Chapter 458: Young People and Face-Slapping, The Secret of the Five-Element Tribulation Body, Dark Merchants

The 297th year of the Cai Qiu calendar, the tenth day of the tenth month, just at dawn.

"Ha... enough, it's time to go back!"

Xia Hong, who had stayed in the County Governor's Mansion library for four days, gave a light yawn, stretched, put a book titled "Geographical Records of the Four Feudal Lands of Mo'ao River" back on the shelf, looked around, shook his head, and walked directly downstairs.

"Enough" was an understatement; the harvest from this trip to the library was simply too great!

"Six martial arts, one castrated version of the Tai-Zhan style boxing, and the remaining three sets of blade techniques and two sets of sword techniques were all improved by me after I came to Cai Qiu. At most, they only have a 40% strength increase. Giving them to them won't do any harm."

Books, to put it mildly, are knowledge and the experience and summary of predecessors; to put it grandly, they are the ladder of human progress. Therefore, no matter where they are, they are extremely precious things.

This three-story library in Cai Qiu has at least tens of thousands of books, covering geography, planting, picking, hunting, martial arts, cultivation, cold beasts, and even strange monsters—almost every aspect is covered.

From these tens of thousands of books, one can see the profound foundation of the feudal town.

As a transmigrator, Xia Hong naturally knows the importance of books. Before the first year of Great Xia, he let Xia Chuan start compiling the Cold Beast Records, later let Yue Feng be responsible for compiling the Great Xia Annals, and he himself personally participated in the formulation and compilation of the Xia Rites. Under the emphasis of his lord, Great Xia, from the eight departments down to the common people, had long formed a strong trend of writing books.

But even so, up to now, the total number of books formed in Great Xia that have collection significance is only over 400.

If all these tens of thousands of books could be moved back to Great Xia, that would be great!

Although this impulse had surged in Xia Hong's mind countless times in the past five days, he naturally would not take action.

Although weak, he could feel that there were at least ten Manifestation Realm auras hidden in this three-story building, and a few of them were not even weaker than him.

Whether he could snatch the books under their noses is one thing, but even if he really snatched them, could he successfully walk out of this County Governor's Mansion?

Of course, these are all idle words. In short, this library condenses nearly 300 years of historical experience in Cai Qiu and treasures thousands of precious martial arts classics. Naturally, it is impossible to let him come in and watch easily.

Six martial arts are Xia Hong's fees for entering the library to the County Governor's Mansion.

For Xia Hong, these six martial arts are naturally not very precious, but for Cai Qiu, it is completely different.

As early as when he fought Cai Yunzhou at the beginning of the year, Xia Hong had a guess that the martial arts level of the Cai Qiu feudal town was not as good as Great Xia's.

Cai Yunzhou is the City Lord of Qinghuacheng and a third-generation descendant of the Fangbo's direct line. His status and status naturally go without saying. The martial arts he practiced must be the top in all of Cai Qiu.

On the day of the battle at the city gate, after he performed the Che-Tian Sword Technique, his strength only increased by a little over 30%, which proves that Cai Qiu's top martial arts are probably at this level.

The subsequent experience of several months in Cai Qiu had long confirmed Xia Hong's guess.

"Great Xia's martial arts level, before my skills were successfully transcendentalized, as long as the force-exerting routine of the long fist was practiced to the pinnacle, there was a 30% increase. Combined with martial arts moves, it could reach a staggering 50% increase."

"After the skills were transcendentalized, with the imitation and deconstruction of law-level martial arts, my understanding of martial arts has reached a new height. Just waiting for the feudal town affairs to end, I can still raise this increase when I go back this time..."

Xia Hong's eyes brightened slightly, and he continued to walk downstairs.

In short, six martial arts that can have a 40% increase at most are absolutely precious to Cai Qiu, so they successfully helped him exchange for the qualification to stay in the library for five days.

"It can be considered killing two birds with one stone. Not only entering the library, but once these six martial arts are handed over, the credibility of my identity as the Great Qin Prince in their eyes will naturally be higher, which can be considered as emphasizing my background and origin again."

