Chapter 426: 401 Xishan

The journey from Jingzhe Villa to Xishan County is neither short nor long; a typical fast horse at full gallop would take three days, but Tang Zhao and his group, abandoning their horses to travel on foot and using light-body techniques to dash, only need a day and a half.

However, after entering Xishan County, their speed of travel inevitably slowed down.

For one, the group's physical strength had reached its limit, and for another, the terrain changed rapidly.

Xishan County is almost the westernmost county in Yunzhou, and also one of the largest counties in Yunzhou, or even the entire world, occupying nearly one-third of Yuxia Jun; it is several times larger than other counties, yet its population is not even half that of an ordinary county. In terms of livelihood, it is even more destitute, a famously poor county.

This is because Xishan County truly has too many mountains. The entire Xishan County is almost entirely the Xishan Mountain Range, or rather, when the county was originally demarcated, the entire Xishan Mountain Range was simply and crudely included within Xishan County.

The only city in Xishan County is the county seat, which sits in a mountain hollow of a spur of the Xishan Mountains, at the easternmost edge of Xishan County. Past the county seat, it is mountain after mountain, mountain leaning against mountain, with not three feet of flat land. Although the entire Xishan is not as formidable as the legendary Ten Thousand Great Mountains in the south, it is already a forbidden zone for most commoners and a natural barrier separating the borders of Yunzhou and Liangzhou.

But to say Xishan is completely devoid of human life would be too arbitrary; in those isolated mountain hollows, there might well be hidden sects or thousand-year-old clans. Furthermore, Tang Zhao remembers that there is a garrison of the Yunzhou Dudu Mansion in the Xishan area, though it is a secret garrison that does not easily appear before people; as long as one does not intrude into their station, they will surely turn a blind eye, so there is no need to worry too much.

Along the way, Tang Zhao and his group hurried ahead, while that Sword Guest Shangguan Jianke followed behind like a ghost, neither speaking, nor paying attention to anyone, nor urging them to be faster. Although such following brought a fair amount of psychological pressure, it was still relatively trouble-free.

By the afternoon of the 29th, the group entered the Xishan county seat, which is the last supply point before entering the mountains. Except for Tang Zhao and Shangguan Jianke, the others are not Sword Guests; staying in the great mountains for two days and then going to Cloud City for an unknown duration, it would not do to carry no supplies. Moreover, the group had used all their strength to hurry and were extremely exhausted, so they also wanted to find a place to rest for a while.

"We must enter the mountains tonight." Meng Huazhou ignored everyone's desire for rest and said decisively, "The Xiancheng will also appear at night. The situation on the mountain at night is complex; if we enter on the first night, I fear we won't adapt, so it is best to adapt one night in advance. As for resting, you can rest on the mountain during the day tomorrow. Everyone has worked hard, but think about why everyone came? It is better to suffer for one night; there will be plenty of time for comfort in the future."

The group did not voice any opposition. He then led everyone to a courtyard and said, "This is a courtyard I rented. I have already bought a lot of supplies and piled them here, but we still need to supplement a lot of fresh food and water. Anyone who wants to bring things up the mountain can go buy them yourself, but you must carry them yourself."

Opening the courtyard, they indeed saw a lot of supplies piled in the room, including packs, bedding, tents, water bottles, ropes, fire starters, and so on—all items for outdoor use. It was clear that thought had been put into the preparations; not to mention a group of martial arts experts, even experienced strong men could venture into the mountain forests with these things.

Moreover, he had prepared enough for ten people, and since there were only seven people present including Shangguan Jianke, it was more than enough.

Meng Huazhou pointed to the water clock and said, "Everyone, disperse and buy what you need. You must return within two hours, and then we will set off."

Everyone agreed and left in different directions. Black Widow remembered something else, so she stayed behind and asked, "We are all not locals, and the situation in Xishan is unclear; do we need a local guide?"

Meng Huazhou said, "I have already prepared them—two old hunters who are used to walking mountain paths. I will go call them; Senior Sister, just go buy your things."

Black Widow nodded and left. Once everyone had gone, Meng Huazhou stayed alone, locked the door, jumped lightly onto the roof beam, and pushed with his hand, revealing a hidden compartment in the pillar.

Inside the hidden compartment were several items, mostly Dharma Artifacts or Art Tools. Meng Huazhou picked them out one by one. Every time he took one out, his expression was filled with murderous intent.

When he reached the end, there was one flower left.

That flower was placed alone in the corner, with six tiny petals, as if it were a snowflake.

It was indeed as white and fragile as a snowflake, so white it was almost transparent; looking through the petals, one could almost see the darkness behind it at a glance.

Yet, it existed in a real and stable way. It lay in the corner, not looking like it had been set aside, but rather as if it were blooming toward the corner. Even though it had been hidden alone in the dark room for a long time, it remained fresh, tenacious, and beautiful.

Meng Huazhou's brow relaxed, and the hostility dissipated bit by bit from the corners of his eyes. He reached out his hand and carefully cradled the flower out.

That little white flower was now blooming in his hand.

Meng Huazhou's expression became increasingly tender as he said, "Soon, I will send you home. Come with me to see your Master."

"I wonder what kind of peerless grace your Master possesses?"

He said this softly, his expression filled not only with tenderness but also with endless reverie.

