Chapter 98: Setting Out

A Named Weapon!

A pale cyan glow came into view, and Li Yuan, who had nearly dug the back courtyard down to ten meters, felt his heart jolt:

"Found it!"

Li Yuan tapped lightly beneath his feet, leveraged off the earthen wall to flip out of the ten-meter-deep pit, scanned the night around him, confirmed the courtyard gate was tightly shut, then went back inside and hauled the little mouse out.

"If anyone comes, squeak!"

Flipping back into the pit, Li Yuan left the little mouse outside, drew his Autumn Water Sword himself, and dug deeper toward where the pale cyan glow pulsed.

The Autumn Water Sword sliced iron like mud, sliced mud like paper; before long, Li Yuan felt the sword tip catch slightly, as if it had pierced through some crevice.

Crack!

Li Yuan made a snap decision, sheathed the Autumn Water Sword, stretched out both hands, and scraped at the dirt. Before long, he was already standing outside a stone wall.

"Truly worthy of a secret chamber!"

Shaking the dirt from his body, Li Yuan could not help feeling a measure of admiration in his heart.

This Shi Shi lay sixteen or seventeen meters underground; forget digging three chi into the earth, even digging thirty chi would not have found it.

A single stone wall naturally could not stop Li Yuan. He drew the Autumn Water Sword and in a few strokes cut out a hole, but he did not rush inside; instead, he cut the entire stone wall into rubble.

Only after confirming there were no mechanisms or traps inside the Shi Shi did he step in.

The Shi Shi was not large, two or three meters square, and there was even less inside—only two wooden boxes placed in the corner, with the Gold-Wire Snake-Winding Hand among them.

"No mechanisms either—well, it's hidden this deep, setting up traps would be a bit redundant…"

Li Yuan muttered to himself, but still used his sword from a distance to slash open the two wooden boxes. He only heard a few hisses as bolt after bolt of blue-glinting sleeve arrows thudded into the ground.

"Five-Step Snake venom?"

Li Yuan glanced at them, no longer caring, lit a fire stick, and examined things by its faint light.

In the left wooden box lay a thick stack of house deeds and land deeds, along with the most numerous—indenture contracts. Li Yuan found his own, set apart on one side.

Beyond the house deeds were the root diagrams for the Green Snake Spear, Bai Yuan Hammer, and Tiger Roar Saber; besides these were over twenty silver notes, fifty taels of gold, ten taels of pure gold, and some pearls and agates!

"This is the true foundation of the Weapon Forging Shop!"

After a rough tally, Li Yuan's heartbeat quickened—this windfall far surpassed the sum of everything before!

With this silver, he would not need to draw his monthly salary in advance for the time being.

The Head Shopkeeper's monthly salary was four hundred taels a year; drawing a year's worth in advance had already felt a bit strained. If he drew another two or three years, the Weapon Forging Shop might have ground to a halt on the spot.

The Weapon Forging Shop was a big enterprise with a big business, but it also supported many people—monthly wages for over a hundred hands, iron stock, charcoal—where didn't it need money?

"A Named Weapon!"

Li Yuan picked up that pair of gold-wire gloves, his heart unable to suppress its excitement.

A top-grade sharp blade cost over a thousand taels of silver; a Named Weapon cost far more still—at least five thousand taels of silver apiece, and often was priceless for all that.

This was the true foundation of the Weapon Forging Shop.

Without looking closely, Li Yuan scanned the Shi Shi and could not help frowning:

"Is there only this one Named Weapon?"

Zhang Ben was one of the few who knew of the secret chamber's existence; it was he who, drunk, let it slip, and only then did Li Yuan learn of it.

And according to what Zhang Ben had said, there should have been at least five or more top-grade sharp blades inside this secret chamber…

Li Yuan rummaged about, and truly did turn something up.

"Autumn of 1447, took one Cold Iron Saber, sent to Zhao Zhao Yunsheng of Hidden Dragon Manor—the Zhao family is one of the six great families of Hidden Dragon Manor…"

"Spring of 1449, took the Aqua Cold-Light Twin Swords, gifted to Brother Zhongli Yi, an inner disciple of Divine Weapon Valley…"

"Winter of 1451, took…"

……

"Cao Yan is quite a figure."

Closing the account book, beyond sighing at how hard-won everything in Hidden Dragon Abode was, Li Yuan could only marvel at Cao Yan's generosity.

In less than seven years in total, he had given away eleven top-grade sharp blades—this was the foundation the Weapon Forging Shop had accumulated over more than two hundred years, all for the sake of breaking into Hidden Dragon Manor.

In fact, he had already been on the verge of succeeding.

Hoo~

Pocketing the things from the secret chamber, Li Yuan leapt out of the pit, then backfilled the hard earth he had dug out.

