Guarding the River of Time-Chapter 291 - 282: Ox-Head and Horse-Face, The Tenth King, This Is How Reincarnation Should Be Cultivated!
Very soon, from the jungle beside the riverbank, two rows of orderly teams started to emerge one after another.
The leader on the left was a "little man," about one meter tall, with purple-black skin, long arms, a human body, and a bull’s head.
The other leader on the left was also a "little man," about a meter thirty tall, but a bit more frail and thin. His arms were also long, and he had a human body with a horse’s face.
Behind the "bull head" and "horse face" were a bunch of strange creatures, carrying stones on their shoulders.
As they got closer, the two little leaders bowed slightly to the skinny old man with solemn expressions, but upon closer inspection, you could see that their sidelong glances were unintentionally sizing up Su Mu, their eyes full of admiration and awe.
"What is this?" Su Mu inquired.
The skinny old man smiled as he introduced, "Senior, these are my two subordinates, also my capable deputies. This is Xiao Niu, and this is Xiao Ma."
After such a prominent introduction, Xiao Niu and Xiao Ma shivered in shock, feeling both honored and surprised.
"Aren’t you going to greet the senior?" The skinny old man lowly reprimanded them when he saw the two standing there like wooden posts.
.....
"We’ve met, venerable senior."
"We’ve met, venerable senior."
The voices of Xiao Niu and Xiao Ma, one gruff and the other hoarse, were very distinct and varied. But what was identical was the excitement that could be heard from their voices.
"Old Ten, your subordinates... are quite peculiar."
Su Mu was momentarily at a loss for adjectives and could only describe them as "peculiar." It wouldn’t be appropriate to say that his subordinates all look "oddly formed," would it?
Old Ten just laughed heartily and said nothing more.
...
"Where did you find these materials?"
Su Mu gazed at the pile of stones on the ground, casually picked one up, looked it over, and was quite astonished.
Because, in all his time patrolling the river, he had never seen such stone material.
"These were brought from home, you can’t find them outside." The skinny old man explained, "These materials are specially crafted by us and don’t form naturally."
Hearing this, Su Mu nodded, "No wonder...."
...
With the materials to repair the stone bridge available, Su Mu picked up the large iron hammer and started fixing the broken stone bridge.
The skinny old man was feeling uneasy and softly asked, "Senior, do you need any help?"
Su Mu waved his hand and said, "No need, just stay a bit further away. You standing so close is kind of in the way."
With those words, the skinny old man and Xiao Niu and Xiao Ma immediately took several steps back, making enough room.
Tang—
Tang—
Tang—
A series of metallic thuds rang out, causing the skinny old man to unconsciously swallow. He had been repairing bridges for most of his life and had never seen such a brutal yet elegant repair method!
Compared to the senior’s way of bridge repair, his own seemed like child’s play!
Xiao Niu and Xiao Ma were too shocked to speak, only feeling parched. They wondered what kind of person this venerable senior could be!
However, to be respected as a "senior" by "His Highness the Tenth Prince" must imply a terrifyingly high status. They, as mere small figures, only needed to do their jobs honestly, talk less, work more, and mind their own business.
Half an hour later, Su Mu straightened up, wiped the sweat from his forehead, and sighed with relief. The repair was finally done.
This was the first time Su Mu took so long to fix something.
The stone bridge looked ordinary, but it was surprisingly challenging to repair. If not for Su Mu being much stronger than before, it might have taken a whole day to fix, and he still might not have succeeded.
Seeing Su Mu complete the repair in just half an hour, the skinny old man, along with Xiao Niu and Xiao Ma, all widened their eyes in disbelief.
A project that took half a year, and the senior fixed it in just half an hour???
....
[Congratulations to the host for maintaining the stability and peace of the river. Reward: Favor Points +20000]
Upon hearing the system announcement rewarding twenty thousand Favor Points, Su Mu instantly didn’t feel tired anymore and was suddenly invigorated.
As the saying goes, all fatigue comes from not getting paid enough. When your monthly salary is a hundred thousand, never mind the 9-9-6 schedule, even a 0-0-7 wouldn’t be unacceptable, you might even feel guilty taking the money.
Fantastic! Earning twenty thousand Favor Points in half an hour, how is this any different from picking up money??
...
After finishing the repair, Su Mu called out to the dazed skinny old man: "What are you daydreaming about?"
"Come on, let’s hurry to the next place."
Su Mu’s words snapped the skinny old man out of his stupor and back to reality.
"Senior... do you really want to go?"
"You’ve already helped me a lot, I..."
"What are you babbling about? Hurry up and get on the ship to lead the way!" Su Mu frowned.
Time is money, not a minute to be wasted.
Thus, Su Mu, along with the skinny old man and Xiao Ma and Xiao Niu, boarded the Blackwood Ship, changed direction, and prepared to head to a new stretch of water.
...
To speed up the journey, Su Mu directly used the Water Control Divine Technique, accelerating the reversal and flow of the water.
"Go, go guide the senior." The skinny old man said to Xiao Ma and Xiao Niu. 𝐟𝐫𝕖𝗲𝘄𝚎𝗯𝕟𝐨𝕧𝐞𝚕.𝕔𝕠𝐦
With those words, Xiao Ma and Xiao Niu looked at each other, having years of experience, they fully understood the dangers involved.
They normally only collected souls and escorted some criminals, working hard to climb up to a small position. How could they dare get involved in such high-level causes and effects!
.....
Seeing Xiao Ma and Xiao Niu looking at him expectantly, as if they were about to burst into tears, their expression seemed to say, "Your Highness... are you really going to do this to us?"
Sensing this, the skinny old man felt compassionate. After all, they were longtime subordinates, and he didn’t want them to get involved with such karmic entanglements, which were too life-shortening.
Waving his hand, he said, "There’s tea in the cabin, you two go brew a pot for the senior."
"Okay!" Xiao Niu and Xiao Ma immediately scampered to the back of the deck into the cabin to start brewing tea.
.....
Then, following a similar pattern, the skinny old man grabbed a random little ghost from the engine compartment to do the guiding.
Under Su Mu’s control, the Blackwood Ship sped along.....
Dong--------
A loud crash echoed, forcing the ship to an abrupt stop.
The violent jolt of the collision caused the entire ship to tremble.
The skinny old man, who was meditating with his eyes shut, was startled, immediately stood up, and asked, "Senior, what happened?"
