Chapter 89: Rewarding Merit

By suppressing it with the seal of office and burning it to ashes.

There was not much to it, yet it revealed the hidden secret of this world: the greatest fairness was also the greatest injustice.

Shen Shi finally understood why, in this strange realm, so many people would die one moment and be restored to life the next.

The laws of heaven and earth were not flawed; they simply followed the path of leaving a thread of life.

This campaign to wipe out the horse bandits had been a success. Not a single man under Shen Shi had even been injured. And because of that, Shen Liang placed even greater importance on training the men under his command.

This was only natural. On the civil path, Shen Shi had achieved nothing. On the martial path, however, he kept winning merit, just as he had this time. After the bandits were destroyed, Bao Zheng even drafted a memorial and submitted it to the imperial court. This delighted Shen Liang beyond measure.

Equally delighted were the two women of the Shen family. With son and grandson returning in triumph, the old matriarch was of course overjoyed. Yet even now, though her happiness was genuine, her worry remained. So the daughter-in-law, likewise in high spirits, naturally had to continue her task: bearing children.

And for such a task, Mrs. Shen had only one answer: no problem.

She had no problem with it, but Mr. Shen did. Tilling the fields every day was more than he could bear.

"Why do you keep badgering me? Why don’t you go and badger your own son instead?"

When a man reached this point, admitting defeat was impossible. But diverting disaster elsewhere was entirely possible.

To Shen Liang, he had absolutely no desire to have another child. What he wanted now was only to win merits, great merits at that. He would even betray his own son for the cause. So long as his son married and had a child, he would be freed at last. However...

"How can you compare yourself to Shi-er? Shi-er is no ordinary man. You are. I worry about you, but I do not worry about Shi-er."

Between son and husband, Mrs. Shen trusted her son more.

This, however, had bruised Mr. Shen's pride. "I'm not as good as him? His skills were all taught by me."

In truth, this had merely been a couple's banter; it would have passed without issue. But by now, the Shen household was no longer what it had been. In particular, the men who had learned the Shen family martial arts came flocking to the Shen home of their own accord, bowing as disciples. The grace of a teacher could never be forgotten.

And so these words were heard by the men beneath his command, by these "disciples."

"Wow! If Master is that amazing, then wouldn't Young Master be our senior brother?"

They had fought alongside Shen Shi and knew full well how formidable he was. Having such a senior brother filled them with pride.

"Senior brother? He only learned a tiny bit of my craft..."

Still, a man's mouth, when bragging, was truly shameless. Of course, it was also possible he was boasting on purpose, so as to escape his wife's lair.

Thus, when the subordinates asked for a demonstration, he went with great generosity.

At the training grounds, after a round of warm-up exercises, they began sparring and testing one another.

"Dazhuang, you go first and show them," he said. He only wanted to escape the den of danger. Put nicely, compared with the tenderness of family life, he preferred training troops.

Shen Dazhuang nodded coolly and stepped out to stand in the center of the field.

Among them, Shen Dazhuang had the best natural talent, and he was also the hardest worker. It was only natural that he had the highest skill.

Shen Liang first ordered one of the men to step forward and spar with Shen Dazhuang.

The result was obvious. Before ten moves were out, Shen Dazhuang had knocked him to the ground.

"Old Shen really is formidable," said the man who had been kicked flying, as he got up and raised his hands in surrender.

"Of course. Old Shen has never lost a fight since he was little," said another.

"Exactly. If I went up there, I probably couldn't even last three moves," added someone else.

They had grown up in the same village and fought shoulder to shoulder. They knew exactly how strong they were.

At that point, Shen Liang offered his judgment: "You've been training too little lately. If you worked as hard as Dazhuang, you could have lasted three more moves."

His remark made the man who had been beaten look miserable. "Master, only three moves?"

"What's wrong with three moves? Three moves is already quite a lot."

"Then Master, what if we run into that zombie from that night?"

Their true purpose was now exposed. "Master, when will you teach us how to deal with those unnatural things?"

"That..." Shen Liang was dumbfounded. How was he supposed to know how to handle zombies? That night, he might not have said much, but in truth he had only forced himself to remain calm.

What was he supposed to do if he had bragged too much and then could not solve the problem? Go to his son, of course! After all, he simply did not want to plow fields; it was not as though he feared his son.

Shen Shi saved those men, and everyone else went back to their own homes. Only Xi Hou was brought back with them.

Her knife wounds were not severe, but they could not be allowed to fester. Given the era's understanding of inflammation, Shen Shi naturally surpassed any so-called famous doctor.

This time, however, he did not do it himself. Modern people might accept a male physician, but in this age it was wiser to be mindful of such matters. Fortunately, Shen Shi had Lady Eight and Lady Fourteen by his side; it was enough to have them do it.

Remove the blade, clean the wound, disinfect, and apply medicine.

That was work they were willing to do. If they were unwilling, they would only need to draw out true energy. Lady Fourteen was willing enough, but Lady Eight was not. Not only was she unwilling, she would not even let Lady Fourteen do it.

"Eighth Sister, it's fine. It's only a breath of true energy," said Lady Fourteen, unconcerned.

Lady Eight replied, "My dear sister, you're kindhearted, but others are petty. They wouldn't even spare a single wisp of spiritual energy."

Lady Eight bore grudges very well. She was, after all, a kind of "Dragon King"—false, yes, but many people believed it. For the sake of the world's spiritual energy, she had taken on the body of a fox and kept company with horses. Whatever horses ate, she ate. She subsisted on grass day after day until her legs had grown thin from running. And the spiritual energy? Not a drop.

At her complaint, Shen Shi thought it over and said, "What Lady Eight says makes sense."

"You hear that? He says I make sense too."

What Lady Eight liked most was this: Shen Shi never regarded her as a demon or a wicked spirit. Otherwise, even with the blood oath binding her, she would have fled long ago. The blood oath merely prevented her from betraying Shen Shi; it did not restrict her freedom of movement. And yet she had never left.

"Since I’m so reasonable, shouldn't you reward me?"

Though she stayed, Lady Eight was very direct. She opened her mouth, and her pink tongue slipped out in a coquettish, almost childish way. Truly, after spending too long with Little Gurgle and the others, even asking for things had become dog-like.

The way she looked now, she did not resemble a fox temptress at all.

"Those who have rendered service should be rewarded," Shen Shi nodded.

"Really? That's wonderful!" Lady Eight's mouth opened even wider, stretching so broadly that her cheeks split apart. With an expression like that, she could have gone straight into a ghost film.

"Come forth!"

With a gesture toward the heavens, Shen Shi summoned the seal of destiny and office from his inner palace.

"Lady Eight and Lady Fourteen have protected the human race with merit; they should be rewarded! Go!"

He pointed to the seal of office, and from it flew out two streams of fortune, shooting straight into the fortunes of Lady Eight and Lady Fourteen.

As the fortune entered their bodies, Lady Fourteen felt her mind brighten and clear, as though the great path were now within reach. Lady Eight likewise felt lighter and stronger, as if some of the burdens upon her had been lifted.

"What is this? How can this be?" The changes in their bodies were real, and the two foxes were astonished and delighted.