24 Hidden Fees

"You're alive!" someone shouted and dragged Jack out of his bed.

When Jack opened his eyes he saw the glowing face of Kuang Bindun grinning widely as he covered most of Jack's field of view. He blinked his eyes a few times and mumbled "Let go of me, you oversized bastard." while his feet beat ineffectually at Kuang Bindun's bulk.

Kuang Bindun froze for a second, and then lowered Jack gently down to the ground while saying "Sorry, I just got a little too excited." He scratched the back of his head sheepishly as he took a step back and looked down at Jack with a smile while anxiety danced in his eyes and asked "So, how did it go?"

Jack sat down on the wood of his cot and waved a tired hand at the glowing table and said "See for yourself."

Kuang Bindun turned to look at the table and grunted like someone punched him in the gut. Jack let out a soft chuckle as he thought 'He didn't even notice the lights coming from the table. I'll have to get him something nice from the town.'

After a few seconds, Kuang Bindun turned towards Jack and asked "Didn't the Elder only give you three knives?"

Jack nodded his head as he leaned his back on the wall of the house and explained "Well, things didn't go exactly as planned…"

It took Jack over fifteen minutes to explain everything that happened last night, with Kuang Bindun interjecting a question every few sentences. When he finished he saw the first rays of dawn sneak their way into his house through the crack in the door.

He stood up and said "We'll talk later. I have to get to the Elder and bring him his prizes." He grabbed the knives from the desk and walked outside with Kuang Bindun following in his wake.

They parted ways as Kuang Bindun went back to his house to get ready for the day and Jack headed for Elder Yu's estate.

A few minutes after he arrived in the manor's courtyard, the door of Elder Yu's study opened up and Jack walked in.

When he presented the six knives to the Elder Jack saw a hint of surprise in his eyes.

"Did I not give you only three Spirit Capturing knives?" Elder Yu asked as he waved a hand and looked at the six knives that now floated around him with suspicion. He furrowed his brows and looked back at Jack as he warned in a dangerous voice "Do not try to fool me, boy."

Jack bowed down as much as he could and said "I wouldn't dare, Lord. I asked Senior Brother Du for extra knives to gather more spirits for you when we split the patrol route up."

Elder Yu had a hint of confusion in his eyes as he asked "What are you talking about?"

Jack took in a deep breath and told the Elder a slightly modified story about what happened last night. He told the whole truth about how Du Angliang split them up and the method Shi Furui and himself used to avoid and capture spirits. He only changed the way in which he cultivated, in secure spots in the forest instead of on Shi Furui's back, and the reason why he decided to use all six of the knives.

"I thought you might see spirits outside the range of the Energy Dispersal device." Elder Yu mumbled as he studied the floating knives once again. After a few seconds, he gave himself a shake and said "Never mind, you're too weak for that right now." He looked down at Jack and said with a slight smile "Good job, boy, you can collaborate with your Senior Brother in this way again in the future."

Jack bowed once again and said "Thank you, Lord. I will do my best to gather as many spirits as I can for you."

Elder Yu waved away his pledge as he rubbed his hands together and said excitedly "I have a few new tests that I want to try out." and dragged out a few spiky instruments from the pouch on his hip.

Jack withheld a pain filled sigh and raised his hand slightly.

When Elder Yu saw it he frowned and said "What now?"

Jack cleared his throat awkwardly as he said "Lord, my deepest apologies, I was wondering if I could keep the same number of knives in the future so I could get you more spirits?" He cleared his throat once more as he looked down at the floor and whispered "Also, Lord, you mentioned spirit stones yesterday."

The Elder's frown disappeared as a hint of killing intent flashed in his eyes and he waved a finger.

Jack only saw a flash of grey and then he found himself slamming into the wall next to the door for the courtyard. He felt his bones creak as he swallowed a mouthful of blood that threatened to fly out, out of fear of angering the Elder even more.

He heard a cold voice in his ear say "Do not think yourself too special to snuff out, servant. I might allow your impoliteness from time to time, but that does not mean that I will suffer your clumsy prompts about my imagined debts. You still breathe out of the kindness of my heart, never forget that. Do I make myself clear?"

Jack managed to gasp out "Crystal… clear… Lord." After a second the force squeezing him against the wall disappeared and he fell to the ground in a heap.

He tried to regulate his rapid breathing as he quickly rose to his knees and slammed his forehead against the floor. He kept doing it until he heard Elder Yu say "That's enough, my floor is getting dirty."

Jack rose to his feet as a drop of blood glided down his nose and dripped towards the ground. He caught it before it had the chance to fall to the floor and quickly wiped his forehead with his sleeve.

Standing back in his usual place in front of the Elder's desk Jack kept his eyes on the ground while he waited for the Elder who fiddled with his instruments.

