Chapter 44: The Advantage of the Mist Blade

Familiar formula, familiar taste.

Wu Tie soaked in a semi-transparent white liquid, while the next-door neighbor Yang Jian slightly squinted his eyes, quietly gazing at him through the double-layered crystal ball wall.

Wu Tie had grown accustomed to Yang Jian's presence, and with reverence glanced at the hole left on Yang Jian's forehead where the vertical eye had disappeared, then Wu Tie moved his limbs.

The numbness and weakness were fading away bit by bit. Strength was slowly returning, and Wu Tie could feel fresh blood gradually welling up inside him, gradually filling and saturating every part of his body.

Lao Tie stood on the ground, his eyes flashing with Blood Light, as figures flickered in the crimson light curtain; the reactions of the two Chief Commanders, Bone Grandpa, and Orchid Grandpa were all laid out in detail on the curtain.

Quietly watching the curtain, Wu Tie secretly marveled at the fearsome power of those tiny metal spiders.

With them, wouldn't the Changsheng Sect and Mist Blade have no secrets left from Wu Tie?

"Tell me, what are they up to?" Lao Tie, puzzled, raised a claw and pointed at the light curtain: "Well, I'm a master at fighting and killing, but as for intelligence gathering and tactical analysis…" he chuckled.

Wu Tie spat out a few small bubbles from his mouth.

That Lao Tie… he keeps saying he's a medical-type Ancient Divine Soldier.

But looking at his words and deeds, at the meaning sometimes leaking from his speech, he's clearly an embryo skilled at killing and arson—how could he have anything to do with 'medical'?

Of course, if soaking Wu Tie in the crystal ball also counts as 'medical,' then Wu Tie has nothing to say.

Having spat out a few bubbles, Wu Tie shook his head.

He also couldn't guess what Bone Grandpa, Orchid Grandpa, and the two Chief Commanders would do. Still, Lao Tie's earth‑shaking strike was terrifying; even when fleeing for his life, Wu Tie couldn't help glancing back—the momentum was truly terrifying.

If that strike were unleashed at the Wu Family Shibao… the entire Wu Family, thousands strong, together with the whole Shibao and the whole Wu Valley, would surely be razed to the ground?

"They were scared off…… or perhaps they went to find experts for help?" Wu Tie's wounds from the Breaking Origin Blood Blade had healed; he slid out of the crystal ball, wiped himself clean, donned his tight armor, and frowned as he said to Lao Tie.

This is merely his guess; he doesn't know if it's right.

If unfortunately he guessed correctly, then this secret realm will yet face an even larger war. Especially if the experts of the Changsheng Sect and Mist Blade rush here, even the Ancient Divine Soldier Camp might not be safe.

"Lao Tie, how many times can you unleash that attack?" Wu Tie pondered a serious question.

Lao Tie let out a heavy sigh, lay on the ground, and scratched his head with his forepaw.

"That Howling Celestial Dog—before it died, who knows what it did; outwardly it looks unharmed, but inside it's badly damaged." Lao Tie shook his head: "Big Iron is a wreck; we lack the tools needed to repair the Howling Celestial Dog…"

"Roughly… once every half year?" Lao Tie looked at Wu Tie, the Blood Light in his eyes flickering a few times: "You've been too merciful with those Mist Blade assassins—you shouldn't just wound them; you ought to kill them outright."

Lao Tie sternly instructed Wu Tie: "In a short time, inflicting major, unacceptable losses on the enemy is an effective means to halt battle and achieve tactical objectives. Merely wounding those assassins without killing them… amounts to useless effort."

Wu Tie sat before Lao Tie, silent.

Shouldering a great banner to declare war on Mist Blade and the Changsheng Sect, he overcame his inner hesitation and fear, and did it.

But to have him strike down those Mist Blade assassins…

Wu Tie couldn't bring himself to do it.

After all, his age speaks for itself. In the Wu Family, since childhood he's also been taught by the Grey Master, unlike his father and three elder brothers, who are already accustomed to fighting for territory and profit.

Lao Tie gazed deeply at Wu Tie; after a long while he nodded: "Well, this isn't something that changes overnight… I've seen those newbies who piss their pants on the battlefield—kill enough people and even the soft‑boiled eggs become capable hands; it's just a matter of time."

"Now, we begin a new lesson."

"Intelligence, or useful information, is an essential part of any war that cannot be missing."

"Whether it's the Changsheng Sect or Mist Blade, we actually know nothing about them."

"What's the situation in the Cangyan Realm? Where did the Changsheng Sect come from? How strong is Mist Blade's power in the Cangyan Realm? What's their relationship? We must sort these out… especially since our resources are limited—war is no game."

"So tell me, how can we obtain the intelligence we need?" Lao Tie stared seriously at Wu Tie.

