Lu Ding had thought he would reap another harvest today, just like the day he contained the South Mountain Stubborn Stone-a double-yolk egg, two rewards.
But now that he looked, it was actually a person, not some demon, monster, or ghost.
His hopes of getting a reward fell through.
Having come all this way, Lu Ding felt rather disgruntled.
If you're human, why the hell did you have to provoke me!!!
Why did it have to be a human?
A ghost would have done, a demon would have done, but no, it had to be a human.
Hearing his words, Linggu felt, through her pain, that he was nothing but a lunatic!!
Fuck, Bureau 749 has produced a lunatic!!!
He wasn't satisfied that she was human. What was he if not a lunatic?
Was she going to die at a lunatic's hands today?
Suddenly, an elderly man's voice came from every direction in the dense forest.
"Young fellow, you shouldn't have such heavy killing intent at your age. Do this Thousand-Gold Elder a favor and let Linggu go. Leave others a little room, so you can meet again on good terms."
Lu Ding didn't move. Propping up his head, he quietly watched Linggu before him. "Come on, cheer up. Someone's come to save you."
Hope of survival shone in Linggu's eyes.
Then the woman's body and the tree she leaned against fell to the ground together.
Her round head rolled across the ground.
Only then did Lu Ding slowly stand.
He spread his arms toward the empty woods. "Sorry, senior. I've never heard of any Thousand-Gold Elder. I accidentally trampled on your dignity, and I deeply apologize. To make amends, I'm willing to accept any punishment you have for me. Hurry out and punish me. I'm absolutely terrified right now."
"You little brat, you're courting death!!!!"
The old man's furious voice rang out.
Lu Ding played right along. "Yes, yes, yes, I'm courting death, courting death. Hurry out and kill me."
But after he waited a while, neither a person nor an attack appeared.
Lu Ding clicked his tongue.
Why wasn't this like what the novels described? In a situation like this, shouldn't someone jump out and attack me?
He'd waited all this time, and for all that big talk, he hadn't seen a person, not even a single hair.
"Heh heh heh, didn't scare you, did I? The waves behind on the Yangtze really do push the waves ahead. This old man can't handle you. Forget it, forget it, I'll be off. The mountains are high and the roads long. We'll meet again if fate allows."
"Want to leave? Too late."
He had only stalled just now to use the Flying Bear Pouncing and Killing Method to locate this man's hiding place.
Had he left earlier, Lu Ding really wouldn't have been able to find him. But now, it was too late for him to leave.
Lu Ding suddenly swung his outstretched hands forward and clapped them together, whipping up gusts of wind carrying a hundred slashes that encompassed an entire fan-shaped area ahead.
Shrubs, trees, grass, topsoil, rocks-everything in sight instantly shattered into pieces as the slashes erupted.
A muffled grunt sounded, the smell of blood spread, and a dark figure shot skyward from within.
"Found you, senior."
Lu Ding swung, sending an immensely powerful slash cleaving toward him.
Lu Ding's Way of Jinche distinguished between quality and quantity. The fewer the slashes, the greater their power, but the smaller their attack range.
The more numerous the slashes, the relatively weaker their power, though their attack range would indeed expand greatly.
That last attack had only been to find him.
This slash was the killing move.
In midair, the Thousand-Gold Elder had no time to shift his body. He could only fling out a magical artifact shaped much like a gold ingot. It swelled in the wind and finally blocked the attack for him.
An enormous slash mark appeared on the gold ingot.
Lu Ding said unhurriedly, "Magical artifacts do have their merits. But once a magical artifact suffers heavy damage, as its owner, you mustn't feel too good either, must you, sir?"
The Thousand-Gold Elder sat sprawled on the ground, somewhat breathless.
That respectful address would normally have shown deference, but now it was mockery.
The Thousand-Gold Elder spoke with a smile that didn't reach his eyes. "Young man, let's not be in such a hurry to fight. Look, I haven't provoked you. We've only had a tiny little quarrel that caused a tiny bit of unpleasantness. This old man apologizes. I shouldn't have thrown my age around or put on a mysterious act. If that's not enough for you, I'll kowtow to you too."
