Chapter 64

In the back of Shaoyang Mountain, at the foot of the mountain, there was a round, emerald-green pond. Two large, nearly three-meter-tall, obese men stood by the pond.

One of them was one of the two large, obese men Wei He had encountered the previous night.

Apart from the two largest obese men, there were also dozens of ordinary disciples scattered around, and four inner disciples in white robes.

Wei He estimated the distance between himself and the group to be about twenty meters.

It was still morning, approaching noon.

The sunlight was scorching, and the dry grass was like a steamer.

Among the people by the pond, one of the large, obese men seemed to be shouting loudly, his emotions extremely agitated.

Wei He slowly moved along the dry grass on the mountain.

The mountain wind rustled through the grass and trees, perfectly masking the noise of him pushing aside the dry grass as he moved.

As he got closer, he began to feel the cool breeze coming from the pond.

'No wonder this group is gathered here,' Wei He thought to himself.

But what he was more concerned about was the content of their conversation.

As he got closer, the voices from the pond gradually drifted over.

".... Gather the people from the east, otherwise don't let it happen like last time, where those guys from the Seven Families Alliance took advantage of the situation! We lost two entire bunkers of beast bait! How am I supposed to explain this to the Master?!"

The voice, though fluctuating in volume, was finally clear enough to understand.

'This has happened three times this month, and more than half of the goods have been intercepted. If the agreement can't be completed, you know the consequences!'

"I know, but what can I do? The two teams I sent out were killed halfway, and there are only so many inner disciples! Now a third of them are dead! If this continues, the entire Shaoyang Sect will be exhausted!" another voice said angrily.

"Those guys are too fast, more agile than monkeys. We can't catch up! We need to find a way to block them!"

"I have a plan."

"What plan? Speak quickly!"

".... Friend on the mountain, why don't you come out and have a chat?"

Wei He's heart skipped a beat.

Through the grass, he saw one of the large, obese men by the pond suddenly turn his head and look in his direction.

"Friend, you've had several conflicts with our Shaoyang Sect, but those were minor issues.

I am Zheng Yue, a patrol envoy of the Shaoyang Sect. I have something important to discuss with you. If this matter is successful, the reward will definitely satisfy you, and all previous grievances will be forgiven."

The large, obese man with thick black eyebrows had a gentle face and a calm voice as he spoke loudly to Wei He.

The other person was slightly startled and also looked over, clearly not having noticed anyone nearby.

The other Shaoyang Sect disciples became alert and looked in Wei He's direction.

For a moment, the pond was silent, with only the wind whistling through the trees.

At this point, Wei He knew he had been discovered.

But he was bold due to his skills and did not get up, remaining hidden in the grass. He then spoke in a muffled voice.

"What does Patrol Envoy Zheng have to say? Speak and let me hear it."

As soon as he spoke, he was ready to move away from his position at any moment.

But the other party really did want to talk and had no intention of attacking.

Zheng Yue spread his hands to show he had no hostility.

"Friend, you must be the expert who dealt with our earth bunker before. Your palm strength is formidable, and your speed is incredible. I admire you. May I ask your name?"

Name?

Wei He's mind raced.

"Call me Ghost Man."

"Ghost Man? Alright, then, Brother Ghost Man. To be honest, our Shaoyang Sect urgently needs to hire a speed expert to help intercept the assassins from the Seven Families Alliance." Zheng Yue said frankly.

"The reward is ten Food Stabilizing Pills. You can verify their authenticity."

"Food Stabilizing Pills? What are those?" Wei He did not hide his ignorance.

At this moment, he intended to extract more detailed information.

In this world of Qi and Blood martial artists, he seemed to lack many things.

"One Food Stabilizing Pill can replace a month of cultivation, quickly replenishing Qi and Blood and compensating for the energy spent in practice." Zheng Yue's eyes flashed with a hint of surprise but he still explained seriously.

"I don't want Food Stabilizing Pills, I want gold notes!" Wei He, after extracting the information, did not care about its authenticity and immediately changed the reward. Gold notes were the most practical, and who knew what tricks might be hidden in the food.

"Gold notes are fine. After the task is completed, the reward will be placed in a location you specify. How about that?"

"No, I need an advance payment. Otherwise, who knows if you'll break the agreement after I help you?" Wei He said in a muffled voice.

"How do we know you won't take the advance and run?" Zheng Yue said in a deep voice.

"That's your problem. You need my help, not the other way around. So you have to take the risk.

Moreover, I need to see the difficulty of the task to set the price. The Seven Families Alliance is not an easy opponent." Wei He said bluntly.

Zheng Yue fell silent.

Indeed, he had thought of this plan on the spot. The speed of the Seven Families Alliance's expert was too fast, and although they were confident they could defeat him, they couldn't catch up.

But if there were one or two Qi and Blood experts to delay him, they had a high chance of catching up and eliminating him!

