Chapter 268: 260 The Ghost Pushes the Mill (Bonus Chapter 1 for Silver Patron Lady Richelieu)

The mule cart traveled along with a rumbling sound through the mountain forest, its speed neither fast nor slow, the mule's hooves making a "clatter-clatter" sound as they stepped on the gravel.

The carriage grew slightly quiet, and immediately after, the lady burst into loud laughter:

"Hahaha, little sister, you are truly brave!"

The young woman felt a slight embarrassment, but her slender eyebrows immediately arched, and her murderous aura was fully revealed: "Less nonsense, did you hit my weak spot? You are organizing a group to head up the mountain, and you harbor ill intentions toward Zhuoyu Villa."

The lady did not answer, but instead continued to cover her mouth and laugh, saying: "And not only brave, but also very confident. Look, my sons are all outside, and there is no one else around; even if I did harbor ill intentions, how would you stop me?"

The young woman stared at her, seeing her laughing until she trembled, her expression gradually wavering, appearing hesitant and indecisive, and said: "Do you have no malicious intent? The murderous aura on your body is truly thick."

The lady gradually stopped her laughter, stared back at her, and said thoughtfully: "How sharp... little sister, you possess extraordinary skills. No wonder you dared to come alone from Daizhou all the way to Yunzhou; a journey of a thousand miles is not easy to travel."

At this moment, a young man's voice came from the front: "Madam, is something the matter?"

The lady raised her voice and said: "Nothing, I am having a very pleasant chat with this little sister."

The young man said: "Understood. I am outside; call me if you need anything." After saying this, there was silence.

The lady winked at the young woman and said: "Who needs him to be meddlesome? Even if we had some misunderstanding, it is fine once we talk it out. Look, aren't we both at ease with each other now?"

The young woman frowned and said: "You didn't explain a single word, so why are you at ease?"

The lady smiled and said: "As for you, I never doubted you from the start. Such a naive and straightforward little sister, how could you be a bad person? As for you, you had doubts about me before, but now you are at ease, aren't you? Just now, you relaxed all at once."

Without waiting for the young woman to speak again, the lady continued: "But I am very curious; you only asked me two questions, and I didn't answer, so why did you stop doubting me yourself? Could it be that besides asking questions, you also used some mind-reading or intent-probing technique, and thus saw through me? Was it Sword Art? In that case, little sister, you are a Sword Guest, aren't you?"

After she said this in a rush, the young woman suddenly felt a bit deflated and could only say at last: "It was Sword Art. Just now when I asked, if you had evil intentions, I would certainly have known." Having said this, she admitted that she no longer doubted the other party, and then frowned, "What about you? Why didn't you doubt that I had ill intentions? How did you know I had let go of my suspicion? Did you use Sword Art too?"

The lady smiled and said: "No. I am not a Sword Guest and do not know Sword Art. I truly envy you Sword Guests; so imposing, so powerful, with endless methods. That a little sister of your age is already a Sword Guest makes me envious to death. As for how I guessed you were no longer suspicious—I saw it." She pointed her finger vaguely at her own eyes. "I have lived a few more years, so I have seen many people. Experience is not as magical as Sword Art, but sometimes it is very convenient. I saw at a glance that you are a generous and upright good girl, so how could I doubt you?"

Although she was of age, her choice of words was as lively as a young girl's, and coupled with her continuous stream of praise, the young woman couldn't quite handle it and made a few "mm-hmm" sounds.

Seeing her like this, the lady took the initiative to reach out and hold her hand, saying: "Sister, we are both fellow travelers and good friends of Zhuoyu Villa, which means we are all friends; since we are so compatible, why be so secretive? My surname is Hua, what about you?"

At this point, the young woman could no longer be reserved and said: "My surname is Yun, Yun Xiyan. Since you are surnamed Hua and have such a temperament, I am reminded of someone. In the Jianghu, they call her Flower Yama..."

The lady said: "That would be me. Flower Yama."

Yun Xiyan suddenly realized and said: "No wonder you... your caravan is full of murderous aura. I thought..."

Yun Xiyan had come from Daizhou, invited by Tang Zhao to attend the Sword Casting Conference. She had become acquainted with Tang Zhao at the Talisman Assembly, and their friendship was quite good. She was also a person who valued loyalty; since Tang Zhao had invited her, how could she not come, even though it was a thousand miles away? Not only did she come, but she was also exceptionally concerned.

It turned out that there had long been rumors in the Jianghu about what was happening at Zhuoyu Villa. Although Feitian Cave was remote, its influence was not small, and it had plenty of intelligence. She had vaguely heard that Zhuoyu Villa was in trouble and worried for him in her heart, thinking that although Brother Tang was smart and capable, he was still young, and Zhuoyu Villa was a small force; if they encountered a big problem like the one at the Talisman Assembly, how could they cope? It just so happened that she had recently become a Sword Guest, and her strength was much greater than it had been at the Talisman Assembly, so if she rushed over, she could at least help out.

Of course, having just become a Sword Guest, she also had a little desire to test her blade.

Therefore, she traveled day and night to get here. Although the road was long, she arrived earlier than others, intending to go up the mountain to take a look first, but she did not expect to run into Lady Hua Rong and her party.

