Refining the Mountains and Rivers

Chapter 1542 – Two Strange Trees

After the night of the thunderstorm, the smugglers entering the Western Barbarian Land continued their journey day and night for a few days before they finally reached their destination.

Once the group was sure that their surroundings were safe and no ambushers were present, they stopped and started setting up the tents.

This time was different than before. They were going to stay here for a period of time and hence the construction of the tents was much more detailed.

Rourou used this opportunity to suggest building a house and planting trees here.

Her eyes bulged wide open as she stared fiercely at Qin Yu. In the end, Qin Yu rubbed his nose and said, “Do whatever you want.”

“Hmmph!”

Rourou scoffed coldly and turned away.

Qin Yu’s lips quivered. He knew that he had offended her after the thunderstorm that night, and hence his past few days had not been smooth.

Now that they were here, Qin Yu decided to let her do whatever she wanted.

After all, he never knew when he would need her help and he could not sever their relationship directly.

What needed to be warmed should stay warm and what needed to be fixed should be fixed.

“Greetings General!” Zhou Dafu walked over and saluted.

Qin Yu glanced at him and asked, “What is it?”

“General, per the arrangements with the Barbarian Clan, they will arrive here two to three days after we set up our tents. I have to explain a few matters regarding the deal process.”

Qin Yu nodded, “Alright, let’s head into the tent and talk.”

Temporary tents were already set up and although it was a little hasty, the tent was neatly packed.

Qin Yu sat down and Zhou Dafu walked forward and poured him tea. Then, he took a few steps back and stood with both arms down by his sides.

“Tell me, what is it?”

Qin Yu sipped from his tea cup and asked with a calm expression.

Zhou Dafu explained, “I believe you must have encountered magical space devices before. But there is a small issue that I have to brief you on.

“Smuggling with the West Barbarians is a crime that can cost us our lives. I think you should know this very well. As such, every time we come, we will bring as many materials with us as possible. However, the more things there are, the more space they will take up. Yet, making a space device becomes harder the larger its capacity is, and it is also more expensive.”

“For instance, in the border army camp, the Yin Yang Ring that Marshal Wu has can contain a year’s worth of military rations. However, such a treasure is too expensive and there are only a few of them in the whole of the West Desolate…”

Qin Yu waved his hand and cut Zhou Dafu off, “Your point?”

Zhou Dafu continued to be respectful, “The issue is that a large-scale spatial device will shift the space naturally. It is very easy for it to be discovered by the Barbarian Clan. As such, mid-ranged spatial devices are used for smuggling and these were given to the men for their use. They can use their cultivation to suppress their aura.”

Zhou Dafu observed Qin Yu’s expression and talked faster, “Although the Barbarian Clan conducts dealing with us, we are fundamentally enemies and they do not have good intentions. Sometimes, they will suggest a duel with our men and they will challenge the men in my group. Those that lose will lose all their possessions. Their objective is the spatial devices in our hands.”

Qin Yu asked, “Can’t you just exclude them from the duels?”

Zhou Dafu laughed bitterly, “Of course not. Since the Barbarian Clan duels for them, they will make a fuss if we hand over something substandard. In the end, we are still in the territory of the Barbarian Clan and we will get the short end of the stick sometimes.”

Qin Yu looked at him, “So, after saying so much, are you telling me that I should learn to be taken advantage of?”

Zhou Dafu said, “We should not ruin the grand scheme of things for a small issue. Even if we lose some things, we end up profiting from this deal.”

He wore a helpless look, “After all, the higher ups in the capital want a decent profit every year. If we can’t hit it, we will be punished.”

Qin Yu nodded, “Interesting. I understand.”

He meant it as a fact that he understood what was going on. However, he was also referring to Zhou Dafu being an interesting man. He was truly a smart person. Qin Yu had not sensed things and made his own judgment earlier, hence he avoided unfavorable outcomes. However, another person may be tricked by Zhou Dafu.

His acting was so real. Such a person was not ordinary!

Zhou Dafu bowed, “Also, the Barbarian Clan and us humans have similar appearances. However, they are normally bigger and bulkier. Under normal circumstances, there will be no issue in terms of what they regard as beauty. Regardless, there will still be some special ones who are particularly attracted to female humans and they will have a very strong predatory instinct.”

