Endless Winter: My Camp Infinite Upgrades

Chapter 459 Young People and Slaps in the Face, The Secret of the Five Elements Body Tribulation, The Dark Merchant's Invitation, and Making the List
On the tenth day of the tenth month in the 297th year of the Caiqiu calendar, just as dawn broke...
"Ha...that's enough, it's time to go back!"

Xia Hong, who had spent four days in the prefectural governor's library, yawned softly, stretched, put the book "Gazetteer of the Four Domains of Mo'ao River" back on the shelf, looked around, shook his head, and walked downstairs.

That's more than enough! The gains from this trip to the library have been enormous!
"Of the six martial arts, one is a castrated version of the Tai Zhan style fist technique. The remaining three sets of saber techniques and two sets of sword techniques were all modified by me after I came to Caiqiu. They only increase the power by a maximum of 40%. Giving them to them won't hurt them."

Books, in a narrow sense, are knowledge, the experience and summaries of our predecessors; in a broader sense, they are the ladder of human progress, so they are extremely precious no matter where they are.

Cai Qiu's three-story library contains at least tens of thousands of books, covering almost every aspect of life, including geography, planting, harvesting, hunting, martial arts, cultivation, cold beasts, and even strange creatures.

These tens of thousands of books alone are enough to demonstrate the profound resources of the regional military governors.

As a transmigrator, Xia Hong naturally understood the importance of books. Before the first year of the Great Xia Dynasty, he had Xia Chuan begin compiling the Records of Frosty Beasts. Later, he had Yue Feng in charge of compiling the Annals of the Great Xia Dynasty. He himself also personally participated in the formulation and compilation of Xia rituals. Under his attention as the lord, a strong trend of writing books had already formed in the Great Xia Dynasty, from the Eight Tribes to the common people.

Even so, in the Great Xia Dynasty, the total number of books that have been compiled to the present day is only a little over four hundred, which are of significant value for inclusion.

If only all these tens of thousands of books could be moved back to Great Xia!

Although such impulsive thoughts had surged into Xia Hong's mind countless times over the past five days, he certainly wouldn't actually put them into action.

Although faint, he could sense that there were at least ten or more Manifest Yang-level auras hidden in this three-story building, and a few of them were even no weaker than his.

Whether he could snatch the book right under someone's nose is another matter, but even if he did, would he be able to leave the prefect's mansion smoothly afterward?

Of course, these are all just idle words. In short, this library embodies nearly three hundred years of Caiqiu's historical experience and houses thousands of precious martial arts classics, so it's impossible to let him in so easily.

The six martial arts techniques were considered as the entrance fee that Xia Hong paid to the prefectural governor's office.

For Xia Hong, these six martial arts techniques were not particularly valuable, but for Cai Qiu, they were a completely different story.

As early as the beginning of the year, when he fought Cai Yunzhou, Xia Hong had already guessed that Cai Qiu's martial arts level was inferior to that of the Great Xia.

Cai Yunzhou is the city lord of Qinghua City and a direct third-generation descendant of Fang Bo. His status and position are beyond question, and the martial arts he cultivates must be the best in the entire Caiqiu.

On the day of the battle at the city gate, after he used the Heaven-Slaying Sword Technique, his strength only increased by a little over 30%, which proves that Cai Qiu's top martial arts were probably only at this level.

Xia Hong's subsequent experiences over the next few months in Caiqiu confirmed his suspicions.

"Before my skills are successfully transformed into extraordinary levels, the martial arts level of the Great Xia Dynasty will increase by 30% as long as I refine the power generation routine of the Long Fist to the highest level. Combined with martial arts moves, the maximum increase can reach an astonishing 50%."

After my skills reached an extraordinary level, with the ability to imitate and deconstruct martial arts at the law level, my understanding of martial arts has reached a new height. I just need to wait until the warlord affairs are settled, and when I return this time, I can further enhance this understanding…”

Xia Hong's eyes brightened slightly as he continued walking downstairs.

In short, the six martial arts techniques, each with a maximum amplification of 40%, were extremely valuable to Cai Qiu, thus successfully earning him the qualification to stay in the library for five days.

"It's a win-win situation. Not only will it get into the library, but once these six martial arts techniques are sent out, my identity as the Crown Prince of Qin will be more credible in their eyes. It's like emphasizing my background and origins once again."

