North of Canglan Mountain lay an endless, boundless grassland.
Although thousands upon thousands of mountain bandits kept pouring in, it was but a drop in the ocean, unable to stir up even the slightest ripple across the grassland.
Yu Pengcheng, the stronghold master of Sand Sea Stronghold, had just turned fifty this year. He didn't look like someone who came from bandit origins at all, but rather like a middle-aged scholar.
Clad in a scholar's robe, the streaks of grey at his temples only added a touch of refined elegance.
A folding fan swayed gently in his hand, his demeanor commanding admiration.
However, anyone who knew even a little about this man's past deeds would never think such a thing.
Yu Pengcheng had originally been the second disciple of the previous Sand Sea Stronghold master, Situ Feng, who had personally raised him and taught him a body of peerless martial arts.
The debt of a teacher's kindness should have been as deep as the sea, but when Situ Feng, aged and in declining health, wished to pass the position of stronghold master to his eldest son—also Yu Pengcheng's senior brother, Situ Zheng—Yu Pengcheng unexpectedly struck first. He poisoned both father and son, Situ Feng and Situ Zheng, and then led his men in a bloody massacre of the unprepared stronghold forces loyal to the Situ family, seizing the stronghold for himself.
Had it ended there, it might have been forgivable—after all, coming from bandit stock, cultivating such wolfish nature was understandable enough.
But what followed was truly monstrous. The Situ father and son did not die on the spot, and Yu Pengcheng, right before their very eyes, violated his own teacher's wife, his sister-in-law, and his junior sister.
In the end, he even forcibly cut out the barely-formed fetus from the womb of Situ Zheng's wife, in order to cultivate an evil technique.
The Situ father and son, eyes bulging with rage, vomited blood and died on the spot.
After taking over Sand Sea Stronghold, Yu Pengcheng grew even more reckless, ceaselessly plundering women, children, and pregnant women to satisfy his lust and fuel his cultivation.
Such conduct was enough that not only did those of the righteous path wish to tear him limb from limb, but even the other great strongholds among the Thirteen Greats found him thoroughly detestable, while also being quite wary of him.
For although Yu Pengcheng's methods were perverse and monstrous, his talent and strategy were outstanding, and his martial arts profound. Over more than twenty years, he had expanded Sand Sea Stronghold to more than three times its original size.
Had he not suffered a bitter defeat at the hands of the female leader of Qingyun Village the last time, which prevented him from annexing Qingyun Village, the entire length of Yi Xian Tian would now be under his control.
By then, Sand Sea Stronghold would have replaced the Heavenly Gate Sword Sect as the greatest power on Canglan Mountain.
After his defeat at Qingyun Village the last time, Sand Sea Stronghold had kept quiet for a good while, but now it had emerged from its lair once more.
Along the great road leading to the Great Cang Khan King's Golden Tent, the Yellow Sand Army of Sand Sea Stronghold searched unscrupulously through one mountain stronghold after another, warning them not to act rashly and ruin the great affair.
They also sent envoys to negotiate with the other four great powers among the Thirteen Greats, to jointly plan the great affair of dividing up the Zhao family's merchant goods.
Through alliances and diplomacy, combined with coercion and intimidation, Sand Sea Stronghold truly managed to gather a formidable force.
Yu Pengcheng then led his numerous subordinate powers to, in turn, pressure Sun Shooting Gate, Heavenly Axe Mountain, and Golden Bell Fortress into cooperating with him. These three, as members of the Thirteen Greats, were themselves by no means inferior to Sand Sea Stronghold.
Though the three were unwilling to grow too close to Yu Pengcheng, considering the threat posed by a super expert like Blood Saber Sect Master Yan Ke, and reckoning that they themselves were unlikely to be schemed against by Yu Pengcheng—while Yu Pengcheng also guaranteed they would advance and retreat together and split the treasures equally—they went along with the alliance.
As a result, aside from Qingyun Village, whose whereabouts remained entirely unknown, Sand Sea Stronghold had managed to unite every single power that had entered the grassland this time.
With troops numbering some two thousand, sheer numbers alone would be enough to crush the Zhao family's merchant caravan, even with the Blood Saber Sect Master among their ranks.
The only question was: where on earth had Qingyun Village's forces gone?
On Tiger Roar Slope, Yu Pengcheng snapped his folding fan shut with a crisp sound and clasped both hands behind his back, addressing the scouts sent jointly by the various powers. "You must find out for certain where Qingyun Village actually is. This old man has no intention of borrowing your strength for revenge—the grudge between my Sand Sea Stronghold and Qingyun Village, I will settle with her myself after this great battle. But right now, we absolutely cannot let her succeed in her scheme of sitting on the mountain watching the tigers fight, waiting to reap the rewards after both sides suffer heavy losses. That girl from Qingyun Village may be young, but her mind is cunning and vicious in the extreme."
