Chapter 547: 501 Purpose

As a major matter was finalized, the banquet atmosphere grew increasingly fervent, and both host and guests were delighted. The three big shots at the head of the table were nearly ready to become sworn brothers, the wealthy merchants and noble guests behind them were heaping praise, and the white-haired sword guests below were also becoming tipsy and merry.

Just then, not knowing what had sparked the excitement, someone stood up from the lower seats. He was the leader of a merchant group who had come for the Deep Shadow Society this year and was considered a fresh face in Yulang City. He said loudly, "If the Manor Master needs slaves or fighters who can fight, we have stock on hand. It is very cheap, and you won't find better goods in the whole city. I can even give the Manor Master a further discount. I guarantee that when the time comes, the Manor Master will be invincible!"

The crowd burst into laughter again. Amidst the laughter, Tu Fei said, "Shopkeeper Tang, it is good that you have this intention. But in the struggles between manors, even in a Civil Battle, one does not use fighters to decide the outcome. These ordinary people are at most a side dish; the main course must be a duel between sword guests! If you have any sword guests, you can give a few to Brother Jian."

That Shopkeeper Tang's face was full of embarrassment; he waved his hands repeatedly and said, "I can't afford to sell them, I can't afford to sell them. I dare not sell, I dare not sell."

The only sword guests in this Human World who could possibly be reduced to commodities were the white-haired sword guests of Wangliang Mountain, and even then, it was only a matter of transfer between manor masters. Once outside Wangliang Mountain, sword guests remained high and mighty, enjoying wealth and glory, and could not be bought or sold. If these foreign merchants dared to engage in this trade, they could just wait to be hacked to pieces by swords the moment they stepped out.

That Young Master said, "I cannot afford the goods you have, Shopkeeper, but we can exchange if you have good fighters. The fighters under my command are brave, but unfortunately, they lack experience. Bring me a few more seasoned ones."

That Shopkeeper Tang hurriedly said, "Yes, yes. I will send a few over for you to choose from later. It is my honor to receive your favor, my lord."

The crowd below jeered, "Old Tang has built a connection with a manor master on his first time at the Deep Shadow Society; what great fortune!"

Over here, Jin Jiu drank another cup of wine and sneered, "I hear that sword guests outside are all thousand-fold precious big shots, and buying or selling them is something one wouldn't even dare to imagine. But we at Wangliang Mountain don't buy that. What is a sword guest? Just a derivative of a sword slave. If a sword slave becomes a sword guest, it means a Sword Washing has failed, wasting an opportunity to obtain a perfect Sword Seed. Is this a good thing? Therefore, sword guests are just waste products, and they aren't durable either; in ten or twenty years, they are swept into the dust, and a Sword Seed is ruined to boot. Not to mention that every time a manor is destroyed, many sword guests are left displaced. These sword guests are even less valuable; they are either captured by other manors or hiding and living in misery in some corner. As long as you offer enough, you can naturally buy them. You can ponder the tricks of the trade yourself."

These words inevitably touched upon a taboo, and there was an immediate lull in the conversation. Even Tu Fei glared at him, annoyed that this colleague had no filter after drinking and was speaking of secrets that should only be understood, not spoken.

Fortunately, there were many people in the business world present who were accustomed to being smooth and tactful; they immediately told jokes to ease the atmosphere and moved past the matter.

Hearing that the sword guests on Wangliang Mountain were waste products, a murderous intent gradually flickered in Chi Mingjing's gaze, which had originally softened.

Beside her, Wei Se watched her silently and suddenly said, "Be careful."

Chi Mingjing turned her head slightly, her gaze almost turning into a sharp sword piercing toward Wei Se, while at the same time, Wei Se looked at her calmly.

Immediately following, that blazing brightness extinguished, and Chi Mingjing said slowly, "Rest assured, I know."

Just now, Wei Se was reminding her that staring with too much focus would attract attention; even if the other party had been drinking and there was a certain distance, it was still easy to be discovered, and that would break the connection that had been so hard to establish.

This time, using the excuse of promotion to take the opportunity to establish contact with Changyi Manor was a plan that had been set long ago. Chi Mingjing also knew that she had no reason to sabotage it while the plan was proceeding smoothly; that would be bad for everyone.

Chi Mingjing suppressed her emotions, and then she heard Wei Se say, "Are these two the rivals of your late master from back then?"

Chi Mingjing said indifferently, "I cannot know all the grievances of the past. In any case, the last wish left by my late master was to completely destroy this manor, so they are naturally enemies, not friends. Now that I am dealing with them for you, you get the benefits, I get my wish fulfilled, and we each get what we need."

Her words were not entirely true; in fact, she had vaguely heard her teacher mention what happened to Changyi Manor back then.

It was an internal strife that broke out in Changfa Manor back then. The cause was that the manor master acted perversely, exceeding the limit, and four sword guests who were originally sword slaves joined forces in a Death Struggle, killing the exceptionally cruel manor master. However, in the end, they broke out into infighting themselves to compete for the fruits of victory.

Her teacher was the one who failed in the struggle and nearly lost his life and soul. It was thanks to the only friend he had in the manor, that Xing Ruo, who helped him fake his death and sneak out of Wangliang Mountain—this could not be considered a true "golden cicada shedding its shell," as his Life Gate Sacrifice Array was still on Wangliang Mountain, just not yet mastered by the enemy. This was because those Manor Heads had not yet passed the important sacrifices of Wangliang Mountain to obtain the recognition of Wangliang.