Xia Hong smiled slightly and quickly went down to the first floor, heading towards the entrance.

The Prefectural Governor's mansion alone has no fewer than a thousand members of Cai Shiben's clan. Including maids and servants, the entire mansion has at least 20,000 people. With so many people, the library naturally sees a lot of people coming and going every day.

Although Xia Hong was only wearing a simple black silk robe and had no accessories on his head or waist, no one dared to underestimate him when he came downstairs. They just showed some curiosity.

Soon, he reached the doorway.

At the entrance of the library, there was a reclining chair. An old man with gray hair, a wrinkled face, and wearing a blue cotton coat was lying on it. His eyes were closed, and he was breathing heavily, clearly on his deathbed.

Most of the people coming and going ignored the old man, except for Xia Hong, who glanced at him and nodded slightly as he passed by.

"This old man in blue robes has a basic strength of at least 50 jun, which is stronger than that eldest son Cai Yunlan. He is the strongest person I have encountered in the nearly four months since I entered the manor. None of the Cai family members who come and go from the library recognize him!"

Xia Hong couldn't help but sigh inwardly. Of course, he didn't simply think that all the children of the Prefect's Mansion were fools and no one recognized the old man. This could only prove that the Prefect's Mansion, or rather the core leadership of the Cai Clan, were hiding their true strength too well. Most of the clan's members didn't even know who their family's powerful members were.

After all, they were a powerful clan that had lasted for nearly three hundred years, so it wasn't too much of an overreaction...

"Young Master, gentlemen, we have arrived at the library. Please!"

As Xia Hong walked out the door, a large rickshaw stopped right in front of the building. A man dressed as a butler spoke as he reached out and pulled open the curtain of the rickshaw.

A young man dressed in a jade-green brocade robe, wearing a silver crown, and fully adorned with jewelry, who looked to be about eighteen or nineteen years old, was clearly the young master the steward had mentioned. He quickly jumped down from the carriage.

For some reason, the young prince had a dark expression on his face after getting out of the carriage.

After the young prince got off and stood still, eight more young people, five men and three women, jumped out of the carriage. Except for not wearing silver crowns, they had almost the same number of accessories as the young prince.

However, Xia Hong had no time to look at the eight people behind him. When he saw the young prince's face, a look of surprise flashed in his eyes.

There was no other reason than that he had seen this young prince before!

This young master with a dark face was none other than Cai Shiqi, whom he had personally seen at the entrance of the Nine Towns of the Bone-Eating Path on August 25th of last year.

Xia Hong remembers clearly that the person in charge of escorting Cai Shiqi and his party was a Xianyang-level officer whom they called Military Advisor Zhu.

During his four months in Qinghua City, Xia Hong also learned a lot of useful information. The position of military advisor was not low in Caiqiu. Only the four prefectural governors had the authority to establish it. It was considered a trusted advisor to the prefect and had the power to mobilize the elite garrison troops under the prefect's command.

Each prefectural governor's office only had three military advisors, so there were only twelve military advisors in the entire Caiqiu. After some subtle inquiries, Xia Hong had already found out the specific information about that Military Advisor Zhu.

Zhu Yan, a military advisor from Baishui County, Caiqiu, possesses late-stage Xianyang cultivation and a strength of 19 jun.

Thinking about it, it makes sense. The Bone-Eating Path is located in Changqing Valley, which is under the jurisdiction of Qinghua City, and Qinghua City is under the jurisdiction of Baishui County. Based on this, Zhu Yan is obviously from Baishui County.

Of course, by the same token, the young prince named Cai Shiqi in front of us is most likely from the same lineage as Cai Qiuhong, the prefect of Baishui County.

If they had met in Qinghua City or Baishui County, Xia Hong wouldn't have reacted. But to meet in Linchu County was quite a coincidence.

However, the coincidences are clearly not limited to these!

The eight young men and women who came down afterward saw Cai Shiqi's dark face, exchanged glances, and then began to comfort him.

"Third Brother, don't worry. Your severed finger has been reattached. Such minor damage to the meridians is nothing serious. You'll only need to rest for another month at most."

"That's right! Young Master, the Blood Miasma Plains Trial doesn't officially start until November, there are still twenty days left, it won't affect you."

