"Amazing!" The soldiers and farmers stared in disbelief as the terrifying monster was killed by the mysterious bandit in just a few words. At the same time, they all breathed a sigh of relief; the monster was finally dead.
Wang Han put away the twin bow in his hand and walked towards the monster that had been killed by the halberd.
The soldiers and farmers around him instinctively made way for Wang Han as he approached. They stared at him, unsure what to do. While grateful, they were also in awe of his power; such a terrifying monster was nothing more than a chicken or a dog before this mysterious armored man. Some of the more astute among them hadn't forgotten that Wang Han had come to rob the imperial road.
"Hero, may I ask your name?" After a moment of silence, seeing Wang Han pull his halberd from the monster's head, a clever young officer finally mustered the courage to step forward and loudly said to Wang Han, "Thank you so much for saving us, otherwise we wouldn't have known that these officials were monsters in disguise. If they had really reached the palace and threatened His Majesty, we would have been guilty beyond redemption. We will never forget your great kindness. We can also report this to His Majesty."
The junior officer said this partly out of genuine gratitude to Wang Han, and partly out of hope that his words would persuade this powerful hero to abandon his plan to rob the imperial road, even if the chances were slim, otherwise they really wouldn't be able to stop him.
“Yes, yes, yes…” Upon hearing this, another junior officer quickly nodded and said to the others, “Everyone, hurry up and thank the brave man for his righteous act of saving our lives.”
"Thank you, hero!" the soldiers and farmers exclaimed in unison upon hearing this.
"Hmph!" Upon hearing this, Wang Han snorted coldly, pointed his halberd at the soldiers and farmers, and said coldly, "You've probably forgotten that I'm here to rob you. If you don't want to die, get lost."
“Hero, we dare not stop you. Although losing Huashigang will mean our deaths if the Emperor blames us, you have saved our lives. We are not ungrateful people. Since you insist on robbing Huashigang, we will not stop you anymore, as a way of repaying your life-saving grace. We only have one request: could you tell us why you want to rob Huashigang? So that we can die knowing the truth.” Upon hearing this, the junior officer who had spoken first said, his words deeply moving.
"Please, brave warrior, tell us, so that we may die knowing why," another junior officer quickly added. He clearly understood his comrade's intention.
“Huashigang? Isn’t this the birthday tribute?” Upon hearing this, Wang Han did not answer, but instead asked.
'Phew...' Upon hearing this, the clever ones breathed a sigh of relief. It turned out they had robbed the wrong person. They were also glad that it was a good thing they had robbed the wrong person, as they had ended up killing those monsters who were impersonating officials.
“My lord, you’ve misunderstood. This isn’t the birthday tribute. This is Huashigang, a rare stone specially presented to His Majesty by the Hangzhou Foundry. It even has an inscription personally written by His Majesty the Emperor: ‘Stone of Divine Martial Manifestation.’” Knowing that Wang Han had robbed the wrong person, the junior officer quickly explained, “Although I don’t know which birthday tribute you’re referring to, the birthday tribute is used for birthday celebrations, hence the words ‘birthday’ on it. How could it be this?”
"Identify it." Upon hearing this, Wang Han couldn't help but use his identification skill on the huge granite rock, only to be speechless. He had truly robbed the wrong thing. So much time had passed that he'd forgotten about Huashigang in the TV series; he only remembered that at the beginning of the series, they were escorting this large rock, and after receiving intelligence in Yuncheng County, they chased after it, mistaking it for the birthday tribute, and thus robbed it upon seeing it.
"Stop wasting people's money and resources." Realizing he had made a mistake, Wang Han turned and left without looking back, leaving only these words behind. As for those ministers, they weren't good people anyway; Wang Han was just using them for experiments.
"Hero, please wait! May we tell you your name? We can report to His Majesty and ask for your reward." After letting out another sigh of relief, the junior officer saw Wang Han about to leave and quickly called out, "With such martial arts skills, His Majesty will surely give you an important position."
"Tch." Wang Han scoffed upon hearing this. He didn't stop there. Was he someone who lacked an official position? He hadn't cared about the prestigious title and power of the Marquis of Dingshan back then, let alone now. It was merely to make things easier. In this Northern Song Dynasty, he'd deal with it when the need arose!
"Tch, what a strange name!" After Wang Han left, the junior officer and a few other clever men in the army exchanged glances and could only shake their heads in the end. If they could recruit such a powerful general for the country, it would be a great achievement, but clearly they were not qualified.
"Go back and report to His Majesty truthfully, and bring the corpses of these monsters with you." The junior officer shook his head and said, "His Majesty will surely send people to find this hero."
"Furthermore, let's reduce the number of farmers! Previously, it was a few monsters impersonating adults who spent a huge amount of money transporting Huashigang. In fact, most of the money went into their own pockets and they enjoyed it themselves, while the people suffered. Now that the monsters have been killed, we can't continue to waste money and manpower," the junior officer continued.
"Yes." Upon hearing this, the others quickly nodded in agreement. Although they felt it was a pity to miss such a good opportunity, they knew that this incident would attract attention, and no one would dare to be reckless and try to take advantage of it.
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"Should I use a cheat to find it?" After leaving, Wang Han was caught in a dilemma. Using a cheat would undoubtedly save a lot of things and trouble, but at the same time, it would also reduce a lot of the unknown and fun.
However, the power levels in this world are far too ordinary. Even without any cheat codes, one is invincible, and one's various abilities can solve many problems. At the same time, this world is also quite interesting, and one doesn't want to lose too much enjoyment. It would be too monotonous to be invincible while also feeling lonely and bored, which has even given rise to a perverse sense of humor. Therefore, while doing what one wants, enjoyment is also very important.
"Forget it, I'll just use it sparingly." After hesitating for a while, Wang Han shook his head and stopped worrying. He headed towards Yuncheng County again. He knew Song Jiang and his men would definitely rob the birthday convoy, so he just needed to keep an eye on Song Jiang. As for the cheat code, he could use it if he wanted, or not if he didn't. Why worry so much? At least this evolution cheat code was quite useful and had a lot of fun. Even if he missed something, he could make up for it with his own abilities and the cheat code.
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Meanwhile, after capturing Liu Tang, Lei Heng and Song Jiang took him to Chao Family Village in Shijie to find Chao Gai. Their reasons were twofold: first, to wait for Gongsun Sheng, the "Cloud Dragon," who would inevitably seek out Chao Gai if he wanted to rob the birthday gifts; and second, to test Chao Gai and see if he could be persuaded by Gongsun Sheng.
(I won't go into detail about plot points that aren't important to the book, to avoid padding the word count. Also, I've been quite busy lately, so updates haven't been very consistent. But I definitely won't abandon the book.)
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