Chapter 550: 503 Experience

"Logically speaking, I shouldn't be complaining."

Sitting down at the small table in front of Tang Zhao, Wei Zhangle seemed like a traveler in the desert who had found an oasis and a campfire; he suddenly warmed up and relaxed. After drinking a few sips of the hot tea Tang Zhao handed him, he rarely opened up, feeling the desire to pour his heart out.

"I am not the first batch of people to come to Wangliang Mountain as an undercover agent. Whether it's the Land Inspection Division, the Jing'an Division, or forces outside of Yunzhou, every predecessor has suffered like this. Some even sacrificed their lives on the mountain. What right do I have to complain? But this mission was mired in difficulties from the very beginning. The Land Inspection Division's strength on Wangliang Mountain... is basically as good as non-existent."

"In the past, although the Division sent undercover agents every so often, they were always lone wolves and never managed to form an underground organization within Wangliang Mountain. Often, once one person died, the entire Wangliang Mountain became a blank slate. That was how it was when I went up the mountain. The previous undercover agent who successfully embedded themselves in Wangliang Mountain had already passed away three years prior. In these three years, several undercover agents were sent, but there were no precedents for success. So, when I went up the mountain, the Division basically couldn't provide any help; I was essentially still breaking new ground."

"Before I left, only one predecessor who had been undercover on Wangliang Mountain over a decade ago gave me guidance. He warned me that Wangliang Mountain is different from other places. In other places, you adapt to a fake identity, avoid exposure, then carry out intelligence work and try your best to complete the mission. But on Wangliang Mountain, the primary goal is to stay alive."

"On Wangliang Mountain, just staying alive is already very difficult."

Tang Zhao sighed inwardly: Breaking new ground in an intelligence sector is already incredibly difficult, let alone on Wangliang Mountain? The Land Inspection Division sending this mission is truly a nine-deaths-and-one-life mission, worthy of a direct entry quota for a Sword Guest. The difficulty of such a task is even somewhat absurd; the higher-ups didn't have much hope from the start, and there was room for maneuver if they gave up after trying, but Wei Zhangle did not give up.

As Wei Zhangle spoke, he recalled, "The predecessor told me that there is no room for ordinary people to survive on Wangliang Mountain. There are only two types of people there: slaves and slave owners. The barely middle ground is the semi-slave Sword Guests; although they lack freedom, they are barely safe. But if you aren't a Sword Guest, it's impossible to play that kind of character."

Wei Zhangle sighed: "But the Division couldn't possibly send a Sword Guest undercover. All Sword Guests on Wangliang Mountain are controlled by manor owners, and they are actually controlled even more strictly than sword slaves, with no room to intervene. Because their numbers are limited, they are marked in conspicuous places within each manor's Sacrificial Array, making it very easy to distinguish the real from the fake. And slave owners... are not so easy to impersonate, not to mention that the slave owners of Wangliang Mountain are all Sword Guests. So the predecessor introduced me to the idea that I could only act as a slave. There is only one type of slave that is easiest to impersonate: an ordinary slave whose Inspiration has been ground away and who is still working on Wangliang Mountain."

"But the number of such slaves is truly very small; most manors basically don't keep such slaves. Once they are used up, it's too much trouble to even transport them down the mountain to resell, so they are thrown into Yingze and disappear without a sound. They would rather squeeze those sword slaves who have Sword Seeds in their bodies and are almost half-crippled to do that work. And those sword slaves who have already been implanted with Sword Seeds are also very hard to impersonate; not to mention that their identity and lifeblood are also controlled by the Sacrificial Array, their half-dead, half-mad state is something you can't even act out. If you could really act it out, then you wouldn't be far from being truly mad yourself."

Tang Zhao nodded. The Land Inspection Division isn't a place that trains professional actors, nor do they teach systematic acting methods to help people express specific states. To act out the essence, one can only take the "method acting" approach—long-term immersion, deeply experiencing that feeling of pain and despair. If you play the role for months or even years, wouldn't you end up truly mad by the end?

"Predecessors who chose the path of a sword slave basically didn't have good outcomes. So I still chose to mix into a group of children as an ordinary slave and be transported up to Wangliang Mountain. Thanks to my face still being young and me slightly shrinking my bones, it wasn't too difficult to play a fourteen or fifteen-year-old."

Wei Zhangle was already thin to begin with. After being nourished in the Training Camp for two years, he had replenished a bit of his vitality, and his development wasn't affected, but he ultimately couldn't fully make up for the deficiencies of his childhood, so he wasn't tall. Seeing him again now, he was severely thin again, and one could almost see the shadow of that boy from the ruined temple back then.

"Before mixing in, I didn't fail to do my homework. I searched through all the data and chose Sunset Manor."

Tang Zhao was slightly surprised: Such a coincidence?

Sunset Manor was also one of their targets for this trip. Saying they wanted to choose Sunset Manor for a challenge at the banquet wasn't just empty talk. Because Sunset Manor was originally deeply connected to that battle back then.

Sunset—do you think this name was given for nothing?

"I heard that Sunset Manor is an extremely ancient manor, with a large area, much wealth, and the favor of Wangliang, so there must be plenty of intelligence, making it worth going undercover. It was also said that the manor owner is old and muddled, possesses vast wealth, and loves pomp, but isn't particularly cruel. He is especially fond of vanity. Therefore, he needs many people to beat drums and set up a display for him. He would even want eight people to serve him when he goes to the bathroom. It is said that he doesn't even make the people he buys into sword slaves, just for his own enjoyment. Calling them sword slaves is just to fit in with the crowd."

