Chapter 7: Unexpected Wealth

  With the help of his master, Xiao Ziyang gave his parents a grand burial.

  Lei Da Biao's affection for his apprentice reached an extreme, and after the funeral, he publicly adopted Xiao Ziyang as his son in front of everyone.

  Xiao Ziyang buried his hatred for his parents deeply in his heart, because he knew that he had no hope of avenging himself. This burial lasted for five years, during which time he desperately practiced martial arts.

  At this time, he didn't say that the number one master of Yang County, Lei Dabiao, even in the entire Shannai Prefecture, Xiao Ziyang believed that he had few opponents!

  The deeper he practiced his kung fu, the more he understood how terrifying the swordsman who killed his parents was, and the more he realized how slim his hopes of avenging them were.

  But no matter how faint, as long as he was alive, there was hope. So he hid all the brilliance on his body, drank inferior wine, spoke foul language, and disguised himself as a rough and boorish thug, a thug who could only dominate in a small county town's escort agency.

  In fact, Xiao Ziyang had never given up his hope of revenge. He hid in the dark every day, with a willpower that ordinary people could not imagine, and bitterly tempered his body!

  Once he felt that it would give him a chance for revenge and hope, he unhesitatingly staked his life and struck out boldly.

  Xiao Ziyang touched the leather pouch on his chest and gazed in the direction of Shuang Xiong Village, taking a deep breath.

  A small flame on the old tree root in the fire pit is dancing naturally with a light smoke.

  As the flames danced, the shadow of Qinglong Village Master's corpse on the wall also swayed back and forth. The skull's wide open mouth seemed to be mocking his overestimation, a small and insignificant hand, daring to defy the number one family in Western Liang Empire.

  The skull's shadow inexplicably made Xiao Ziyang feel a wave of unease, and he stretched out his foot to kick the corpse of the Green Dragon Village Master.

  The skeleton shouldered and scattered, in the midst of a dull thud hitting the ground, a crisp ringing sound caught his attention.

  He looked intently and saw that the money bag of the Green Dragon Village Master had been kicked to the ground, with several coins rolling out.

  It is said that the master of Qinglong Village, Han Kui, was not among the top in martial arts in the green forest of Taifu Mountain, but his methods of managing the village and accumulating wealth were among the best. Now, it seems to be true.

  A number of coins rolled out from the fallen purse, and surprisingly most of them were glittering golden Tongbao.

  A coin reflecting a purple-golden light under the dim glow of the fire pit caught Xiao Ziyang's attention.

  Xiao Ziyang suddenly stood up, picked up the coin that was emitting a purple-golden light from the ground, and couldn't help but take a deep breath!

  According to the Western Liang currency system, coins are divided into copper Tongbao, silver Tongbao and gold Tongbao.

  What is called Tongbao is actually a square-holed coin made of precious metals such as gold, silver and copper.

  The Western Xia Kingdom has an abundance of gold and silver, with the exchange rate for the three currencies being: one Jin Tongbao can be exchanged for ten Yin Tongbao, and one Yin Tongbao can be exchanged for 1,000 Tongbao.

  In addition, there is the silver cornered coin. The silver cornered coin was due to the large denomination of the Silver Sycee, some merchants and wealthy families privately minted small coins, weighing one qian, two qians, five qians, etc.

  This purple gold ingot in his hand is not an ordinary circulating coin, but a precious coin specially cast by the emperors of all dynasties to reward their ministers on major celebrations or happy events.

  Through the accumulation of emperors over the generations, the number of Zijin Tongbao gradually increased, and now they occasionally appear in circulation.

  Purple gold is not a metal, but an alloy made by adding a small amount of a precious metal called "xuan tie" to 24K red gold, which gives off a faint purple glow in the golden color.

  One Zijin Tongbao can be exchanged for one hundred Jin Tongbao!

  That is to say, this one purple gold ingot is worth a thousand taels of silver! You know that they work hard to escort a shipment, and including their leather belts and fur coats, they only earn a little over a hundred taels of silver from others!

  Xiao Ziyang picked up the money bag on the ground, examined it carefully, and unexpectedly found two more purple gold coins in the money bag. Together with the dozens of gold coins in the money bag, this was nearly four thousand taels of silver!

  The Golden Sword Escort Agency worked hard for a year without eating or drinking, with extremely good luck, not losing any goods and no one dying, but only earning more than 2,000 taels of silver.

  Xiao Ziyang looked at the glittering Tongbao coins in his hand and muttered to himself: "People have been saying that Han Kui, the drought dragon king, controls the entire Taifu Mountain green forest's money laundering channel. It seems this rumor is true!"

  Xiao Ziyang stuffed the purse into his bosom and found a dry fir branch from the woodpile in the corner of the wall, which he lit up in the fire pit.

  The pine wood is rich in oil, and once it burns, even strong winds can't extinguish it, making it a natural torch.

  Xiao Ziyang held up a torch and pushed open the ear door on the back wall of the great hall, walking into the dark inner room.

  This house is Han Qi's residence, and it is decorated quite comfortably and luxuriously inside.

  Xiao Ziyang first lit several oil lamps in the inner room and inserted torches into the wall, then began rummaging through boxes and cabinets.

  After struggling for more than an hour, he finally found a small iron box the size of his palm in a very deep mouse hole under the bed, with sweat dripping all over his face.

  Prying open the tightly locked iron box, Xiao Ziyang was immediately dazzled by a purple-golden light.

  A whole half box of Zi Jin Tong Bao coins, roughly estimated, no less than one hundred pieces!

  Xiao Ziyang gazed at the half-box of Zi Jin Tong Bao, and his breathing suddenly quickened. He suddenly felt that his dark future had revealed a glimmer of dawn for the first time.

  Xiao Ziyang's heart saw the first glimmer of dawn at the same time, and the eastern horizon outside the mountain stronghold also revealed the first hint of morning light.

  Facing the dawn, Xiao Ziyang swam towards the direction of Double Bear Fort.

  As he approached the Double Bear Fort, he circled around and quietly climbed to the top of the mountain behind it, hiding in the dense forest to observe the fort nestled on the mountain slope from a distance.

  The mountain stronghold was as silent as death, and from afar, one could see countless mutilated corpses, as well as large patches of ground stained a dark red with dried blood.

  Xiao Ziyang changed positions several times before he saw the platform where they had performed the evil ritual last night through the gaps in the shrubs.

  He couldn't help but feel ecstatic when he saw the scene on the platform clearly.

  On the platform lay a pink skull next to a small black flag five inches long. Looking at the dress on the skull, it was that terrible immortal master.

  Seeing this scene, Xiao Ziyang jumped down the mountain slope towards the platform without hesitation.

  He didn't doubt that what was in front of him was a trap, with the evil cultivator's methods, dealing with him would only require a slight effort, so why bother with such trouble.

  Xiao Ziyang practiced external family kung fu, without internal power, and naturally wouldn't have lightness skill. He jumped down along the steep mountain slope, every few feet he would use his hands to grab onto nearby bushes to slow down, although very clumsy, but his speed wasn't slow.

  As Xiao Ziyang stood steadily on the platform, he almost without hesitation stretched out his hand to grab the black flag on the ground.

  The black flag may be terrifying and evil to others, but to Xiao Ziyang, it is power, the dawn of revenge.