Chapter 608: Dividing the Forces

Three days after the Sword Fighting, the winds and waves were calm, and the Deep Shadow Society—mini edition—was held at the new "Huanri Manor."

At this time, the Manor Masters had rested for a full day and recovered quite a bit from the blow; they had almost forgotten those dead people with whom they had no deep friendship, and began to plan for their own lives wholeheartedly.

At this moment, they complained again that the time given by the Host for preparation was too rushed; they had no goods on hand, no accounts, and some even had their assistants die, so they couldn't even remember their own business's incoming and outgoing inventory. Wasn't holding a trade fair at this time just nonsense?

Why not wait until the teams coming to pick them up from below the mountain arrived to gather some manpower and goods before holding the meeting?

To these opinions, Jin Wu explained in good words: "Cut the crap! Do you think I really want to hold some bullshit Deep Shadow Society? It's just seeing that you are idle, so I'm finding something for you to do. What benefit do I get from being the Host? You calculate how much the venue fee, hospitality fee, and introduction fee cost for this trip. Not only did I not ask you for a single penny, but I also bear such a heavy responsibility. You've taken advantage, so just shut up. If you keep nagging, we'll all just break up and spend these two days baring our teeth at each other."

Thus, the crowd had no choice but to shut up.

Only some secretly cursed: "A Third Rank brat, having received the ancestral property of Sunset Manor for nothing, with years of savings kicked into his pocket, aren't you going to be fat to death? Who took the bigger advantage? What kind of accounts are you settling with us here?"

Of course, this was just talk, and as the saying goes, Tang Zhao hadn't left; he was strolling around the manor leisurely as a special guest, and even took the initiative to greet the Manor Masters he saw entering the Huayuan in the morning.

When the Manor Masters saw him, they had no temper left at all.

As for the real reason why Tang Zhao and the others were so nervous about holding it, it was of course: if they didn't hold it now, they wouldn't be able to hold it at all.

According to the normal timeline, in one more day, the news from below the mountain would be transmitted back; by then, knowing that Yulang City had rebelled, the hearts of the people would inevitably be in chaos, and the Deep Shadow Society would not be able to be held.

At this time, approaching the Sacrifice, the teams of Yunzhou were attacking from all directions, and every route was very important, so manpower was truly tight; every main force capable of standing alone was arranged in a crucial place. There were no people left to count, so finally, Tang Zhao and Jin Wu discussed and decided that Tang Zhao would follow the Abyss Envoy to scout the Turtle Bandits, while the most dangerous route to scout Yingyuan would be left for Jin Wu to go himself.

Yingyuan is the base camp in the deepest part of Wangliang, pointing directly at the main body of Wangliang. All the myriad phenomena swallowed by the Shadow will eventually return to Yingyuan.

If the money is gone, it's gone; as long as one's life is still there, it's fine.

Let the Manor Masters hold the Deep Shadow Society, let Tang Zhao take the Abyss Envoys to find trouble for Anxing Manor; everyone has something to do, so Jin Wu can break free to do more important and dangerous things.

Of course, Jin Wu also had a portable teleportation array that could pull Tang Zhao to his side at any time. This was Jin Wu's only backup.

The most astonishing thing was that several glass lamps were placed on the walls of the hall; under the shine of the lamp light, all things regained their colors, colorful and brilliant, as if they had left Wangliang Mountain and returned to the outside world of flowers and splendor.

At this time, he only regretted one thing: he had asked for too little money from Liu Shusheng.

This was a very important clue.

If this Sword Guest could protect his family property, he would take this loyal servant with him to enjoy life, and never fight or kill again when he got outside.

The Deep Shadow Society was held semi-indoors; Sunset Manor had a very large hall, with a courtyard outside the hall, and a large bamboo forest; the bamboo forest was cool and refreshing, and natural bamboo sheds were built there, all constructed with un-cured bamboo poles, integrated with the bamboo, as if hidden in the bamboo forest, for families to discuss privately, both hidden and elegant.