"Third Brother, don't be angry. After the trial is over, next year we'll lead a group to the Southern Foothills, kill that bitch, and avenge her..."

"kill?"

Cai Shiqi, his face dark with rage, immediately turned and interrupted his sister Cai Mengyu with a question upon hearing her words. His face then contorted with overwhelming hatred as he growled, "Killing her directly would be too easy on that bitch! Next year, I'll lead men to cripple her, then capture her along with everyone from the highest levels of the Great Xia Dynasty and bring them all back to Caiqiu. They'll all be enslaved—the men will be dogs in my Baishui Prefecture for generations, and the women will be sent to the army as camp prostitutes. I want..."

Before Cai Shiqi could finish speaking, he suddenly noticed something, looked up at the entrance of the library, and saw a young man dressed in black silk staring at the severed finger on his right hand. His face flushed red with rage, and his pupils almost spit fire.

He pointed directly at the young man in black and roared angrily, "You lowly bastard, what are you looking at? Believe me, I'll have someone gouge your eyes out right now!"

………………

Cai Shiqi's voice was quite loud, and everyone coming in and out of the door was startled. Everyone stopped in their tracks, and the scene instantly froze.

Unbeknownst to everyone, the old man in blue robes who had been reclining in the chair as if asleep had now slightly opened his tightly closed eyes, glanced at Cai Shiqi, shook his head, and immediately closed his eyes again.

The person everyone was watching, Xia Hong, who had been harshly scolded by Cai Shiqi, calmly raised his head and looked at the other man pointing at him with his right index finger, which had been broken once. His face was expressionless as he simply watched quietly.

"Whose bastard is this? Get over here and kneel down to apologize to the young master!"

"This is Cai Shiqi, the young master of Baishui County. Come over here and kowtow to apologize."

"Third Brother isn't a man who kills indiscriminately. He's just in a bad mood today. Quickly kneel down and apologize to him. He won't do anything to you."

………………

The eight young men and women behind Cai Shiqi clearly thought Xia Hong was terrified, and they all started cursing him. In the end, the woman even took pity on Cai Shiqi and said a word for him, while also giving Xia Hong some advice.

They dare to treat even people they encounter at their own family residence without asking about their background or the reason for their treatment. These members of the Cai family are truly arrogant!

Although Xia Hong had already sentenced Cai Shiqi to death in his heart, he couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

When the other party mentioned the high-ranking officials of Daxia, he already had some guesses. After observing the injury of the severed finger, he could be basically certain.

Although Cai Shiqi is arrogant, he is indeed quite talented. He looks to be no more than twenty years old, but his basic strength has already reached 56.

Judging from the marks on the severed finger, it was clearly a sword wound, and it was clean and swift, not the result of a fierce battle. Not to mention the Great Xia Dynasty, there is only one woman in the entire Nine Towns region who can do this.

The men are destined to serve as dogs in my Baishui County for generations, while the women are all sent to the army to work as camp prostitutes...

Thinking of what Cai Shiqi hadn't finished saying, Xia Hong instantly lost all desire to be angry, and a smile slowly appeared on his face.

"cheap……"

The moment that smile appeared on his face, Cai Shiqi realized that the other party was not intimidated at all. Finally unable to suppress his anger, he not only spoke, but also drew his long sword and walked towards Xia Hong.

Snap...

Unfortunately, he had only taken two steps forward when an old man dressed in a blue brocade robe suddenly appeared and slapped him so hard that he flew more than ten meters away.

clap clap clap...

It wasn't over yet. The old man quickly took a few steps forward and slapped each of the eight young men and women who had spoken up for him.

He was quite forceful; after a series of slaps, Cai Shiqi and his nine companions, who had been sent flying more than ten meters away, were all instantly stunned.

Their faces were full of anger, but when they stood up and looked up, they were so frightened by the old man in the blue brocade robe who had hit them that they immediately knelt down.

"Greetings, Uncle Yunqing!"

"Greetings, Ancestor Yunqing!"

The Cai family has existed for nearly three hundred years, and now there are at least ten generations. Interestingly, apart from the second and third generations, who strictly adhere to the characters "Runqiu" and "Yun" when naming their descendants, the rest of the descendants are named arbitrarily. This likely indicates that Cai Qianshan, the governor of Caiqiu, only has some affection for the second and third generations.

