Ch. 30
Chapter 30: Demon Pelts
Li Fei’s expression darkened at once. “That’s the Ten Directions Marsh!”
“Exactly!” One of the burly middle-aged men in the group also spoke up with obvious dissatisfaction.
This man was Liu Shuo, one of the highest-ranked escorts on the Pingyang Commandery Escort Master Rankings.
The moment he heard Chen Guan’s proposal, his face flushed red with anger.
“The Ten Directions Marsh is a place even the Demon Suppression Bureau does not dare enter lightly, even at the edge. With the few battered remnants we have left, how is charging straight in any different from seeking death?”
One had to understand that the Ten Directions Marsh was recognized throughout the world as one of the great forbidden lands!
Poisonous miasma shrouded it all year round, and demonic qi soared to the heavens. No one could say with certainty what horrifying fiends or strange terrain lay hidden inside.
The old records did not even contain any account of it, because those who entered to investigate had never come back alive.
Faced with the crowd’s doubts, Chen Guan remained as calm as ever. He merely looked quietly at the middle-aged man named Liu Shuo.
After several seconds of silence, he asked in return,
“Didn’t I already say this before?
Among the races of demonic fiends, Grudge-Bearing Demon Apes are creatures that rank near the top. Ordinary pack-type demonic fiends are nowhere near enough to serve as their match.”
“With just those few beasts at Heifeng Ridge who know nothing but brute force, they would not even be enough to warm them up.”
He paused, then continued,
“And besides, the distance to Heifeng Ridge is a full six hundred li. Even if we traveled day and night without stopping, it would still take us at least two days.”
“Over those two days, which one of you dares guarantee that those extremely fast Grudge-Bearing Demon Apes wouldn’t catch up?”
The moment he said that, everyone was left speechless.
They had already tasted for themselves the speed and endurance of the Grudge-Bearing Demon Apes.
With a six-hundred-li forced march, they would probably be overtaken and torn to pieces long before they ever reached Heifeng Ridge.
“And the Ten Directions Marsh...” Chen Guan raised a hand and pointed toward the dim darkness in the east. His voice turned grave.
“There is an abandoned ancient road leading down from here that cuts straight into the outer reaches of the marsh. The distance is only one hundred li.”
“As long as we can force our way through those hundred li and enter the outer zone of the Ten Directions Marsh, it will be dangerous for us—but for the Grudge-Bearing Demon Apes pursuing us, it will be deadly danger as well!”
“The lords inside there are none of them easy to provoke. If those apes dare to follow us in, then we’ll just see who can outplay whom!”
“This...!”
Their hearts still trembled, but the more they thought about it, the more it made sense.
What they feared now was not the individual strength of the demonic fiends, but the mark on Luo Li’s body, which gave them nowhere to hide and left them facing endless pursuit.
But once inside the Ten Directions Marsh, even if they accidentally provoked some other demonic or fiendish creature, so long as they could escape its territorial range, they would generally be able to leave the danger behind.
This was precisely what it meant to find life after being driven into death!
Luo Li lifted her head and nodded as well. “Brother Chen is right.”
“It sounds more dangerous, but if we can come out of the Ten Directions Marsh alive, it really would be more reliable than going to Heifeng Ridge.”
“If we’re lucky, we may even shake off the Grudge-Bearing Demon Apes completely!”
The moment she finished speaking, she suddenly realized something, and her little face turned red at once.
Since Chen Guan had, from the very beginning, led the convoy deeper into the Qingcang Mountains, and had even already chosen the route into the Ten Directions Marsh...
didn’t that mean he had already thought of this move of “driving the tiger to devour the wolf”?
And that he had thought it through more deeply and more thoroughly than she had?
Just a moment ago she had still been rather pleased with herself, “offering him counsel,” and had even felt that he needed her guidance...
At that thought, heat rose across Luo Li’s face.
This fellow... could it be that he understood military strategy too?
“All right! Then for now, we’ll follow Escort Master Chen’s plan!”
