I'm Already the Richest Man, Why Did My System Just Arrive?

Chapter 200: Chapter 142: Living Human Fire Sacrifice

「February 15th.」

The southern path was rutted and uneven, crossing single-log bridges and wading through streams. Two wandering swordsmen in tattered clothes sat atop a pair of scrawny horses, cautiously guiding them across a bridge.

One of them wore a filthy monk’s robe. His head was completely bald, yet a thick, curly beard sprouted from his chin.

The scrawny horse he rode had a large, hairless patch on its rump—red and swollen, as if the hair had been violently plucked out.

They were none other than the Mighty Man and the Monk, in disguise.

Zheng Xiu and Ruchen continued south, avoiding Ye Weiyang’s sphere of influence.

As they neared the Zhaozhou region, with each man on his horse, they hadn’t seen a single Raven.

Nor had Zheng Xiu heard those delirious footsteps and breaths.

If all went according to plan, it meant Zheng Xiu was putting distance between himself and the Crow Fosterer.

Of course, there was another possibility: ’If nothing unexpected happens, it’s because something unexpected is about to happen.’ Zheng Xiu didn’t dare to let his guard down, which was why he had gone through the trouble of traveling two thousand li south.

”Brother Zheng, do you need to rest for a bit?”

Ruchen looked at Zheng Xiu’s haggard expression. He was swaying precariously on horseback. ’This isn’t good,’ he thought.

”It’s nothing. My virtues are countless, and my peerless courage is beyond question. I’m doing great!”

Zheng Xiu smiled and waved a hand, deflecting the monk’s concern with a lighthearted joke.

All told, Zheng Xiu hadn’t had a single good night’s sleep in a month.

The past ten-odd days without any sign of Ravens or pursuit from Ye Weiyang had been a relief, but it also left Zheng Xiu puzzled.

’Did we really shake them off that easily?’

Zheng Xiu knew that Ye Weiyang had initially guessed he was heading north.

Then, after killing Hu Yilang of the Lower Six in the Ghost Wail Forest, Zheng Xiu had deliberately mentioned heading west into the Great Desert, right under the nose of a Raven.

It was only after he’d rushed out of the Ghost Wail Forest that a lingering fear set in. There was almost one Raven for every agent, and at night, they were perfectly camouflaged and incredibly stealthy. Later, after mulling it over, Zheng Xiu realized what Kui Lang had been planning. It was a win-win: either delay him or kill him.

In short, Zheng Xiu had deployed two smokescreens—’north’ and ’west’—to confuse Ye Weiyang and slow their pursuit.

The Daqian Dynasty was vast. Finding Zheng Xiu and Ruchen in a sea of people would clearly be no easy task for Ye Weiyang.

The key was to keep a low profile.

This was why Zheng Xiu and Ruchen had disguised themselves upon entering the Zhaozhou border.

Ruchen looked nothing like his usual handsome self. Clumps of black horsehair were stuck to his normally clean-shaven chin, his face was intentionally smeared with mud, and topped off with his completely bald head, he looked like a wild, wandering monk.

Zheng Xiu, with his disheveled hair and tattered clothes, looked like he could find a black cloth, cover his eyes, and pass for a blind beggar on any street corner.

”Brother Zheng, are you really planning to let yourself be devoured by the scroll? To sacrifice yourself for the greater good and save Donor Feng Bei?”

”Bah!” A smile fought its way onto Zheng Xiu’s exhausted face. He chuckled and cursed, ”You and your Raven’s mouth! Get rid of those words ’sacrifice yourself for the greater good’! I have no intention of sacrificing anything.”

”But the scroll is dangerous...”

”How could I not know?” Zheng Xiu cut Ruchen off. Ruchen’s worry was understandable; he had no idea that Zheng Xiu possessed the skills to navigate a Ghostly Realm.

But navigating Ghostly Realms was a strength of the Prisoner Path—and a secret of the Prisoners themselves—so Zheng Xiu naturally couldn’t tell Ruchen. Faced with Ruchen’s concern, Zheng Xiu could only give a vague reply. ”Don’t worry, I’m reasonably confident. I just need to find a secret place where Ye Weiyang can’t find us. Then I can focus on navigating the two... ahem, I mean, focus on rescuing Feng Bei.”

Zheng Xiu discreetly averted his gaze from Ruchen’s shiny, bald head.

Over the course of their journey, Zheng Xiu had come to understand Ruchen more and more.

Ruchen did indeed have occasional ’Heart Demon episodes,’ where his alter ego would surface. But each time the alternate personality appeared, it would only be for a few words before Ruchen quickly returned, completely unaware of what he had said or done during the ’episode’.

Once you got used to these brief, nonsensical outbursts, they were actually quite amusing.

For instance, one night, a sleeping Ruchen suddenly rose, tiptoed over to Zheng Xiu like a cat, and with a resentful expression, said something terrifying:

”You faithless cad! Why do you ignore my world-shattering beauty day in and day out?”

Being inexplicably called a ’faithless cad’ by a monk—a monk talking about ’world-shattering beauty,’ no less—made Zheng Xiu laugh from sheer exasperation. He flipped Ruchen the bird. ”Piss off! I’m not into men!”

”But I am a pure, untouched maiden~”

Zheng Xiu knocked Ruchen out with a single punch and tossed him aside.

The next morning, Ruchen was completely bewildered, pointing at an egg-sized lump on his forehead and howling in pain.

All in all, Ruchen’s ’Heart Demon’ was harmless.

If you just treated it as Ruchen having ’intermittent episodes’ or ’regular fits,’ it didn’t seem like a major problem.

The climate in the south was completely different from the north, and a far cry from Shuzhou as well.

While the north was still in the grip of a snowy winter, the south had already begun to warm. The air was humid and stuffy, making one irritable.

They were on horseback, struggling through a dense forest where century-old trees blotted out the sky. Dappled shadows flickered beneath the horses’ hooves. Tangled vines snaked around everything, and nests of snakes, insects, rats, and ants thrived.

Riding through the woods, Ruchen could clearly hear the hissing of countless venomous snakes flicking their tongues.

HSSS... HSSS... HSSS...

SMACK!

Ruchen slapped his neck. He opened his hand and looked. In his palm lay a giant mosquito, half the size of a fingernail. It lay there, spitting the blood it had just gorged on back into his palm.