Even though the commotion at Gou Lan in Qiulong County was significant, not a single constable had come to check the situation thus far. Therefore, Fan Wu faced no obstacles and walked off with a chest full of gold and silver.
He did not go to the government office but instead headed straight to Qiulong Temple.
As for how the mess at Gou Lan was to be cleaned up, that was not his concern.
Let that Magistrate of Qiulong County worry about it slowly!
After all, during those years as the Magistrate of Qiulong Temple, He Caisheng had unknowingly amassed a fortune in gold, silver, and jewels.
It was about time he did something for Qiulong County.
...
By the time Fan Wu returned to Qiulong Temple with a chest of gold and silver, it was already the dead of night.
No one knew if it was because of the statue of the True Martial Great Emperor on the mountain,
but even now, in the still of the night, the mountain path was not eerie.
Fan Wu had deliberately slowed his pace on the way back, which had taken some time.
When he left the Prefecture office, he had informed Yang Yizi and the Abbot of Jinlong Temple to relay a message to the Magistrate of Qiulong County, asking the Magistrate to arrange for the delivery of the silver.
His late return was naturally to give the Magistrate of Qiulong County some time to prepare.
Fan Wu felt that, with the "reputation" left by his swindler master and his own image in the eyes of the locals, the other party would not play tricks in this matter.
As expected.
As soon as Fan Wu opened the doors of the Taoist Temple, he saw what he wanted to see, quietly placed behind the doors.
Even though the moonlight was dim tonight, the neatly arranged silver and a few land deeds pressed securely with silver...
Were still very conspicuous.
There were roughly six hundred taels of silver here, and among them were several land deeds for very suitable arable land.
To be honest...
These land deeds weren't of much use to Fan Wu.
Because he did not intend to stay in Qiulong County for long.
After all, if the followers of The Great Revered One were not limited to Xuan Shizi alone... and since he had killed Xuan Shizi, he was likely to attract even more followers of The Great Revered One!
If they didn't play by the rules and it wasn't another follower who came, but The Great Revered One himself.
Fan Wu felt he might...
Be done for on the spot!
Although his current strength was not weak, it was better to be cautious when dealing with such an enigmatic existence.
In short.
He couldn't take any chances!
"I've got my travel funds now, I have no friends in Qiulong County, and not the slightest attachment. It's time to leave this place of frequent strange occurrences," Fan Wu murmured to himself, intending to leave Qiulong County tonight!
Yes!
He did not wish to wait for tomorrow.
He had risked an extra day's stay in this place just to wait for the so-called reward promised by the Magistrate of Qiulong County.
As a result, in just one short day, so much had happened.
If he had not activated a Golden Finger previously, he might have been done for in this place!
So...
If he didn't flee now,
When would he?
To make his escape from Qiulong County, Fan Wu had been preparing for quite some time.
He had specially commissioned a carpenter in Qiulong County to make a wooden chest that could be carried on his back as well as by oxen or horses.
The weight of the wooden chest was irrelevant.
The most important thing was that it had to be sturdy enough to carry very heavy items.
Fan Wu had initially ordered the wooden chest to carry away the silver inside the statue of the True Martial Great Emperor.
But who could have known that the silver inside couldn't be taken out?
He thought the wooden chest had been made in vain, but now it seemed it could be of use after all.
Fan Wu flipped the specially-made wooden chest out.
He neatly placed the gold ingots, silver ingots, and some clothes for changing into the chest.
Then he lifted the extremely heavy chest.
Such weight would be unmanageable for an ordinary person, even straining with all their might, they might not be able to carry it.
But for Fan Wu right now...
It was a piece of cake!
He couldn't feel the weight at all.
He could lift it with one hand!
Before leaving Qiulong County, Fan Wu indeed had offered several sticks of incense to the True Martial Great Emperor in the main hall of the Taoist Temple with all due sincerity, quietly waiting until the last stick of incense had burned out...
Afterward, using a container that was fairly sturdy and not prone to breaking, he emptied all the incense ash from the burner.
This incense ash was valuable stuff.
It couldn't be wasted.
After all, the True Martial Great Emperor had already given him His Demon-slaying Sword, so a bit more incense ash shouldn't matter much to Him.
That's what Fan Wu thought, anyway.
And that's what he did.
Next, he went to the rear mountain of Qiulong Temple to pay tribute to his fraudulent cheapskate master with three sticks of incense.
It was a form of memorial.
At last.
Fan Wu didn't forget to bring along the letter his swindler master had left him before he passed away.
After all, his master had taken care of him for a few years, and Fan Wu planned to deliver the letter to his master's daughter.
But the Prefecture of Nanjun was still quite a distance from Qiulong County!
"Moo—"
Suddenly.
A loud moo echoed over, and Fan Wu turned his head to look. In the corner of the Taoist Temple ground, a well-built Green Ox that looked quite capable of carrying heavy burdens was tied.
This was the Green Ox kept by his swindler master.
Fan Wu remembered that when his master was still alive, he would often deceitfully sit on the Green Ox's back, pretending to be a lofty sage.
Speaking of which, this was an old ox too.
"Tsk, if you can carry this wooden box, then I'll take you with me. If you can't, I will have to tie you near some farmer's home in Qiulong County."
"After all, it would be impossible to leave you tied in the temple. If you eat all the grass there, you'd starve to death."
Fan Wu didn't care if the Old Blue Ox understood or not.
He walked over and placed the heavy wooden box onto the sturdy back of the Old Blue Ox.
"Moo~"
The Old Blue Ox seemed a bit uneasy, but there was no sign of strain, and it even walked back and forth a few steps.
The heavy wooden box didn't seem to be much for it.
"Alright! Then I'll take you along for the escape! Just don't complain about the distance," Fan Wu said with a laugh.
He untied the rope that secured the Old Blue Ox.
Using this strong rope, he secured the wooden box in place, ensuring it stayed put on the Old Blue Ox's back.
...
The next day.
Noon.
The Magistrate of Qiulong County finally mustered the courage to set foot in the government office, instructing a group of Government Officials to carry away the damaged goods from the office, and another group to clean the place up.
As for He Caisheng, the parental official of the county, he sat on an expensive chair, drinking tea with utter leisure.
For some reason, he felt that the tea in his hands had lost its fragrance.
"That Daoist Priest Fan was too hasty. Couldn't he have waited a few more days to collect? If he had agreed to wait, I could have ensured that he got at least half the Silver less… Sigh! Such a pity!"
"No, no, the loss of more than six hundred taels of Silver, plus a few farmland deeds, means a big loss for me!"
He Caisheng muttered to himself: "I need to exaggerate the extent of the damage in the government office, so the Imperial Court will allocate more silver. That way, I can recover my losses…"
Just then.
Head Arrestor Liu rushed over, bringing astonishing news as he gasped for breath, "Great... Great Sir! I... I went to Qiulong Temple this morning to visit Daoist Priest Fan, and I found... I found that Daoist Priest Fan has vanished!!"
"And in the crack of the temple's door, I found a piece of paper that seems to have been left by Daoist Priest Fan. It says… It says he's going out to travel the world!!"
He Caisheng was so startled that he spilled his tea.
But he didn't care. Instead, his eyes widened in disbelief as he exclaimed, "What? Daoist Priest Fan... he left?!!"
"Hiss!!!"
Seeing Head Arrestor Liu nod, He Caisheng drew in a cold breath, "Without Daoist Priest Fan, if the government office becomes haunted again..."
Thinking of this, he couldn't help but swallow hard.
Even though it was broad daylight, with the sun blazing overhead...
He Caisheng still felt a chill all over!
"The protective god" was gone.
He was frightened.
...
...