Chapter 120: Spoils of War

Chapter 120: Spoils of War

Pei Jie: "No rush, let me check your injuries."

"Injuries?" Shang Yunduo moved his body, and... it did hurt.

He took off his clothes; his body was covered in bruises, layers of injuries, bones likely cracked but not broken, similar to being slammed hard by a Dark Armor Ox, except before when he wrestled with Dark Armor Oxes, he only got hit once a day, but today he'd taken a lot of hits.

Shang Yunduo was somewhat used to it. In cultivation, injuries were inevitable. Back on the mountain, as long as it didn't affect his movement, he'd take some medicine, sleep it off, and continue training the next day as usual. Pei Jie never coddled him either, at most swapping in a temporary, less brutal sparring partner or training with him himself for a day or two until the pain subsided, then sending him back to play with the neighbors.

"Doesn't it hurt?"

"It's okay." Other than the initial pain, it felt fine afterward. From the match until now, he only felt exhausted and drained, and even after taking a Vitality Pill, he hadn't fully recovered.

Pei Jie pressed on his shoulder, channeling spiritual energy into him. Shang Yunduo yelped and jumped back, crumpling to the ground.

It felt like being stabbed all over with needles—no, like a millstone grinding needles into his flesh!

Pei Jie crouched down casually and poked him with a finger. "Still hurt?"

Shang Yunduo was about to cry from the pain.

Pei Jie pressed a few more spots on him. Shang Yunduo flopped around on the ground, howling a few times until he had no strength left, barely holding onto his beast form. The pain was making him go numb. Pei Jie chuckled as he worked to dissipate the bruises. "They're all bruises. If you wait until the pain sets in to take medicine, it'll be too late."

Shang Yunduo let out a couple of half-dead grunts, unable to form complete words, just moaning.

Pei Jie didn't catch it. "What?"

Shang Yunduo moaned again.

This time, Pei Jie understood and laughed. "What would I knock you out for? Alright, circulate your own qi to heal yourself."

Shang Yunduo tried to get up for a long time but couldn't. Pei Jie finally took pity on him and lifted him up. Then Shang Yunduo sat up properly and began to meditate.

"It hurts so much, Senior..."

Pei Jie changed clothes. "You hurt him pretty badly too."

One was injured from the outside in, the other from the inside out. Shang Yunduo had lost, but Tie Hou, that demon cultivator, was probably close to spitting blood by now too.

He guessed correctly. After the match, Tie Hou, having nothing better to do, went to eat some meat and soak in a cold spring. As the heat from the beating wore off, he was about to go drinking with friends when he suddenly coughed up blood.

The gambling den fell into chaos, thinking an enemy had poisoned him.

Pei Jie slipped alone to the dungeon while the gambling den was still in disorder.

Few demon cultivators were skilled in medicine, and the gambling den's physician specialized in external injuries. Tie Hou's armored hide gave headaches not only to opponents but also to the physician. After a careful examination, he found bruises and contusions, but Tie Hou had suffered worse injuries before without spitting blood clots like this.

He concluded that it was likely internal injuries.

So they had to send for a physician skilled in internal injuries.

Lights were blazing over there, and even the dungeon guards were curious and distracted. In less than a moment, Pei Jie easily knocked them all out, swiped the key and token needed to open the doors, disabled the spiritual energy detection device, and opened all the cell doors.

Among the imprisoned human cultivators, nearly half were still meditating, and they were woken up by the others, not knowing what was happening.

"Thank you for saving us, fellow cultivator. May I ask your name?"

Pei Jie: "Just a rogue cultivator."

"May I ask your honored name? I will repay you in the future."

Pei Jie: "You'd better slip away quietly before they discover it outside."

Everyone: "..."

Someone quickly asked, "Do you know where our artifacts and storage pouches are?"

Pei Jie: "No. If you want them, find them yourselves."

They looked at each other again.

Someone was indecisive: "What should we do?"

Another decisive one: "Let's get out first!"

"True, artifacts and spirit stones are external things. Where there's life, there's hope."

Pei Jie glanced at the unconscious Zhang You. "Who came with him?"

The Ou brothers stepped forward: "We're together."

Pei Jie: "Will you take him with you, or kill him now?"

The group was stunned for a moment.

Zhang You was still unconscious, missing his right arm and a large chunk of his side, severely injured. He would be a burden while escaping, and even if they got out, his cultivation would likely go no further, possibly even decline.

And this was demon territory; they might only have until midnight, or even less, to escape.

The Ou brothers exchanged glances and gritted their teeth: "He came because of us, so we'll take him!"

Pei Jie nodded and led them out of the dungeon.

Seeing that he was about to leave, someone hastily asked, "Fellow cultivator, where are you heading? Could you take us somewhere to hide?"

Pei Jie: "You'd better slip out of the city under cover of night and head for the Dividing Range Mountains."

"Will you travel with us, then?"

Pei Jie: "I have my own way to go."

"Can we follow you? Hey, fellow cultivator!"

Before he finished, Pei Jie had already flown away alone, vanishing into the night.

"..."

The remaining group hid in the shadows, discussed briefly, checked the wind direction, and then all quietly ran toward the Dividing Range Mountains.

Fortunately, the demon city had no walls that were difficult to scale or protective arrays covering the whole city. Even the night patrols were sparse and had many gaps. They patiently took their opportunities and escaped without any trouble.

A few drunken night owls spotted them but mistook them for human traders leaving the city late, ignored them, and continued looking for taverns to drink in.

As soon as Pei Jie returned, Shang Yunduo woke up, sat up, and asked, "How did it go? Were you discovered?"

Pei Jie took off his veil and changed his clothes again. "No. Your spoils of war have escaped safely. Tomorrow, go to the gambling den and demand compensation."

