Chapter 18: Robbery? Let's go, Let's go together_1

Chapter 18

"I possess divine methods, capable of summoning Sky Thunder!"

As dawn came with the first spreading of mountain mist, before the sunshine broke, Cheng Dalei pointed like a sword towards the canyon.

A chill ran down everyone's spine, their gaze followed Cheng Dalei's hand, but saw only wind rustling the grass, the still mountains, without any sign of movement whatsoever.

They all wore doubtful looks as they turned to Cheng Dalei, wondering what he was up to.

"To summon Sky Thunder..." Cheng Dalei's hand wavered in the air, his heart urging anxiously: 'Hurry up, has Lin Shaoyu not heard?'

"Thunder..."

Cheng Dalei's voice was nearly hoarse, he was a bit terrified as he contemplated the plan he had thought of beforehand, to have Lin Shaoyu lie in ambush in the valley, ready to light the last box of explosives. Without this plan, Cheng Dalei had no idea how he would have escaped.

"This kid is fooling around, let me kill him!" yelled one of the mountain brigands.

A couple of mountain bandits were on horseback, while others stood on the ground with weapons in hand, and slowly, sneers began to appear on their faces.

"Thunder!"

As his voice fell, a colossal boom echoed from the direction of the canyon, rumbling like a thunderclap. A black cloud of dust surged up in the white morning mist.

In an instant, the smiles on everyone's faces froze. A tinge of fear appeared in the eyes looking at Cheng Dalei. Sitting on his horse, relieving a deep breath, Cheng Dalei looked somewhat like an immortal, carrying an aura of profound unpredictability.

"Well, who wants to experience my Five Thunder Sky Method?"

Whoosh!

Everyone took a sharp breath and subconsciously stepped back. It was as if there was an invisible force field around Cheng Dalei, making people afraid to approach.

This was a superstitious age. Unknown phenomena were ascribed to the work of gods and ghosts. The saying was true: where civilization has not yet arrived, ignorance becomes civilization. In an age when one could burn yellow paper, throw it in a well, proclaim it holy water, and gather tens of thousands of believers, Cheng Dalei's performance was spectacular indeed.

The thoughts running in the heads of the bandits were, this man must have used his Five Thunder Sky Method to fend off a thousand armed soldiers. They mulled over the thought of the thunder raining on them and wondered if they could have survived it.

With an arrogant and sweeping look, Cheng Dalei spurred his horse forward. The bandits surrounding him automatically cleared a path. As he continued pointing his finger while chanting "thunder, thunder, thunder", the ones pointed at turned white with fear, with some even falling off their horses.

Xu Ling'er, Xu Shenji, and Qin Man followed behind Cheng Dalei on their horses. Their operation had netted them over eighty good war horses, which made everyone salivate, but not one dared to try and take their horses.

Cheng Dalei held his head high, carrying his axe over his shoulder, appearing calm and composed, impressive with infinite power. But once you get close, you could see that his back was soaked. If there was a smart one among the bandits who could see through his tricks, he would be a dead man.

"Wait a minute." Gao Feihu suddenly shouted.

Cheng Dalei jumped a little, slowly turned his head around, and looked at Gao Feihu with cold eyes while his heart pounded nervously.

"With so many horses, can your Frog Fort afford to keep them?" Gao Feihu asked.

"If I can't afford to keep them, I'll just make horse jerky. None of your business."

...

Before leaving, Cheng Dalei left a harsh word. But the reality was, he probably couldn't afford to keep them.

This time, Frog Fort had a big haul. After taking inventory of the loot, they found fifty spears, ten sets of armor, nine big bows, some arrows, thirty iron swords, and eighty-one war horses.

Even Su Ying was amazed at their haul. Anytime she thought about how Cheng Dalei managed to stand against a thousand soldiers with just five people, she found it unbelievable.

However, three days later, problems showed up - specifically, with these horses. Every horse would need at least ten pounds of hay each day. These being war horses, they would also need special care and feed grains like soybeans on top of hay. The need added up to 800 pounds of food and hay each day. And how much did Frog Fort have?

Zero.

Cheng Dalei had three days of agonizing suffering; the horses' whinnies rang out like death threats and he neither ate nor slept well.

"Boss, Boss ..."

Xu Shenji approached with a sickle and said: "Boss, no slacking off, we have to hurry up and reap the wheat. If we get a heavy rain, all of this year's harvest will be ruined."

Indeed, along with the horses, harvesting wheat was another big bother. There were ten acres of wheat fields that needed to be hand-reaped, bundling the stalks into sheaves and hauling them back into the fortress, then grinding them into wheat grains.

It was a summer season, the sun was beating down like a fireball, making them bend their backs under its rays… this was somewhat romantic when done once in a while, but as a regular job, Cheng Dalei understood the bitterness of it.

Qin Man, Xu Ling'er, and Xu Shenji didn't seem tired at all, they were even immersed in a blissful atmosphere. But Cheng Dalei and Lin Shaoyu suffered the most.

"Imagine me, a massive hero, having to do this..."

With every swing of his sickle, Lin Shaoyu recited the same line. Cheng Dalei wanted to inspire him with a saying like "great responsibilities are bestowed upon those chosen by destiny", but the feeling of his state of affairs made him decide otherwise

"Suddenly, my stomach hurts, I don't have any strength ..." Cheng Dalei held his stomach.

"Forget it, you used this excuse yesterday."

"Then I have a headache..."

"That was the day before yesterday." Xu Shenji said: "Boss, stop being lazy. Waiting for the sun to fully ripen the wheat will shatter it at a touch, and we're going to lose a lot of this year's harvest."

"Well … I suddenly remembered … it's been a few days since our last robbery, can't neglect our main profession." Cheng Dalei picked up his axe and swiftly ran down the mountain.

"What's Boss doing..." Lin Shaoyu poked his head out of the room: "Robbing? Take me along, take me along."

Watching the two run out of sight in an instant, Xu Shenji disheartedly picked up his sickle again and went towards the wheat field in the back mountain.

...

Li Gousheng, a villager from the Li Family Village near Mount Qingniu, had a few acres of poor land at home. When he didn't have farm work, he would head to the mountains to chop wood to sell in the city. His usual worry was his three sons: Li Da, Li Er, Li San. The eldest son was twenty, the youngest sixteen, and all of marriageable age. But since their family was poor, no one wanted to marry them.

"Dad, aren't there mountain bandits around here?" asked Li Da.

"Are you afraid of the mountain bandits and not afraid of not getting married? After chopping firewood today, I'll go buy a donkey for you, this will give you some leverage when trying to get a wife. Didn't you always want a horse? Now you'll have one."

"But... a horse and a donkey are not the same."

"What's the difference..."

"Hey!"

Suddenly, two men jumped out from the bush. One, draped in a white robe with an iron spear, was strikingly handsome, and the other carried a big axe, with a strange grin plastered on his face.

"Have mercy, my lord, have mercy..." Li Gousheng and his sons were all scared into kneeling on the ground.

"Get up, why are you kneeling."

The man holding the axe shouted, prompting Li Gousheng to timidly raise his head, only to see a constipated smile on the man's face.

"Just now, I heard you talking about buying a horse?"