Chapter 739: Campsite

Without delay, the two decided to set off immediately to find clues. They had to find both the person and the place.

The person was Gaoyuan Marquis and Weise; the place was the location where Gaoyuan Marquis went missing.

After calculating, Tang Zhao really intended to use the clumsy method Xing Ji used when he came.

That is, to rely directly on luck to bump into the transmission.

There was no other way; they did not know where Gaoyuan Marquis was trapped, only that it should have been on the road from Yunzhou to Jingcheng. The final message from Gaoyuan Marquis did not specify a location; clearly, since she had given up on herself, there was no need to provide a specific location and occupy information capacity for no reason.

And now that Tang Zhao and the others were looking for someone, they certainly could not conduct a carpet search inch by inch along the way; searching for a month or two would not be enough.

Therefore, it was better to gamble on luck.

Of course, they could not gamble blindly like Xing Ji, but rather... fill up on buffs before gambling.

Tang Zhao took out his Lucky Fortune Bag; this was not the silk pouch the Third Senior Sister had given him at the very beginning, but an upgraded version. Inside was a genuine Auspicious Lingzhi.

Previously, he had obtained a Lingzhi, which was like a wish-granting machine, allowing him to reunite with the Sui family after not seeing them for several years. This time, before Zhu Ying left, she gave him another one.

Even for an Auspicious Sword Spirit, condensing such a treasure that makes wishes come true required a great deal of heart's blood. Zhu Ying was not wealthy either, and the one in Tang Zhao's hand should be unique in the world; once used, it would be gone. Even if he looked for Zhu Ying again, he could not get another one in the short term.

Being so rare, although it was a one-time item, the duration of this blessing would not be short; perhaps it could protect them throughout their entire search for Gaoyuan Marquis.

Of course, Tang Zhao could not rely solely on this; he also had the remaining Lucky Spring Water from back then, and the Lucky Sword Art he had almost forgotten. He had to max everything out. If he weren't too silly, he would even want to get some lucky colors, lucky numbers, lucky stars, and other such feudal superstitions.

"One time!" Tang Zhao held up a finger and said, "Strive to get it right in one go and find the exact location."

Xing Ji said, "There is no need to put so much pressure on yourself; trying two or three times is fine. Exile—"

A flash of Sword Light streaked by, and Tang Zhao and Xing Ji disappeared simultaneously. Even though the State Preceptor monitored every entrance and exit of Jingcheng, he could not ultimately guard against those spatial Sword Techniques. In this seemingly airtight Jingcheng, who knows how many people came and went just like Tang Zhao and Xing Ji.

Space twisted for a moment, and Tang Zhao and Xing Ji landed at the same time, falling into a patch of withered yellow bushes.

It was the wilderness!

As soon as Tang Zhao landed, he raised his hand to look at a watch face on his wrist and said, "One hundred and fifty miles from Jingcheng."

Xing Ji said solemnly, "Is it that close?"

Tang Zhao said, "This distance is quite reasonable. We had already traveled a distance, and then there was the day or more I spent leaving the team and returning to Weise. If we count normal foot travel, it should be even closer. Being here already means the Marquis intentionally delayed time. It seems there is a good chance this time."

Xing Ji nodded; he also hoped to succeed in one go.

The surroundings were a forest. The forest in the Jingji region was not particularly dense. It was early Spring, and most of the branches were still bare, with yellow, tender new buds occasionally visible. As far as the eye could see, there was nothing unusual.

Although his luck was maxed out, Tang Zhao also knew that it was already quite good to land near the destination on the first try; asking to land exactly in the center of the coordinate point was too high a demand. Perhaps there were clues not far away.

"Shall we split up to look for clues?"

Tang Zhao hesitated slightly. Xing Ji saw that he was worried about the danger of being alone, feeling as if he were powerless and needed someone to look after him. He felt both angry and amused; had he really become so frail in this kid's eyes now?

When you were twelve years old, I wasn't even this worried about you!

He took the initiative and said, "I won't go far, I'll stay nearby. You can go further away; if something happens, I will call you."

Tang Zhao said, "Be careful."

The two separated, and Tang Zhao searched alone in the forest. In fact, he didn't know what to look for either. Bloodstains? Signs of battle? Sword Essence aura?

It would be best if he could find them, but these things might or might not exist.

Gaoyuan Marquis should have had a great battle, but she might not have been injured. After all, she was not dead yet, just captured by someone. Perhaps she was taken away in an instant by someone using a powerful imprisoning Sword Technique, so the traces left behind could be limited.

What Tang Zhao hoped most to find was a clue left behind by Gaoyuan Marquis herself. After all, Gaoyuan Marquis was still able to send a message at the end; if she could throw down a personal item, then he would have a definite target.

However, he searched for a while and did not find any clues.

He walked forward, sending out several rays of light as he went. He could search slowly, while the light was like eyes in the sky, looking at flowers while riding a horse, bird's-eye viewing the general ground to find conspicuous signs, while he himself observed the details inch by inch. One broad, one detailed, alternating between the two, there should be no omissions.

Not to mention his detailed side, on the far side, the speed of the light was extremely fast. In an instant, it had flown far away, reaching the end of the monotonous forest.

Outside the forest was a flat area.

This was not a natural flat area, but one that had been cleared, and there were traces of burning wasteland on the ground. But Tang Zhao did not look closely at those small traces because there was something more obvious.

It was a campsite.

