Chapter 122.2

Wine Sword Immortal, feeling the thick stack of silver notes, couldn’t help but marvel at how easy it was to make money!

In just a moment, he had earned 300,000 taels!

The 100 people who paid were finally allowed to enter the cave. After winding their way through, they reached the depths where the lava flowed and saw Master Ouyezi forging swords right beside the magma.

Due to the extreme heat, Master Ouyezi’s entire body was scorched red, emitting white smoke.

Sparks flew in all directions as if they were about to set the entire place ablaze.

Empty Hand Master whispered, “Just watch from here, and make sure not to disturb Master Ouyezi!”

Everyone nodded in agreement. They wanted to get closer but couldn’t manage it either because it was too hot.

In the end, they only watched for a while before leaving.

When they came out, everyone crowded around to ask.

“How did it go, what did you see?”

With admiration in his voice, one of the rivers and lakes folks said: “This old man saw Master Ouyezi concentrating on forging a sword next to the lava! The divine sword was glowing red-hot, and right beneath his feet was the scorching lava. Ordinary people would be burned to death in such an environment! But Master Ouyezi stood undaunted, truly admirable!”

“You’re absolutely right! Only Master Ouyezi could forge swords in such an environment. This trip was truly worthwhile!”

“If it weren’t for the high temperatures below, I’d want to stay and watch the master forge swords!”

With these people’s enthusiastic descriptions, everyone was even more eager to go inside and see for themselves.

Just then, Eunuch Liu came over with steaming dishes of food, smiling and saying, “Noble heroes, it has been a tough journey for you all! Therefore, His Majesty has specially ordered me to prepare a meal to entertain you all!”

“To think that a meal has also been prepared, His Majesty is really considerate!”

“The aroma of this delicious food is making me hungry!”

“Bring me a serving!”

At this moment, someone questioned, “Is your Majesty really so kind-hearted? Wouldn’t there be poison in the food?”

Eunuch Liu replied with some displeasure, “You are judging a noble’s heart with a villain’s mind! If our Majesty wanted to kill someone, he would simply order an archer to shoot you dead. Why bother with such trouble?”

“That’s true!”

Someone walked over, looked at the steaming hot food, swallowed a mouthful of saliva, and said, “Give me a serving! No, two servings! I have a big appetite and eat a lot, haha!”

“Of course, you can. One serving of food is 100 taels of silver! You want two servings, that would be 200 taels of silver!”

Everyone present felt like they were about to explode!

“Do we have to pay for the meal?”

Eunuch Liu retorted, “What? Don’t you pay for your meals?”

“Of course, we pay for our meals, but we’ve never seen such an outrageous price!”

One of the martial arts experts angrily pointed at the meal prepared by the imperial court and said, “Look at your food, there’s not only no meat but also no oiliness! Such a meal would be lucky to fetch three coins at the foot of the mountain, yet you’re charging us 100 taels of silver, that’s daylight robbery!”

“Exactly! This meal isn’t even worth three coins, and you’re selling it for 100 taels!”

“I used to run a shady inn, and even I wasn’t as extortionate as you!”

“A man can tolerate what is tolerable, but this is too much!!!”

Eunuch Liu said with a smile, “This is a fair trade; if you think it’s too expensive, you don’t have to eat!”

“Well, I really won’t eat then. I’ll go down the mountain and have a feast. With 100 taels of silver, I can eat a lot of good stuff, definitely better and more cost-effective than what you have here!”

“That’s right, we’ll go down the mountain to eat. That’ll show you!”

“I absolutely won’t eat your overpriced food! Not at all!”

Everyone was clamoring in agreement.

Eunuch Liu waved his hand dismissively, “You’re free to go down the mountain to eat, but don’t forget one thing. When you come back up, you’ll have to pay again, 1000 taels of silver per person!”

Everyone’s mentality exploded once again!

“Why the hell? Why do we have to pay again?”

“I’ve already paid!”

“Isn’t this a normal thing?”

Liu Eunuch spread his hands: “When you enter the city, don’t you have to pay a head tax? You pay each time you enter, it’s the same principle here!”

“F*ck!” Everyone was so angry they felt like killing someone.

Pay a damn head tax!

Just say it if you want to exploit us!

At this point, everyone was afraid to go down the mountain.

They feared that once they did, another 1000 taels of silver would disappear, and there would be nowhere to cry.

Thus, it seemed that there was only one choice left for everyone.

Eunuch Liu approached the steaming dishes and called out loudly, “Is anyone going to eat? If you don’t eat now, the food will get cold, and it won’t taste good once it’s cold!”

Everyone was both angry and helpless, and in the end, they could only take out their money.

“I… I will eat!”

Over the next two days, Lin Beifan came up with all sorts of schemes to swindle money, leaving everyone itching with frustration.

He is no foolish emperor but a shrewd merchant!

They all secretly resolved that once they descended the mountain, they would definitely put an end to that dog of an Emperor!

Meanwhile, Lin Beifan was happily counting his money.

“Report to Your Majesty, we have collected a total of 11.2 million taels of silver this time, greatly enriching the national treasury! Your Majesty, you are truly wise and valiant. Your humble servant’s admiration for you is as endless as the rolling river and as uncontrollable as the flooding of the Yellow River…” Heshen loudly flattered.

“His Majesty is indeed extraordinary! With a simple strategy, you turned a crisis into an opportunity, allowing us to make a profit! Your humble servant could rack his brains and still not come up with such a brilliant plan! I am utterly in awe of Your Majesty!” Li Linfu said loudly.

“Under the heavens, only Your Majesty can turn decay into magic!”

Lin Beifan laughed proudly: “My ministers flatter me too much, in truth, I haven’t done much!”

Bai Zhu was somewhat worried: “But Your Majesty, although we have indeed made a lot of money, we have also offended many martial artists. They are meticulous and will surely hold grudges. I fear…”

Lin Beifan waved his hand dismissively: “No need to worry, they have no future! With the divine sword making its appearance, they will surely exhaust all their efforts to snatch it, and by then, who knows how many will die! Let them fight to their heart’s content; we’ll just be responsible for collecting the bodies!”

“His Majesty is wise!” everyone exclaimed loudly.

Following this, the number of people from the rivers and lakes coming here to witness the appearance of the divine sword grew more and more!

The hills and fields were teeming with people, with the total population reaching over ten thousand!

Among them, there were more than 30 Innates!

This was a terrifying force indeed; even if Lin Beifan deployed all his troops, he probably couldn’t withstand it!

Fortunately, he didn’t intend to resist by force. After all, he had made a sum of money and enriched the national treasury.

As the number of people increased, the day when the divine sword would appear was drawing near!

***

TLN: Thank you Danny N for the tips! (+another goal reached)

1/4(+5) –> 1/9

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