Chapter 31 Consolidated Equipment, Skills Stored - Stars Rating (1)

Although Mu En did not give his little rogue disciple any welcoming gifts, but when the group left the Heavenly Bow Unit, Zhou Weiqing still got a change in gear, and his original Purple Dawn Bow had been swapped for a huge black bow. The Purple Dawn Bow was already considered rather large, almost 1.5m long, but the black bow he was carrying now was almost 2 metres long! It was definitely a large contrast with the small Green Spirit Bow of Shangguan Bing’er.

Naturally, the large black bow was given to Zhou Weiqing by Luo Ke Di. Although he loved to drink and was roguish in nature, but he definitely kept his word. However, what made Zhou Weiqing rather gloomy was that the large black bow was almost 80 jin in weight, almost four times that of the Purple Dawn Bow! The draw the bow, was not much easier than his Overlord Bow, and even with his current strong physique boosted by his Strength Physical Jewel, he still needed to circulate a bit of Heavenly Energy and release his Physical Jewel before he could draw the bow to its maximum.

Mu En told Zhou Weiqing that the bow was called Black Dawn Bow, and was not sold anywhere. It was made from thousand year Stars Wood, and it had the greatest shooting range amongst all bows except those Consolidated Equipments. It was also good for training and building up strength, endurance and overall physique.

Luckily, they were not traveling by foot, and as they headed out, Hua Feng brought them to a luxurious and grand looking horse carriage which was now parked outside, though Zhou Weiqing did not know when that had happened. The carriage was more than twice the size of an ordinary horse carriage, and was adorned with gilded gold and jade on the outside, with lavish decorations, seemingly a little vulgar, and it was harnessed to 4 large horses.

Within the horse carriage, the four walls were lined with an unknown fur rugs, and the large spacious seats were almost like sofas, sitting in them felt so soft yet sturdy, and they were extremely comfortable. Such a horse carriage could even seat at least a dozen people easily and in comfort.

“Teacher, you all are too extravagant, how much does this horse carriage cost?” Although Zhou Weiqing said that, he was practically drooling at the sight. Such a comfortable and luxurious horse carriage, if he could own it and travel the world with several beauties, that would be the best thing in the world, even though the exterior was rather overdone.

Hearing Zhou Weiqing mention the horse carriage, Mu En couldn’t help but have a indignant look on his face. “This horse carriage isn’t ours, it’s Hua Feng, that fellow’s personal property. Do you think we can sit on it for free? That miserly fellow will collect payment depending on the distance traveled, and every time we go on a mission, at least a fifth of our cuts go to him.”

Hua Feng was sitting deep in the carriage, and as he heard Mu En’s words, he gave a humph. “Old scoundrel, don’t you have a conscience when you speak? Isn’t it more than worth your while to travel in my horse carriage? After all, it’s constructed out of titanium alloy, and even has a shock absorption system installed, not only is it much faster than us when traveling long distances, but its comfort allows us focus our energies on the mission itself. Furthermore, my additional cut is not just for the horse carriage fees, but also the other consumables for the mission. If you guys are willing to take charge of those, I don’t mind.”

Mu En turned his head around in a huff, while Luo Ke Di, who was lounging back with a wine bottle in hand, said: “Enough, old scoundrel, you are your beloved disciple already conned me so much, and I, Your Father, didn’t even complain so much.”

Mu En gave him a thwack on his head, saying: “Little Rogue, you’re the youngest here. Whose father are you?!”

Luo Ke Di said in anger: “Bullshit, such smelly bullshit! Isn’t your disciple a human? Isn’t Boss Hua Feng’s disciple a human? Are they older than me?”

The silent Han Mo looked coldly at Luo Ke Di and chimed in: “If you keep making noise, I’ll throw you out!”

Luo Ke Di said exasperatedly: “It was old scoundrel who started it and taunted me. Why don’t you throw him out?”

Han Mo said passively: “I can’t beat him, but I can beat you. A single hand cannot clap after all, and if I throw you out, that’ll be sufficient.”

“Hmph, taking advantage of the weak and scared of the strong. Little Mo Mo, I’ll remember you.” Luo Ke Di had a gloomy look on his face as he gulped down more wine, but he quietened down.

The horse carriage had a specialised carriage driver, who seemed to be around 40 years of age with a honest look. Every four hours of travel, they would stop for a while to rest their horses, and would only travel a total of 14-16 hours a day. However, Hua Feng was not exaggerating; although they were traveling long distances, sitting in this horse carriage was so comfortable that it was even an enjoyable trip. Furthermore, there was a hidden compartment under the carriage, storing a large amount of all sorts of food, drinks and arrows.

One time, Zhou Weiqing had accidently knocked onto the walls of the carriage, and he had realised that even if he used his Overlord Bow to shoot, he might not even be able to penetrate the thick titanium alloy construction of the horse carriage. He could barely imagine how much it cost to build this horse carriage, and couldn’t help but rejoice to himself - anyway he and Bing’er did not have any cut from the mission and thus would not be reduced any further, so they naturally were having the ride for free.

As for what the mission they were heading to do was, no one had explained it to them. The only thing that Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Bing’er knew vaguely, was that it was somewhere in the borders of the Fei Li Empire.

