Chapter 168 – Playing the Role of the Fool
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“It doesn’t matter if he’s truly stupid or just acting stupid. He’s still only a little boy at the Altering Muscle stage; there are no tricks that he can play. I’ll have to keep watch over him so he doesn’t have any chance to use a sound transmitting talisman. After another day of going through the wild forest, we’ll be far past the range of any common sound transmitting talisman. When that happens, he’ll be nothing more than a slab of meat. I’ll cut him however I want to cut him.” The monkey-faced man thought this and said, “Little Brother, my last name is Zhou. This fellow here is my brother; it’s fine if you call him Baldy.”
“Great. My last name is Mo, I am called Mo Lin.” Lin Ming casually quoted a random name. The Southern Wilderness was incomparably vast and there were countless tribes. Even Ouyang Dihua would have difficulty finding him even if he knew he was down here. Still, Lin Ming didn’t want to provoke any unnecessary troubles.
“Little Brother Mo, let’s go. Miss Na Yi, I’ll have to trouble you to ride the same horse as your younger sister.”
Na Yi maintained her calm as she switched horses. For Lin Ming, she could only sigh.
Was this young man an idiot? Or was he just clueless and blindly optimistic to this extent?
Did he really think that the Double Devils of the Southern Wilderness would actually let him off afterwards?
However, the fate of Na Yi and her sister was also unclear, how could she worry about others?
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In the group of five, Lin Ming rode a short-legged mountain horse all the way up. Although the horse was slow, it had very good endurance, and it was able to go over hills and crags just like they were flat land.
Slowly, the surrounding plant life became increasingly lush and vibrant. When he had first entered the Southern Wilderness, the trees had been sparse and the terrain was mostly marshes and grasslands. But now, the forest was so thick that even the sunlight couldn’t reach the ground. The entire forest was dark as dusk, and the grass was as high as a human.
In this high grass, there were often lurking vicious pythons. If a martial artist of insufficient cultivation walked inside, it would be very easy for them to be killed.
The bald man was the vanguard, leading the way with his saber, the monkey-face brought up the rear, and Lin Ming and the two sisters were protected in the middle. Before they found the Sorcerer Holy Land, the security of the three with lower cultivations was very important.
“Little Brother, lend a hand. We should get out of this high grass before night falls, otherwise it will be very dangerous. With just me leading the way, it is very slow.” The bald guy said to Lin Ming as he waved his saber around.
This sort of grass was very dense and lush. It intertwined together again and again, and was also extremely tough. If one didn’t cut it open, then it would be impossible for the horses to pass.
“Oh. Alright.” Lin Ming responded, and slowly took out a medium-grade human-step treasure saber from his spatial ring. This saber was a weapon that Huo Gong had left behind in his spatial ring when he died.
The design of the saber was very simple, and the scabbard was a finely designed sheathe of snakeskin. It had obviously seen some use over the years. About five inches from the saber point was a crimson colored inscription symbol. This inscription symbol was a fire attribute symbol that increased the true essence flow by 40%. Just the cost of the inscription symbol must surpass 10,000 gold taels.
Obviously, this was a treasure saber that had gone through a very arduous crafting process. Unsurprisingly, Huo Gong should have used this weapon. However he had later replaced it with a different one, but was unwilling to sell it, so he had kept it within his spatial ring.
As Lin Ming pulled out this saber, the bald man’s eyes went perfectly round.
‘Hot damn, this guy could just casually take out a medium-grade human-step treasure!’
‘And it also seems like this is a top-tier medium-grade human-step treasure! This father has lived for so many years and yet has only seen three different medium-grade human-step treasures!’
As the monkey-faced man saw Lin Ming’s weapon, his pair of monkey eyes also began to greedily shine.
He noticed the common-looking ring that Lin Ming had on his finger. Without a doubt, that was a spatial ring!
Spatial ring! Even the most inferior of spatial rings was worth several tens of thousands of gold taels. He had already been envious and wanted one, but with his wealth, how could he possibly afford it?
The monkey-faced man immediately blossomed with delight, his whole face smiling. He really couldn’t wait to kill Lin Ming and steal his spatial ring, and see what other treasures there were inside.
“Who knows what other goodies this kid has on him? Damn, we caught the big one this time! This father has such luck! This boy looks so clueless; he doesn’t even seem to understand what this wealth means. He just so casually took out such a good saber like a silly boy. If I do not kill him and take that saber, then it will be really unfair!”
“Just hold it a bit more. Once we reach the Sorcerer Holy Land, we will immediately kill him!”
Lin Ming seemed as if he did not notice the greedy eyes of the bald man and monkey-faced man at all. He single-mindedly chopped the grass with his treasure saber. The medium-grade human-step treasure saber with a fire attribute inscription symbol was easily able to chop the grass as if it were a soldier cutting tofu.
There were only the slicing sounds as large swathes of wild grass were mowed down.
The bald man‘s throat dried as he saw this. If he had this saber, who knew how much his battle prowess would increase!
The weapon that this bald man used was a mace. This kind of weapon was extremely uncommon; there wasn’t a high enough demand, so not many refiners would create a treasure mace. Because of this, the bald man only used a normal mace.
