Jiangshan Fengwuzhi

Chapter 339 Black Mountain
Gu Jingnian was not afraid of the armored man, but he was poisoned and if he were to get entangled with this indestructible iron bean, he didn't know how long it would take.

"They're all grabbing me."

He pulled Pei Nian along, while beckoning everyone to his side, preparing to lead them away with his teleportation device.

But Xun Yan shouted, "We can't use Shadow Transmission! Let's go there!"

He raised his hand and pointed. Gu Jingnian looked in the direction he was pointing and realized that they were in a small, dilapidated pass.

The pass was only slightly larger than the pavilion, and there was nothing inside except for a door that Xun Yan had just tried to close. Behind the pass was a rugged mountain path leading to a towering black mountain in the distance.

The mountain path seemed to have been deserted for more than ten years, and was in a state of utter desolation.

"You go first."

Gu Jingnian patted Pei Nian on the shoulder.

The two exchanged a glance, communicated silently, and then Pei Nian nodded, leading the elderly and women to run up the mountain path first.

Gu Jingnian stayed behind and fought the scaled man for a while longer. Seeing that he couldn't kill him in a short time, he spread his fiery wings and flew towards the mountain path.

Looking back, the armored man, after chasing for a while, stopped at the first step of the mountain path, turned back to the dilapidated little pass, and stood with his knife in hand.

Like a deity in a desolate mountain temple, unworshipped and uncared for, guarding something unknown.

Gu Jingnian looked towards the mountain path and flew towards Pei Nian and the others.

Gradually, he felt that he could no longer use his powers, the fire wings on his back went out, and he finally fell to the ground.

Pei Nian returned immediately, helped Gu Jingnian up, and asked, "Has the poison taken effect?"

"Kind of."

"Come."

Pei Nian, who was quite strong, helped Gu Jingnian to Xun Yan's side and said, "Doctor, he has been poisoned."

"I know."

As Xun Yan spoke, he bent down and picked a few herbs from the nearby bushes, crumpled them into a ball, picked up a stone and smashed it, then handed it to Gu Jingnian.

Seeing his casual attitude, Pei Nian couldn't help but ask, "This can cure it?"

“It can’t be cured,” Xun Yan said. “But we can temporarily suppress the poison in his body. If we want to cure it completely, we’ll have to go there.”

He pointed again to the black mountain peak.

Seeing that Gu Jingnian looked dejected, Pei Nian took the sticky herbs and fed them to him by hand.

Gu Jingnian swallowed the food in one gulp and found that each dish Xun Yan had given him was increasingly unpalatable.

However, it is indeed effective.

He had been fighting the scaled-armored man to the point of exhaustion, and his headache and weakness made him feel like he could faint at any moment. At this moment, a cool sensation spread from his abdomen to all parts of his body, and the headache and dizziness subsided considerably.

"Thank you very much, Doctor Xun."

But when Gu Jingnian tried to unfold the Fire Wings again, he found that he still could not use his special ability.

Xun Yan knew what he was doing, stroked his beard, waved his hand, and said, "No need to try, it won't work here... Do you know what that mountain was formed from?"

Gu Jingnian looked at the black mountain and asked, "Black neodymium?"

"good."

For some reason, Gu Jingnian felt a sense of familiarity with the place, even though it was clearly his first time in this realm.

It was another place where he couldn't use his superpowers, but that might not be a bad thing. He was weak and the enemy was in hot pursuit, so coming here might give him a break.

Pei Nian shared the same thought, exchanged a knowing glance with Gu Jingnian, and helped him up.

"Let's go."

Seeing their reaction, Xun Yan chuckled, picked up a branch from the ground, and led the way.

Wei Chan had actually wanted to help Gu Jingnian, but she wasn't agile enough and was afraid of being misunderstood by Shen Lingshu, so she hesitated and didn't actually go forward.

She kept staring at Pei Nian and Gu Jingnian. Although they were only supporting each other and there were no other intimate gestures, they had a great understanding in their every move, and there was a hint of affection in their eyes when they briefly met.

Noticing this, Wei Chan was inexplicably annoyed. After walking for a while, she gently tugged at Shen Lingshu's clothes and whispered, "That's your childhood friend, blatantly stealing your fiancé and waving him around in front of you."

This wasn't something they'd only just learned about. Previously, Pei Nian had abducted Gu Jingnian and eloped to Yong Kingdom, causing quite a stir and making Shen Lingshu lose face.

Later, when Pei Nian returned from Yong State and took up his post at Kaiping Division, he offered an explanation: he did not elope with Gu Jingnian, but rather used that as an excuse to become a spy.

