Chapter 117: The Life-Taking Buddha

The carriage rattled and swayed as it cut through the darkness of the night.

Wei Renshi, who had been bowing his head in silence for a long time, suddenly looked up and tugged at Shi Laoda and Gou Er, signaling them to lean in closer. Masked by the rhythmic rumble of the carriage wheels, Wei leaned toward them and whispered, "Do you have any other weapons?"

Shi Laoda’s wood-chopping knife and Gou Er’s short blade had both been confiscated. Shi Laoda shook his head, while Gou Er patted his own calves.

"How many of them are there?" Wei asked again. Having taken a look earlier, he estimated there were at least a hundred.

"Seventy or eighty," Shi Laoda murmured. "Later, I’ll take down the guard outside the carriage. Gou Er, you grab the young master and jump out—run!"

"No, I can’t leave you behind," Gou Er said, anxious. "Let the young master jump and run; I’ll stay with you to hold them off. Two of us can stall them longer, giving him more time to get away."

"Seventy or eighty men, and they have horses—we won't make it out by running. We need another way." Wei shook his head. "Listen, He Chaozong is a middle-rank officer in the Fufang Army; he’s likely planning a mutiny. These men are his accomplices, heading off to join his insurrection. But they don’t look like regular soldiers; they look more like some kind of secret society. As long as they don't kill us immediately, we will find an opening. Don’t worry, I can get us out of this alive!"

Shi Laoda paused, then asked, "What do you want us to do, young master?"

"Catch something small—sparrows, mice, anything. Can you manage that?" Wei asked.

Gou Er thought for a moment. "If they let us get off, we can! But why catch those things?"

"Catch them, keep quiet about it, stifle them, and hide them inside your clothes—the warmer the better!" Wei instructed. "The faster we can make them rot, the sooner we’ll have a chance to escape."

Though the two men did not understand his plan, they took his words to heart.

They were not traveling on the main road; the path was remote, avoiding roads entirely and weaving through the woods. Yet, the general direction remained westward, following the main artery. There was still a long way to go before reaching Fufang, and Wei suspected that this was not the only group heading that way.

They traveled through the forest all night, only stopping when dawn broke. The men began to eat their dry rations and filled their waterskins from a nearby stream. Seeing this, a flicker of hope ignited in Wei’s heart.

"Excuse me, sir, I need to relieve myself," Wei called out to the driver.

"Me too!" Gou Er chimed in.

The man ignored them. Wei tried again, "Sir, please let us down. If we soil the carriage, it won't exactly be pleasant for you to smell, will it?"

The man hesitated, then called someone over to guard the carriage while he jumped down to report to their leader. With a dozen men still surrounding the wagon, a direct escape was impossible.

Before long, the man returned and barked, "Get down."

The three of them climbed out and were immediately surrounded by over ten men, who marched them a short distance away. "Hurry up!" the guard urged.

Shi Laoda and Gou Er nonchalantly unbuckled their trousers and squatted. Wei sighed and said, "I... I can’t go with all of you staring at me!"

"Less talk!" the man glared at him, and the others laughed maliciously.

"You’re being unreasonable!" Wei shouted. "I heard that heroes of the greenwood were men of integrity and loyalty. I suppose that’s all a lie."

The men around him chuckled. The guard sneered, "We aren't some petty greenwood thieves. We are disciples of the Slaughtering Buddha—born into this world to kill! Relieve yourself now, or I’ll kill you."

Wei was stunned. He had never heard that name before; could it be a cult? Seeing his hesitation, the men assumed he was terrified and erupted into laughter.

Wei did not actually want to relieve himself in front of them, but he needed to stall for time and draw their attention. He gritted his teeth and said, "Then kill me! I won't do it! When my uncle leads his army to avenge me, he’ll throw every one of you into a cesspit to rot!"

The men laughed off his threat, unimpressed. "Enough of your damn nonsense, hurry up!" the guard urged again.

"No!" Wei refused to drop his trousers in front of them.

The man laughed. "You’d better hold it for the whole journey then, otherwise, we’ll be sure to get a good look at your pale backside!"

The group roared with laughter again. Wei remained silent, standing there as if in a huff, while his peripheral vision shifted to Shi Laoda, who was squatting on the ground.

Shi Laoda began digging at the dirt, saying, "Brother, can I go pick some thatch to wipe with?"

One of the guards looked at him with disgust. "Go ahead!"

Shi Laoda went behind a tree, plucked a handful of thatch and some leaves, then stood up, indicating he was finished. Gou Er did the same. The three of them were then marched back to the carriage and placed under guard once more.

The day grew brighter, but they did not resume their journey, opting instead to hide in the forest. It was far from the main road and extremely secluded; no one would find them here. It seemed this group hid in the woods during the day and moved along the back trails by night, avoiding the main roads entirely.

Through this excursion, Wei had seen clearly that the group consisted of no more than seventy or eighty men. Only about a dozen appeared to have any military background. The rest seemed to be farmers or hunters, armed mostly with wood axes, sickles, or self-made bows. There were only seven or eight warhorses. This brought a small measure of relief to Wei.

Back in the carriage, the three men sat in silence for a while. Hearing the guards talking outside, they lowered their voices. "Did you catch anything?" Wei whispered.

Gou Er shook his head. "The time was too short, and there were too many eyes on us."

Wei looked at Shi Laoda, who also shook his head. "I didn't catch anything. I saw a field mouse when I went down, but there were too many people around, and it burrowed into the dirt. I didn't dare go after it."

It was natural that they hadn't caught anything, given the tight watch. But they had achieved their goal of assessing the group's strength.

"However..." Shi Laoda turned his hand over, revealing a bundle hidden in his sleeve. "When I was grabbing the thatch, I found this in the nest."