Chapter 255: Buying Horse Bones with a Thousand Gold, Yang and Li Defect

At dawn, the first floor of the Wu Shuang main building.

It should be sleeping time now, but Li Hu had been sitting on the edge of the bed, looking at the door from time to time, his face full of uneasiness.

"Will they do anything to A-Zhong? Could it be that our identities have been exposed? No, no, even if they were exposed, A-Zhong and I just expressed our intention to defect to Great Xia, so they have even less reason to take action against us..."

Before dawn, the 1600 plus Earth-Digging Realm cultivators from the Longshan and Zhaoyang families were all arranged to rest on the first floor of the Wu Shuang main building. He was lucky enough to be assigned to the same room as Yang Zhong.

But just now, someone from Great Xia came and took Yang Zhong away.

No matter how he asked, the other party wouldn't say anything, only telling him to rest assured. But it had been more than ten minutes, and he hadn't seen Yang Zhong return. While worrying about his brother's safety, Li Hu couldn't help but let his imagination run wild.

Both his and Yang Zhong's basic strength hadn't reached the limit of thirty thousand, so their strength wasn't very strong. After thinking about it, he felt that the only value the two of them had to Great Xia might be their somewhat unique family background.

But the problem was, the identity of an illegitimate child didn't play any role, right?

Whether it was his father Li Xuantian or Yang Zhong's father Yang Fengping, they didn't take them seriously at all. This was almost common knowledge in Longshan.

"Great Xia doesn't know this situation and thinks that by controlling us, they can use us to threaten Longshan. Could it be like this?"

The more Li Hu thought about it, the more uneasy he felt, and he became increasingly worried about Yang Zhong.

But soon, his worry came to an abrupt end along with a burst of footsteps.

The door was opened from the outside, and Yang Zhong, with a complicated expression, walked in carrying a heavy package, followed by two Great Xia soldiers.

"A-Zhong, how are you?"

Li Hu stood up from the bed with a start, subconsciously asking Yang Zhong about the situation. But before Yang Zhong could answer, the two Great Xia soldiers interrupted him directly.

"Don't speak, Li Hu, come with me!"

Li Hu's expression froze. Finding that Yang Zhong didn't speak, but only made a mouth shape at him with a complicated expression, he seemed to understand something. After nodding slightly, he followed the two Great Xia soldiers out of the room.

In the corridor of the main building, except for the Great Xia soldiers standing guard every five steps and every ten steps, there was no one else.

Li Hu followed the two silently, soon went up to the top floor, and came to the side room of the central hall.

Just as he walked to the door, a rich meaty aroma drilled into his nose. Li Hu was stunned for a moment. After carefully sniffing, a look of intoxication and curiosity appeared on his face.

"It seems to be the smell of intermediate beast meat. How can it be so fragrant?"

Li Hu also led a hunting team in Longshan, so he immediately smelled that the scent originated from intermediate beast meat. But this fragrance clearly carried a smell he had never smelled before, which instantly aroused his curiosity.

"You're in for a treat, kid. Come in quickly!"

The two Great Xia soldiers who led him here also sniffed a few times after smelling the fragrance, and then urged him to enter with a look of envy.

"Thank you both for leading the way!"

After Li Hu bowed to express his gratitude, he walked slowly into the side room.

In the side room sat two people, with a small iron pot in the middle. The fragrance he had just smelled clearly drifted from the iron pot.

"Li Hu, pays respects to Deputy Si Zheng, pays respects to Lord Qiu Peng!"

Li Hu walked up quickly and bowed to the two in turn.

He had seen both of them. The young man in black on the left had a face seven parts similar to the leader Xia Hong he had seen before, so he should be Xia Chuan, the Deputy Si Zheng called by those people in Great Xia; the one on the right was Qiu Peng, who had announced that he would let their two families leave when distributing the Fire-Condensing Oil.

"You and your good brother Yang Zhong are quite clever."

Xia Chuan didn't hide the appreciation on his face at all, because when Yang Zhong came in just now, he also bowed to him first and then to Qiu Peng.