After he said this, Zhou Dafu fell silent.

Qin Yu frowned, “Are you referring to Rourou and Lotus Lady?”

Zhou Dafu nodded, “In order to avoid trouble, General, you should order Lotus Lady to stay in the tent and forbid her from walking around as she pleases. However, you will need to personally make plans for Rourou. I am not comfortable with making a suggestion.”

Qin Yu scoffed. If there was any barbarian who wanted to go for Rourou, he would be seeking his own death.

He was not worried about this at all.

However, he naturally could not say this out loud and hence he nodded, “I will let her know.”

Zhou Dafu sighed to himself, “One last thing. I heard that you are planning to let Lady Rourou take over the accounting matters from Lotus Lady. How has that been going? I have a new batch of accounts that needs to be reported to Lotus Lady.”

Qin Yu held his cup and quietly sipped his tea. His eyes were shining brightly.

After all he said, this was the most important sentence.

It seemed that Zhou Dafu had laid low for so long and was extra careful, but he was starting to get worried.

Qin Yu placed the cup down and said, “Hand the reports to Lotus Lady.”

“Yes.” Zhou Dafu bowed, “I will not disrupt your rest and will take my leave now.”

He turned and left the tent. Once he was outside, there was a dark look in his eyes.

He forced himself to hold in his desire to look back and walked away quickly. When he finally got to his tent, he let out the breath that he was holding in.

“General Jinwu!”

He muttered to himself as his eyebrows knit together. The unease in his heart felt heavier.

Things were going smoothly and everything was happening as he expected.

However, ever since he met General Jinwu, an uneasy feeling had been plaguing his heart.

More importantly, this feeling did not disperse as time passed by, but the more he interacted with General Jinwu, the more unsettled he felt. Now, he was disturbed by it.

He felt like a mouse scurrying on the forest floor that was locked onto as prey by an eagle in the sky. Although prey and predator were very far from each other, as long as the eagle wanted to, it could eat the mouse.

Taking in a deep breath of air, Zhou Dafu forced all his thoughts aside.

He looked up with shimmering eyes. At this point, unless he took his hands completely off things and stopped resisting, he would have to bite the bullet and continue.

Furthermore, even if Zhou Dafu was willing to abandon everything…were the people behind him willing to do so?

These men were used to gaining spoils. If they were held by their necks at someone’s mercy suddenly, they would want to kill Zhou Dafu first.

Zhou Dafu had experienced many families being ruined by deaths before. He did not want this sad plight for himself.

Therefore, he could only give it a go!

A few moments later, he carefully thought of the entire plan. Zhou Dafu clapped his hands together and someone from outside came into the tent and knelt down on the ground.

“Go and gather the new accounting reports for me. I want to see Lotus Lady.”

He had personally set up this chess piece himself but he did not know what the problem was. It had not responded to him until now.

He had to take a look.

……

Rourou was really building a house!

However, she was doing it differently from normal people.

Somehow, she managed to get a seed. After planting it in the soil, she poured wine on it. Very soon, the soil moved apart to make way for the germinating seed. The seedling grew quickly and within half an hour, it was already a large tree that covered the sky.

What was most peculiar about this tree was that there was a thick alcohol scent on it. If one carefully took a whiff, they would realize that the scent was coming from the fruits of the tree.

Rourou snapped her fingers and branches automatically lowered themselves to her. They delivered to her the biggest and most beautiful-looking fruits.

Rourou casually plucked one off and used her fingers to create a hole in the fruit. The thick scent of alcohol wafted from it.

Her eyes lit up and she hugged the fruit and drank from it heartily. When she placed it down again, her face was flushed red.

As she did this, another seed that she planted beside her grew into a tree. It maneuvered its branches skillfully and created a treehouse.

That’s right. This was why it had been mentioned that her way of constructing her house was very different.

The tree itself was very big and its circumference was enough to have a dozen men wrap around it. Its branches closely intertwined with each other and the treehouse it created was a large area. It appeared like a small courtyard with a number of rooms.

Strangely, the tree could actually control its trunk. It bent into a weird shape, twisting and turning at every corner to forcefully create a stairway to the yard.

The tree that was covered with wine fruits seemed to scowl at the treehouse. The upper branches curled to form a scornful expression that showed how unwilling it was to have the treehouse tree as its partner.

