A Will Eternal

Chapter 12: On the Bamboo Fence

And thus, the trial by fire concluded. As Hou Xiaomei walked further up the mountain, Big Fatty Zhang looked at her and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.

"Ah, so fair, so young, so pure...." he said. Then he looked over at Bai Xiaochun, as if he were comparing the two of them.

Bai Xiaochun was also staring at Hou Xiaomei as she walked off into the distance, his heart filled with conflicting emotions. Then he heard Big Fatty Zhang, and turned to find him looking at him out of the corner of his eye.

"Hey, what are you looking at!?" he yelled.

Big Fatty Zhang laughed loudly at Bai Xiaochun's anger, then pulled out the bag of spirit stones and quickly changed the topic.

"Come, come, why don't we count our spirit stones? We're rich now! Hahaha! This really was a great idea."

"What's the point in counting them?" replied Bai Xiaochun with a cold harrumph. "No matter how many times you do it, it won't change how many there are."

"Ninth Junior Brother, you don't understand. What you're looking at is just spirit stones, but what you're counting is... life." Big Fatty Zhang rarely spoke of the profundities of life. To hear him speak in such a way left Bai Xiaochun shocked. He took the bag and tried to count the spirit stones the way Big Fatty Zhang would, but quickly got bored and handed the bag back.

It was at about this time that glittering light rose up along the trial by fire path. Everyone's vision swam, and when it became clear again, they were back at the bottom of the mountain.

When the middle-aged honor guard who was in charge of the trial by fire saw Bai Xiaochun and the others, a strange expression appeared on his face. After a moment, he shook his head and ignored them. As far as he was concerned, the sect would have to figure out what to do with the Ovens.

Bai Xiaochun and the others were nervous, but seeing that there were no immediate repercussions, they exchanged glances, cleared their throats, and quickly headed back to the Ovens.

Big Fatty Zhang kept counting the spirit stones over and over again, all the way until they were back at the Ovens. The other fatties soon returned, also elated. Everyone exchanged glances, and then looked extremely proud of themselves.

After the loot had been split up, Bai Xiaochun went back to his hut. He had come to this place seeking to live forever. Were it not for the fact that he needed the medicinal plants to exchange for an Age-Prolonging Longevity-Enhancing Pill, he would never have even thought for a moment about spirit stones.

That night, nobody in the Ovens could sleep. Big Fatty Zhang and the others were simply too excited from getting rich all of a sudden. In the past, their coin purses had been depressingly empty, but now, the future seemed bright and glorious. That having been said, they were still worried about the possible repercussions of what they had done, making it difficult for them to fall asleep.

As for Bai Xiaochun, he couldn't stop thinking about the Age-Prolonging Longevity-Enhancing Pill, and was equally unable to fall asleep.

The next day, the news about the Ovens blocking the path during the trial by fire spread like wildfire through the entire servants district on the south bank of the Spirit Stream Sect. Soon, everybody had heard.

"Did you hear what the Ovens crew did?!?!"

"Are they crazy? I can't believe they did that! Heavens! They sold spots into the Outer Sect! Outrageous! How come I never thought to do that?!"

"I've heard that the people from the Ovens have important backgrounds and are really well connected in the sect. Otherwise, how could they dare to do something so infuriating!?" All departments and individuals in the servants district were talking about the Ovens.