29 Removing Obstacles

When Jack, Kuang Bindun, and Shi Furui returned to the Gravedigger courtyard the rest of the group gave them a cursory glance and went back to their daily nap.

Jack went up to Bai Maolong's spot and said "Let's go." to the sleeping teen.

After a dozen seconds of no response, other than an increase of the snoring volume, Jack looked around and went to pick up a decent sized rock.

He went back to stand over Bai Maolong and said "If you don't get up by the count of three…" He threw the stone and caught it as he continued "this will wake you up."

"One…" before Jack could get to two, Bai Maolong sighed as he opened his eyes and murmured "Fine, fine, you little bastard. I'm getting up." He stood up with an exaggerated number of groans and said with a charming smile "You wouldn't really throw that thing at me, right?"

Jack shrugged his shoulders, threw the stone on the ground, and walked away while repeating "Let's go."

Bai Maolong glanced down at his resting spot and just as he debated whether he should follow in Jack's footsteps or not he heard a soft *crack* from just under his feet.

Jack looked over his shoulder and saw Bai Maolong holding to the top of the wall with a panicked expression on his face, all of his aloofness gone. Jack chuckled and raised his voice towards Bai Maolong as he said "Stop shuffling your feet and follow me."

Bai Maolong looked down and saw the rock that Jack previously held cracked in a dozen pieces. It just fell apart in the spot where Jack dropped it. He looked up at the laughing boy that called out to him and murmured with a rueful smirk "This might get interesting." as he jumped down to the ground and followed in Jack's wake.

They spent the rest of the morning doing basic workouts and stamina building exercises. To Jack's surprise, Bai Maolong had the worst stamina out of the lot. He could do the exercises pretty well, but his endurance seemed pitiful even when compared with Kuang Bindun's. A few times when it looked like he planned to give up Jack picked up a rock and played with casually while looking at Bai Maolong which stopped his wandering eyes.

When everyone collapsed from exhaustion Jack ended the session and walked over to the slumped Bai Maolong. He stood above his sprawled and gasping body as he asked "You want to continue this?"

After a few seconds of doing his best imitation of a landed fish, Bai Maolong finally managed to say "You still… giving out food?"

Jack nodded his head as he said "Of course."

Bai Maolong gasped for a few more seconds before he confirmed "Then I'm in."

Jack heard the soft sigh of relaxation from Kuang Bindun that lay behind him and smirked as he walked away to get some water for his new recruits.

The rest of the day went by as usual.

When the time came for the selection for the graveyard shift Jack almost smacked himself across the face as Du Angliang called out Bi Tuohui for the patrol. He quickly stared at Shi Furui and when their eyes met he signaled at the two people standing at the top of the lined up teens.

Shi Furui glanced at them and gave Jack a slight nod of understanding. Jack's stiff shoulders relaxed a little, but his brains still came up with terrible outcomes. He didn't care about the money he gave to Shi Furui, but what the others would do with only three people guarding the food for six. A part of their deal with Bi Tuohui stated that they would give him his share even when he had to go to the graveyard shift.

The rest of the night went by in a blur for Jack as he hurried as much as he could to finish their patrol fast and get back to the others. They charged up six knives as soon as possible and ran for the rest of the way with almost no spirit energy left in Jack's dantian. Even though they hurried, Jack still had to capture six spirits or else he'd risk ruining his fragile relationship with Elder Yu.

He made a mistake on the second and last spirits that caused unnecessary pain to Kuang Bindun, but he didn't mind too much because he also wanted to return as quickly as possible.

When they ran back to their little housing area everything seemed normal. A gasping Kuang Bindun slid open Jack's house's door and stepped into the light.

In there they saw Shi Furui sitting on the cot while studying the English language boards that Kuang Bindun made while two plates filled with food waited for them on the table.

Jack let out a long held in sigh of relief when Shi Furui greeted them with a satisfied smirk. He walked up to Shi Furui and slapped his shoulder while he said "Good man!" Jack grabbed the food from the table, sat down on the stool opposite Shi Furui, and asked "How did it go?"

Shi Furui shrugged as he answered, "It got a little tense as Shen Saishuo and Tong Touhao riled up two other people and tried to make us give them half of the food, but we stood strong and managed to repel them."

Jack nodded his head as he heard the names of the other two strongest people from their unit and asked in a dangerous tone "Any violence?"

Shi Furui shook his head as he chuckled lightly and said "It looked like it would come to it, but then little Yin Ping took out two sharp looking knives and pressed them to the necks of the two helpers. Things cooled down after that."

Jack gave out a surprised bark of laughter as he said "He keeps surprising me. Did you show him how to work with the Poison Arrow Bullfrog legs?"

Shi Furui nodded his head and answered "Yeah, it didn't take him long to get it. I told him to ask me if anything confuses him, but he seemed fine." His face turned serious as he glanced at the eating Kuang Bindun and said "What do we do in three days when I'm out with you?" He left the 'and only Bindun's left to protect the food.' out, but they both understood what he meant.

