Chapter 604
Traveling Together
"The seeds of trouble left over from back then... it's time to get rid of them..."
……
The ancient castle in the dark, within the palace that is eternally shrouded in darkness.
An old man dressed in ancient black court attire, like the most loyal shadow, stood silently beneath the throne of bones, reporting to the Night Queen who sat enthroned above.
"Your Majesty, according to the information we have gathered so far, the force that intercepted Jiang Xuan en route mainly came from the Chi family. It was led entirely by Chi Cangmei, the eldest daughter of the Chi family. She has enlisted the help of Xu Qianjing, the 'master of tactics' from the Shence Branch of Qinglu Academy, to plan the operation. The manpower and resources mobilized so far are all within the 'Spirit Sea Realm and below' range."
The Night Queen, shrouded in shadow, shifted slightly, and her indifferent voice rang out.
"What about the observatory? What exactly is that old man trying to test?"
The old man bowed slightly.
"This old servant is incompetent and has not yet been able to ascertain the exact intentions of the Observatory in this matter."
Their actions seem to rely entirely on the Chi family, and they themselves are extremely well hidden.
"Continue the investigation."
"The Queen of the Night commanded."
"Understanding the intentions of the Star Gazing Platform might help us understand why Lu Boyai chose to live in seclusion in the Purple Abyss Mine. Furthermore..."
She paused, then continued giving instructions.
"Go and investigate further to find out which members of the Jiang family were still living elsewhere after the great calamity they suffered back then, and what their current situation is."
The old man seemed hesitant and said in a low voice.
"Your Majesty, the Jiang family's affairs... are far too complex, and Jiang Xuan's mother's identity is even more special. If we investigate further, I'm afraid..."
"Go check."
The voice of the Queen of the Night is beyond question.
“If Jiang Xuan can really come to the Forbidden City, he should know these things. As for the rest… I have my own considerations.”
"Yes, this old servant obeys."
The old man said no more, bowed deeply, and slowly disappeared into the darkness.
……
After leaving Blood Wolf Plains, Jiang Xuan experienced several ambushes and encirclements of varying scales. With his strong strength, keen perception, and various "little gadgets" he had prepared, he survived them all without serious danger, but it also kept his mind constantly on edge.
Seven days later, he crossed a swampy area filled with poisonous miasma and finally arrived at a post station at the foot of the Maple Mountain Range.
This post station was quite large, mainly to facilitate travelers and merchants to transfer or wait for the spirit-patterned shuttle carriages that could traverse the treacherous Fengwan Mountains. At midday, a number of people had gathered in the open space in front of the post station, including weary merchants, cultivators traveling in groups, and many ordinary people struggling to make a living.
When Jiang Xuan appeared at the entrance of the post station, the previously noisy open space instantly quieted down.
His blue robe was stained with dark red blood and mud, making it look somewhat worn. On his back, he carried an exaggeratedly shaped, wide-mouthed battle sword and a longbow made entirely of some kind of pale bone, with a bowstring as red as blood.
The continuous fighting and travel over the past few days had naturally given him a sharp, lingering murderous aura, especially in his eyes, which flashed with a fierce light that made people afraid to look directly at him.
The [Boundless Spirit Bow] on his back exuded a faint yet chilling aura that penetrated the soul, as if it were forged from the bones of countless vengeful spirits, causing ordinary people and low-level cultivators around him to feel a strange sense of unease and panic.
For a moment, the crowd in front of the post station seemed to have seen something extremely dangerous. They instinctively retreated, clearing a large area. Their gazes toward Jiang Xuan were filled with apprehension, suspicion, and even a hint of fear, as if they were avoiding a venomous snake that would devour its prey.
Jiang Xuan was slightly taken aback, then realized something.
He took a deep breath, trying to suppress the murderous aura that had unconsciously emanated from his body due to days of fighting, and forced a slightly apologetic and peaceful smile on his face, trying to make himself look less aggressive.
He also felt somewhat helpless.
His recent experiences have forced him to remain on high alert at all times, his mind as taut as a fully drawn bowstring. He naturally exudes a sharp aura that keeps strangers at bay, especially the malevolent energy of the [Boundless Spirit Bow], which is difficult to completely conceal. No wonder it makes these ordinary travelers so uneasy and fearful.
The enormous spirit-patterned shuttle emitted a deep hum, its massive body shimmering with flowing spiritual light. It slowly started moving, beginning its journey along a fixed track towards the treacherous Maple Night Mountain Range.