"The names of these two are very interesting!"

Having just learned the names of Li Hu and Yang Zhong, Xia Chuan also realized what Xia Hong's words meant.

Three years ago, among the two people from Wushuozhen who came to Seeing Hong Mu Ridge to bully people, one was named Li Hu, and the other was also surnamed Yang, but his name was Yang Ning.

Thinking of that Li Hu and Yang Ning, a cold glint flashed in Xia Chuan's eyes. He had never forgotten those two, especially that kick from Li Hu; he still remembered it clearly to this day.

However, now was not the time to think about these things.

Xia Chuan moved his mind slightly and gave Qiu Peng a look.

Qiu Peng nodded in understanding and invited: "Li Hu, our ages shouldn't be much different. Be casual, come up and sit, let's eat together!"

Li Hu's expression was a bit uneasy, but thinking of the mouth shape Yang Zhong had made at him before he came, he thought for a moment and still mustered up the courage to sit beside Xia Chuan and Qiu Peng.

The two brothers had enough tacit understanding and enough caution. The mouth shape Yang Zhong had just made at him was the four words "behave yourself." Since that was the case, he would just behave himself.

Li Hu sat at the table and, without waiting for the two to speak, reached out and grabbed a piece of cold beast meat and stuffed it into his mouth.

Last night, they first attacked Han Qiong and then encountered a strange monster. Not only him, but at this moment, everyone from the Longshan, Zhaoyang, and Han Qiong families had not eaten for more than twenty hours and were all starving. It was hard to get something to eat, and Qiu Peng had taken the initiative to invite him, so Li Hu naturally wouldn't be polite and started eating directly.

However, after the first bite of cold beast meat entered his mouth, Li Hu was instantly stunned!

An unprecedented taste exploded in his mouth. His tongue and nasal cavity were instantly filled with that unique taste. An incomparably refreshing experience made him feel as if all the pores on his body had opened up.

"How can it be so delicious? Could this be intermediate beast meat?"

Li Hu ultimately didn't have the nerve to ask this question. He ate three large pieces of beast meat in one breath, and finally looked up to see the playful gazes of Xia Chuan and Qiu Peng, before hurriedly wiping his mouth and showing an embarrassed expression.

"Don't be polite, continue eating. Use chopsticks, there's more if it's not enough..."

Qiu Peng smiled and handed him a pair of chopsticks, signaling him to continue eating. After thinking for a moment, he continued: "There are nine people in Longshan who have expressed their intention to defect to Great Xia. Seven of them are from Changning, Songyuan, and Yucheng. They are all people who have just joined Longshan, so it is understandable that they want to defect to another family. Only you and Yang Zhong, not only grew up in Longshan since childhood, but can also be considered authentic direct descendants. Li Hu, do you think our Great Xia will accept you and Yang Zhong?"

Padah......

Hearing that last question, Li Hu put down the chopsticks in his hand directly, with a trace of anger on his face: "Since the lord knows everything, why use the four words 'authentic direct descendants' to mock us?"

The identity of an illegitimate child had always been a pain in Li Hu's heart.

He didn't envy any Longshan Li family bloodline; he only hated that this identity had killed his mother, Li Yuning, and left him without a normal family, unable to grow up like other normal children.

Apart from pain and unbearable shame, this identity of an illegitimate child hadn't brought him any substantial benefits. He never considered himself a member of the Longshan Li family; his surname had always followed his mother, Li Yuning.

Now, Great Xia actually didn't want to accept them because of the identity of an illegitimate child.

A look of misery suddenly appeared on Li Hu's face. After clenching his fists, he stood up directly and said: "Since Great Xia is unwilling to accept us, Yang Zhong and I will just leave when it gets dark. Two lords..."

"No need to be so urgent!"

Just then, Qiu Peng suddenly interrupted Li Hu's words and reached out to press him back into his seat.

Li Hu, who hadn't even reached the limit of thirty thousand jin, naturally couldn't resist, but looked at Qiu Peng with resentment, his eyes still burning with anger.