That Mr. Xing knew deeply that once the sacrifice began, whether his former accomplices had successfully obtained the favor of Wangliang or not, he would surely die. He would either be discovered and devoured by Wangliang along with them, or be discovered to be still alive by his former accomplices who had successfully stolen the manor, and be easily disposed of. Therefore, he staked everything on a single throw, wanting to seek the Sumeru Sword, which had a Sword Intent similar to his own, and fuse its Sword Intent into a more powerful one to advance to Sword Hero.

Once he became a Sword Hero, he could use Sword Law to seal his own mind, spirit, and body to resist the pull of the sacrifice. Regardless of whether it would succeed, he would at least have a glimmer of survival. That was why he became desperate, his strategy was very aggressive, and he made enemies everywhere. Whether it was the Sword Hero Ping Jiangqiu in the Time Jar or the powerful Land Inspection Division, there was no one he dared not provoke.

The result of the risk was naturally a crushing defeat.

Perhaps the only success was leaving behind Chi Mingjing as his successor, so that the traces of his life would not disappear from the world completely.

This kind of history was not glorious to speak of, and Chi Mingjing certainly would not casually publicize it for her late master; she only remembered it silently in her heart. Although, logically speaking, without the conflict at Changfa Manor, she would not have had the chance to be saved, she certainly would not accept this kind of indirect favor; instead, she wanted to completely eradicate Changyi Manor to avenge her teacher.

The banquet proceeded as usual until late at night. In the end, everyone was tipsy. That Young Master insisted on seeing the guests to the door, mainly to see off the two Manor Heads of the First Rank Manors, and the rest of the people could only crowd out with them. At the door, there were naturally carriages from each family waiting to pick them up, and all kinds of fine horses and fragrant carriages clogged the entrance like a marketplace.

That Tu Fei had drunk too much. When he went out, the sky was already dark, and the wine was surging up; everything looked dark and blurry, and it was truly spinning. Just as he was about to board his carriage, he suddenly felt a figure in his peripheral vision.

At a glance, he felt a jolt and hurriedly turned his head to look, but when he looked carefully, the figure was gone.

Tu Fei was suspicious and hesitant in his heart. He paused for a moment, but finally got into the carriage. He did not wait for others to ask, nor did he ask others—there was no one else in the carriage. His partner, with whom he co-managed Changfa Manor, had long been at odds, and they usually had to guard against each other; how could they share a carriage after getting drunk?

On Wangliang Mountain, seeing strange things was an ominous sign. No matter what weird things one experienced, one had to let them rot in one's stomach and must never spread them. He could only ponder slowly while the carriage was moving: Who was that person just now? Was it a person of this world?

If it were a real person, that would truly be "stunning as a heavenly being."

Just for such an appearance, it would have to... be worth one thousand taels of silver, right?

Another banquet dispersed, and everyone tidied up to prepare for rest. Seeing the two youths, Shisan and others, leading the servants to clean up the aftermath, Chi Mingjing also calmed her emotions and returned to her room to rest, where Alie, whom she had not seen for several days, was waiting for her.

Wei Se watched the servants finish cleaning up before returning to a large room in the back. Bai Zhi, Zisu, Jiang Shenyi, and Fang Weiran were all there, only Jin Wu and Tang Commander were not.

Fang Weiran had clearly just entered the room as well, because he had been drinking and it showed on his face, making him look dizzy. Zisu poured him a cup of strong tea and asked, "How was it?"

Fang Weiran shook his head and said, "It wasn't him."

Bai Zhi sighed and said, "Still not him? You've scanned the whole manor, haven't you? Still can't find him?"

Fang Weiran gave a hum and said, "Xing Shisan has already brought all the servants who have a say in the manor down the mountain. Today was the last batch to arrive, and even those new sword slaves who have difficulty moving are all gathered. Still cannot contact that person."

Bai Zhi frowned and said, "This is strange. The method Tang Commander set for contacting all parties using the banquet should be fine. One can openly make contact without anyone noticing. Didn't we also make contact with Old Tang today? Now we have contacted all our other companions disguised as merchant teams, we have contacted our mole in the Jing'an Division, the Deep Shadow Society plan has been docked, Changyi Manor has been scouted, and we have even touched upon the bottom line of every manor. How come we can't find your mole in the Land Inspection Division? I say... does this person really exist?"

Fang Weiran raised his eyebrows and said, "What kind of talk is that? Of course he exists, otherwise, were those accurate intelligence reports transmitted by ghosts? Wasn't the news of Xing Wu's assassination a few days ago transmitted by that person? Such secrets can be transmitted quickly, which shows that he is a very excellent mole. Our Land Inspection Division is not good at using spies; none of the pigeons placed on Wangliang Mountain in the past lasted long. It was only because of him that we finally opened up a mole on Wangliang Mountain after many years, and the intelligence transmitted was extremely reliable. Perhaps it is precisely because lurking is not easy that he is a cautious person who has been able to stay until today, and that is why he has concerns, right?"

Bai Zhi said, "I know, this person must exist. But just because he transmitted important news at lightning speed two days ago, allowing Xing Wu to be saved, it also exposed his existence. There must be very few people who know the secret news of Xing Cang; once screened, he cannot hide. Perhaps that old thing has already caught him and killed him?"

Fang Weiran said, "Your worry is also reasonable. But it shouldn't be. First, the old thing is being monitored now; it is Aqin who is monitoring him, so there shouldn't be any mistakes. Second, Tang Commander believes that the mole is still safe."

Bai Zhi shook his head and said, "This might really be strange. Tang Commander knows nothing about the mole, yet he happens to have a lot of strange confidence. I would like to know who exactly it is, whose identity is so confidential that even Tang Commander cannot know?"

Fang Weiran said, "It is not strange that Tang Commander does not know his identity; perhaps... Commander Gongsun might not know either?"

Bai Zhi said "Ah?" and Fang Weiran continued, "It seems that even the Lord does not know."