The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, becoming a disciple of Yue Buqun

Page 163

Corpses were scattered all around, and blood had stained the ground crimson.

The battle is over; all three hundred men have been killed.

Jiangning had been preparing for this ambush for several days and had been lying in wait for several hours, but the actual fighting lasted less than a quarter of an hour.

At this moment, Yue Buqun, Zhang Quandao, Qingwei Shitai, and others walked towards Jiangning.

"Master Jiang, you have won a great victory!"

Zhang Quandao was very excited. He had a black eye and a torn sleeve on one hand, making him look rather disheveled, but he was not seriously injured.

He was the fastest to charge and was surrounded and hit by a cannonball.

What are our casualties?

Jiang Ning asked.

"I'll go and take inventory right away."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Quandao immediately left to count the number of casualties. He returned a moment later, looking excited.

"No one has died on our side!"

The disparity in numbers and strength between the two sides is enormous. In a head-on confrontation, none of these people could possibly defeat Jiang Ning's side, let alone the fact that Jiang Ning's side had laid an ambush beforehand.

In particular, Jiang Ning's side, besides himself, also had Yue Buqun and Feng Buping, along with six or seven other top-tier masters.

"Four of our fellow Daoists suffered minor injuries."

The four Taoist priests twisted their ankles while chasing someone because they were running too fast.

Upon hearing this news, Jiang Ning and Yue Buqun were relieved, and Master Qingwei couldn't help but smile.

"Next, I'll need your help to clean up the body and this area."

Jiang Ning said.

Killing these people doesn't mean the end. Although they are dead, Jiang Ning is still very busy. The bodies here need to be disposed of, the stones on the mountain path need to be moved, the bloodstains on the ground need to be cleaned up, and the pits that have been dug need to be filled in.

Besides these, Jiang Ning had other things to do. Next, he planned to cooperate with Mr. Mo to collect all the bows and arrows from the enemy camp, so as to prevent them from causing heavy casualties to his side.

These people were sent out by Master Mo yesterday. According to the journey, a round trip will take about seven days. Including the time they need to buy food, it will take about ten days. Jiang Ning wants to take advantage of this ten-day window to try to steal the enemy's bows and arrows, and then continue to set traps to prepare for the next battle.

With time running out and the task at hand, Jiang Ning cannot afford to be idle for even a moment.

"Don't worry, Mr. Jiang, leave everything to us."

Zhang Quandao patted his chest and took on the task.

"We'll find a place to bury them all, and also perform a ritual for them so they can be reborn as good people in their next life."

Chapter 231 Be Prepared

Zhang Quandao had everything arranged clearly: he handled both the killing and the burial, providing a complete service for the murderers and their spirits.

"Then I'll leave it to you Taoist priests."

Jiang Ning bowed and thanked him.

"what is this."

Zhang Quandao smiled and waved his hand, then took out a stack of silver notes from his pocket and handed them to Jiang Ning.

“Master Jiang, these are the silver notes we found on the leader.”

Zhang Quandao had a total of six thousand taels of silver notes in his hand.

"Take a look at how to handle these things, and you can make the arrangements."

Jiang Ning held the silver notes in his hand, his head bowed in deep thought.

"what happened?"

Seeing the expression on Jiang Ning's face, Yue Buqun asked.

Jiang Ning looked up at Yue Buqun, Zhang Quandao, Master Qingwei, and others.

“Master, Taoist priest, nun, I have an idea.”

Upon hearing this, Yue Buqun said, "You speak."

Jiang Ning looked at everyone and shared his thoughts.

"What? Using sleeping potion?"

Zhang Quandao was stunned for a moment. Not only him, but also Abbess Qingwei and Abbess Qingxu were stunned.

Jiang Ning's plan was to secretly put sleeping pills into the enemy camp's wine jars and make them all drink them.

"Is this...is this okay?"

Zhang Quandao hesitated. It wasn't that he didn't trust Jiang Ning, but rather that the plan was too idealistic, so idealistic that it was completely unworkable.

Jiang Ning's idea might be useful in a fight between a dozen or twenty people, but against a group of several thousand, the scale is not small, and the plan is completely unfeasible.

Although Abbess Qingwei did not speak, she maintained the same attitude.

"Please rest assured, Taoist Master."

Jiang Ning explained, "Although this plan is difficult, it is not without the possibility of success."

“As I said before, our Five Mountains Sword Sect has an inside agent within the enemy's ranks. We can have him cooperate with us from within.”

Jiang Ning still thought of Mr. Mo Da.

Mr. Mo has infiltrated the enemy's command post; it would be a shame not to make good use of this identity.

Upon hearing this, Yue Buqun, who had been silent, suddenly remembered something and his gaze turned somewhat strange.

If it were Mr. Mo Da, it might actually be possible.

"Internal response?"

Zhang Quandao hesitated.

"Master Jiang, if I may be so bold, is your Five Mountains Sword Sect's inside man really capable of cooperating with you to accomplish this?"

Jiang Ning thought about Mr. Mo's position within the enemy ranks and nodded: "I think so."

Jiang Ning wasn't absolutely certain, but he was 90% sure, leaving the remaining 10% to allow for any unforeseen circumstances.

Hearing Jiang Ning's words, Master Qingwei and the others still felt that it was not very reliable, but they nodded nonetheless.

