A Pawn's Passage

Qi Xuansu and the Armaments Officer returned to the office to complete the transaction. The Armaments Officer accepted Qi Xuansu’s cash notes and issued two receipts. One was given to Qi Xuansu, while the other was kept as a record.

The Divine Armory did not have to pay taxes, but they had to reconcile accounts. The Imperial Court would send officials from the newly established Accounting Commission to audit the accounts every year. The Accounting Commission’s main responsibilities were to check the accounts of the treasury in each region, vassal, silk manufactory, shipping department, industrial factory, and granary.

If there were any deficiencies, the respective parties would have to make up for them. The Accounting Commission single-handedly managed deficits, inventory, compensation, confiscation, and forced sales. Officials privately called them home raiders.

The Divine Armory was on the list of offices to be audited, so they were careful.

After this purchase, Qi Xuansu only had 300 Taiping coins left, but he had a new pair of spiritual objects.

Qi Xuansu found the outer belt issued by Tiangang Hall to be very useful, as it could hang up to six weapons. Qi Xuansu wore the two cutlasses crossed behind his back, while his short sword and Divine Dragon Pistol were still hanging on both sides of his waist.

There were two empty slots left on each side of his waist. But even so, he had quite a dazzling array of weapons that clanked against each other when he moved.

The Armaments Officer joked, “Brother, why don’t you buy a long gun or a bow to carry on your back?”

Qi Xuansu waved his hand. “I’m already bankrupt. Forget it if it’s not free.”

The Armaments Officer smiled and explained, “We do give out freebies, but only for bulk sales.”

He was implying that small transactions like this were not qualified for freebies.

Qi Xuansu bid him goodbye and left the place. He originally wanted to buy a horse, but he was short of money, so he gave up on the thought. Anyway, he still had the Jiamas that Zhang Yuelu gave him, so his journey would not be arduous.

At this moment, Qi Xuansu noticed groups of Black Robes with solemn expressions. The atmosphere felt tense, but Qi Xuansu did not know what was happening. He was afraid that whatever was going on would implicate him, so he hurried out of the city.

The Black Robes gathered around in different groups because Qin Wubing issued a military order to catch a spy within the army. Qi Xuansu was just an outsider, so no one would suspect him. With the badge personally issued by Qin Wubing, Qi Xuansu left without hindrance.

On the way, Qi Xuansu met the Innkeeper, who was also leaving the city on his own. Seeing Qi Xuansu, the Innkeeper showed a wary look on his face.

Qi Xuansu understood that the Innkeeper was just being vigilant. After all, it was necessary to stay on guard against others in this unsafe society. Thus, Qi Xuansu just nodded slightly in greeting and turned in the direction of another city gate just a few more steps away.

The Innkeeper breathed a sigh of relief and hurried out of the city.

After walking about five kilometers where there were no patrolling Black Robes, the Innkeeper was surrounded by several thugs.

“Innkeeper, where are you going?” The thug leader grinned, showing his white teeth.

The Innkeeper’s expression changed slightly.

He recognized this group of people as they were all frequent guests of The Inn who usually looked up to him. After the Black Robes entered the city, these guests were not treated as secret society members because they were regular thugs. The Innkeeper did not expect this group of thugs to be waiting for him here.

The Innkeeper said solemnly, “What are you trying to do?”

A scholarly-looking man replied, “We want to ask you for justice.”

The Innkeeper scoffed. “Justice? The Inn has never treated you all badly when you take up our jobs.”

A burly man with a shiny scalp sneered. “So many of our brothers believed your lies and went to that reclaimed land, but none of them came back. Don’t they deserve justice?”

The Innkeeper narrowed his eyes. “Our people from headquarters died too.”

“That’s your business, not ours. We only want justice for our dead brothers.” The leader of the group with a goatee snapped back. He was dressed like a typical fortune teller, wearing a Daoist priest’s robe and a pair of round sunglasses.

The Innkeeper finally understood the situation. These thugs knew that The Inn had suffered heavy losses, so they wanted to take advantage of the situation to exploit him.

This time, in addition to the nine elites sent by the headquarters, they had also hired recruits for the “weeding” operation and dispatched some of the branch’s staff as well.

These men did not have a high enough cultivation level to join the operation, so they stayed behind.

