Forming a Team

"Wang Gou! You spineless, ball-less bastard! What bullshit are you spouting? I'll tear your mouth apart!"

"Me too! I can testify too!"

Another short prisoner hurriedly shouted:

"I was there too. He definitely did it! He even stole a pair of silver bracelets from there!"

"I saw it too!"

A third man chimed in.

Qing He Miao said no more. He raised the crossbow and took aim.

Zhao Si struggled in despair, but the Huang family soldiers behind him held him down tight.

"No—!"

"Twang!"

The bolt plunged cleanly into Zhao Si's chest. He grunted, his eyes widening, and slowly crumpled to the ground.

[You killed a Lv. 5 bandit and gained a small amount of experience.]

Another one.

Once the first man had spoken up, the pressure to survive made the others increasingly eager to follow.

"I accuse Qian Ba! Last year, he killed an old man on his way to market just to steal his donkey!"

"Liu San! He often tortured hostages to death for fun!"

"And him! He..."

Accusations rose one after another. Some joined forces to accuse the same man, while others—even groups of two or three—turned on one another, each exposing the others' more heinous deeds.

Whenever enough people accused someone, or a particular crime was serious enough, Qing He Miao pulled the trigger without hesitation.

He had no intention of probing whether the accusers themselves were innocent, nor did he have the means to conduct a detailed investigation.

Bolt after bolt flew from the crossbow, taking life after life.

The smell of blood grew heavier in the air.

At first, Huang Wulang and his clansmen had merely watched in silence, regretting that such good labor was being wasted.

But as more and more came to light, in greater and greater detail, their expressions gradually grew serious.

And so another seven or eight men were executed one after another, and the experience bar slowly crept forward.

Unfortunately, it still wasn't enough for another level.

As his level rose, the experience he needed would only increase.

Meanwhile, the experience provided by people below his level would only decrease.

Level three was a small hurdle; level five was a major dividing line.

Perhaps if he killed all the rest, he would have a chance to gain another level.

Unfortunately, the accusations quickly dwindled.

He waited a little longer, but no one else spoke.

They weren't fools. Once enough people had died, they naturally figured out the rules and reached an unspoken understanding.

Qing He Miao then turned his gaze back to Huang Wulang and the Huang family soldiers around him.

"Everyone, does anyone recognize a person among them who deserves death?"

The Huang family members looked at one another and exchanged a few words in low voices. In the end, Huang Wulang shook his head on their behalf.

"Daoist priest, as far as we know, we truly don't recognize anyone among those who remain."

Qing He Miao nodded at that. Only then did he set down the crossbow, which had grown somewhat warm beneath his palm, and rise from his chair.

At that movement, nearly everyone present quietly breathed a sigh of relief at once.

At his side, Huang Wulang solemnly cupped his hands to Qing He Miao, his expression complicated.

"Daoist priest... you draw a clear line between black and white. I... admire that."

His words were not entirely mere politeness.

After this bloody sorting, the thirty-odd prisoners who remained—

Though still bandits by origin, their sins were relatively minor, or at least no unforgivable atrocities had been uncovered.

Taking them in as laborers now carried a much lighter burden on the conscience and far less potential risk.

Whether they were enlisted among the fort's men or sentenced to hard labor, they would be a substantial addition to Huang Family Fort.

As for dividing the spoils, they had previously agreed only on who would get the supplies; nothing had been settled regarding gold, silver, or money.

After some discussion, Huang Wulang learned that Qing He Miao was interested.

Huang Wulang readily wrapped the several hefty gold ingots and a few silver ingots of good quality they had seized in a clean piece of coarse cloth, then personally presented the bundle to Qing He Miao.

"Daoist priest, to mountain folk like us, these gold and silver trinkets are less useful than provisions and equipment. You travel the world, and may have use for them, so please accept them.

"As for the remaining copper coins, cloth, and other odds and ends, our fort will handle them, using them to compensate the wounded and the families of the dead and to reward our men. Would that be all right with you?"

Qing He Miao looked at the weighty bundle of gold and silver, then reached out and accepted it without refusing.

