As they spoke, the three of them arrived on the ground. At this moment, the entire marketplace was silent. Three days had passed and all the servants had returned to their respective gardens, so the place was naturally empty. There were no disciples from the Seven Skillful Land outside the cell, and it seemed like only the three of them were present.
“It’s getting late, Manager Zhou, I’ll take my leave first,” Yang Kai called out before soaring into the sky and heading straight for Fire Spirit Land.
“He doesn’t have any respect for his senior at all. When the Manager saved him, he didn’t even say a word of thanks,” Fang Tai looked in the direction Yang Kai had left and coldly snorted.
“There’s no need for him to thank me!” Zhou Zheng laughed lightly. Those who deserved to be thanked had already thanked him. Old Fang had spent a lot of Open Heaven Pills in order to ask him to come forward and plead for leniency, so for the sake of those Open Heaven Pills, he couldn’t be bothered to argue with Yang Kai. With a solemn expression, he whispered, “You did well this time.”
Fang Tai said, “This Fang was able to achieve what he has today all thanks to sir manager's guidance. If sir manager has any instructions, this Fang will do anything.”
“En, very good,” Zhou Zheng nodded, satisfied with Fang Tai’s attitude.
Fang Tai frowned, “However, this Fang has something he doesn’t understand…”
“Don’t ask what you shouldn’t ask!” Zhou Zheng also clearly understood Fang Tai’s doubts, so he quickly shut him up, “Also, what happened this time was just an accident!”
Fang Tai lowered his head, “I understand.”
“Let’s hurry to the fruit garden, there might be a good show to watch later! Moreover, since the Chief Manager is here, I should accompany him no matter what.” As Zhou Zheng spoke, he soared into the sky.
Fang Tai didn’t understand, not knowing what kind of show was about to take place. He had a vague feeling that it had something to do with what happened yesterday, but since Zhou Zheng had already said so, he didn’t ask any further.
When the two of them left, Yang Kai had already arrived at the Fire Spiritual Land. As he passed by the village where the servants’ house were located, he saw a golden light from the corner of his eye. Looking down, he saw that in front of his room, Great General Si Chen was constantly pecking at the door, seemingly calling him out.
“Great General!” Yang Kai called out.
When General Si Chen heard this voice, he turned his head to look at it before transforming into an ordinary rooster, flapping his wings as he flew towards Yang Kai.
Yang Kai couldn’t help laughing, “Great General, it’s time for you to lose some weight.” He didn’t know if it was just his imagination, but Yang Kai felt that this stupid chicken was even fatter than the first time he saw it.
Reaching out, he summoned it and placed it on his head.
Great General Si Chen’s buttocks twitched as he found the most comfortable position and pecked Yang Kai twice.
Yang Kai said, “Something happened, I didn’t mean to delay the time, so stop pecking.”
General Si Chen finally calmed down.
After a short while, they arrived at the fruit garden and flew for a while before landing on their own territory, where Die You was waiting anxiously.
Hearing the commotion, Die You turned her head and showed a look of surprise, “Are you alright? I heard from Old Fang that you fought with someone and were captured by the patrol team?”
“Old Fang’s big mouth!” Yang Kai’s face was filled with disgust. This wasn’t something to be proud of, so why bother talking about it?
“I was the one who asked him, are you alright? Did the patrol team do anything to you?” Die You asked with concern.
“It’s nothing, if there was anything, would I still be standing here?” Yang Kai smiled.
Die You nodded, “That’s right, was it Manager Zhou who stepped forward to protect you?”
“How did you know?” Yang Kai was stunned.
Die You said, “Old Fang gave Manager Zhou a great gift…”
Yang Kai showed a look of understanding, “No wonder!” He had been wondering when Zhou Zheng had been so kind. It was understandable that he had gone to save Fang Tai, but how could he have conveniently taken Yang Kai out as well? It turned out that Old Fang had used his strength.
“How much did Old Fang give him?” Yang Kai asked.
Die You said, “I don’t know either, but I don’t think it’s a small number. Otherwise, if a servant was caught fighting in private, how could there be no punishment, but as long as you're fine, it’s fine.”
“You’re right,” Yang Kai nodded.
“When you’re free, tell Old Fang you’re safe. He probably doesn’t know you’ve come out yet,” Die You looked around and said, “Also, today is the day the Chief Manager comes to inspect the fruit garden, so you should be careful not to slack off.”
“I know, you should hurry back as well. When I came here, I heard from Zhou Zheng that the Chief Manager should already be in the garden. If he finds out that you’re not staying in your own territory and instead come to my place, it won’t be good.”
“Then I’ll go back first,” Die You said as she walked towards her own fruit garden.
After she left, Yang Kai took out the communication artifact he had with Old Fang and informed him that he was safe. Old Fang quickly sent him a message and asked him about the details, so Yang Kai naturally agreed.
After listening to him, the old man told him not to act so rashly in the future. When Yang Kai asked him how much benefits he had given Zhou Zheng, the old man actually cut off the connection, obviously not wanting to say anything more. This further confirmed Yang Kai’s guess that Old Fang had given him quite a lot this time, otherwise why would Zhou Zheng be so kind as to take him out?
