Book 9: Chapter 10: Satisfied
“What did you say?”
Tian Moshi suddenly raised his head, the cold and powerful pressure coming out from his eyes impaling Lin Xi’s body like two spears.
Just now, he already saw how prideful Lin Xi was before Xu Shucheng, this Spiritual Sacrifice Priest, how lowly and crafty, but he never expected this individual to actually dare act like this before his own face.
This was inside the military camp, a superior interrogating a subordinate officer, there was no need for any mutual respect, let alone to tolerate this type of pride.
“There are some words only sir can listen to alone, I wonder if sir can take a few steps forward?”
Lin Xi calmly looked at Tian Moshi’s eyes that were filled with a feeling of pressure, inwardly sighing, thinking ‘do you all not understand that the child who throws a tantrum has milk to drink’? Do you think that if I don’t cause trouble, you all will treat me a bit nicer?
Tian Moshi’s expression relaxed a bit, walking up to Lin Xi.
He thought that Lin Xi would speak about some important secret now, but what he never expected was that Lin Xi said quietly with a voice only the two of them could hear, “Sir, sacrificing one’s life is something one ought to do as a soldier, but this is on the premise that there is fairness… sir, do you feel that having me take the post of Sheep Point Field Mountain Patrol Army Officer alone, as well as sending the Patrol Army through those series of military orders was fair?”
Tian Moshi’s eyes narrowed.
In that instant, his evaluation of Lin Xi rose a bit higher, but he developed even more vigilance towards Lin Xi’s pride and arrogance. The previous bit of sympathy he felt also disappeared without a trace.
“I know that every single Green Luan Academy student is extremely arrogant, to the extent where they disregard some principles of this world… Moreover, I know that you are a Windstalker from Green Luan Academy. However, you need to understand that right now, this is the border army.” Tian Moshi coldly looked at Lin Xi and said, “A cultivator like you, together with this fiend beast of yours, a hundred archers, two hundred heavy armored shielded soldiers, a hundred light armored cavalry and a hundred heavy armored troops, even without using large scaled weapons, they can easily kill you.”
“Of course, perhaps you will think that killing you requires the use of five hundred elite soldiers, to the extent where most of their lives will have to be sacrificed, this is something worth being proud of for you, this making you look down on the military’s power even more.” Tian Moshi expressionlessly continued, “However, you have to understand that forget about five hundred experts, even if there are a thousand ordinary people, it will be hard for a Soul Expert level or higher cultivator among them. That is why in war, using five hundred soldiers to exchange for the life of a Soul Expert or higher level cultivator’s life, is something that is definitely worthwhile. That is why in this world, there have never been cultivators who could dominate the military.”
After a slight pause, Tian Moshi looked at Lin Xi and coldly said, “That is why in this place, I advise you to put away your so-called pride… or else I will first throw you into prison.”
When he heard Tian Moshi’s iron-blooded words, Lin Xi instead smiled, pointing at the giant lizard mount behind him. “Sir… I really am hungry. Perhaps after just a good rest and a good meal, I will be able to think clearly… Also, this giant lizard is also hungry, if it doesn’t have enough meat to eat, it might just go crazy, you all might be forced to kill it.”
Tian Moshi’s eyes followed Lin Xi’s fingertips to the giant lizard mount beside him. Because the giant lizard’s body was too large, blocking the light in front of him, his entire body seemed to feel more and more cold and gloomy.
“Even if you have enough confidence, all things need to have a limit.”
Tian Moshi remained silent for a moment and then said this to Lin Xi with an extremely cold voice only the two of them could hear.
Lin Xi chuckled. “These words are reasonable. It is the same for me, for sir and for everyone else.”
Tian Moshi’s expression sunk a bit more. He turned around, walking towards the camp, coldly giving out the order, “Bring Sir Lin back to the camp.”
Lin Xi revealed a faint smile, directly sitting on the giant lizard’s vine saddle. The giant lizard released a low roar, stood up and then followed Tian Moshi towards the camp between the red fir trees. All of the surrounding soldiers’ eyes immediately shifted over again.
…
The spacious black tent had a simple and crude charcoal furnace. On it was a thin iron cooking pot made for ten servings.
Next to the thin iron pot was a half person tall bathing bucket, the inside full of warm clean water.
With a huala sound, Lin Xi’s head emerged from the bucket.
After wiping himself down with a clean cloth, when Lin Xi saw the neatly folded black cloth and black plated armor, he couldn’t help but chuckle to himself. “Previously, you weren’t even willing to issue me a set of ordinary armor, but you all now took the initiative to bring over such a nice set of armor…”
After putting on the clean black clothes, enjoying the extravagant refreshed feeling a warm bath in Great Desolate Swamp brought, Lin Xi lightly tapped the head of Lucky who was now also washed clean, its black fur puffy, eyes staring greedily at the large pile of raw meat placed beside the large military cooking pot, saying, “I am warning you again to be good, not to go after these raw meats again.”
Lucky swallowed its saliva, really failing to live up to expectations, its stomach releasing a rumbling noise.
While seeing such a large pile of meat being brought over, it thought about how the large black bird it killed finally was exchanged for food to eat… but why wasn’t it allowed to eat again?
Lin Xi stirred the soup in the military pot, seeing that the water was about to boil. He looked at this pile of donkey meat that wasn’t all that fresh, shouting towards the outside of the tent, “This meat is not fresh at all, how are we supposed to eat this? … also, after staying in Great Desolate Swamp for so long, only eating this type of meat without fresh vegetables will easily cause indigestion, it’ll be hard to get rid of the grease! Do you want us to die from swollen bellies?!”
