Chapter 356: Old Acquaintances of Great Xia, Chaos in Qinghe Village, Master Jin Gang

Mo'ao Era, Year 131, September 25th, Nighttime

At the entrance of Qinghe Village, a middle-aged man with a steady demeanor and a long spear on his back walked in from outside the village, leading a hunting team of about ten people and dragging two pieces of prey seven or eight meters in length.

It was nighttime, and there were not only guards on duty at the village entrance but also quite a few people coming and going. The middle-aged man clearly had some fame in Qinghe Village; as soon as he entered, many people greeted him.

"Captain Zhang Qin, a full harvest today!"

"Hahaha, it's alright, it's alright!"

"Two intermediate cold beasts in one night; your squad's strength is getting stronger and stronger."

"Good luck tonight, hahaha."

……

Zhang Qin responded to everyone with a smile while slowly walking into the village. Once they reached the residential area, he turned to the team members behind him and said, "Alright, you all take these two pieces of prey back to divide first. Hand over what needs to be handed over, and just send me a portion once you've divided it."

"Still the old rules, the Captain is too good!"

"Hahaha, of course, our Captain is famously generous."

"Many thanks, Captain."

"Many thanks, Captain!"

……

The team members thanked him one after another upon hearing this, and then dispersed and left.

Finally, only two team members remained, following Zhang Qin as he continued toward the building complex on the west side of the village. Along the way, people kept greeting Zhang Qin, and Zhang Qin responded to them tirelessly with a smile on his face.

Not until the street was finally empty did Zhang Qin instantly withdraw the smile from his face. A glimmer of light appeared in his eyes as he turned to look at the two team members behind him, who were of a similar age to himself. He took out seven paper balls from his person, handed four of them to the two men, and said in a low voice, "Split up and act. Each of you is responsible for two households, and I will be responsible for the remaining three. Remember to act carefully; there are many hidden sentries in the village. Once discovered, all previous efforts will be wasted."

"Understood, my lord!"

The two nodded with solemn expressions and immediately dispersed.

Zhang Qin continued toward the west corner of the village and soon arrived beside an ordinary wooden house. The window of that wooden house was left ajar. Zhang Qin looked very vigilant, confirming repeatedly that no one was spying on the surroundings, before flicking his wrist nonchalantly. The paper ball immediately flew into the ajar window.

After throwing the paper ball, he quickly left the spot and walked elsewhere, clearly intending to find the next location.

Swish……

Inside the wooden house, behind the ajar window, stood a young man in white, aged about twenty-seven or twenty-eight. He seemed to have known long ago; the paper ball flew into the room and was caught by him before it even hit the ground.

After catching the paper ball, he immediately walked into the house.

After the young man walked into a quiet room at the back of the house with practiced ease, six people were sitting by the stove: an octogenarian who looked seventy or eighty years old; beside the old man was a hunched old woman; one man and two women, all looking older than the young man, in their middle years; and finally, a child in his early teens sitting at the very end, looking very frightened.

If Xu Ning were to see the configuration of these seven people, he would probably be able to spot the problem at a glance. An elder plus a son and daughter-in-law, plus the youngest grandson—this was exactly the same situation as when he led people to infiltrate Hexia Village.

In a normal family, the two elders would naturally have the highest status, but the actual situation was clearly not the case. As soon as the young man walked in, the two elders, the child, and the two women stood up immediately. Only the middle-aged man in black sitting in the center did not react at all.

"Greetings, Commander Yang!"

"No need for formalities, everyone sit down……"

The young man in white signaled for the five to sit down first, then walked to the side of the middle-aged man in black, opened the paper ball, and handed it over respectfully.

The middle-aged man in black took the paper ball, and upon seeing the content on it, his gaze suddenly tightened, and he said in a low voice, "It's time to act!"

【September 28th, act half an hour after dawn, chaos in Qinghe Village】

The young man in white had already sat down beside the middle-aged man, so he could see the content on the paper ball as soon as he tilted his head. Seeing this text, the young man's brows first tightened slightly, but after thinking for a moment, he seemed to understand immediately. A glimmer of light appeared in his eyes as he said to the middle-aged man in black:

"Commander, Jiangxia Town is planning to create chaos in Qinghe Village to lure out that group of things from Dajue Temple, and then take this opportunity to send others to spy on the situation at Dajue Temple, right?"

