Chapter 18

Bai Qi raised his head and said, "I think Wang Ergou will most likely use the poison. Let alone a bandit village like this, even if it was an ordinary village, there would still be people willing to betray their village for personal benefits.

"This subordinate greatly admires Your Majesty's plan. First, bandits don't cook their food separately like normal households, and they instead cook all of their food in a big batch, making it quite easy to poison everyone. Second, Your Majesty chose an unremarkable and minor person who no one would notice. Even though the lord can see everyone's Loyalty, he needs to manually check each person, making it difficult to detect Wang Ergou's betrayal. Third, Your Majesty used a brilliant carrot and stick strategy. The Great Qin Village hasn't created any poisons or antidotes. Your Majesty merely used a poisonous medicinal pill and a non-poisonous medicinal pill to scare Wang Ergou into submission, making him not dare to betray us. Your Majesty also used money, which bandits love most, to lure him in even further. From this, one can see that Your Majesty's schemes are brilliant. However…" Bai Qi stopped talking and paused.

Zhao Fu nodded and said, "Go on."

Bai Qi continued, "There's still a slight possibility that Wang Ergou won't follow through. After all, as the saying goes, 'planning is with man, but success is with heaven.' In case Wang Ergou doesn't use the poison and is discovered, we need to plan our attack carefully."

"Mm," Zhao Fu replied. Bai Qi was right; this was exactly what Zhao Fu had been thinking as well, so they started to discuss their contingency strategy.

Time gradually passed.

The Wild Wolf Village's Hall had been incredibly lively when suddenly someone fell to the ground and coughed up blood before dying on the spot. After this, other people started falling to the ground and coughing up blood.

The poison that Zhao Fu had given Wang Ergou was refined by Apothecary Zhang Baishu from the venom of 100 venomous snakes, and it was incredibly lethal.

The thug sitting at the head seat was incredibly shocked, and he flipped the food in front of him to the ground. He shot up from his seat, and before he could say anything, someone outside reported, "Fire!"

At this moment, the thug seemed to realize something. His expression darkened, and he drew his large saber and yelled at the few people who hadn't been poisoned, "Brothers, let's go! I want to see who's daring enough to act against the Wild Wolf Village!"

Outside the village, Zhao Fu saw that a few wooden houses had started burning. This was what Zhao Fu had told Wang Ergou to do in order to let him know that the plan had succeeded.

Under the cover of night, Zhao Fu immediately yelled, "Archers, prepare the fire arrows; burn all of the houses in the Wild Wolf Village. Crossbowmen, take down the guards outside the Wild Wolf Village!"

The 10 or so Archers obeyed and shot fire arrows towards the Wild Wolf Village, lighting the Wild Wolf Village's houses on fire, surprising the guards outside. Following this, the 40 or so Gnome Crossbowmen continuously released crossbow bolts, making it seem as if there was a rain of crossbow bolts. The bandits fell to the ground one after another, and they were shot full of holes like a wasp's nest.

Zhao Fu was not in a hurry to attack. He once again gave the order to release fire arrows to set fire to all of the houses and told the Gnome Crossbowmen to fire at will.

Zhao Fu did this to safeguard against any traps. Soon, the Wild Wolf Village was transformed into a sea of flames, and the Gnome Crossbowmen had shot quite a few rounds of crossbow bolts. All of the bandits who wanted to rush out of the Wild Wolf Village were all riddled with holes, causing them to retreat back to the village.

At this moment, 10 fat, sturdy Goblin Warriors, who were two meters tall, raised their massive stone hammers and rushed into the village, wildly smashing whatever they saw, and they were backed by unstoppable momentum.

Zhao Fu then gave the order for all troops to advance. Shieldbearers, Infantry, and Goblin Soldiers raised their weapons and cried out as they rushed into the village.

"So it was you fellows! I'll kill you!"