Jack didn't think about it for even a second as he said "I'll take care of it tomorrow."

Shi Furui's brows furrowed as he asked "Peacefully?"

Jack spread his arms out in mock outrage as he complained "When have I not taken care of things peacefully?"

Shi Furui snorted but decided to stay quiet about what they learned about Jack's victims that morning.

After the meal, Jack taught both of his friends some new words and terms and gave them additional exercises to do on their own.

The next day in the Gravedigger courtyard Jack walked over to where Tong Touhao worked on a fresh corpse. He stopped opposite the table from where Tong Touhao stood and said in a relaxed manner "I heard things got a little tense last night."

Tong Touhao snorted coldly and pointed a bloody knife at Jack's nose as he said "F*ck off. I'm not one of your lackeys." and turned back to his work.

Jack kept his face calm as he shrugged and said "Sure, but if you do try to touch one of my 'lackeys' again things won't go that well for you."

Tong Touhao looked back up at Jack's face as he growled "Are you threatening me, boy?!"

Jack shrugged once again as he said "Of course not." He paused for a second before continuing "But, let's say that someone snuck into your house while you slept, tied you down, cut your wrists, and made your death look like a suicide." Jack dropped all pretenses of civility as he allowed some of his fury to leak out while he stared at Tong Touhao's eyes and asked "Do you think that would make you stop causing problems?"

Tong Touhao's eyes bulged out from rage as he shouted "You dare!" and made a stabbing motion towards Jack's face.

With a simple step back Jack left Tong Touhao's reach and gave him a cold look as he said "I'll give you that one. Try it again and you won't get to have that last nap before the end." He looked around and signaled Shi Furui, Kuang Bindun, and Bi Tuohui to stay back as they already made a few steps in their direction. Even Bai Maolong cracked an eyelid open to watch the spectacle.

Tong Touhao's face burned as he looked around the courtyard at the people staring at him and spat at Jack's feet. He turned his gaze back to his work and tried to ignore his surroundings as much as he could.

Jack shook his head slightly in disgust and walked away from Tong Touhao's table.

He looked around the courtyard, found his real target, and walked over to him.

Shen Saishuo kept a wary gaze on Jack's approaching figure from the gathering of the corpse carriers. Even before Jack reached him he stepped out to a more isolated part of the courtyard and waited.

He glanced around at the observing gazes of Jack's companions for a second and steeled himself for the incoming threats.

When Jack reached him he gave him a casual wave as a greeting and said "Shen Saishuo, would you like to earn some extra food?"

Shen Saishuo's steely visage crumbled as he blinked in surprise and asked "What?"

Jack didn't miss a beat as he repeated "Would you like to earn some extra food? It happens that I have a free slot for a guard once every three nights, I'd like for you to take it up."

Shen Saishuo furrowed his brows a little and asked "Why would I lower myself to work for you?"

Jack gave a dismissive wave in the direction of Tong Touhao and said "You saw how that idiot reacted to my reasonable proposal. Do you want to stick with that, or come over to the winning team?" Jack gave his companions a quick glance and continued "You're smart enough to know how the wind's blowing, aren't you?"

Shen Saishuo looked up at the still furious Tong Touhao for a second, before looking around the courtyard and realizing that Jack had almost a third of their small group on his side. That seemed even more surprising in a place like this where no one cared about anything but themselves.

He struggled with his choice for a few more seconds before finally giving out a defeated sigh and saying "Alright, what do you want me to do?"

Jack gave him a wide welcoming smile as he started to instruct him on the duties he had to execute while in his guard role.

After a few minutes, they ironed everything out and split up in a slightly friendlier atmosphere.

Just as Shen Saishuo started walking towards the back door he heard Jack's voice call out to him and turned to see what he wanted. He saw an icy faced Jack staring straight into his eyes and felt a shiver run down his spine as he heard Jack ask "You do understand that any contact with Tong Touhao cancels our agreement, right?"

After a few seconds, Shen Saishuo gave a stiff nod and turned to go on his way.

Jack walked over to Shi Furui to work together with him on a new corpse. None of them had to go out anymore since they had a deal with old Long. Jack just had to give his spirit stones out to one of the two who didn't go to the graveyard shift that night and they'd take care of everything.

The next three days passed by in their new established routine. The only thing that changed in the courtyard were the dark circles that appeared under the increasingly moody Tong Touhao's eyes.

That night when Jack and Shi Furui came back from their patrol they found out that Tong Touhao tried to rob Kuang Bindun of his food on the way from town, but Shen Saishuo did his job and stopped him.

Jack just took everything in calmly and proceeded to teach his friends.

The next morning Du Angliang found Tong Touhao dead in his house, with his wrists cut in an apparent suicide.

Jack and his friends had no problems with their evening meals after that.