A Mortal’s Immortal Gourd
Chapter 16: Midnight Escape

The next morning, the county yamen gate opened. Laifu and A’Gui led the way, carrying sacks on their shoulders and squeezing in first—they finally got in line.

Ergouzi also followed in with a sack of grain. Inside the main hall were dozens of large Dou containers lined up side by side.

Laifu and the others were pouring grain from their sacks into the containers.

When a Dou is filled and leveled off at the top, that’s considered a full Dou.

But many small merchants, to win over customers, would pile up the grain into a small mound above the rim, the extra being a giveaway.

So people often said, "No trade without the mound."

Ergouzi untied his sack and poured the grain into a container, filling it up completely and adding a little mound on top. Then he moved on to the next one.

“Smack! Smack smack…”

Suddenly, pain shot through Ergouzi’s shoulder—he’d been whipped by a yamen guard from behind.

He turned around, confused, only to see the guard with a face full of menace, whipping everyone. Even Huang Laocai wasn’t spared.

“You damn peasants!”

“You didn’t even fill the Dou properly!”

Several tenant farmers, intimidated by the guard, hurriedly grabbed their sacks and poured more grain onto each container until they could no longer pile any more on top.

Then the guard raised his leg and kicked one of the containers.

With that kick, the grain inside spilled out and scattered all over the floor.

“Thud thud thud…”

The guard went around kicking every single container, scattering golden rice everywhere.

“Fill them up!”

The tenant farmers quickly added more grain, building even bigger mounds.

“Thud thud thud…”

The guard repeated the tactic, kicking all the containers again, and everyone had no choice but to refill them once more.

Huang Laocai clutched his chest, trembling, but dared not utter a word.

Luckily, the guard only kicked them twice and stopped. The tax was finally paid, and they received their official receipts.

After that, everyone did some shopping in the county town. Coming all this way wasn’t easy, and no one wanted to return empty-handed.

Those with kids at home would usually buy a few coins’ worth of snacks to bring back.

Those with wives would buy a yard or two of patterned cloth—enough to keep their wives sweet and obedient for months.

Those without wives would buy some oil or salt and give it to a widow in the village—being charitable had its perks.

Laifu bought two twisted dough sticks for his kids. A’Gui bought a block of black salt for home—the salt here was cheaper than in Sanchazi Town.

Ergouzi, having made a good profit from selling Peiyuan Gutben Pills, went to the bun shop and bought ten big meat buns in one go.

“Ergou, you little brat, you’ve gone mad! Spending like that, you’ll be starving by year-end—you won’t even get thin porridge.”

Laifu, thinking Ergouzi was just a reckless kid, kindly tried to talk some sense into him.

“Take them back while they’re still warm and return them. Eat one or two to curb your craving, that’s enough.”

“If you’re embarrassed, I’ll go with you and say a few nice words.”

Faced with Laifu’s good intentions, Ergouzi couldn’t exactly say he was rich now, so he just forced an explanation, saying he had plenty of dried wild vegetables stored for winter.

The others shook their heads silently. They figured this kid, having no parents to discipline him, was just wasteful.

They’d seen people like him before. In peaceful times, they could scrape by. But when disaster struck, people like that were always the first to starve.

Still, it was none of their business. Saying more would only stir up resentment.

By the time the group of tenant farmers walked out the county gate laughing and joking, it was already noon.

The journey from the county to Shexi Village was too far. They left at noon, and by the time they were halfway, the sky had gone dark.

They had no choice but to gather dry wood and straw from the roadside to make simple torches for lighting.

“Aren’t we almost at the place where we got robbed last time?”

“No worries. King Zhao is a man of principle—he only robs once per trip.”

Just as they were chatting, they saw a dark figure standing ahead, blocking the road.

The figure held a gleaming sword, looking chilling under the torchlight.

“Is that King Zhao ahead?”

Huang Laocai sensed something was off. Though King Zhao was a bandit, he was an upright one—never wore a mask and always announced his presence with a gong.

So while Huang Laocai spoke respectfully, he stayed in the crowd, not daring to approach alone.

The figure said nothing and began walking toward them with the sword.

“Shing!”

A flash of cold light. The blade rose and fell—one tenant farmer’s head rolled to the ground, warm blood spraying onto Ergouzi’s face.

“Ah!”

“Murder!”

“He’s alone! Let’s gang up on him!”

Laifu, being the more experienced one, shouted and pushed a wheelbarrow toward the black-clad man.