"Also, I'll trade a treasure for my life. How does that sound?"
Whether it was Chu Hao's vine armor earlier or the Thousand-Gold Elder's gold ingot now, they were both fine things that could save their owners' lives in danger.
Without these things, either of the two-even both together-probably couldn't have withstood a single move from Lu Ding.
This also indirectly demonstrated the importance of magical artifacts.
So when the Thousand-Gold Elder mentioned a treasure, Lu Ding grew interested.
"Take it out. Let me inspect it first."
The Thousand-Gold Elder smiled awkwardly, revealing his large gold-cast front teeth. "Heh heh, I don't have it on me."
Seeing Lu Ding step forward with a dark expression frightened the old man. "Don't rush, don't rush. I don't have it on me, but it's not far from here. A Wind-Calming Pearl, a Wind-Calming Pearl! That treasure is a Wind-Calming Pearl. It can calm the wind for steady travel, and it can also let you ride the wind and fly. It's truly a rare treasure."
"A Wind-Calming Pearl?"
Lu Ding's gaze turned thoughtful.
When it came to the Wind-Calming Pearl, there was no avoiding the Flying Centipede, one of the unusual beasts recorded in folklore and accounts of the strange as having the ability to fly through the sky and burrow through the earth.
It loved eating snake brains and was one of snakes' natural enemies. Its favorite food was the brain of a beauty snake.
It looked much like a dobsonfly, but was over a thousand times larger and a hundred times fiercer.
The Wind-Calming Pearl was the Flying Centipede's inner core, though only a half-finished product.
For the inner core to transform into a Wind-Calming Pearl, it still needed to be refined by human hands.
Suddenly, Lu Ding thought of the Ji family's second young lady. Now he could understand why that woman had set her sights on the Ji family's second young lady.
So it had been for this Wind-Calming Pearl.
As mentioned earlier, Flying Centipedes loved eating beauty snakes' brains, and beauty snakes weren't found just anywhere. They had to be offspring of a human and a snake demon, and female at that.
Naturally occurring ones were rare, and in modern times, there were practically none.
Unless one used an evil art like the Livestock-Creation Technique, then forcibly accelerated maturation afterward, and, when the time was right, extracted the brain while the subject was alive to feed the Flying Centipede, increasing its magical power and speeding up the formation of its inner core.
Each link connected to the next.
The moment Lu Ding heard about this Wind-Calming Pearl, he understood these people's purpose.
He was interested in the Wind-Calming Pearl, and he wanted the Flying Centipede too.
This was a demonic beast famous for its ferocity. If he could kill it, his golden finger should give him a pretty good reward, right?
As Lu Ding thought this, even the stern expression on his face faded.
Seeing him soften, the Thousand-Gold Elder let out a long breath.
Luckily, this little fiend knows his treasures. Who knows what family raised him? Looking so young and full of vitality, he's definitely under twenty.
With such powerful combat ability at such a young age, why go to Bureau 749 to be a trainee investigator?
What a criminal waste.
"Where's the Flying Centipede?"
Hey! He knows his treasures and understands the ropes!!
Hearing that there was a chance, the Thousand-Gold Elder hurriedly scrambled up from the ground.
"Those people from the Heavenly Principle Sect are keeping it in that mountain hollow over there." As he spoke, he jutted his chin toward the gully.
"Oh, right, that woman you just killed was a member of the Heavenly Principle Sect. Her name was Linggu. She did all the wicked things."
"And you?" Lu Ding asked, cutting straight to the point.
"What were you responsible for?"
At that moment, the Thousand-Gold Elder panicked a little. He hemmed and hawed, stammering, "I... I... I just did odd jobs."
Lu Ding raised his hand. His palm swept past like a blade, and half a skull flew up.
"If you don't want to talk, don't. All crows under heaven are black. Things gather by kind, and people flock with their own. You're definitely no good either."
Was Lu Ding a good person? He didn't know himself. His moral bottom line was far too flexible for him to qualify as a good person, but he didn't seem to have done anything terribly bad either.
He just liked criticizing things he couldn't stand in his head.