Latched On

The military claimed that the disturbances in the Guizu domain had been brought under preliminary control. The martial artists who had fled still had to wait to be inspected before they would be allowed through. With such a major upheaval in the Guizu domain, it was only natural that those who had fled in panic were temporarily barred from leaving. Yet some could not bear it, feeling that a quick test for Guizu aura should be enough to let anyone who was clear pass. By now, people had even begun facing off against the military—certain wounded needed better medical care. Everyone had rushed here in response to the authorities' summons to investigate the anomalies; what was this supposed to mean? The atmosphere grew increasingly tense, verging on a drawn-swords confrontation. The military had no choice but to issue their announcement, emphasizing that the situation was under control and urging everyone not to panic. As for those in need of ghost-dispelling powder and wound medicine, they could contact the personnel stationed in the military camp. "Tch," someone sneered, muttering under their breath, "Who knows if that's true or not." This was not being contrarian for the sake of it; the Liang military's reputation truly was nothing to boast about. Most of the martial artists were still busy bandaging wounds and resting up—if any changes occurred on the Guizu domain's perimeter, they would bolt without a second word! Among the Red Pine group, the female archer resumed their previous topic: "Xiao Wu won't be in trouble, will he?" The discipline inspector, wolfing down meat, stopped at her words and mumbled with his mouth full, "Want me to go back and meet him?" "No need," Instructor Hong stated flatly. "His means of evading the Guizu are formidable. He was leading the charge and never got entangled by them either." If she had not said it, they might not have realized, but now it dawned on everyone. Earlier, most of them had been harassed by scattered Guizu, yet the apprentice knight running at the very front had come through unscathed. It was just that everyone had been concentrating entirely on watching for danger and had not registered it. "And carrying such a huge pack, too," Daiqisi remarked, finding the youth more and more remarkable. "I hope he comes out soon." A dozen or so minutes later, the youth finally appeared, the bulky pack still strapped to his back. Yet to everyone's surprise, perched upon his shoulder was a featherless little bird. The bird was palm-sized, its eyes not even opened yet, its tender claws gripping the youth's shoulder for dear life. "You..." The female archer stared in astonishment. "You actually brought a living creature out?" Wu Youren flashed an ironwood biguijue. "Here, see? It's fine... It insisted on following me." "The quality of that biguijue is pretty good," the discipline inspector nodded. "No wonder." Namuzha glanced at him seemingly casually—that fellow had an even better one, only hidden away! Instructor Hong showed no interest in small animals and merely asked why he had emerged so late. Wu Youren's answer was simple: "Got a stitch from running!" The answer left everyone caught between tears and laughter. An apprentice knight could actually get a stitch from running? Yet under certain extreme conditions, even knights had suffered from it. As bizarre as it sounded, such things truly did happen. Daiqisi said bluntly, "Then you need to watch out in the future, Xiao Wu. That could turn into a chronic issue and might only clear up after you advance." The youth nodded, unslung his large pack, and plopped onto the ground. He had tied a marching knot, so shedding the pack didn't require swinging it over his shoulder, and the little bird, with its bulging, goggle-like eyes, remained firmly rooted to his shoulder. Seeing him sit, even Instructor Hong let out a sigh of relief and sat down as well. The Red Pine group of nine visibly relaxed. It was truly strange, as if the youth possessed an innate presence that influenced those around him. Namuzha spoke up on his own initiative. "This little bird... where'd you pick it up? You're not planning to eat it, are you?" "They were all over the place," Wu Youren replied casually. "I gave it two sips of water, and it just clung to me and wouldn't leave." Truth be told, having a small animal really could draw people closer together. The female archer produced a strip of dried meat and tried feeding the chick, but the little creature adamantly refused to open its beak. Paired with its bulging, goggle-like eyes, it gave off a rather haughty air. "That's nearly longer than its whole body," the male archer teased her with a chuckle. "If it swallowed that, wouldn't it choke to death?" "Have you ever raised birds?" the female archer retorted dismissively. "These little guys are remarkably hardy." "I've certainly played with fewer birds than you have," the male archer remarked with a lewd grin. Seeing her expression sour, he remembered there was a chief instructor right beside them—and she truly hated dirty jokes! Quickly straightening his face, he said solemnly, "You've killed too many birds; your aura's all wrong, so the little guy's afraid to eat." Daiqisi asked, "What kind of bird is it?" The group studied it for a long while before a knight who came over asking for wound medicine solved the mystery: "That's a snow harrier chick!" Snow harriers were uncommon in Liang. They nested on cliff faces, grew to half the height of a man when mature, and flew silently and swiftly. "A snow harrier?" The discipline inspector swallowed hard. "Those taste great!" "Is it even enough for a single bite?" The female archer rolled her eyes at him. "Even if you want to eat it, you'd have to raise it first!" Whether an illusion or not, the featherless little bird actually seemed to shiver slightly. Having obtained the medicine, the visiting knight was keen to make