Wu Tie furrowed his brow in thought, then suddenly laughed: "Why not grab someone and question them?"

Lao Tie cracked his mouth and let out a dry laugh: "Exactly—grab a tongue and ask… Well then, we need to pick a good capture target. The Mist Blade Chief Commander level is beyond you, and I don't have the strength to deal with them now… slaves, what could they know?"

Old Tie split his mouth open, letting out a dry laugh: "Exactly, grab a tongue and ask… well, then we need to pick a good capture target. The Mist Blade's leader at that level—you can't beat them, and Grandpa I don't have the strength to deal with them right now… slaves and such, what could they know?"

Choosing a suitable capture target is important, so two days later, under the cover of the False Sun and after nightfall, Wu Tie stole all of Mist Blade's wooden rafts, crossed the great river downstream, and sneaked to the outskirts of the Changsheng Sect's base.

Without expending much effort, following Lao Tie's guidance, Wu Tie used a fine spine and a tiny amount of specially prepared plant paralytic toxin to easily seize a young man attending Bone Grandpa behind him.

He was no fearless martyr, no hardened criminal who'd endured torture—perhaps it was Lao Tie's fearsome, unique Human‑Head Dog appearance that frightened him; this youth, oily‑haired and powder‑faced, quite handsome, answered every question, spilling everything he knew in full detail.

In the Changsheng Sect's view, the Cangyan Realm is a remote, barbaric, undeveloped vast territory.

The main region of the Cangyan Realm consists of eight large caverns of varying sizes; the largest cavern is only two‑thirds the size of the present secret realm, while the smallest is about a hundred li in diameter.

The eight caverns are partitioned among the three most powerful families; within these eight caverns lie hundreds of stone passages of varying size leading to thousands of large and small stone chambers, each chamber inhabited by families of varying numbers……

Countless large and small stone chambers lie above, below, close together, or a hundred li apart……

Moreover, intertwined in chaotic profusion are mines, tunnels, passages, secret ways, and so on—big and small stone forts, big and small settlements, plus the mine slaves dwelling in the passages and pits, and the wild natives……

Furthermore, there are organizations similar to Mist Blade, as well as various other strange big‑and‑small groups……

All of this together makes up the Cangyan Realm.

The Cangyan Realm gets its name because, in the largest of the eight core caverns, there flows a lava river that contains the heavenly‑earth strange fire known as Cangyan.

Cangyan is bluish‑white in hue, extremely hot, and harbors a kind of extraordinary power.

Weapons forged with Cangyan, given the same material, are over twice as sharp and tough. In the hands of a Foundation Establishment cultivator they're fine, but in the hands of a Perceiving Mystery cultivator—especially one at the Chonglou Realm—they unleash far greater lethal force.

For example, the personal weapons of Mist Blade's nine Chief Commanders are all fine products made by the Lu Family.

The Cangyan Realm is named precisely because of the Cangyan fire in that lava river.

Among the Cangyan Realm's three most powerful families, the Lu Family, ranked first, monopolizes that lava river, giving its armaments exceptional excellence—thus it can outweigh the Yan and Shi families combined.

As for the Changsheng Sect, it is not an indigenous force of the Cangyan Realm.

Decades ago, a vassal minor clan of the Shi Family in the Cangyan Realm sent its mining crew to blast through a vein with mountain‑splitting thunder, discovering a new passage.

This passage, stretching over a thousand li, gave the Cangyan Realm its first contact with the outer region.

The joint exploration team of the Cangyan Realm's three great families, at the end of that passage, encountered a merchant caravan from the outer region.

And within that caravan happened to be eyes and ears of the Changsheng Sect; the Sect's gaze fell upon the Cangyan Realm, and it began its encroachment.

And in that caravan, there just happened to be spies of the Changsheng Sect; the Changsheng Sect's gaze fell upon the Cangyan Realm, beginning its erosion of the Cangyan Realm.

Because of the Cangyan Realm's overall strength, the Changsheng Sect only dispatched four masters—Chi Lao Lao, Hong Lao Lao, Gu Gong Gong, and Lan Gong Gong—to preside over the branch hall of the Cangyan Realm.

The youth captured by Wu Tie is himself a native of the Cangyan Realm; from a young age he was seized and trained by the Changsheng Sect.

What he knows is merely the Cangyan Realm, and some basic information about the Changsheng Sect's Cangyan Realm branch hall; as for how powerful the Changsheng Sect truly is and what its senior leadership is like, that is beyond the reach of a follower of his level.

After all… although he is Bone Grandpa's personal attendant, the Changsheng Sect is strange and evil; these 'personal disciples' are more often used as aids for Bone Grandpa and the others during their cultivation, and even as temporary potency-boosting 'Great Tonic Pills' to replenish consumption in battle.

Their position is awkward, and they are never given the chance to come into contact with genuine secrets.

