Dividing the Money, Returning Home

At the Bridgehead's clinic, Chen Lin accompanied Wu Fan as his wounds were treated.

Zhu Wei and the others carried the harvested demonic beast materials around the Bridgehead to sell them.

Once the group had gathered at the house they were renting, Zhu Wei took out the banknotes earned from selling the demonic beast materials.

"This time, we sold the demonic beast materials for a total of 220,000 taels. Of that, 40,000 taels came from the demonic beasts each of you hunted yourselves."

Zhu Wei distributed everyone's due share into their hands.

Looking at the 10,000-tael banknote in his hand, Chen Lin was overjoyed, feeling like a pauper who had suddenly struck it rich.

"Besides the 40,000 taels from individual hunts, the rest came from selling the materials of the two Demon General-level demonic beasts. We'll follow the old rules: 20,000 taels go into the team welfare fund, while the remaining 160,000 taels will be distributed according to each person's contribution." After pulling two 10,000-tael banknotes from the remaining stack, Zhu Wei continued dividing them up.

Because Chen Lin had contributed significantly to killing the Howling Moon Sky Wolf, he received noticeably more banknotes than everyone except Zhu Wei and He Yanjun.

In the end, Chen Lin looked at the more than 40,000 taels' worth of banknotes in his hands, beaming from ear to ear. He could not help sighing inwardly. One outing on a mission had earned him so much silver—martial artists truly had the easiest job in the world when it came to making money.

After distributing the silver earned from selling the materials, Zhu Wei spoke solemnly again. "Wu Fan was injured in the line of duty this time, so I plan to take 50,000 taels from the team fund as compensation for him. Does anyone object?"

The group shook their heads, indicating they had no objections.

"As for the 1,000 Merit Points from this mission, we'll use the same distribution as before. Old He and I get twenty percent each, Wang Ming and Li Fei get fifteen percent each, and the remaining thirty percent goes to Wu Fan, Jiang Tianyu, and Chen Lin—ten percent each. No objections?"

Zhu Wei continued allocating the Merit Points for this mission.

Hearing Zhu Wei's question, everyone shook their heads again.

"Good. After everyone rests for one night, we'll send Wu Fan back to Nanqing City. After that, you'll have five days to move about freely. You can spend more time with your families."

Once everything had been handled, Zhu Wei rose and laid out the plans for the next few days. Then, frowning, he turned and returned to his room.

Chen Lin watched Zhu Wei's retreating figure, then looked at He Yanjun in confusion. "What's wrong with Boss Zhu?"

He Yanjun let out a soft sigh, rose, and patted Chen Lin on the shoulder. "The captain blames himself for failing to take care of the brothers at his side."

Wang Ming also stood up with a pained expression. "I'll go see how A Lin is doing."

With that, he climbed the stairs upstairs.

Seeing this, Chen Lin's eyes glinted as he fell into deep thought.

Early the next morning, the group boarded the War God Temple's Crimson Feather Bird and flew back to Nanqing City at breakneck speed.

They stepped out of the War God Temple and looked at the bustling streets before them.

Chen Lin felt a wave of familiarity in his heart and could not help sighing. "Home really is the best!"

The others exchanged smiles at Chen Lin's sentiment.

When they had first left Nanqing City to hunt demonic beasts, they had felt the same way.

But as time passed, they had gradually grown accustomed to this life, and no longer felt as Chen Lin did now.

"Everyone, go home. Gather at the War God Temple in five days. A Fan, if you ever need help in the future, come find me anytime. Take care." Zhu Wei said this with a smile, then tapped his Crimson Flame White Horse's flank and swiftly vanished from everyone's sight.

"Brothers, until we meet again." Wu Fan smiled and clasped his hands in farewell.

After two days of recuperation, Wu Fan's face was still somewhat pale, but his spirits had improved considerably.

"Take care!" Everyone returned the gesture.

Wu Fan nodded, turned his horse around, lightly tapped its flank, and rode away on his fine horse, disappearing from sight in the blink of an eye.

Looking at Chen Lin standing on the ground, Li Fei could not help laughing. "A Lin, once you have enough Merit Points, you can spend some extra money and buy yourself a fine horse. After all, our missions will not necessarily be confined to the Demonic Beast Territory. We have plenty of missions in human territory too. When that time comes, a good fine horse can save you a lot of effort!"

"Sure!" Chen Lin looked at his teammates, all of whom had mounts, a trace of speechlessness flashing through his eyes.

"Hahaha! A Lin, we'll be going first. See you around!" Wang Ming laughed, clasped his hands at Chen Lin, and left together with Li Fei.

He Yanjun smiled at Chen Lin. "Our homes are close together. Want me to give you a ride?"

"No. I'm not used to riding with someone else." Chen Lin repeatedly shook his head, his face full of resistance.

"Fine, then. Take your time strolling home!" He Yanjun shook his head with a bitter smile, then rode off and disappeared from Chen Lin's view.

"Later, I'll just get myself a metal skateboard and fly through the air. How can a four-legged horse possibly be as satisfying as flying myself?"

Once no one remained around him, Chen Lin could not help muttering a complaint before striding toward home.

Around noon, Chen Lin stood before the gate of his family's small courtyard and knocked lightly several times.

Chen Lan, who had been tending the soil in the courtyard, hurriedly opened the door upon hearing the knock. She was immediately overjoyed. "Brother, you're back? Hurry and wash your hands. Mother has already prepared the meal—we've been waiting for you to come home!"

"How did you know I was coming back?" Chen Lin smiled as he rubbed Chen Lan's little head.

"Uncle He next door sent someone to tell us!" Chen Lan replied with a smile as she pulled Chen Lin toward the backyard.

"That's what I thought!" Chen Lin said with a smile.

After Chen Lin had a lively lunch at home with his family, he impatiently left the house and headed straight for the mule and horse market.

Based on quality, horses were divided into six ranks: Nag Horse—Swift Horse—Fine Horse—Good Steed—Famous Steed—Divine Steed. Each rank was further divided into four grades: lower, middle, upper, and supreme.

The Crimson Flame White Horse was a supreme Good Steed, only a hair's breadth below a Famous Steed.

Chen Lin had accumulated far too few Merit Points so far; he simply could not exchange them for a Good Steed-quality fine horse.

Since he couldn't rely entirely on his own two legs whenever he went out, he thought it over and decided he could only head to the mule and horse market first to buy a mount of Swift Horse quality, making do with it for the time being.

Nanqing City's mule and horse market stood very close to the slaughterhouse, both located near the southern city wall.

After striding into the mule and horse market, Chen Lin began searching for a mount that caught his eye.

Half an hour later, Chen Lin had five hundred taels less silver in his pocket, but he had gained an exceptional mount among Swift Horses—a Dark Cloud Treading Snow Horse.

As he passed the Zhou Family's weapon-forging shop, Chen Lin bought a Diamond Shield forged from black iron.

The entire shield was about sixty centimeters long and weighed roughly ninety jin. Though it could at most withstand attacks from late-stage Demon Soldier demonic beasts, it was more than enough for Chen Lin, who had another use for it.