The carriage was quite spacious, but a large portion of the seats around Jiang Xuan were empty.
He deliberately suppressed the unsettling aura emanating from him, trying his best to appear calm.
Seeing this, the surrounding passengers relaxed slightly, no longer as frightened as before, but the fear and scrutiny in their eyes remained, clearly still regarding him as an extremely dangerous person, and no one dared to approach.
Jiang Xuan was happy to have some peace and quiet, and took this opportunity to start taking stock of the spoils he had obtained from the several ambushes he had encountered over the past few days.
In the seven days since leaving Blood Wolf Plain, he has not found peace, but instead has encountered three ambushes that are larger in scale and more cunning in their methods.
The first time was in a dense primeval forest.
Forty enemies, highly skilled in stealth and assassination, equipped with "thornwood crossbows" with extremely penetrating power, launched a sneak attack on him using the complex terrain.
On that occasion, Jiang Xuan again used stealth against stealth and assassination against assassination, bringing the skills of the Bloodthirsty Camp to their extreme. After a fierce battle, he himself suffered seven not-so-light injuries, and finally managed to kill most of the enemies. Only thirteen people managed to escape by chance thanks to their familiarity with the terrain.
That trip was very fruitful; they obtained a lot of high-quality pills, thorny crossbows, and some magical artifacts specifically for assassins.
The second time was in that swamp filled with poisonous miasma.
Fifty enemies had set up a trapping and killing formation called the "Nine Dragons Binding Spirit Formation" in advance, attempting to trap him and kill him within the formation.
However, they never expected that Jiang Xuan was not only a powerful warrior, but also a highly skilled spirit rune master! He keenly perceived the weak points in the formation's operation and, with his exquisite spirit rune skills, forcibly seized control of part of the formation, guiding its power to turn against its master, annihilating all fifty enemies within the formation he had set up, while remaining unharmed himself.
That battle yielded the most spoils; the materials used for setting up battle formations and the equipment carried by the enemy alone were incredibly valuable.
The third time was when he was crossing a vast lake. The enemy used modified spirit-patterned ships and two hundred elite cultivators to surround and annihilate him on the water, intending to crush him with their overwhelming numbers and geographical advantage.
Faced with such a formidable force, Jiang Xuan did not engage in a direct confrontation. Instead, he used a rare artifact he had obtained by chance—the "Heavenly Water Sacred Pearl." With the pearl's extraordinary power, he directly submerged into the bottomless lake and slipped away silently like a fish, causing the enemy's ambush on the lake's surface to completely fail and return empty-handed.
Upon inventory, the spoils obtained from these battles, including various pills, spiritual materials, crossbows, and spiritual weapons, totaled over ten thousand gold coins! This doesn't even include the array materials and special items that cannot be immediately converted into cash.
This was undoubtedly a huge windfall, which also indirectly proves the enormous resources that the enemies who intercepted him had invested.
Just as Jiang Xuan finished taking inventory, packed up his belongings, and was about to close his eyes to rest, a childish voice rang out beside him.
"Big brother, your clothes are dirty and torn." Jiang Xuan looked down and saw a little girl, about three or four years old, with two pigtails and rosy cheeks, holding a neatly folded, clean blue cloth robe made of ordinary fabric. She looked at him timidly and curiously.
Jiang Xuan was slightly taken aback. Following the little girl's gaze, he saw a simply dressed woman with a kind face smiling at him from a distance. She nodded slightly to Jiang Xuan, her eyes filled with goodwill.
A long-lost warmth, seemingly from the depths of a distant memory, quietly welled up in Jiang Xuan's heart.
Looking into the little girl's pure, innocent eyes, devoid of any fear or scrutiny, a genuinely gentle smile involuntarily appeared on his face.
He took the clothes and said softly.
"Thank you, little sister."
When the little girl saw Jiang Xuan accept the clothes, she smiled happily, revealing two small dimples.
She seemed to think that this older brother, who looked a bit fierce, wasn't actually scary, and mustered up her courage to ask in a childish voice.
"Big brother, I'm so bored playing by myself. Can you chat with me?"
Looking into the little girl's expectant eyes, Jiang Xuan felt a touch of tenderness in his heart.
He smiled, reached out and gently picked up the little girl, placed her on the empty seat next to him, let her sit on his lap, and said softly.
