The Warmth of a Hometown Fellow

Begonia City, at the city gates.

A carriage slowly passed through the gates. The newly assigned gate guards wore respectful expressions, while scattered city residents gathered nearby.

They had heard that the person inside the carriage had paid to repair their homes and street stalls, and their eyes were filled with curiosity.

They had seen people repair roads and bridges, but never someone who would even repair the stalls of vendors and replace broken roof tiles on street houses.

He truly was a strange lord.

Among the scattered crowd of onlookers were the Fat Regiment Commander and his adjutant, Iron Rod.

Unlike the curiosity of the other spectators, however, the Fat Regiment Commander's eyes were full of regret and disappointment.

Such a powerful backer... just leaving like that.

"Iron Rod, if we could become this lord's dogs... subordinates, how much military funding could our unit demand from above in the future?"

Iron Rod nodded beside him. "Yeah. In just five days, His Excellency rewarded us with ten thousand Gold Soul Coins. That's way more profitable than when you used to be someone else's dog, Commander."

Iron Rod gripped his broadsword, his face equally full of regret and disappointment.

The Fat Regiment Commander's cheek twitched. He glared at his adjutant and lowered his voice. "What dog? Subordinate, subordinate! Got it?"

"Oh, oh." Iron Rod hurriedly nodded.

"But Commander, do you think we'll have another chance to be His Excellency's dogs in the future?"

The Fat Regiment Commander replied irritably, "How would I know?"

"Then Commander, do you know where His Excellency is going?"

"How could I possibly know that? And what are you planning?" The Fat Regiment Commander shot him a sidelong glance.

"Making money is so fast with him. I want to go take a look." Iron Rod answered honestly.

The Fat Regiment Commander scratched his scalp numb. "Go take a look, my ass! That's Clear Sky Douluo!"

"Don't you know about the conflict between Clear Sky Douluo and Spirit Hall? With that little body of yours, going there would be suicide."

"Still thinking about making money?"

"Have you forgotten what the grandson of Begonia Pavilion's former Vice Pavilion Master said..." The Fat Regiment Commander abruptly stopped.

But Iron Rod nodded. "I remember. That Qing Yuhuan said His Excellency was hypocritical, sold his Wife, killed people whenever they disagreed with him, and was a complete piece of garb—"

The Fat Regiment Commander was so startled that he hurriedly covered his adjutant's mouth with his fat hand, whispering in terror:

"My dear brother-in-law, stop talking. If you say another word, I'll have your sister wearing mourning clothes and seeing you off to the grave."

Iron Rod timidly said, "Sorry, brother-in-law. I almost got you killed again. But brother-in-law, I don't think His Excellency is the kind of person Qing Yuhuan described. How about we report Qing Yuhuan?"

The Fat Regiment Commander let out a breath, then snorted at his adjutant's words. "Call me Commander. And do you think I hadn't thought of that?"

"Otherwise, why do you think the two of us were qualified to have that Pavilion Master use a Soul Skill to heal our bodies yesterday?"

"Oh." Iron Rod nodded meekly.

"But Commander, Qing Yuhuan used to be just an ordinary soul master, with horizons about the same as ours. Why did he have such deep malice toward His Excellency?"

"Who knows."

"Then how will His Excellency deal with Qing Yuhuan?"

"Wipe out his whole family, probably."

"Oh."

Inside the carriage, Tang Hao opened a letter and looked at the Fat Regiment Commander's report against the grandson of Begonia Pavilion's former Vice Pavilion Master. He shook his head.

With a squeeze of his fingers, he crushed the letter into fragments.

No wonder such an old man had suddenly taken the risk of reporting him to Spirit Hall.

So it was because he had a filial grandson egging him on from the side.

Still, this Transmigrator Qing Yuhuan's Golden Finger seemed a little pathetic.

Tang Hao had clearly been heavily injured at the time, lying in Begonia Pavilion and waiting for treatment, yet Qing Yuhuan had still needed to rely on reporting him to Spirit Hall to kill him?

