"Have you calmed down, master?" Shan Mei gently asked.
And Hong Wei, who was now looking at his hands with fascination… hands that were clean and uninjured, just chuckled and said, "Yes, I've calmed down."
"Earlier, I was consumed by my feeling… my control slipped away. But, I'm alright now."
Hong Wei said everything lightly, but he knew that what had consumed him earlier, when he beat Wang Ergou to death, wasn't just his own feeling, it was also his predecessor's feeling… his madness.
For him, the last time he fought was back in high school, years ago. So how could he suddenly become this aggressive?
It felt a bit unnatural. But, even then, he didn't mind… for he was now at peace.
Revenge was taken, and his mother was already healed, after all.
So now, what remained was just his aspiration… his desire to cultivate, to see how far he could reach.
Feeling excitement rise in him again, Hong Wei closed his eyes and took a few breaths.
He was still in the Black Dog Hold, though, so naturally, instead of fresh air, what he breathed in was the stench of blood. But he tried not to be bothered by it… instead, he focused on his next step.
Now, with Wang Ergou, the gang leader, and every other goon of the Black Dog Gang dead, what wealth they had was ownerless, after all.
And what was the third problem he had?
It was money! Food!
Hong Wei didn't plan to live the same shabby life his predecessor had lived, after all… and neither did he plan to let his mother work.
And so, he naturally needed to seize every opportunity when wealth arrived at his doorstep.
Hong Wei rose to his feet and looked at Shan Mei by his side. He intended to tell her to help him gather the now ownerless money.
But when he saw the corpses not far away, he suddenly paused.
He strangely didn't want his beautiful Shan Mei to dirty herself with them, and so, he changed what he was going to say.
"I'll search the corpses for the money they have. You search the buildings."
Against this order, Shan Mei, for the first time, wanted to protest. But when she looked into his resolute eyes, she just accepted in the end.
Like that, time passed, and Hong Wei and Shan Mei were actually able to make a small hill with all the money they gathered.
Naturally, most of it came from the hidden room in the gang leader's residence.
But that was not the problem.
Instead, just where did all this money come from?
That was the question that kept going through Hong Wei's mind.
Because the harvest was just too fruitful.
It was mostly silver teals, with some copper, and even one gold ingot.
Gold, something his predecessor had never seen in this town throughout his entire lives!
But more than these worldly items, what truly made him happy was something else.
A good quality sword, a somewhat old manual, and two spirit stones. These were the real treasures.
It was not something a gang with no cultivator, and located in a remote town, should be able to possess.
Was there someone behind them?
Was that the reason they were able to gather this much money?
And was that why the town authorities always left them alone?
These questions also came to his mind… but, in the end, he decided not to dwell on all of that.
Instead, he chose to focus on a more troubling, yet happy, problem.
How would he transport all this money away?
"How can we move all this money to my house? Do you have any idea?" Hong Wei looked at Shan Mei and asked.
He was already troubled by the thought that maybe he had overdone it this time, by massacring the gang right inside the town.
So now, if he were to show himself carrying bags from the gang's hold? Then the rumors would only grow stronger around him.
It was a short ticket to trouble… and even if that level of trouble wasn't something he needed to worry about, still, it was better to avoid it if possible.
"Master, I could help with that," a serene voice suddenly came to Shan Mei's rescue.
And who could it be, other than Seren?
She descended from the sky and landed beside him, and only then did he finally understand where she had been.
'So all this time, she was just above, flying and observing everything?'
Hong Wei's eyes lit up at the thought of flying, especially how Seren didn't seem to need a sword to stand on, and his desire to cultivate grew even stronger.
But, there were more pressing matters than that.
Hong Wei looked curiously at Seren and asked, "How would you transport this pile of money?"
And her answer was simple.
"I have a storage ring."
Hearing that, and looking at her finger, where she was pointing, Hong Wei couldn't help but stare enviously at the ring.
'So, the high-tiered character even comes with a storage ring?'
'Then, what's inside? Or is it empty?'
In the end, he felt too embarrassed to ask those questions.
So he simply asked her to store all the wealth he had confiscated.
He kept for himself just some silver teals.
And all the rest, he entrusted to Seren.