"Buns, sausages, flaky pastries, mutton soup..." Tang Zhao counted the shops one by one.

"What the hell is mutton soup?" Black Widow heard Tang Zhao checking the items he wanted to buy and couldn't help but remind him, "The food for going up the mountain should be mainly dry rations, easy to carry and filling. Flaky pastries are already pushing it; what's with the mutton soup? Are you here to satisfy a craving?"

"It's fine, I can carry it up. The mutton soup here is very famous; it would be a pity not to taste it. I'll just buy a little to try." As Tang Zhao spoke, he stuffed an entire bowl of steaming meat soup into his Time Jar.

Black Widow sighed, "Fine, you are quite relaxed; it seems you don't have much pressure in your heart?"

Tang Zhao replied truthfully, "Pressure naturally exists... it's just that one cannot let it show."

For a situation that was originally under control to suddenly have an unknown Sword Guest added to it, it was impossible to say there was no pressure at all. But Tang Zhao is now a veteran of many battles and possesses a demeanor of remaining calm and steady as Mount Tai in the face of change, so even in front of someone on his own side like Black Widow, he did not reveal his worries.

As they were walking, they saw a small sign in front that read "Dajing Hutong".

Tang Zhao was slightly startled, lost in thought.

Black Widow said, "What is it?"

Tang Zhao said, "That old man who sang songs said his home was here, so the protagonist surnamed Xu who visited the Xiancheng should have lived here back then, right?"

Black Widow pondered, "Surnamed Xu..."

Tang Zhao remembered that she was only a reader of the novel and did not know that the novel was a derivative work, and that the original protagonist was actually surnamed Xu, so he explained, "It is the house where that poor boy who returned from the Xiancheng lived later."

Black Widow's eyes lit up and she said, "Oh, let's go in and take a look."

Tang Zhao said, "Looking is fine, but don't hold too much hope. That Young Master Meng already knew this intelligence and has already been here. Whatever clues there were, he would have already looked at them, and whatever could be taken, he likely took. Besides, I don't know exactly where in the hutong he lived..."

Entering the hutong, without needing to search carefully, the two already knew where the former residence was.

On one side of the hutong was an empty lot, with only a pile of charred ruins left, clearly having just been burned.

Black Widow gritted her teeth and said, "Too late, it was actually burned! Meng Huazhou, he really is cautious."

She was naturally not angry that Meng Huazhou had set fire to a civilian house and implicated the innocent, but angry that he had destroyed the evidence after collecting the clues himself, leaving no room for those who came after.

Tang Zhao looked at the surroundings silently—Meng Huazhou setting fire indiscriminately was truly a scoundrel, but fortunately, he still had some sense of proportion; he only burned this one house, and the house next door was not burned down, only the walls were blackened by smoke.

He knew in his heart that there were no more clues here, and there was not much time left, so he was about to call Black Widow to leave. He saw the door next door open, and a little girl of seven or eight years old came out. She was as delicate as if carved from jade and very cute, wearing a floral cloth skirt and braided in two pigtails, holding a small white dog in her arms, and came to the ruins, looking at the two of them with curiosity.

Tang Zhao smiled at her, and the little girl nodded politely, still looking at them curiously.

Tang Zhao was instead startled, and then suddenly realized—if it were before, if he smiled like this, the girl would mostly have let down her guard, and it would have been easy to chat. Now that he had put on makeup, just smiling had no effect.

At this time, Black Widow came over and smiled, "Little sister, do you live next door?"

Black Widow was beautiful and had an approachable attitude, so the girl immediately became close and nodded repeatedly. Black Widow then asked, "We wanted to visit this family; why is there no one here?"

The little girl said, "It caught fire a while ago. Just that night..."

Taking advantage of the two chatting, Tang Zhao couldn't help but look at the small dog in the little girl's arms.

At the time, at first glance at that white fluffy ball, he subconsciously thought it was a dog, but now that he was closer, he felt it was a fox when he looked again; however, looking carefully, its demeanor was still a bit like a dog.

Struggling between a dog and a fox, Tang Zhao felt it was still a dog.

For a little girl from an ordinary family, with no trace of martial arts, wouldn't it be too strange to be holding a fox?

Isn't there a kind of dog that looks like a fox, called something like a "fox dog"?

Tang Zhao was also too bored, so he looked a few more times, only feeling that this little dog was very spiritual, its pair of dark, glistening eyes following his gaze, seeming to think quite highly of him.

Hmm, this dog is more insightful than a child; it knows he has inner beauty without looking at the skin.

Black Widow chatted with the little girl for a moment, but she didn't ask for any useful information; talking back and forth, they only knew this had originally been an empty room, a fire had suddenly started that night and was quickly extinguished, and no one knew if it was an accident or arson, with nothing else to be asked.

This was something expected early on, and although Black Widow was a little disappointed, she kept a smiling face, gave the little girl a piece of candy, and left with Tang Zhao.

The little girl happily sucked on the candy, finding it sweeter the more she ate, and only when she saw the candy had been licked away did she realize something was missing.

"Xiaobai? Xiaobai!"

The little girl suddenly discovered that the dog she had been holding all along was gone, and she couldn't remember when she had lost it, so she hurriedly shouted for it loudly in the alley, running back and forth to search.

After searching for quite a while, the little dog was nowhere to be seen, and the little girl sat on the ground and burst into loud sobs.