Even though the commotion caused by the brothel in Prison Dragon County had been huge, not a single constable had come to investigate. Thus, Fan Wu had carried away a chest of gold and silver without encountering any obstacles.
He had not gone to the County Yamen, but had headed straight for Dragon-Imprisoning Monastery.
As for how the mess at the brothel would be cleaned up, that was not something he needed to worry about.
He would let that County Magistrate of Prison Dragon County worry about it slowly!
After all, that fellow He Caisheng had no idea how much gold, silver, and jewelry he had extorted during all those years as the County Magistrate of Prison Dragon County.
It was time to make him do something for Prison Dragon County.
By the time Fan Wu carried a chest of gold and silver back to Dragon-Imprisoning Monastery, it was already midnight, during the Chou hour.
He did not know whether it was because there was a statue of the True Martial Great Emperor on the mountain.
Even though it was deep into the night and all was still, the mountain road was not particularly eerie.
Because Fan Wu had deliberately slowed his pace on the way back, it had still taken him some time to return to Dragon-Imprisoning Monastery.
When he had left the County Yamen, he had told Yang Yizi and the Abbot of Golden Dragon Temple to pass on a message to the County Magistrate of Prison Dragon County, telling the magistrate to have someone deliver the silver.
The reason he had returned so late was naturally to give the County Magistrate of Prison Dragon County some time to make preparations.
Fan Wu felt that, relying on the remaining "reputation" of his con-man master and the image he had in the eyes of the people of Prison Dragon County, the other party would not play tricks in this regard.
And sure enough.
When Fan Wu opened the monastery gate, the things he wanted to see were sitting quietly behind it.
Although the moonlight that night was dim, the row of neatly arranged silver ingots, along with several land deeds firmly weighed down by silver...
was still extremely conspicuous.
There were roughly six hundred taels of silver here, and several of the land deeds were for fertile fields eminently suited for farming.
To be honest...
Those land deeds were not particularly useful to Fan Wu.
That was because he had no intention of staying in Prison Dragon County for long.
After all, if the people who believed in the Great Venerable were not limited to Xuan Shizi... and killing Xuan Shizi attracted even more followers of the Great Venerable, then it was highly likely that more of them would come!
What if the other party did not play by the usual rules, and it was not another follower of the Great Venerable who came, but the Great Venerable himself?
Fan Wu felt that he might...
be done for on the spot!
Although his strength was not weak now, when facing such a rather strange existence, it was still best to remain cautious and vigilant.
In short.
He could not afford to get carried away!
"The travel expenses for running away are in hand. I have no friends in Prison Dragon County, not the slightest bit of attachment. It is time to leave this cursed place where strange incidents happen one after another."
Muttering to himself, Fan Wu planned to leave Prison Dragon County that very night!
That was right!
He did not want to wait until tomorrow.
Previously, he had risked staying in this place for an extra day only to wait for the so-called reward promised by the County Magistrate of Prison Dragon County.
As a result, in that brief single day, he had encountered so many things.
If he had not activated a Golden Finger earlier, he might have been ruined in this place!
So...
If he did not cut and run now.
When would he?
To escape from Prison Dragon County, Fan Wu had already made quite a few preparations several days ago.
He had specially found a carpenter in Prison Dragon County and commissioned a wooden chest that could be carried on his back or borne by an ox or horse.
Whether the wooden chest was heavy or not did not matter.
The most important thing was that it had to be sturdy enough to hold extremely heavy objects.
When Fan Wu had commissioned that wooden chest, his original purpose had been to carry away the silver inside the statue of the True Martial Great Emperor.
But who could have expected that the silver inside could not be taken out?
He had thought that he had commissioned the wooden chest for nothing, but now it seemed it could be put to use after all.
Fan Wu dug out the wooden chest he had commissioned.
He placed the gold ingots, silver ingots, and some clothes for changing neatly inside it.
Then he lifted the extremely heavy chest.
For an ordinary person, even if they used every ounce of strength they had, they might not be able to carry it on their back.
But for Fan Wu as he was now...
it was a mere trifle!
He could not feel its weight at all.
He could lift it with one hand!