As Elder Yu neared Jack's eye with a shining needle he said "Ask Du Angliang about anything that might concern you regarding knives and remuneration, and never mention it in front of me again."

Jack answered him with a scream.

When Jack left the manor he followed his usual route through the forest where he stopped to cultivate. An hour after he left Elder Yu he arrived back at the headquarters of the Gravediggers.

Instead of going to the courtyard in the back he headed straight towards Du Angliang's office and knocked on the door. A dozen seconds later he knocked louder. After a few tries, he sighed and left for the courtyard.

There Jack soon confirmed his doubts that Du Angliang left for one of his walks around the town and wouldn't return until midday meal.

He informed Kuang Bindun and Shi Furui about their bad luck and got to work. They gave up asking about the minor injuries his body accrued after his visits to Elder Yu's study long ago.

When he and Shi Furui started dissecting a corpse he spared some time to cut up some of the corpse's clothes.

"What are you doing?" Shi Furui asked as he looked up from his bloody work at Jack.

"I need to make a pouch for the spirit stones, and a sling for carrying the unused knives so they don't hinder movement." Jack said as he cut strips of cloth from the rough clothes.

Shi Furui grunted as he leaned in closer to Jack and whispered "When are we going to talk about last night?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders as he lowered his voice and said "You can wait for us to get back from the graveyard shift in my house. I can't explain too much at first, and you'll have to learn a secret code to understand most of it, but we'll start tonight."

Shi Furui furrowed his brows but he didn't dig any deeper as he gave a sharp nod and returned to cutting into the corpse.

When midday meal came Jack tried to get Du Angliang to talk to him in private, but he only got a "Wait until after the selection." as a response from his Senior Brother as he moved to serve the food.

Jack sighed and lined up with the rest of them while thinking 'He doesn't seem angry to see me alive. Damn.'

After they dug the graves up they went to Elder Yu's manor for the selection.

As expected Du Angliang called out Kuang Bindun for the patrol. When Du Angliang decided on all the people for that night, they followed him to the distant room for their equipment.

After everyone else got their own choker Du Angliang led them back to the graveyard.

When they arrived there and everyone else had fastened the chokers around their necks Du Angliang turned to Jack with a warm smile on his face and said "Elder Yu informed me to equip you with six Spirit Capturing knives from now on." He took out six knives from the pouch on his waist and handed them over to Jack.

Jack thanked him as he put on a slightly concerned face, looked at the faces of the others, and asked "And the other thing?"

Du Angliang still kept the smile on his face as he took a small ragged pouch from his robe and threw it at Jack while saying "Of course, the Elder is very generous."

Jack almost dropped the knives as he caught the pouch, opened it, and looked inside. Three almost perfectly round stones the size of half a thumb greeted him. In the darkness of the pouch, they gave out a minuscule blue shine that brought no change to their jet-black color.

As his brows furrowed Jack looked up from the pouch and said "I'm sorry, Senior Brother, but I turned in six spirits."

Du Angliang smirked as he said "Of course, Song Tanda, but I lent you three extra knives. You did not expect to get a reward while using other people's property?"

Jack's eyes narrowed as he said "They're all Elder Yu's property, you wouldn't want to bother him with this minor issue would you, Senior Brother Du?"

Du Angliang kept a relaxed look on his face as he answered "Of course not. But I don't think anyone will bother him with this."

Jack cursed on the inside as he thought 'If I got to Elder Yu he'll get punished, but there's no chance that I won't get punished worse for annoying the Elder with our bickering so soon after this morning's incident.'

After a few seconds, Jack swallowed all of his complaints and asked "And in the future?"

Du Angliang's smile reappeared as he said "Just a two stone charge for storage and safekeeping of the knives."

Jack tightened a grip on a knife and stared at Du Angliang's throat for a moment, but he breathed in deeply a few times and said through his teeth "Thank you, Senior Brother. I'll make sure to repay your kindness in the future."

Du Angliang's smile disappeared as he stared into Jack's eyes with a cold gaze and said "I will look forward to that day."

After a few seconds of silence, and the exchanging of confused gazes from the rest of the group, Du Angliang looked up at Kuang Bindun and said "You, accompany Song Tanda to that end of the patrol route." He pointed towards the East side of the graveyard and continued "I'm sure that he'll explain everything to you on the way."

With that Du Angliang motioned to the rest of the group and led them to the West side of the graveyard.

Jack stared daggers at Du Angliang's back for a while before turning towards their starting point and heading towards it.

On the way there he handed the knives to Kuang Bindun and took out an extra thick sling for carrying knives from his uniform. He made Kuang Bindun bend down and threw it over his shoulder. Jack instructed him to place the knives in it while Jack kept two of them for use.

On the way to the forest entrance, Kuang Bindun looked down at Jack and asked "Did that mess up our plans?"

After a few seconds, Jack shook his head and said "Nah, just had to put on a show for the bastard or he'd get suspicious."