These words struck a chord with everyone present. Sun Shooting Gate Master Wei Zhuang said slowly, "Could it be that girl hasn't come this time?"
Yu Pengcheng shook his head. "Rest assured, Brother Wei. Every move Qingyun Village makes is right under this old man's watch. Just past midnight last night, nearly two hundred elite cavalry were dispatched from their side."
One should not underestimate a number like two hundred. For a mountain stronghold to be able to afford two hundred warhorses, it would absolutely count as a top-tier stronghold.
A single warhorse's yearly feed costs more than a person's.
Indeed, upon hearing Yu Pengcheng's words, everyone present looked askance.
Two hundred elite cavalry charging in formation across such flat, open grassland—even a Tiger Ranking expert would have to give way, and against a thousand-odd foot soldiers, it would be nothing short of a massacre.
The one who had come from Heavenly Axe Mountain this time was the stronghold's Second Boss, named Tang Sipan. Though the man was lean, he carried a massive ornate battle-axe across his back.
His gaunt face twisted into a savage grin as he said, "In that case, we truly can't let anyone hide in the back to pick up scraps. We're all seasoned old hunters here—can't let a mere hen peck out our eyes."
Hearing Tang Sipan's words, Yu Pengcheng's eyes narrowed slightly, but he showed no other reaction, only chuckling. "Brother Tang's words are indeed those of a seasoned, prudent man."
Jin Tianle of Golden Bell Fortress bore a great sword upon his back—Golden Bell Fortress had always been renowned for its Horizontal Training Kung Fu. His bald head gleamed, and he said in a deep voice, "Why not have someone grab a few of the grassland herdsmen and question them? A group of two hundred isn't exactly small, nor is it terribly large. If we can't find them, the locals who know this land might not fail to notice."
Yu Pengcheng shook his head again, his tone turning serious. "Absolutely not. To the herdsmen of the grassland, we people of the Central Plains all look much the same to them—they can't tell us apart. Moreover... if we intend to hunt on this grassland, it's best not to offend that old grey wolf of the Shamanism faith. We all know how deep the roots of the Mierqi tribe run around here. Not to be trifled with."
The grassland's Great Cang Khan Tent held the grey wolf as its totem, and Shamanism was its state-protecting religion—a formidable power that had once produced a Great Shaman of Martial Saint caliber!
Though it had declined somewhat over the past century, the Great Shaman still possessed the strength of a top-tier grandmaster, something these ruffians of Canglan Mountain could in no way compare to.
The old Shaman had once sent people to warn every mountain stronghold that when hunting or raiding on the grassland, they must never harm the herdsmen.
No one had ever dared cross this bottom line, for whoever did found their head already dried out atop the "suld" pole before the felt tents...
Hearing Yu Pengcheng say this, the others found themselves in a bind, asking, "Then how are we to find them?"
This grassland was as vast as the sea, and with the plants growing tall and dense, searching for a group of two hundred here was no task to be accomplished in a mere few days.
Yu Pengcheng thought for a moment, then said, "How about this—each of our families sends five men to form a scouting party, whose sole duty will be to watch for Qingyun Village's appearance. Once they show themselves, we'll step forward at once, representing all our stronghold, to warn them: since Qingyun Village contributed no effort this time, she has no right to touch a single item of the Zhao family's merchant goods. Otherwise, she will be making an enemy of every stronghold present, and we will join together to strike her down!"
Wei Zhuang, Tang Sipan, and Jin Tianle exchanged glances upon hearing this, recognizing that Yu Pengcheng was deliberately excluding and suppressing Qingyun Village. But to them, this brought only benefit and no harm—none of them wished for yet another power to share in this rare windfall—so they all nodded in agreement.
Should Qingyun Village prove ungrateful for this arrangement, they wouldn't mind in the least joining forces to wipe out the stronghold and seize that golden stretch of land so close to Yi Xian Tian!
……
Fifty li from Tiger Roar Slope, in a large tribal settlement, herdsmen were busy slaughtering cattle and sheep. Bonfires had been gathered, and roasting racks set up.
Golden gazelles, one after another, were mounted on the racks, while jars of fine wine were stacked as high as small hills.
Golden gazelle was nothing rare, but wine stacked as high as a hill was an exceedingly uncommon sight on the grassland.
What was most curious of all was that the guests being entertained in this grassland tribe were actually people from the Central Plains.
