The more you believe me, the more true I am. Chapter 005

Zhao Laosan and the others were wondering why the horse demon felt familiar.

The horse demon, standing on its hind legs, imitated a human and knelt on the ground, raising its two hooves and repeatedly bowing to Du Yuan, saying:

“Master, please be merciful and let this little horse go this once. This little horse truly did not harm anyone’s life!”

These words made a young man from the horse gang shout, feeling unacceptable:

“Master, don’t listen to its nonsense! If this fellow truly didn’t intend to kill us, why did it chase after us?!”

As soon as these words came out, the horse demon lowered its head even more aggrievedly and said:

“It’s not that I was afraid you would come back and ask the Master to subdue me. At first, I truly only wanted to quietly release my kin and then leave by myself.”

Du Yuan, amidst the crowd, immediately pointed out the problem. It naturally knew, and naturally feared encountering someone with true ability.

“It’s just that I also hesitated whether to chase after you. Firstly, I wanted to end it here, and secondly, secondly…”

Saying this, the horse demon cautiously glanced at Du Yuan like a human.

This made Du Yuan laugh.

Clearly, if he feared it, it feared him even more.

Du Yuan sighed in his heart, while behind him, several young men from the horse gang angrily said:

“Isn’t that still you wanting to chase after us and kill us?”

The horse demon quickly waved its hooves and said:

“No, no! If I really wanted to kill you, I could just grab a handful of pebbles and throw them at you, and you’d at least lose a layer of skin even if you didn’t die.”

“Then why did you chase after us?”

The horse demon’s voice immediately grew softer. It lowered its head and mumbled:

“Just, just, I wanted to scare you away, to make you scatter and flee in the forest, not daring to come here, to avoid more trouble. But I didn’t expect I hesitated too long, and you ran too fast, so you all ended up coming here…”

At this point, Du Yuan also understood. This horse demon truly wasn’t very intelligent. It didn’t genuinely want to harm people, nor could it truly let go, nor did it have the courage to truly go all out. It was indecisive and timid, and as a result, it ended up in its current state.

This was truly…

Du Yuan didn’t know what to say.

However, on second thought, if it weren’t for this incident, who knew when he would realize that he might possess something extraordinary.

Considering it this way, was this actually a good thing?

Du Yuan was speechless for a moment.

And the horse demon tentatively said:

“Master, this little horse truly has no intention of harming anyone, so, can you let me go?”

Upon hearing this, the horse gang immediately grew anxious.

Because their packhorses hadn’t returned yet!

They could accept losing the goods; they could tighten their belts and endure.

But if the packhorses were gone, they truly wouldn’t know how to survive.

So Zhao Laosan and the earlier strong man quickly said:

“Master, no,”

The words were on the tip of their tongues, but they couldn’t help but glance at the still kneeling horse demon.

This was a demon. Without the Master, they couldn’t afford to provoke it.

And the Master also seemed unwilling to kill this demon that didn’t intend to kill anyone.

Therefore, they quickly changed their words:

“Master, we naturally have no problem letting it go, but, but please, Master, do not let this demon take away our packhorses!”

Upon hearing this, everyone immediately reacted and quickly knelt down, saying:

“Yes, Master, those packhorses represent most of my family’s lifelong savings!”

“Master, if the packhorses are gone, we won’t exactly be dead, but we’ll be pretty much the same as dead!”

“Master, Master, I’m kowtowing to you, you must make it return our packhorses, even if only six are left!”

…

Let alone a horse gang like theirs, formed by pooling money from villagers and neighbors, even a proper horse gang would find it a life-threatening matter to suddenly lose all their packhorses.

Not to mention the packhorses, even the goods themselves were a huge deal to them.

One must know that the cargo escort contract was still tucked in Zhao Laosan’s oilcloth pouch. If the goods weren’t delivered before the beginning of autumn, the deposit had to be repaid fivefold.

Moreover, without the packhorses, they would not only lose face returning to their elders and fellow villagers, but they would also completely lose their livelihood. They would be completely unable to cope with the upcoming corvée labor, military service, and taxes.

This wasn’t about loving money; this was genuinely about life and death!

Through conversations with passersby, Du Yuan also knew what packhorses meant to them.

Seeing these people kowtowing and kneeling, still complaining bitterly.

The horse demon knew it couldn’t take away its kin.

So it could only lower its head and sigh softly, comforting itself that it had tried its best, and now being able to save its own life was good enough.

As for the other horses, it truly had no other way.

But unexpectedly, Du Yuan said:

“Not six horses, but all the horses will return!”

Upon hearing this, the horse gang naturally rejoiced, while the horse demon’s expression changed drastically.

“Master, you, you, you can’t do this!”

The horse gang might not understand, but how could it, having been beaten back to its original form, not understand what Du Yuan was saying?

This was telling it to go back too!

But the horse gang members didn’t like hearing that.