A smile appeared on the corner of Xia Hong's mouth, and he soon went down to the first floor and walked toward the entrance.

The County Governor's Mansion alone has no less than 1,000 descendants of the Cai clan. Counting the maids and retainers, there are at least 20,000 people in the mansion. With so many people, there are naturally many people entering and leaving the library on weekdays.

Although Xia Hong was only wearing a simple black silk garment and had no accessories on his head or waist, when people saw him coming down from upstairs, they did not dare to underestimate him, only showing some curious eyes.

Soon, he walked to the entrance.

At the entrance of the library, there was a lounge chair. An old man with gray hair, a face full of wrinkles, and dressed in plain cyan cotton clothes was lying on it. The old man's eyes were closed, and he was breathing more than he was exhaling, looking like he was about to die.

Those who entered and left basically ignored the old man, only when Xia Hong passed by him, he looked sideways and nodded slightly to him.

"This old man in cyan has a basic strength of at least over 50 jun, stronger than that eldest prince Cai Yunlan. This is the strongest person I have encountered in the nearly four months since I entered the mansion. The descendants of the Cai clan who enter and leave the library don't know him at all!"

Xia Hong couldn't help but sigh inwardly. He naturally wouldn't simply think that these County Governor's Mansion descendants were all fools and no one knew the old man. It could only prove that this County Governor's Mansion, or the core high-level of the Cai clan, was hidden too deep. Most of the descendants of the clan didn't know what strong people their family had.

After all, it is a powerful clan that has lasted for nearly 300 years, so it is not an exaggeration...

"Little Prince, young masters, the library has arrived, please!"

Just as Xia Hong walked out of the gate, a large human-powered carriage happened to stop in front of the building. A person dressed as a butler pulled open the curtain of the carriage while speaking.

A young man dressed in cyan-jade brocade, wearing a silver crown, with complete accessories, and looking about eighteen or nineteen years old, was clearly the "Little Prince" in the butler's mouth. He jumped out of the carriage first.

For some reason, this Little Prince had a dark face after getting off the carriage.

After the Little Prince got off and stood still, five men and three women, eight young people in total, jumped out of the carriage one after another. Except for not wearing a silver crown on their heads, the number of accessories on their bodies was basically the same as the Little Prince's.

However, at this moment, Xia Hong had no intention of looking at the eight people behind. When he saw the face of the Little Prince clearly, a look of astonishment flashed in his eyes.

Nothing else, just because he had seen this Little Prince!

This Little Prince with a dark face was none other than Cai Shiqi, whom he had seen with his own eyes at the entrance of the Jiuzhen of the Bone-Eroding Path on August 25th last year.

Xia Hong remembered very clearly that the person responsible for escorting Cai Shiqi and his party at that time was a Manifestation Realm expert they called "Staff Officer Zhu."

Staying in Qinghuacheng for four months, Xia Hong also learned a lot of useful news. The official position of "Staff Officer" is not low in Cai Qiu. Only the four County Governor's Mansions have the right to set it up. It is considered a confidant staff member of the County Governor and has the right to mobilize the elite town guards under the County Governor.

Each County Governor's Mansion only sets up three staff officers. Calculating this way, there are only twelve staff officers in all of Cai Qiu. After some side-inquiries, Xia Hong had long figured out the specific information of that Staff Officer Zhu.

Staff Officer Zhu Yan of Bai Shui County, Cai Qiu, Manifestation Late-stage cultivation, 19 jun strength.

Thinking about it, it is actually correct. The Bone-Eroding Path is in Changqing Valley, Changqing Valley belongs to Qinghuacheng, and Qinghuacheng belongs to the jurisdiction of Bai Shui County. According to this calculation, Zhu Yan is clearly a person from Bai Shui County.

Of course, by analogy, this Little Prince named Cai Shiqi is also likely to belong to the lineage of Cai Qiuhong, the County Governor of Bai Shui County.

If they met in Qinghuacheng or Bai Shui Juncheng, Xia Hong would not have any reaction, but meeting in Linchu Juncheng was really a bit of a coincidence.

However, the coincidences clearly didn't stop there!

