Chapter Eighty-Six: The Deal

He could help them restore their kingdom.

But first, he wanted the divine weapon in their possession.

Having finished the horse leg in his hands, Li Ju smacked his lips and reached for the other one he had set aside for the prince of the Water City and the others, beginning to eat it as well.

"Sir, are you joking?"

"If you obtain the divine weapon first, how can you guarantee you will help us restore our kingdom instead of simply killing us?"

Upon hearing Li Ju's words, General Wang frowned and said in a deep voice.

"Before I see the divine weapon with my own eyes, I cannot be sure whether you truly possess one. I do not intend to labor in vain and end up empty-handed. As long as I obtain the divine weapon, I will naturally help you restore your kingdom."

"Rest assured. I may not be a man of great righteousness, but I have always valued my word. So long as I have personally promised something, I will see it through."

Li Ju looked at General Wang and said seriously.

"But..."

General Wang was just about to speak again.

"But you have no choice now."

Li Ju cut him off in a single sentence.

"Hmph. If you kill us, then you can forget about ever getting the divine weapon in our hands!"

The prince of Water City on the side gave a cold snort.

"I am not bound to this divine weapon. Even if I do not obtain it, I lose nothing."

"But if you will not use that divine weapon to buy your lives, then today you and the last spark of Water City's inheritance will be buried here together."

Li Ju said indifferently.

"You!"

The prince of Water City clenched his teeth and glared at Li Ju, his eyes as if they would devour him whole.

"Then make your choice..."

"Either die here today, or exchange a divine weapon for my help in restoring your kingdom."

As he spoke, Li Ju looked at General Wang.

From their earlier conversation, he had realized that this general, though a subject, was in fact the one with the final say between the two.

Meeting Li Ju's gaze, General Wang was silent for a moment before speaking.

"Alas..."

"Can you truly promise that once you obtain the divine weapon, you will help us restore our kingdom?"

At last, General Wang gave a long sigh, as if he had made up his mind.

Now you have no choice but to trust me.

A smile slowly appeared on Li Ju's face.

He knew this deal...

was done.

"The divine weapon is still stored somewhere within Water City. If you truly want it, you may return with us to Water City..."

"General Wang?!"

Only then did the prince of Water City seem to understand that General Wang had already reached an agreement with Li Ju, and he hurriedly called out to him.

"Your Highness, we cannot betray the ruler's expectations."

General Wang shook his head at the prince.

"..."

The prince of Water City fell silent.

What were the ruler's expectations?

Naturally, it was that the prince of Water City would one day help restore their kingdom. If they died here, then the hope of restoration would vanish into thin air.

"Return to Water City with you..."

"Certainly. After all, the Great Oasis lies along my route forward as well."

Li Ju nodded lightly.

The Great Oasis and the Boulder Gorge were both natural landmarks in the Yellow Sand Desert, ranking ninth and tenth respectively. Beyond the Great Oasis and Boulder Gorge, the journey would enter the latter half of Li Ju's crossing of the Yellow Sand Desert.

According to the map, both Boulder Gorge and the Great Oasis were places he would need to pass through.

"But there is one thing I must tell you in advance."

"If you can help Water City successfully restore its kingdom, not only the divine weapon, but even that lesser Three-Prime martial art manual, we would be willing to give you all of it. As for the rest of the gold, silver, treasure, glory, and wealth, there would be even more than you could count."

"However, at least before the restoration is truly complete, we can only hand over the divine weapon you requested."

General Wang added one last sentence.

"Fine."

Li Ju agreed readily with a nod.

It was merely an ordinary lesser Three-Prime martial art manual. He had plenty of those already and needed none of them.

Besides, compared with the value of a divine weapon, a lesser Three-Prime martial art manual was hardly worth mentioning. It was only because the people of Water City were so narrow in their knowledge that they treated such a manual as something equal in value to a divine weapon.

They even tried to use that to restrict him.

With a soft crack, Li Ju, who was still eating the horse leg, flicked out a greasy finger, and the ropes binding the prince of Water City and General Wang snapped at once.

Crunch, crunch.

Under the shocked gazes of the prince and the general, Li Ju took several more hearty bites, finishing the horse leg cleanly. Then he casually tossed the bone aside and used his inner power to shake the grease from his hands.

"Since we've reached an agreement, there is no time to lose. We will set out tomorrow."

"You two should rest for now."

"I need to rest a while too."

With that, Li Ju walked over to his own camel, took a long blanket from his large bag, spread it beside the camel, and lay down on it with his back against the animal.

"Remember, do not even think about running away in the middle of the night."

"It will cost you your lives."

After saying this, Li Ju closed his eyes, and soon the sound of snoring filled the air.

Hearing him, General Wang and the prince of Water City, who had just regained their freedom and were sitting by the campfire rubbing their somewhat sore bodies, exchanged a glance. Whatever little thoughts they had harbored vanished from their eyes.

"General Wang, are we really going to hand the divine weapon over to him?"

The prince of Water City took out a small knife from his chest and used it to write words in the sand.

"The divine weapon is useless to us. Even if we go to the Kingdom of Chen, it would only be to use the divine weapon and that lesser Three-Prime manual to ask a major martial sect in Chen for help in restoring our kingdom."

"Now that we have encountered a martial expert, it would be better to exchange the divine weapon for his aid in restoring our kingdom."

General Wang wrote back with his finger on the ground.

"But is he strong enough?"

The prince raised his question.

"He was able to kill dozens of elite desert bandits, including the Black Bandit King, by himself. His martial arts must be at the level of an inner-house expert, and likely quite outstanding even among such experts."

"With strength like that, there should not be many in the Kingdom of Chen who can match him. With his power, plus the assistance of the divine weapon, it should be enough to drive away the people of the Kingdom of Lin and help us restore our kingdom."

General Wang replied.

After that, the prince of Water City and General Wang did not continue speaking. Each sat on the ground with his own thoughts, gazing up at the sky.

Only Li Ju on the side slept soundly, his snoring like thunder.

The next day.

The weather was clear, with cloudless skies, no fierce wind, and no flying sand.

Li Ju opened his eyes, sat up, and stretched.