But the monkey-faced man actually used a low-grade human-step treasure short-axe. However, it was of the worst quality, and the inscription symbol on that short-axe was a common one worth no more than 2000 gold taels.
To most martial artists, a treasure worth several thousands of gold taels was prohibitively expensive. They were often things that only the juniors of aristocratic families could have. For instance, Tie Feng, who had first purchased Lin Ming’s Overwhelming Rune, was also a peak Bone Forging martial artist. But because of his background he was poor and thus could not afford a treasure. Otherwise, he would have never bought Lin Ming’s Overwhelming Rune.
Although a martial artist could make money, they still had to buy medicines in order to cultivate. Normally, this was a money-losing proposition. It was only after reaching the Pulse Condensation Period and receiving a title and a salary that their economic condition would slowly improve. That was why a poor person could usually not afford to practice martial arts.
“Little Brother, Little Brother.” The monkey-faced man called out to Lin Ming in front of him who was cutting grass.
“Mm? What’s the matter?” Lin Ming blankly turned his head around with a vapid expression.
“Let me take a look at the saber. This brother has never seen a medium-grade human-step treasure before.”
“Oh, this…” Lin Ming’s face had a difficult expression. He was playing the fool, but still, there was a limit. He wasn’t stupid enough to give this weapon to others.
Thinking this, Lin Ming said, “This saber is my family’s inheritance. My father told me not to show it to people. Still, I have several other sabers that I may lend to you two big brothers to have a look.”
As Lin Ming said this, he slowly pulled out two treasure sabers from his spatial ring. These were low-grade human-step treasures. These two sabers were brand-new sabers that Huo Gong had made, and they also didn’t have an inscription symbol.
These two sabers were slender. The sabers were three feet long and an inch wide. The back was narrow and the hilt was short. It was a weapon that was built to utilize speed.
“Good saber!” The monkey-faced man and bald man’s eyes began to turn red with greed. This naïve little boy had so many good things on his body! He had so indifferently taken out two low-grade human-step treasures!”
“So stupid, I have never seen someone so stupid! This Altering Muscle child was so silly to actually bring out so many treasures on front of us two peak Bone Forging martial artists!” The bald man licked his lips as he sent a true essence sound transmission to the monkey-faced man.
The monkey-faced man said, “This boy is only 15 years old. I thought that he was from a large family, but he must have never left home and so he doesn’t know just how cruel and dangerous the human world is. We will endure for now, and once we reach the Sorcerer Holy Land, we will immediately kill him.”
“Good plan, Big Brother. I can’t wait!”
“Hehe, once we kill this kid, us brothers will make a fortune. We will be able to buy rare pills, and coupled with the inherited power from the Sorcerer Holy Land, it will be simple to break into the Pulse Condensation Period! When that time comes, us brothers will rise! Haha!”
“Haha, I’m drooling here. That is equal to an extra 100 years of life. I will buy piles of women and live every day like an emperor!”
As the monkey-faced man and bald man signaled with their eyes, Na Yi could not help but inwardly sigh as she took this all in. How could there possibly be an aristocratic young master who was so ignorant of worldly and human matters? How could he have possibly survived long enough to come here?
The monkey-faced man turned to Lin Ming and said, “Little Brother Mo, could you possibly lend these two sabers to us brothers? You know, there are countless vicious beasts within this lush border forest. The deeper we go, the more we will encounter higher rank vicious beasts. If our strength isn’t enough, then I’m afraid that we might be injured when we battle the vicious beasts, and that will simply put us in a very dangerous position.
Thinking this, Lin Ming said, “Two elder brothers are very logical. Then, I will lend these two sabers to the two elder brothers.”
Lin Ming said this and handed the two sabers to the men without any reservations.
When the bald-man took the saber in his hand, he had to make an effort not to gulp. This was a low-grade human-step treasure, and not only that, but it seemed to be of an extremely high quality. Such a good thing had been so easily obtained by him. How come he had never encountered such an idiot like this in the past?
The bald man weighed the saber in his hand and casually took a few swings. The only problem was that the saber was a bit light, so it was awkward for him.
The truth was, Lin Ming had taken out these two sabers for a reason. These two men used a mace and an axe, both of which were heavy weapons.
But Lin Ming had taken out two slender sabers. These sabers used speed to win. Even if he gave them out, the two wouldn’t be able to display their full potential. Although Lin Ming didn’t think much of these two martial artists, he still didn’t want to needlessly cause trouble for himself by increasing their strength. After all, if these two peak Bone Forging martial artists wanted to escape from him, Lin Ming could at most block one.
Lin Ming intended to lull them into a false sense of security, and then suddenly make a killing move. One he eliminated one, it would be much easier to deal with the other.
By now, Lin Ming’s mind suddenly resounded with a true essence sound transmission. It was Na Yi’s voice. She said, “I thought you were just playing dumb to wait for a chance to escape, but you were actually so stupid as to give them treasure sabers. You are simply digging your own grave! How an idiot like you could survive up to now is simply a miracle. Really.”
This icy tone was laced with a touch of irony. Na Yi and her childish face were both completely inconsistent with each other.