However, the four prefectures have another rule: regardless of how many generations of descendants they are, as long as they are granted the title of heir, they are entitled to change the middle character of their name to "Shi" (士), while women can change it to "Shi" (仕). This is both an honor and a way of distinguishing between them.

Xia Hong had inquired in Qinghua City that Cai Shiqi's real name was Cai Ziqi. His father, Cai Yunsheng, was one of the three great military advisors of Baishui County, just like Zhu Yan. Cai Yunsheng had a son when he was over a hundred years old, so although Cai Shiqi was young, his seniority was not low. As a fourth-generation descendant, he naturally called Cai Yunqing his uncle.

Of the other eight young men, only one woman also called him "uncle," while the remaining seven young men all addressed Cai Yunqing as "grand-uncle." They should all be descendants of the Cai family from the Baishui County lineage, five generations later.

"You've all lost your minds, daring to disrespect the young master's distinguished guest! Slap yourselves ten times first, then apologize to Senior Hong! Now!"

Senior Hong?
Upon hearing this, Cai Shiqi and his nine companions realized they had kicked a hornet's nest. Looking at Xia Hong's excessively young face and his extremely plain attire, they were all stunned for a few seconds.

Bang bang bang bang......

However, they quickly came to their senses, grabbed their hands, and started slapping themselves in the face ten times before stopping. Then they stood up, walked to Xia Hong, and bowed deeply.
"We juniors were ignorant and offended you, senior. We hope you will forgive us!"

Xia Hong, of course, wouldn't waste words with a dead man. With a smile on his face, he waved his hand and adopted the demeanor of an elder, saying, "There's no need for that. I'm not a petty person. Ignorance is no excuse. Everyone, please step back!"

Seeing that he had calmed down, Cai Yunqing smiled and waved to Cai Shiqi and the others to disperse them. Then he cupped his hands to Xia Hong and said, "The juniors in this household were ignorant and spoke nonsense to Young Master Hong. I am truly sorry. How about this... I, Cai, will grant Young Master Hong two more days to continue to examine all the books in the building. What do you say?"

Xia Hong waved his hand and said, "Military Advisor Cai, there's no need for that. I'm new here and just want to learn more about the customs and culture of the four vassal states of Mo'ao River in the library. Five days will be enough. I've already left the six martial arts techniques I promised in the library. I'll go back to the side courtyard first."

After saying that, he cupped his hands in greeting and walked directly towards the side courtyard.

"Young Master Hong, please wait!"

Cai Yunqing smiled and watched Xia Hong leave. But as soon as Xia Hong was out of sight, he immediately stopped smiling and glanced at the old man in blue standing at the entrance of the library.

Although the old man kept his eyes closed, he clearly noticed Cai Yunqing's gaze. He said nothing, but simply shook his head gently while half-lying down.

Cai Yunqing frowned slightly when he saw the old man shake his head.

"If even Elder Nie can't see the problem, then there's at least a 60-70% chance that the identity of Prince Hong is true. We'll just have to wait until we go to the Blood Miasma Plain at the end of the year to have the County Magistrate verify it..."

The Great Qin... The Great Qin... This Great Qin vassal state, with only a crown prince, possesses such power. Wouldn't the vassal state be teeming with experts?
"At this crucial juncture, what is the purpose of sending such a powerful heir? Is it simply a show of force, or is there some scheme against the four vassal states?" Cai Yunqing stood there with his brows furrowed, and finally sighed softly.

………………

"Just as I guessed, in the early stage of Manifestation, the bone structure is only in its initial form. In the middle stage, meridians appear, and in the later stage, flesh and blood grow. Only when the skin membrane appears at the peak stage is the bone structure considered to be in its complete form. At that time, it can be fully materialized to fight enemies, which is called the Golden Body Battle Body. However, the size of the bone structure will vary depending on the bone level..."

In the side courtyard of the prefectural governor's residence, Xia Hong, who had just returned, sat alone on the soft couch in his room, recalling the contents of the books he had browsed in the library, his eyes filled with excitement.

"According to the description in that book, the thousand-foot-tall bone form that appears when I fight is just a phantom of the bone form battle body. The real bone form battle body is the one that I can summon every time I cultivate. It is currently at the mid-stage of cultivation and is six feet tall. When I break through to the late stage, it should normally be nine feet tall!"