"But Madam, going up the mountain is one thing, but why bring so many things and so many people?" Yun Xiyan pointed to the mule carts outside. "The conference only lasts a few days; even if you are sending gifts, do you need so many things? It can't really be your daughter's dowry, can it?"

Upon hearing this, Lady Hua Rong looked out the window, as if observing the situation around them, and said: "A portion of it is gifts for the Sword Master, for Young Master Tang, and for my daughter. But some of it is for defense."

Yun Xiyan was startled and said: "So you have heard the rumors too. I heard the rumors are very unfavorable to Zhuoyu Villa."

Lady Hua Rong said: "I haven't just heard rumors; I have seen the omens. You know that our Yama Shop is the world's number one assassin organization, specializing in accepting contracts for murder. But there is another organization called 'Ghost Pushing the Mill'; have you heard of it?"

Yun Xiyan said: "I have heard of it. It is an underground organization that takes all kinds of contracts. Finding items, intelligence, smuggling, black markets—they take all kinds of black and gray contracts... Could that organization be related to the Yama Shop..."

Lady Hua Rong said: "That is not my family's business, but I personally have a small stake in it." She gestured with her hand to indicate "small." "So I also have inside information. This month, that is, after the news of the Sword Casting Conference spread, the volume of intelligence traded regarding the Sword Casting Conference in Ghost Pushing the Mill has been very high. Of course, it is mostly transactions between buyers and sellers, and we just provide the platform. However, there is one mysterious long-term task with a very high reward that many people have taken, and the buyer is very mysterious—it is for collecting invitations to the Sword Casting Conference."

Yun Xiyan let out an "Ah," feeling that something was wrong, and said: "But the invitations and the list are one-to-one; only those who match the person can go up the mountain. What is the use of collecting them?"

Lady Hua Rong said: "You should know when you see the price; such a high price is not for the piece of paper that is the invitation, but for the identity associated with that paper. As long as you are willing to sell, it is very easy to fake a person. Ghost Pushing the Mill also provides disguise and forgery services; I wouldn't say it's seamless, but ordinary people certainly wouldn't be able to tell."

Yun Xiyan was very angry and said: "Those who collect invitations are either friends or famous people from various places, right? How can they sell themselves for money? Can't you stop this kind of thing, Madam?"

Lady Hua Rong sighed: "Ghost Pushing the Mill is not one person's business; one must follow the rules. If we didn't take every task associated with every shareholder, the brand of Ghost Pushing the Mill would have collapsed long ago. It is already very difficult for me to get some inside information. As for the VIPs of the Sword Casting Conference, many people's reputations actually have a price. It is just that usually no one makes an offer, so they cannot cash in, which makes them look sanctimonious. Zhuoyu Villa is also at fault; in order to save face for the Manor Master and restore their reputation, they invited guests from everywhere, inviting too many irrelevant people, which is truly very dangerous."

Yun Xiyan said: "I heard it was because of the previous bad rumors, so they wanted to hold a larger Sword Casting Assembly... They really should be advised."

Lady Hua Rong said: "If they won't be advised, then so be it. Besides the invitations, there is another big deal concerning them, which is the request to purchase a map of Zhuoyu Villa. The more detailed, the better. The reward for this is also very generous. Later on, there were even groups formed to go to Jiugao Mountain to survey it. I imagine Zhuoyu Villa must be having a headache these days. It is fortunate that this is Yunzhou and there is Jichun City to block them. However, after such a long time, even if it is bit by bit, the outer maps should have been figured out. The next step will be organizing people into teams to climb the mountain from the periphery. Attacking from both inside and outside is a plan to leave no survivors."

Yun Xiyan said unhappily: "How arrogant. They don't take Zhuoyu Villa seriously at all. Back at the Talisman Assembly, they didn't dare to make such a public scene; they are just bullying Zhuoyu Villa because it is not as powerful as Longyuan."

Lady Hua Rong said: "There is not much I can do. I have sent the message, but I don't know the details; I don't even know who bought whose identity, so I can only pass on a general idea. As for myself, I will just bring my own people and some city-defense weapons up the mountain to help out."

In fact, Lady Hua Rong was also hesitant about whether to wade into these muddy waters; after all, Zhuoyu Villa seemed to be surrounded on all sides, and the chances of winning were not high. But she weighed the pros and cons: firstly, there was the concern for her daughter, and secondly, she thought that even if the sword casting failed, it was unlikely the Sword Master would die, so there was still great investment value. Moreover, Yunzhou had always hoped for a true Sword Master to emerge, and perhaps people from the Gaoyuan Marquis would come to help, turning the danger into safety? After much deliberation, she still decided to openly bring a large team up the mountain to show her sincerity.

Her party consisted of assassins from the Yama Shop, and with so much baggage, it was inevitably suspicious in the eyes of a sharp person like Yun Xiyan, which led to the incident of her coming over to sound things out.

Yun Xiyan gritted her teeth and said: "If they want to ruin my brother's good event, they will have to see if my sword agrees."

Lady Hua Rong sharing intelligence naturally brought the two closer, and she also deliberately befriended this young Sword Guest who was powerful and had a bright future. Yun Xiyan had no guile and was straightforward and loved making friends; although they had only met for a day or two, they were already like friends across generations.

The seven large carts traveled into the mountains for most of the day, then suddenly stopped slightly. They heard the driver of the front cart report: "Madam, it is foggy."