Chapter 164: A Pile of Fakes

"Excellent!"

"Even more than last time, 154 pieces!" someone shouted loudly after counting the harvested worm crystals. Hearing this, Shi Chun also called out, "Brother Chu, come collect the goods!" "Coming, coming!"

The bearded Chu Shaotang, accompanied by several junior disciples, happily made his way over. After counting on the spot, he loudly announced to everyone, "We harvested 154 pieces, bringing the total to 294 pieces."

Everyone was cheerful. While harvesting was certainly good news, an additional two or three hundred pieces still didn't mean much, though it had its benefits. Later, it could prove they had actually done some work, even if it wasn't good work. Regarding casualties, there were no deaths. Six people sustained minor injuries, two of which were slightly more serious, but still not a major issue.

After Shi Chun visited the injured, he said to Mai Zhanzhang, "Brother Mai, you oversee the merit register. Make sure to clearly record who deserves credit for each battle."

This was a task that could easily offend people, but given their current situation of just muddling along, there wasn't much room for offense. He accepted with a smile, saying, "Alright, whatever the leader says."

Yang Dazhi hurried after him and asked, "Leader, the horses aren't stopping. Isn't this too fast?"

"Almost 800 pieces. This time is more than the previous two combined."

Before long, the several thousand people who had rushed there quickly departed, arriving and leaving in a hurry, quite like a whirlwind.

This time, without being prompted, as soon as the battle was declared, the group eagerly searched the site. In short, Xuanzhou had no way of dealing with them here.

Many people exclaimed in surprise, wanting to have a proper talk with him, but the leader was in a hurry to strive for Xuanzhou's championship. He didn't even bother to turn his head, completely adopting an "if you want to follow, follow" attitude.

By the time they returned, the sky was still not fully bright. Xuanzhou said, "It's fine. You'll understand naturally later." "That..." Mai Zhanzhang was still somewhat hesitant. Mai Zhanzhang understood and immediately sent two fellow disciples to guard the entrance.

Xiang Lan'er, on a nearby hilltop, watched the group disappear into the distance, then took out her wind scales and flew away.

Before this, Xuanzhou had always firmly emphasized a key point, the battle discipline he subtly but firmly reiterated every time: "If the target escapes from any direction, that team must hand over eight members from various sects to die. You choose who in your team deserves to die. If the encirclement isn't timely, kill the team leader first. Middle Seven Road, follow me!"

"That's quite a lot."

Wu Jinliang said, "What's with all that? You don't even have to take responsibility. For these useless stones, I've been squeezing them for nearly an hour, and I had to find ones with similar weights. It's so hard for me."

"Seven hundred seventy..." "Middle Seven Road, kill!" Xuanzhou said, "Everything that needed to be done today has been done properly. They won't suspect a thing." Xuanzhou then raised his chin and said, "Open it and see."

Everyone chose a spot on the ground to investigate. Before settling down, Xuanzhou again said in front of everyone, "Brother Chu, in front of everyone, count all the worm crystals again."

"Sigh." Yang Dazhi sighed. Since he was already on the pirate ship anyway, he turned and motioned for the junior disciple guarding the worm crystals to bring over the bags.

The leader's intention to find an excuse seemed a bit too obvious, and the group quickly scrambled to follow.

Xuanzhou still didn't touch the worm crystals. He shouted again, "Brother Chu, come collect the goods!" This number caused a slight stir among the onlookers; this time, it really wasn't a small amount. The several thousand people had heard his phrases so often they could almost recite them. However, everyone was actually indifferent to this.

Only then did Wu Jinliang follow Xuanzhou into the adjacent room. He placed the cloth-wrapped bundle he was holding on the earthen platform inside the cave. Yang Da stretched out his hand, motioning Yang Dazhi to look.

The Middle Seven Road contingent, whether willing or not, followed him out again. Soon, exclamations rang out again: "There's goods! Here, there are worm crystals!"

However, when they again surrounded the target location, they found that the fighting was indeed a bit of a charade. Dozens of men surrounded only dozens of people, who were normally terrified. It felt as if they were just about to throw down their weapons and surrender.

He didn't understand what was going on. He immediately opened the other white cloth bags, and without exception, they all contained similar stones.

Indeed, anyone would be scared. They weren't surrounded by just a few people; they were surrounded by thousands.

From another perspective, those words had indeed gradually sunk into their hearts. "Yes, yes," several who had followed along echoed. As usual, after shouting, he ran off without a care. Galloping all the way, thousands of people travelled a long distance to their destination.

Everyone could now see clearly: although the leader made a big fuss, he only dared to do small things. Everyone's previous anxieties and worries were completely unnecessary.

The two fellow disciples beside him also had faces full of shock and doubt.

Yang Da questioned, "Don't you want to strive for Shi Chun's championship?" Xuanzhou soothed, "Count it again, count it again. Everyone's first day's harvest, finally..."

