Chapter 120: The Big Bundle
The Teli Tribe? Wu Youren perked up immediately. *If you're talking about that, I'm wide awake!*
Unfortunately, after saying that single sentence, the speaker fell silent, leaving him scratching his ears in frustration.
He patiently listened for another half hour, but what the various factions had to say was truly nothing worth mentioning.
Still, he had gleaned a bit of intelligence—such as the fact that Liang was considering opening up its ability master system to the barbarians.
On a national level, that was huge, but Wu Youren's reaction was simple: *What the hell does that have to do with me?*
He hadn't even figured out his situation as a hostage yet; how could he have the bandwidth to ponder Liang's domestic politics?
Taking advantage of the early hour, he slipped away quietly in the rain.
What he didn't know was that shortly after his departure, a voice sounded along the mountain ridge: "Whose family did that ability master just now belong to?"
Then an alarmed voice replied, "Greetings, Master Pharmacist. He was not from our Mohe family."
"Bring him in," the voice ordered faintly. "Dead or alive!"
The knights who had been conversing exchanged glances. Capturing someone sounded simple enough, but... where was the person?
Yet none of them objected—they didn't even dare voice a doubt. The person speaking was a genuine ability master.
Even so, trying to find someone at this point essentially came down to pure luck.
The knights passed down orders, and groups of three to five martial artists dispersed into the surroundings to begin searching everywhere.
Hardly anyone held out any hope or cared to search diligently; going through the motions to put on a show was enough.
On one hand, an ability master had given an order, but on the other, if they actually found the person, that target was an ability master too.
In a situation like that, what was the point of talking about "dead or alive"?
As Wu Youren made his way down the mountain, an inexplicable flutter stirred in his chest, as if some danger lurked behind him.
Instead of picking up speed, he reined in his inner breath even further, letting the rain soak him as he moved with heightened caution.
He even heard martial artists behind him beginning to scour the mountain, and various lights flicked on.
There were flashlights, intensely bright noble-gas bulbs casting harsh beams, and even military-grade searchlights.
Yet they weren't much help; the relentless sheets of rain severely weakened the beams.
If anything, it made it easier for Wu Youren to see the path as he crept quietly down the slope.
Only after putting over a kilometer between himself and the foot of the mountain did he gradually quicken his pace, slowly releasing his inner breath to the surface of his body.
Steam began to rise from his clothes, but he was already drawing farther and farther from the mountains.
Two hours later, when he scaled the perimeter wall of Red Pine once again, his clothes were already half-dry.
Returning to his cabin, he gave his haul a quick inspection. Everything was in order, so he buried the bundle beneath the vegetable garden.
When he awoke the next morning, the sky was already bright, though the unending autumn rain continued to fall.
The fifteen days agreed upon with Grand Instructor Hong Yan arrived in the blink of an eye, yet Hong Da didn't reach out to him.
Wu Youren was more than happy to have the peace, concentrating on studying the systematic materials on ability master awakenings.
As for Lei Lixing, there still hadn't been any reply from that side.
Liu Jingming dropped by twice and didn't bring up the matter either; naturally, Wu Youren spared himself the trouble and wouldn't bring it up on his own.
Liu Jingming had come to press for more honey, as his supply had been out of stock for over two months.
Wu Youren told him, however, that he was currently resting and recuperating and had no time to head out.
He even advised Liu Jingming not to fixate entirely on this venture; it wasn't a proper business, so it would be wise to quit while he was ahead.
Liu Jingming had helplessly replied that his ability to barely scrape by right now depended entirely on this.
"I'd love to earn money killing Guizu like you do, but... people just aren't the same."
This was the downside of social entanglements.
Wu Youren also knew he was telling the truth. Although Liu Jingming was slightly better off than he had been in the past, this wasn't Hostage Manor either.
There were many places where money had to be spent, and wanting to cultivate cost even more.
In the end, Wu Youren could only comment vaguely that scarcity marketing had its merits too—it could actually drive up profit margins.
By the twentieth day, he felt he had digested most of the materials and was considering whether to head out to buy another batch of mixed sugars.
Right at that moment, the female knight returned and asked how his reading was going.
After taking back the small box, she brought Wu Youren to see Instructor Hong.
Chatting along the way, Wu Youren learned that Hong Da had given instructions not to disturb him recently so he could focus on studying the materials.
The female knight even asked curiously, "What were you actually studying? Was it something about ability masters?"
It was evident that even she wasn't entirely certain.
Wu Youren replied that she had better ask Hong Da about that, adding, "Though as for being an ability master... do I look like one to you?"
The two arrived beside Qingze Lake. Grand Instructor Hong was seated in a pavilion, leisurely gazing at the water with a pot of black tea beside her.
Qingze Lake was the largest lake in Red Pine, spanning fifty to sixty thousand square meters; its waters were clear and shallow, having once been a marsh.
Beside the pavilion, a male knight stood on guard to prevent anyone from disturbing the grand knight.
Seeing them approach, Hong Yan waved a hand. "Sit. Let me tell you about the next mission."
Surprisingly, the mission she assigned this time had nothing to do with the Guizu crisis in Suotu Town, but was instead set in Xuanlingshan Town.
