Chương 265: Mount Xuanwu

Sword Forging City, Giant Whale Merchant Guild. Hearing that Master Song had arrived, the manager of this place, Wu Qian, personally hurried out to greet him.

"Young Master Song, your outfit is truly... highly creative!" Looking at this guy's appearance—hair messy like a chicken's nest, a thick, bushy beard, wearing wild and rugged clothes, yet dangling a tiny sword no bigger than an ear of corn at his waist—Old Wu had to hold back for quite a while before finding a few suitable words to spit out. Whether it was praise or mockery, even he didn't know. Regardless, Song Que didn't mind:"Haha, Mr. Wu jokes. It's mainly to hide from people's eyes and ears."

A disguise like this probably attracts even more attention than normal! But Wu Qian was too embarrassed to say those words. Pretending not to mind, he invited him into the room. Taking a sip of tea, Song Que finally asked:"Mr. Wu, I wonder if there is any progress on the matter I entrusted to you earlier?"

"Young Master Song arrived just in time. News came back last night." The very first sentence set Master Song's heart at ease. Old Wu continued:"According to your description of Mount Xuanwu, if there is no mistake, it should be a mountain range in the Tangxi Commandery, located in the border region between the Jiannan and Shanxi Circuits. This place is rich in a precious mineral called Xuanwu Stone, and many illegal 'black' mines operate in secret there.

The slave drivers likely just used that name for the mining area. Matching the conditions you provided, I can be eighty percent sure that is the exact location." Eighty percent was enough; doing his best was all that mattered. Grandee Song didn't ask for the impossible. He immediately cupped his hands to the other party:"Many thanks to Mr. Wu for this great favor!"

"Haha, Young Master Song praises me too highly. It was merely lifting a finger." Even disregarding the fact that the other party carried the Golden Token, just the name Song Que alone made Wu Qian very willing to bestow favors upon him. This guy was currently famous among the younger generation, and his potential had been verified by Young Master Hui Wu. The 'Heavenly Eye' wasn't just for show; when it came to judging people, it was spot on!

The probability of him becoming a peerless expert in the future was nearly seventy to eighty percent guaranteed. Why wouldn't he try his best to build a connection? Accepting the detailed intelligence Wu Qian handed over, Master Song wasn't in a hurry. He continued chatting with him about all sorts of things under the sun, happily accepted an invitation to stay for lunch, and only stood up to take his leave afterward.

Through Wu Qian's recount, he also learned the full story of what happened at the Sword Forging Villa that day. That night, after Song Que and the Silver-Armored Jiangshi fled the Sword Tomb in a panic, the White Lotus Cultists used a brutal and barbaric method to forcefully accelerate the process— a barbaric shortcut that sought to cheat the natural order by forcing its growth. The sword planted in the middle of the magma lake rapidly awakened its sentience, becoming a true Divine Sword...

or rather, it should be called a Demonic Sword. The moment the Demonic Sword was born was exactly when the people of the Jade Mountain Daoist Temple gathered enough forces to counterattack. The clash between the two sides at that moment could be described as heaven-shaking and earth-shattering. Even though Song Que was far away, with his mind focused on communicating with that fellow Little Tian, he could still feel the earth trembling incessantly. The outcome was considered mutually destructive.

With the Demonic Sword in hand, the White Lotus Holy Mother's combat power surged, allowing her to fight Perfected Jade Emptiness to a standstill. Although her subordinates were at a disadvantage, they were fierce and unafraid of death, making them incredibly difficult for the opposing side to deal with. In the end, both sides paid a heavy price. After losing a significant amount of manpower, they reached a tacit understanding to withdraw their troops.

Rumor had it that no less than five First-Tier experts died in that battle. Song Que didn't know if Old Brother Blood Robe had the 'fortune' to be among them; he held great expectations regarding this. However, given that dog's cunning nature and myriad of methods, it was highly unlikely. Grandee Song didn't have much interest in inquiring further. That very day, he set off toward the Tangxi Commandery....... This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

Tangxi Commandery. As the border region between the Jiannan and Shanxi Circuits, unfortunately, this place had no major official roads passing through. There were only treacherous mountain paths for trade between the two sides. Because of this, the economy wasn't very prosperous. Furthermore, given its remote and dangerous terrain lacking in profitable resources, the government couldn't be bothered to manage it. This created the perfect conditions for the dark factions to run rampant.

Bandit dens here could be said to spring up like mushrooms after rain; no matter how many were eradicated, they could never be fully wiped out. When Jiannan's troops came to suppress the bandits, they would flee to Shanxi. When Shanxi clamped down, they would return to Jiannan. Over time, the imperial court simply turned a blind eye, allowing these factions' arrogance to grow increasingly rampant, brazenly occupying mountains and building strongholds everywhere.

