Eternal madness

Chapter 54 He was scared (Seeking monthly votes)

Li Yunsheng drove the carriage slowly along the mountain road, while Zhang Laifu stared blankly at the whip.

"Brother Yunsheng, let me hurry a little longer, just a little longer."

"I'll do it. I believe in luck."

"Brother Yunsheng, I'm having pretty good luck."

“Brother Laifu, you just drove the carriage off the cliff and we are still alive. You are really lucky. But I’ll drive the carriage myself.”

Zhang Laifu patted the carriage floor: "Brother carriage driver, don't you trust me? I'm very good at driving."

Li Yunsheng felt that Zhang Laifu's temperament was very special. He had seen people talk to horses, but he had never seen anyone talk to a horse-drawn carriage.

"Everything has a spirit, perhaps this carriage is kindred spirits to Brother Laifu."

"What kind of talk is that? What kind of fate could I possibly have with a carriage?" Zhang Laifu took out a lantern. "My wife is right here. You can't just talk about fate like that."

Li Yunsheng turned around and bowed to the lantern, saying, "So my sister-in-law is here too. My apologies for my disrespect."

As darkness fell, the two traveled by lantern, encountering police twice along the way. Li Yunsheng had prepared silver dollars, so they didn't run into too much trouble.

On the second day, they were robbed by bandits, which gave the two of them a fright.

There were three bandits in total. The leader introduced himself first: "I am Shui Xiang from Hunlong Village in Paishan. Today I am here to sweep the plates on the orders of the chief. I am short of money these days and I was in a hurry when I came out. I would like to borrow some travel expenses from you."

Zhang Laifu asked Li Yunsheng, "What does Shuixiang do?"

"Shuixiang is a position in the mountain stronghold, one of the four pillars and eight beams, responsible for guarding and keeping watch. According to their rules, the shift changes every time an incense stick burns."

Logically, Shui Xiang and her group shouldn't have acted alone; the bandits needed them whether they were going out or staying behind.

"Si Liang Ba Zhu must be a person of high status, right? Hun Long Zhai is such a big bandit den, I guess this Shui Xiang must be a craftsman."

“They must be craftsmen. Given the level of Hunlong Village, the four beams and eight pillars must be crafted by at least three levels of artisans.”

"What about his two henchmen?"

“These two henchmen aren’t nobody either; they must be registered clerks at least.”

As the two were talking, the bandit leader became somewhat displeased.

"What are you two talking about? Do you know what we do? Do you know you're about to lose your lives? Do you recognize what this is?" The bandit leader pulled out a pistol and waved it in front of the two men.

Li Yunsheng explained: "This pistol is called Unicorn Dragon, also known as 'Broken Handle.' It is relatively primitive in function, as it can only hold one bullet at a time. After firing the bullet, you remove the spent cartridge case and then load the next one."

Zhang Laifu felt that this pistol was inconsistent with Shui Xiang's status: "Isn't he supposed to be a pillar of society? Why is he using such a shabby pistol?"

“In Wansheng State, the methods for identifying firearms are different from those in other states. Some good guns can hit exactly where you point them, and some good guns don’t even need to be fired; they can kill the enemy on their own. Even outdated firearms like the Unicorn Dragon can contain rare and excellent weapons.”

The bandit leader shouted, "Can you two please shut up?"

Li Yunsheng quickly explained, "I didn't mean anything by it, I just wanted to see if your gun was a good weapon."

"Want to try and kill me with your head?" The bandit leader stuck the gun barrel into Li Yunsheng's forehead.

Before Li Yunsheng could make a move, Zhang Laifu flicked a lantern pole out of his sleeve and pierced the bandit leader's wrist.

The bandit leader let out a wail as his gun fell from his hand.

Zhang Laifu took a lantern frame and put it on the bandit's head.

The skeleton was embedded in the bandit's skull. The bamboo ring broke, the bamboo bone shattered, and fragments of skull and brain matter flew everywhere.

When the bandit leader died, the two bandits who followed him quickly fled. Li Yunsheng threw out two talismans and recited a spell. The two bandits lost their strength and ran slower than they walked.

Zhang Laifu walked closer and asked, "Are you really bandits from Hunlong Village?"

One of the bandits shouted, "We are all from Hunlong Village. If you dare to lay a hand on us, our leader will never let you get away with it!"

“I’m quite familiar with your boss, so we can talk things over.” Zhang Laifu smashed the bandit’s head to pieces with a lantern pole.

A bandit soldier nearby shouted, "We're not from Hunlong Village! We're impersonating Hunlong Village!"

"You should have said so earlier! You scared me half to death!" Zhang Laifu turned around and used the lantern pole to take down the other bandit as well.

Li Yunsheng knew the division of labor among bandits very well. The Shui Xiang business should not operate alone; they were clearly talking nonsense.

Zhang Laifu knew Hunlong Village well; even the less skilled porters there were more menacing than these three bandits.