Before leaving Prison Dragon County, Fan Wu still went to the main hall of the monastery and sincerely offered several sticks of incense to the True Martial Great Emperor. He quietly waited until those sticks of incense had burned away...
Afterward, he used a fairly sturdy, shatter-resistant container and poured out all the Incense Ash from the censer.
All this Incense Ash was good stuff.
It could not be wasted.
The True Martial Great Emperor had already given him the Demon-Slaying Sword. Giving him a little more censer ash surely amounted to nothing for the True Martial Great Emperor.
At least, that was what Fan Wu thought.
And that was exactly what he did.
Afterward, he went to the rear mountain of Dragon-Imprisoning Monastery and offered three sticks of incense to his cheap con-man master.
It counted as paying his respects.
Finally.
Fan Wu did not forget to bring along the letter his con-man master had given him before his death.
No matter what, his con-man master had raised him for several years. Fan Wu intended to deliver the letter into his daughter's hands.
However, the prefectural seat of Southern Commandery was still rather far from Prison Dragon County!
"Moo—"
Suddenly.
A resounding bellow rang out. Fan Wu turned his head and looked to the side. In an empty corner of the monastery, he saw a sturdy blue ox tethered there, one that clearly looked capable of carrying a heavy load.
It was a blue ox raised by his con-man master.
Fan Wu remembered that when his con-man master had still been alive, he often sat on the blue ox's back, pretending to be some great expert and putting on an air of a master.
Speaking of which, this was an old ox as well.
"Tsk, if you can carry this wooden chest, I'll take you with me when I leave. If you can't carry it, I'll have no choice but to tether you near some farming household in Prison Dragon County."
"After all, I can't leave you tethered inside the monastery. If you eat all the grass in there, you'll starve to death."
Fan Wu did not care whether Old Green Ox could understand him.
He walked over and placed the heavy wooden chest on Old Green Ox's thick back.
"Moo~"
Old Green Ox seemed a little unaccustomed to it, but it did not look the least bit strained. It even walked back and forth a few times.
The heavy wooden chest seemed to be nothing to it.
"Good! Then I'll take you along when I cut and run! Just don't complain that the road is too far." Fan Wu smiled as he spoke.
He untied the rope tethering Old Green Ox.
Using that sturdy ox rope, he secured the wooden chest and made it stay obediently on Old Green Ox's back.
The next day.
Noon.
The County Magistrate of Prison Dragon County finally had the courage to step into the County Yamen. He was ordering a group of yamen runners to move away the damaged items in the County Yamen, while having another group clean the ground.
As the father and mother official of the county, He Caisheng himself was sitting in a valuable armchair, leisurely drinking tea.
He did not know what he had thought of, but the tea in his hand suddenly no longer tasted good.
"That Daoist Master Fan was far too impatient. Couldn't he have waited a few more days before asking for it? If he had agreed to wait a few days, I would have been confident I could give him at least half less silver... Alas! What a pity!"
"No, losing more than six hundred taels of silver and several land deeds for fertile fields means this official has suffered a huge loss!"
He Caisheng muttered to himself, "I have to exaggerate the extent of the damage to the County Yamen. That way, the imperial court can allocate more silver, and I can make up the losses..."
Just then.
Constable Liu came running over in great haste, bringing astonishing news. Gasping for breath, he said, "M... my lord! I... I wanted to visit Daoist Master Fan at Dragon-Imprisoning Monastery this morning, but I found... found that Daoist Master Fan was gone!!"
"And I found a piece of paper through a crack in the monastery gate. It seems to have been left behind by Daoist Master Fan. It... it said that Daoist Master Fan had gone traveling through the world!!"
He Caisheng's hand jerked in shock.
Tea spilled everywhere.
But he did not care. Instead, his eyes widened as he cried out in disbelief, "What? Daoist Master Fan... left?!!"
"Hiss!!!"
After seeing Constable Liu nod, He Caisheng drew in a cold breath. "Without Daoist Master Fan, what if the County Yamen is haunted again..."
At the thought of this, he could not help swallowing nervously.
Although it was still broad daylight and the sun overhead was blazing...
He Caisheng still felt cold from head to toe!
His "guardian deity" had left.
He was terrified.
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