With Master Song dressed like an African refugee, he still somehow caught the eye of these indiscriminate scumbags. Along the journey, he encountered three groups of grass bandits. It must be that these desperate, sex-starved homos intended to rob him of his 'purity.' After all, he didn't carry a single valuable item on him besides a broken sword! For the sake of his 'chrysanthemum,' what else could Master Song do? Naturally, he had to rise up and resist to the bitter end!

This pure child, Little Tian Dao, was also given its first taste of blood by its daddy, acting mighty and majestic for a while. Conveniently collecting a batch of blood essence, Grandee Song happily continued his journey. Upon arriving at Tangxi City, the situation wasn't much better. Every few minutes, people on the streets would draw sabers and swords to hack at each other.

To live in a place like this, if one didn't have profound skills, they had to cultivate nerves of steel and stop taking life and death to heart. Flexing a body full of muscles to intimidate the rats secretly eyeing him, he finally managed to relax and find an inn in the city to stay at for a while. Over the next few days, Song Que went nowhere, focusing entirely on using Lightning to investigate the situations at the various black mines in the surrounding areas. By now, he finally had some leads.

There were many black mines here, but only one was large enough to boldly use 6th Grade martial artists as coolies. It was located about fifty miles outside the North Gate. That place could already be called a massive construction site: the buildings were sturdy, the security was extremely tight, and the miners swarmed like ants. If he couldn't find the sworn brother of the Yang sisters here, then Master Song would truly have no choice but to give up. To go this far was already doing his utmost to help.

The Moon-Lacking Pavilion must be extremely busy with work right now. Having identified his target, Song Que hesitated no longer. He found a coffin in the city to serve as a resting place for Brother Silver Armor, bought a bunch of food and water to store in his spatial inventory, and secretly headed out the North Gate to investigate personally....... The Xuanwu Mine. Located in a remote mountain valley, it had only one entrance: a path through a ravine.

The cliffs on both sides were sheer and thousands of feet high, making it extremely perilous. This was one of the important properties of the God-Slaying Sect, so the security was naturally incredibly strict. Furthermore, relying on the natural geographical advantage, they only needed to build a single layer of defensive walls blocking the entrance. It could truly be said that one man holding the pass could stop ten thousand men.

Even an army of thousands with ten thousand horses would have to swallow their hatred and retreat if they attacked this place. Song Que had been here for three days. He didn't dare get too close, merely finding a hiding spot a few miles away. Every day, he used Lightning, or casually caught birds flying into the valley, to scout the situation. The outlook wasn't very optimistic. Leaving aside the impassable mountain ranges surrounding it, the security force guarding this place was not to be underestimated.

There was one 7th Grade True Qi realm First-Tier expert, along with nearly two hundred well-equipped, vile-tempered, and ruthless martial artists who killed people like cutting grass. Furthermore, there were over a thousand mine slaves here. All of them had their heads shaved, wore identical clothing, and had a brand seared onto their foreheads with hot iron, completely ruining their appearances. Trying to find someone he had never even met among this crowd was like searching for a needle in a haystack.

Song Que was starting to feel this was an impossible mission. Moreover, he couldn't even confirm if that Brother Hu Zi was definitely being held here. Making a massive scene to break in and rescue someone, only to realize it was a massive blunder, would truly be a joke. Master Song needed to observe more before making a decision........ At this moment, inside the mining area. Song Que's soul fragment possessed a bird, staring coldly down at all the movements below.

Every day toward evening, the mine slaves were escorted back to the surface by the guards, gathering in an empty courtyard to rest and eat. During this time, the highest manager here—the First-Tier expert, Lord Qin—would make an appearance. Naturally, it wasn't to visit and encourage the exhausted slaves. In the center of the courtyard, a person was kneeling. This person's hands and feet were firmly nailed to the ground by four heavy iron chains, rendering them immobile.

But despite being bound so tightly, he still struggled madly, his eyes filled with endless terror as he begged tragically. The people sitting far away around the courtyard merely stared blankly in this direction; not a single person showed any compassion.

"Lord Qin, this is the one who didn't complete his quota today." A guard overseeing the area bowed respectfully upon seeing his superior arrive and reported.

"Kekeke... very good!" The First-Tier expert laughed coldly.

"You can't even finish such a tiny amount of work! What use does this old man have for keeping you around besides wasting food?!"

"No! My Lord, please spare me this once! Tomorrow! Tomorrow I will do double the amount to make up for it!" The person kneeling on the ground twisted madly, begging in a hoarse voice. But looking at his sallow, emaciated body and the festering, rotting wounds covering his limbs, no one believed he could accomplish such a task. Qin Jin didn't believe it either. His voice transmitted like the chilling cold of the Nine Nether Underworld:"Useless trash. Die!"

"No!!!".... Clanggggg!