At present he had over a thousand jin of strength in both arms; this kind of work was hardly even a hardship for him. Before the sky brightened, he had already backfilled it.

He then took out the six-edged hammer and tamped it down a bit.

"The land deeds and house deeds need to be sent to the City Guard. Mm, these things—exchanging them for a few volumes of root diagrams won't be a problem; after all, I'm only borrowing them for a few years."

Tearing off a few strips of meat and stuffing them to the little mouse, Li Yuan only then returned to his room and began tallying up what he had gained from the Shi Shi.

Ten taels of pure gold, a hundred and fifty taels of gold, twenty-four hundred taels in silver notes, plus agates, pearls and the like—altogether worth at least eight thousand taels!

This was a sum that would make even Zhang Ben goggle; even if he forged iron for another fifty years, he could not earn so much silver.

"The requirements for advancing the Soldier-Diviner Register are already more than a small fraction fulfilled!"

Li Yuan was somewhat excited, but quickly calmed himself down.

Advancing the Soldier-Diviner Register to the fifth tier required a thousand jin of refined steel, a hundred jin of cold iron, five thousand taels of silver, a hundred taels of gold, and twenty taels of pure gold.

"There I was, thinking I could leap straight to the fifth tier in one go!"

Li Yuan felt a touch of regret, but this haul was already quite satisfying.

After the silver notes came the true prize of the Shi Shi—the Gold-Wire Snake-Winding Hand, its pale cyan glow tinged with a faint, hard-to-detect blood-red.

【Gold-Wire Snake-Winding Hand (Fourth Tier)】

【Thirteen kinds of rare iron stock fused into threads, woven chiefly with gold wire; can resist blades and swords, internal Qi, and is impervious to water and fire…】

【Wielding Requirements: any one mid-grade Zhang Fa to Completion, any lower-grade Quan Fa to Grand Completion, Bai Shen Fa Third Layer】

【Control Effects: Empty-Hand Blade Seizure, Water and Fire Resistance, Fist and Palm Talent, Divine Art Fifth Layer, Divine Palm Scripture Entry-Level】

"It has to do with the Bai Shen Fa again."

A shadow hung over Li Yuan's heart.

Over the past few months, he had been on good terms with every faction in the city, and had borrowed and read a great many books, but what chilled him was—

Including the government office, including the City Guard Army and the Yuan family, there was not a single book in all of Gao Liu County that so much as mentioned the Bai Shen Fa!

The Wang Master at the private school, too, after that trip home to visit his family, had vanished without a trace, neatly sidestepping Han Han Chuijun's purge…

"Coincidence?"

Li Yuan felt a weight in his chest: "Or is Wang Master the big fish that even Old Han failed to hook?"

The Golden Silk Snake-Coil Hand gave Li Yuan more to chew on, and made him miss Old Han dearly.

……

After dawn, he sent someone to deliver the house deed to the City Guard, while Li Yuan himself went to the private school.

Untended for a long while, the desks and books in the school were thick with dust; he searched carefully through everything but found nothing else of note.

"Maybe I'm overthinking it?"

Li Yuan shook his head—perhaps he really was overthinking it.

After all, Wang Master had been at the Weapon Forging Shop for many years.

The ninth day of the new year dawned bright and clear.

Taking leave of his brother and sister-in-law, whose eyes were reddened, Li Yuan—his arrangements long since made—slung a bundle over his back, took up the long-handled gourd hammer he'd carried to Mount Fajiu Mountain, and left the city.

Outside the city gate it was very lively.

People from every household had gathered; escorted by the Changyuan Escort Agency, they were bound for Zhe Long Prefecture. There were well over twenty carriages and escort wagons, and the send-off crowd and onlookers numbered in the hundreds.

In these times, traveling far was no easy matter, and going alone was even more dangerous—spending the night in the wilderness, one was bound to run into bandits and mounted outlaws.

"Junior Brother."

Outside the city gate, Zhou Zhou Jinzhong seemed to have been waiting a long while; he dismounted now and handed over a bundle:

"These are what you asked for—the root charts of the Mad Lion Blade Art and the Swimming Fish Art."

"Many thanks, Senior Brother."

Li Yuan took it with both hands: "In a few days, I'll have the escort agency send them back."

"Just return them whenever you're free, Junior Brother."

Zhou Zhou Jinzhong smiled, unconcerned: "Junior Brother must remember what I told you before—the chance when the mountain gate opens next year is rare; you must seize it."

"Senior Brother's words—

are engraved on this junior brother's heart. On this entry into the mountain, I shall give it everything I have!"

Li Yuan nodded.

After several rounds of drinking together, he and Zhou Zhou Jinzhong had grown quite familiar, and he had learned a good deal from him about Zhe Long Prefecture and the Divine Weapon Valley.