The leader of the thugs saw his village completely drowned in flames, and when he saw Zhao Fu giving orders, he felt incredible hatred for him. He lifted his large saber and rushed over.

When Bai Qi saw him run over, he drew his sword and met him in battle.

Within the sea of flames, the two of them engaged in an intense battle. The thug's saber techniques were ferocious, and each strike was incredibly unrestrained, carrying immense power as his attacks rained down on Bai Qi. On the other hand, Bai Qi's sword techniques were graceful and nimble.

Clang! Clang! Clang!

Sparks flew as saber and sword continuously collided. By now, the thug's strikes started to become weaker, while Bai Qi still looked leisurely and at ease. In the end, the thug carelessly revealed an opening and had his heart pierced by Bai Qi, dying on the spot.

"Your leader has died! Surrender and your life will be spared!" Bai Qi roared after killing the leader of the thugs.

When they saw that their leader had died and that they had been surrounded by enemies with far greater numbers, the remaining bandits could only obediently put down their weapons and kneel on the ground to beg for their lives.

At this moment, Zhao Fu saw a woman with red lips and devilish looks. Her figure was extremely mature and tempting, and she wore a red dress. She was currently brandishing a whip, making it so that the Infantry around her did not dare to approach her.

Wang Ergou walked over with a pale expression and said to Zhao Fu, "Sir! That's the Third Mistress!"

Zhao Fu stretched out his hand to an Archer beside him, who handed him an Iron Wood bow. He drew it and prepared to shoot a Rock Crushing Arrow. A mystical yellow aura appeared around the arrow, and Zhao Fu aimed it towards the seductive woman's chest.

Just as he was about to release the arrow, the woman glanced over in his direction. When she saw the drawn arrow, her face paled. She was already surrounded and would die sooner or later, so she quickly threw her whip to the ground and yelled, "I surrender!"

Zhao Fu felt quite surprised and put away the bow and arrow. The fire was being greater and greater, so he ordered his people to bring out the captives while he hurried to the Wild Wolf Village Hall.

Now that the Wild Wolf Village's lord was dead, it could be directly conquered. If the lord hadn't died, the City Heart would release energy to protect itself.

Zhao Fu put his hand on the floating white cube and chose to [Relocate] the village.

"System Announcement! The Great Qin Village has obtained 345 EXP!"

"System Announcement! You have gained 50 Achievement Points!"

"System Announcement! Your status has been promoted to Citizen!"

Zhao Fu ignored the system announcements and quickly ran out of the Wild Wolf Village. The entire Wild Wolf Village was engulfed by flames, and it soon turned into nothing.

Now, Zhao Fu finally had some time to look at his new status. Before, he had only been a Commoner, and he required 200 Achievement Points to be promoted. Every conquered village gave him 50 Achievement Points, and now that he had conquered four villages, he had enough Achievement Points to be promoted.

He now needed 500 Achievement Points to be promoted from Citizen to Esquire, which meant that he would be promoted after conquering ten villages.

"Your Majesty! We confiscated these from the bandits!"

Bai Qi walked over with a sack of money, a piece of paper, and a large sabre, and handed them to Zhao Fu.

Zhao Fu took the items and looked them over. The sack of money had about 30 or so silver coins. Zhao Fu did not care much about the money, but he was quite interested in the paper.

[Little Spirit Pill – Pill Recipe]: White grade, Required Ingredients: Little Spirit Grass, Treebud Root, and Eternal Stone. Effects: Can increase cultivation speed by 200%.

Zhao Fu was quite delighted when he saw this pill recipe. Treebud Roots and Eternal Stones were quite common, but Little Spirit Grass was harder to find.

Zhao Fu then looked at the large saber:

[Mountain Sabre]: Grade: Blue, Stats: Strength +1, Description: An abnormally sharp saber that can crush rocks.

Bai Qi used swords, so this saber was not suitable for him. As such, he stored it away until he wanted to use it to reward someone for his or her meritorious service.