chsdbacks Chapter 125 Gathering Information
Chapter 125 Gathering Information
The three of them left the valley and continued south along the official road.
We didn't sense that spying presence again along the way.
Every half hour, Lin Yan would spread out his [Qi Observation] perception to scan the area. Apart from some traveling caravans and a few scattered cultivators, there was indeed no one following behind them.
Wu Meng walked very unsteadily, sometimes picking up a stone and throwing it at a tree by the roadside, and sometimes bragging to Yang Tie about his dirty tricks of robbing resources in the group of unaffiliated cultivators back in the day.
Yang Tie basically didn't respond to him, occasionally letting out an "uh-huh" as if he had heard him.
After traveling for four days, a city built of bluestone bricks appeared at the end of the official road.
The city gate is inscribed with two large characters: Jiangzhou.
When Lin Yan and his two companions entered the city, it was noon. Unlike the desolate scenes of Qingzhou and Zhenbeiguan, the streets of Jiangzhou were bustling with people, and stalls were set up on both sides.
An old man selling candied hawthorns shouted his wares, a woman selling cloth bargained with customers, and the air on the street was filled with the steam from a steamed bun shop and the aroma of braised meat.
In the north, refugees were everywhere, while in the south, a peaceful scene unfolded.
Lin Yan sighed, and instead of rushing to find the entrance to Cangwu Mountain according to the map, he first found an inn in the south of the city to stay at.
"Boss, why aren't we heading straight into the mountains? What are we doing at this inn?" Wu Meng slammed his heavy axe down on the table, making the teapot on it jump.
"Don't rush into the mountains. Let's go to the city and find out what's going on." Lin Yan poured a cup of tea. "What kind of place is Cangwu Mountain? What's it like inside? What dangers are there? We only have one map. If we don't know anything and just rush in, what's the difference between that and suicide?"
Yang Tie nodded in agreement, leaned the long stick against the corner of the wall, sat down, and began wiping his calloused hands again.
Lin Yan looked at Yang Tie and thought to himself, "How come this person is so young, yet has such calloused hands?"
……
That afternoon, Lin Yan changed out of his military officer robes and into ordinary clothes, intending to take a stroll through the various teahouses and taverns in Jiangzhou City.
As soon as he stepped outside, he saw several people dressed as martial artists sitting at a wonton stall on the street.
He didn't plan to ask anyone directly about the forbidden area of Cangwu Mountain. Instead, he sat down, ordered a bowl of wontons, and listened to the conversations of the people at the next table while he ate.
Two men dressed in tight-fitting clothes were eating noodles with their heads down. One of them, who had a scar on his face, looked up and said, "Have you heard? Three more groups of people went in last week, and none of them have come out yet."
"That's normal." Another skinny man slurped up a mouthful of noodles. "Every year, about a hundred people go into Cangwu Mountain, but less than half of them come out unharmed."
"I heard that Wang Mazi's team ran into a third-grade red-maned beast in the inner area. They lost two people before barely managing to escape. Tsk tsk, you didn't see it, Wang Mazi lost an arm; it was taken off by that red-maned beast."
"The Crimson Mane Beast is nothing." The scarred man put down his chopsticks and lowered his voice. "Last month, someone saw a fourth-rank beast on the outskirts. That thing was the size of a small mountain. One swipe of its claw made a crater in the ground."
"Holy crap! A fourth-grade demonic beast! That guy should be bowing down to a god to get out of here alive..."
Lin Yan ate his wontons slowly. Only after the two people finished eating and left did he stand up and wander over to a teahouse in the south of the city.
The teahouse was crowded. Several monks were sitting by the window on the second floor, with tea and peanuts on the table, chatting animatedly.
Lin Yan, carrying a teacup, approached and sat down on an empty stool nearby. He smiled and cupped his hands in greeting, "Gentlemen, this is my first time in Jiangzhou. You've told me that Cangwu Mountain is quite lively?"
A rogue cultivator with a thick beard glanced at him and noticed that although he was dressed plainly, he had an extraordinary air about him, especially the knife at his waist, which looked unusual. He smiled and said, "Is this your first time here, brother? Oh dear, you'd better be careful. This Cangwu Mountain is not just one mountain, but an entire mountain range, covering hundreds of miles. Moreover, the further you go in, the more dangerous it becomes."
A tall, thin man next to him, cracking peanuts, added, "We divide the Cangwu Mountain range into three layers: the outer perimeter, the inner perimeter, and the core. The outer perimeter is relatively safe, mostly inhabited by first and second-grade demonic beasts, often in groups. If you're careful, you'll be fine. The inner perimeter is different; third-grade demonic beasts roam everywhere, and you might even encounter a fourth-grade one occasionally."
"What about the core area?" Lin Yan asked.
"This core area is said to be the tomb of the former emperor, but no one has ever actually gone in, or rather, no one who has gone in has ever come out alive. We only know that there is an ancient restriction, and those with a cultivation level of rank 3 or above cannot enter. But it is precisely because of this restriction that the things inside are valuable."
"I heard that the core area contains the legacy of Emperor Liang Ai, as well as national treasures buried by the previous dynasty. A few years ago, someone brought out a fist-sized piece of black iron ore from the inner perimeter and directly exchanged it for a three-courtyard house in the capital."
"Don't listen to his nonsense. The stuff inside may be valuable, but you still need to be alive to spend it." The tall, thin man snorted. "Last year, there was a third-grade cultivator who had just entered the inner circle when he encountered a pack of Ironback Wolves. Twenty or thirty of them surrounded and bit him, and they almost ate his bones clean."
Lin Yan asked a few more questions about the route into the mountains and precautions, and the independent cultivators chimed in with their own opinions.
They learned that the entrance to the mountain was sixty miles west of the city, just as recorded on the map. There was a camp for scattered cultivators there, where cultivators from all over gathered to rest.
After listening, Lin Yan ordered another pot of fine tea for the group and then got up to return to the inn.
He recounted the information he had gathered to Wu Meng and Yang Tie in detail.
"So many people have gone in and failed?" Wu Meng scratched his head, a serious look on his face. "What about us, with our newly entered third-grade cultivation..."
"The forbidden area only allows those below the third rank to enter, which means the danger inside shouldn't be something you have to rely on your cultivation level to withstand. Otherwise, this restriction would be meaningless," Lin Yan said. "As long as we're not too unlucky and don't encounter a fourth-rank demon beast, we can handle the outer and inner areas. The core area is the real danger zone. Let's go to the loose cultivator camp first thing tomorrow morning to check on the situation."
The next day, before dawn, the three checked out of their room and headed west out of the city.
It took nearly three hours to travel sixty li (approximately 30 kilometers).
From afar, you could see a dark mass of people gathered at the foot of the mountain, at least three or four hundred people.
Upon closer inspection, the campsite was far more lively than Lin Yan had imagined.
Tents and makeshift wooden sheds were crammed together, leaving only a few crooked passageways in the middle.
Someone was selling pills at a stall, with bottles and jars scattered all over the ground, shouting at the top of their lungs, "Top-quality wound medicine, a must-have for going into the mountains, only fifty taels a bottle."
Someone was squatting on the ground sharpening their weapon, the sizzling sound filling the air.
Some people sat together roasting monster meat, the oil dripping down and the aroma wafting far and wide.
In the very center of the camp stood several wooden stakes, with animal hides nailed to them, and crooked charcoal drawings of the mountain range on the hides.
Several cultivators were gathered around a map, arguing about which route into the mountains would be safer and less likely to encounter hordes of demonic beasts.