But the book says that even at the peak of the Manifestation Yang realm, the Golden Body Battle Body has its limits: Iron Bones can only reach a maximum of three zhang; Silver Bones four zhang; Golden Bones six zhang; and Jade Bones are already the limit of a nine-zhang Golden Body..."

Therefore, when his Bone Burning talent reaches the peak of the Manifestation Yang level, he will once again break the common sense of the Ice Abyss and create a golden battle body that is far more than nine feet tall!

Upon reaching this conclusion, Xia Hong's expression only remained excited for a moment before immediately calming down.

It was entirely expected!

He broke the mold in both the Digging and Cold Resistance realms, so naturally, the Manifestation Yang level would be no exception.

His only curiosity now is how high a peak-level expert in the Manifestation Realm can go after unleashing the Golden Body Battle Body.
“Cai Yunqing only has 28 jun of strength, which is very likely to be a late-stage cultivator, so he definitely doesn’t have the Golden Body Battle Body; on the other hand, the old man in blue robes with his eyes closed at the entrance of the library has more than 50 jun of strength, so he is very likely a peak Xianyang realm expert. After he activates the Golden Body Battle Body, his strength will definitely increase significantly. If there is a chance, it would be great to have a fight with him!”

Xia Hong shook his head and chuckled, quickly abandoning this unrealistic idea.

In the entire Caiqiu, including Fangbo Cai Qianshan, there are only five Tribulation Realm experts on the surface. If you exclude these five, the peak of the Manifestation Yang Realm experts are the top figures in the pyramid. Their numbers are limited, so let's not talk about them for now. Such people must have very high status. How could you possibly fight with them casually?

"Breaking through to the peak of the Manifestation Yang level and achieving the Golden Body of Battle, if you want to break through to the Tribulation Body level, you need to continue to develop the internal organs of the Golden Body, which is called opening the organs."

The so-called "opening the organs" means using a massive amount of the five elements' calamity energy to impact the golden body, forcing the golden body to spontaneously generate the first of the five internal organs at the critical moment of life and death.

Because the pain of this process is more than a hundred times greater than that of the Yang Tempering Bone, and there is an extremely high risk of death, it is called the Five Elements Tribulation. Once you pass through it, you can achieve the Tribulation Body. The specific division of this realm is no longer like before, which is divided into early, middle, late and peak periods. Instead, it is divided into first to fifth stages based on the number of times you pass through the Five Elements Tribulation, with the fifth stage being the peak.

Generally speaking, massive amounts of Five Elements Calamity Qi exist in only two places:

First, there are the five elemental forbidden lands naturally born in the Ice Abyss, such as eternally burning volcanoes, glaciers that never melt, and mountains and forests that gave birth to consciousness.
Another one is inside the body of a Five Elements Realm Emperor-level Frost Beast.

So, this corresponds to it again...

Low-level cold beasts are essential resources for cultivation in the logging and digging realms; the blood of mid-level cold beasts corresponds to the peak of the digging realm; high-level beast bones correspond to the cold resistance level; beast king-level bones correspond to the manifesting sun level; and now, the Five Elements Emperor-level cold beasts correspond to the key resources for breaking through to the Tribulation Body realm...

"Not only that, opening the organs is just a breakthrough. To complete the entire Tribulation Body Realm cultivation process, after opening the first organ, it is necessary to nurture it. After the organs are stabilized, the remaining four organs must be opened one after another in the order of mutual generation of the five elements. This whole process is inseparable from the tribulation energy of the five elements."

Therefore, royal-level cold beasts are considered essential resources for those cultivating at the Body Tempering Realm!

Of course, the Five Elements Calamity Qi is not only found on royal-level cold beasts, but also in the Five Elements Absolute Lands naturally born in the Ice Abyss.

The question is, which places would you dare to go?

The eternally burning volcanoes, the glaciers that never melt, the mountains and forests where consciousness was born... Just from the literal descriptions in the book, one can roughly deduce the perilous nature of these Five Elements Forbidden Lands.

In other words, even if you do find these great places, can you guarantee that there aren't any creatures inside that are more terrifying than a royal-level cold beast?
In comparison, the Five Elements Realm Frost Beasts are definitely a better choice for humans.

"However, it's still uncertain who will be whose cultivation resource..."