Just then, Xia Chuan on the other side spoke.

"Zhu Rou's father, Zhu Xing, is a Cold-Resisting level expert. Her son, Li Wuqing, is only one year older than you, but he started using beast blood two years ago. Whether you return to Longshan or go anywhere else, if nothing unexpected happens, wanting to avenge your mother will be indefinitely distant..."

Hearing these words, Li Hu's expression froze, and the anger on his face grew even stronger. But before he could react, Xia Chuan continued.

"Not to mention Yang Zhong. His mother was forced to death by Li Xuanqiu. Li Xuanqiu himself is a Cold-Resisting level expert, and his father, Li Tiancheng, is the strongest person in Longshan at present. The difficulty of his revenge is even greater than yours!"

Not only about himself, but they had also investigated Yang Zhong's affairs clearly.

The anger on Li Hu's face gradually subsided. After completely calming down, he looked at Xia Chuan again, and a trace of hope gradually rose in his eyes. He said directly:

"My lord, please speak directly."

Since they had spent so much effort investigating him and Yang Zhong, it proved that Great Xia indeed had designs on the two of them.

Looking at the delicious beast meat on the table that he had never enjoyed before, and Xia Chuan, whose status was second only to leader Xia Hong, Li Hu already had some guesses in his heart.

Sure enough, smart!

Seeing Li Hu's reaction, Xia Chuan couldn't help but sigh again in his heart.

If Li Hu's act of bowing in turn when he came in just now only showed that he and Yang Zhong both had good judgment, then Li Hu's reaction at this moment was enough to prove that his sharpness far exceeded that of ordinary people.

"Good, since you are a smart person, I won't beat around the bush!"

Xia Chuan nodded to Qiu Peng. Qiu Peng immediately took out a large package from behind him, and then took out the things inside one by one and placed them on the table.

First was an iron jar with a diameter of ten centimeters, filled with a kind of pure white crystal. Smelling the fragrance drifting from the jar, Li Hu immediately realized something and looked at the beast meat on the table.

"This is salt. The beast meat you just ate was added with it, which is why it became so delicious. In addition, after eating it, your body should have some feeling. Its function is not just to make food delicious."

Then there were two wooden boxes. Xia Chuan opened the two boxes, both filled with pills. The emerald green one on the left had fifteen pills, and the golden one on the right had only five:

"The green ones are Beast Essence Pills, which can increase your cultivation speed by thirty to fifty percent; the golden ones are called Blood Sore Pills, which are healing pills for Cold-Resisting level experts. For you, they are life-saving holy products."

The third item was a large bag of azure beast meat, but with some red patterns between the meat, which showed at a glance that it was intermediate beast meat.

"Five hundred jin of intermediate beast meat. Your basic strength is twenty-eight thousand. With this batch of beast meat, plus that jar of salt and that bottle of Beast Essence Pills, I estimate that when you finish using them, you will be able to break through to the limit of thirty thousand jin."

Just these three things alone made Li Hu's breathing much heavier.

But on Qiu Peng's side, it wasn't over yet. He took out a leather bag.

Xia Chuan took the bag, opened the mouth, and placed it in front of Li Hu.

Li Hu leaned forward and saw the crimson blood in the bag. Smelling that incomparably familiar wild aura, his voice instantly became incomparably excited.

"This is... beast blood?"

"Not bad, beast blood, beast blood that can help you reshape your skin membrane!"

Xia Chuan smiled, weighed the bag in his hand lightly, and continued:

"This bag is only about fifty jin. Normally you can't use it yet, but I can give it to you first. And in the future, when you break through to the Cold-Resisting level, how much beast blood you need will all be covered by our Great Xia..."

"My lord, you want me to return to Longshan and be an inside agent for Great Xia, right?"

There is no free lunch in the world. Li Hu, who had been looked down upon since childhood, understood this truth deeply. Although every one of the four things in front of him was what he dreamed of, he still calmed down quickly and spoke out Xia Chuan's intention.