Hearing this, the middle-aged man in black turned his head to look at the young man in white, his face instantly revealing deep appreciation. He nodded and said, "To be able to see through Jiangxia Town's plan from these few words, Yang Ning, it is indeed a waste of your talent to serve as a commander under my command!"

If Xu Ning were here now, he would definitely be able to recognize at a glance that this young man in white was none other than Yang Ning, the scout of the Beishuo Town Garrison who went to Seeing Hong Mu Ridge eight years ago to draw a map.

Eight years have passed, and Yang Ning, now over thirty, has naturally shed much of his youthful greenness and become much more mature. Only the arrogance that occasionally flashes between his brows proves that he still possesses the sense of superiority of being a Beishuo descendant in his heart.

"The Commander is too kind!"

Hearing the praise from Commander Huang Lin, Yang Ning said modestly, and then continued, "Jiangxia Town has been lurking in Qinghe Village for more than a year, and to this day, they haven't even entered the gate of Dajue Temple. If it weren't for Bashang leaking the news at the end of last year, we in Beishuo would probably still be kept in the dark. Who would have thought that such a behemoth would emerge on the north bank of the Heng River!"

Recalling the few dilapidated small camps he saw when he came to the north bank of the Heng River eight years ago to draw maps, and comparing them to the scene in Qinghe Village at this moment, Yang Ning, who considered himself to have good self-restraint, still couldn't help but reveal a trace of horror in his eyes.

"There are only two hundred or so Cold-Resisting Realm cultivators in Qinghe Village, which is nothing. The problem is that there are more than five thousand tonsured monks living in the Zen courtyard in the east of the village. Although their strength is only at the Three-Bristle level, they are solid Cold-Resisting Realm cultivators. This number is already comparable to our Jiuzhen……"

Yang Ning paused slightly here, then continued, "That Zen courtyard in the east of the village can only be considered the outer area of Dajue Temple. The ten official monks who came out of the Zen courtyard in February this year all have strength above twenty bristles, and the strongest among them even exceeds fifty bristles. If the official monks in Dajue Temple all have this strength, then the Jiuzhen will be in trouble.

And those five unfathomable Masters, we haven't been able to see even one of them to this day. Judging from what we have seen so far, those five great Masters must all be experts of the Manifesting Yang Realm. It's just that I don't know how their strength compares to the Manifesting Yang Realm experts of the Jiuzhen!"

Commander Huang Lin nodded slightly upon hearing this, his expression also exceptionally solemn.

The matter of Dajue Temple was actually only known to the two towns of Jiangxia and Chuishan at the beginning.

This is not hard to understand; the east entrance of the north bank of the Heng River happens to be sandwiched between these two towns, one in the south and one in the north. Being close to the water, the two towns naturally knew the situation first.

But at the end of last year, people from Bashang Town unexpectedly discovered this Dajue Temple as well. Jiangxia and Bashang are adjacent and are the only two towns among the Jiuzhen that are near the water. The relationship between the two was already extremely bad. Bashang Town keenly sensed that Jiangxia was deliberately concealing the news of Dajue Temple because they wanted to monopolize the benefits, so they directly leaked the news.

In this way, all Jiuzhen knew about Dajue Temple.

The Jiuzhen are not those weak camps. Everyone knows in their hearts that although strange monsters are dangerous, killing them will definitely bring huge benefits. Under such circumstances, the other seven towns naturally did not want to let Jiangxia and Chuishan monopolize the benefits.

And so, at the end of last year, under the leadership of the three northern towns, an action against Dajue Temple, jointly initiated by the Jiuzhen, began just like that.

Nominally, it was said to be to annihilate strange monsters and protect the safety of the Jiuzhen, but in reality, everyone knew what it was for.

