A Stirring Heart

"Cousin, cousin, let me use this horse for a bit!"

Zhang Xuezhou knew the direct route from Fuping County to Hibiscus City.

Although he lacked Demon Power and couldn't fly, he managed to glide through obstacles from time to time, and thus arrived at the Daoist temple not too late.

The day after reuniting with Rong Tianding and the others, Zhang Xuezhou rushed back from Fuping County at noon.

At this time, Rong Tianding had already bought a yellow horse and was happily feeding it hay.

Before he could even warm the horse's rump, Zhang Xuezhou had already taken the reins into his hand.

"Cousin, where have you been so late at night? Shall we set off now?" Rong Tianding asked excitedly. "This horse is very docile; the two of us can definitely ride it without any problems. I even brought meat pies and water!"

"I've run into some trouble, wait for me, I'll be back!"

Zhang Xuezhou called out twice, then mounted his horse, slapped its rump, and galloped south.

"Fuping County should be in the north!"

Watching Zhang Xuezhou away on horseback, Rong Tianding couldn't figure it out for a moment.

He glanced at the remaining hay in his hand, then at Zhang Xuezhou's relaxed and carefree riding, and his mind began to wander into deep thought.

"Alright, then let's wait for my cousin!"

Rong Tianding didn't understand what Zhang Xuezhou was trying to do, but it was nothing for his cousin to ride a horse; even if he lost it, he could afford to buy a new one.

By joining forces with Daoist Mu, the two practically monopolized the superstitious business in Hibiscus City.

When Daoist Mu passed away, Rong Tianding not only kept all the food for himself, but he also inherited Daoist Mu's estate, which has made him quite wealthy.

He didn't take it seriously, and after observing for a while without any results, Rong Tianding closed the door of the Daoist temple and practiced incantations there.

"Old Mu made me learn the art of controlling ghosts. I've learned the art, but where am I going to find ghost henchmen?"

Rong Tianding still occasionally performs exorcisms for city dwellers, but he hasn't seen a ghost in all these years.

"We all have guilty consciences, but those kinds of guilty consciences are useless. I wonder what kind of wonderful techniques the expert my cousin found for me can teach me!"

His mind was filled with fantasies, and he only came to his senses when the temple gate was banged open.

"Who is it? Coming to burn incense so early in the morning?"

"Daoist priest, open the door!"

A powerful voice came from behind him, Rong Tianding felt that it would be difficult for such a person to come to temples and Daoist monasteries to burn incense and worship Buddha.

"Which side are you from?"

Rong Tianding opened the door a crack, and then the other party handed him a piece of silver.

"We are from the Flying Feather Army. This horse has been running for a long time and is a bit hungry. Could we buy some horse feed from you, Daoist priest?"

In early spring, the ice and snow had not yet melted, and the grass had not yet sprouted, making it difficult to even find a blade of grass to eat in the wild.

Zhang Xuezhou was having a hard time being chased, and the Zhang Xuezhou were having a tough time too.

The people can still hold on, but the horses are having a tough time.

The Flying Feather Army members, both hungry and exhausted, followed the path indicated by the Technique Method markings and arrived here.

"If you have any food here, that would be great! We can pay for it!"

"Ingredients are a bit expensive now, not at their usual prices."

"We'll pay for it!"

"I still paid three hundred and a half taels of silver for this horse feed!"

Rong Tianding looked at the broken silver in his hand, then at the four members of the Flying Feather Army.

He weighed it in his hand for a moment, then pointed to the military horses that were already grazing outside the Daoist temple.

This left the generals speechless.

"This little bit of fodder costs three hundred and a half taels of silver?"

They thought they had paid a high price for fodder, but they didn't expect that the money they offered wasn't enough.

"I bought it from the horse trader this morning, intending to sell it to a passerby for a few coins, but I ended up losing money," Rong Tianding said.

Prices in Hibiscus City are way too high!

In the past, pork cost one and a half taels per jin (500 grams), and three hundred and a half taels could buy a pig.

But right now it's just a batch of green fodder, and the quantity is very small.

The generals looked at each other in bewilderment.

"How about I pawn this sword?" said the general surnamed Lu. "This heavy sword is a bit too heavy for a horse. It would be much easier without it. If we could exchange it for some food, we wouldn't have to suffer from both the cold and hunger!"

"That's good. We've been traveling all morning, and not only are the horses starving, but we're all starving too," Ning Cheng nodded.

"Daoist priest, I'll pawn this sword to you. I'll redeem it after I get the money from the military camp!" said the general surnamed Lu.

Rong Tianding glanced at everyone, then pondered for a few seconds.