Xia Hong suddenly remembered what he had seen in the book, and a strange look appeared on his face.

"The Tribulation Body Realm has two meanings. One is the Five Elements Tribulation mentioned earlier; the other refers to the fact that the five internal organs of humans at this level are also extremely tempting and precious cultivation resources for Five Luminaries Realm Emperor-level cold beasts and Calamity-level monsters, hence the name Tribulation Body."

The weakest of the Five Elements Realm Royal-level Frost Beasts is relatively easy to deal with, as they only possess one of the five elements of calamity energy (metal, wood, water, fire, earth). The strongest Royal-level Frost Beasts possess all five elements of calamity energy, making them impervious to water and fire, immune to all poisons, and with a body that is difficult to break through metal and stone. They are almost impossible to find a weakness in. Even a human at the Fifth Rank Calamity Body Realm would likely die if they were to be targeted by them outside.
There are also calamity-level monsters. These monsters are not only powerful, but most importantly, they know how to use humans to approach and kill their prey, making them virtually impossible to defend against.

Therefore, experts at the Body Tribulation Realm usually avoid venturing into unfamiliar areas and try their best to conceal their whereabouts. They don't stay in one place for long, for fear of attracting powerful monsters and cold beasts. The more people there are, the less likely they are to linger in a place..."

So, Cai Qiuyang might not even be in Linchu County at all.
The strange look on Xia Hong's face slowly disappeared, replaced by a solemn expression.

The experience Cai Qiu displayed in the library is most likely true. This proves that while humans do become stronger after breaking through to the Tribulation Realm, their own situation, along with that of the entire camp, becomes even more dangerous.

what is this?
Is the Ice Abyss a test or a suppression of humanity? Or perhaps, the protagonists of the Ice Abyss are not humans at all, but rather cold beasts and monsters...?

Xia Hong shook his head. He was only at the mid-stage of the Manifestation Realm, so this problem was clearly not something he needed to worry about at this stage.

"I have basically figured out the two realms of Manifestation and Tribulation; I have also roughly figured out Cai Qiu's situation; and I have basically done everything I needed to do here."

Based on Cai Shiqi's words and his severed finger, Xia Hong could basically deduce the general situation in Jiuzhen.

“Xuanling directly attacked Cai Shiqi, which means that Great Xia has already clashed head-on with the warlords. I told her and Xia Chuan before that it was not advisable to directly antagonize the warlords before the Nine Garrisons formed an alliance. In other words, the Nine Garrisons have most likely already formed an alliance. Judging from Cai Shiqi's reaction, he plans to bring people over next year to settle scores…”

Thinking of this, Xia Hong shook his head, not worried at all.

With the Bone-Eating Path blocking the way, Cai Qiu couldn't possibly send a large army there. He could only send a few Xianyang-level soldiers, which was far from enough to cause trouble for the Great Xia, not to mention that the Nine Towns had already successfully formed an alliance.

It's no exaggeration to say that even if a Tribulation Realm expert were to personally come to the Nine Towns Alliance, it would be impossible for them to completely crush them. Moreover, given Cai Shiqi's status, the possibility of getting an expert of that level to stand up for him is almost nonexistent.

"Why think about these things? He won't even live to see next year. The fact that he's coming to Chu County City at this time is most likely for the Blood Miasma Plains trial next month. I've already received Cai Yunlan's invitation. We'll just find a secluded place and kill him then."

Xia Hong chuckled coldly twice, then his eyes lit up slightly as he recalled the Blood Miasma Plains Trial.

His most important objectives for this trip to the two major military regions were threefold: to clarify the issues with his own cultivation, to ascertain the strength of the two major military regions, and to find out how much time remained before the two major military regions officially marched south.

The first goal has just been achieved; for the second goal, although he has only seen Cai Qiu so far, he can roughly deduce Chen Cang's strength through Cai Qiu; as for the third goal, he has only figured out half of it.

Cai Qiu did not head south from Jinshan Town because the Bone-Eating Path blocked his way. Based on his personal experience of crossing the Bone-Eating Path last August, if Cai Qiu had a way to deal with the Black Wind General, he would have already spent the effort to eliminate him.

Not only is the problem left unresolved, but every time they cross the border, they have to obediently offer up living people to that Black Wind General. This can only mean that Cai Qiu has absolutely no way to deal with that Black Wind General.

