Chapter Fourteen: A Place to Settle

  Feng Gouzzi found a good place for them, the mountain is high and the ditch is deep, it's indeed very suitable for hiding. Although it's not far from Liujiacun, few people enter this area, but the road is very difficult to walk. The two men, Hurrying Bull and Tiger, were grumbling and complaining, they had to ask for help from the porters to continue moving forward in the ditch. Finally, when they reached a certain point in the ditch, the cart could no longer move forward at all.

  At this time, the sky had already brightened up, and Feng Gouzi pointed ahead and said: "We're here! We're here! There's a cave on top of this mountain, although it's not big, but it can hold us and these things without any problem. I also discovered this cave once when someone was chasing me, and hid in it. No one could find us!"

  Following the direction pointed by Feng Gouzi, everyone looked up, but did not find the existence of the cave. Some people began to doubt Feng Gouzi's words again, muttering and asking where the cave was.

  "I'm absolutely sure, I came here last year! From here on up, go around that big rock in front and you'll see the cave." Feng Gouz said with certainty.

  "Unload these things and carry them away!" Xiao Tianjian ordered everyone in a tone that brooked no doubt. He believed that Feng Gouz's words would not be wrong, and from this guy's performance this time, he saw that Feng Gouzi had now made up his mind to follow him, otherwise he wouldn't have told him about the important matter of Liujiacun so easily.

  The crowd then scrambled to carry the grain bags from the cart and followed Feng Gouzi upwards. After circling around the huge boulder that lay across the entrance of the valley, a cave appeared before them.

  The cave isn't very big, but it can accommodate dozens of people without any issues. Moreover, this place is remote and uninhabited, which makes it a good hiding spot. The inside of the cave is also relatively warm. Xiao Tianjian was quite satisfied with this place. At least now they had a temporary place to settle down, no longer having to sleep under the stars every night and freeze in the wilderness. This area has big mountains and deep valleys, and to the west lies Huating County and Pingliang Prefecture, while to the south is Chen Cang, and to the east is Fengxiang Prefecture. Although it's a bit desolate, there aren't many passersby, making it a good choice for now.

  A group of people were exhausted, like dogs, after busy working for half a day to unload two carts of things into the cave. Jing Tong quickly counted them and found that they had actually looted over ten stones of grain, enough for each person to have one and a half catties per day, which could last for a while. There were also several dozen taels of silver, a pile of knives, guns, and other weapons, making it a very fruitful harvest, much more abundant than their previous month's work!

  Everyone at this moment feels content and has completely forgotten that these things were exchanged for three lives. However, it can't be blamed on them for being ruthless and unrighteous. Such things are performed every day in this land of Shaanxi. Some people come, some people go. Those who have grown accustomed to death have become numb. Perhaps they don't want to think about this matter because it's possible that one day, they will also disappear from the world like those who died and be quickly forgotten by others.

  Only Jing Tong himself was still thinking about these people who were gone, after cleaning up the cave, he found a few stone pieces, and carved the names of the three people who did not return on them, placed them on the stones outside the entrance, knelt down silently, facing the stone pieces that served as their memorial tablets, and solemnly kowtowed several times.

  Others quietly watched as Jiong did these things, and began to think that this Jiong wasn't so useless after all. Maybe one day, when they were gone like the three people who had died, at least there would be Jiong left to pay his respects to them. Too bad there was no paper money to burn for these dead souls; who knows if they'd still suffer poverty on the other side.

  Xiao Tianjian watched as Jing Fuzi solemnly performed these rituals, and suddenly stood up to walk beside him, also kneeling down in silence, knocking his head several times, and placing a few pastries in front of each spirit tablet representing a person.

  "Brothers, take some bread with you on the road! Don't go hungry on the way!" Xiao Tianjian said in a low voice.

  The others, seeing Xiao Tianjian's actions, also stood up one after another and walked slowly to the back of Xiao Tianjian, then knelt down together and kowtowed twice in front of these stone tablets.

  "Brother, take care..." Everyone said in unison.

  The originally joyful atmosphere was instantly dampened a lot by this worship ceremony.

  Xiao Tianjian, as a modern person, does not believe in supernatural things, but he does not resist this form either. He is willing to do so because he needs his subordinates to unite together, and only those who have gone through life and death together can truly come together!

  A group of people rested here for two days with food and drink, these people were very satisfied with their current state, in a short period of time, they didn't have to rush around to fill their stomachs again, nor would they worry about where the next meal was after eating. Everyone has relaxed a bit.

