Chapter 56

Lu Zhangsheng let the silver fall to the ground, ignoring it at all.

Such an attitude made the people of the escort agency frown.

Then Lu Zhangsheng asked with a cold expression: "A few months ago, what happened to that batch of caravan guards in your escort agency?"

He went straight to the point.

The leading middle-aged Escort Master's pupils shrank upon hearing this.

"Who is your Excellency, and what is your relationship with those people? This matter has long been settled."

The middle-aged Escort Master's tone was very calm.

But his heart was somewhat puzzled.

According to the background investigated by the escort agency, there were no martial artist relatives among those caravan guards; today, someone actually came to ask about this matter specifically, which was truly strange.

"Who I am is not important; where did that group of people go? You had better answer truthfully."

Cold light flickered in Lu Zhangsheng's eyes, and his tone was icy.

He guessed correctly; there was indeed something fishy about this matter.

"Humph... it seems you cannot be left alive today."

The middle-aged Escort Master's face was full of murderous intent.

As a direct descendant of the Zhenyuan Escort Agency, this matter must never be revealed, otherwise the reputation of the escort agency would be completely destroyed.

There was only the choice of silencing them.

He immediately turned off his horse, took out the long blade in his hand, and slashed toward Lu Zhangsheng quickly.

The blade rubbed against the void, emitting bursts of roaring sounds.

With his own late-stage Flesh Refining strength, presumably it would not be difficult to suppress the other party.

He was full of confidence in his heart.

The group of Escort Masters beside him also looked full of confidence.

"Die."

Lu Zhangsheng's face was full of grimness.

He slashed forward with a blade.

Dazzling cold light flickered in the void, as if to cut through the void, and the momentum was terrifying.

"Crack..."

A soft sound came.

The middle-aged Escort Master's long blade was directly cut off, and the cut was smooth and neat.

Before the middle-aged Escort Master could react, a cold light slashed across his neck.

"You..."

The man pointed at Lu Zhangsheng, then fell to the ground.

Blood stained the surrounding ground red.

One blow, the late-stage Flesh Refining Escort Master was killed instantly on the spot.

The group of ordinary Escort Masters around saw this and couldn't help but be full of fear, their legs trembling.

"Hero, spare my life..."

Everyone hurriedly begged for mercy.

"Does anyone know about the disappearance of that batch of caravan guards?"

Lu Zhangsheng's icy gaze swept across the audience.

The scene was instantly silent.

For a time, no one stood up to answer.

"Crack..."

Lu Zhangsheng waved one hand, a cold light flashed, and the big man on the far right instantly lost his head, blood gushing like a fountain, and the ground was a mess.

"Does no one know?"

Lu Zhangsheng's tone was incomparably grim.

"Sir, spare my life, I'll say, I'll say..."

A young man couldn't bear the pressure of death and collapsed directly.

He began to answer incoherently:

"That day, we were escorting... we met the Black Mountain Bandits, and the goods and personnel were... intercepted..."

While speaking, his eyes were erratic, and he was also observing Lu Zhangsheng's reaction.

Lu Zhangsheng's expression was cold.

He knew that the other party's words probably only had three points of credibility.

"Why did you come back safely? Only a group of caravan guards were intercepted?"

Murderous intent flashed in his eyes.

"This..."

The young man didn't know how to answer for a while.

Under the pressure of Lu Zhangsheng's powerful momentum, cold sweat kept dripping from his forehead.

"They were taken by the Black Mountain Bandits to the mine to dig for ore..."

After a few breaths, the man finally couldn't bear the pressure and said with difficulty.

Just as the young man finished speaking.

Only to see more than ten afterimages flickering in the void, accompanied by cold light traveling around.

In an instant, a group of men fell directly to the ground, their bodies separated, like a human purgatory.

Lu Zhangsheng directly beheaded this group of people without holding back at all.

Hearing the other party's answer, he could also roughly guess what happened at that time.

The people of the Zhenyuan Escort Agency were no match for the Black Mountain Bandits and used goods and non-staff personnel to exchange for their own safety.

They themselves were probably also given a gag order, and only a few direct descendants knew, while other ordinary Escort Masters might have all evaporated from the world.