In just seven days, by sitting in this luxurious horse carriage, they had reached the borders of the Heavenly Bow Empire and Fei Li Empire. As the horse carriage traveled ahead, they quickly entered a mountain valley. Although there was a road cut into the valley, it was rather small. The previous time Zhou Weiqing and Shangguan Bing’er had entered Fei Li Empire, they had not traveled this path, but another even smaller road which was somewhat closer. However, with their horse carriage, they had no choice but to traverse this path which was just large enough for them to pass. At the moment, Zhou Weiqing had his eyes closed as he cultivated his Heavenly Energy. All of a sudden, he heard loud neighs as the horses reared up, along with the cries of the carriage driver, before the carriage came to a screeching halt.

Hua Feng opened his eyes slowly, and without even looking outside, he said to Mu En: “Old scoundrel, business is here, you can bring Little Wei along with you.”

Mu En’s eyes brightened, and he grinned as he said: “I will not reject such a good offer. Little Wei, come let’s go.”

The other members revealed an indignant look, even including the normally expressionless Han Mo. Luo Ke Di gave an ingratiating look as he said to Mu En: “Old scoundrel, don’t you need some help from your buddy?”

Mu En glared at him and said: “Help your sister… [1. A Mild curse used to disabuse him of his erroneous assumption].” To which Luo Ke Di replied with a middle finger.

Zhou Weiqing was full of questions as he got off the carriage together with Mu En: “Teacher, what’s going on?”

Mu En said with a big grin: “It’s our opportunity to make money! Hua Feng has given us a lot of face, it probably counts as a welcoming present for you. This boss of ours, he is as shrewd and astute as a devil. Why do you think he made the exterior of the horse carriage look so luxurious and vulgar? There is a reason for that.”

Just as Mu En finished speaking, there came a loud shout from the front. “HALT! This mountain is open by me, these trees are planted by me, if you want to cross this road, leave a toll; if not, you’ll have to face death!” [2. This is a very ‘famous’ line by bandits.]

“Bandits?” Zhou Weiqing was an intelligent person, and he quickly understood the underlying meaning behind Mu En’s words. They were unexpectedly using the luxurious horse carriage to draw the attention of bandits and robbing them in return. Such an idea… only this bunch of weirdos could come up with it…

As the two of them exited the carriage, they saw that the front of the road had been blocked by a large group of bandits, numbering more than 20, all of whom were holding weapons. On the side of the mountains, there were another dozen or so bandits holding bows and arrows pointed at them. These bandits were all dressed in blue, and their leader was even dressed in splint mail, and they were definitely an organised group.

The bandit leader seemed to be around 40 years of age, with a large knife held in his hands. “You guys sure have the guts to cross our Light Breeze Mountain Ridge with just a horse carriage! As the saying goes, leaving others with some space, to get some leeway in the future [3. Alright, that was very awkward. 做人留一线，日后好相见 is the idiom, and it generally means something like if you cut others some slack, they will return the favour in the future etc, with the connotations of having karma.]. If you want to live, leave half your valuables in the carriage, while the other half you can carry away. You’ll have to leave the horses and the carriage though, they now belong to I, Your Father.

Mu En gave a miserable look, moving his trembling body forth a few steps and saying with a pleading expression: “This bandit big brother, look at us, old and young alike, without this horse carriage, how can we possibly travel! Please do us a favour, let us through please, you can have half of our belongings, but we really need the carriage.”

The bandit leader’s face changed: “Dammit, who are you calling big brother? I, your father, will beat you to death for that! You’re older than me by at least 20 years old and you dare call me brother? Am I that old huh?”

Zhou Weiqing was observing from the side, and could clearly sense Mu En’s breathing grow rapid, his humble appearance changing swiftly. Zhou Weiqing grinned in his heart, knowing that his teacher hated being called old. “Little brat! Those in front are yours, I’ll take those on the side.”

“However, leave that one for me, I want to take care of him personally. Let’s go!” Mu En was enraged by the bandit leader and didn’t want to continue acting any further.

Zhou Weiqing nodded and said: “Alright.” As he said that, he had already taken off the Black Dawn Bow from his back, swiftly circulating his Heavenly Energy and releasing his Heavenly Jewels. Nocking an arrow, he quickly drew the tough Black Dawn Bow to a full crescent, pointing it to the front.

The bandit leader started, he had never expected this pair, one old and one young, to dare resist. “Kill them!”

The bandits on the side of the mountain started firing their arrows, but at that moment, Mu En moved. Zhou Weiqing also released his arrow at the same time.

*Swoosh* like a black bolt of lightning, the arrow flew out. The arrogant bandit leader felt a wave of heat pass by his ears, and a flash of pain at his earlobes, and 4 of the bandits beside him fell. The arrow pierced through the four and continued flying off into the distance.

Even Zhou Weiqing was startled by the sheer power of the Black Dawn Bow; just counting the range and the penetrating power, it was almost as strong as his Overlord Bow.

At this point, arrows were raining down upon them, focused on Mu En and Zhou Weiqing. Mu En moved at the same time, and before Zhou Weiqing could even see anything clearly, he saw a grey blur shimmer around him, and Mu En reappeared once more with more than 20 arrows in his hands.