  Xiao Tianjian sharpened his newly acquired waist knife on a stone, wiping off the remaining water marks with a dry cloth. He wrapped a layer of cloth strips around the handle to prevent it from slipping out of his hands due to sweat when swinging it. Then he walked in front of a dead tree and pulled down two short axes nailed to the trunk, tucking them into the waistband at the back of his waist.

  The trunk of the big tree was full of axe marks, and everyone had already gotten used to seeing Xiao Tianjian throw axes whenever he had some free time. They were very impressed by Xiao Tianjian's exceptional skill, because no one could throw things as accurately as him, whether it was with stones or axes. Xiao Tianjian could basically hit whatever he aimed at, and rarely missed his target. Even when the axe didn't quite hit its mark, the heavy axe would still cause significant damage when it struck its target. What impressed them even more about Xiao Tianjian was his perseverance - every day, he would spend a large amount of time practicing this skill without getting tired of it. If someone else were to do this, they probably wouldn't be able to endure such dullness.

  But Xiao Tianjian himself knew that this was his only lifesaving skill in this world, and relying on this unique skill, he was able to survive until today.

  Apart from axe-wielding, Xiao Tianjian would vigorously wield his knife whenever he had nothing to do, constantly increasing his speed. Although he hadn't learned any knife techniques, he knew that when it came to close combat, speed was key; as long as you were a little faster than your enemy, you could save your life. In this regard, Xiao Tianjian never slacked off.

  When he thought of the origin of this skill, Xiao Tianjian himself couldn't help but find it laughable. Probably no one would have guessed that he had started practicing this skill with small paper balls and chalk heads when he was young. Xiao Tianjian never considered himself a good student. From elementary school onwards, in the eyes of any teacher, he was always a particularly naughty student. Added to the fact that he was always one of the taller ones in class, he would often be arranged to sit at the back of the classroom. So, when he was young, his greatest pleasure was to take small paper balls and chalk heads and throw them at the girls sitting in front of him, hitting them on the back of their heads. After hitting his victims, he would pretend to be nonchalant, watching as they rubbed the back of their heads, turned around, and searched for the culprit with puzzled expressions. When they couldn't find anyone, they would turn away dejectedly, and Xiao Tianjian would take great pleasure in this, never getting tired of it.

  All for this boring prank, he practiced to ensure his accuracy, and over time, under his diligent practice, he actually developed a unique skill that never missed its mark. In his early years, he even called himself "Little Li Flying Dagger" among his classmates, showing off from time to time, earning him many admiring gasps. However, what he never expected was that this very skill would become the lifesaving technique when he came to this world.

  When Xiao Tianjian first arrived here, he couldn't find anything to eat and was extremely hungry. One day, he unexpectedly found a mouse in a corner of the wall. Without thinking, he picked up a small stone and hit it, and as a result, the mouse flipped over and became his first mouthful of food since arriving in this world. It was also at that time that Xiao Tianjian discovered he had such a skill.

  Later on many occasions, Xiao Tianjian could be said to have relied on this unique skill to hunt some small animals in order to survive, and even received his first iron-headed subordinate.

  Later, he led Zhao Erdui, Jing Tong and a few others to start on the road of robbery. He found that relying on stones was very limited, sometimes even people couldn't be intimidated, so he brought two short-handled axes as his hidden weapons. In Liujiacun, with just these two axes, he killed two strong men, which became his most important survival skill.

  Recently, they have been running around every day just to get enough food, and now after this robbery, they won't have to worry about eating for a while. Xiao Tianjian can finally consider the combat effectiveness of his men. Now that he has chosen this path, he will undoubtedly have to rely on force to survive in this world, and his greatest reliance is not himself, but these people under him.

  In this chaotic world, he can only get stronger and stronger to gain more resources. Otherwise, if things go on like this, a group of mobs will not have the possibility of survival.

  Looking back on this period of time, the way they did things, Xiao Tianjian secretly wiped away a cold sweat. To put it bluntly, his gang was no different from any other gang. When doing things, they relied solely on their passion and impulsiveness, rushing forward at his call, resulting in the loss of several lives within just one month.

  As their leader, Xiao Tianjian would not be satisfied with the way they were doing things now. If they continued like this, they would never become strong. Now that they had these grains and a secret hideout, he should consider training them properly, so in the future when something happened, they wouldn't be like before, scattered all over the place, killing randomly.