However, when it turned around, it lowered its branches towards Rourou once more. She was drunk again and she patted the branches, “Not bad not bad. The taste is really good!”

Bang –

Bang –

Bang –

The earth sounded like it was breaking apart. The thick roots of the wine tree sprang out of the ground and twisted with each other, rocking back and forth like it was wagging its tail.

With the treehouse completed, a branch stretched down and curled into the shape of a comfortable lounge chair.

Rourou leaned against it and the chair was lifted into the air. She was planted smoothly into the courtyard where there was a shady platform ready for her. She flipped over and as she moved, the chair transformed itself to suit her figure too. It ensured that she was in the most comfortable position at all times.

Right at that moment, a branch shot forward. Chicken overlord’s wings flapped viciously and he was quite fast but he could not compare to the branch. In the blink of an eye, he was caught. The branch shot back and delivered chicken overlord to Rourou. She hugged him tightly.

“Be good…don’t move…let me hug you to sleep…”

Looking at the branch that had loosened its grip on him and was gradually backing off, chicken overlord cried without tears.

It was just a tree, did it have to do dog work and suck up to her?

……

When Zhou Dafu sought Lotus Lady out, he was stunned when he saw the thing from afar. As the manager of the smuggling for the Imperial Clan, he had accumulated a lot of experience after so many years.

Although he never dared to be greedy for otherworldly treasures, he had seen a lot. Even if there was something that he had never heard of, he would have seen it before.

However, Zhou Dafu swore that he had never seen such a tree in his life.

Wisdom was born to spirits but even if that did not happen, the entire growth of the tree took only an hour. That was unbelievable.

He stared with his mouth agape at Rourou casually taking a nap on her chair. The uneasiness in him grew stronger.

Whatever Zhou Dafu saw, the other people at the tents naturally saw it too.

Zhou Xiaoshan’s eyes fell upon that fairy who descended to earth. There was only one thought in his mind – Lady Rourou was truly a lady who did not belong to this earth!

Other smugglers who often saw killings and massacres had their eyes bulging wide open and their faces were twitching from the shock and fear.

They may not know what technique she used, but instinctively, they knew how to respect and be in awe of the powerful.

General Jinwu, Ning Qin, was not ordinary. There must be a reason why he only brought this lady with him.

……

Qin Yu raised a hand and rubbed his face. He was not surprised by what he saw. Ever since he confirmed her real identity, he would not be surprised even if she could topple the heavens with a punch.

Well…this might be exaggerating it a little. If Rourou could split the skies with a punch, Qin Yu’s mouth would fall wide open too.

But this was not the point. The point was that this sudden move would scare a lot of them and they would not dare to do anything wrong. Zhou Dafu was going to arrange everything, and Qin Yu wanted to use this chance to clear the area of mites.

He thought about it and shook his head. It has already happened and there was no point in making a fuss about it. Besides, it was only a small issue. Two strange trees did not represent too much power.

This was the last chance. If Zhou Dafu wanted to take action, he would do so eventually.

……

Lotus Lady knew what Zhou Dafu’s objective was. She glanced at him and said, “I didn’t take action because I don’t dare to.”

With the scene that he saw firsthand, Zhou Dafu had a few guesses. He pondered it and asked, “What is different about Lady Rourou?”

He trusted Lotus Lady’s judgment.

But even Lotus Lady was unable to give him an answer.

“I don’t know.”

She remained silent and her eyes that were hidden behind her veil locked onto Zhou Dafu, “Seeing that you saved me in the past, I will give you a warning. Don’t do anything else or you will die…I am going to back out of this.”

Lotus Lady took a few steps back and turned to leave.

Zhou Dafu did not stop her. After a long while of silence, he let out a long breath.

As expected, things were starting to get out of control.

He knew Lotus Lady well. Otherwise, he would not have planted her as his first card. However, it was obvious that this card was torn apart before it could be used.

All of this happened not because of General Jinwu, but that ordinary-looking girl from the Demon Sect.

Zhou Dafu trusted Lotus Lady’s judgment. Otherwise, he would not have asked her about it.

However…he was not Lotus Lady. Everyone else could back down, but if he did the same, death would be his only way out!