The eight young men and women who came down behind saw Cai Shiqi with a dark face. After looking at each other, they all spoke one after another to comfort him.

"Third brother, don't worry. Your severed finger has been reconnected. That little meridian damage is not a big deal. You will be fine after resting for another month at most."

"Yes! Little Prince, the Blood Miasma Plain trial doesn't officially start until November. There are still 20 days left, so it won't affect you."

"Third brother, don't be angry. After the trial, next year we will take people to the southern foothills, kill that bitch, and avenge..."

"Kill?"

Cai Shiqi, with a dark face, heard his sister Cai Mengyu's words and immediately turned his head to interrupt her with a rhetorical question. Then, monstrous hatred surged on his face, and he roared sternly: "Directly kill? Wouldn't that be too cheap for that bitch? Next year I will take people to cripple her, and then catch her and the high-level officials of Great Xia back to Cai Qiu, all of them into slave registration. The men will be dogs in my Bai Shui County Mansion for generations, and the women will all be sent to the army to serve as camp prostitutes. I want..."

Before Cai Shiqi finished speaking, he suddenly noticed something. He looked up at the entrance of the library and found a young man in a black silk garment staring at his severed right index finger. He was already furious, and a blood color instantly rushed to his face, and fire almost burst out of his pupils.

He pointed directly at the young man in black and shouted angrily: "Lowly bastard, what are you looking at? Do you believe that this Prince will find someone to dig your eyeballs out immediately?"

Cai Shiqi's volume was not small. People entering and leaving the entrance were startled. Everyone stopped in place, and the scene instantly froze.

What everyone didn't notice was that the old man in cyan who was originally leaning on the lounge chair as if asleep had also slightly opened a slit in his closed eyes at this moment. After looking at Cai Shiqi, he shook his head and closed his eyes again immediately.

And the object of everyone's attention, Xia Hong, who was scolded by Cai Shiqi, raised his head unhurriedly at this moment, looking at the other party pointing at him with his right index finger that had been broken once. He had no expression on his face, just watching quietly.

"Whose bastard is this? Why don't you come over and kneel down to apologize to the Little Prince!"

"This is Cai Shiqi, the Little Prince of Bai Shui County. Come over and kowtow to apologize."

"Third brother is not a person who kills indiscriminately. He is just in a bad mood today. Kneel down and apologize to him. He won't do anything to you."

The eight young men and women behind Cai Shiqi clearly felt that Xia Hong was scared silly, and they all scolded one after another. Finally, the woman also picked up a bodhisattva heart, helped Cai Shiqi say a word, and also earnestly gave Xia Hong an idea.

Even in the mansion of the clan, people dared to treat others like this without asking about their background or the reason. These Cai-surname clan descendants are really arrogant!

Although Xia Hong had already sentenced this Cai Shiqi to death in his heart, he couldn't help but sigh secretly.

Just now, when the other party mentioned the high-level officials of Great Xia, he had already guessed a little. After observing the injury of his severed finger, he could basically be sure.

Although this Cai Shiqi is arrogant, his talent is indeed good. He looks at most twenty years old, but his basic strength has reached 56 bristles.

Through the traces on the severed finger, it can be roughly seen that it was injured by a sword edge, and it was crisp and neat, not caused by a bitter battle. Not to mention Great Xia, there is only one woman in the entire Jiuzhen territory who can do this.

The men will be dogs in my Bai Shui County Mansion for generations, and the women will all be sent to the army to serve as camp prostitutes...

Thinking of this sentence that Cai Shiqi hadn't finished, Xia Hong instantly lost the desire to be angry, and a smile slowly floated on his face.

"Bastard..."

As soon as this smile appeared on his face, Cai Shiqi realized that the other party was not scared silly at all. Finally, he couldn't suppress the anger in his heart. This time, not only did he open his mouth, but he even pulled out the long sword from his waist and walked toward Xia Hong.

Pa...

It's a pity that he only took two steps forward when an old man in cyan brocade suddenly appeared and slapped him flying more than ten meters away.

Pa-pa-pa...

It wasn't over yet. The old man quickly walked forward a few steps and gave the eight young men and women who had just helped to speak a slap each.