The two towns of Jiangxia and Chuishan had people infiltrate Qinghe Village last year. The other seven towns naturally did not want to fall behind upon learning the situation. At the beginning of the year, except for Muyin Town, which clearly stated that it would not intervene in this matter, the other six towns all sent people to sneak in secretly.

And these seven of them were sent by Beishuo Town.

Having stayed in Qinghe Village for eight months, Huang Lin finally understood why the two towns of Jiangxia and Chuishan had achieved nothing after lurking here for more than a year.

This Dajue Temple is simply too tightly guarded against outsiders.

Chilong Lake, where the temple is located, is just over three kilometers east of Qinghe Village. The more than five thousand tonsured monks in the Zen courtyard in the east of the village patrol the two-kilometer area around Dajue Temple day and night. Trying to break through this barrier is as difficult as ascending to heaven;

Even if one were lucky enough to break through this barrier, there is another barrier in the one-kilometer area around Chilong Lake, which is the official monks inside Dajue Temple. Those official monks have even more terrifying strength, and their numbers seem to be quite large.

In the first half of the year, each of the six towns sent Cold-Resisting Realm experts who were good at concealment to try to get close and spy on the temple, but not a single one could return. The six towns then realized that the two towns of Jiangxia and Chuishan had clearly suffered losses before, and were deliberately pitting them against each other by not saying anything.

After losing a batch of experts, the six towns did not dare to advance rashly, so they sent people to continue lurking in Qinghe Village and inquire slowly.

The idea of the eight towns was not complicated: as long as they sent people to lurk in Qinghe Village, over time, they would always be able to integrate into the core circle of the village. By then, not to mention entering Dajue Temple, at the very least, they would be able to obtain some useful intelligence.

But facts proved that they had once again thought too simply.

Not only is Dajue Temple strictly guarded against outsiders, but this Qinghe Village is the same.

There are hidden sentries everywhere in the village. Anyone who dares to inquire about Dajue Temple or those six-year-old boys will immediately attract attention. Those who are lucky will be watched for ten days or half a month, and those who are serious will be taken away directly.

The eight towns were not clear about this at first, and the scouts from each town who infiltrated would contact each other. Later, when they found that several people were caught every month, they learned to be smart and stopped meeting each other, instead using paper balls to send messages.

Because Dajue Temple is closest to Jiangxia Town, the eight towns decided at the beginning of the discussion that this action would be led by Jiangxia Town, and people from the other seven towns would have to obey Jiangxia Town's command.

This is why Jiangxia Town sent them a message at this moment.

"Commander, the scouts from the eight families currently lurking in Qinghe Village add up to at most sixty or seventy people, and I estimate that not even half are in the Cold-Resisting Realm. With so few people, wanting to throw the entire Qinghe Village into chaos, the possibility is not very high, right?"

"What possibility is not high? Relying on these few people, it is fundamentally impossible!"

Huang Lin shook his head directly and gave a definite answer.

Since it is to infiltrate Qinghe Village, one must naturally pretend to be like one. If everyone were in the Cold-Resisting Realm, others would definitely be suspicious. Therefore, the personnel configuration of the eight families infiltrating this time is almost the same: three or four Cold-Resisting Realm cultivators, matched with two or three Earth-Digging Realm cultivators, plus one or two children.

Although Huang Lin dared not be sure about the number of scouts from the other seven families, he could be certain that the total number of Cold-Resisting Realm cultivators would not exceed thirty.

Thirty Cold-Resisting Realm cultivators don't even need the more than five thousand tonsured monks in the Zen courtyard in the east of the village to take action. Just the more than two hundred Cold-Resisting Realm cultivators in Qinghe Village, as long as they react in time, could easily handle them.

Relying on so few people to want to throw a camp of more than one hundred thousand people, which is almost at the town level, into chaos is simply wishful thinking.

Yang Ning naturally understood this truth. After looking at that note, he raised his head and asked, "Since that is the case, where does Jiangxia get the confidence to take action? Could it be that this is deliberately deceiving us, wanting to borrow a knife to kill someone?"

