Chapter 11: A Gathering
Late in the night, Xu Qing sped through the camp like a cat, nimble and silent.
Occasionally, he reached up and clamped his hand over his mouth to prevent himself from coughing. At first, it didn’t hurt much. But as he continued to force himself not to cough, his lungs began to burn, and his face turned pale white.
Thankfully, the camp wasn’t very large, and it didn’t take long to reach Sergeant Thunder’s courtyard, and his own cabin.
Instead of rushing inside, he stood a short distance away, trying to steady his breathing. After inhaling and exhaling, he started walking again.
Opening the bamboo gate, he looked around, then entered his cabin.
Once inside, he couldn’t control himself anymore, and coughed up a huge mouthful of black blood. When it splashed on the ground, it hissed loudly. After coughing up the blood, some of the color returned to his face. Gasping, he dropped into a cross-legged position and went into meditative breathing exercises.
Time passed. Finally, he opened his eyes.
What a powerful poison!
The cloud of gas Fatmountain had used was indeed highly poisonous. However, if Xu Qing hadn’t taken the action he did, Fatmountain might have been able to call for help, and that would have made things a lot more difficult. Even if Xu Qing had pretended to be injured, he doubted it would have been enough to fool Fatmountain and get the upper hand.
Once the man realized he was being followed, he had manipulated the situation perfectly. His only mistake was underestimating how strong Xu Qing was.
In the end, Xu Qing had trusted the violet crystal in his chest, and its powers of regeneration. He had braved the dangers of the poison gas, rushing forward to kill his opponent as quickly as possible.
It seemed he’d made the right choice. The violet crystal really did have the ability to neutralize poisons, and repair damage done by them. His lungs still itched, and he still felt like coughing, but those were signs that the healing process was underway.
Scavengers are more complicated than they seem. Now that I think about it, if I hadn’t hit Horsefour so accurately, and if he’d had a chance to fight back, things would have been a lot more difficult.
As he sat there, he ran through both encounters and tried to identify areas where he could have done better. Later, he sighed heavily and looked over the contents of his sack. He knew that he was missing something.
Fatmountain wanted to kill me by himself because he wanted something from Horsefour’s sack. He was even ready to hunt me down over it. What’s so special about all these things?
He dumped the contents of the sack out in front of him, including all the spirit coins. After glancing over the collection, he began studying each item one by one. In that manner, he identified which objects were ordinary in nature. Which was basically all of them. In the end, he was left with the piece of iron. Looking at it with a furrowed brow, he tried to determine what was special about it.
Is this what he was after? It doesn’t seem special at all. Is it some valuable crafting material?
After some more thought, he put everything away and decided to dig around to find more information about the iron.
Next, he looked through Fatmountain’s sack.
It didn’t contain any white boluses, but it did have a lot of spirit coins. There was also a large collection of bottles and jars filled with poisonous substances. Xu Qing didn’t dare to open any of them.
Finally, he examined the half-crushed piece of amber that Fatmountain had been about to use before he died.
And what might this be…? He was trying to crush it right before I killed him. Realizing that he didn’t have enough information to make a determination, he put it away carefully.
After finishing with all those tasks, he worked on his cultivation.
Now that he was in the second level of Qi Condensation, he found that, when he went to sleep, he would only need about two hours before he was fully rested. Because of that, he was able to spend most of his spare time in cultivation.
And now that he didn’t need to shadow Fatmountain, he had even more time. For the entire following day he remained focused on meditation. It was only as evening approached that he opened his eyes and looked at the door.
At exactly the same time, he heard Sergeant Thunder.
“Kid, come out into the courtyard.”
Xu Qing stood and walked out.
Sergeant Thunder had set up a table in the courtyard, and it was filled with food and drink. Altogether, there were six chairs and six sets of tableware. Sergeant Thunder beckoned Xu Qing to sit down. Given all the bowls and chopsticks, Xu Qing could only surmise that people were coming for a meal.
“Have you settled into the basecamp over the last few days?” Sergeant Thunder asked, glancing out the main gate.
