Chapter 65: Great Stone City

The grey rock lizards pulled the cart and ran extremely fast.

This is already the Shi clan's direct territory; the infrastructure is decent, the transport passages have been carefully polished, the roads are wide and flat, much easier to travel than those in the wild.

Along the way we passed dozens of stone caves, the larger ones about ten li in diameter, the smaller only a few hundred meters across; big and small fortresses stood within them, garrisoned with varying numbers of soldiers.

The Shi family truly deserves its place among the three great clans of the Cangyan Realm thanks to its superb mining skills; everywhere in these caves that Wu Tie passed, mine entrances could be seen, and the stone walls were riddled with tunnels.

Inside every stone cave, the constant clinking of picks could be heard; who knows how many mine slaves toiled day and night in the tunnels.

Besides Wu Tie, there was also a batch of new recruits from the External Affairs Bureau hired by Second Elder Shi.

They were all so-called 'wildlings' with no clan or faction affiliation.

Among them was a small tribe of Ox Tribe warriors who ate wherever they went, two bands of Wolf Tribe warriors who doubled as bandits collecting 'road maintenance fees', a group of Lizardfolk with decent archery skills, and the most numerous were a nest of Ratfolk.

Just like the rodents in the caves, these rat‑headed Ratfolk breed extremely fast and are very easy to keep alive.

Outside the city gate where Second Elder Shi was hiring laborers, originally only seven or eight Ratfolk were scouting; once they learned he was genuinely recruiting workers, not capturing slaves, they whistled and over three thousand able‑bodied warriors and their families came running.

Fortunately, the Ratfolk are small‑sized and eat less than stone dwarves, and they are agile, skilled at stealth and concealment, making them excellent scouts. Second Elder Shi pondered a while and, using the lowest recruitment standards, brought them in.

The long convoy sped along, with Ratfolk squads keeping pace beside the carts; no matter how fast the grey rock lizards galloped, the Ratfolk could keep up.

In the caves only the panting of the grey rock lizards could be heard; over three thousand Ratfolk sprinted, yet they made not a sound.

'Brother, do you know why the Shi family is suddenly recruiting?' Wu Tie sat dazed in the cart, pondering his future, when a black‑furred Wolf Tribe warrior suddenly came up, lowered his voice, and asked him.

This was Hei Pi, the chief of one of the two Wolf Tribe bands, the Black Wind Bandits.

The Black Wind Bandits had over 130 sturdy wolf‑warriors, and Hei Pi, as a youth, had somehow obtained a manual called the Black Wind Slash from a remote cavern.

Hei Pi and his two brothers, Hei Zhao and Hei Ya, entered the Guan Xuan Realm relying on the Black Wind Slash.

Because the Black Wind Bandits had three Guan Xuan Realm leaders, they lived comfortably; they waylaid passing merchants, ambushed small‑ and medium‑sized clans, and occasionally took on jobs similar to the Mist Blade's assassinations.

In short, the Black Wind Bandits' wolf‑men were all fat and strong, sleek and glossy, far better‑looking than the Remnant Wolf Squad.

Like Wu Tie, Hei Pi, Hei Zhao, and Hei Ya received First‑Class Steward treatment from the Shi family's External Affairs Bureau, while their wolf‑warrior subordinates all got Third‑Class Steward badges; the promised conditions were far better than their wild life.

'Hei Pi, you know why? Just spit it out straight… don't act all… believe it or not, I'll beat you?'

Riding in the same cart, the chief of the Ox Tribe small clan, Tie Bashi ba, let out a gruff roar, shook his head proudly, and flaunted the pure‑gold nose ring he had just put on.

Originally he wore an iron nose ring; after joining the Shi family's External Affairs Bureau, Second Elder Shi gave him a pure‑gold nose ring as a gift, and these past two days whenever he sees people he must shake his head, spinning the ring like a wind‑mill 'whoosh‑whoosh' before he'll stop.

For Ox Tribe warriors, they have an almost fanatical obsession with the material and size of their nose rings.

Tie Bashi ba has never cultivated any technique; his name comes from his weight at birth.

Among the Ox Tribe, newborns average about thirty catties; an eighty‑eight‑catty infant is undoubtedly a remarkable record.

So Tie Bashi ba used his birth weight as his name.

And he lives up to that name: though he has never cultivated, he mysteriously activated a powerful bloodline, standing nearly four meters tall, his bones and sinews knotted, his cowhide extraordinarily tough, said to withstand heavy axe blows without damage.

