Second Deng chose a sparse patch of woods and rested for a while, listening to what the two men had to say.
It turned out that after the two brothers left, Escort Chief Deng had been too restless to sit idle. He began taking on personal bodyguard work in his own name—he had no choice. Other than this, he did not have many ways to make a living.
However, he protected people, not cargo. It was similar to being a private bodyguard: one day's protection meant one day's pay.
He had wanted to escort cargo, but Qingning Prefecture was only so large, and there was only so much business to go around. If he took cargo jobs, his work would overlap with that of the Mighty Wind Escort Agency.
Deng Yifu had once been the deputy chief escort of the Mighty Wind Escort Agency. After he was injured, the agency dismissed him. Strictly speaking, the agency had treated him unfairly, but he still remembered their old bond and was unwilling to compete with them for business.
He believed that taking a few small jobs protecting people would not have much effect on the agency. I'm purely making a living off my own cultivation. Even the Mighty Wind Escort Agency can't swallow up this entire market.
In truth, quite a few Martial Warriors in Xiyin City took such personal protection jobs. However, Escort Chief Deng was a Mid-Rank Martial Master with sufficiently high cultivation, and he had worked in the escort trade before. He knew the business inside out and was far more trustworthy than a novice.
Speaking of trustworthiness, he had another advantage: he was a native of Xiyin City. Compared with wandering Martial Cultivators, someone with known roots like him could more easily earn his clients' trust—people who hired