At this moment, the Innkeeper knew that he might not be able to fight them all alone. “Although you’re all friends, you’re not real brothers. So it’s not up to you to seek justice for them, don’t you think?”

The burly man was about to speak, but the leader raised his hand to stop him. The leader said, “In this life, a promise is worth more than money. All of our brothers had lived on the edge of the sword, and we stood up for each other when needed. Our kinship is stronger than actual blood-related brothers. We want justice, so we will get it from you!”

The scholar nodded. “That’s right. I will support my brothers and their wives so that my brothers may rest in peace.”

The Innkeeper sneered. These thugs would go to the door of their dead brothers’ families, but it was not to support the family. They just wanted the family’s wealth. Perhaps those families would soon reunite with their dead husbands or fathers.

The Innkeeper kept silent, but his mind was racing as he thought about ways to get out of this situation.

The burly man finally could not hold himself back anymore and shouted, “Brother, why are you still talking nonsense with him? Ask him to hand over his magical receptacle!”

The Innkeeper carried a magical receptacle, but it did not belong to him personally. It was for this branch of The Inn to store various files and records as well as a large amount of money. His task was to bring this magical receptacle back to the headquarters.

If he lost the magical receptacle, the headquarters would not let him go because of the secrets and money inside. Not to mention, the magical receptacle itself was also very expensive. The Innkeeper would rather die than hand it over.

The Innkeeper said in a stern voice, “You’ve finally revealed your true colors! You’re here to take advantage of the situation. But a word of advice: although money is important, you’ll need to stay alive to spend it. The Inn will never let you all go for this.”

The leader stroked his goatee unhurriedly. “That may be true under normal circumstances. But now, the Black Robes have locked down West Gobi. No one outside will be able to get news from here. No one will know how you die if we kill you at this time. The stars align!”

“Exactly!” The burly man guffawed. “Your magical receptacle is enough for us to live the rest of our lives in luxury. We can finally retire from doing shady jobs!”

The scholar’s words were harsh. “Even if the three of us decide to stop here and leave you alone, will you actually let us go, Innkeeper? I think you’ll return to the headquarters and send people to hunt us down, right? There’s no turning back now, so let’s stop talking nonsense and get to it!”

Before he finished speaking, the scholar had already whipped out a crossbow. It was the Green Phoenix Guard’s Jackdaw Crossbow. The arrowhead was blue, obviously laced with poison.

Qi Xuansu managed to dodge the bolts back then not because he was faster than the bolts, but because he had a faster reflex than the Green Phoenix Guard using the crossbow.

The scholar’s technique was undoubtedly far superior to that of ordinary Green Phoenix Guards. He suddenly shot the bolts while he spoke. It was so fast that no one spotted it.

The poisoned crossbow bolt almost pierced the Innkeeper’s face. If the Innkeeper had not been on guard, he would have been struck. The Innkeeper was at the Yuxu stage of cultivation. Even so, he broke out in a cold sweat.

The scholar’s arrow was just a signal for the rest to attack the Innkeeper.

Seeing this, the Innkeeper waved his nine-section whip. It looked like a spiritual object because it was glowing with a golden light. The head of the whip was a dragon head, and the thong was inlaid with various gems, sparkling and brilliant. It was powerful and opulent when it moved, with endless cracking sounds. There was also a golden energy generated that resembled a golden dragon.

However, the three thugs were experienced assassins. They were in no hurry to fight the Innkeeper head-on.

The burly bald man was a Martial Arts Practitioner, wearing metal armor and fighting the Innkeeper head-on.

The scholar was a Rogue Cultivator. Although he did not have a flying sword, he could maneuver the two powerful crossbow bolts well, tweaking the bolts’ trajectory according to his will, making it impossible to guard against. If the Innkeeper’s nine-section whip dance did not create an airtight shield around him, he would have been killed long ago. This was just to distract the Innkeeper and exhaust his energy.

The fortune teller, who was the leader of the group, was a Diviner in the Dream-Entering Realm. Although his soul could not leave his body during the day like a Diviner in the Thunder Realm, he was proficient in illusions. The Innkeeper’s eyes were dazed, and his mind was in a trance.

The Innkeeper was not a Martial Arts Practitioner, so he could not resist the illusions for long. It took a lot of energy for him to focus on the current fight.