“Pretty much,” Xu Qing replied, looking over the spread of food.
Whether it was because of the extended session of cultivation, or the fragrant aroma, Xu Qing’s belly was grumbling loudly.
Sergeant Thunder heard it and laughed. “Calm down. We’re waiting for some guests.”
“You mean the rest of Squad Thunderbolt?”
The old man nodded and was about to say something, when he suddenly looked back toward the main gate. Xu Qing did the same.
A burly man was there, walking in from the shadowy street.
He was taller and more muscular than Cruel Ox, to the point where he was like a small mountain. His muscles rippled with each step he took, and he radiated an intimidating air. He had a huge steel shield strapped to his back, and carried a wolf tooth club that was taller than Xu Qing. His every footfall caused a reverberating sound to echo out. When he stepped into the courtyard, the entire place seemed smaller, and he seemed so powerful that Xu Qing felt like he was in the presence of one of the huge mutant beasts back in the ruined city he came from.
“Hey, Boss, I’m back,” the big man said, grinning at Sergeant Thunder. Then he looked at all the food, and his eyes lit up. He quickly took off his shield and put it to the side along with the wolf tooth club. Both made loud thumping sounds when he placed them down. He sat, and the chair made a very loud creaking sound. The entire time, the man didn’t spare a single glance for Xu Qing. [1]
Sergeant Thunder grinned, but didn’t say anything. And thus, the huge man just sat there looking at the food but not eating any of it.
As for Xu Qing, he glanced out of the corner of his eye at the shield and the wolf tooth club. Given the sound they made when being put down, they were obviously incredibly heavy. In fact… he bet they weighed more than he did.
Not much time passed before the silence in the courtyard was broken again. Two people appeared this time, a man and a woman.
The man was young, and had a bow on his back. He was tall and thin, and had a crucifix-shaped scar on his face that looked like it had been carved into him against his will. That, coupled with his sharp eyes, made him seem very intimidating.
The woman looked to be in her thirties. Her facial features were average, but she wore tight leather clothing that made her extremely sexy and alluring.
When they entered, Sergeant Thunder called out a greeting, and as they sat, the young man with the bow gave Xu Qing a very close look.
As for the woman, she had a curious gleam in her eye as she laughed and said, “Boss, you went out for one job and came back with a child? I had no idea you were so hale and hearty, old man. Is that why you called us all back here? To tell us you had a secret love child this whole time?”
“He’s not the right age,” the burly man said.
Xu Qing kept his mouth shut, but eased his left leg a bit to the side to make it easy to grab his dagger if he needed to. He had the feeling that it wouldn’t help much against three people, and he could tell these newcomers were very strong. In fact, they were probably stronger than Fatmountain. That was especially true of the man with the bow, whose eyes seemed to pierce deeply into Xu Qing.
Ignoring the others, Sergeant Thunder looked at Xu Qing, then pointed at the burly man. “This is Savage Ghost. He’s reached the third level of body refinement, and is a natural-born powerhouse.”
Sergeant Thunder then pointed at the others and introduced them.
“Graceful Raptor is in the third level of Qi Condensation. She can communicate with animals. Most of the stray dogs in the camp are her eyes and ears. [2]
“Crucifix is at the peak of the fourth level of Qi Condensation. Few people in the same level could match him.
“And this is the Kid. He’s reached the second level of body refinement.”
The other members of the squad listened respectfully to Sergeant Thunder, as did Xu Qing.
“Now, let’s eat. We can talk at the same time.” Sergeant Thunder picked up a piece of meat and started to eat. Then he continued, “The reason I called all of you back is that the spring crop came in early this year, and the camp owner has announced new mission rewards. Whichever party brings in the most seven-leaf clovers will receive three dustpurging pills. And as you know, dustpurging pills are far more effective than white boluses. What do you say we head inside to that hidden patch of land we have, and start the harvest early?”
In response to his words, the other squad members’ eyes shone brightly, and they all nodded.
Xu Qing had never heard of dustpurging pills, but based on what Sergeant Thunder said, they were better than white boluses.
