Chapter 201
Chapter 201
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>Translator: Ryuma
>Chapter: 201
>Chapter Title: Both Sides
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Cao Hai carefully pushed open the door and saw Peng Longteng lying on the bed, letting two doctors bandage the wound on his neck.
“Hey~!” Cao Hai walked in, stomped her foot hard beside Peng Longteng.
“Have you gone mad? You actually slaughtered several thousand people!”
Peng Longteng, who had been resting with his eyes closed, spoke up.
“If there’s no pay during wartime, who’s going to fight for them? No rewards, who’s going to win their battles for them?”
“Asking them for money is harder than killing them. Fine, since they have their difficulties, I’ll claim the rewards myself!”
“After fighting so long on the battlefield, I can’t shortchange my men!”
“You—you—you—” Cao Hai was so angry she couldn’t speak.
“It’s just a town of a few thousand. Look how worked up you are. I didn’t even hit a city—that’s already doing those bigwigs a favor.”
“Easy for you to say! Those are all the people of Later Shu!” Cao Hai wiped away tears in anger, pacing back and forth in the room.
“The court’s already in chaos over the natural disasters, and you go add fuel to the fire! You’ve offended every last one of them!”
Peng Longteng shoved aside the doctor stitching his neck and sat up straight.
“Natural disasters or not, what’s that got to do with me? Even if the sky falls, soldiers need their pay! Besides, what are you afraid of? It’s not the first time we’ve had disasters.”
“Auntie, please—if you just wanted pay, fine, but why slaughter people?”
The complaining Cao Hai raised a limp wrist like an orchid finger, wiping the bloodstains from Peng Longteng’s armor with a handkerchief.
“We just came off the battlefield, so many died, and there’s no reward or pay—the lads are all pent up with rage. If they don’t vent it, they’ll mutiny.”
Cao Hai’s voice grew quieter.
“No matter what you say, you can’t hide fire with paper. If the court finds out what you’ve done...”
“So what if they find out? You think those sly foxes don’t know?”
“They cut the army pay for the convict soldiers—did they really not guess how I’d react?”
“The top won’t let it blow up. The bigwigs will cover for it. Otherwise, if it gets out of hand, no one looks good.”
“It’s perfect now. They don’t have to pay extra, we get our pay, no one loses.”
“Plus, I’m not just causing trouble—this is justified. Didn’t I flush out a few Si Qi spies already?”
At that point, Peng Longteng thought of something, and his face darkened instantly as he reached up to touch his left cheek.
The cyan tattoo on that cheek had been burned away in large patches, making the crooked characters for “Ultimate Loyalty” look especially horrific.
Especially his left eye—Peng Longteng’s sharp phoenix eye was now covered in a layer of white film. Clearly, it was blind.
“Good kid. Escaped my grasp and even wounded me. He’s got guts!”
“Supervising officer, go pass word to the Heaven Monitor Division. When they find him, tell me his location. He dies by my hand.”
“Hey, General, forget it. Since that kid’s from the Mantled Scenery Cult, he’s not your business anymore. Let’s head back to camp.”
“No way! Peng Longteng doesn’t hold grudges overnight! Whoever crosses me, they fucking die!”
“But you need a pretext. Oh, you think you’re the Emperor, rampaging through all of Later Shu with your troops?”
“When out on campaign, a general’s orders bend to circumstance. The Burning Mountain Bandits raised their flag in rebellion and preyed on the people—I’m going to suppress them.”
Cao Hai was full of helplessness.
“When did he rebel? Didn’t you just beat them into submission?”
“I say he rebelled, so he rebelled!”
Peng Longteng slammed his iron-armored fist down, smashing a hole in the sturdy wooden bed.
—————————————
The wolf-tooth club studded with sharp teeth smashed down heavily, pulverizing the head of a two-meter-long snake.
Gao Zhijian reached out and grabbed it, grinned foolishly, then slung it over his shoulder and headed home.
This was a stone forest. Though everywhere was rock, it was at least no longer as barren as before—green plants brought a touch of life to the place.
He hadn’t gone far when Gao Zhijian spotted the others at a cave.
“Eat... eat... eat...” He held up the big snake as he approached.
“What eat? Senior Brother Li said no fires. Chew dry rations, you.”
But Jinshan Zhao thought differently. He smiled and took the snake.
“No fire needed for this—we can make it into raw snake sashimi.”
With that, he pulled out a small knife, skinned the snake, and carefully sliced the fresh snake meat into thin pieces, arranging them neatly.
Jinshan Zhao picked up his bamboo chopsticks, grabbed two slices, dipped them in chili powder, and popped them into his mouth.
“Mmm~! Utterly delicious. Everyone, come try some.”
The others crowded around, taking bites one after another.
Gouwa, eating happily, paused his chopsticks and shouted toward Li Huowang in the distance.
“Senior Brother Li, come eat snake meat! This raw stuff—gotta say, it’s like chewing fatty meat.”
At that moment, Li Huowang ignored him entirely, clutching his head as he kept testing his new ability.
“Swish~!” When Li Huowang opened his eyes again, his viewpoint had shifted sideways—he was hanging on the stone wall, with his own head below.
“Closer... closer... don’t panic, take it slow...”
As Li Huowang mentally coached himself, his viewpoint slowly shifted, gradually merging back with his body.
This time, there was no discrepancy. After so many days of training, Li Huowang could align it perfectly.
He glanced left and right. Then Li Huowang’s phantom image suddenly rushed right up to Mantou, who was squatting nearby.
The sudden appearance startled it, and its head jerked back, tumbling to the ground.
Mantou got up, ears flopping down as it wagged its tail at Li Huowang’s phantom image.
Seeing this, Li Huowang thought to himself:
“Don’t worry about how it works—this ability’s got huge potential.”
“In a fight, pulling this off suddenly could catch them off guard.”
“But I need more practice, until it’s as natural as my limbs.”
Right now, Li Huowang could make his phantom image appear anywhere within about ten feet of his body.
He could also leave the phantom in place and shift his invisible true body to somewhere else within ten feet.
If enemies attacked Li Huowang’s phantom, he took no damage—just like in the fight with that female general earlier.
But he couldn’t overuse it. Enemies weren’t idiots—once they caught on, they’d be wary.
“Senior Brother Li, how’s the supernatural power coming along?” Bai Lingmiao walked over with a bowl of snake sashimi.
“Not bad.” Li Huowang took the chopsticks and slurped it up like noodles.
Raw snake meat wasn’t great, but to Li Huowang, sick of dry rations, it was fine.
“Senior Brother Li, how long until we’re out of Later Shu?”
Li Huowang paused his chopsticks and pulled out the detailed map Jinshan Zhao had drawn, looking it over again.
“No big roads. We’ll stick to small paths from now on—or even avoid those. They don’t know our destination, so I’ve got the upper hand here.”
“Two days to here, then seven more days up—that should get us to the border. We won’t go through the pass; we’ll skirt around the side. Once we’re out of Later Shu, we’re safe.”
“But... we can’t hold out that long. Even rationing the dry food, it’ll last two days at most.”
(End of chapter)