Apart from this, he really couldn't figure out why Great Xia would prepare so many good things for him.

Unfortunately, he guessed wrong.

"Hahahaha......"

Hearing his words, Xia Chuan's expression froze for a moment, then burst into a burst of laughter. After a long time, he looked at Li Hu and asked:

"Li Hu, do you think how much use an inside agent at the Earth-Digging Realm is to us? And do we need to offer such a high price to buy an inside agent at the Earth-Digging Realm?"

Hearing these two questions, Li Hu instantly sobered up.

For powerful giant camps like Great Xia and Longshan, an inside agent at the Earth-Digging Realm indeed couldn't play much of a role; and buying an inside agent at the Earth-Digging Realm indeed didn't need to offer such a high price.

Then why give these things to him?

Li Hu looked at Xia Chuan, his expression becoming even more confused.

"You are a smart person, so I won't beat around the bush with you. To tell you the truth! Last night, when the strange monster was killing people in the Han Qiong settlement, you and Yang Zhong were still able to not lose your brotherly affection at the moment of life and death. Our leader saw it, and he felt that you two were both talents worth cultivating.

We listened to the leader's words and investigated your and Yang Zhong's information, and found that the leader was right. Your talents are both good, and your character is very much to Great Xia's taste. The key is that you also have the idea of defecting to Great Xia, so these, including the things later, are all Great Xia's tests for you!"

A test?

Li Hu's brow furrowed. After thinking for a long time and realizing the meaning of this sentence, his expression shook violently, and he looked up at Xia Chuan.

"Does the lord mean that I still have to return to Longshan?"

"Not bad. Great Xia indeed needs inside agents, but inside agents at the Earth-Digging Realm cannot reach the core layer of Longshan and cannot play much of a role. So I need you to break through to the Cold-Resisting level. Before breaking through to the Cold-Resisting level, Great Xia will not require you to do anything. If you need resources, you can report at any time, and we will send them over. How about it? This treatment is not bad, right?"

Great Xia actually has such courage!

The shock in Li Hu's heart did not subside for a long time. Finally, looking at Xia Chuan, his face was full of complexity, and he never managed to speak.

Xia Chuan's meaning was very clear. Since it was a test, there was success and failure.

Success was that he relied on the resources given by Great Xia to break through to the Cold-Resisting level, and then successfully became an inside agent left by Great Xia in Longshan, assisting Great Xia in doing things;

Failure was that he also relied on Great Xia's resources to break through to the Cold-Resisting level, but did not act as Great Xia's inside agent, which could be considered as deceiving Great Xia and continuing to be his Longshan person.

The problem was, in this process, he and Yang Zhong wouldn't lose out no matter how they calculated it.

Great Xia was completely gambling with so many resources, gambling on the character of him and Yang Zhong, and gambling that they hadn't misjudged the person.

Li Hu instantly understood why Yang Zhong had a complicated expression when he returned just now, and also understood what his mouth shape of "behave yourself" meant.

Because both had the hatred of killing their mothers, rebelling against Longshan had no psychological pressure for him and Yang Zhong at all. If rebelling could bring them huge benefits, they wouldn't have the slightest hesitation.

Mainly, at this very moment, the trust given to him by Xia Chuan, Qiu Peng, or Great Xia was a feeling that Li Hu had never experienced in the twenty-plus years before in Longshan.

Li Hu's expression gradually became excited. He didn't look at the things on the table, but left his seat, then faced Xia Chuan and Qiu Peng, bowed directly, and said in an incomparably solemn tone:

"My lord, from now on, Li Hu, regardless of life or death, is a member of Great Xia!"

Settled...

Xia Chuan nodded and smiled, looking at Li Hu, his eyes becoming increasingly satisfied.

Yang Zhong's final reaction just now was exactly the same as his.

These two brothers were indeed the same kind of people.

Among the twenty-three people, it was estimated that only these two brothers could bring Great Xia a little surprise!

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 256 =====