"That wouldn't go that far. This action was jointly discussed by the eight towns. Jiangxia wouldn't dare to use such a sinister trick to harm people. I suspect they should have sent reinforcements. This time, it has dragged on for too long. For eight months, they haven't been able to inquire about any useful news. If it continues to drag on like this, the other seven towns don't care, but Jiangxia's pressure will become greater and greater. It is understandable that they are anxious to take action in advance!"

Hearing this, Yang Ning understood immediately.

The stronger the strange monsters of Dajue Temple are, the more dangerous the situation of Jiangxia Town, which is closest to them, naturally becomes. The other seven towns have no concerns regarding safety, at least not in the short term. At the current stage, they are more interested in seizing treasures, which is why they are not anxious at all.

"Regardless, before infiltrating Qinghe Village at the beginning of the year, the Military Leader gave us orders that everything must obey Jiangxia Town's arrangements. Since Xia Hou Qin has sent us a message, then we will listen to him."

"Xia Hou Qin?"

Yang Ning was stunned for a moment when he heard Huang Lin call out the name of the message sender, but he quickly reacted and looked at the paper ball in Huang Lin's hand.

Huang Lin raised the paper ball and said with a proud smile, "I dealt with Xia Hou Qin a few times in my early years, so I recognize his handwriting. He should have more than thirty bristles of strength now, and his strength is about the same as mine."

Yang Ning continued to ask, "Then Commander, how do we cooperate with Jiangxia?"

"Just create chaos. There are no big shots living in this west corner. When the time comes, set a few big fires to contain a portion of the Cold-Resisting Realm cultivators."

Yang Ning nodded and said, "However, after we take action this time, we must withdraw. We cannot continue to stay in Qinghe Village. I hope the people arranged by Jiangxia can really find out the specific situation of Dajue Temple!"

A dark look flashed in Huang Lin's eyes when he heard this, but he didn't say anything, continuing to arrange the specific details of the action for the day after tomorrow for Yang Ning and the others.

………………

Mo'ao Era, Year 131, September 28th

The sky was just beginning to brighten. The streets of Qinghe Village were empty, and no personnel activity could be seen. Although every household had coal stoves lit, almost no movement could be heard in the entire village. Clearly, the vast majority of people had already entered dreamland.

There were occasional Cold-Resisting Realm patrols on the streets, but the number was negligible, and they were basically concentrated in the two locations of the village entrance and the main building in the center of the village.

In the daytime of the Frozen Abyss, there are only two hours in total. Most people are in deep sleep at this time, so this scene can be considered normal.

Time passed slowly, and soon half an hour had passed.

As soon as the half hour was up, a black shadow suddenly flashed under the main building of Qinghe Village. That black shadow was holding several torches in his hand. Seeing the animal hide mat on the ground of the first floor of the main building, he threw the torches directly onto it.

Sizzle, sizzle, sizzle…………

The surface of the animal hide mat was all fine fluff, which ignited instantly when touched by fire, and then spread crazily to the rest of the parts. The person who threw the torches ran quickly to several other places and threw the torches around everywhere.

Boom………………

The buildings in Qinghe Village were still mainly wooden. Once the fire grew large, it ignited the buildings immediately, and then it began to spread with incomparable swiftness.

"Fire?"

"The main building is on fire, how could the main building be on fire?"

"Someone is committing arson, someone is committing arson!"

"Quick, catch that person, he is running!"

………………

Before the person had finished throwing the torches in his hand, several Cold-Resisting Realm cultivators had already rushed out of the main building. Seeing that the fire on the first floor had already spread, their faces were full of anger. Seeing the black-clad arsonist, they rushed up quickly.

"Not just the main building, look quickly, there are more and more places on fire in the village, there are more than twenty places, and they are constantly increasing!"

It was a pity that before they had rushed half a step, an exclamation came from above the main building. Everyone's expression froze, and they looked up at the sky over the entire village, their expressions instantly freezing.

At least twenty trails of black smoke rose over the entire Qinghe Village, and the number was still increasing continuously. Moreover, the black smoke was getting thicker and thicker, clearly indicating that the fire was growing rapidly.

Dong... dong... dong... dong...