As a result, the two of them appeared together in front of Shen Lingshu again today. This series of twists and turns, going back and forth, caused Shen Lingshu's mood to fluctuate wildly, which was indeed very annoying.

Of course, Shen Lingshu herself knew that this anger was unreasonable.

She had no choice but to suppress her emotions and try to sound as magnanimous as possible, saying, "What does that have to do with me?"

Wei Chan said, "They betrayed you, how can it be unrelated to you?"

"I have no connection with him anymore."

Shen Lingshu first said something quite dignified, and then said, "I misunderstood him and hurt him this time, so that's the only thing I owe him."

Wei Chan pursed her lips, disagreeing with this statement, but she insisted on playing tricks and instigated Shen Lingshu to break up Pei Nian and Gu Jingnian. Seeing that Shen Lingshu still wanted to retain some connection with Gu Jingnian, she thought that it was not just her who was suffering.

After a while, she noticed that A-Wan was also looking at the two of them with a huff. Because of this incident, her attitude towards A-Wan changed again. In the past, she treated this maid as a servant, but now she finally treated A-Wan as a person, after all, she had developed feelings for her.

"Ah Wan, you also feel that they betrayed your daughter, right?"

"Ok!"

Ah Wan nodded vigorously, filled with righteous indignation, and said, "She knows perfectly well that my young lady is very fond of Young Master Gu."

"Really? How did you know?"

Wei Chan immediately became interested and asked with great enthusiasm.

Ah Wan didn't want to talk about it, but she was so angry for her daughter that she started to mention the details she had noticed about Shen Lingshu's feelings.

--------

Meanwhile, Gu Jingnian and Pei Nian were unaware of the whispers behind them, as they were also avoiding others and talking quietly.

"I have something to tell you."

This was Pei Nian's second time speaking, and after speaking, she didn't seem as intimate with Gu Jingnian as before.

“I have many identities, but none of them share your stance. I am not only a spy for the Kaiping Division, but also a mortal. Do you know what I mean by ‘mortal’?”

As they walked and talked, Gu Jingnian glanced at her, his gaze remaining calm, showing no surprise.

Or rather, he didn't believe these things could change their relationship.

“I know,” Gu Jingnian said. “I have received kindness from mortals.”

"What mortals need to do is close the breach in Zhongzhou, making it no longer suitable for people with supernatural abilities to live in. If we succeed in doing so, you will lose your supernatural powers," Pei Nian said. "What do you think about this?"

For a moment, Gu Jingnian thought that if that day ever came, perhaps he wouldn't need superpowers anymore.

But he immediately realized that the world was still a dog-eat-dog world, only the measure of strength wasn't superpowers, but power. Rather than trusting that those in power wouldn't harm them, he figured he might as well wield powerful superpowers himself.

"Who can say for sure what will happen in the future?" Gu Jingnian said. "At least for now, I have no conflict of interest with mortals."

As he spoke, he grasped the hand that Pei Nian was holding.

Pei Nian immediately shook her off.

"They're watching."

As far as Gu Jingnian was concerned, there were only a few unrelated people behind him, but since Pei Nian minded Shen Lingshu's thoughts, he had no choice but to put up with it for the time being.

As the group walked up the mountain path, they gradually saw caves appearing on the black rocky mountain ahead, each one resembling the open mouth of a monster.

"Mr. Xun, what brings you here?"

Xun Yan walked with a cane, seemingly focused on his task. But how could the love and hate between these young men and women be hidden from him, a man who had experienced many vicissitudes of life? He had been watching the spectacle with amusement, and only when Gu Jingnian asked did he cheerfully open his mouth.

"Does this place feel familiar to you?" Xun Yan asked Gu Jingnian in return.

“Yes,” Gu Jingnian said, “but I’ve never been here before.”

Xun Yan asked, "Do you know where the large amount of black neodymium needed to build Jusai City came from? Where in Zhongzhou is there such a large stone mine?"

"You mean, the black neodymium in Jussai comes from here?"

Xun Yan nodded with a smile.

Gu Jingnian gazed at the Black Rock Mountain before him once more and discovered that the color, luster, and texture of the black neodymium stone here were indeed identical to those of the materials used in Jusai City.

"But this is a border, so how were these black neodymium stones transported to the city of Jusai, thousands of miles away?"

"That's because there's more than one breach," Xun Yan said, stroking his beard. "If I told you that it's not far from here to Jusai City, would you believe me, young master?"

(End of this chapter)