Cursing Zhou Zheng’s insatiable greed in his heart, he secretly swore that if he had the chance in the future, he would make him spit out everything he had and then turn around to busy himself in the garden.
The Chief Manager’s inspection of the fruit garden was a major event, and it was obvious from Du Rufeng’s attitude, so Yang Kai didn’t act carelessly.
Perhaps it was because of what had happened yesterday, but Yang Kai still felt somewhat uneasy today, as if something was about to happen, making him even more vigilant.
An hour later, Yang Kai stood in the middle of the fruit garden holding his token, his face so gloomy it looked like it was about to drip water.
His own fruit garden was missing a fruit!
The number of Fire Spiritual Fruits in the garden was limited, and every servant’s token had records of them. If they were damaged or rotten, they would need to report to the various garden's managers, but under normal circumstances, the Fire Spiritual Fruits wouldn’t be damaged, let alone missing one for no reason.
But at this moment, this happened in his own garden.
The number of Fire Spiritual Fruits present was a far cry from the number recorded in the token! Yang Kai carefully counted the number of Fire Spirit Fruits in the fruit garden three times.
How could there be one less? Before leaving last month, Yang Kai had specially checked it once. At that time, the number of fruits he had counted was correct, but after a few days, the number of fruits he had counted was no longer correct.
Sweeping out his Divine Sense, Yang Kai carefully searched through one of the fruit trees. A moment later, Yang Kai finally made a discovery and went straight to a Fire Spirit Fruit Tree, staring at a certain spot.
Originally, there should have been a Fire Spiritual Fruit there, but at this moment, there was nothing there, and the root of the Spirit Fruit was still fresh.
Even if Yang Kai had not picked the Fire Spirit Fruit before, he knew that the fruits here had been picked less than two hours ago!
Someone actually dared to steal his fruit while he was away? Yang Kai flew into a rage. What kind of fool was so bold as to do such a stupid thing? Stealing the Spirit Fruit could certainly put him in a disadvantageous position, but others found out the truth, even a hundred lives wouldn’t be enough.
Who was the one doing this? Who had a grudge with him?
In the entire Fire Spiritual Land, Yang Kai didn’t know many people, and the only ones who had any conflict with him were Zhou Zheng and Fang Tai, who he had fought yesterday.
Fang Tai didn’t have such an opportunity, he hadn’t even moved when he arrived, could it be Zhou Zheng?
It shouldn’t be him! Zhou Zheng had fished him and Fang Tai out from the market, so he also didn’t have time to do such a thing.
Since it wasn’t Zhou Zheng or Fang Tai, who else had a grudge with him? After thinking about it for a while, Yang Kai couldn’t think of anything, but the image of the bear Xiang Yong flashed across his mind, and he faintly felt that if it was Xiang Yong, it was possible.
But there was no grudge between him and Xiang Yong, so there was no reason for the other party to be so ruthless to him, right?
Perhaps he could ask Die You. When he had come here before, Die You had been in his fruit garden, so she might have seen something.
Having made up his mind, just as he was about to move, he suddenly heard a lively noise approaching from a distance. Looking up, Yang Kai’s expression froze.
On the other side, a group of people was flying through the air at a leisurely pace. The leader of this group had an imposing appearance and a dignified look on his face. It was obvious he was a man of high status, about forty years of age. On his left, Du Rufeng was half a step behind him, a smile on his face as he chatted with him, but the man simply stood there with his hands behind his back, occasionally lowering his head to look around, occasionally nodding lightly.
Behind Du Rufeng was Zhou Zheng, but from his position in the crowd, it seemed he couldn’t even speak.
Although he had never seen this man before, Yang Kai could immediately tell that the middle-aged man in the lead should be the chief manager of the Seven Skillful Land.
He instinctively shrank his neck. If the fruit garden was peaceful, he wouldn’t need to fear anything, but now that his territory was missing a fruit, he couldn’t explain himself. He secretly prayed that these people would quickly leave and not notice him.
But the matter he was afraid of, just had to happen. Just as he was feeling guilty, Yang Kai heard the Chief Manager say, “Eh… isn’t that Duan Hai’s General Si Chen? Why did he come to the garden?”
Yang Kai almost vomited blood! He had been so focused on his guilt that he had actually forgotten that the Great General was still lying on his head. The Great General’s golden body was like a beacon in the darkness, making it difficult for others to not notice him. If he had known this would happen, he would not have brought the Great General with him today and would have let him stay in the servants’ house.
Du Rufeng said, “Chief Manager is right, that is the Venerable's General Si Chen.”
The Chief Manager chuckled, “How did this servant offend General Si Chen? The Great General actually wants to punish him like this!”
Du Rufeng said, “Chief Manager misunderstood, he didn’t offend General Si Chen. I also thought he was punished for offending the Great General, but when I reported it to the Venerable, I learned that the Great General liked him and was very close to him.”
TO BE CONTINUED...
Martial Peak