It was heavy in his hand, and he could feel the cold metal through the coarse cloth.

Chapter 55: Forming a Team

"Then many thanks, Fort Master Huang."

Qing He Miao made a quick calculation.

The gold and silver were worth far more than what he had spent on Wind Spirit Moon Shadow Temple and the disaster victims during this time.

At last, some money had come back.

His earlier investment had paid for itself in this one go, at least materially, with a substantial profit to spare.

Seeing Qing He Miao accept it, Huang Wulang's smile grew a little more sincere.

It was good that he wanted something.

That made him understandable, someone one could deal with.

To Huang Wulang, it would have been frightening if Qing He Miao truly had no wants or desires, if all five aggregates were empty.

An incomprehensible oddity was unwelcome anywhere.

Next, because the spoils were so varied, including large pieces of equipment, furniture, and prisoners, they could not all be transported back in a single trip.

Huang Wulang made a quick decision and left more than twenty reliable clansmen behind to guard the stronghold.

He planned to wait until daybreak and transport everything safely back to the fort in batches.

Huang Wulang himself returned to Huang Family Fort ahead of them, together with Qing He Miao and a few others.

Since Qing He Miao could not ride, everyone had to dismount and walk slowly with him.

Huang Wulang led his horse alongside him.

He turned his head to look at the daoist priest beside him, who had turned his hand to make clouds and flipped it to make rain in the night, but was somewhat quiet now.

"Daoist priest, with your skills, there was really no need to rush into wiping out these bandits."

He weighed his tone and continued:

"New Year's Day has only just passed, and the Lantern Festival is nearly upon us. Such a killing spree might disturb the peace and harmony, and hinder your quiet cultivation."

Qing He Miao came out of his thoughts at those words and answered without concern:

"You could call this an auspicious start—a sign of great luck and fortune."

It would be even better if things like this happened often in the future.

Huang Wulang detected a hint of humor in his words and smiled, saying no more on the subject.

What he didn't know was that a very important reason for Qing He Miao's haste was that he didn't have much time left before school started.

When the group returned to the vicinity of Huang Family Fort, Qing He Miao parted ways with Huang Wulang and headed straight back toward Wind Spirit Moon Shadow Temple.

After making sure no one was around, he exited the instance and returned home.

Sure enough, he got a long scolding for coming back so late with dirty clothes.

That forced him to behave himself for a few days, spending most of his time dutifully at home and dealing with his family.

He played the part of a normal student about to start school.

After school started, while he dealt with high school affairs with practiced ease,

The weather in Hebei in The Ravages of Time instance world was also gradually turning toward the spring planting season.

Qing He Miao couldn't, and didn't intend to, support this group of disaster victims forever.

As the saying went, better to teach a man to fish than give him a fish.

Qing He Miao simply bought some seeds in the real world and planned to lend them to the disaster victims so they could farm.

They only needed to first work together to put the stream in front of the temple, which had begun to thaw, in good order,

Dig irrigation channels, then clear the suitable nearby hillsides and wasteland and cultivate them diligently.

All of it could become good farmland capable of growing grain.

At the same time, Qing He Miao also formed a group of Courtyard Guards for the temple.

For now, there would be fifteen places. Preference would be given to those who were strong and healthy, knew a little martial arts, and were reliable.

Those selected would receive fixed monthly wages.

Their usual duty was to guard the courtyard when he stayed in his room without coming out, when in fact he had returned to The Outcast world.

They also had to maintain order in the surrounding reclaimed areas from time to time, preventing trouble with wild beasts and certain crimes.

Quite a few people's eyes lit up when they heard the word "wages."

In these chaotic times, a stable income was like a lifesaving straw.

And serving as a Courtyard Guard for a Daoist temple was relatively respectable.

As for the harvest from farming,

For all the land they cleared, they only had to hand over thirty percent of the first year's grain harvest to the temple as repayment for the borrowed seeds.

The remaining seventy percent would belong entirely to the farming households.

Any earnings after that would have nothing more to do with Qing He Miao.

As long as they worked diligently, they should have no trouble feeding the old and young in their families.