly seemed to be an old hand at romance.

As for herself, back when she hadn't run away with the Third Prince, had she also been unconsciously bewitched by him?

Zheng Xinyue couldn't help but feel a sliver of doubt about herself.

"By the way, are you familiar with the Xuzhou area?"

While she was lost in these thoughts, Su Jiuchuan suddenly asked.

"What do you want to do?"

Su Jiuchuan was somewhat baffled, not knowing why this Young Miss Zheng had suddenly become so cold, but he asked anyway, "I want to learn about the outskirts of Xuzhou and what kind of powers are located there."

He had been mulling it over; he certainly didn't dare go to Xishui City now, as the imperial family's influence was not something he could touch at the moment. However, he wasn't entirely confident about going straight to Xuzhou City to find Su Yuanjiang and the others.

The best course of action was to find a place to earn some money and quickly increase his strength first.

He didn't dare stay in the vicinity of Hechuan City any longer. Now that Lan Guping was dead, he didn't know when they would send out pursuers. One had to realize that for a prefecture-level city like Hechuan, the commanding general would be at least Second Grade, and the lieutenant generals sent under him would be Third or Fourth Grade—far beyond what he could currently resist.

Xuzhou City was the provincial capital of Xuzhou, and the commanding general there would be at least First Grade, which was even more terrifying. Without knowing the specific strength of the Lu Family from the life simulation, he still needed to prepare more thoroughly.

"That goes without saying. The main route for our Fuyuan Escort Agency is the line between Hechuan City and Xuzhou City, so I'm naturally familiar with it."

With that, she began to describe the geographical layout around Xuzhou City.

After a full incense stick's worth of time, Su Jiuchuan put away the strip of cloth in his hand. Based on Zheng Xinyue's description, he had just learned about all the various factions along the route from Hechuan City to Xuzhou City, recording everything from their spheres of influence to their strength levels.

One had to admit, while the Fuyuan Escort Agency lacked strength, their intelligence gathering was quite detailed. Then again, that made sense; after all, they were people traveling the Jianghu. If they didn't even understand the conditions along their route, the escort agency would have gone out of business long ago.

...

Shuanglin Mountain was about a hundred kilometers away from Xuzhou City, and there was a stronghold on the mountain. According to Zheng Xinyue, the bandit leader here went by the nickname Yaksha Ghost and was a 6th Grade Martial Artist.

Three people were lying on the ground in the dry grass, only a few hundred meters away from the stronghold.

It was indeed Su Jiuchuan and his two companions. After quickly fleeing the territory of Hechuan City, they had begun clearing out the mountain strongholds along the way. However, everyone on this route was a pauper; they had raided three strongholds in a row and only managed to scrape together eight hundred taels of silver.

"Something isn't right!" Zheng Xinyue said, frowning.

"This stronghold is only about a hundred kilometers from the provincial capital. In the past, they always kept their heads down and lived by barely scraping together protection fees, terrified that making too much noise would anger the authorities."

"But look at them now—it's bustling with activity. They've recruited quite a lot of people! How dare they expand so recklessly? Are they not afraid of death?"

Su Jiuchuan didn't know much about this, so he said, "Maybe there are more refugees now, which lowers the cost of recruitment, so they're taking on more people?"

"Impossible. These bandits know exactly what they're doing. There's a limit to being a bandit; if you go too far, you'll invite suppression from the authorities. Therefore, controlling their scale is crucial. A certain size allows them to collect stable passage fees while also managing to bribe the authorities, which is the only way to maintain stability."

"While they might not be like the Black Wind Stronghold, which completely surrendered to the City Lord's Mansion, they still need to put up a facade. Otherwise, a mere 6th Grade Martial Artist near the provincial capital would be wiped out with a wave of a hand."

This world was truly dark, Su Jiuchuan couldn't help but sigh. But since they had already come, surely they couldn't return empty-handed?

"You two wait for me around here; I'm going to go scout it out."

The mountain wind swayed the trees, creating a swishing sound that perfectly masked the noise of Su Jiuchuan moving quickly through the dry grass.

On the grass in front of the stronghold gate, a few ragged men sat in small groups, chatting idly. Su Jiuchuan listened carefully and realized it didn't seem to be the local dialect.

Su Jiuchuan found a lone man further away who was picking at his feet. Taking advantage of the fact that no one was paying attention, he knocked the man out, dragged him to the back of the mountain, and swapped into his clothes.

A wave of sour stench hit him, and Su Jiuchuan exhaled deeply several times, finally managing to suppress the smell.

It wasn't that he was timid; it was just that Su Jiuchuan found the previous few stronghold raids to be troublesome. A single stronghold had at least a hundred men, and this area was perhaps close to the war-torn Yuzhou, which was problematic.

These bandits were far fiercer than those around Hechuan City. He would often have to kill sixty or seventy men before a stronghold would finally collapse and the bandits would flee.

Consequently, clearing out each stronghold took a great deal of effort, yet he only ended up with two or three hundred taels of silver. The efficiency was simply too low, so he now planned to sneak in secretly and go straight for the stronghold leader.

Capture the ringleader first; by directly grabbing the leader and forcing him to reveal where the money was, he could be done with it and save a lot of effort.

Su Jiuchuan hung his head and soon blended into the crowd outside the stronghold, managing to enter it right in plain sight.

It wasn't until he was inside that Su Jiuchuan understood why there were so many people outside—because there were just as many people inside. The entire stronghold was packed with people.

Many of them were dressed in rags, and one would believe it if told they were beggars; they were likely refugees from other regions!

This also made Su Jiuchuan somewhat puzzled. What exactly was this Yaksha Ghost trying to do? How did he dare to harbor refugees?

One had to realize that feeding so many people was a massive problem; if the food issue couldn't be solved, they would be finished sooner or later.