Shang Yunduo snickered slyly, then winced in pain and grimaced.

The next day, Shang Yunduo first went to buy some healing and pain-relieving herbs and applied them to himself.

To be safe, he went on a shopping spree, buying all sorts of herbs he couldn't use now—just in case he might need them someday.

At worst, he could resell them later; after all, he had plenty of spirit stones now.

When Lie Qi and the others came to find him as promised, they discovered that their heroic clansman had swollen up like a puffy tiger today. Aside from his head, his entire body had puffed up a size, he was limping, and he reeked of bitter medicinal herbs.

"Brother Baiyun, what happened to you?"

Shang Yunduo waved his hand, unable to lift his arm fully, wearing a 'don't ask' expression, and said mysteriously, "The Iron Marquis Clan… terrifying beyond compare!"

The tiger clan members were shocked. The Iron Marquis Clan—so terrifying indeed!

Lie Qi: "Maybe we shouldn't gather today? Let's do it tomorrow..."

Shang Yunduo: "Ah, no need, no need. I couldn't sleep all night from the pain, and it made me hungry. Let's do it today. I'll eat three today—I've already picked them out. Let's go."

Everyone: "Then let's eat three human cultivators to nourish Brother Baiyun!" "Let's go!"

A group of tiger demon cultivators crowded around Shang Yunduo. Pei Jie was also carrying a basket of vegetables, chatting as they walked. Shang Yunduo was just telling them what vegetables to wrap the barbecue in for the best flavor to cut the grease when they saw a crowd surrounding the casino dungeon.

"What's going on?"

"Haven't heard anything."

They pushed their way over, but the casino guard angrily shooed them away: "Get lost! Can't you see we're busy?"

Lie Qi and the others were shoved, and Shang Yunduo immediately got upset: "What do you think you're doing?! We're here to collect my winnings. It was all settled yesterday. You're not trying to cheat us, are you?"

"Exactly, give us those human cultivators from yesterday. We're going to eat them."

The guard glanced at Shang Yunduo, seeming to recognize him, looking reluctant, thought for a moment, and said gruffly, "Wait here!"

Shang Yunduo: "What kind of attitude is that?!"

Lie Qi said suspiciously, "This doesn't seem right. Why is this place roped off? Did the human cultivators escape?"

"??!" The tiger clan was startled. "Can't be, right?"

The onlookers immediately chimed in, gleeful and eager to stir up trouble: "Why not? They all escaped!"

"Huh?!"

The latecomers all let out shocked exclamations, itching for gossip.

Civet, the host, was called over from the front to deal with Shang Yunduo, and he overheard them all huddled together chatting excitedly about the gossip.

When they saw him, no one even tried to hide it. Unlike humans, the demon cultivators didn't care about saving face; they were extremely free-spirited, and they pressed him as he arrived: "We heard all the imprisoned human cultivators escaped, not a single one left. Is that true?"

"Doesn't the casino have an elder on duty?"

"Was it the humans who did it, or did someone from your casino secretly sell the human cultivators?"

Shang Yunduo was shocked. "That can happen?!"

They all chattered, recounting old tales. Such a thing had indeed happened before, just not here—elsewhere, a demon cultivator who guarded the dungeon sold over a hundred human cultivators to a great power who needed to eat humans to achieve transformation.

Shang Yunduo's head was filled with gossip, and he was inwardly shocked, but he still asked, right on cue, a question very typical of him: "Those human cultivators I won—they won't be eaten by someone else, will they? Did I pick them for nothing?"

The tigers were stunned, then realized they too had suffered a loss.

They weren't great transformed beings; they couldn't easily get the chance to eat human cultivator meat!

Under Shang Yunduo's stare, Civet affected an innocent wry smile: "Indeed, all the human cultivators in the dungeon have gone missing."

"How is that possible?!" Shang Yunduo exclaimed dramatically. "Doesn't the casino have any guards?"

Of course they did.

But as bad luck would have it, the elder on duty had been called away to treat Tie Hou's injuries. The junior dungeon guards only saw a blur of a figure and knew nothing else. The one who saw the most could only confirm that it was a human cultivator. They too had been knocked unconscious all night and were only woken up this morning.

If not for the state of Shang Yunduo's injuries, he would have suspected whether Shang Yunduo had something to do with it.

Why, of all times, did he come to pick his winnings last night, and today they all disappeared.

They had even inquired at the inn where Shang Yunduo was staying. The other guests and nearby residents all said they heard him screaming like a pig being slaughtered last night, even in the middle of the night going "Medicine, medicine, medicine, ouch ouch ouch." Those who didn't know he had been competing all day and had fought with Tie Hou assumed he was being beaten in the middle of the night.

At dawn, many people saw him being helped by his companions to buy a pile of medicine, limping, and now the room still reeks of medicine.

Having seen Tie Hou's injuries with his own eyes, and then Shang Yunduo's, Civet secretly compared them. Shang Yunduo still looked much worse.

He also mused that the two had held their own decently—both had only their heads left unscathed, without injury or swelling.

No wonder the elder had asked Tie Hou last night if he wanted to capture this kid to vent his anger, but Tie Hou even interceded for him.

Now, Tie Hou doesn't seek trouble with Shang Yunduo.

Instead, Shang Yunduo starts giving him trouble.

"Yesterday you promised me fair and square, and in the blink of an eye, you let my winnings escape. If you'd told me earlier that you couldn't even guard a few human cultivators, I would have taken them and guarded them myself. This dungeon looks sturdy but is actually a paper tiger," he pointed at the dungeon ready to curse, but when he moved his arm, the motion pulled at his wound, so he quickly lowered it, frowning in pain and hissing