Zhou Zhou Jinzhong said no more, cupped his fist in farewell:

"Then, this Senior Brother wishes you a triumphant start—straight into the inner sect in one stroke!"

"I'll borrow Senior Brother's lucky words!"

Li Yuan smiled and returned the courtesy.

Over twenty disciples were heading to Divine Weapon Valley to take masters; watching Li Yuan now chatting and laughing with the heads of the various inner- and outer-city factions, they could not help but wear complicated expressions.

Those heads were either their own masters, or their fathers' generation…

Liang Liang Ashui led his horse, watching from afar, his expression no less strange.

He would never have guessed that while he'd been out fishing for half a month, this rising star of the Weapon Forging Shop had leapt up to become its Head Shopkeeper.

And what's more…

"Number one in talent…"

Liang Liang Ashui murmured to himself, then turned to feed the nag.

"Brother Li!"

"Brother Li, we've been waiting for you!"

Liu Zheng, Wang Wang Peiyao, Yue Yue Yunjin, Wu Ming and the others had long since arrived, but they waited until Li Yuan had finished chatting with the various factions and the vice commanders of the City Guard before coming over to greet him.

Many of them wore the excitement and unease of setting out on a long journey.

"Brother Li, why did you bring a big rat?"

Wang Wang Peiyao's sharp eyes caught the little mouse poking its head out of the bundle.

"This is a little field mouse."

Li Yuan corrected her.

The little mouse, having eaten quite a few elixir pills, was now the size of a small cat. Liu Zheng and the others paid it no mind, but Wang Wang Peiyao kept a respectful distance.

"Brother Li really is… unique."

Wang Wang Peiyao stepped back a few paces.

"Shopkeeper Li, please take your seat in the carriage first. The road is long; we should set out as early as we can."

Lin Lin Qingfa came over, long spear in hand.

The head escort of the Changyuan Escort Agency, after losing a consignment to the Venomous Snake Gang, had been in dire straits for quite a while, but had now recovered his vigor.

The factions within the city had been wiped out, but not all their members had been slain; many of those who had cultivated internal force had flooded into the remaining houses, and the Weapon Forging Shop had taken on a good number of them.

The head escort had seized the chance to recruit a large batch of new escorts; this escort and guard duty was theirs to take on.

"My thanks for your trouble, Head Escort."

Li Yuan knew he had held them up; after cupping his fist in apology, he hurried up into the Weapon Forging Shop's carriage.

"Senior Brother Yue, Senior Brother Wu, the carriage is spacious, come aboard together."

Before boarding the carriage, Lei Lei Chaozong looked back.

Ever since he became the Shopkeeper, inner-court apprentices like Yue Yue Yunjin and Wu Ming had been quite reserved around him; hearing this, they all froze, exchanged a glance, then still shook their heads and declined.

The Forging Shop sent six people this time, not counting Lei Lei Chaozong; if they got on, what would the other four think?

"Depart!"

Lei Lei Chaozong said nothing more, and after he got on, Lin Qing raised his hand with a flourish, and the caravan slowly rolled forward, heading along the official road.

"Hidden Dragon Prefecture, Divine Weapon Valley!"

Lei Lei Chaozong's heart Contains some anticipation, yet as if sensing something, he lifted the carriage curtain and looked back at Gao Liu; among the crowd seeing them off, he saw his elder brother and sister-in-law,

Fatty Sun, Qiu Da, and others.

"Hm?!"

Suddenly, Lei Lei Chaozong's brow furrowed; he lowered the carriage curtain, his expression shifting.

At a glance, he seemed to have spotted that Master Wang, but at the second look, he saw nothing again…

……

……

"Not a bad child, but a pity his talent is a bit lacking; this old man has no mind to take a disciple anymore…"

Wang Wang Wenyuan watched the departing caravan, and as if sensing something, melted into the crowd. A man in coarse cloth approached, his manner respectful and cautious:

"Su Su Wanxiong sent word; he seems to want to gather Lei Lei Chaozong and the others—perhaps he can no longer hold himself back…"

"Lei Lei Chaozong? Grass will be growing on his grave soon, and he still wants to gather people?"

Wang Wang Wenyuan chuckled despite himself.

"Then, we…"

"Unless the Tower Master gives the word, this old man can't be bothered to pay it any mind."

"But that Su Su Wanxiong…"

"There is no 'but.'"

Wang Wang Wenyuan gave him a Longhu Longhu Dandan glance.

The two spoke at a normal volume, not deliberately concealing their words, yet among the gradually dispersing crowd, it seemed no one at all heard them talking.

"Then, we?"

That man was quite helpless; he had been chopping wood in the mountains for several decades now…

"Carry on as before; everything waits until the Tower Master comes out of seclusion…"

Casting a subtle glance at the four-wheeled great sun hanging high in the sky, Wang Wang Wenyuan sighed and turned to head back to Huicheng.