In the military, talisman tokens granted different levels of authority depending on rank. The higher the rank, the greater the authority vested in the token.
"May I see it?" Lin Zheyu asked.
Han Mo thought it over and nodded.
A talisman token could not be plundered or taken by force, and Lin Zheyu was his junior martial brother, someone he trusted completely. Letting him look at it was harmless.
Reaching into his robes, he produced a medallion the size of an infant's palm, inscribed with Han Mo's name, ancestral home, and date of birth.
It was impossible to tell what metal the talisman token was forged from, but it felt warm and smooth to the touch, like caressing a piece of fine jade.
Lin Zheyu examined it carefully for a while, but discovered nothing unusual.
Aside from feeling like jade, the token appeared completely ordinary.
Had Senior Brother Han not mentioned its connection to battle arrays, Lin Zheyu never would have suspected there was anything special about it; he would have simply dismissed it as a commonplace object.
He had seen similar talisman tokens before on the bodies of the ten elite soldiers when he killed Xing Jinglong and his men.
The tokens carried by those soldiers were far more crudely made, lacking this warm, jade-like smoothness and feeling scarcely different from ordinary iron medallions.
At the time, he had assumed they were merely military identification tags and hadn't dared keep them, tossing them straight into a ditch.
He handed the token back. As for any further details, Han Mo was either forbidden from speaking of them or did not know them himself.
*Crack! Crackle.*
The bonfire burned. Lin Zheyu roasted meat absentmindedly, his thoughts lingering on the talisman tokens and battle arrays.
This involved the methods of immortal cultivators, something martial artists shouldn't have been capable of.
Yet both Master Liang and his senior brother had said that those who cultivated immortality all degenerated into demons. In his senior brother's words, immortal cultivation was even branded a forbidden art.
Something, somewhere in this world, had gone terribly wrong.
Dawn broke, and a golden sun crested the distant mountains.
Once morning came, Lin Zheyu bid farewell to his senior brother.
He intended to continue wandering through the mountains and forests to familiarize himself with the terrain while hunting down the bandits lurking within them.
None of those bandits were decent folk. With fewer bandits around, the common people might live a little more peacefully.
Before leaving, Lin Zheyu obtained a hand-drawn map from Han Mo; certain areas on it were far more detailed than his previous map.
*Rustle, rustle, rustle.*
The forest trees whispered in the wind.
A youth clad in tight-fitting martial attire, holding a map, darted swiftly through the wilderness, his movements so fast his figure passed in a blur.
The mountains and forests outside Songyi City were vast and sprawling. Though bandits were numerous, the sheer expanse of the terrain made running into them no easy task.
Lin Zheyu actively searched far and wide, yet over the entire day, he encountered only four groups of bandits, though he crossed paths with quite a few hunters and herb-gatherers.
Those hunters and herb-gatherers were exceedingly cautious; the moment they spotted him, they steered well clear, avoiding contact whenever possible.
By the time he returned to Songyi City, it was already late afternoon.
As he walked through the city gates, Lin Zheyu sensed a familiar gaze.
"Lin Zheyu?!"
At the gate, a Wuding Gang scout keeping watch froze in shock upon spotting him, then scrambled to his feet and bolted toward the Xing clan residence.
Higher-ups had ordered that any sighting of Lin Zheyu had to be reported immediately.
Lin Zheyu watched the man sprint away without making a move to stop him. The Xing clan would find out about his return sooner or later anyway.
*I wonder if they found Xing Jinglong's corpse yet?* Lin Zheyu mused inwardly.
Out in the desolate wilderness, the bodies had likely long been picked clean by wild beasts. Still, Lin Zheyu felt that with the Xing clan's resources, they would probably manage to locate the site.
Putting the matter out of his mind, Lin Zheyu headed straight home.
He set down his bulging bundles. This trip out of town had yielded quite a harvest.
Originally, he had thought he would at most obtain some healing medicine, poison powders, and concealed weapons from the bandits. He hadn't expected the pleasant surprise near Senior Brother Han's camp—running into bandits who had just intercepted goods from a caravan.