Having already paid dearly for hesitation once before, Luo Tong no longer dared be indecisive. He immediately settled the matter with a single decisive line.
Since Luo Tong had already spoken, Li Fei and the others naturally had no objections.
Only the escort named Liu Shuo still kept his brows tightly drawn together. But seeing that everyone else had already agreed, he ultimately said nothing further.
“Escort Master Chen, then when do we depart?” Liu Shuo asked again.
“Let the horses eat their fill. Everyone is to adjust himself to his best condition. Then we leave at once!”
“Understood!”
Everyone answered in one voice, then dispersed at once.
Several men led the horses to the grass at the side and let them graze. The others seized the time to wipe down their weapons, inspect their injuries, and apply medicine to their wounds.
As for Chen Guan, he planted that enormous horse-cleaving saber into the ground, then, stroking his chin, walked straight toward the wagons.
They had a total of three wagons on this journey. Two were filled with goods, and the remaining one served as Luo Li’s personal carriage.
He came to one of the wagons piled high with cargo. Just as he was about to reach out and feel what was inside, he heard a light sound of someone landing beside him.
“There’s no need to check. I already inspected them all just now. They’re tied quite securely.”
Chen Guan turned his head and looked over.
Luo Li had come running over, lifting her skirts, her face full of curiosity as she looked at him.
Chen Guan ignored her. He directly reached out and tore open one of the worn burlap sacks.
Inside was a heap of furry pelts. Many of them still carried lingering traces of demonic and fiendish qi.
At once, his brows drew together, and he asked in a low voice, “What is all this?”
Luo Li blinked, then answered as though it were perfectly obvious. “Can’t you tell? These are all demon pelts.”
“That’s not what I asked. I’m asking why you’re bringing this sort of thing with you.”
“I...”
Luo Li had just opened her mouth to answer, but hearing the way his tone kept rising like he was interrogating her, she became immediately dissatisfied and lifted her chin in defiance.
“What else would it be for? My family’s money doesn’t just blow in on the wind. If we don’t do some business, where is the money supposed to come from?”
“How else would we pay your escort fee if we had no money?”
The corner of Chen Guan’s mouth twitched. Somehow, the way she said that made it sound as though he were outrageously expensive.
He rather felt that her grandfather had tricked him, if anything.
“All right, all right...” Chen Guan could not be bothered arguing about that. He directly moved to the real issue.
“Was this your own idea, or your little aunt’s?”
Luo Li curled her lip. “My little aunt told me to bring them and sell them once we got to Great Zhou.”
“Great Zhou is bordered by the sea on two sides, and pelts are scarce there. Things like these can sell for three times the price.”
The lands of the Great Yun Imperial Dynasty had been carved out almost entirely from among endless mountain ranges, while the Great Zhou Imperial Dynasty faced the sea on two sides, with the Ten Directions Marsh to its north, and only to the south did it border Great Yun.
Even in a world crawling with demons and monsters, not every demon or monster had a hide one could strip, and even if it did, one still needed the strength to do it.
The demons and monsters in the Ten Directions Marsh were far too powerful. Ordinary people simply could not afford to provoke them, and they almost always moved in groups.
Once angered, the matter was never as simple as one or two creatures. The local authorities had long since forbidden anyone from provoking them, because if a demonic tide were triggered, it would be the common people who suffered.
And so, the Great Yun Imperial Dynasty—with its countless mountain ranges and abundant supply of all kinds of fiendish creatures—had become the greatest supplier of pelts to the surrounding nations.
Chen Guan cast off his stray thoughts. Suddenly, he pointed toward one corner of the burlap sack and asked with an exaggerated expression,
“Hm? What’s that?”
Curious, Luo Li leaned in for a closer look. Just as she was about to see what it was, she suddenly felt a sharp sting at the back of her neck, like a mosquito bite.
When she turned to look, she found that Chen Guan’s hand was resting on her back.
She hurriedly took a step back, slapped his hand away, and rolled her eyes.
“What are you doing?!”