Crossing the Sword

As he said this, he winked at the guard who brought Ye Shisan and the others. With two "whoosh! whoosh!"s, the two men leaped onto the second floor behind them. After standing firm, Hao turned around and gave the three of them a gentle smile.

Qing Luan leaned over to Ye Shisan's ear and whispered, "He is testing our skills."

Ye Shisan knew it without him saying anything. He put his right hand behind his back as if nothing had happened, and used his internal energy to flick it towards the right wall. The tiles on the wall were slightly moved by his internal energy, making a faint sound. His move was not very clever, because after reaching the innate level of internal energy, it was not difficult to send energy through the air, and the wind sent by the finger was not strong enough to hurt people. Any master with innate internal energy could do it. The only difficulty was that he did not make any sound when he sent out his finger, which was not something that ordinary masters could do.

When Hao Ji and the guard heard this, the latter immediately exclaimed, "There's an assassin!" The two of them flew out of the wall almost at the same time.

Ye Shisan smiled and snapped his fingers, saying, "Let's go upstairs." After that, he took the two of them and leisurely walked up the stairs to the second floor.

Of course, he was not without confidence in his Qinggong, but he was not very satisfied with the demonstration of Mayor Haoji, and wanted to fool them. In addition, he could hide his strength. After all, the more strength is exposed, the worse it is. Only hidden strength can save lives at critical moments!

After Ye Shisan and the other two sat down, the mayor Hao Ji and the guards also came back.

When Ye Shisan saw the two men coming back, he asked hurriedly, "How is it going? Have you caught the assassin?"

Hao was anxious but didn't show it, he said with a double meaning: "Where are the assassins? There is a small alley outside, leading directly to a busy street. When we chased out, we didn't catch anything. But there are a few stray dogs living in that alley. Maybe it was the stray dogs that caused the trouble. We were too nervous. Please forgive me." He glanced at the three people and saw that Qingluan and Huofeng looked confused, but Ye Shisan was calm.

It was normal for Qingluan and Huofeng to look confused, because they had no idea that Ye Shisan had done something wrong.

Ye Shisan also heard from Hao's anxious tone that he was scolding him. He knew that the other party had seen through his plan, so he said calmly: "The mayor is a gentleman. In the eyes of a gentleman, everyone is a gentleman. I would like to advise the mayor with a mean heart that it is better to strengthen the guard in the future. Not everyone is a gentleman. If you encounter an assassination attempt, it will be bad."

Except for Hao Ji and Ye Shisan, no one at the scene could hear the politeness of the two people, but they were cursing at each other. Although Hao Ji didn't gain any advantage with his words, he still said calmly: "Let's not talk about this anymore. The food is almost cold. Let's eat."

Ye Shisan said, "No, we've already eaten. I think the mayor is very busy, and now he has taken time out to invite us here, it should not be just for eating and drinking, right? Please explain the matter clearly, so that we can feel at ease." While speaking, he glanced at the dishes on the table, and was surprised to find that one of them was steamed crab. He couldn't help but wonder, have people in this era already started eating crabs?

At this time, Qingluan also noticed the crabs and asked curiously, "Mr. Mayor, this place is not very close to the sea, how can we still eat fresh crabs?"

Hao laughed anxiously and said, "These were teleported here by the cultivators. Although the teleportation consumes the energy of the immortal stones, the price of these seafood will definitely be considerable after they are teleported here. They are making money from it."

Ye Shisan said casually, "It seems that these crabs can only be food for the nobility. Ordinary civilians can't afford them, right?"

The guard next to Hao Ji interrupted and said, "Of course, most people can't afford these fresh ones, but some are shipped in boxes sealed with magic. Although those are also very expensive, they are still acceptable for ordinary people to eat from time to time. Of course, the freshness cannot be compared with these ones that are transported."

Hao Ji then turned the topic to the point and said, "Actually, I invited the three heroes here this time because I want you to get rid of harm to the people." After a pause, he continued, "On Tangting Mountain not far away, there is a group of bandits who have built a mountain pass called Black Wind Pass. Not only do they often rob passing merchants, they also often rob nearby small villages. They have become more and more arrogant in the past two years."

Ye Shisan didn't say anything, he just picked up the wine glass and took a sip alone.

Hao glanced at him anxiously and continued, "But since their mountain fortresses are easy to defend but difficult to conquer, I also sent troops to encircle and annihilate them, but each time I returned empty-handed. The last time was last year, and that time was led by my son. But he never came back after that." At the end he began to sigh.

When Qingluan and Huofeng heard this, they were already infected by his words and secretly clenched their fists in anger. If Ye Shisan had not warned them not to talk nonsense before, they would have volunteered to eliminate the evil for the people.

Ye Shisan was very satisfied with their performance and nodded, but still did not speak. He wanted to see how the mayor would continue this one-man show.

After a while, Hao Ji saw that Ye Shisan and the other three still refused to cooperate. He could only ask helplessly: "I have recently strengthened the deployment of the army, but unfortunately there are no masters. I wonder if the three of you are willing to eliminate the harm to the people and lead the troops to wipe out the bandits?"

Ye Shisan said calmly: "Not interested." At the same time, he gestured to Qingluan and Huofeng, asking them not to speak.

Hao Ji didn't show any disappointment when hearing what Ye Shisan said. Instead, he said with a smile, "Well, let's not talk about interest, but money." Then he stretched out two fingers and continued, "Two hundred immortal stone coins, this is the tax revenue of our formation for three months. I will give you a hundred elite soldiers. As long as you can wipe out Shansai, these 200 immortal stone coins will be yours."

Ye Shisan had never led troops to fight a war, and he had no interest in war. However, 200 immortal stone coins were not a small sum, and it would be convenient to do anything with money. After thinking for a while, he smiled and said, "How about this, although I really want to take these immortal stone coins, I have never led troops to fight a war. Why don't you let me go back and think about it for a night? If I can think of a feasible plan, that would be the best. If not, I will give you a positive answer tomorrow morning. What do you think, Mayor?"

Hao replied quickly and cheerfully: "Okay! It's a deal!"

As soon as the three of them returned to the inn, Qingluan complained with an unhappy look on her face: "Brother Thirteen, you are too realistic. Those bandits were so bad, but you were not angry at all. It was only when the mayor offered to give you money that you agreed to consider it."

Ye Shisan looked at the naive boy, shook his head helplessly and smiled bitterly: "You don't really think that everything he said is true, do you? I can tell you responsibly that this mayor is definitely not a good man! If I wasn't here today, I'm afraid you would have been sold out by him and would have to help him count the money."