Nine consecutive huge bell sounds suddenly issued from the top of the main building. Everyone in Qinghe Village who had sunk into dreamland woke up all at once.

"It's the main building's alarm bell, is there an enemy attack?"

"It rang nine times, this is to notify the people in the Zen courtyard to come and support!"

"Fire, there is fire everywhere, quick, go put out the fire."

"Help, I can't get out, I don't want to die."

"We can't get out either, we can only wait for the monks from the Zen courtyard to come and save us."

"How could such a big fire start suddenly?"

"Help, help, save me, I can't run out."

"Where is the enemy?"

……………

It was still broad daylight at this moment. Even though people had all woken up, they couldn't walk out of their houses and could only watch helplessly as those few fires grew larger.

And those who lived in the burning houses were miserable.

Fearing being burned by the fire, they could only flee outward. Those with Earth-Digging Realm cultivation were slightly stronger and could hold on for ten seconds or so, then quickly drill into nearby houses that hadn't caught fire to hide. Those in the Woodcutting Realm and ordinary people, as soon as they left the house, were frozen to death by the cold light before they had even run three or four meters.

The sky over the entire village immediately became filled with rolling black smoke, while below, there were increasing screams and wails.

"Don't save people first, all Cold-Resisting Realm cultivators form groups of ten, disperse into the village and kill those arsonists for me, don't let a single one escape. The people from the Zen courtyard will be here soon, don't panic!"

"It's the Commander's voice!"

"Right, it's better to deal with those dog bastards who committed arson first."

"We can't save too many people, deal with those animals first!"

"The monks will be here soon, those people won't be able to run."

…………

The first reaction of the large group of Cold-Resisting Realm cultivators was to save people. Hearing the voice of the Commander, Zhang Cheng, everyone suddenly realized, and quickly formed squads of ten, dispersing to various parts of the village to find those who were still continuing to commit arson.

It should be said that Qinghe Village's reaction was not slow, but they couldn't withstand the fact that there were simply too many arsonists. In less than five minutes, there were nearly thirty fires in the entire village.

Moreover, the timing of this arson was just right, exactly when everyone was sleeping the deepest, and there was simply no reaction time at all.

"Animal, stop for me, you still want to set fire!"

Bang!

Although people had successively found the arsonists and even started to fight, the fire could not be controlled after all. It continued to expand with an extremely swift momentum. The sky over the entire Qinghe Village was suddenly filled with black smoke, and even the snowflakes that were originally floating in the sky were replaced by fire embers. The scene was completely out of control.

In the west corner of the village, at the location where coal stones were piled up in a wooden house, Yang Ning threw the torch directly onto it, then looked up at the thick smoke in the sky, a trace of shock flashing in his eyes.

"There are definitely more than just us acting this time. I estimate that there are at least a hundred people. Jiangxia Town actually sent so many reinforcements?"

"Not just Jiangxia, the other six families, including our Beishuo, should have sent others too. Don't talk nonsense, continue to set fire. People are already approaching this side. Try to attract as many people as possible, and withdraw if the situation is not right!"

Hearing Huang Lin's words behind him, Yang Ning's expression froze, and he immediately took the torch in his hand and began to look for the next target.

"Stop for me, you evil animal!"

However, at this moment, a squad from Qinghe Village finally found them. Seeing Yang Ning holding a torch in his hand, those people took down their bows and arrows without a word and shot at him frantically.

Clang... clang...

Huang Lin held a big saber and blocked in front of him, directly hacking away several iron arrows.

"I'll hold them off, you just continue to set fire!"

"Yes, my lord!"

After Yang Ning answered, he turned around quickly and continued to look for the next arson point. The squad of ten from Qinghe Village was blocked tightly by Huang Lin and the others, and could only be anxious.

………………

In the east of the village, Xia Hou Qin led more than twenty people to commit arson crazily. This place was closest to the Zen courtyard, and those Cold-Resisting Realm cultivators in Qinghe Village seemed very relieved, so no one came over at all, which also gave him more ample time to commit arson.

However, Xia Hou Qin's expression did not relax at all. While he was setting fire, his eyes were always fixed on the position of the Zen courtyard on the east side.