Chapter 269: 261 Commission

"I never expected there to be such a place beneath Jichun City."

Black Widow, dressed in her white robes with the veil of her Veil Hat hanging down to conceal her beautiful features, walked through a dark Di Ku.

This Di Ku was located directly beneath Jichun City, accessed through an extremely inconspicuous, dilapidated house. Its path wound and twisted, spanning several hundred zhang, and with various factions taking shelter within, it was almost an underground town.

Half of this place was formed naturally, and half was man-made. It had been excavated by those factions with a need for it.

Many large cities had similar places to hide filth and corruption underground, and even Yunzhou was no exception. Or rather, such Di Ku were more common in Yunzhou, because the living space for gray-market factions on the surface was limited, forcing them to move into the "underground" in the physical sense.

Such gathering places for underground factions were extremely hidden; without an introduction from an acquaintance, it was almost impossible for an outsider to find them. But Black Widow was no ordinary person; she was a veteran of the underworld, and just as insects have their own paths, finding such a place was not difficult for her.

If there was anything that set the Jichun City Di Ku apart from others, it was that it was exceptionally narrow and cold.

As for being narrow, although the soil here was not like the permafrost of the Far North, it remained frozen for most of the year; the thawing in early spring and the expansion and contraction caused great trouble, making excavation extremely difficult, so it was hard to widen, remaining mostly long and narrow to connect to multiple exits, achieving the goal of "a wily rabbit having three burrows."

As for being cold, even though it was only early autumn, the underground rocks had already begun to frost over, feeling ice-cold to the touch, with waves of chill seeping into one's bones.

Black Widow walked with a graceful, swaying gait, appearing as if she could not withstand the cold, looking extremely delicate. There was no lack of prying eyes around, but they would glance at her and immediately look away—this woman was not a target to be hunted. Everyone here was a thousand-year-old fox; no one could hide that scent.

Walking casually through the common area of the Di Ku, Black Widow pushed against an inconspicuous stone wall, opened a secret door, and slipped inside. Once the door closed, various "tsk-tsk" sounds emerged from the shadows.

"Hey, a newcomer has arrived."

Behind the secret door was a stone room, which was already quite spacious given the scale of this Di Ku. The surrounding stone walls were smooth and embedded with copper Lamps, and the floor was paved with tiles; in this place, this counted as "deluxe renovation."

On the wall facing the entrance of the stone room hung densely packed nameplates, like a hotel menu. Sitting beneath the nameplates was a person whose face, seen in the dim light, was covered in crisscrossing scars, looking quite terrifying, though their eyes were exceptionally bright.

"I am not a newcomer."

Black Widow walked over at her own pace and sat down opposite him. "I am a VIP of your Ghost Pushes the Mill, and I also hold the status of a hunter."

That person laughed with a strange sound: "To our Jichun City, you are a newcomer. Jichun City is not large, and the people who frequent it are few; in the past, we wouldn't see a single newcomer in a year. Recently, there have been too many. But you are an exception; no one introduced you, and you were able to find this place, which shows you are a person of ability. Speak, are you here to buy or to sell?" Their voice was also hoarse and unpleasant, as if their throat had been slashed by a knife.

Black Widow smiled calmly and said: "Sell. I am selling my own skills; I want to take on a mission. I hear the prices in Jichun City are very fair."

The man chuckled: "I know what you want to do; you are all the same. When you want to sell, you are always picky and choosy, yet you refuse to say it directly. You have come too late; one good deal has already been sold, and you can only settle for second best. The third one from the left on the very top, is that the one you are looking for?"

Black Widow looked up, and her eyes lit up as soon as she saw the beginning. She said: "The shopkeeper knows me."

The man used a long pole to take down that plaque, handed it to Black Widow, and let her examine the introduction on the back in detail, saying: "I know you people too well. No matter how much you beat around the bush, everyone who has come these days eventually brings up Jiugao Mountain. They want to take missions to go up the mountain. There are actually quite a few such missions recently, but there are even more people fighting for them. This one, recruiting hunters to climb Jiugao Mountain from Xishan Kou, is already the last mission. If you want to take it, you must put up a deposit of one hundred taels of silver and one hundred chips."

Black Widow frowned and said: "That is too much of a deposit. What kind of mission is worth putting up so much?"

The scarred man gave a grim smile, as if laughing at her clumsy attempt to fish for information.

Black Widow was not discouraged and said: "There is a team at Xishan Kou, so there must be a team at Dongshan Kou as well, right?"

The scarred man said: "You ask too many questions. The rules of Ghost Pushes the Mill: do not ask too much."

Black Widow curled the corner of her lips and said: "The rules of Ghost Pushes the Mill are that you cannot ask for free, right? I am paying for information, how is that not allowed?"

The scarred man said: "Information can be bought, but not if it is confidential. The client for this mission paid a high price for us to keep it secret; you could never afford his price. You pay me one hundred taels of gold, and I will tell you everything I can."

Black Widow looked at him blankly, her gaze as if wanting to carve a few more scars onto his face. After a long while, she said: "I will pay it." Having said that, she threw a purse onto the table. "One hundred taels in gold notes."

The scarred man extended his slender fingers, pulled the gold notes from the purse, examined them carefully, and smiled: "Very good. I will tell you. There is more than one team going up the mountain these past few days; there are teams in the east, west, south, and north. Jiugao Mountain is full of holes like a sieve. As for the clients, there is more than one family; even Ghost Pushes the Mill itself has organized a team. I am the leader of that team. That is all I can say. Take the mission and go."

