Everything on the right track

Seeing Ackerman's expression, Liang Lidong could not feel any sympathy for him. Perhaps he had a bright future ahead of him. As long as he reported the location of this gold mine to the Temple, he could at least be transferred to a small city to be a bishop of the Temple. After that, he could move around a little and eventually be transferred to the Temple.

Unfortunately, his fate had been sealed when he wanted to kill Liang Lidong and hire someone to commit evil in Reed Village. Liang Lidong extinguished the illumination spell and walked out of the cave. Without the thick fog of Mist Ride, the moonlight fell on the mountain like a screen. He took Joan Of Arc out of his backpack. Because of the Water Healing spell, Joan Of Arc's vitality was much stronger than that of ordinary people. She looked much better now.

Liang Lidong examined her left wing carefully and found that the wound had begun to heal. He sighed in relief and said, "I guess in two days, you will be flying in the sky again. It's just a small wound … But don't be so desperate in the future. Even if the mercenary escaped, it would not affect my plan much. Compared to that, the lives of our own people are more important. "

"Not much … but still." Joan Of Arc jumped onto Liang Lidong's shoulder. She seemed to like squatting on her master's body.

"The enemy has no plan to escape, and if he escapes, he has a plan to escape." Liang Lidong smiled. "There's no such thing as a perfect idea in this world. We can only plan in advance, adapt to the situation, perfect the details, and review any mistakes when we're done. Most plans succeed because of a certain amount of luck. "

"Master, how confident are you in your plan?" Joan Of Arc asked.

Walking slowly on the moonlit mountain path, Liang Lidong said, "About eighty percent. As for the remaining twenty percent, it depends on your luck. Luck was something that was hard to say. I've seen people who are confident that their plan will succeed, only to be ruined by an unexpected thing. That's exactly luck. So, before I get there, I won't make any promises no matter what I plan. "

"I don't know if I should say that you are cautious or not confident enough." Jeanne hesitated for a while and then asked, "I've always had a question. From the knowledge you passed to me, I know very well that those little golden stones are quite important in the eyes of you humans, even more important than delicious food. But why would you give away such an important thing and tell others? "

"It's not easy to open a mine, especially a gold mine." Liang Lidong said, "The benefits represented by the gold mine are too exaggerated. I definitely can't keep it now, and I may not be able to keep it in the future. Instead of that, it's better to use it to do something. Besides, if my plan succeeds, I may be able to get a share of it."

The man and the bird went down the mountain. It was late at night, and the city gate was closed. A border city like Winterwind would close its gate at night and never open it unless something special happened. Liang Lidong was not the key. He found a clean big stone not far from the city gate, and then used the 'Stone to Mud' scroll to make a small, hollow, cone-shaped mound to wrap the big stone. Then he picked up some firewood from the surrounding trees, burned a small flame in front of the mound, and then compacted it, leaving only some sparks. This way, the fire could generally burn slowly until the next day. He got into the mound, blinked, and dozed off. Joan slept next to him.

For a player who had experience in wilderness survival, it was a simple task. Even if Liang Lidong couldn't cast spells, he had other ways to survive the cold winter night.

The next morning, Liang Lidong entered Winterwind with Joan Of Arc in high spirits. He found a nice hotel and asked Joan Of Arc to rest and recover, while he bought a few parchments, ink, and some strange powders. After that, he began to work non-stop. He first drew a map on the parchment, then threw the parchment into the water, used magic to dry it, and sprinkled some powder on it before throwing it into the water … In the end, he was not satisfied with this thing that he had spent a lot of effort on, so he turned around and threw it into the fireplace in the room.

"What are you doing?" Joan Of Arc, who was recovering in bed, couldn't help but ask.

"I'm making an 'old' treasure map, or I won't be able to explain to Uther why I know there's a gold mine on the mountain."

Joan Of Arc stood up and said in confusion, "Even if you have an 'old' treasure map, he might not believe you."

"Most of the time, when you talk to the noble foxes, they don't care if you're telling the truth. They only care if you can come up with a seemingly logical reason. You have to be honest on the surface, but it's a different matter when you're exchanging interests in private. That's what nobles are like. I've seen too many of them. "

Joan Of Arc sighed. "Fine, let's leave the treasure map aside. Now that Ackerman is dead, aren't you worried that the Temple of Life will send someone to look for him? If they find Ackerman's body in advance, our plan will be ruined."

Liang Lidong shook the soaked parchment in his hand and said, "Don't worry, Ackerman isn't a child. People will find it strange if he disappears for a day, but they won't notice anything wrong until he disappears for two days. By then, your wings will have recovered, and it won't be too late to monitor the Temple of Life's actions."

"Why don't we guide them to 'discover' Ackerman's body?"

"There aren't many stupid people in this world. If we do things too deliberately, we'll be in the Temple of Life's sights. As long as they're careful, they'll probably find something fishy about Ackerman's death. There's no such thing as an impenetrable wall in the world. What we need to do is to remove the Temple of Life's sight from us as much as possible. "

Joan Of Arc understood. "So we need something that can attract their attention and be discovered by them. That's why you gave up the gold mine! But you're also worried that the Temple of Life will expand after they get the gold mine, and no one can keep them in check. When they recover and continue to investigate Ackerman, we won't be able to hide it anymore. For this reason, you want to pull another force to compete with them for the gold mine, right? "

"Correct!" Liang Lidong nodded. "Two forces of similar strength will definitely rope in the forces in the city in order to fight for the gold mine, and even bring out the forces behind them. The confrontation between the two sides will take two or three years, and there won't be a result. After two or three years, when the dust settles, the Temple of Life won't care about the cause of Ackerman's death, whether they win or lose. "

Joan Of Arc shuddered. "I have to say, Master, you're indeed very scheming!"