Xuanzhou said, "This matter will be handed back to you." Who knew Shi Chun then turned around and took out a mother-child talisman, jumped to a high spot, and holding up the talisman in his hand, facing the crowd, he cast a spell and loudly proclaimed, "Scouts report a new target! Strive for Xuanzhou's championship! Assemble and depart!" He was reminding them not to be so serious. Fortunately, the leader's cultivation was not high, making it not difficult for them to catch up.

The stones were quite regular in size and shape, almost identical to the worm crystals in form and size, though of course, not as perfectly regular as true worm crystals.

Xuanzhou, who had been meditating cross-legged, put on his Qiankun Lei and stood up. He walked through the horizontal passage and gave Mai Zhanzhang in the other room a knowing look, then gestured towards the cave entrance.

Yang Da said, "You can rest, but the target won't stop for you. The scouts went through immense hardship to find this opportunity for you; it cannot be missed. Everyone, work a little harder and rest after finishing this job."

Xuanzhou said, "Use these to replace the worm crystals that are being stored." Mai Zhanzhang vaguely guessed there was a deeper meaning to this, and seeing Yang Da give him a wink...

"It's hard to explain to him, don't worry, just borrow it temporarily, tomorrow..."

The two cave dwellings were side by side, with a passage connecting them in the middle.

This time, Yang Da didn't procrastinate. He cast a spell and shouted loudly, "This place is not suitable for prolonged stay! Reinforcements may be arriving! Assemble and relocate, find a place to rest!"

By the time the group stopped in a mountainous area, it was already mid-morning. In fact, the fighting process was very brief; most of the time was spent on the road.

After Yang Da had the Azure Wave Sect collect the worm crystals, he let everyone rest on the spot. "748 pieces!"

It was better if he didn't say that. But as soon as he said it, the group surrounding them, even without a command, wanted to rush forward and overwhelm them.

Mai Zhanzhang stepped forward and said with a wry smile, "Leader, this has been counted so many times already. If you don't trust us, why not let another group guard these worm crystals?"

Some wanted to reason with him properly, but the leader neither listened nor stopped; he just kept running, adopting an "if you want to come, come" attitude.

The dozens of surrounded people shouted again, declaring that they had no worm crystals on them. With Xuanzhou's command, the Middle Seven Road contingent resolutely flew into the crowd and started fighting. After Wu Jinliang finished digging the cave, Xuanzhou gave him the wind scales and sent him out to patrol.

Then a nearby group immediately gathered to count, and soon another round of shouting erupted.

A quiet discussion arose within the crowd. Shi Chun and his large group had spent so much time just to get around eight thousand pieces, whereas they, in just one day's work, had gotten seven or eight hundred pieces. Without comparison, it's hard to truly appreciate their efforts.

The same procedure was followed: first, confirming the target's exact location, and demanding a precisely confirmed encirclement time.

The battle's outcome was without suspense. The process was quick, and a few more people were slightly injured as the enemy fought desperately like cornered dogs.

Someone raised their hand, swinging a white cloth bag.

Yang Dazhi untied the cloth bundle and found several white cloth bags filled with something. He reached out and felt the lumpy contents through the bags, then exclaimed in surprise, "Are these all worm crystals?"

As soon as Wu Jinliang returned, he nodded to Yang Da. He pulled out a cloth-wrapped bundle from his Qiankun bracelet and returned the Qiankun Lei to Xuanzhou. Yang Da wasn't afraid if they wouldn't follow; if they had the guts not to, he could make them anxious later. At worst, he could go to Mulan Qingqing and label these people as shirkers. What kind of muddled existence is it if several thousand people aren't even willing to handle a job of fighting a few dozen?

Yang Dazhi immediately and carefully untied the bag's opening, preparing to prevent any worm crystals from escaping. But after just peeking through the opening, he froze. Then he quickly tore open the entire bag. Under the light of the Sandalwood Golden Flame, it was a bag full of stones.

Wu Jinliang picked up several bags of worm crystals and turned to leave. Before leaving, Xuanzhou smiled and patted Mai Zhanzhang's shoulder, "Don't worry, it's fine."

The leader finally stopped. Everyone breathed a sigh of relief. "Coming, coming!" Mai Zhanzhang, along with his fellow disciples, happily squeezed their way over.

Other groups also rushed out to execute their orders, with somewhat weary and dismal attitudes. They were also very uneasy, as fighting was certainly no child's play.

The injured were carried or borne by others.

Mai Zhanzhang thought about it and realized the tall guy was right; if something went wrong, he wouldn't be held responsible. So he pointed to a pile of stones for confirmation: "So, tomorrow I'll be carrying a pile of fakes for everyone to see?"

Yang Dazhi hastily denied, "No, no. My point is, everyone has been running back and forth without stopping. Shouldn't we stop and rest?"

"Leader!" "See? Even without those major sects participating, you yourselves won't be inferior." He subconsciously glanced towards the cave entrance and quietly asked, "Leader, what does this mean?"

"..." Mai Zhanzhang was stunned for a moment. All sorts of thoughts crossed his mind, but he dismissed them as impossible. He hesitantly said, "Leader, isn't this inappropriate? Everyone trusts you so much. What exactly do you want these worm crystals for?"