However, although it's unclear just how strong the Changsheng Sect's hidden power is, this youth revealed quite a bit of information about Mist Blade.

For example, Mist Blade is the most powerful local tyrant in the Cangyan Realm's dark underworld, the fourth major force outside the Lu, Yan, and Shi families; Mist Blade makes its living from the blood‑stained knife‑edge trade, its relations with the three great families are always poor, yet the three great families often cannot do without Mist Blade's aid…

If we simply look at the number of elite warriors and absolute strength, any one of the three great families fighting alone would truly not be a match for Mist Blade…

The Cangyan Realm as a whole is roughly the three great families standing in a tripartite balance among the natives, the three families joining forces to restrain Mist Blade, while at the same time the three great families and Mist Blade join forces to guard against infiltration by the Changsheng Sect…

While Wu Tie was capturing tongues and interrogating information in the secret realm, a surprise attack had just ended in the passage leading from the Cangyan Realm to the outer realm.

Since making contact with the outer realm, the three great families of the Cangyan Realm have jointly built a fortress in the passage, stationing a large contingent of elite warriors there year‑round to guard against a large‑scale invasion by any external force.

In the passage outside the fortress, piles of luminous vegetation emit bright light; a stretch of the passage dozens of li long is quite bright, comparable to the brilliance of the False Sun when it shines.

A stone wall two li wide blocks off the entire passage; atop the high wall, several commanders of the three great families, clad in armor, stand behind the battlements, smiling as they point outward.

Dozens of tall Ox‑tribe warriors wielding great steel axes stand on the wall, grinning with bared teeth.

Over a hundred tall lizard‑warriors famed for their astonishing archery hold longbows, their amber eyes rolling gururu as they stare unblinkingly at the black‑clad assassins lying in pools of blood outside the city.

This is a small caravan, several gray‑rock lizards pulling four‑wheeled carts, quietly halted at the edge of the passage.

Several dozen caravan guards, their bodies bristling with arrows, fell dead in the blood pools, many of them not even having drawn their weapons before being killed by a volley of dense arrows.

Bone Grandpa and Lan Grandpa lay one prone, the other supine, their clothing soaked with blood.

Bone Grandpa lay on the ground, a straight blade having cut his throat, nearly severing his head; he stared wide‑eyed, his dull, lifeless eyes fixed on the vault a kilometer overhead.

Lan Grandpa gasped heavily.

His chest had been split open by the straight blade, his lungs cut, large blood bubbles continually seeping from the wound; blood‑colored foam sprayed from his mouth and nose as he panted desperately, his hands twitching, trembling inch by inch toward the fortress several hundred meters away.

A man clad in black tight‑fitting soft armor, with a black cloak draped over his back, flickered into view soundlessly beside Lan Grandpa, then planted his right foot heavily on Lan Grandpa's back.

"You can try shouting loudly here and see if you can get the words you want to say… shouted out for them to hear?"

The man crouched, his slender, strong fingers lightly tapping Lan Grandpa's head, then suddenly chuckled softly: "Phew… Old Six, Old Seven, and Old Eight may have been a bit greedy, but at least they've come to their senses…"

"That place—how could the three of them possibly swallow it? Unless it's the entirety of Mist Blade, they couldn't swallow it."

"But being able to quietly swallow that parcel of prime land is still easier than fighting you Changsheng Sect folk and those three families for it."

Lan Grandpa painfully lifted his head, giving the black‑clad man a bitter look.

Mist Blade has nine Chief Stewards, the First through Ninth Chief Stewards, each a master of the Chonglou Realm.

Legend says Mist Blade also has a Grand Chief Steward whose nickname is none other than 'Mist Blade'; it is said that this Grand Chief Steward's strength surpasses the combined strength of the nine Chief Stewards.

Lan Grandpa originally thought the legend was just a legend.

But he never imagined that the legend was exactly that… he and Bone Grandpa joined forces, yet they couldn't even block a single strike from this Mist Blade Grand Chief Steward.

Had they known how terrifying the Mist Blade Grand Chief Steward was, they should have sent word of the secret realm back to the Changsheng Sect's main hall earlier…

Crack! the Chief Steward snapped Lan Grandpa's neck, then rose to his feet with a hehehe laugh.

He lightly flicked his palm, then called out in a calm voice toward the fortress: "You three families, come collect the corpses… bloody and gruesome, you've scared off the passing caravans—who'd still do business with our Cangyan Realm?"

"Tell your three family heads this… Mist Blade helped the Cangyan Realm eradicate the Changsheng Sect branch hall; for this merit you must pay up, or I'll personally come to your doors and keep demanding payment."

In a hehehe laugh, the Chief Steward's form gradually turned transparent, melting directly into the air.

"Now it's time to go meet that legendary master… a single strike collapsing several li? Tsk… this guy must be crazy."