Inside a great tent of pale gold embroidered with phoenixes, a dignified and elegant old woman of the grassland sat in the center, upon an apricot-red brocade cushion shot through with golden threads. Beside her sat several middle-aged grassland women, while to her left and right sat two young girls.
One was a grassland girl, her head adorned with an ornament woven from black pearls, coral, and jade agate, her robe vividly colored, its brocade trim glittering all the more brilliantly.
The other, however, was a young girl of the Central Plains—if Sand Sea Stronghold's Great Chieftain Yu Pengcheng had seen her, his jaw would surely have dropped, for this young girl was none other than the Great Chieftain of Qingyun Village, Tian Wuniang.
The elderly old woman looked quite kindly. Lifting a bowl of fragrant, sweet mare's milk wine, she said to Wu Niang, "Good child, I know you have great matters to attend to these coming days, but there's no rush this instant—drink a bowl first."
Tian Wuniang's stunningly beautiful face had lost some of its brilliance for lack of a smile, but before this old woman, her expression softened considerably. She bowed slightly, took the silver bowl from the old woman's hands with both hands, and drained the mare's milk wine in one go.
The people of the grassland loved nothing more than an open, forthright spirit, and seeing her display such magnanimity, the women inside the tent naturally burst into thunderous cheer.
The old woman grew even more delighted. After having a maidservant take away the empty bowl, she held Wu Niang's hand, gazing at her as though she could never tire of the sight, and said with feeling, "That year, when I was returning from the Khan King's Tent, I was struck with a malignant illness on the road, suffering pain no less than that of a woman in childbirth. That day, I called to heaven and heaven gave no answer, called to earth and earth would not respond. Everyone around me panicked, utterly at a loss. Then, unexpectedly, I met Wu Niang, who was traveling the grassland alone. That year, you weren't even fifteen yet, were you? This was surely the will of the Eternal Blue Sky. It matched the bond between us like mother and daughter. You happened to know the prescription to cure my illness, and you searched out herbs to ease my pain and saved my life. Yet you, child, are of such noble character that you asked for nothing in return—once you'd saved me, you quietly left. When I woke and learned this, I was so furious with my attendants that I had every one of them whipped. I thought I would never see you again in this life, but who could have thought that a year later, you would save Baoleer from a wolf pack! She, clever girl that she is, knew to bring you back to our tent."
The women around them burst into laughter, one after another echoing praise for the old woman's good fortune and Wu Niang's kindness, and the fated bond between the two of them.
Wu Niang's gaze softened slightly as she looked at the old woman and said gently, "Madam, it was only what I ought to have done—it hardly deserves such praise. Madam, too, has treated me generously. Knowing I favored the martial arts, you sought out the Heavenly Punishment Divine Weapon to bestow upon me. This divine weapon is not to be traded for ten thousand pieces of gold." As she spoke, she gripped the plain, unadorned ancient sword resting beside her.
Were the martial world of the Central Plains to learn that the Heavenly Punishment Divine Sword—the most important treasure of the Sword Tomb, which a thousand years ago could rival the Three Great Sacred Lands—had reemerged, and moreover had turned up in the hands of Tian Wuniang, it would surely cause an uproar.
The Heavenly Punishment Divine Sword had once been wielded by the Sword Saint, Jian Shisan, who, though only at the Grandmaster Realm, had been able to stand against a Martial Saint on equal footing—the only person in all of history to do so.
Jian Shisan's thirteenth sword technique, Myriad Swords Return to Origin, had truly been peerless beneath the heavens.
It was only a pity that later, as Jian Shisan sought to break through to the Martial Saint realm, chaos erupted within the Sword Tomb, and his most beloved daughter was slain right before its gates, causing him to go astray and become possessed, his efforts coming to ruin at the final step.
The Sword Tomb, which had been on the verge of becoming the fourth great sacred land of the world, thus vanished into ash and smoke from that day on, and the Heavenly Punishment Divine Sword was never seen again.
Who could have thought that, a thousand years later, it would turn up in the hands of a female mountain bandit...
Wu Niang said softly, her voice touched with a faint huskiness, "And this time, I must also trouble Madam for your protection."
The old woman looked somewhat puzzled. "Wu Niang, you know full well this is a trap. Great Qi's officials and the Zhao family's people already sent men bearing heavy gifts to this tent, saying it was all meant to deal with your Canglan Thirteen Bandits. Why would you still wade into such muddy waters? They've laid out a heavenly net and earthly trap—it's far too dangerous."
Hearing this, Wu Niang slowly lowered her eyes, gently stroking the divine sword at her side. The corners of her mouth curved into a faint arc, as if in a smile—stunning beyond words. She said softly, "Rest assured, Madam. I know full well what I'm doing."
……
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