Chapter 10: A Stroke of Luck

At this moment, Ermao and the crippled man were both soaked to the bone. Unfortunately, there was no dry place nearby for them to rest. The two could only wring out their clothes and squat under a tree, waiting for the dawn.

In the summer, the days break early, and before long, the sky began to lighten. From a high vantage point, Ermao noticed that the people who had gathered on the beach the previous night had not left yet and were still searching around the beach.

Yawning, Ermao said, "The dragon scales must be worth a lot. Once they leave, let's go over and try our luck."

"Stop causing trouble. Go find the village head and have him write you a document stating your place of origin," the crippled man urged.

Ermao stretched out his hand.

"He's from the same village, he won't make things difficult for you," the crippled man added.

Ermao remained silent, continuing to extend his hand.

Helpless, the crippled man finally took out a shell coin from his waist pouch and handed it to him.

Ermao took the money and went to the village to inquire. He soon learned that someone had died in the village last night, and the village head was there assisting with the funeral arrangements.

Arriving at the house where the incident had occurred, Ermao learned that it was a woman who had been killed by a falling object. He remembered this woman well, as she had been eager to introduce him to someone the day before.

Naturally, paper and ink were needed for the funeral, and the village head did not make things difficult for Ermao. He quickly wrote the document for him and stamped it.

Ermao saved himself a coin but had intended to secretly keep it. However, seeing the villagers collecting white money for the funeral, he decided to give the shell coin to the family of the deceased.

Seeing his difficult circumstances and yet his generosity, the villagers praised him. The family insisted on having him stay for the meal, and when he insisted on leaving, they stuffed two freshly made corn dumplings into his hands.

Ermao returned with the dumplings, ate one himself, and handed the other to the crippled man, "Eat it while it's hot."

"Where did this come from?" the crippled man asked.

"The family of the deceased gave it to me," Ermao replied.

The crippled man had already reached out to take it, but upon hearing Ermao's words, he quickly withdrew his hand. "You eat it, I don't want it."

"Why?" Ermao casually asked.

"I feel ashamed to eat it," the crippled man sighed.

"Come on, we didn't eat for free; I gave them the gift money," Ermao said, offering it again.

The crippled man shook his head and refused, getting up to walk away.

Ermao, still thinking about the dragon scales and hoping for some luck, was worried the crippled man would urge him to get moving. After eating the dumplings, he hung the bedding and mat to dry on the millstone to delay their departure.

Unexpectedly, by noon, the people on the beach were still lingering. As they began to expand their search area, getting closer and closer to the village, the crippled man urged Ermao to leave as soon as possible.

Reluctantly, Ermao pushed the cart and set off.

For some reason, the crippled man seemed to be in a bad mood and had not said much since they began their journey.

Noticing the crippled man's mood, Ermao tried to comfort him. Since he had confirmed that he was not taken by the crippled man, he felt even more grateful to him.

However, the crippled man did not respond to Ermao's words. Ermao was quite helpless, as he had no idea why the crippled man was in a bad mood. Without any clue, it was difficult to offer effective comfort.

After traveling several miles, they reached a pine forest. Seeing mushrooms under the trees, Ermao ventured into the forest to collect them. When he was a child, the crippled man had taught him various ways to forage for food. Now, Ermao could not only identify different mushrooms but also knew which wild vegetables and fruits were edible. If they encountered a small stream, he could also catch fish.

After continuing on their way, the cart not only had a bag of pine mushrooms but also a bundle of pine branches. In summer, there were many mosquitoes, and the smoke from burning pine branches could help keep them away.

By sunset, the two of them began looking for a place to rest. Ermao had experience in this. When camping in the wild in summer, it was best to find a high spot with large trees but no grass. A higher elevation provided cooler air, and large trees could offer shelter from rain and mist. No grass meant fewer mosquitoes.

Soon, they found the perfect spot—on the ridge of a mountain by the roadside, with a tall oak tree providing ample shade. It seemed that this spot was often used by travelers to take shelter from the rain and rest, as there were several flat stones under the tree, and the ground around them was hard and barren.

After propping the cart against the tree, Ermao began to prepare the meal. The crippled man never did such chores; in fact, he didn't know how to cook but insisted on making Ermao learn.

The cart carried a large water hyacinth, so there was enough water to wash the vegetables and cook. The meal was simple—pine mushrooms boiled into a porridge with corn, and two salted fish roasted over the fire.

Just as the meal was ready, the sound of galloping hooves came from the east. Soon, three fast horses appeared, carrying their riders.

By now, it was dark, and Ermao could not see the riders' faces, but he recognized their horses by the sound of the horseshoes he had crafted for them the day before.

As they approached, the three riders slowed down, dismounted, and one man hurriedly said to Ermao, who was holding a ceramic bowl, "Blacksmith, we need two new horseshoes."

Just as the crippled man hesitated whether to take on the job, Ermao put down the bowl and walked over. "Sure thing."

"Quickly, we're in a hurry to get on the road," the young man said, handing over the reins.

"Don't worry, last time you gave me extra reward money, so I'll be quick. Replacing the horseshoes will take at most half an hour."

Wealthy people valued their time more than money, and to save time, they didn't mind spending extra. Hearing Ermao's words, the young man knew that Ermao was someone who wouldn't take advantage, so he pulled out a handful of copper coins and handed them over. "Two quarters of an hour."

"Two quarters of an hour!" Ermao nodded firmly.

Before he could pocket the coins, the crippled man ran over and took them. The three men were displeased with his actions but said nothing.

While Ermao hurriedly worked, the three men sat on the stones under the tree, clearly in a bad mood, sighing and muttering.

Seeing the young woman frown, the young man sitting to her left said, "Junior sister, don't worry. As long as we invite Master Bai He to perform a ritual, we'll definitely find it."

The young woman shook her head. "Master Bai He has been in seclusion for many years. We might not be able to get him to help. Even if he agrees to come out, it's not certain we will find it. You know, finding an object is not the same as finding a person; people have birth dates to go by."

Before anyone could respond, the young woman added, "Even if Master Bai He is willing to come out, and even if we find it, we won't have enough time. With the back-and-forth, it will take at least ten days."

After she finished speaking, the young man sitting to her right spoke, "Junior sister is right. Our men have sealed off the beach, but news will leak. Before long, the authorities will catch wind of it."

Ermao was busy with his work, but his ears were sharp. From the conversation, he deduced that the three of them had been among the people on the beach last night. It was clear that they were searching for something related to the dragon, but not dragon scales—there was something else they were looking for.

As for Master Bai He, he was likely a very skilled practitioner. In the martial world, there were two main sects: one made up of practitioners of magic and the other of martial artists. Both practiced energy cultivation, but the former used magic, while the latter used martial arts.

Besides these two types of people, there was also a third kind—shamans—who could communicate with spirits. Their role was to receive and convey messages from deities, and they were generally high-ranking and difficult to approach.

"I know where there's another water dragon," the young man said.

"That's no good," the young woman shook her head. "Only a dragon horn from a successfully transcended dragon is useful."

At this point, the young woman sighed again. "Where could it have fallen?"

Hearing the young woman's words, Ermao suddenly stopped what he was doing. The mention of "dragon horn" and "fallen" reminded him of the object he had found the previous night. It did indeed look like the horn of something, and it certainly seemed to have fallen from a great height...