Based on this, it can be inferred that Cai Qiu will not be able to invade Jiuzhen from the south via the Gushi Road for a long time to come.

Therefore, just like Chen Cang, Cai Qiu's only option to invade the Nine Towns territory is to start from the Blood Mist Plains region.

"According to the information I gathered over the past few months, both major warlords do indeed have a large number of garrison troops stationed in the Blood Miasma Plain area. Even the Silver Scale Army under Fang Bo's command has gone to Caiqiu, and Chencang is probably not far behind. The two armies are forming a pincer movement from the east and west, and they are probably cooperating with each other. They either want to eliminate the enemy or open up the entire Blood Miasma Plain area. In any case, they are preparing to expand to the south. I can take advantage of this trial to go and spy on their progress and see how they are doing. When I return, I will be able to make a response!"

Having decided to return, Xia Hong immediately began to plan what he should do during his last period of time in the vassal state.

Suddenly, he thought of something, reached into the yellow mustard bag and rummaged around for a while, then took out an exquisite invitation made of pure silver.

The invitation card has five large gold characters that read "Yang City Invitation Letter" printed on the front. Above these five characters, there are two smaller characters that read "Dark Merchant".

"I almost forgot about you!"

Xia Hong patted his head, looked down at the handwriting on the invitation, his face showing both astonishment and shock.

This invitation from Fengyang City appeared inexplicably in his house on the eighth day of last month.

Since he was only staying here temporarily, Xia Hong didn't treat this side courtyard as his home. He carried a yellow mustard bag with him wherever he went, and servants often came and went from the house. It wasn't too strange that some new things would appear out of nowhere.

Last month, when he suddenly saw the invitation from Fengyang City, he was immediately terrified. He even questioned Su Jing and his siblings in detail and then tested all the servants who had entered and exited his house that day. After confirming that it was indeed a stranger who had secretly brought it in, he was even more shocked.

Xia Hong first heard the terms "Dark Merchant" and "Yang City" three years ago, in September of the seventh year of the Great Xia Dynasty, when he had just broken through to the Manifest Yang level and went to the territory of Beishuo Town for the first time.

He remembered clearly that he had encountered an old man of the Cold Resistance level on the way. The man was named Zhu Yang, the head of the Northern Shuo Supervisory Council. Because he saw that the other party only had the aptitude of a lower-grade battle body, but his strength was as high as 27, and at that time the Great Xia had not yet developed a pill that could make the peak Cold Resistance level continue to improve its strength, he stopped the other party and questioned him.

The Dark Merchant Organization, the Tenth Town of Mo'ao, the Invitation Letter from Yang City...

When he learned about these things from Zhu Yang, his first reaction was that these secret merchants must have been organized by one or more of the nine towns, and that a large number of high-ranking officials from each town must have been involved.

But what happened next puzzled him.

First of all, these secret merchants seem to have completely disappeared from the Nine Towns after the Dajue Temple Rebellion. At first, Xia Hong thought they were well hidden. In July of the year before last, when the Great Xia opened its port, he immediately told Qiu Peng and Lin Kai about the secret merchants and asked them to do their best to suppress them. If they could follow the clues and dig out the organization and destroy it completely, that would be even better.

However, Qiu Peng and Lin Kai searched for more than a year, even seeking cooperation from Jiangxia and Muyin towns, but still couldn't find a single clue.

From then on, Xia Hong gradually forgot about the matter of the secret business.

Who would have thought that instead of finding it in Jiuzhen, we would run into it in Caiqiu.

"So, this secret merchant isn't an organization from the Nine Towns region at all. They just haven't been active in the Nine Towns region for some reason for the past two years. They even have people in the Prefect's Office. It's one thing that they casually sent the invitation to my courtyard, but the key question is, how did they know that I urgently needed a large number of Cleansing Pills and high-grade Bone Removal Pills?"

Upon opening the invitation, the first line clearly states: "Yang City will officially open on the 9th of December this year. Please keep this invitation safe. The secret method for entering Yang City will automatically appear at that time. Those who wish to enter the market can follow the instructions of the secret method to enter the market."
The second line then reads: "Yang City has a large quantity of Cleansing Pills, top-grade Bone-Removing Pills, and other rare and precious items for sale."

Xia Hong examined the invitation repeatedly, his face full of astonishment.