People who mix in the Jianghu are indeed ruthless enough.

Then, Lu Zhangsheng put away his thoughts and arrived behind a carriage. He used his blade to pry open the wooden box on the carriage frame.

Only to see a large pile of medicinal herbs piled inside, with a fragrant smell coming to his face.

He checked carefully and found that most of them were medicinal herbs under thirty years old.

Only a few were over fifty years old.

With a thought, he absorbed them directly.

Source Energy Points: +45.

Adding what he had, there were 75 points in total.

The harvest was quite good, and it could be considered an unexpected joy.

It just so happened that he had been very lacking in Source Energy Points recently.

Then he arrived behind the remaining carriages one by one and pried open the wooden boxes.

They were all some ordinary ores, and a few jewels and accessories, the value of which was not too high.

He put them all into the panel space.

Finally, he didn't forget to loot the bodies of that group of martial artists, took out some useful manuals and silver notes, and then destroyed the bodies.

After doing all this, Lu Zhangsheng rushed toward the dense forest in front.

…………

Black Mountain.

It belongs to a branch of the Cangyun Mountain Range; this mountain is very dangerous, easy to defend and hard to attack.

A hundred years ago, a group of bandits occupied this place and had already passed it down for several generations.

After several encirclement and suppression campaigns by the government, they had never been wiped out.

Near Black Mountain, there were large and small mines, as many as a hundred.

Two days later.

At dusk.

A man in black rushed toward the edge of the mine quickly.

It was Lu Zhangsheng.

He traveled through the deep mountain forest all the way and took two days to arrive here.

According to the map of Changping County, some mines near the Black Mountain Bandits were highly likely to be the place where his father was captured.

He prepared to explore it well.

Lu Zhangsheng jumped up and jumped onto a tree crown, staring carefully at the mine in front.

The mine was surrounded by mountains on all sides, and in the middle was a huge basin.

A group of ragged men were walking with difficulty, with a back basket on their backs, filled with iron ore.

This group of people had very numb expressions.

"Pa pa pa..."

"Work faster..."

Behind them, many overseers were violently whipping the mine slaves with leather whips.

The crisp sound echoed through the valley.

Lu Zhangsheng did not find any trace of his father.

Then, he operated the Spiral Nine Transformations and rushed out like lightning.

"Bang, bang, bang..."

Bursts of cold light traveled in the void, and in the blink of an eye, a group of overseers fell to the ground, their bodies separated.

"Who is it!"

Just at this time, four martial artists sensed the movement and rushed out of the cave immediately.

The four were tall and had fierce faces.

Lu Zhangsheng did not sense any threat from the few.

He struck instantly.

"Whoosh..."

Several afterimages traveled around the four, and before they could react, they were beheaded, and blood sprayed all over the ground.

Lu Zhangsheng stood with his blade retracted, his expression calm.

The mine slaves nearby only then reacted and all knelt to the ground.

"Many thanks, hero, many thanks, hero..."

Countless people kowtowed repeatedly, even their foreheads were somewhat bright red, and there were even a few little girls.

For Lu Zhangsheng, saving them was just a matter of lifting a finger, without harming his own interests, but for them, it was another life.

Lu Zhangsheng nodded with a smile.

Afterwards, he rushed toward the front quickly and disappeared in the vicinity in the blink of an eye.

For the next few days, he had been looking for traces of his father in the nearby mines, but had no discoveries.

He could only make the worst plan; the other party had probably met with an accident.

This group of Black Mountain Bandits was simply insane, capturing thousands of commoners to dig for ore here.

Lu Zhangsheng also saved some of them along the way, and killed many Black Mountain Bandit martial artists.

The silver notes and manuals in his hand became much more abundant again.

At the same time, the various behaviors of the Black Mountain Bandits made Lu Zhangsheng very puzzled.

What did the other party want to do by digging so much ore? Smelting iron? Forging weapons and armor? Were they preparing to attack the county city?

Even if they didn't have the strength to attack the county city, they would arm themselves with all their might, and they must have some significant plans.

These guesses made his heart feel cold.

It felt quite like a storm was about to come.

(End of chapter)