Zhang Laifu picked up the bandit leader's pistol and was about to accept it when Li Yunsheng advised him to throw it away: "Brother Laifu, that's not a pistol that grew out of a bowl. Its spirit hasn't been straightened out yet. Keeping it is useless."

Zhang Laifu thought it was useful: "A gun is a firearm, even if it's broken, it can still be used for self-defense." Li Yunsheng shook his head: "This is Wanshengzhou, where everything has a spirit. Although this gun has a simple structure, it still has parts. The spirits of the parts conflict with each other, so either it won't fire the bullet, or it won't fire accurately. It's not as useful as a dagger."

Zhang Laifu had a deep obsession with firearms, and he still kept the gun.

The two men found twenty-one silver dollars and more than two hundred copper coins on the three bandits. After dividing the money, Zhang Laifu sighed, "People with skills can make money so quickly!"

Li Yunsheng praised, "Brother Laifu, you really learn martial arts very quickly."

"It's not fast. The skills in this line of work are not easy to learn, especially this unique skill."

Li Yunsheng reminded Zhang Laifu: "You can't rush to learn a unique skill. Every trade's unique skill has certain physical requirements. If you rush to learn, you may injure your body. I suggest you learn a unique skill after you reach the second level. Some craftsmen learn a unique skill after they reach the third level, which is not too late."

Zhang Laifu certainly couldn't wait until the third level. At least in theory, he had already mastered the basic essentials of the unique skill, and the process of performing it required three steps.

First, there's the lantern making. Before showcasing his special skill, he must make a new lantern. The quality doesn't have to be too high, but it has to be made quickly. How fast exactly? The manual doesn't specify. It only says that if you make it fast enough, the lantern will respond. But what exactly is this response? Zhang Laifu has never experienced it.

Second, place a lamp.

Once the lanterns are made, they need to be placed in a suitable location. In Zhang Laifu's opinion, this location is easy to find; it just needs to be a place where the light can diffuse easily, and there should be no obstructions to block the light.

Third, light the lamps.

Once the lamps are in place, turn them on quickly.

Putting a match into the lantern doesn't seem fast enough.

Wang Tiaodeng has the skill of rubbing fire, which Zhang Laifu does not yet possess. Li Yunsheng gave him a talisman fire box, but the fire inside is too intense and difficult to control.

Whoosh! A ball of flame engulfed Li Yunsheng and Zhang Laifu.

"Brother Laifu, don't set the carriage on fire!" Li Yunsheng handed the kettle to Zhang Laifu and patted the flames off his body.

After traveling for half a day, as dusk fell, an endless bamboo forest appeared ahead of them.

Zhang Laifu asked, "Is this the Bamboo Knife Forest?"

"Yes and no."

"How do you say this?"

Li Yunsheng stood on the car and looked into the distance for a long time: "If we're just talking about the boundaries, this place is already within the range of the Bamboo Knife Forest, but we're going to the county town, which is quite far from here."

I haven't been to Miedao Forest for a while; this road looks unfamiliar. I need to find someone to ask for directions.

Li Yunsheng drove the carriage for a long time, but he didn't see a single pedestrian on the road.

"Did we come to the wrong place...?"

As darkness fell, Li Yunsheng walked slower and slower, and the bamboo around him grew increasingly dense.

"Fortunately, they're all bamboo." Li Yunsheng wiped his sweat, looking at the thick and tall bamboo, which made him feel a little more at ease.

Zhang Laifu asked, "You like bamboo that much?"

"It's not that I like moso bamboo, it's that the presence of moso bamboo proves that the bamboo forest is okay. If I saw light bamboo..."

Before he could finish speaking, Danzhu appeared.

The bamboo culms of the light bamboo are slender and greenish-blue, quite different from those of the moso bamboo.

"Brother Laifu, we may not be able to reach the county town tonight. The appearance of Danzhu proves that the road ahead is difficult to travel."

Zhang Laifu didn't understand the reasoning behind it. What could bamboo have to do with roads?
But Li Yunsheng's judgment was correct. As the bamboo grew thicker, the road became narrower and narrower. The original seven or eight-meter-wide gravel road was reduced to just over two meters wide.

After walking for another hour or so, the two-meter-wide gravel path suddenly disappeared, leaving only overgrown weeds.

Zhang Laifu got off the carriage, lit a lantern, and walked a little further away.

It's unclear whether there's a road ahead or not. The carriage can move forward, but the bamboo is getting denser, and the carriage probably won't go far.

"Brother Yunsheng, there's sugarcane here!"

Li Yunsheng walked closer and saw: "Brother Laifu, this is not sugarcane, it is purple bamboo. We can't enter the Bamboo Knife Forest today."

"Why can't I enter when I encounter the Purple Bamboo?" This is illogical.

Li Yunsheng touched the frost on the purple bamboo: "Because the bamboo forest is afraid."

(End of this chapter)