In that life-or-death moment, everyone’s survival instincts kicked in. They all pushed their wheelbarrows at the figure.

Ergouzi also grabbed a carrying pole and swung it at the figure.

They had 50 people. He was alone.

They thought they had the upper hand, but the dark figure was incredibly agile. A few swift moves and he dodged all the wheelbarrows—not even his clothes got touched.

Another flash of cold steel—and Laifu’s head flew into the air.

Two others were stabbed in the stomach and collapsed.

These were just tenant farmers—they’d never seen such a brutal scene. Everyone dropped their tools and ran.

Ergouzi also tried to run but saw the shadow already swinging a blade at him.

He quickly grabbed a wheelbarrow and smashed it toward the figure.

Though he hadn’t yet learned martial arts, his strength and reflexes had greatly improved since starting cultivation.

The wheelbarrow was solid, four or five feet long and quite heavy. As he swung it, it howled through the air, forcing the shadow to step back.

“Huh?”

The dark figure was clearly surprised by Ergouzi’s brute strength and let out a grunt.

Ergouzi took the chance to swing wildly. His strikes weren’t elegant or skillful, just fast and powerful.

Even though the figure had good martial arts skills, Ergouzi's chaotic attacks left him with no opening.

Crash…

The black figure slashed repeatedly at the wheelbarrow. Eventually, it couldn’t take it anymore and fell apart. All Ergouzi had left was a thick wooden stick.

The attacker pressed hard, leaving no chance to grab another wheelbarrow.

He looked back. The others had all escaped.

No point fighting alone now.

He turned and ran!

With his enhanced strength, he ran fast, the wind howling past his ears.

But the shadow was also fast, still hot on his heels. From the footsteps, Ergouzi guessed the distance between them wasn’t far.

The pursuer must be a martial artist too—much stronger than him.

Ergouzi grew anxious. He couldn’t fight him, and he couldn’t outrun him.

He channeled a bit of internal energy into his legs.

Sure enough, with the energy boost, his power surged. One step forward left a small pit in the hard ground, launching him ahead like a spring.

The shadow was about to strike, confident he had Ergouzi—but the boy’s sudden speed burst widened the gap.

By the time he pulled back his blade, the distance had grown and continued to grow.

Though Ergouzi had trained daily, his master never explained how to use internal energy, so he had little idea what he was doing.

At first, channeling it into his legs threw him off balance—he nearly tripped. But the more he ran, the smoother it got.

Soon, he caught up to the exhausted Huang Laocai ahead.

Huang Laocai, being older, couldn’t keep up and was gasping for breath.

Those tenant farmers who used to flatter him had all run off—leaving him alone at the back.

Now, seeing Ergouzi and the shadow closing in, he cried out in terror.

“Ergou, save me!”

Ergouzi had just pulled ahead and didn’t have the energy to help, so he dashed past without hesitation.

Sure, Huang Laocai had treated him to a meal—but that wasn’t worth dying for.

“Save me!”

“The land on Shekou Mountain!”

Ergouzi suddenly stopped mid-run and turned back without hesitation.

One meal plus three acres on Shekou Mountain? That was worth risking his life.

He rushed back just as the black figure raised his sword to slash Huang Laocai’s neck.

Luckily, Ergouzi was fast—he pulled him just in time. The blade veered off, only leaving a gash on Huang Laocai’s back.

Ergouzi picked him up and ran.

But carrying someone made things much harder. At first, he was still quick.

Gradually, the gap between him and the shadow narrowed again.

“He’s coming! Hurry!”

The one most nervous now was Huang Laocai on his back.

The next slash grazed his back, cold and terrifying.

He got so scared he wet himself—hot urine soaked Ergouzi’s back.

Thankfully, Ergouzi summoned another burst of strength and pulled ahead again.

Several more times the shadow nearly caught them, each time scaring Huang Laocai into shrieking and trembling.

Ergouzi wasn’t doing it on purpose—his cultivation was still new, and his internal energy was weak. After a while, most of it was used up.

Thankfully, his muscles kept releasing small traces of energy to make up for it.

He also grabbed a handful of Peiyuan Gutben Pills from his chest pocket and shoved them into his mouth.

The pills slowly digested in his belly, producing a bit of internal energy—better than nothing.

As Ergouzi slowed, so did the shadow—he must be getting tired too.

Gradually, the gap widened again.

By the time Ergouzi carried Huang Laocai back to Shexi Village, dawn had already broken. He’d run at full speed for nearly the whole night.