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

Chapter 375: Chapter 207: Pingxi

The legend that cats have nine lives seemed to be true. Little Feng Miao, who had stubbornly refused to leave and insisted on clinging to Zheng Xiu, paid a terrible price for it.

When Zheng Xiu woke up, the back of his head was resting on Madam’s soft lap. Looking up, all he could see was her hair. He remembered the matter of the Dragon Gate Inn and struggled to sit up, but Madam pushed him back down.

Zheng Xiu could only push upward with his hands.

”Ngh~”

Xie Luohe let out an indignant gasp.

Zheng Xiu could finally make out Madam’s stunning, worried face.

Madam’s face flushed. She slapped at his restless hands that were roving over her chest and scolded him.

”Still causing trouble when you’re injured!”

With an adorable yet furious MEOW, Little Feng Miao leaped down from Xie Luohe’s shoulder. Without a second thought, its claws raked across Zheng Xiu’s face, leaving behind a series of bloody scratches.

”No!”

Taking advantage of Madam’s distraction, Zheng Xiu shot up, crying out in alarm, ”My sign!”

”What’s wrong with the sign?”

Xie Luohe was puzzled at first, then realization dawned. ”Are you talking about the one that got broken? It’s fine. We can just write another one.”

Zheng Xiu froze, rubbing the lingering ache between his brows.

It felt like something was throbbing just behind his brow.

Zheng Xiu looked around and realized he was in their cozy home. ”I’m going to go take a look.” Leaving those words behind, he rushed out and sprinted toward the remembered location of Mohe Pavilion.

Xie Luohe’s expression faltered. Ultimately unable to stop worrying, she scooped up the aggrieved and still-fuming Little Feng Miao and chased after him.

The sun was rising when Zheng Xiu passed out from his ”headache.” He woke to find the sky filled with the afterglow of sunset on the western horizon. His mind in turmoil, he arrived at Mohe Pavilion. On the ground, the sign that had been broken in two was now pieced together, standing neatly to one side—he figured it must have been Xie Luohe. Only she would be so concerned with their sign during such a chaotic time.

The moment Zheng Xiu saw the sign he had written with his own hand, his pupils contracted slightly. The ”Dragon Gate Inn” he’d seen before passing out had vanished as if it were a mere illusion. The two words ”Mohe Pavilion” were still bold and powerful, possessing the elegant style of Scholars. Every fleck of peeling golden paint was identical to his memory. This was the very calligraphy he had brushed ten years ago.

’Mohe, Mohe, Mohe. Not a single word is out of place. Nothing’s wrong. Then... who is wrong?’

Zheng Xiu muttered to himself, alarmed and uncertain.

Holding the cat, Xie Luohe pressed against him from behind and turned her husband’s body around. She took the initiative to press her forehead against his.

Ordinarily, Zheng Xiu would have playfully planted a kiss on her lips. Xie Luohe would always laugh, scold him, and playfully slap at him. Their roughhousing would take them from the foot of the bed to the headboard, all in good fun. It had always been like this. These little rituals had kept their relationship sweet and interesting, even after ten years of a quiet married life. But right now, Zheng Xiu was in no mood. He let her move him around, his expression wooden.

”You don’t have a fever.”

Xie Luohe murmured, puzzled.

”I...” Zheng Xiu stared at Madam, his mouth open, but he couldn’t get a single word out. Finally, he could only shake his head forcefully. ”Forget it. It’s nothing. I’m probably just tired.”

It took a full ten days for Ri Di to command the surviving tribesmen to dig a large pit outside of town. They carried out the bodies from the town one by one and buried them carefully. The place became a mass grave.

For those ten days, everyone in the Sun Tribe was on edge, worried that Arturo would return in force. Others said that Boss Mo had cut Arturo in two with a single sword strike that day, so he had to be completely dead. The army from the Western Regions had been scared out of their wits and wouldn’t dare to invade again.

But what made Ri Di uneasy was that in those ten days, not a single person—neither merchant nor traveler—had come from the Western Regions. All news from outside Richan Valley was cut off. The entire town was shrouded in the terrifying tranquility of the calm before the storm. This ”peace” was so quiet it was frightening.

Every day, Clan Leader Ri Di sent out his best men to scout for news. It was worth mentioning that the young man Ri Ding was like a new person after ”recovering” from his injuries. He had gradually mastered a Miracle Technique he’d comprehended when he inadvertently found the Path in the Great Desert.

His feet could grow ”roots” that would anchor him anywhere. He could easily scale cliffs and sheer rock, run up eaves and walk on walls. Even on a vertical wall, he could use the roots on his feet to run as if on flat ground.

With such a bizarre phenomenon happening to Ri Ding, the other tribesmen began to look at him strangely. The rest of the Sun Tribe, intentionally or not, kept their distance from Ri Ding’s family. It was as if he had a disease they were all afraid of catching.

Ri Ding, however, was unconcerned by this. In fact, energized by his new Miracle Technique, he tirelessly ran to Boss Mo’s house to humbly ask Zheng Xiu about its mysteries.

The ”strange things” happening to Ri Ding compelled Ri Di to act. On the twentieth day after the battle, he slaughtered a pig and a sheep, climbed Sunset Mountain, and stood before the murals. He chose high noon, when the sun was at its most intense, to worship the ”Scorching Sun” and pray for peace.

「One month after the battle.」

「One day.」

”Someone’s coming! Someone’s coming!”

Ri Ding, who was on guard duty at the eastern entrance of Richan Valley, spotted a group of figures in the distance, deep in the Great Desert. Alarmed, he leaped and bounded down from the towering peak, his movements as nimble as a monkey’s.

Someone was coming from the east!

Across the Great Desert!

The news quickly spread throughout the Tribe. Ri Di, who had been as jumpy as a startled bird during a whole month of anxious watch, was so shocked that he immediately gathered his best men, all fully armed, and rushed to the eastern valley entrance.

After a month of torment, Clan Leader Ri Di had lost a great deal of hair. His eyes were sunken, and he looked utterly haggard.