"A thousand catties... of gold?!"
Dense Divine Smoke curled through the blood-red Yongning Temple, and like the flickering golden light, it dazzled the eyes and bewitched the mind. Harman Tribe chief Ali's eyes went wide as he held the Gold Talisman in his hands, staring at Zuwaro in disbelief. In that instant, he thought his ears had been injured, or that he was hallucinating.
"Ancestor Shaman, surely you are joking? A thousand catties of gold? That is sixteen thousand taels of gold, at least a hundred thousand taels of silver! Such an astonishing fortune— even the Liaodong commander-in-chief would find it hard to take out! In this bitterly cold lower reach of the great river, the savage tribes eat raw meat and drink blood, and barely have a few pieces of ironware. How could they possibly have such a huge sum of gold?!..."
"Oh? You do not believe me?... Xiong Da, go to the flagship and bring over that bag of Gold Talismans used as ballast!"
"All right!"
The burly Xiong Da nodded, then strode quickly out. Before long, he returned panting, carrying a heavy, solid grass sack tightly bound with leather straps. Then he unloaded the sack from his shoulder and threw it hard onto the ground. A crisp, pleasant clinking rang out from within the bag.
"Clink! Clink!..."
"!!..."
Harman chief Ali's fingers trembled as he knelt and untied the grass sack. Then dazzling golden light shone over his face, blinding his old eyes. He reached in with his palm and grabbed hard through the Gold Talismans twice, feeling the heavy weight in his hand. The expression on his face was both greedy and shaken, as if he were dreaming!
"Ancestors above! This one is gold! This one too! These are all gold? This whole bag is?! How