Especially his pair of horns, long and curved, gleam with a metallic cold light, jet‑black and dim, looking very heavy.

When demonstrating before Second Elder Shi, Tie Bashi ba lifted a one‑foot‑thick fine‑iron city gate with one horn and smashed it to pieces; Shi was delighted and on the spot approved him and his kin joining the Shi family.

In the External Affairs Bureau, Tie Bashi ba's rank exceeds that of Wu Tie and Hei Pi; he is a Special‑Grade Steward personally appointed by Second Elder Shi, receiving monthly resources more than three times theirs.

Wolf Tribe nature is cautious and deceitful; Hei Pi had wanted to curry favor with Wu Tie here, but Tie Bashi ba would have none of it.

A fist the size of a wine jar swung in front of Hei Pi's face; Tie Bashi ba gave a low grunt, and the fist immediately emitted a 'gaga' sound.

Hei Pi grit his teeth and let out a low growl at Tie Bashi ba.

Tie Bashi ba chuckled 'hehe', smugly stroking the fine‑steel great axe that Second Elder Shi had also given him.

Hei Pi snorted coldly, glanced resentfully at Wu Tie, and said: 'We're all just scraping by in the Cangyan Realm—have you heard of Mist Blade?'

When the term 'Mist Blade' was mentioned, Hei Pi instinctively lowered his voice and cautiously glanced around.

Tie Bashi ba's face also grew solemn; he likewise lowered his voice: 'Well, who hasn't heard of Mist Blade? They say that if you offend them… you must sleep with one eye open, or lose your head.'

Even though Tie Bashi ba lowered his voice, his words still thundered, carrying far away.

On another cart behind, the leader of the Remnant Wolf Squad—a yellow‑haired old wolf‑man missing an eye and an ear, his fur patchy and bald—Du Yan'er darted over, crouched beside Wu Tie, and silently watched Hei Pi.

Hei Pi glanced warily at Du Yan'er.

Being fellow Wolf Tribe outlaws, the Remnant Wolf Squad's reputation far outshone that of the Black Wind Bandits.

The Remnant Wolf Squad numbers only fifty or sixty, yet their combat record surpasses the Black Wind Bandits by far; they once survived a joint hunt by several great clans of the Cangyan Realm and even killed many experts from those clans.

Du Yan'er's lone remaining eye was dull and lifeless, devoid of any vitality.

Du Yan'er fixed his one eye on Hei Pi, making Hei Pi feel a chill creep up his neck, as if a blade were pressed to his throat.

'Mist Blade must have run into trouble… lately we brothers haven't eaten meat for a while, we were starving and wandering the wilderness, thinking to strike a small clan… but in a mine shaft we found over a thousand corpses of Mist Blade assassins.'

Hei Pi pursed his lips; unbeknownst when, the chief of the Ratfolk—a sleek‑furred white rat in tight leather armor, Lao Bai—silently scrambled onto the cart.

Lao Bai crouched beside Wu Tie, his pair of green eyes glimmering faintly.

He whispered: 'Hei Pi brother, it's not just those thousand‑plus Mist Blade killers… as far as we know, all nine branches of the Mist Blade in the Cangyan Realm have been wiped out.'

Lao Bai softly said: 'Rumor has it the Changsheng Sect did it—those nine Mist Blade halls, not a single survivor.'

Hei Pi gave a dry laugh: 'Lao Bai's well‑informed… after all, all Ratfolk are one family, your intel is the best… hehe, the Changsheng Sect are outsiders, Mist Blade are natives of our Cangyan Realm… Changsheng Sect… too scary!'

Tie Bashi ba blinked, blew out a heavy gust of hot air that messed up Lao Bai's sleek fur.

He gave a loud snort, his voice gruff, and said: 'Is the Shi family recruiting us to guard against the Changsheng Sect?'

Wu Tie realized and nodded.

It looks like the Changsheng Sect has truly entered the Cangyan Realm in full force.

The Mist Blade Chief Steward, after all, didn't clean up the mess, and the news of that secret realm still got out.

But the Changsheng Sect suddenly struck hard, wiping out Mist Blade in one fell swoop, which made the three great clans of the Cangyan Realm nervous. The Shi family's recruitment is probably just to boost its self‑defense.

'Changsheng Sect…' Du Yan'er suddenly muttered: 'Too bad they only accept handsome men and beautiful women. If we defected, we'd be no different from slaves. Compared to that, joining the Shi family is better.'