They immediately reprimanded:

“You demon, Master has already shown great mercy by sparing your life, how dare you not even let our horses return? Those are our lifeblood, bought with real money and silver, not stolen, not robbed, heaven and earth know our conscience!”

But as he spoke, it was Zhao Laosan, the first to realize, who suddenly came to another realization and said:

“Wait, are you, are you Red Stone?!”

They had eight packhorses, each one their cherished darling, so naturally, each had its own name.

And Red Stone was the name of the horse Zhao Laosan often took care of.

Because its mane was crimson, and because country folk were uneducated, it was called Red Stone.

The reason he hadn’t recognized it was due to the sheer fear of encountering a demon, plus the horse demon was standing, so Zhao Laosan only now, relying on its striking red mane, recognized that it was their horse!

And besides, who would have thought their own horse would be a demon?

The horse demon didn’t refute, but just rolled its eyes and said:

“Yes, I am the Red Stone you call.”

Upon hearing that it was true, several horse gang members immediately exploded:

“You’re our horse, and you actually want to harm us?!”

These words also made the horse demon explode:

“What do you mean, your horse? Humans are born of their mothers, aren’t horses born of their mothers too? I have parents, when was I ever yours?!”

Surprisingly, there was some truth to that, which momentarily left several strong men from the horse gang at a loss for words.

However, very quickly, Zhao Laosan cursed:

“Then what about all the food we gave you? My wife, she economized and even wove cloth for half a year just to get me half a sack of white flour cakes and forty or fifty eggs, I gave them all to you to eat!”

These words choked the horse demon.

It could only lower its head and say:

“So, so that’s why I didn’t want to harm your lives, otherwise I would have kicked you to death with one hoof long ago…”

It clearly had no confidence in these words itself, so its voice was not loud.

“I’ll kick your grandpa’s head!”

…

The horse gang members, unable to tolerate their well-fed horses betraying them, burst into curses, and the horse demon naturally cursed back.

One must say, as expected of those who travel mountains and rivers, they had a lot of foul language.

So much that Du Yuan was amazed.

After listening for a while, knowing it was time to intervene, Du Yuan interjected:

“Don’t you all be anxious.”

Because Du Yuan was a Master, both the horse demon and the horse gang were willing to listen to him.

The two sides, who had just been cursing each other, instantly ceased fire and looked at Du Yuan in unison, hoping he could uphold justice.

Du Yuan first pointed at the horse demon and said:

“Red Stone, I’ll call you that for now. I ask you, did the horse gang members abuse or beat you, to the point where you could no longer bear it?”

Red Stone mumbled a few times and then said:

“No.”

Then it added:

“And they treated me quite well. The food was clearly better than that of horses from other horse gangs. The things they carried weren’t dead heavy, and when they encountered difficult paths, they would even voluntarily unload the goods and carry them themselves…”

If they had truly been bad, when it gained sentience and wisdom, it wouldn’t have thought of secretly releasing its kin, but rather of immediately killing these fellows.

Du Yuan nodded and continued to ask:

“Then have you seen how other wild horses survive?”

Red Stone fell silent.

Finally, it turned its head and said:

“Anything is better than being treated as a tool, right?”

Du Yuan shook his head and said:

“Wild horses have no shelter to withstand wind and rain, sun and snow. Wild horses also have no voluntarily brought horse feed and mixed fine grains. Nor can they have a specialized doctor treat them when they fall ill.”

“When wild horses encounter wild beast attacks, no one will come to drive the beasts away. So wild horses generally do not live past twenty years. While domestic horses can live for about thirty years.”

Seeing the horse demon about to speak, Du Yuan interrupted it again, saying:

“I know what you’re going to say, wild horses at least live freely, right? That’s natural, domestic horses certainly can’t see the scenery wild horses have seen, but have you ever thought that only you, this enlightened spirit horse, would think this way?”

Spirit, spirit horse?

Both the horse demon and the horse gang members were somewhat lost in thought at this term.

Wasn’t it a demon?

Seeing their expressions, Du Yuan, knowing his intention had been achieved, continued:

“In all things, what is gained is often lost. How can there be a perfect solution?”

“So, I will tell you a way out. Listen first. If you are willing, that’s good. If not, you can all disperse, and I will not stop you.”

The horse gang members, who probably realized something, naturally bowed and said:

“Please, Master, speak clearly.”

The horse demon wanted to speak, but after thinking of something, it finally remained silent.

Du Yuan nodded and then looked at the horse gang members, saying:

“And what about you all?”

How could the horse gang members say no?

Anyone with eyes could see that this was a serendipitous opportunity brought to them by the Master, who had lowered his status for them!

“Willing, willing!”

Seeing the matter conclude perfectly, Du Yuan, who had maintained a dignified demeanor, let out a long sigh of relief.

Finally, it was dealt with!

The horse gang and the horse demon simultaneously bowed to Du Yuan, saying:

“Thank you, Master, for making this happen!”