"Since Benefactor Jiang says so, then we will listen to what Benefactor Jiang has to say."

They had already witnessed Jiang Ning's leadership and command abilities; he was not someone who only talked the talk but didn't walk the walk, and they could trust him.

"Thank you for your trust, Master and Abbess."

Jiang Ning smiled.

Yue Buqun, who was standing to the side, remained silent, a smile always on his face.

Since neither Qingcheng nor Emei had any objections, he was even less likely to have any.

His purpose in coming down the mountain this time was to do only one thing: cooperate with Jiang Ning. He would do whatever Jiang Ning arranged and would not compete with Jiang Ning for command.

Flowers always have to go through wind and rain. Yue Buqun is almost sixty years old, and he can't live forever. He still needs the younger generation of disciples to grow up and protect the Huashan Sect.

To protect and promote the Huashan Sect, martial prowess alone is not enough; one must also possess the ability and means to handle matters.

Although these people have surrounded Mount Hua, the crisis is actually not that big now, which is a good opportunity for Jiang Ning to train his ability to handle this kind of situation.

Yue Buqun did not intend to interfere and do something unnecessary.

With the support of Zhang Quandao and Abbess Qingwei, Jiang Ning began to assign tasks.

"Master Zhang, please have you and the other Taoist priests from Qingcheng Mountain deal with these corpses and the ground here. Abbess Qingwei, please have you and the senior sisters from Emei accompany me later."

Although Jiang Ning changed his strategy, the original plan still had to continue, so that if the sleeping potion plan failed, the original plan could still be carried out, and the two plans could be carried out simultaneously.

Upon hearing Jiang Ning's plan, Abbess Qingwei did not hesitate.

"it is good."

Master Qingwei nodded, offering no objection; on the contrary, she felt this was a safer approach.

Zhang Quandao was relieved.

Upon hearing Jiang Ning's arrangement, Yue Buqun did not speak, but his smile deepened.

They don't take risks, nor are they arrogant enough to think their plans will definitely succeed; they make various preparations.

Yue Buqun was very satisfied.

“Master Jiang, since you want to use sleeping potion to knock those people out, you need quite a lot. Where did you get all of this? We don’t have any on us.”

Zhang Quandao frowned.

Jiang Ning replied, "Daoist, there's no need to worry. I have a way to handle this."

Seeing that Jiang Ning had said this, Zhang Quandao said nothing more, nodded, and prepared to go down to deal with the corpses.

"Please wait a moment, Taoist priest."

Jiang Ning stopped Zhang Quandao, and amidst the latter's confusion, took out 2,750 taels of the 6,000 taels in his hand and handed them to him, saying...

"Master, these silver notes were obtained from those people. Please accept them and distribute them to the other masters."

These Taoist priests helped the Huashan Sect out of pure enthusiasm. If the Huashan Sect were to pay them a reward, they would feel insulted. But these silver notes are different; they are not considered a reward from the Huashan Sect, so they can accept them.

"This……"

Zhang Quandao hesitated for a moment.

He was a monk and didn't want to accept the money. These were all worldly possessions. He came to help the Huashan Sect not for the money, otherwise he wouldn't have used all the jewelry and ornaments that Yu Canghai had decorated to help the people.

However, he can only represent himself, not the other Taoists. Although these Taoists came with him, it doesn't mean he can make decisions for them.

Jiang Ning noticed his hesitation and said, "Daoist Master, these silver coins don't necessarily have to be kept by you for your own use. You can also use them to help the people."

"In that case, thank you very much, Layman Jiang."

Upon hearing this, Zhang Quandao no longer hesitated. After accepting the silver note, he immediately gathered the Taoist priests and continued to explain the matter.

Jiang Ning then took out another 2,750 taels of silver and handed it to Abbess Qingwei, repeating the same thing he had said before.

Unlike Zhang Quandao, Abbess Qingwei did not hesitate and accepted the silver notes, thanking Jiang Ning in return.

"Master, you should go and rest for a while. We'll set off after a short rest."

Jiang Ning said to Abbess Qingwei.

"it is good."

Master Qingwei nodded and led the Emei disciples to rest aside.

"Uncle-Master Feng, please come with me."

Jiang Ning called out to Feng Buping, pulled him aside, and handed him the remaining five hundred taels along with the gold medal of the Guanzhong Hero.

"I would like to ask you to make a special trip to Hanzhong Prefecture and find Prefect Chen. Ask him to help us collect the sleeping potion. You will need this gold medal and silver note. Prefect Chen will help you once he sees the gold medal."

You can't just buy as much sleeping potion as you want. To knock out so many people, you'd need a huge quantity. It's only possible with the help of Prefect Chen.

"The Great Hero of Guanzhong?"

Feng Buping was stunned when he saw the gold medal in his hand.

Jiang Ning gave a brief explanation, and Feng Buping nodded.

"Okay, don't worry."

Feng Buping accepted the task without feeling uncomfortable at being directed by a junior.

"Then I'll leave it to Uncle Feng. Please be sure to go and come back quickly."

Jiang Ning gave a word of advice.

"do not worry."

Feng Buping's expression was somewhat solemn. He knew the importance of his mission, so he didn't delay and set off immediately.