…
A soldier quickly walked into a large tent not far away, extremely troubled as he reported to a purple-faced military officer inside, “Sir Lu, that Sir Lin is saying the meat isn’t fresh, he isn’t willing to eat it.”
Pa!
The purpled-faced military officer’s hair was seething in anger, fiercely slapping the table in front of him and angrily saying, “He really is running wild here! Is he treating this camp as an East Forest Province restaurant?”
The soldier said, “Sir Lu, should we just ignore him, not care whether or not he eats?”
“There is no need to bother with him anymore.” The purple-faced officer said angrily.
“Understood, sir.” The soldier bowed and withdrew.
“Wait!”
However, before this soldier left the camp, this purple-faced officer’s expression continuously changed a few times, in the end clenching his teeth and shouting, “Bring the black badger, pond water and other things we hunted today over to him.”
“Sir…”
“Don’t say too much, just do it!”
…
Lin Xi and Lucky’s black tent was full of a rich fragrance.
The fragrance of the pieces of marbled snowflake meat as well as fatty and tender fish fillets moved about in the soup.
There were many fresh vegetables piled up next to Lin Xi that he had never even seen before, to the extent where there were even two bowls of freshly cut snake meat.
Inside of two bumpy military iron bowls were already mixed seasonings like ginger, scallion, vinegar and other things.
Lucky climbed all the way above one of the large bowls, its four claws all rubbing its belly. It never expected… this world to actually have such delicious things.
When it received a large piece of marbled snowflake river deer meat Lin Xi already flavored, after chewing it and swallowing it, Lucky’s happy eyes even narrowed into a line… It began to think that Lin Xi having it wait was indeed correct, or else how could there be something this tasty… Then, it suddenly thought about those mud lakes, that if it didn’t have Lin Xi, it wouldn’t have anything, that there would only be a dark or bright sky, only ice-cold muddy waters.
Then, it recalled the black flood that swallowed everything, that it was Lin Xi who brought it out alive.
When it thought about its hunger in those mud lakes, the despair in the black flood, the delicious taste that continuously moved through its mouth, Lucky’s large black eyes mysteriously released two droplets of tears, starting to cry. Its body moved a bit closer to Lin Xi, even more happily opening its mouth to start chewing, eating without any table manners, extremely messy. It was indescribably content.
Burp…
Burp…
Lin Xi who had remained famished for a long time as well finally ate his fill. After having a taste of the delicacies unique to Great Desolate Swamp, he released a belch.
The round-bellied Lucky also ate its fill for the first time in its life. After reluctantly drinking a mouthful of soup, it finally couldn’t eat anything else, also releasing a burp.
When Lin Xi looked at its current state where it couldn’t even really move, its four claws unable to even touch its belly, he couldn’t help but laugh.
Yi…
Lucky was incredibly happy. It decided it might as well just roll on the ground, starting to roll around.
Lin Xi laughed, but soon afterwards, his expression became serious again, shouting outside, “Did my Sheep Point Field Mountain Patrol Army gather here? … I want to meet them.”
…
“Sir Lin!”
Xin Weigai and Kang Qianjue moved apart the black drapery before them. The instant they saw the black-clothed Lin Xi, the two found it even harder to control themselves, their voices shaking as they greeted him with a deep bow.
Lin Xi released a breath of relief.
When these two appeared fine and well before him, he could now truly release a breath of relief.
“Have a seat.”
When he saw these two subordinates who had truly followed him through life and death, a true smile once again showed up on his face.
“Sir Lin…”
Xin Weigai and Kang Qianjue sat in front of Lin Xi, but they immediately found it hard to say anything. It was because they had truly fought through dangerous situations together with Lin Xi, so they understood that this lazy looking young high ranking military officer was actually full of the most noble and pure glory extremely well.
“I didn’t expect to encounter cave barbarian cultivators there… so I was always worried about the safety of you guys afterwards.”
Lin Xi looked warmly at Xin Weigai and Kang Qianjue, saying, “How are the others in the Patrol Army? Did you guys head to Traveler’s Root Forest afterwards, were there any dangers?”
“Not a single member of our group died.”
Xin Weigai composed himself, suppressed his voice, and then said, “Lady Liu secretly escorted us to Traveler’s Root, and then secretly escorted us back… only, later on, we received news that there were already people who accused sir of misconduct, of not providing reinforcements to friendly forces, deserting his troops as a high ranking military officer. There were even those who seriously accused sir of colluding with the cave barbarians.”
“It’s fine, I can deal with all of that.” Lin Xi waved his hands, but then asked in shock, “Who is Lady Liu?”
Xin Weigai and Kang Qianjue exchanged a look with shock, “It is a female cultivator dressed in red clothes… She said she is your friend. However, she told us that we cannot expose any traces of associating with her.”
“It was her?”
Lin Xi stared blankly for a moment, immediately realizing that it was that red-clothed female zither master.
“Her surname is Liu?” Lin Xi knew that the red-clothed female zither master stopped that great sword master in East Forest Province and then he personally saw the battle between Fire King and herself, so he knew that secretly escorting a Patrol Army shouldn’t be an issue at all. Only, the key lied in that he still didn’t know the identity of this red-clothed female zither master at all, or even her surname.
“She said that she is called Liu Chuyin.”
…
In the red fir trees’ largest tent, several military officers stood in front of Tian Moshi, that purple-red faced officer included among them.
“He has even eaten and drank his fill… we even satisfied his request to see his Patrol Army, but he still won’t talk. Could it be that he believes he can just continue idly like this?”
When Tian Moshi heard the reports of these officers, he coldly said this, forcefully swinging his sleeves, standing up.