"Okay, what do you want to talk about?"
The little girl tilted her head, looked closely at Jiang Xuan's face, and suddenly said.
"Big brother, you're not fierce at all, and... you're so pretty, just like the porcelain doll my mother bought for me."
"Pfft..."
Jiang Xuan couldn't help but laugh out loud at her innocent remarks. He patted her head and chuckled.
"You can't use the word 'pretty' to describe a boy."
Why?
"Because boys say handsome or dashing."
"Oh...you're very handsome, big brother!"
"Haha, thank you for the compliment."
Their childish yet heartwarming conversation, though not loud, was clearly heard by the surrounding passengers.
They watched as the menacing young man, now displaying such a gentle smile, patiently chatting with a strange little girl, had his sharp features replaced by tenderness.
In an instant, the somewhat tense and stagnant atmosphere in the carriage quietly eased. Many people's gazes towards Jiang Xuan were no longer purely apprehensive and fearful, but rather held a hint of surprise, and even a subtle trace of friendliness.
This seemingly dangerous boy also seems to have a gentle and kind side.
The power of warmth and kindness is sometimes so simple and direct that it can easily melt away the ice and prejudice in people's hearts.
……
Inside that ancient mansion in the Forbidden City.
Xu Qianjing sat upright in front of a stone table filled with files and maps, his sallow face still bearing the same calm and unchanging expression.
On the table in front of him were detailed intelligence reports on Jiang Xuan's recent movements, as well as summary reports after each failed ambush.
His slender fingers tapped lightly on the table, his clear eyes flashing with analytical light. After a long while, he spoke slowly, his voice gentle and calm, as if stating a fact unrelated to himself.
"Based on all the intelligence available so far, we can draw three key conclusions."
"First, this boy comes from the Blood Killing Camp and is extremely skilled in techniques such as surprise attacks, counter-surprise attacks, stealth, and assassination. It can even be said that these techniques have become second nature to him."
His perception of danger far surpasses that of his peers; taking him down through simple ambushes and sneak attacks would be extremely difficult.
"Secondly, he is a spirit pattern master, and a skilled one at that. His ability to seize control of the 'Nine Dragons Binding Spirit Array' during the battle in the swamp is proof of that."
This means that ordinary methods such as formations and spirit pattern traps will have limited effect on him, and might even be used against him.
"Third, he possesses some means or treasure that allows him to stay submerged for extended periods, even evading detection. The failure of the lake raid stems from this."
He raised his head and glanced at the several deputies at the table, whose expressions were not good.
"In the first two ambushes, we underestimated his ability to fight in extreme environments as a member of the Blood Killer Camp, as well as his skill as a spirit rune master."
The third operation to raid the lake failed due to a lack of intelligence; they hadn't anticipated its underwater stealth capabilities. Thus, all four raids ended in failure.
His calm, almost cruel analysis made his deputies' faces even uglier.
One of them couldn't help but complain.
“Mr. Xu, since we know this boy is so troublesome, why do we keep sending people to intercept him on the road, wasting manpower? Why not gather all our forces and crush him head-on with overwhelming force on the road he is bound to take! Or change our strategy and stop being so conservative!”
Another person chimed in.
"Yes! We still have six Purple Ying warships! Why not just deploy them and launch a barrage of attacks from the air while he's traveling through the Maple Evening Mountains in his spirit-patterned shuttle? No matter how many tricks he has up his sleeve, can he really withstand the bombardment from the warships' main guns?"
"That's right! Being so restricted is incredibly frustrating! Mr. Xu, is your title of 'tactical mastermind' earned through this kind of play that constantly feeds kills?"
Some even spoke with sarcasm, clearly extremely dissatisfied with the series of failures.
Faced with the complaints and doubts of the crowd, Xu Qianjing showed no sign of anger on his face, and his eyes did not even flicker.
He seemed not to hear those harsh words, and calmly put away and organized the intelligence files on the table one by one.
Only after everyone had finished venting and were staring at him expectantly did he slowly raise his head, looking through the window towards the southwest, where the Fengwan Mountains were located.
A faint, almost imperceptible curve appeared at the corner of his mouth, and his voice remained gentle and calm.
"Why are you all in such a hurry? Let him safely cross the Maple Evening Mountains... before we take any action."
"As for what happens next... I've prepared a 'surprise' for him in the Maple Dusk Mountains. I hope he... will like it." (End of Chapter)