He washed up, changed into clean clothes, and stepped out again.
He was now a member of the Feihong Gang, sharing responsibility with Jia Yanyong and Xie Jiang for maintaining order across several streets around Baiwei Street.
Having been away for two days, he needed to check in with them and ask about a few matters.
"Where are Xie Jiang and the others?" Lin Zheyu asked a Feihong Gang lackey he ran into on the street.
"They're listening to music at the Hundred Pavilions."
"Good. Keep up the patrol."
Lin Zheyu patted the subordinate on the shoulder and walked toward the Hundred Pavilions.
"Brother Lin!"
"You're finally back! If you took any longer, I would've started worrying something happened to you out there," Xie Jiang greeted him with a laugh.
"The outskirts aren't that terrifying. If someone of my strength couldn't take a stroll out there without getting into trouble, the ordinary folks living outside the city would have all died off long ago," Lin Zheyu replied with a smile, taking a seat beside them.
On the stage, dancing girls were performing. They were fresh faces with fine figures, though their dance moves were somewhat unpolished.
"Did anything happen these past two days?" Lin Zheyu asked.
"Nothing at all. Everything's great."
"The New Year is right around the corner, so everyone's busy preparing for the festivities. Barely anyone's looking to cause trouble at a time like this," Jia Yanyong said.
He picked up a wine flagon and poured a bowl for Lin Zheyu. "Come, let's have a drink together, brothers!"
"Bottoms up!"
Lin Zheyu raised his bowl, clinked it against theirs, and drained it in one gulp.
"How did it feel going outside the city this time? Run into any formidable bandits?" Jia Yanyong asked curiously.
He was a battle-hungry fanatic who liked nothing better than picking fights with Xie Jiang and Ning Hui whenever he had free time.
If he went a few days without a brawl, he felt uncomfortable all over.
Jia Yanyong was fascinated by the bandits outside the city and had harbored thoughts of heading out to slay a few, but Xie Jiang had swiftly snuffed out that notion.
Xie Jiang believed that with Jia Yanyong's combative nature and aversion to thinking things through, venturing out alone was no different from courting death.
"I ran into a few. Their strength was just so-so," Lin Zheyu said, then asked, "I recovered a lot of jars and pouches containing medicinal powders and poisons from them, as well as envenomed hidden weapons. Do you know where I can offload that sort of stuff?"
He had bought poison from Manager Wu before, but could only procure small amounts; such contraband was strictly regulated within the city.
"Goods like that aren't easy to fence. Songyi City keeps a very tight grip on poison powders and concealed weapons. You could ask Ning Hui—he might know where you can sell them," Xie Jiang said.
Though Xie Jiang was usually fond of gossip, he rarely involved himself in that sort of business.
Back when the Bai clan was still around, Ning Hui's father had been a steward in their manor and was privy to many matters; Ning Hui might know a thing or two.
"All right, I'll go find him later."
Lin Zheyu nodded and leaned back in his chair, listening to the tune and watching the dance.
The group of somewhat inexperienced dancers finished their routine and stepped down, replaced by a troupe of familiar faces, drawing loud cheers throughout the pavilion.
Compared to the previous girls, who were pretty but unpolished, the crowd clearly favored this new group, whose lithe waists seemed boneless and whose every movement radiated sultry allure.
"I knew you'd be here!"
"Oh? Brother Lin, you're back! Did you have fun outside the city?"
A familiar voice rang out as Ning Hui walked over, greeting the group with a broad smile.
The territory he oversaw bordered Lin Zheyu's group, and whenever he grew bored, he frequently strolled over to hang out.
"The outside is desolate and crawling with bandits—what fun could there be?" Lin Zheyu remarked, sliding over to the right to make room for Ning Hui.
"You came at the perfect time. Brother Lin went out of town and looted a bunch of poison powders and concealed weapons off some bandits. Do you have a channel to sell them?" Xie Jiang asked.
"Is it a lot? If it isn't much, I can handle it for you," Ning Hui offered.
"Quite a bit," Lin Zheyu answered after a moment's thought. It wasn't just the poisons and hidden weapons; the jewelry wasn't something he could sell out in the open either.
