Letting People Live

Freedom?!

At last, one of the mine slaves raised his head and asked,

"Master Hu, what does freedom mean?"

The whole courtyard fell silent at those words.

Standing in the shadows of the rear courtyard, Lu Ping heard the question and his fingers paused for a moment.

Hu Dayou, too, seemed not to have expected anyone to ask that question.

He could not answer it, so he lowered his voice and said,

"Those who want to leave will each get five taels of silver and three days' dry rations."

"Those who want to stay will move out of the mine and wait for new arrangements."

"The overseers at the mine who tortured slaves to death are yours to deal with."

The three statements were simple and clear. Everyone understood, and the courtyard immediately erupted.

Some raised their heads, some wept, and some supported their companions as they pushed forward.

Others dropped to their knees on the spot and kowtowed toward the main hall.

"Thank you, Gang Leader!"

"Thank you, Master Hu!"

Sitting in the seat of honor, Hu Dayou squirmed with discomfort as they kowtowed.

He knew perfectly well those kowtows were not for him.

He was only a messenger pushed to the front.

The one truly sitting behind him had not even shown his face.

Hu Dayou felt he was nothing more than a puppet on strings, yet he willingly handed over the spool.

By the time the triangular-eyed overseer was dragged out, his trousers were soaked.

"Master Hu! I risked my life for the gang!"

"I beat them because the Second-in-Command ordered me to!"

"I didn't kill many, I really didn't kill many!"

Several people in the crowd of mine slaves rushed forward, only to be held back by those beside them.

Uncle Sun came out leaning on a wooden stick. His leg was still swollen, and he trembled with every step.

The moment the overseer saw Uncle Sun, he shouted,

"Old Sun, I never really meant to kill you before."

"I was just following orders from above."

"Put in a word for me."

Uncle Sun looked down at him.

The triangular-eyed overseer used to love lashing people's ears with the tip of his whip.

Afterward, he would ask them if they had heard him.

Uncle Sun's leg had failed to heal properly because the overseer had broken it and then forced him back into the mine.

Uncle Sun bent down and picked up the whip from the ground. Its handle was stained with dried blood.

When the triangular-eyed overseer saw this, he began to inch backward.

"Don't, don't, Uncle Sun, I'll call you uncle."

Uncle Sun's hand shook badly, but he raised the whip all the same.

Crack.

The whip swept across the triangular-eyed overseer's neck, leaving a red welt.

Screaming, the man crawled toward the gate.

After Uncle Sun struck the first blow, someone else finally picked up a whip and brought it down.

One, two... more than a dozen.

The triangular-eyed overseer's pleas for mercy soon fell silent.

Lu Ping sat in the rear courtyard, quietly listening to it all.

Lu Ping had no intention of dismantling the Black Tiger Gang.

If he dismantled the Black Tiger Gang today, a White Tiger Gang, a Yellow Tiger Gang, or an Earth Dog Gang would spring up tomorrow.

Power did not disappear; it merely changed hands. Someone always had to govern the territory of mortals.

Lu Ping summoned Hu Dayou to the rear courtyard.

Hu Dayou knelt as soon as he entered.

"Master Lu."

"Get up."

Hu Dayou did not dare rise immediately.

"Master Lu, please give me your orders."

Lu Ping pushed three portions of silver notes onto the table.

"I'll take some of these silver notes with me. The rest will go toward sending the mine slaves on their way and keeping the Black Tiger Gang running."

Lu Ping paused, then continued,

"The Black Tiger Gang will be in your hands from now on."

Hu Dayou immediately bowed.

"Thank you for promoting me, Master Lu."

"But from now on, the Black Tiger Gang must not use slaves, much less keep them."

Hu Dayou bent his back another inch.

"Yes."

"Switch the mine over to hired labor. Low wages are fine."

"But they must be able to eat. If they're hurt, get them treated. If they don't want to work, let them go."

Hu Dayou hesitated. Before this, he had simply carried out his orders without daring to talk back.

This time, he really did not understand. If they did things this way, would it still be the Black Tiger Gang?

But from their brief contact, Hu Dayou felt that Master Lu did not seem unreasonable.

So Hu Dayou voiced his doubts.

"Master Lu, I don't quite understand."

Lu Ping did not explain. He simply said,

"Let people live."

Hu Dayou froze.

Let people live. Just a few weightless words.

But to Hu Dayou's ears, they carried more weight than the killing earlier.

Hu Dayou had never heard anyone in power say such a thing.

He lowered his head further, his voice sincere.

"Yes. I'll remember that."

Lu Ping waved a hand, telling Hu Dayou to bring Uncle Sun in.

When Uncle Sun entered the rear courtyard and saw Lu Ping sitting behind the table, he froze.

"You..."

Lu Ping raised a hand.

"Uncle Sun, sit."

Uncle Sun did not sit.

He stared at Lu Ping, then looked at Hu Dayou standing beside him with his head lowered. His throat worked for a long while.

"Weren't you just promoted to a gang member?"

