Chapter 85

"Being able to travel so far on your first trip, you truly have good luck..." The man was taken aback for a moment, then let out a dry laugh and couldn't help but speak up.

"Thank you, thank you, my luck is indeed quite good," Wei He replied.

"Since that's the case, why don't you come over to our side for a brief chat? We can also discuss the arrangements for tomorrow. What do you think?" the man continued.

"Then I'll be a bother," Wei He said.

Wei He went back to the courtyard to inform Jiang Su, and then followed the middle-aged man to a neighboring earthen-walled courtyard.

The two courtyards were separated by just a wall, quite close, so he wasn't worried about any accidents happening due to the distance.

In the center of the courtyard, a fire was burning brightly.

Wei He, the old man from the caravan, the black-veiled woman, and two young men were sitting together.

The rest of the caravan members were scattered around the courtyard, eating dry rations and tending to their personal belongings.

Wei He knew nothing about the Hidden Sword Gorge, but he was bold and decided to come alone to make contact with them.

This way, he could get a sense of the situation and gather some intelligence.

The leader of the group was the old man surnamed Wang, the one who had first spoken to Wei He. His name was Wang Zichong.

At that moment, he was carefully putting away a map he had just organized, as if he had been making annotations.

After putting away the map, he looked up at Wei He.

"Young brother, you must have come from a nearby city. To dare travel with just a few people is truly impressive."

"Not at all, Old Master Wang, you flatter me," Wei He said lightly. "If it weren't for necessity, who would willingly leave their hometown?"

"Not flattery, this is a barren land in Yunzhou, far different from Taizhou. The path you've taken leads to Taizhou, which is fraught with danger. Even with the beast-repelling incense, there are still many kinds of venomous insects. To make it here unscathed is already quite remarkable," Old Master Wang praised.

"If I'm not mistaken, young brother, you must also be heading to Taizhou to seek a master, right?" he continued.

"That's correct," Wei He nodded, indeed, he was going to seek a master.

"To be honest, I'm the same. I'm taking my granddaughter to seek a master there. Taizhou is known for martial arts, and it's the most stable place among the nearby states."

He sighed.

"If there were more choices, I wouldn't want to leave my hometown and travel to such a distant place."

He pointed to the black-veiled woman and whispered.

"My granddaughter, Zhenqi, has shown exceptional talent since childhood and is obsessed with martial arts. After our hometown suffered a disaster, we decided to move to Taizhou. It's also a chance to seek opportunities in a larger place."

Zhenqi? Wei He glanced at the black-clothed woman with her face covered.

No matter how he looked at it, this group didn't seem to have a grandfather-granddaughter relationship. From his perspective, the core of this group was the black-clothed, masked woman.

The others behind Old Master Wang would occasionally glance at her cautiously, as if they were following her commands and watching her mood.

They thought he couldn't see it, but with the decades of experience Wei He had gained from his穿越, he could understand the meaning of subtle expressions and details.

With a bit of deduction, he had a good idea who the key figure was.

"By the way, I forgot to introduce these two. They are also traveling with us. They joined us along the way.

One is Xue Chengyong from Sucheng, and the other is Qian Hao from Beifu City."

Old Master Wang introduced the other two to Wei He.

"I am Wei He, from Feiyecheng," Wei He greeted with a bow.

"Xue Chengyong," one of them, with a somewhat handsome face and a large red mole on his lip, lazily raised his hand in response.

The other calmly and steadily bowed, nodding at Wei He.

"I am Qian Hao, nice to meet you, Brother Wei."

Just from this greeting, the different personalities of the two were evident.

Wei He immediately felt some goodwill towards Xue Chengyong. This type, who showed his emotions openly, was his favorite. Simple and straightforward, he didn't have to worry about any underhanded tactics when dealing with him.

Qian Hao was different.

Of course, it couldn't be ruled out that he was deliberately pretending, and more observation was needed.

At this point, Old Master Wang's attention shifted to the Hidden Sword Gorge for the next day. He explained how to pass through it and the absolute precautions to take, regardless of whether Wei He, Xue Chengyong, and Qian Hao's groups knew about it beforehand.

All three agreed.

The most important point in passing through the Hidden Sword Gorge was not to kill the birds. Even injuring them was not allowed.

Otherwise, they would surely attack in a group.

After emphasizing this several times, Old Master Wang discussed the distribution of resources. Originally, passing through would require a full portion of beast bait, but with four groups sharing, each could contribute one-fourth, greatly saving resources.

The journey was long, and beast bait was a precious consumable that should be conserved whenever possible.

After the discussion, everyone returned to their respective courtyards.

Throughout the entire conversation, the black-clothed woman named Zhenqi did not speak, not even a word.

Only after Wei He and the others left did she slightly raise her head and look at Old Master Wang.

"Is there anything wrong with these people?" Zhenqi's voice was somewhat hoarse, but it still had a feminine quality, though it was clearly cold.