Or rather, it was a collapsed campsite.

Seeing the dilapidation of the campsite, Tang Zhao's heart tightened, and then he realized: this was not the campsite of Gaoyuan Marquis; the style of the tents was completely different, and the method of setting up camp was also different from Yunzhou.

The scale of this campsite was even quite large, several times that of the Yunzhou team, extending far away. Even at the end, there was another campsite not far away. There were clear dividing lines between the campsites, which seemed to be pieced together from campsites of several different places.

But could the appearance of a destroyed campsite in this place have nothing to do with Gaoyuan Marquis?

If it wasn't the Yunzhou team's campsite, couldn't it be the enemy's?

Several teams pieced together, didn't that also match Tang Zhao's speculation that "the Marquis was besieged by many enemies of the same rank"?

Tang Zhao's Sword Light turned in the sky and found that although this campsite had completely collapsed, it was not severely damaged. It seemed there were no bloodstains or broken walls; rather than saying it collapsed, it was more like it had been dismantled by someone.

However, if it was dismantled voluntarily, why not transport the heavy equipment away? These tents and supplies were valuable; even a feudal lord should not abandon them at will, and they should have been taken away.

Could it be because of a rout, and there was no time to take them away?

Tang Zhao thought, and just as he was about to adjust his perspective to see more clearly, he saw a few people coming from afar, sneaking closer.

"Hmm? They came at the right time!"

Tang Zhao was just worrying about not seeing any clues; having living people was best. He immediately condensed the light, turning it into the shape of a person, indistinguishable from a real person, and descended from the sky, landing in front of these people.

"Ah?!"

Several people were startled and turned to run, only to see a flash of light in front of them, and a trench appeared out of thin air, blocking their path.

Although the trench was narrow, it was clearly a warning. In their great alarm, the people turned back one after another and knelt down together, calling out, "Spare our lives!"

Tang Zhao's light shadow asked calmly, "Whose side are you on?"

The people immediately said, "We are local farmers..."

Tang Zhao said coldly, "How dare you fools deceive me? Do you think this seat cannot see that you are all military men? It's just that you are not elite troops. Disorganized stragglers, only slightly better than the common people."

The last sentence made some of them show expressions of defiance, and they could no longer hide it.

Tang Zhao pointed at one person and said, "You speak!"

The reason he asked this person to speak was that he could see at a glance that this person was a leader, had higher martial arts, and had the fewest flaws just now.

"I... we are military cadets under the command of the Count of Longshan."

Count of Longshan... I don't recognize the name. In any case, he is just a minor feudal lord. Nowadays, the Great Jin is not short on titles; I can barely keep track of the marquises, let alone counts.

"Where is the Count of Longshan?"

"The Count has already entered Jingcheng. This is where we set up camp last night."

"Yesterday? If you set up camp yesterday, why abandon your supplies here? Are you that wealthy? Since you left, why come back? Or are you soldiers sneaking back disguised as commoners?"

"Yesterday..." The Squad Leader stammered.

Tang Zhao sighed: "Actually, there are some methods I am too lazy to use, so don't go looking for death. Among you few, I only need one tongue; I will only leave one alive..."

The Captain immediately shouted: "Actually, we were scared off. Last night, we were camping here properly, over a thousand people in so many households, just like usual..."

Tang Zhao thought: Over a thousand people? Stationing over a thousand people one hundred and fifty li outside of Jingcheng? Are you planning a rebellion? Does the State Preceptor not care?

The Captain said: "But suddenly, the ground started shaking. It was that kind of slight tremor; we all jumped up, not knowing what was going on. But soon, the Count ordered us to assemble in place and not move rashly. From what I gathered from the Count, there were powerful individuals fighting, and the shockwaves of the battle were actually causing the ground to shake. We didn't know how powerful these people were. But the Count took up his sword to stand guard personally, so we guessed it must be Sword Heroes fighting."

In a place like Yunzhou, there are quite a few Sword Heroes below the rank of Gaoyuan Marquis, but many minor feudal lords might not have any Sword Heroes other than themselves. That the Count of Longshan stood guard personally likely meant he had no one else to use.

"Originally, the Count was only standing guard, but suddenly at one moment, the entire camp collapsed."

His expression turned fearful, with a trace of bewilderment: "There was no warning before it collapsed, the ground shaking had also stopped, there was no wind, no blast of energy, nothing at all. Suddenly, all the tents collapsed. Moreover, all the campfires in the camp were extinguished. The water in the cooking pots dried up. So many tents, one after another, stretching for dozens of li, so many campfires, as numerous as the stars in the sky, and the water in the pots, the smoke from the firewood... it was as if an invisible giant hand pressed down, and it was all gone."

"Of course, everyone was stunned; the whole camp was silent. Suddenly someone shouted, 'The State Preceptor is here!' Then, with a boom, everyone ran. It was like a Water Bottle exploding, with boiling water splashing everywhere; everyone ran for their lives, and we followed, knowing only to run, not knowing where to run to."

Tang Zhao said: "Was it a camp panic?"

The man said: "Almost. Fortunately, there were few people in each camp, and there were Sword Heroes and Sword Guests there to keep order, so it was suppressed. The Count gathered us all up and ran toward the direction of Jingcheng. People all around were shouting, 'The State Preceptor is here!' The Count also just kept running toward Jingcheng. But as he ran, he suddenly stopped and said to us, 'This is wrong, whoever is coming is definitely not the State Preceptor.'"