"Here's the deal. The Seven Families Alliance recruited a notorious bandit, Chen Zhao, known for his Wind Chasing Legs. Just his head alone can fetch two thousand taels of gold at Hong Family Fort. After the task is completed, everything Chen Zhao has, including the bounty, will be yours. Before the task, we will pay you two thousand taels of gold and a hundred pounds of barbarian bear jerky. How about that?"

"Too little." Wei He began to haggle.

He had randomly robbed people on the mountain before and managed to get over a thousand taels of gold notes.

"Too little!?" A total of four thousand taels of gold notes and a hundred pounds of barbarian bear jerky, this Ghost Man's appetite was too big!

Wei He actually had no idea how much the barbarian bear jerky was worth; he was just habitually raising the price.

Since he wasn't the one in a hurry to find help, he might as well raise the price as much as possible.

After some haggling, both parties reached an agreement.

Wei He would help intercept Chen Zhao of the Seven Families Alliance during tomorrow's transport.

Defeating, killing, or delaying him would earn different rewards.

Additionally, Wei He asked some common knowledge questions, and Zheng Yue answered them sincerely.

The Q&A was very quick.

A short while later, Wei He quietly left, and on his way back, he knocked out an inner disciple of the Shaoyang Sect and took him down the mountain.

......

......

......

Behind Shaoyang Mountain, in a vast coniferous forest, there were several iron mines of varying sizes.

Around these mines, the Shaoyang Sect had built a large circle of earth walls and had patrol teams guarding day and night. Wind wolves roamed back and forth, constantly watching for anyone trying to escape.

Inside one of the mines.

Wei Chun spat and stomped hard, looking at her coughing parents behind her.

Wei Shitou and his wife looked haggard, huddled in a corner, dozing off. They were only wearing thin hemp clothes.

Since being captured by the Shaoyang Sect, the three of them had been digging in this dark mine. They had to dig a certain amount of iron ore each day to get food.

Fortunately, Wei Chun had exceptional talent and strength. When she entered, she pretended to be an ordinary person, allowing her to secretly help her parents with their work.

She had been sensible since childhood, often helping her parents take care of her younger siblings. Now, despite the dangerous situation, she still took the initiative to shoulder the responsibility.

However, it was unclear how long this life would continue.

Wei Chun wiped the sweat from her brow and looked at the faint light from the mine entrance.

The sunlight was blinding, and she couldn't remember the last time she had been outside freely. Her skin had become increasingly pale due to the lack of sunlight.

"I wonder how Xiaoying and Xiaohé are doing..."

It was unfortunate; she had been captured while on a mission for her gang.

Her parents, on the other hand, had been captured by a One-Ear during a surprise attack and were later sold to the Shaoyang Sect to work in the mines.

Initially, they thought they would never have a chance to leave, but recently, it seemed there was a glimmer of hope.

......

......

......

In another forest near Feiye City.

Wei He threw the fat man to the ground and searched him, finding a variety of items for ambush and deceit.

"This guy is really devious!" Wei He thought to himself as he searched.

The fat man had three bags of lime, two vials of poison, a bag of poison powder, a bag of poison darts, and some live poisonous insects and spiders in a breathable woven bag.

Wei He, without hesitation, took everything except the poisonous insects.

He stood in the forest, waiting quietly for a while.

The fat man slowly regained consciousness.

"Who attacked me?!" The fat man sprang up, his belly jiggling with a wave of fat.

"I did." Wei He said slowly.

His voice startled the fat man.

He seemed to have never imagined that someone could be standing so close to him.

Soon, the fat man's expression changed as he recalled what had happened.

"Please spare me, sir!" He quickly knelt down.

"..." Wei He was speechless.

"Sir, if you have any questions, I'll answer them all! I won't hide anything!" The fat man quickly added.

".... You're quite sensible." Wei He paused, "I'll ask you... two years ago, did your Shaoyang Sect intercept and kill a group of craftsmen heading to Mingde Temple to carve Buddha statues?"

"Two... two years ago?" The fat man trembled, "Sir, two years ago, we couldn't have been capturing people. At that time, we were ordered to search for a woman with the code name Black Worm. We had no time to capture people and bring them back..."

"Black Worm?!" Wei He's heart skipped a beat. He hadn't expected to get this key information.

"Is that true?" He asked in a deep voice, unconsciously drawing a short knife from the fat man's body, ready to kill him if he lied.

"Absolutely true. At that time, most of our sect members were searching for Black Worm. We had no time to capture people for the mines." The fat man quickly answered.

"Are you sure!?" Wei He drew the short knife, his gaze cold.

"Sure! Absolutely sure!" The fat man shouted, "At that time, it was the Xiangqu Sect that was often capturing people! We rarely did! Sir, you should investigate the Xiangqu Sect. They were crazily capturing people to burn incense and force them to join! It might have been them!"

"Xiangqu Sect?" Wei He noted this down.