"No issues, they all have something to hide, but when traveling, those who don't keep anything back are long dead and wouldn't have made it this far," Old Master Wang answered seriously.

"Alright. If anything seems off, let me know. It's better to act early than late," Zhenqi said calmly.

"Special Envoy, the others might be manageable, but Wei He seems to have unusual qi and blood, not like a second qi and blood person," Old Master Wang reminded.

"No problem, at most he's a third qi and blood. He has some strength, but it's not strong, and he doesn't have the characteristics of bone forging. As long as he hasn't entered the realm of strength, I can kill him as easily as taking something from a pocket," Zhenqi said calmly.

"Special Envoy, tomorrow is the nest of the birds. It's best to avoid bloodshed if possible," Old Master Wang said with a bitter smile.

"I have it under control. Don't worry, I won't harm the innocent," Zhenqi said lightly, stood up, and went into the inner room.

On the other side.

Wei He returned to his courtyard and saw Jiang Su standing guard, looking vigilant and ready.

"You're finally back!" Jiang Su let out a deep breath. Without Wei He, she felt uneasy.

The others also approached, seemingly feeling safer near Wei He.

"Did you learn anything?" Jiang Su asked.

"Quite a bit," Wei He recounted the agreement and the information he had gathered from Old Master Wang, including the potential problems along the way and the beast-repelling incense.

"I told you, if there's a path, there must be something to rely on. It turns out there's such a thing as beast-repelling incense," Jiang Su nodded.

She paused, then hesitated, "What do you think we should do with them? Ignore them or make some contact?"

"Don't worry about it. We'll go our own way. If I find anything wrong, I'll handle it," Wei He said calmly.

During the month-long journey, he wasn't just traveling. He had killed many travelers with ill intentions along the way.

"Um... there can't be that many bad people... It's better to understand the situation before taking action," Jiang Su shuddered. In recent days, Wei He's killings had been swift and decisive, sometimes striking before finishing a sentence.

One dart, and a life was taken.

"Besides, they're traveling in the wilderness, so they must be strong..."

"No problem. Only the black-clothed woman and the old man surnamed Wang have some strength. The rest don't matter.

Just be prepared. If anything happens, follow my signal and act first," Wei He instructed.

After this journey, Wei He had a good understanding of his own strength.

Among the three-blood martial artists, his combined strength from the two cultivation methods was extremely powerful. With the enhancement of the Flying Dragon Technique, he was quite agile and likely in the upper-middle tier among three-blood martial artists.

Of course, the key wasn't just strength. In a fight, what truly decided life and death was a combination of various factors.

Wei He was confident that even if his opponent was stronger, as long as they hadn't entered the realm of strength, once the fight broke out, the one who would survive would be him.

"Alright, I understand," Jiang Su nodded. In recent days, she had seen just how ruthless and decisive her junior brother could be.

In the wilderness, any suspicion meant a deadly strike, and his decisiveness was almost instinctive.

"Alright, let's go to sleep. I'll take the first watch, and you'll take the second half of the night," Wei He instructed.

"Okay," Jiang Su nodded.

The night passed without incident.

The next morning, the two groups set out one after the other, following a somewhat indistinct path.

After about an hour, the path ahead suddenly ended, and a large gorge appeared.

It looked as if it had been split by a giant axe.

At the bottom of the gorge was a turbulent river, and there was an old, dilapidated bridge over the river.

"That bridge is the Hidden Sword Gorge," Old Master Wang pointed to the bridge below.

"When crossing the bridge, please remember, no matter what happens, do not harm the birds. We have beast bait, so they shouldn't pay us any attention."

"Understood," Qian Hao nodded. "Thank you, Old Master Wang."

"I have no issues," Xue Chengyong said casually, fanning himself with a folding fan, accompanied by two followers.

"Same here," Wei He nodded briefly.

The two groups, totaling over twenty people, quickly descended the mountain to the bridge.

Old Master Wang's caravan went first, followed by Xue Chengyong and Qian Hao, and finally Wei He and his group.

The stone bridge was full of holes and gaps, and the railings were broken in many places, making it look quite dangerous.

In the misty air above the gorge, large birds could be seen circling, but it was unclear if they were the birds.

"Everyone, be careful. There are sixteen bridge pillars. I will throw the beast bait at the third pillar.

Then, at the eighth pillar, it will be Qian Hao. At the twelfth pillar, it will be Xue Chengyong, and finally, after crossing the bridge, it will be Wei He. Please be cautious," Old Master Wang instructed carefully.

Each group agreed.

Slowly, the three groups began to cross the bridge.

Old Master Wang threw a small, black object to the left side of the river. It flew far away.

Immediately, a low, rumbling sound filled the air, and at least dozens of birds flew out from the gorge, chasing after the object.

"Go!" Old Master Wang shouted.

The three groups quickly accelerated.

When they reached the one-quarter mark, the birds that had been lured away returned and swooped down on the group.

"Go!" Qian Hao, without a word, threw the pre-divided one-fourth of the beast bait in the opposite direction.