Chapter 362: The Cause (2)

Great Wei Divine State, Heaven-Patrolling Secret Guard.

Wu Tie's mouth twitched.

The Great Jin Divine State's Divine Martial Army is stationed year-round on the Three Kingdoms Battlefield. The so-called Three Kingdoms Battlefield is where the Great Jin Divine State, Great Wei Divine State, and Great Wu Divine State three states contend for profit.

That is a land of extremely abundant resources, where various heavenly and earthly rarities constantly appear.

Every mountain there could give birth to top-grade immortal herbs and divine medicines; every mountain is worth the three divine states expending countless lives to seize; every mountain is soaked with the blood of the three kingdoms' soldiers.

The three states are mortal enemies.

The relationship between the Great Wei Divine State and the Great Jin Divine State is especially hostile, almost to the point of immortality versus immortality.

And the Great Wei Divine State's Heaven-Patrolling Secret Guard is a group of assassins and killers who use any means necessary, specially cultivated by the Great Wei Divine State to carry out various acts of sabotage in enemy states as violent elements.

However, the Heaven-Patrolling Secret Guard's usual targets are at least a prefecture lord or a province lord, or a certain prince or princess of the Great Jin Divine State, even up to high-level officials of the Divine State such as the Demon-Suppressing Hall and the Demon-Expelling Hall.

Even a remote small town like Flower Insect City would actually be targeted by the Heaven-Patrolling Secret Guard…… Wu Tie momentarily felt a sense of being 'favored and startled'.

'Really, I never thought…… a place like Flower Insect City would actually give birth to an innate spirit treasure…… tsk, and it would actually draw the Heaven-Patrolling Secret Guard's people. Ah, ah, this is truly…… beyond comprehension.' Wu Tie smiled at the two black-clothed elders: 'Elders, could you tell me the crux of this?'

The round shields wielded by the two black-clothed elders were already covered in scars under the barrage of countless flying knives, and they were about to be broken through.

The Myriad Blades Chariot's attack was too fierce; the two black-clothed elders were exhausted to the point of sweating virtual sweat on their foreheads. Under the dense barrage of a million flying knives, trying to hold on consumed truly massive amounts of mana.

'Ease up your hand, and we can make clear the cause and effect.' A black-clothed elder snarled through gritted teeth: 'Just fear that you lack the guts.'

Wu Tie said nothing and immediately reduced the Myriad Blades Chariot's attack power.

Only a hundred thousand flying knives remained flying wildly in the sky, and the attack frequency dropped severalfold.

The two black-clothed elders instantly inhaled, their spirits refreshed, and simultaneously took out a strangely shaped triangular tiger-head gold medal, tossing it above their heads; the two tiger-head gold medals sprayed smoke and mist, encircling their bodies and completely blocking the barrage of flying knives filling the sky.

'Kid, good, good, you've got guts; we naturally keep our word.' A black-clothed elder slapped his hand and gritted his teeth: 'Anyway, we've already found the place…… it's just a matter of this little while……'

The two black-clothed elders' eyes flickered, and one of them slowly began to tell a story.

The story begins a thousand years ago.

A thousand years ago, the Great Wei Divine State's Heaven-Patrolling Secret Guard launched a daring assault against the incumbent Master of the Demon-Banning Hall of the Great Jin Divine State.

That time, the Heaven-Patrolling Secret Guard mobilized an enormous number of personnel, moving over ninety percent of the spies, moles, secret agents, and traitors they had planted in the Great Jin Divine State.

The result was their strike succeeded; the incumbent Master of the Demon-Banning Hall of the Great Jin Divine State was surrounded and beaten to death, while the Great Jin Divine State reacted swiftly, immediately dispatching its army to encircle and pursue, crushing the invading Heaven-Patrolling Secret Guard into scattered remnants, nearly annihilated.

Only an extremely small number of exceptionally fortunate Heaven-Patrolling Secret Guard members escaped with their lives; among them was a severely wounded leader of the Heaven-Patrolling Secret Guard who fled in panic and happened to pass by Flower Insect City.

This fortunate leader of the Heaven-Patrolling Secret Guard was the ancestor of the three black-clothed elders.