friendly ties and explained a couple more things. Snow harriers were very intelligent and not easy to tame, but if trained well, they could assist in hunts. Before leaving, he added, "I've heard snow harriers can even achieve spirit sentience." Once he left, Instructor Hong actually spoke up: "Creatures from a Guizu domain aren't easy to take away." "What's the big fuss?" Another grand knight walked over—a burly man whose face was covered in tattoos. He boomed gruffly, "Only you folks from the Martial Academy are so rigid. Plenty of people brought back living creatures, and they're in high demand!" Seeing him, Instructor Hong raised an eyebrow. "You bloodsucker came too?" "Manners, manners!" The tattooed man straightened his face and spoke in all seriousness. "And you call yourself an instructor." "Got any ghost-dispelling powder? I'll pay top dollar... And biguijue too." The Red Pine squad had brought plenty of ghost-dispelling powder with them, so they indeed had some stock left. Other teams hadn't brought small amounts either, but the disaster had struck so suddenly that many had failed to grab all their reserves. The timing of breaking out of the Guizu domain was also crucial; many had sought to flee right at the start, burning through a large amount of powder along the way. Instructor Hong sold him two packets; she had prepared the basic provisions for this expedition, so whether to sell was naturally her call. Beside him, Daiqisi whispered to the youth: "That man's a loan shark!" In Wu Youren's terms: the head of an organized crime syndicate! To make a name in gray or downright illicit circles, one couldn't get by without martial prowess. Still, a grand knight doing this kind of work was rare; no wonder he had made a name for himself. Instructor Hong sold the two packets of ghost-dispelling powder, taking in four gold coins. Back at Red Pine, one packet went for a hundred silver dollars, but her price wasn't steep at all—on a battlefield, this was an honest deal! The tattooed man was well pleased and asked again, "No biguijue? I'm buying at top dollar!" No one answered him. Only after a good while did the discipline inspector grunt, "Biguijue prices went through the roof long ago!" The market price of ghost-dispelling powder had already soared to nearly two hundred, and biguijue offered active defense. What's more, the latter could be reused, merely losing durability, whereas powder was gone once used—a consumable item. It was only natural that the two had appreciated at different rates. Hearing this, Wu Youren had a thought and quietly focused his perception. Fascinating. Namuzha's gaze wandered, glancing his way from time to time. Could it be for my biguijue? Wu Youren felt the possibility was far from small. The world truly was absurd: a notorious pauper like him was actually being eyed for his wealth! Still, it wasn't worth fretting over. Aside from finding it somewhat comical, he didn't even have the inclination to feel disappointed. They were hardly comrades-in-arms; teaming up at night to harass Tianwu had merely been to protect their valuables and save their own skins. In fact, he felt rather relaxed. Now that he was on guard, if push came to shove, it would just be another batch of experience points. When the mob boss left, Daiqisi beside him teased the little bird, and seeing no response, turned her head to murmur to him. "May I see your biguijue?" Wu Youren glanced at her and silently brought it out. Before entering the Guizu domain this time, he had hidden his jade biguijue and switched to the ironwood trophy. For one, the jade biguijue's style could easily expose his identity; for another, he worried that the disturbances in the domain might somehow damage it. Spoils of war were windfall gains, and most people treated them the same—if it broke, it wouldn't sting much. More importantly, Wu Youren had a hypothesis and wanted to test what caused the changes in the jue. He didn't believe his nominal grandfather back in Jin could have bestowed such a miraculous cheat. His experiences over these past ten-plus days proved he had been right. The ironwood biguijue could also absorb experience points and improve in quality. Yet the difference was undeniable: it absorbed very little experience. He didn't know whether ironwood had less potential than the jade jue, or if it was due to being Liang-issue—a foreign captive, after all, was no hometown army. Consequently, the improvement in the ironwood's quality was virtually negligible; had Wu Youren not observed it carefully, he might not have noticed at all. Yet for him, this outcome was just right. Had its quality increased too quickly, he would have had to hide it away instead. Everyone else's biguijue lost durability, growing less and less resilient—whoever heard of one getting better and better? Daiqisi turned it over a few times, then touched the biguijue against the little bird; indeed, there was no reaction. Then she handed it back to the youth. "Sure enough, no Guizu aura. The quality on yours really is good." It was plain to see that she, too, had been worried the creature wouldn't easily pass the military checkpoint. The truth was, Wu Youren didn't care in the slightest—whether the snow harrier was easy to raise or not had nothing to do with him. He had genuinely been clung to by the little fellow and hadn't wanted to kill it, which was why he brought it along. Then again, doing this to reinforce his persona of lacking ambition wasn't a bad idea either. At the very least, his "farming" label already invited some disdain; adding "wasting his drive on frivolous pets" wouldn't hurt. A dozen or so minutes later, another grand knight appeared escorting five knights, looking... rather wretched. This one had quite a temper and started arguing loudly with the garrison, demanding to leave immediately. "My men are in this state! I'm warning you, don't force my hand!"