Black Widow was silent for a moment, then said: "If I post a mission to assassinate the people of a certain team, will you take it?"

The scarred man was stunned and said: "Murder? Turn left when you go out, Yama Shop."

Black Widow gave a short laugh and sat still.

The scarred man said: "Anything else?"

Black Widow extended her hand, and on her jade-white palm crawled a furry, pitch-black spider: "Yes. I think you should return my money."

After saying that, she smiled brightly.

Thick fog, such thick fog.

The fog in the mountains comes as it pleases; in an instant, it was as thick as milk, and one could not see a person three steps away; the rear carriage could only vaguely see the shadow of the carriage in front.

It was fortunate that the sons of Lady Hua Rong were well-trained; the large carriages followed one after another, moving forward slowly in a line. At this time, they could only rely on the draft animals to probe the path with their hooves; if they were the least bit careless, they would inevitably fall off some cliff with their mules and carriages.

After traveling for a good while, suddenly, the fog dispersed, and the view before them opened up.

The fog came quickly and dispersed just as quickly; as soon as one said it was clearing, it actually cleared away completely.

Yun Xiyan and the others suddenly discovered that they had arrived at a mountain col. The surrounding vegetation was lush, and the grass on the ground was like a thick blanket; stepping on it felt soft and very comfortable.

A stream flowed slowly through the mountain col, and there was an arched stone bridge over the stream, with a row of pavilions built by the water for people to rest for a while.

"This is Runcao Ferry!" Yun Xiyan jumped off the carriage, stepped around on the grass, and said: "No wonder it is called Runcao Ferry; this grass is indeed very moist."

Lady Hua Rong instructed her adopted sons to gather the carriages together and drive them to the side of the pavilion to cluster them, so as not to obstruct traffic.

The young men were busy unhitching the animals. Lady Hua Rong plucked a blade of grass and smiled: "Jade resides in the mountain and the vegetation is moist; the abyss produces pearls and the cliff does not wither. This name has a very good meaning, but it is a bit of a tongue-twister. This must have been named by Xiao Tang. He reads a lot of books, but he just likes to show off his learning."

The academic underachiever Yun Xiyan understood only half of it and laughed dryly: "He reads a lot of books to begin with, and I think the name sounds quite nice."

The seven young men driving the carriages had already unhitched the carriages and stood in a row in front of them, led by the gentle young man from the lead carriage, waiting with hands hanging down for Lady Hua Rong's signal.

All seven were in their youth, no older than twenty-something, and the youngest was still at the age of binding his hair. Their temperaments were all different—some gentle, some cold, some sunny, some proud—and their appearances were each outstanding, their figures all tall and straight. Standing in a row, they were truly a sight to behold. Yun Xiyan looked several times, marveling in her heart. Lady Hua Rong smiled: "I will sit with my dear sister; you all find a place to sit yourselves."

As she spoke, she took Yun Xiyan's arm and went to the front of the pavilion.

Arriving at the pavilion, they could see that several pavilions were already occupied. In the nearest pavilion to the side sat an old woman, who was holding a white porcelain lidded bowl and sipping tea carefully.

The two of them had intended to go to an empty pavilion to wait, but the old woman happened to glance over, saw them, and smiled as she beckoned.

Yun Xiyan saw such an elderly senior beckoning to them, and feeling a bit unable to refuse, she walked over. Lady Hua Rong acted as if nothing were the matter, smiling as she walked side-by-side with her.

Entering the pavilion, they saw that the old woman had already stood up. She looked to be in her fifties or sixties, her appearance not yet very old, her hair gray, her temperament graceful and poised. Although her attire was not luxurious, it was very appropriate, and her smile was gentle and kind, making one feel as if bathed in a spring breeze.

Yun Xiyan glanced at the old woman, then at Lady Hua Rong, and praised her even more, thinking: Time is indeed cruel, but it also bestows gifts. How could I compare to such a temperament? She must have an extraordinary status. She bowed and said: "Junior Yun Xiyan greets the senior."

Just a moment ago on the road, she and Lady Hua Rong had been probing each other and had not exchanged names, but upon seeing this old woman, she felt such respect that she had reported her name directly.

The old woman smiled: "What a handsome girl, truly a person of talent. Come over here and sit."

The two women sat in the old woman's pavilion, while the other seven adopted sons found an empty pavilion to sit in themselves.

The seven sat down seemingly at random, but their positions were orderly, implicitly carrying a strategy that sealed off all angles. If there were an enemy attack from outside, the seven could react extremely quickly and deliver a fatal blow from every direction.

Although the seven were familiar with each other and coordinated well, no one spoke or chatted while sitting in the pavilion, as cold as strangers. A moment later, a young man in green clothes from Runcao Ferry entered the pavilion to pour tea.

The others remained silent, and only the gentle young man from the lead carriage smiled: "No trouble, we do not eat or drink outside."

The young man who had poured the tea looked slightly troubled, then withdrew. The gentle young man suddenly said, "Sitting here is boring. There are tea snacks on the carriage; I will go get them." Having said this, he left the pavilion alone.

He walked to the back of the carriage and, using the carriage as cover, glared at the person who had just poured the tea. That tea-pouring person circled around, passing through the pavilion's blind spot, and arrived before him.

Here, with the carriage in front and a bridge to the side, the angle between the two formed a hidden corner where no outsiders could peek.

Confirming there were no outsiders, the gentle young man dropped his Restraint and said coldly, "Weise, you have great audacity!"