From bone collectors to the supreme ruler of humanity

Chapter 59 Darkroom

"Look at this, the amount of medicinal herbs we buy each time is not large, but the frequency is very regular. We buy a batch in the middle of each month, and each time it is fifty catties. The types of medicinal herbs we buy are also fixed: hemostatic herbs, bone-setting herbs, and herbs for treating frostbite. Most importantly, without exception, all of these are military-grade medicines."

She turned to another page, "Ironware shipment. A batch is shipped at the end of each month, not much, around two hundred catties each time, delivered to the same location."

"Where should I send it?"

"The account book says it's the North Mountain Pass Quarry, but I know this place. It was abandoned the year before last. No one has been quarrying there since then."

"Then what were they doing sending the ironware there?"

Ye Qingxue didn't answer immediately. She folded the page and put it in her bosom, then stood up.

"Let's send the stuff out first."

Lin Yan suddenly reached out and stopped her.

Guanshan's keen perception caught the sound of two breaths.

One was at the alley entrance, the other outside the courtyard wall; their breathing was shallow, their steps steady. They were clearly trained fighters.

Lin Yan blew out the candle and whispered in Ye Qingxue's ear, "Someone's coming. Climb out the back window and take the account books with you."

"And you?"

"I'll lure the pursuers away, and we'll meet at the tofu stall on the street around midnight. If I haven't arrived by then, you go directly to the military headquarters to find Commander Cao."

Ye Qingxue looked at him, her lips moved as if she wanted to say something polite like "take care," but in the end she didn't say it.

She tucked the account book into her bosom, jumped out the window, and disappeared into the night in a few flashes.

Lin Yan gripped the newly replaced knife tightly in the darkness.

The two breathing sounds grew closer, one coming in from the front door, the other coming around from the back alley.

The one at the front gate had already reached the warehouse door, while the one in the back alley blocked the back window where Ye Qingxue had just left.

Lin Yan kicked open the warehouse door, and the dark figure at the front door suddenly took a step back.

He was a tall, thin man dressed in black, carrying a long, narrow-bladed knife. When he saw Lin Yan come out, he immediately raised the tip of his knife.

"You tampered with the Yongfeng's account books?"

Lin Yan remained silent.

He slashed directly at Lin Yan with his sword, but the tall, thin man parried with his own sword, only to be forced back two steps by the force of the true energy emanating from Lin Yan's blade.

"True Qi Realm?" The tall, thin man's expression changed, and he shouted into the back alley, "Second brother, stop chasing that woman! Come back! She's a tough nut to crack!"

The footsteps in the back alley paused for a moment, then hurried back.

Lin Yan didn't give the tall, thin man and his helpers a chance, and immediately followed up with a second slash.

This [Twig-Splitting Slash], combined with the burst of true energy, was much more violent than usual. The tall, thin man raised his sword to block again, and the two swords collided with a crack, sending the narrow-bladed longsword flying.

The tall, thin man groaned as the back of the knife struck his shoulder, causing him to fall against the wall. He slid down the wall and remained motionless.

The footsteps from the back alley had already reached the courtyard gate.

Lin Yan had no desire to continue the fight.

He leaped onto the roof with a push of his toes, and ran swiftly towards the tofu stall in the east of the city, stepping on the tiles.

As they ran further and further away, the footsteps behind them finally faded from sight.

He came down from the roof and turned into Willow Lane. He circled the tofu stall twice, and only stopped in front of the tofu stall after confirming that no one was following him.

Ye Qingxue emerged from the shadows behind the stall, still holding the account book in her arms.

"Did you get it?"

"Got it." Ye Qingxue dusted off the ledger. "How's it going?"

"It's alright. One of them dislocated his shoulder and passed out, and the other couldn't catch up."

Aunt Zhou lifted the curtain. "Why are you making so much noise in the middle of the night?"

Ye Qingxue bowed to her, "Aunt Zhou, let's go inside and talk."