"Surviving in such a world, if you don't have a bit of scheming, you'll be devoured without bones left."

For the next two days, Liang Lidong stayed in his room and made an old treasure map. After Joan Of Arc's wings healed, she immediately flew out of the hotel and monitored the Temple of Life's every move from the sky. On the morning of the third day, Liang Lidong finally made an old treasure map that satisfied him. Before he could be happy for long, Joan Of Arc said through the mental channel, "Master, a squad of six people came out of the Temple of Life, and they're starting to set off in the direction of the city."

Liang Lidong nodded. "Ms. Rose was originally a goddess of shadows, and she's very good at conspiracies and assassinations. Many of her believers have special tracking spells. Since they're heading out of the city, they must have found some traces of Ackerman. Continue to monitor them from the sky and report to me at any time."

"Yes, Master!"

Liang Lidong put the treasure map that looked the oldest into his dimensional backpack, then left the hotel and walked to the mayor's residence.

Uther's castle still looked magnificent. After Liang Lidong asked the attendant to inform him, it wasn't long before an old butler personally came out and very respectfully brought him to the second floor of the castle. A few months ago, the second floor of the castle had been turned into a barbecue hell by Karl's Sacrificial Mana. But now, it was completely restored, and even more luxurious than before.

Uther was in a large study to entertain Liang Lidong. The two sat across from each other with a cup of honey wine on the table between them. Liang Lidong took a sip and said, "Looks like you've been doing well recently. Your enemy … I think he was called Elric. How did it end?"

"Escaped. Someone from the royal capital came and took him away."

Liang Lidong smiled. "Then you must've benefited a lot, or you wouldn't have let him go."

Uther only smiled. He didn't answer directly. "A few months ago, I still remember the message you sent me, so I didn't want to disturb you. But now that you've come to visit me, Sir, with the Morning Star and the Moon as witnesses, I'm very happy. Does this mean we can be friends?"

"No need for that!" Liang Lidong waved his hand. "I'm here to make a deal with you!"

"Oh, please speak." Uther gestured for him to speak.

"I recently found a treasure map. It's a treasure trove …" Liang Lidong said, keeping Uther in suspense.

Uther was not in a hurry. He just followed along and asked, "Oh, what kind of treasure?"

"It's a big one, so big that I can't take it all by myself. I need an ally!"

Uther pondered for a moment, then asked, "Is the treasure in my territory?"

"No comment!" Liang Lidong smiled. "Unless we sign an agreement."

"If it's not in my territory, then I can't make a move," Uther said helplessly.

"No comment, unless we sign an agreement!" Liang Lidong still said the same thing.

Uther looked at Liang Lidong for a while. He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. "It seems that this treasure is really big … Well, since it's your suggestion, I think we can talk about this deal. What kind of agreement do you want to sign?"

"This is a mine. I can't tell you the type of metal, but I can say that this mine is very valuable. It's a rich mine." Liang Lidong extended two fingers. "Here's what I'm thinking. Longman will have full authority to mine this mineral deposit. I'm only responsible for providing information. I want twenty percent of the minerals you mine after purification!"

"That's not fair. You just said a few words and you get such a big profit. How can there be such a good thing in this world?" Uther slammed the table angrily. "Why don't you take full responsibility for mining and give us 20% of the profits?"

Liang Lidong smiled. "The information is in my hands now."

"Damn it, 10%. That's my biggest concession!"

"20%, no discount. I believe that other nobles will be interested in this information!"

Uther slammed the table hard. "I'm the mayor. Without my permission, which noble in Winterwind dares to compete with me? Fifteen percent. I can't go any lower. If you lower the price any further, I'll start robbing you. "

"Deal!" Liang Lidong clapped his hands and took out a magic contract from his space. He put it on the table. "Please take a look and sign it."

Uther carefully read the text on the magic contract. After confirming that there were no hidden words, he wrote his name on it. With a flash of white light, the magic contract began to burn. Under the witness of the God of Justice, the contract officially came into effect. He threw the pen in his hand and said, "Okay, can you tell me the location and type of the mine now?"

Liang Lidong nodded and said casually, "It's a gold mine. It's right here." He took out the old treasure map from his Backpack and continued, "I've investigated it. It's indeed a gold mine. The map is authentic."

"What? A gold mine?" Uther jumped from his chair and snatched the treasure map from the table. He opened it and looked at it.

Liang Lidong had another mouthful of the honey milk wine and said unhurriedly, "Right, I need to tell you a piece of information. The Church of Life has such a treasure map too. I don't know who gave it to them, but it wasn't me. Their reconnaissance team seems to have set off. "

"Shit, why didn't you tell me this sooner?" Uther grabbed the treasure map and rushed out, while yelling at the steward, "Merlin, you go and sound the emergency assembly call for the cavalry on the top floor right now, no one can take my gold, not even the Temple of Life!"