In the mountains outside Flower Insect City, he was caught up by the pursuers of the Great Jin Divine State's Demon-Banning Hall; after a fierce blood battle, both sides perished together. But just before death, their fight stirred the power of the earth veins, and both were drawn into the earth veins.

Deep within those earth veins, the leader of the Heaven-Patrolling Secret Guard saw an innate spirit treasure in the process of being nurtured.

Furthermore, according to the aura emitted by that innate spirit treasure, he faintly sensed that the day it would fully mature was exactly a thousand years later.

The black-clothed elders' clan is versed in various evasion arcane arts; their ancestor, unable to return to the Great Wei Divine State, exerted all efforts, even burning his soul to sever the cycle of reincarnation, and transmitted the news of this innate spirit treasure back to the family via secret arts.

From then on, for a thousand years, the entire clan has expended countless thoughts on this innate spirit treasure.

If they could truly grasp this innate spirit treasure in hand, they could transform from ordinary minor nobility of the Great Wei Divine State into top-tier aristocracy.

Therefore, for a thousand years, the whole clan has worked together, sparing no cost to elevate their members' status and influence within the Heaven-Patrolling Secret Guard, while also racking their brains to make certain arrangements around Flower Insect City.

For example, three hundred years ago, a branch of the Ren Clan suddenly slaughtered the main line of the direct lineage, replacing it with the branch; this was done with their support. Now the Ren Clan of Flower Insect City has completely become the lackeys of the black-clothed elders' family.

When an innate spirit treasure reaches the end of its gestation, it naturally disturbs the heavenly secrets, making it utterly impossible for outsiders to pinpoint its exact location through divination.

To find it, the only way is to use the most primitive method: following the vague information transmitted by that ancestor, according to the earth-qi characteristics of that earth vein, drilling holes along the earth vein to seek even a trace of the innate spirit treasure.

'In order not to attract the attention of the Demon-Banning Hall's lackeys, we have expended great effort to design the Flower Clan, devise a new forging method, and send the Flower Clan's survey team, led by the Master Artisan we cultivated, into the wilderness to prospect for ore.' A black-clothed elder said gloomily: 'Such a thing is quite ordinary; normally it would not draw notice.'

'The only concern is that Flower Heart Heart's side's Chief Steward Nine might see through a bit of the mystery, so Chief Steward Nine died.' Another black-clothed elder sneered: 'We carefully selected Flower Heart Heart this good-for-nothing precisely so that the Ren Clan could naturally preside over this survey.'

'Furthermore, to divert the attention of the Demon-Banning Hall's lackeys, we did not hesitate to sacrifice many hidden operatives, causing disturbances throughout Nine Mountains Prefecture…… even we actively drew the Heaven-Patrolling Secret Guard's strength to launch an attack, so that the personnel of the Demon-Banning Hall in Nine Mountains Prefecture were mostly redeployed, leaving the prefecture completely empty.'

A black-clothed elder sighed lightly: 'What can be done, there are also traitors of the Demon-Banning Hall within the Heaven-Patrolling Secret Guard…… they must have noticed something, so they sent out a warning, right?'

'So, you, a mere colonel of the Divine Martial Army, actually dared not fear and threw yourself right in.'

Wu Tie listened to the two elders' lengthy explanation, and finally understood the cause and effect.

He let out a somewhat speechless sigh: 'You've made things far too complicated; actually, since you already control the Ren Clan, you could simply have them conduct the survey—why go to all this trouble?'

'We wanted to!' a black-clothed elder roared with fury: 'But your Great Jin Divine State's broken rules lock down civilian operations…… the Ren Clan has no right to survey ore veins…… you forgot that?'

Wu Tie slapped his forehead hard; well, he really had overlooked that rule.

The Ren Clan indeed lacked the qualification to survey ore veins; if they deployed several thousand people deep into the mountains to survey, the Demon-Banning Hall would certainly report it immediately.

Prospecting ore, smelting, forging various weapon secret treasures—these are privileges reserved for noble clans.

'Alright, I understand!' Wu Tie clasped his hands toward the two elders: 'You've also caught your breath, right? You may die now!'

The windmill suddenly accelerated.