Qin Feng was, of course, invited to rest in one of the larger and more comfortable tents as soon as he was done handing over the bodies of the slain and the map that he had recovered. Not that he was surprised at that. He was, after all, not a member of the military forces. And he had not sworn any oaths to the Marquis.Not to mention, the quarters that they had arranged for him, along with the food and drink that came with them, were clearly two or three steps more luxurious than what he had been accustomed to, the night before.
Which was enough to tell him just how appreciative the Marquis and his mother was, with regards to his coming forward with the news. Li Changhai had even sent over some of his precious wine, which he had clearly been h.o.a.rding away since he arrived at the camp.
That was enough to tell Qin Feng that he had made the right decision, to warn them of the likelihood of the Barbarians launching an attack earlier than expected. His warning should be enough to let them make a few preparations ahead of time. And that could very well be what was needed, to upset the Barbarians" plans!
Of course, the Marquis and his mother had questioned him on almost every detail, once he had revealed the bodies. And it was no surprise that the black-garbed old man"s corpse had drawn the most attention.
The Barbarians were expected, and they had clearly recognized the symbols and the strange fetishes that they had worn around their necks and at their belts. But the old man was certainly someone from further afield. And more than likely to be someone from the Kingdom itself.
Or one of its neighbors, to the North or the East.
So it was only reasonable that they were all scrutinizing everything about him. In fact, they had even asked to take a look at the ring that Qin Feng had recovered from the body. Which was something that he had expected, the moment that he had used it to store all of the bodies and their effects.
Still, he had used his own blood to wipe away the old man"s aura from the ring, so that he could attune to it himself. Which was probably why Lady Xia had bothered to promise him that they were only examining its exterior, and would leave its contents alone.
But he had only smiled, and removed everything that would possibly give them a clue to the dead man"s origins before he handed the white-gold ring over calmly. It would definitely make him look better, he thought. Besides, there was nothing that he was interested in hiding away.
In the end, the duo had pored over every last bit that was in the ring, and discovered not a single clue about the nameless old man. Even his weapon was so generic that all that they could tell by looking at it was that it was crafted in one of the Empires to the East.
Qin Feng, on the other hand, could not be more pleased that there wasn"t a clue in all the items that he had laid out. Which was enough to make his action seem a lot more generous than it seemed. In fact, the Marquis himself had offered him a small prize of five hundred gold pieces for his cooperation, before he left the tent with everything gathered back into the ring.
But he had been a little distracted, when Feng Laixue said that. So his response might have been a little colder than expected. Which was only to be expected, after he heard the latest news from the Lady.
Lady Xia"s mention of the Heaven Sword School joining in the defense of the City was good news for the military and for the Marquis, he had to admit. Unfortunately, it was a little more problematic, when it came to Qin Feng himself. Especially since he did not want too many people paying close attention to him, and what he was up to. Which the people from the School was certainly going to do!
Especially when he had more herbs and medicines than he was supposed to, when he left the School almost twenty days ago.
While he doubted that the people from the School would suspect him of running off with more than his allotted share of the medicines, he wasn"t so certain that they wouldn"t discover the purchases that he had made for Elder Ming at the Fu Lai Medicine Hall. And the news that he had been supplying the restricted Purple Blood Ginger to the Elder was certainly not going look good, no matter what he did!
That is, if they actually headed into Changqing City, rather than the Marquis" Army Camps.
Honestly, he didn"t really have the means to stop the mouths of those people at the Medicine Hall. Or the Second Ducal Prince, who was more than likely to come into contact with the Heaven Sword School disciples. So it was more than possible that they might find out what he was doing.
If it really came to that, he would simply have to leave the City, and head off to someplace where he couldn"t be traced! And he would probably have to move in disguise as well, just to make certain should anyone send the word out that they were looking for him.
Qin Feng sighed then, as he dropped into his a.s.signed bed. And started making plans for his escape. This was becoming more bothersome than he had thought it would be!
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