The three sat down in the low-ceilinged tile-roofed house where the tofu shop was located. Aunt Zhou remained silent for a long time after hearing Ye Qingxue's words.

"Gu Changshan also investigated this matter twenty years ago."

Aunt Zhou pushed the bowl of cold soy milk on the table in front of Ye Qingxue. "He was investigating the case of the wrongful conviction of the Shanziying, and the investigation stopped at the quarry in Beishankou."

What's wrong with the quarry?

"I don't know. Changshan said that day that there was something he wanted to see in the quarry, and he disappeared a few days later. He told someone to tell me to wait at Black Wind Ridge, and I have been waiting for twenty years."

Lin Yan asked, "Aunt Zhou, do you know the location of the quarry?"

"Twenty miles north of Iron Coffin Cliff."

"North of Iron Coffin Cliff?" Lin Yan paused.

"It's right behind the mountain where Guli is camping," Ye Qingxue said.

Aunt Zhou tapped her old pipe on the sole of her shoe as she stood up. "I'll go with you tomorrow."

Just as Ye Qingxue was about to speak, Aunt Zhou interrupted her: "Don't try to persuade me, it's no use. I have to finish the road that Changshan didn't finish."

The next day, before dawn, the three rode out of the city.

Xiong Kuo also wanted to go, but Lin Yan left him in Zhenbei City to guard the supply camp and Chen's mother and daughter.

After walking twenty miles north, past Iron Coffin Cliff, and halfway down the mountain path, you arrive at the abandoned quarry.

The quarry is small, surrounded by mountains on three sides, with several piles of waste stones in an open space in the middle, and a few collapsed shacks standing crookedly next to the stone piles.

Aunt Zhou looked around and pointed to the largest shack at the very back, "The entrance is over there."

"Entrance?"

"Changshan said so. The most dilapidated shack in the quarry has a hidden world underneath."

Ye Qingxue drew her sword and lifted the tattered curtain of the shack. Inside, it was empty except for a table with broken legs and a few piles of rotten straw mats.

"Is there a hidden room downstairs?"

Aunt Zhou lifted the straw mat, revealing a stone slab underneath. Three vertical lines were carved on the slab. The code for the Mountain Camp.

Ye Qingxue and Lin Yan worked together to pry open the stone slab, revealing a section of stone steps leading downwards. The steps were narrow and steep, allowing only one person to descend sideways.

Lin Yan left first, with Ye Qingxue protecting her in the middle, and Aunt Zhou following last.

At the end of the stone steps is a man-made stone chamber, about two zhang square, with several iron rings carved into the stone walls for holding torches.

In the center of the stone chamber was a stone table with several faded notebooks spread out on it, and next to it was an oil lamp that had long since dried up.

Ye Qingxue picked up the top book and opened it.

The contents were filled with records of dates, types of goods, quantities, and delivery locations.

From thirty years ago until seven years ago.

"Ironware, crossbows, gunpowder—these were all dispatched from the Imperial Household Department, transferred through the Yongfeng Ship, and finally delivered to the Northern Barbarian King's Court," Ye Qingxue said, flipping through the ledger. "Each batch of goods is recorded, and each one has Steward Lu's signature."

She flipped to the last page of the book, pointed to it, and asked, "Do you recognize this symbol?"

It is a strange totem, with three wolves linked head to tail.

Aunt Zhou swayed violently when she saw the mark.

"I've seen this before." Lin Yan glanced at Aunt Zhou's expression. "It's the emblem of the Blood Wolf tribe. Gu Li also has it tattooed on his shoulder."

"The Imperial Household Department sold military supplies to the Blood Wolf Tribe."

Aunt Zhou's voice was heavy. "The Blood Wolf Tribe took this equipment to attack Zhenbei Pass. But the reinforcements the garrison at Zhenbei Pass is waiting for are delayed. Could it be that the order to transfer troops from the capital was intercepted?"