His strength was not light. After a round of slaps, Cai Shiqi and the nine others who flew more than ten meters away were all stunned instantly.

Their faces were full of anger, but when they got up and looked up, they saw the old man in cyan brocade who hit them, and they were instantly frightened and knelt down.

"Greetings, Uncle Yunqing!"

"Greetings, Ancestor Yunqing!"

The Cai clan has lasted for nearly 300 years and has nearly ten generations of people now. Interestingly, except for the second and third generation descendants, the Cai clan's naming is strictly "Run," "Qiu," and "Yun," but the remaining descendants are named casually, which also shows that Cai Qianshan, the Fangbo of Cai Qiu, only has some feelings for the second and third generation descendants.

However, the four major County Governor's Mansions have another rule, that is, no matter which generation of descendants, as long as they are awarded the title of Prince, they are qualified to change the middle character of their name to "Shi," and women to "Shi." This is considered an honor and a way of distinction.

Xia Hong had inquired in Qinghuacheng that Cai Shiqi's real name was Cai Ziqi, and his father, Cai Yunsheng, was one of the three staff officers of Bai Shui County, just like Zhu Yan. Cai Yunsheng had a son in his old age of over 100, so although Cai Shiqi was young, his generation was not low. As a fourth-generation descendant, he naturally called Cai Yunqing "Uncle."

Of the other eight young people, only one woman also called him "Uncle," and the remaining seven young people called Cai Yunqing "Grand-uncle." They should all be descendants of the Cai clan's Bai Shui County lineage after the fifth generation.

"You all have the guts of a bear, daring to be disrespectful to the distinguished guest of the eldest prince. First, slap yourselves ten times, then apologize to Senior Hong. Hurry!"

Senior Hong?

Cai Shiqi and the nine others heard this and realized that they had kicked an iron plate. Looking at Xia Hong's excessively young face and his extremely simple attire, they were stunned for a few seconds.

Pa-pa-pa-pa...

But they soon figured it out. They raised their palms and slapped their faces pa-pa-pa, stopped after ten slaps, then stood up and walked to Xia Hong, bowing:

"The juniors were ignorant and offended the senior. I hope the senior will forgive me!"

Xia Hong naturally wouldn't talk nonsense with a dead man. He waved his hand with a smile and took the posture of an elder: "No need for this. Hong is not a narrow-minded person. The ignorant are not guilty. All retreat!"

Seeing that he had calmed down, a smile appeared on Cai Yunqing's face. He waved his hand at Cai Shiqi and the others, dispersed them, and then bowed to Xia Hong: "The juniors in the mansion didn't know the height of the sky and the depth of the earth and talked nonsense to Prince Hong. I'm really sorry. How about this... Cai will make the decision to give Prince Hong two more days to continue reading all the books in the building, how about it?"

Xia Hong waved his hand and said: "Staff Officer Cai doesn't need to be like this. This Prince is new here and just wants to understand the customs of the four feudal lands of Mo'ao River. Five days is enough. The six martial arts promised earlier have been left in the building. Hong will return to the guest courtyard first."

After speaking, he bowed and walked directly toward the guest courtyard.

"Prince Hong, walk slowly!"

Cai Yunqing smiled and watched Xia Hong go. Until Xia Hong walked away, he instantly restrained the smile on his face and glanced at the old man in cyan at the entrance of the library.

Although the old man kept his eyes closed, he clearly noticed Cai Yunqing's eyes. He didn't say anything, just shook his head gently while lying half-way.

Cai Yunqing saw the old man shake his head, and his eyebrows sank slightly.

"Even Old Nie can't see the problem, then the identity of this Prince Hong has at least 60% to 70% credibility. I can only wait until the end of the year to go to the Blood Miasma Plain and let the County Governor identify it again..."

"Great Qin... Great Qin... This Great Qin feudal town, a mere prince, has such strength. Wouldn't there be masters like clouds in the town?"

"The key is that at this juncture, sending such a strong prince over, what is the intention? Just a demonstration, or is there a plot against the four feudal lands?" ===== CHAPTER 459 =====