The town lay on the fringes of the imperial territory, under Tianjing's jurisdiction, but it was exceedingly remote.
It covered a vast area with sparse population; Mount Xuanling occupied a large portion of it, surrounded by numerous rolling hills.
Guizu incidents had frequently occurred there in the past, and subsequent investigations confirmed that a small Guizu domain had already fully formed.
This domain had not expanded outward, but it was exceptionally perilous inside; it had claimed many knights and even severely wounded grand knights.
However, the Guizu relics produced there were plentiful—far exceeding what Suotu had yielded this time—and the output was steady.
The domain was small and contained, while Great Liang had so many ability masters who needed relatively reliable sources of Guizu relics.
Thus, Liang regarded the site as a fixed resource; rather than rushing to eradicate it, they adopted a method of periodic harvesting.
Normally, the military guarded it to prevent martial artists from trespassing and to keep watch against any outward spread of the domain.
Recently, as the Guizu crisis in Suotu Town worsened, the domain at Mount Xuanling had also grown somewhat unstable.
The authorities now intended to investigate what was happening inside, rallying various factions to head in.
Red Pine had to deal with Suotu Town, so it wasn't obligated to send a team.
Yet the Martial Academy figured that if there were any benefits to be had, wouldn't they be missing out by staying away?
At the end of the day, the resources in Mount Xuanling's domain had always been in high demand.
Though the danger was great, the rougher the seas, the pricier the fish—who didn't understand that logic?
Moreover, the domain had formed long ago, so people had already mapped out most of its conditions, which lowered the risk considerably.
Red Pine needed a grand knight to lead the expedition, and Grand Instructor Hong took on the assignment.
She explained the situation briefly, then looked toward the youth from Jin. "Interested?"
"Count me in," Wu Youren answered without hesitation.
After a moment's pause, he added, "Would traps and mechanisms be useful there?"
"There will be many other teams, so traps..." Hong Yan hesitated; traps might injure friendly forces.
After a moment of thought, however, she asked, "Do you want to prepare materials?"
"Yes," Wu Youren nodded. "Better to have them and not need them than to need them and have nothing."
"All right, I understand," Hong Da gave a slight nod. "Draw up a list, and I'll have someone prepare it."
It wasn't that she insisted on taking everything upon herself; rather, the two of them had already agreed before that she would cover the expenses.
Besides, how much could such items cost? More importantly, if the youth went shopping himself, certain supplies might not be easy for him to obtain.
The two then agreed that once the supplies were assembled, Wu Youren would be given two days to do preliminary work on the mechanisms before they departed.
When Instructor Hong received the list, however, she was somewhat taken aback and made a point to contact him via her wrist watch.
"What do you need so much mixed sugar for?"
"To replenish stamina, and it can also aid combustion," Wu Youren replied self-righteously. "The energy density is very high."
Instructor Hong ended the call, unable to keep from muttering, "'Energy density'... Is that how people from Jin describe it?"
Two nights later, Liu Jingming, having waited with bated breath, finally received the notification: "Come get the honey!"
Early the next morning, the female knight arrived in an off-road vehicle to pick up Wu Youren.
Next, she picked up the male knight from that day, and finally Hong Da.
The grand knight didn't ride her motorcycle this time because the distance was too far; the journey alone would take over a dozen hours.
Interestingly enough, in addition to the four of them, Knight Rossi was there as well.
No one knew what connections he had pulled, but the female knight's explanation was simply: there were quite a lot of supplies.
The vehicle Rossi had cobbled together didn't look like much, but it was exceptionally practical.
The five of them in two vehicles drove until late into the night before finally arriving at Xuanlingshan Town.
Strictly speaking, the total distance was only a little over two hundred kilometers, but many of the roads had been built decades ago and were terribly rough.
After resting overnight in the town, the two vehicles reached the vicinity of the Guizu domain around noon the next day.
There was a military encampment here of considerable size, spanning tens of thousands of square meters with hundreds of rooms arranged in neat rows.
The female knight, Manna, registered with the sentry and was granted entry after being verified.
The military assigned them two adjacent rooms, one for the men and one for the women.
That afternoon, the five rested and chatted with martial artists from other factions.
The encampment functioned somewhat like a resupply station; after spending extended periods in the Guizu domain, martial artists could step outside to recuperate.
There were also those who entered the domain in the morning and came out in the evening; all sorts of arrangements existed.
Hearing that this domain covered more than two thousand square kilometers, Wu Youren couldn't help remarking, "That's not exactly small, is it?"
"Suotu Town's area has already exceeded ten thousand square kilometers," Rossi said gravely. "This place really is small. Luckily, it doesn't spread."
Not far away, a middle-aged knight lying on a lounge chair spoke up lazily upon hearing that.
"The Guizu have no need for hunting territory. The perils here are far beyond your imagination."
Wu Youren understood the concept of hunting territory. In plain terms, it was how many square kilometers were needed to sustain a single tiger.
Calculated that way, two thousand square kilometers was indeed not large—at best, enough to support a hundred or so knight-level beasts.
However, the spawning of Guizu had nothing to do with such concepts.
Anyone who thought a small area meant they could let their guard down was gravely mistaken.
Hearing this, Rossi retorted indignantly, "I only said it was small, not that it was weak!"
Chapter 120