Therefore, this was one reason why the Deep Shadow Society had to be held today.

Damn it, let it be what it will.

At that time, if Wangliang was in Yingyuan, do not act rashly; collect some intelligence first and then come back. If it was not there, and it really was, as Tang Zhao analyzed, self-sealed under the sacrificial altar and separated from Yingyuan, then raid its old nest.

Although it was indeed unpleasant to let those ungrateful dog servants bite back, thinking that they didn't have many years to live, and escaping would sooner or later lead to a miserable death, falling into Yingze and never being able to be reborn, didn't one feel much more comfortable?

Up to now, the work Tang Zhao and the others had done—liberating Sword Guests, stealing accounts to log in and occupy Yinglang, using Abyss Envoys to scout Anxing Manor—was all work of enclosing land and raking grass; they had never truly harmed the main body of Wangliang, at most counting as pruning its wings. They hadn't even touched the edge of that main body entangled with destruction.

There were other reasons, such as figuring out the bottom line of the remaining Manor Masters and outside guests, or building momentum for the new Second-tier Manor, preferably becoming the leader of all manors; these were all beneficial, but they were also small matters; more importantly, it was to occupy everyone's energy.

However, the entrance and exit of that secret passage were not very good; they were actually among such conspicuous sculptures, placed in broad daylight. Although thinking about it carefully, it could be considered unexpected but reasonable, the movement was still too big when Wu Shayu squeezed in, which would inevitably attract the attention of some people.

To be honest, if there were really a danger that Jin Wu couldn't solve, Tang Zhao coming would be even more useless. The reason for such preparation was just to bring an external brain that could be linked to Jin Wu. After all, Tang Zhao's thinking was clearer than Jin Wu's, and he could be a clear-headed bystander. If Jin Wu had any hesitation, he could let Tang Zhao advise him.

The Fuhu Master drank three large cups of local specialty grape wine in a row before he felt a little more comfortable. For these years, he had long been addicted to wine and women, and could not go a day without wine. The food at Sunset Manor these two days was okay, but there was no wine, and no beauty to accompany him, which had suffocated him.

Seeing that he was the only one in the room who was calmly tasting wine, while others were busy talking about business like a bunch of wood-boring insects, he suddenly felt it was meaningless: these people were really busy from birth to death; the moment they opened their eyes, it was either fame or profit; clearly their homes were full of gold and silver, yet they were not satisfied and always wanted more; thinking about it carefully, it was truly uninteresting.

How dangerous Yingyuan was; ordinary Sword Guests or even Sword Heroes would likely be swallowed the moment they entered Yingyuan, and dying directly would be considered a good result. Only Jin Wu had the confidence to be unaffected.

If it could be done, it would cause far greater damage to Wangliang than seizing Yinglang.

And as the main venue, the hall was in a luxurious style; every table and chair, every curtain, every device and ornament was incomparably beautiful, not in an exquisite and elegant style, but in an antique and atmospheric solemnity.

Over there, various plans were unfolding in an orderly manner, and here, the Deep Shadow Society was being held lively. The Manor Masters entered the state and began to haggle over every ounce, not even noticing that the young Manor Master who had been presiding over the overall situation had changed.

Yesterday, he was extremely anxious all day and went to find the Longhair Lord—now called the Huanri Master—wanting to borrow manpower to go down the mountain, but he couldn't even find the shadow of the Manor Master. He didn't dare to go down the mountain alone, and after worrying back and forth, there was no progress at all; by the evening, he had figured it out...

Although Wu Shayu didn't intend to entertain everyone, the guests he planned to come were more than the living people remaining today. Therefore, the hall was very spacious, and the guests didn't feel crowded walking around, and the sheds outside could basically accommodate one person per room.

It was really that others couldn't help at all.

In order to get closer to Wangliang, the closest method was to find the tunnel of Sunset Manor. Tang Zhao formulated a plan to use this Sword Fighting to force Wu Shayu into a desperate situation and make him drill into that top-secret passage. He would then follow him to see if he could use this opportunity to insert directly into the heart of Yingyuan.