Lu Ping fell silent for a moment. He actually did not know how to explain.

"Good luck, I suppose."

Uncle Sun looked at the silver notes on the table, at Hu Dayou's bowed back, and then at the hem of Lu Ping's clothes, which was almost too clean.

Good luck?

Uncle Sun shook his head, but did not press the matter.

Lu Ping took out a packet of medicinal powder.

"Uncle Sun, stretch out your leg."

Uncle Sun hesitated. He guessed what Lu Ping intended, but found it hard to believe.

Hu Dayou knew how to read a situation and immediately brought over a stool.

"Uncle Sun, if Master Lu tells you to stretch it out, stretch it out."

Uncle Sun sat down and rolled up his trouser leg.

The old injury to his leg had turned black, and the flesh was ulcerated halfway around it.

Lu Ping opened the packet. It contained Hemostatic Powder he had prepared on short notice.

Mortal medicinal ingredients, mortal methods.

Without a Pill Furnace or earth fire, the cost could not have been any lower.

But with Cost Reduction and Efficiency Improvement and Artisan Spirit stacked together, it could still have some effect.

After all, five years of pill refinement and knowledge of the Dao of Alchemy and medicinal principles were not just for show.

When the powder was sprinkled on, Uncle Sun's expression changed. He clenched his teeth hard, and the flesh on his leg twitched.

After more than ten breaths, the wound stopped oozing blood, and the edges of the rotting flesh began to dry.

Hu Dayou stared from the side, his eyes fixed on the sight, even more certain that Master Lu's methods belonged to an immortal.

The words "a great master roaming the mortal world" were now firmly confirmed in his mind.

Uncle Sun looked down and touched his leg in disbelief.

"This medicine..."

Lu Ping did not explain. Instead, he said,

"Your leg can be saved for now. But if you want it to heal completely, it will need more time and careful nursing."

Uncle Sun looked at Lu Ping, who seemed like a god. His lips moved, but in the end, what he said was,

"Master Lu, what can I do?"

Lu Ping understood what Uncle Sun meant. He paused, then asked,

"What can you do?"

Uncle Sun was taken aback too. What could an old man with one foot in the grave do?

After a long while, Uncle Sun finally squeezed out a sentence.

"I... I can read and write."

Lu Ping pushed the two remaining packets of medicine over to him.

"Reading and writing is good. Then help Hu Dayou keep an eye on the accounts."

"I'm a mine slave. What accounts could I possibly keep?"

Hu Dayou immediately bowed.

"You can, of course you can. From now on, Uncle Sun will be the bookkeeper."

Seeing how respectful Hu Dayou was, Uncle Sun felt even less at ease.

Lu Ping said calmly,

"The Black Tiger Gang's rules need to change. Hu Dayou will be in charge from now on. Keep an eye on things."

This time, Uncle Sun understood.

"Yes, Master Lu."

Lu Ping looked at the two men and said evenly,

"When I have time, I'll come back and take a look."

Hu Dayou jolted and immediately pressed his forehead to the ground.

"I wouldn't dare be negligent in the slightest."

Lu Ping nodded, rose, and went to the ironworking room in the rear courtyard.

The Black Tiger Gang had a small forge.

Ore was piled in a corner, none of it particularly good.

Lu Ping spent half an hour picking out a batch of the hardest black-veined iron, along with a few pieces of gray steel suited to forging thin blades.

He felt some regret.

The Greenwood Sect had no artifact-refining hall.

Otherwise, if he had learned artifact refining in a simulation, these ores might now have had a chance to become genuine Law Artifacts.

Lu Ping rolled up his sleeves, lit the fire, and worked the bellows.

Memories of ten years spent working iron in his first simulation came flooding back.

Now it had become a skill that made up for a shortcoming.

That made perfect sense.

All the useless skills he had learned while working in his previous life would eventually save his life in some lousy situation.

Before daybreak, twelve throwing knives lay in a row on the iron table.

Each was thin and short, with an exceptionally well-balanced center of gravity.

There was also a short saber with a blackened blade, making it easy to keep it from reflecting light at night.

Over the next few days, Lu Ping converted the ironworking room into a makeshift Alchemy Chamber.

There was a medicinal furnace made of ordinary iron, a pile of mortal herbs, and medicinal ingredients the Black Tiger Gang had plundered from surrounding towns.

Hu Dayou stood guard outside the courtyard with his men, not daring even to breathe too loudly.

Lu Ping sat before the furnace and began refining Body Tempering Pills.

He pressed a wisp of spiritual power from his fingertip into the bottom of the furnace.

Flames licked the bottom of the pill furnace, crackling softly.

[Artisan Spirit activated.]

[Cost Reduction and Efficiency Improvement activated.]

The pills came out of the furnace.

One batch yielded five perfect Body Tempering Pills, with only a trace of Pill Poison.

Then Lu Ping began refining Qi-Replenishing Pills.

The first batch burned.

The second exploded, leaving half a furnace of medicinal dregs.

The third barely took on its medicinal properties, but the pills were loose and crumbled at a pinch.