Chapter 482

Cai Qiu Year 291, November 18th, nighttime.

The highest building in the Jiang residence, the top-floor meditation room.

Xia Hong sat cross-legged on the lotus platform with his eyes closed, the blood-colored medicinal power swirling into a mass around him, wrapping him like a blood cocoon. Behind him, an dark-red bone structure covered in molten rock patterns floated silently, about eight zhang high, with the blood-colored meridians on the outer periphery clearly visible, already infinitely close to taking shape.

Hu... hu...

As Xia Hong's breathing became increasingly long, the speed at which the blood-colored medicinal power was absorbed also continuously accelerated. The color of the blood cocoon thinned, and his bone structure also continuously grew and strengthened, though the change was so minute it was almost imperceptible to the naked eye.

Hum............

After a long time, as the last wisp of medicinal power was absorbed by the bones, the bone structure behind Xia Hong suddenly let out a hum and then completely set.

At the same time, Xia Hong opened his tightly closed eyes. After clenching his fists and sensing slightly, his pupils were full of frustration.

"The bone structure growth is minimal. At this efficiency, it will take at least five years to strengthen the golden body to nine zhang; strength is still 75 jun, motionless. Without the cooperation of the Bone-Washing Pill, relying solely on the Twelve Blood Meridian Art, the increase in strength is almost negligible..."

Does Does Da Xia's Bone-Gathering Pill is actually the mid-grade Bone-Shedding Pill of the vassal states. It would be fine if he didn't know, but having experienced the ultra-high efficiency of the top-grade Bone-Shedding Pill, Xia Hong naturally could not be satisfied using the Bone-Gathering Pill for cultivation.

"The Bone-Condensing Pill is a low-grade Bone-Shedding Pill, and the medicinal power of the Bone-Gathering Pill is more than thirty times that. The best top-grade Bone-Shedding Pill has more than fifteen times the medicinal power of the Bone-Gathering Pill. My absorption efficiency far exceeds that of ordinary people. If there were a sufficient supply of top-grade Bone-Shedding Pills, I could at least shorten the time to break through to the late stage of Xianyang by half; maybe it wouldn't even take three years..."

Xia Hong also knew he was being a bit greedy.

He broke through to the Xianyang level in the ninth month of the seventh year of Does Does Da Xia, and then, relying on the cultivation amplification of the ancestral sacrifice incense, he successfully broke through to the middle stage of Xianyang in the ninth year of Does Does Da Xia, the whole process taking only two years;

It is now the twelfth year of Does Does Da Xia, and only three years have passed since he broke through to the middle stage, yet his bone structure has already grown from six zhang to eight zhang, with only one last zhang left before breaking through to the late stage of Xianyang.

This cultivation efficiency, not to mention comparing it with others, just by learning about the average age of Xianyang-level experts in the Nine Towns and Moaochuan, one can roughly see how terrifying his cultivation speed is.

"I can't help but be greedy, the gap is really... too big!"

Xia Hong couldn't help but sigh softly in his heart. The gap between Does Does Da Xia and the Four Vassals of Moaochuan is indeed a bit too large. Not to mention including the three towns of Jiangxia, Muyin, and Chuishan, even if Does Does Da Xia were to swallow the remaining five towns in one breath now, the gap would still be shockingly large.

The gap is so large that if there were no obstruction from the Blood Miasma Plain and the Bone-Erosion Path at this very moment, and the two major vassal states were to exhaust their strength to march south, he likely wouldn't be able to stop them even if he used all his means, including the system.

Such a situation is the first time in the fifteen years Xia Hong has been in the Frozen Abyss, and he is naturally filled with a sense of urgency.

Unable to return to Does Does Da Xia, he can only find ways to improve his own strength first.

"Only the last two left!"

Looking at the two Bone-Gathering Pills in front of him, Xia Hong shook his head, preparing to use them up first. But as soon as his hand reached out, it stopped immediately. He then looked up at the outside of the building, a strange light appearing in his eyes.

"Subordinate pays respects to the Lord!"

Soon, Jiang Xinfan, with an excited expression, carried a bag and walked up quickly from downstairs. After cupping his hands in salute, he handed the bag directly to Xia Hong.

"Lord, I have not failed the mission. My subordinate and Ji Hong purchased a total of 6 Burning Bone Pills from the Frost Ash Society, at a price of 750,000 taels each; 30 top-grade Bone-Shedding Pills at 300,000 taels each; and a total of 20 Bone-Washing Pills at 370,000 taels each, for a total cost of 20.9 million taels of silver."

They really bought them!