Zhang Xuezhou mentioned that he had gotten into trouble, Rong Tianding felt that the group of people in front of him were likely the source of that trouble.

His gaze swept over the heavy sword, and when he reached out to hold it, he felt its immense weight, almost causing him to drop it.

"Your big iron sword is obviously worthless, worth at most a hundred and a half taels of silver!" Rong Tianding shouted.

"This sword of mine is infused with black iron, so it's not afraid of cutting anything. It used to cost me forty gold coins to forge, and now you're telling me it's only worth one hundred and a half taels?" the general surnamed Lu said incredulously.

"This sword of yours is incredibly heavy; nobody uses a sword like this. If you don't come to redeem it, I won't be able to sell it to anyone else, and I'll lose a hundred and a half taels of silver for nothing!"

"What you said isn't entirely unreasonable!"

"I still have a few pork pies in my temple. Each pie is worth one hundred and a half taels of silver. If you pawn your sword, I'll give you a pie!"

"This is outrageously expensive!"

The Flying Feather Army of the Northern Border is not the same as the Xiong State's army; they must follow the rules in this Northern Border.

Regardless of whether the price is high or low, when you're hungry, you have to buy it no matter the price.

Although everyone was indignant, those who were supposed to pay paid, and those who couldn't had to use their money as collateral.

"You're demanding a hundred and a half taels of silver as collateral for this pair of iron plates? Are you all here to freeload off me?"

A heavy sword pressed down, and Rong Tianding went back into the temple to retrieve a cake.

His pancake was as big as a human face, and it was stuffed with all sorts of minced pork.

Even before it was fully baked, the food tasted incredibly delicious when shared among the people. However, after finishing one pancake, everyone felt only about 10% full.

Ning Cheng used his own Law Artifact as collateral, which, as usual, was looked down upon by Rong Tianding.

Rong Tianding was 50% ignorant of the value of things and 50% just stubbornly insisting on his point.

No matter what Zhang Xuezhou did to offend the Flying Feather Army, as his cousin, he would try to delay as much as possible and reduce the enemy's strength by as much as possible.

He hadn't known why Zhang Xuezhou had headed south before, but now he understood completely.

Zhang Xuezhou not only had to flee south, but also had to escape the Northern Border territory where the Flying Feather Army was located, until he shook off these people.

He accepted Ning Cheng's magical Law Artifact with a look of disgust before giving him the second cake.

"Daoist Master, take a look at my sword!"

"Another sword? I don't want to pawn this kind of stuff anymore!"

"This is a fine sword of mine, worth a hundred gold coins. You can't even offer it for a hundred and a half taels of silver?"

"You say it's worth a hundred gold, so it's a hundred gold? If it's worth a hundred gold, why don't you just exchange it for a hundred gold? I... never mind, for the sake of the Flying Feather Army, this pie is yours!"

"My saddle?"

"Don't take the saddle!"

"And what about my robe? This is a Dharma robe, and look, it can float three feet high!"

"It's just pulling a thread up the robe."

"I didn't pull the string!"

"Fine, I won't argue with you shady characters. The discounted collateral is one hundred and a half taels of silver. Please come and collect it within three days. Otherwise, I'll sell it myself!"

Rong Tianding's temples trembled slightly.

He felt that Zhang Xuezhou had gotten himself into serious trouble.

Iron plate Law Artifact, robes, heavy swords, and sharp swords—each of these is used by people of the highest social standing.

Rong Tianding had no idea what kind of trouble Zhang Xuezhou had gotten into that required sending someone like this to pursue Zhang Xuezhou.

He watched as the group, half-full, rode away, lost in thought.

But he quickly became excited; the bigger the trouble Zhang Xuezhou could cause, the more capable Zhang Xuezhou was.

The Daoist Mu once told him that no great cultivator is without trouble. A cultivator who doesn't cause trouble is simply incompetent and will never produce anything that others envy.

Among cultivators, they not only cause trouble, but they cause trouble frequently.

The higher the level of trouble you cause, the greater the corresponding gains you'll reap.

For example, Rong Tianding was just teetering on the edge of trouble, and in just a quarter of an hour, he acquired several heavy items.

Even if the Flying Feather Army soldiers really came back to buy goods on credit, he still made 580 and a half taels of silver for nothing.

"I have to go out with my cousin and make my way in the world!"

Although he hadn't yet mastered any skills, Rong Tianding's adventurous spirit was already incredibly strong.

Looking at the small Daoist temple, he felt that he could no longer live peacefully as before, selling pig blood paintings and collecting incense money to make a living.