Did that mean Qing Yuhuan's Golden Finger was actually weak and easy to bully?

Tang Hao fell into thought, recalling his own Golden Finger.

Kill monsters, and they dropped light orbs.

As long as he killed a Transmigrator, that person's Golden Finger would drop as a light orb.

The orb might contain that Golden Finger's skills, cultivation methods, secret arts, and so on.

His Dragon Transformation Secret Method had come from one such orb.

I wonder what kind of treasure I'll get if I butcher this guy. Tang Hao muttered to himself.

But it was only an idle thought. Compared to crossing countless miles and entering Spirit Hall's territory to kill a Transmigrator,

he would rather cultivate Martial Art within the Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect.

A gentleman did not stand beneath a crumbling wall.

He was no gentleman, but his years as a working man had made him less inclined toward adventure, toward embarking on a grand and heroic pursuit across a thousand miles.

That was the sort of thing only great heroes did.

For a working man, crossing a thousand miles to hammer Dugu Aotian to death just to avoid suffering that humiliation had already been enough.

He still had to take responsibility for his own safety.

Tang Hao grumbled inwardly while rubbing the Storage Silver Bracelet on his finger.

A grand pursuit across a thousand miles was not feasible for now, but once they reached a major city, he could add a bounty of one million Gold Soul Coins and let that Transmigrator Hometown Fellow experience some warmth.

After all, a Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone was too high-grade, so high-grade that the soul masters it attracted would either be Soul Fighting Masters or Soul Saints.

In the past, he would have thought people like that were more than enough to kill Qing Yuhuan—using them would even be overkill.

But if Qing Yuhuan was a Transmigrator, then Soul Fighting Masters and Soul Saints might instead hesitate to act.

After all, Innate Full Soul Power was standard for Transmigrators. Spirit Hall would certainly step in to protect such a genius.

Soul Fighting Masters and Soul Saints all had families and estates to worry about. They had too many concerns, leaving them constrained and timid.

On the other hand, a bounty of one million Gold Soul Coins could attract anyone, from Soul Kings and Soul Emperors to ordinary Handmaidens and servants...

So...

What was that saying again? The warmth of the vast ocean of the masses.

His Hometown Fellow surely would not find it unfamiliar, would he?

Tang Hao smiled and looked at Ye Xilan, who was reading. With great interest, he asked:

"Xilan, which city on the way to Seven Treasure City can print additional copies of the Heaven Dou Report and add a missing-person notice?"

"A missing-person notice?" Ye Xilan put down her book and pondered softly.

"Your Excellency, the Heaven Dou Report strictly controls additional content. Usually, its contents are handled by the royal family in Heaven Dou City.

"But for a missing-person notice, the Heaven Dou Imperial Family has delegated the authority in order to make money. Even so, only the royal families of duchies or kingdoms generally possess that qualification."

"So if Your Excellency wishes to find someone, you will have to wait three days until we reach Ili City, the capital of the Ili Kingdom, and ask its royal family to add a missing-person notice."

The Ili Kingdom in three days.

Tang Hao nodded.

Since he had decided to give his Hometown Fellow a little warmth from the masses, naturally he had to let the masses know about it first.

After all, the soul master world on Douluo Continent was small. A casual word would let everyone know that he had put up a Ten Thousand Year Soul Bone as a bounty for Qing Yuhuan.

But the world of ordinary people was vast, so vast that he needed the power of newspapers to let them know.

A business worth one million Gold Soul Coins had been so close to them all along.

Mm, and he hoped that after his Hometown Fellow saw that newspaper, he would sleep very comfortably.

Seeing that His Excellency had nothing else to ask, Ye Xilan picked up the banned book Battle Through the Heavens again.

She had reached the most exciting part, where Soul Hall appeared at the Cloud Mist Sect with its "Heh heh heh." After glancing over it briefly, she became absorbed once more.