“Since you’re all in agreement, let’s get ready to head in. And the Kid will be coming along.”
“Him?” Savage Ghost said.
Crucifix frowned. “Boss, the second level of body refinement is too weak. It means we’ll have to look out for him the whole time. It’s just not appropriate.”
“Everybody has to have their first time,” Sergeant Thunder said, looking first at Crucifix, and then at Xu Qing. “It’s your choice, Kid.”
“I can do it,” Xu Qing replied with a curt nod.
He had five white boluses in his sack, and thus didn’t feel a huge need to get dustpurging pills. However, he already knew what life in the scavenger basecamp was like. He would have to go into the forbidden region eventually, and therefore… it made sense to go with a squad of extremely experienced people. He could learn a lot that way.
Crucifix didn’t say anything further.
“Finish eating,” Sergeant Thunder said, “then head out for the night. We’ll meet in the morning and then head off.” With that, he stood and went into his cabin.
Xu Qing stabbed a piece of meat and put it in his mouth. Then, with a final glance at the three squad members, he went back to his cabin. He never felt comfortable around strangers, and had no desire to sit around with them.
Nothing happened during the night, and there wasn’t much Xu Qing needed to do in the way of preparation. He was used to living in a constant state of readiness.
The next morning, they gathered, and Sergeant Thunder led the way toward the outskirts of the camp.
An azure sky stretched overhead, and the sun shone brightly. A hawk circled overhead, seemingly watching them.
Similarly, the scavengers they passed in the camp noticed the group. Perhaps that was because of Savage Ghost’s towering frame and the alluring Graceful Raptor. Even some people from the recently arrived caravan looked their way.
Actually, there were a lot of scavengers gathered in the caravan area, seemingly waiting for something.
Xu Qing hadn’t been out for a full day, so he had no idea what was going on. Seeing his curious look, Graceful Raptor smiled and said, “I heard that a caravan from the Violet Lands arrived last night. They have a famous physician with them. He even healed that old pervert Lame Jackal’s hip injury. Now everybody is lining up for treatment.”
“That physician must make a lot of money,” Savage Ghost muttered enviously.
Xu Qing felt envious too. After eyeing the scene for a bit, his attention was drawn to something else.
He wasn’t the only one. Savage Ghost and Graceful Raptor suddenly looked very attentive. Only Crucifix and Sergeant Thunder looked the same as ever. However, they also noticed what was up ahead.
There was another squad of scavengers in their path.
This one had about seven or eight members, including both men and women. All of them radiated an air of brutality.
They were clustered around an old man that reminded Xu Qing of Sergeant Thunder. The man had disheveled hair and a bloodthirsty gleam in his eyes. Furthermore, he was sitting on top of the corpse of a stray dog, and was slowly chewing one of its legs.
“Go find Fatmountain and Horsefour,” he said in a sinister tone. “Those bastards. How dare they show up late. Are they tired of living?”
This was Squad Bloodshadow!
The old man eating the dog meat was Squad Bloodshadow’s captain, and he wasn’t making any attempt to conceal his spirit power fluctuations. When Xu Qing heard him mention Fatmountain and Horsefour, his eyes narrowed to prevent them from glittering.
Meanwhile, Graceful Raptor looked at the dead dog, and her eyes flared with rage and killing intent. That was her dog!
It was at this point that Squad Bloodshadow noticed Sergeant Thunder and the others. Grinning atop the dead dog, the old man looked at Graceful Raptor and licked his lips.
“Hey, you little tramp. You raised this dog, right? I have to say, it’s delicious. But it makes me wonder what you taste like.”
1. I’m sure most of you know what a wolf tooth club looks like, but just in case, here’s a reference image. ☜
2. Graceful Raptor’s name in Chinese is literally “Luan Tooth.” The luan is a bird from Chinese mythology, sort of similar to the phoenix, but not the same. According to Madam Deathblade, this woman’s name sounds both elegant and fierce in Chinese, so instead of going with a direct translation, or even a stretch of a translation like Phoenix Beak, I’m using Graceful Raptor, which I think captures the spirit of her name. ☜