It is said that this main road leads directly to Yingyuan.

Thanks to Wu Shayu's cooperation, the first step had already succeeded.

Although they didn't think about it in detail, since they had an impression, if the passage were opened publicly again, it might arouse the suspicion of interested people, including the remaining Abyss Envoys.

Anyway, the escape of a Sword Guest was just a matter of an instant, and sweeping away family property was also very common; now that they had gone down, there must be nothing left at home, and it couldn't be chased back, so what was the difference between going down early or late?

To be foolproof, it was better to let everyone have something to do so they wouldn't notice this side.

Those noble guests from outside were fine, but several Manor Masters were all exclaiming, saying one after another: "Where did such a treasure come from?"

The previous Deep Shadow Society was originally semi-anonymous, and the venue provided many black cloaks for people to hide themselves. But now the number of participants had dropped sharply, and everyone had lived in a manor for two days, seeing each other constantly; basically, everyone knew what was in each other's hearts, so being secretive again would be very funny.

He had seen through it—he had to, even if he couldn't. Previously, when he learned that someone had rebelled in his manor below the mountain, he was also anxious to go down the mountain to pacify it. As a result, he was interrupted by the upheaval, lost a lot of his lifespan, and the only Sword Guest he brought died; without the Yinglang Bridge to walk on, he was trapped on the mountain and powerless.

In fact, it was not just this one treasure that belonged to Sunset Manor; every valuable thing in this room was a collection of Sunset Manor. The furniture and decorations went without saying; the fine wine, tea, snacks, and fruits prepared in the venue were the inventory of Sunset Manor, and even the cooks who provided the guests with stir-fried delicacies were hired by Wu Shayu for himself.

Of course, if there were special channels, some people might receive news today, which would cause unpredictable changes, and might cause those doing big things below to lose some time, which was something Tang Zhao did not allow to happen.

For example, go and scout the secret passage that Wu Shayu intended to escape through at the end.

Even the venue was prepared by Sunset Manor in advance—Wu Shayu had originally planned to hold a celebration party here after winning the Sword Fighting.

It is said that although Sunset Manor was a Second-tier Manor, it possessed a status that even ordinary First-tier Manors could not catch up to. The reason, besides the fact that this old bastard Wu Shayu actually had the seniority of having participated in the Light and Shadow War when he was young, was that Sunset Manor was located in an important position, guarding a secret main road.

While cursing, they scrambled to take out high prices that outsiders couldn't understand at all to purchase these kinds of lamps that had no use once they left Wangliang Mountain.

He hoped that Xinglu would keep some family assets for him. The Fuhu Master felt that this servant should not betray him; first, he was still somewhat loyal, and second, even if he had the heart, he didn't have the guts.

Therefore, everyone gathered in the hall very leisurely, enjoying fine wine and delicacies while enjoying the colorful colors not often seen on Wangliang Mountain.

The YoungMaster introduced that this was originally from Sunset Manor. Everyone was envious and hateful, saying: "Damn it, the old thief really knows how to enjoy! No wonder he has always been hiding on the mountain and not coming down; it turns out his home has such treasures!"

And he, at least, had obtained a few land deeds from Liu Shusheng; what was wrong with going to that warm and comfortable place to retire? Anyway, he was really old now.

"Fuhu Master." Just as Liu Shusheng was mentioned, Liu Hu came over from the side, looking preoccupied, and it looked like he had something to do.

The Fuhu Master's spirit lifted, and he hurriedly said: "What does Mr. Liu need?"

Could it be that he wanted to buy the Tiger Chief of my manor?

But my business has gone bust now, and the goods at home must have been swindled away by others; there's nothing left to sell, is there?

Can I just take the money without providing the goods?

Just as he was thinking this, he heard Liu Shusheng say: "Did you see Lord Tang Zhao just now?"