Xia Hong took the three silver pill bottles and opened them one after another. Seeing the three types of pills inside, his expression suddenly lifted, and he asked with curiosity: "Such precious pills, you and Ji Hong were able to get your hands on them, yet you don't know who your superior in the Frost Ash Society is?"

When they reunited in Lu He Valley, Xia Hong had already asked Jiang Xinfan and knew that although he and Ji Hong had joined the Frost Ash Society, they were basically ignorant of the higher-ups in the society.

Previously, he didn't think there was a problem. For any organization, one-way contact, as long as the method of contact is set to be complex and cautious, with the superior and subordinate never meeting, it is actually not too difficult to achieve.

But now he was a bit puzzled. Even these three types of precious pills, strictly controlled by the Four Vassals, could be obtained; how could they manage to never meet at all?

It couldn't be that the former just leaves them in a random place and the latter goes to pick them up after a while, right?

Letters and some cheap things can be done this way, but doing this with tens of millions of taels of silver worth of pills, wouldn't that be brain-damaged?

"Shigui Restaurant, we made contact through Shigui Restaurant..."

Jiang Xinfan clearly understood what Xia Hong's confusion was and directly explained the entire process of how he and Ji Hong cooperated to buy the pills, as well as the general operating rules of the Frost Ash Society, in great detail and from the beginning.

And after Jiang Xinfan's explanation, Xia Hong basically understood the overall operating process of the Frost Ash Society.

In the final analysis, it comes down to two points:

The first point is the loose organizational form. Except for the lowest-level branch helms which are still considered tight, the middle-level commandery-city general helms, and up to the highest-level general altar, the Frost Ash Society is extremely dispersed from personnel to organization.

The six dragon heads of the general altar, plus Ji Hong, a small dragon head, including the Yan Ling Commandery general helm master, these people have never met each other. Whether issuing tasks or daily communication, they only contact each other through letters, and the locations for sending letters are either outside the city or in various nooks and crannies inside the city; in short, they are completely unexpected places.

The second point is the sophisticated and secretive way of material circulation. A large organization naturally needs to spend a lot of money and materials to maintain itself, and in the middle of this, fixed material circulation is inevitable, and the material circulation within the society is basically carried out through Shigui Restaurant.

It is worth mentioning that even inside Shigui Restaurant, the two sides never meet. Basically, one leaves it first and the other picks it up later, with an interval of at least five days, and they adopt encryption methods that are different every time, and they also use disguises. In short, they are strictly guarding against personal identities.

Taking the Lu He Valley Uprising some time ago as an example, the Lu He Valley incident was a task assigned by the general altar of the Frost Ash Society to Ji Hong, the small dragon head. Ji Hong first received a large sum of silver left by the general helm master at Shigui Restaurant, then secretly purchased weapons and transported them to the Lu He Valley area. With the cooperation of Jiang Xinfan's nine people and those unknown experts from the Yan Ling Commandery general helm, they completely manipulated this uprising in the form of remote control.

"Then what is the background of this Shigui Restaurant?"

Clearly, this Shigui Restaurant is the big backer of the Frost Ash Society, so after listening, Xia Hong went straight to the point and asked about the background of Shigui Restaurant.

Jiang Xinfan revealed a strange look on his face upon hearing this, and then slowly said: "The Lord might not believe it if I say it, but this Shigui Restaurant has opened all over Moaochuan. Within the Four Vassal regions, every major city has their branches. The Moaochuan Heaven Ranking and Earth Ranking were created by them. As for the behind-the-scenes bosses of this restaurant, there are many, but there are four biggest ones."

"It wouldn't be the Four Vassal regional lords, would it?"

Jiang Xinfan nodded with a smile and said: "It is exactly the Four Vassal regional lords. These are actually relatively secretive news. Ji Hong was only able to find out after much difficulty, relying on his identity as the closed-door disciple of Military Advisor Chen..."

Speaking of this, he paused, then continued: "It is rumored that the behind-the-scenes bosses of Shigui Restaurant did not originally include the Four Vassal regional lords, only the Nine Surnames Clans, which are nine major clans that have been passed down in Moaochuan for more than three hundred years. Later, they probably felt that this piece of fat was too big, and the Four Vassal regional lords couldn't stand it, so they forcibly intervened.

The Nine Surnames Clans naturally were unwilling and united to resist, but the arm could not twist the thigh, so the nine bosses became thirteen, and the Four Vassal regional lords were the four that held the majority.

Although the Four Vassal regional lords are strong, they were latecomers and were in the wrong, and since they took the majority of the profits every year, and these Nine Surnames Clans were originally their own people in their respective vassal regions, it was not easy to offend them too harshly, so they also made some compromises, which is to only take dividends and not interfere in any management or operation of the restaurant."

This is very interesting!