He shook his head, Du Yan'er darted back to the rear cart, like an old man on his last legs, lethargically leaning against the wall and dozing off with his head tilted.

The convoy, together with the mighty throng of Ratfolk, pressed on; after passing a few medium‑sized stone caves, they finally arrived at 'Great Stone City'.

Cangyan Realm has eight largest caverns; the largest one could be about six hundred li in radius, the smallest one could be over a hundred li. The three great families Lu Family, Yan Family, and Shi Family divided the eight caverns among themselves, and the Shi Family possessed three of the great stone caverns.

Shibao, the smallest of the three great stone caverns possessed by the Shi Family, is roughly rectangular, with a length of over one hundred fifty li and a width of over seventy li.

Six False Suns, each three hundred meters in diameter, are set in the center of the dome, bringing light and warmth to this stone cavern.

When Wu Tie and his group arrived, the False Sun's light was fierce, having just risen not long ago.

Wu Tie, Hei Pi, and Tie Bashiba stared in shock, raising their heads to look at the six radiant False Suns shining on the dome.

After a long while, Hei Pi muttered to himself: 'No wonder it's one of the three great families...... truly damn rich...... If we couldn't beat them, I'd really want to pull a job on them......'

Water mist filled the stone cavern; in the neatly arranged fields, large groups of stone dwarf slaves were busy working.

Clusters of edible fungi, clusters of crops that Wu Tie found very unfamiliar, various crops grew lush and vigorous.

Wu Tie searched through the data memorized in his mind, and immediately found information on most of the crops in the fields; it even included corn, cabbage, cucumber, eggplant……

Wu Tie looked at these crops with both jealousy and envy.

He subconsciously raised his head to look at the dome…… six False Suns, each three hundred meters in diameter…… just as Hei Pi said, Wu Tie really wanted to pull a job.

Thinking back to the small, dim False Sun that once hovered above the Wu Family's Shibao, Wu Tie didn't know what to say.

The convoy proceeded along a wide gravel road toward the center of the stone cavern.

Far off, one could see an enormous boulder at the center of the stone cavern; the bluish-black boulder stood like a screen, and beneath it a fortress with a radius of about one li had been built.

This boulder is the origin of the name Shibao.

The convoy had traveled over ten li when a squad of knights came galloping forward.

Ox-tribe warriors in heavy armor rode on similarly armored gray-rock lizards, charging forward like a moving line of iron towers. When they were still over a hundred meters from the convoy, they loudly shouted, urging their mounts to gradually slow down.

Among those traveling with Wu Tie and his group was a subordinate of Master Shi Er.

Like Master Shi Er, this fellow was also round and plump; Wu Tie remembered that Master Shi Er called him Shi Quan.

Upon seeing the knight squad, the round Shi Quan sprang from the carriage like a lively spaniel, lightly jumping down, exchanged a few words with the squad's leader, then turned and vigorously waved his arms.

"Which, Old Bai steward, your people are too many; they cannot possibly live in Shibao."

"Outside the city, sufficient stone huts have been built; your people will be stationed there. Of course, Old Bai steward, you may bring no more than one hundred soldiers to garrison Shibao."

"Here, Hei Pi chief, Duyaner chief, Tie Bashiba chieftain, and Little Tie steward…… you just follow me."

"This is Shibao, the Shi Family's Shibao; from now on, it will be your home."

"Haha, the Shi Family welcomes you all; you will surely not regret joining my Shi Family."

Shi Quan laughed infectiously, his smile extremely radiant.

Wu Tie surveyed the surroundings, also failing to notice what Shi Quan had actually said.

Old Bai led his mighty throng of people, following a small squad of knights, while Wu Tie and the others rode in the carriage, traveling along the main road all the way to the gate of Shibao.

The walls of Shibao are very high, twenty meters tall, cast throughout from heavy stone mixed with molten iron.

The buildings inside Shibao share the same style as the walls; each small tower is extraordinarily thick, with narrow windows that even stone dwarves and rat people could not squeeze into.

On the roofs of many small towers, arrow towers and watchtowers are also installed.

It appears that Shibao was originally built as a pure war fortress.

Wu Tie also saw ethereal light flowing on the walls of some small towers; these towers were clearly empowered by great power.

As he was surveying the surroundings, a low voice came from ahead.

"Shi Quan, is this the manpower you recruited back?"

"Hmph, look at their sorry state…… what use could a bunch of 'savages' and bandits possibly have?"