"Impressive!"
"Brother Lin, you must've run into plenty of bandits on this trip. Not only did you return in one piece, you even slaughtered them and looted the bodies!" Ning Hui gave Lin Zheyu a thumbs-up.
"Just luck. The ones I ran into were nothing more than low-rate mountain thieves," Lin Zheyu said.
"If you want to sell contraband like that, I actually know of a black market located in a secret underground stronghold in Pingnan District in the outer city," Ning Hui said after thinking for a moment.
The city's black markets were secretly run by the aristocratic clans, and the authorities were likely in cahoots, having a hand in them as well.
Back when Ning Hui's father had served as a steward for the Bai clan, his duties had been connected to the black market, so Ning Hui happened to know quite a few insider details.
"Heh, I knew asking you was the right call," Xie Jiang chuckled.
"Where in Pingnan District is it exactly? Tell me the details," Lin Zheyu said.
"It's a bit hard to explain the location clearly. Do you have a map?" Ning Hui asked. "Paper and a brush work too—I can sketch it."
"Waiter, bring paper and brush!"
Lin Zheyu immediately called over a waiter and requested paper and ink.
Ning Hui took the brush and began sketching: "Here is the border between Pingnan District and Baishan District. Around this area, there's a tree about four or five meters tall next to a river. Facing the tree..."
"Find that old courtyard house. Inside, guards are posted. Give them the secret passphrase, and you can take a hidden tunnel down into the underground stronghold."
"The black market is only open on the nights of the first and the fifteenth of every month. It'll be open as usual on the first day after the New Year, so don't miss the date," Ning Hui explained, handing over the completed sketch. It was drawn in great detail, complete with brief annotations.
"Thanks!"
"This round at the Hundred Pavilions is on me. Enjoy yourselves to the fullest!" Lin Zheyu said with a smile as he stowed the sketch.
"You said it! I'm calling for Lady Zhaofeng—she was always too pricey, and I could never bring myself to spend the silver," Ning Hui laughed heartily.
"Order whatever you want, don't hold back," Lin Zheyu said generously.
Courtesy was mutual; Xie Jiang and the others frequently treated him as well.
This outing had yielded no small profit. Once he sold the jewelry, poisons, and concealed weapons, he would likely pocket another hundred-odd taels of silver.
***
At the Xing clan martial grounds.
On such a freezing day, Xing Jing'an stood bare-chested, his streamlined muscles glistening with sweat.
"Speak. What is it?" Xing Jing'an asked, looking at the Wuding Gang lackey before him.
"Young Master, that Lin Zheyu from the Feihong Gang has returned. I saw him entering through the west gate carrying three bundles on his back," the lackey reported.
"He's back?"
"Is he injured?" Xing Jing'an inquired.
"Not injured, and there were no signs of a fight on him," the lackey replied.
"You may leave. Have the men who saw Lin Zheyu that day come see me," Xing Jing'an instructed.
He had already questioned his scouts throughout the city; none of the other factions showed any signs of notable troop movements, nor did the Feihong Gang.
His younger brother Xing Jinglong had indeed pursued Lin Zheyu out of the city that day—otherwise, Xing Jinglong would never have gone to such a remote place.
For the other party to choose such an out-of-the-way location had clearly been premeditated.
"The City Guard has no record of deployment, and the checkpoints along the key passes outside the city were all stationed in place that day, without mobilizing for any bandits."
"Could it be that the kid has another faction backing him, or did bandits do this?"
"Or did someone seize this opportunity to strike at my Xing clan, deliberately sparing that kid's life to provoke a conflict between the Xing and Xu clans and reap the spoils as a bystander?"
Xing Jing'an pondered, his brow furrowing slightly.
It never once crossed his mind that this could have been the work of Lin Zheyu alone.
In his eyes, Lin Zheyu was merely a minor youth in the Bone Tempering Realm. He had neither the ability to pull off such a feat nor the authority to mobilize that many men.
Someone was undoubtedly pulling strings from the shadows.
Xing Jing'an paced back and forth where he stood.
Chapter 59