He had already tried it with fire-condensing oil and yellow candles, and the invitation was indeed made of ordinary silver, containing no strange energy.

This is interesting. He has been in the Ice Abyss for more than ten years, and this strange thing has never been associated with monsters or strange objects. This is beyond his comprehension.

"It'll be the ninth day of the twelfth lunar month. I should be in the Blood Miasma Plains by then, checking out this secret technique. If there's no risk..."

“Clang clang clang... Clang…”

As Xia Hong was pondering, a beautiful zither melody suddenly drifted from the courtyard.

After being interrupted, he didn't show any annoyance. He put the Yang City invitation into Huang Jie's bag and closed his eyes to listen carefully.

The sound of the zither was as vast as distant mountains and as melodious as human speech. Its rhythm was grand and captivating. As the melody gradually reached its climax, a clear female voice slowly joined in the harmony.

"The Chu valleys flow mightily, the mountains stand tall and majestic~~~~"
Fields overflowing with rice and millet, smoke curling from chimneys around the rafters...
The music continues, the torch is passed on from generation to generation.
The scenery of my hometown shines with brilliance~~~~

In the courtyard, Su Xing'er, dressed in a white dress, finished singing and playing the zither. Then, she pressed her fingers down on the strings to stop the sound. When she looked up, she found Xia Hong, dressed in black, standing at the door watching her. Her expression immediately became a little nervous.

"Not bad, your performance of this Chu Feng piece is just as good as Shi Qin's!"

Upon hearing Xia Hong's praise, Su Xing'er's nervousness vanished instantly, and her eyes immediately crinkled into crescent moons as she stood up and looked at Xia Hong, saying, "If Master likes it, Xing'er will play for you every day from now on."

Xia Hong smiled and shook his head, looking at the Five-Colored Zither in her hand, and said, "I gave you the Five-Colored Demonic Sound Zither, not just for you to play music. It is a weapon, and its main function is to fight enemies. You should spend more time studying how to fight enemies. Playing music for your own entertainment is fine, but you can't be obsessed with it."

Upon hearing Xia Hong's admonition, Su Xing'er immediately stood up, cupped her hands in a respectful gesture, and said solemnly, "Xing'er will remember Master's teachings!"

Xia Hong nodded and was about to turn back into the room when Su Xing'er quickly stopped him.

“Master, Sister Shiqin told me today that the Prefectural Governor’s Office will be holding a Blood Miasma Plains Trial in November. She wants to invite me and my three brothers to participate. I heard that we can get a lot of good things from the trial, and Xing’er wants to participate.”

Xia Hong turned to look at Su Xing'er, a hint of surprise on his face, and said, "You invited them to participate in the Blood Miasma Plains Trial. Are you and this Cai Shiqin already this close?"

This Blood Miasma Plains Trial is indeed of great benefit to those at the Cold Resistance level. Even among the Cai clan's own members, not all can participate. Cai Shiqin actually invited Su Xing'er and her three siblings to go, which shows that their relationship is quite extraordinary.

Seeing the surprise on Xia Hong's face, Su Xing'er said proudly, "Of course, my relationship with Sister Shiqin is not just ordinary."

Xia Hong smiled and shook his head, saying, "Alright! Let's go. I'll be going to the Blood Miasma Plains next month, so the four of you can come with me."

Master is going too...

Su Xing'er was taken aback when she heard this, but then her face lit up with joy.

Suddenly, she remembered something, took out a book from her bosom, ran quickly to Xia Hong, and handed it to him like a treasure, saying with a smile, "This was just sent to me by Sister Shiqin. Master, you are now a big celebrity in Mo'aochuan."

The cover of that book prominently displayed the two large characters "Heavenly Ranking".

When Xia Hong saw the words "Heavenly Ranking," he immediately had a premonition.

Su Xing'er was even more anxious than him, and immediately turned to a page in the book.

[Ranked 46th on the Heavenly Ranking, Hong Yu, Crown Prince of the Great Qin Dynasty, fought a great battle against Cai Qiu Sword Saint Cai Yunzhou in Qinghua City on the 17th day of the first month of the 297th year of the Cai Qiu calendar, and narrowly won. His strength is suspected to be over 25 jun.]

As expected, it made the list.

This Cai Yunzhou is truly wicked!
(End of this chapter)