"I spent some effort and mixed into the group being sent to Sunset Manor. Sure enough, I entered the manor."

"Just after entering the manor, everything was still fine. Although it was dark and sunless, I was soon led away to learn the rules and do work. No one even mentioned the matter of becoming a sword slave. I learned many common facts about Wangliang Mountain right there."

"However, before I could even start executing the mission, a group of people suddenly attacked Sunset Manor. Before I could even tell north from south, I saw Sunset Manor being slaughtered and looted on a massive scale; it was truly a catastrophe. Later, I heard about it. The one that looted Sunset Manor was another manor called Anxing Manor."

Tang Zhao asked in surprise: "Anxing Manor attacked Sunset Manor over a year ago? I never expected that."

Since they had set their target on Sunset Manor, they had of course investigated the recent situation of Sunset Manor. They investigated everything they could, and the general situation was figured out, but to say it was studied in great detail, it wasn't.

Wangliang Mountain is like a huge black box; unless there is an inside source, the specifics of a certain manor can only rely on rumors spread by manor owners at banquets. But those manors are far apart and are like loose sand among themselves, not to mention the three major tiers that are as far apart as heaven and earth. How much of those rumors can be trusted?

For example, this Sunset Manor, the rumors going around were just about how ancient they were, what achievements they had back then, how they had declined recently, and that the old manor owner was suspected of having a stroke...

A year ago, Sunset Manor was attacked by the newly risen mysterious Second-tier Manor, Anxing Manor, and no one even knew about this!

"Could it be that Anxing Manor has already secretly taken over Sunset Manor?"

If that were the case, then that would be terrible.

Because... Anxing Manor might be the base of the Turtle Bandits.

Although it hasn't been confirmed yet, after a comprehensive analysis of the intelligence from several lines, it's eight or nine out of ten.

The Turtle Bandits had long since laid out their plans on Wangliang Mountain and had already grasped a Second-tier manor, Anxing Manor, and they should have hoarded quite a bit of strength. I'm afraid there is more than one Sword Hero, and they are preparing to do something big.

And Tang Zhao and his group... haven't even grasped a single Third-tier manor.

If Anxing Manor has already grasped Sunset Manor, that would be even worse; they might even have already grasped the clues leading to the Destruction Sword Intent.

And... if Sunset Manor belongs to Dark Star, the Civil Battle they initiated would be troublesome; it would be equivalent to triggering a premature confrontation with the Turtle Bandits.

Wei Zhangle shook his head and said: "I don't think so. They punched through the outer wall but couldn't go any further. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been so irritable later. They tried for several days and killed many Sword Guests of Sunset Manor, but in the end, they returned empty-handed from the core area. It seems they didn't even touch the edge of the manor owner, so it definitely couldn't have changed hands. When they left, they abducted everyone they could, including us slaves who luckily weren't killed."

Of course, he wasn't lucky to have not been killed; it was just the result of his efforts to survive.

"The result of us being abducted was... a nightmare!"

"We slaves were packed into a huge cage, very sturdy, and we couldn't move an inch. Everyone had only one thin garment, and even our mouths had to be pried open for inspection; there was simply no place to hide anything. Thanks to my alertness, I hid my parcel outside on the way, otherwise, a single 'suspicious' would have led to me being killed on the spot. They had many Sword Guests, and there was simply no room to resist. These people didn't make sword slaves, but they would drag one or two slaves out every day. However, within a day or two, they would die bleeding from their seven orifices, and be dragged back to be sunk into Yingze. As long as you were taken out, you were certain to die. I suspect they were doing some dangerous experiment, and we were all test subjects."

"Every day, every single day, the number of people in the cage would decrease, and we all knew that it would continue to decrease tomorrow until everyone was dead in the end. Those who remained in the cage and lingered on were all mortal enemies. If you didn't ensure someone else died tomorrow, the one who died might be yourself."

Speaking of this, Wei Zhangle's expression gradually became dazed, and his voice became distorted:

"Only then did I know that there is a hell in this world that even I couldn't imagine. Everyone was already so miserable, wearing almost nothing, and eating what could be called pig swill, but there were still people who wanted to live, trying every possible way to make others die. Whether by scheming against each other or by killing each other in duels, it was all just to make others die in their place."

"What's even more terrifying is that I was doing the same thing. And I... was ultimately more advantageous than the others. So I kept living, for four months."

White Fox listened to his narrative and shivered.

"For four months, I didn't even dare to recall what I had done. I only remember that I was always afraid that someone would come in the next day to grab me. Then my hair gradually turned white."

He smiled bitterly and grabbed his hair, with strands of shocking white hair on it: "It would be whiter almost every morning."

Tang Zhao was silent, as if he had returned to that ruined temple, by the campfire, listening to Wei Zhangle tell the story of how he lost his sister in the Demon Cave.

After a few years, everyone had grown up, but Wei Zhangle's experience was still chilling.

Wei Zhangle picked up the tea on the table and drank it in one gulp, saying: "Four months later, I finally waited for an opportunity. Once, Anxing Manor was making a trade with another manor, probably because they were short on wealth. One White-haired Swordsman passed by our cage, pointed at us, and said: 'Just use these to pay off the debt.' Then I and several other slaves were loaded onto a cart, left Anxing Manor, and entered a new manor."

"That White-haired Swordsman, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to call him my savior. He is Mr. Xing San of Changfa Manor."