Chapter 31: Fees And Pills
The cabin of the carriage remained steeped in a deep and heavy silence. Nobody dared to speak, yet the tension in the air made it obvious that everyone was waiting for someone else to break the ice.
For a long while, no one did.
Han Lin silently remained seated right beside Lu Feng. She carefully checked his already-tended cuts, searching for any spot that might still be bleeding or left unattended.
There were none. She was only going through the motions to pass the time, having nothing else to occupy her nervous hands. Lu Feng refused to volunteer any explanations, and she knew him well enough by now not to push further.
However, there was someone else in the carriage who didn’t share her restraint.
"Are you really not going to answer me?" Ye Chenxue finally broke the quiet, her sharp voice cutting through the stuffy air as she directed her question straight at Lu Feng. "What on earth did you do to end up with this many cuts?"
Lu Feng let out a slow, deliberate sigh. He turned his head to face her, finally resigning himself to speak after realizing that Ye Chenxue would not let the matter rest until she got an answer. For now, he needed to provide a story that would satisfy both her curiosity and the nervous onlookers around them.
He offered a casual shrug. "I went off to face a group of madmen. To be honest, it was actually my first ever fight."
Ye Chenxue gave a slow nod, readily accepting his explanation. Given his youthful appearance and the near-nonexistent trace of Qi she could sense radiating from him, a first battle against a small rogue element made total sense. She assumed a standard number.
"How many were there?"
Since he claimed it was his first-ever battle, Ye Chenxue was naturally inclined to believe the group would have consisted of four, maybe seven attackers at most.
Lu Feng answered with a lazy, unbothered tone. "I stopped counting after a dozen of them fell to my hands."
A sharp, collective gasp echoed through the cramped carriage.
The sudden statement laid out two utterly shocking facts for the occupants. The first was that a complete beginner had stepped into his very first conflict against more than a dozen seasoned combatants. The second, far more terrifying fact was that he hadn’t merely chased them away or managed to escape with his life.
He had actually killed them. Every single one of that dozen.
Even Ye Chenxue was visibly stunned, her eyebrows arching upward in genuine surprise.
Now, the sheer volume of superficial cuts littering his dark robes finally made sense to her. Surviving an onslaught of over a dozen armed opponents on a first try without taking a few hits would have been a miracle.
However, what none of them knew was that Lu Feng hadn’t actually spoken the full, true numbers. He hadn’t mentioned the initial wave, and he certainly didn’t mention that all the cuts on his body came from a single, terrifying source—the peak-stage mercenary leader. There was no practical reason to reveal the full extent of his carnage to them, after all.
Ye Chenxue nodded slowly, her expression shifting from suspicion to a grudging, profound respect. She acknowledged his capabilities aloud.
"You did really well to have stopped the other group all by yourself," she said, her voice carrying a rare note of genuine praise.
Though she kept the next realization strictly to herself, a strange anomaly had just clicked in her mind. As she observed him closely, she discovered something deeply peculiar. Lu Feng’s internal Qi level was almost completely nonexistent. That was how she knew with absolute certainty that he hadn’t formally started cultivating yet.
She could easily sense the residual cultivation level of her own recent opponent out in the clearing, yet from Lu Feng, she felt only the faintest, most pathetic wisp of energy.
It was a baffling contradiction. Either he was an absolute newcomer to the cultivation world who somehow possessed only that microscopic drop of energy, or he was masking his true depth so masterfully that only a negligible trickle leaked out for her to sense. Given his performance, she leaned toward the latter, though she kept her thoughts guarded.
Before anyone else could dwell on the revelation, the loan shark finally cleared his throat.
He adjusted his collar, flashing a wide, calculated smile that instantly suggested he was up to something opportunistic.
"Ah, young master Lu," the loan shark began, his tone dripping with oily politeness. "Thank you for your incredible bravery out there. Truly, you saved us from another disaster."
He paused for effect, rubbing his hands together. "Considering that you saved us from another ambush, I have decided to be reasonable. When we arrive at our destination, I will only take half of the fee we discussed earlier."
This was the very first time the man was speaking directly and openly to Lu Feng. Even though Lu Feng had just risked his life and saved the entire carriage from slaughter, the merchant’s primary concern remained fixed squarely on the transport fee Han Lin had previously negotiated with him.
Lu Feng frowned slightly at the blatant opportunism, a dry amusement touching his eyes. Then, he simply shrugged it off.
The agreed fee was paid in medicinal pills, and thanks to his recent system reward, he literally did not care about a few pills. He could easily hand over a few of the ones he already possessed, or dip into the system shop to purchase cheaper, weaker ones just to satisfy the greedy merchant.
The only real catch was a minor detail he had managed to forget.
Just how many pills had they actually agreed on as the total fee?
Lu Feng turned his gaze toward Han Lin, noticing that she was looking slightly uncomfortable, practically sweating under the sudden attention.
"How much was the fee again?" Lu Feng asked her quietly.
Han Lin offered a sheepish look. "I agreed to pay him six pills... and now, with the discount, we will only be paying three."
What kind of pill were they talking about? Neither of them actually knew the specific grade or medicinal value. It was just a generalized arrangement made in desperation.
Lu Feng turned his attention back to the loan shark and gave a curt, dismissive nod.
"No problem," Lu Feng said evenly. "You’ll have your payment when we get to Crimson Vale."