Chapter 936: Unfathomable Depths

Editor: Henyee Translations

“Remember, but that place is heavily guarded, and there are many strong fighters. Outsiders who enter and get discovered will meet a gruesome end.”

“Just half a year ago, a man was found by them. They attacked him as a group, and in the end, the man was chopped up and buried in the soil as fertilizer. It was extremely cruel.”

Jiang Zhanglin thought to himself that the man the village chief referred to must have been some kind of spy. Such a dreadful way to die. This Yun Organization must be eliminated; they are too harmful.

“Village chief, could you roughly describe the location?”

The village chief pondered for a moment and said, “Leave the village and go forward. Turn right when you see a pine tree, walk about one mile, and you will come to a three-way junction. Head towards the left front, keep walking, stop at a waterfall. There’s a mechanism there that can block the waterfall. Go through the waterfall to enter a plain, and we are clearing the land there.”

Yi Chuanchuan asked, “You’ve been clearing for a year or two, how large is the plain now?”

The village chief shook his head and said, “Clearing land is not easy. Our village can clear at most one acre per month. We haven’t cleared much in these one or two years, but it still looks quite expansive.”

Jiang Zhanglin said, “Thank you for telling us this, village chief.”

The village chief kindly advised, “You two are incapable of tying up a chicken, don’t act rashly, or you’ll really end up as flower fertilizer.”

Jiang Zhanglin nodded, “We understand. We will go back and discuss this matter with our companions.”

The village chief said worriedly, “Leave quickly. Staying too long might bring trouble.”

“Alright.” Jiang Zhanglin and Yi Chuanchuan left the village under cover of darkness.

Yi Chuanchuan asked, “Zhanglin, what do we do now?”

Jiang Zhanglin looked around and said, “Make a torch and go to the county town to find two people.”

Yi Chuanchuan objected, “The county town closes early at this time, we won’t be able to get in.”

Jiang Zhanglin rubbed his forehead, then suddenly remembered, “I saw a cave when we came before. Let’s just stay there for the night.”

“That’s better than sleeping out in the open.” Yi Chuanchuan easily accepted. When faced with harsh conditions, it’s easy to settle for worse.

The two supported each other towards the cave.

At night, nothing happened. Chu Tang took out the items he had searched from the fourth leader: a purse, a jade pendant, and a dagger.

Inside the purse were several silver taels and a thumb-sized carving, very bizarrely shaped like a fish without a head.

Chu Tang held the carving in his hand, noting the material was of excellent quality, made from agarwood, definitely not something ordinary people could possess.

Hmm? It seemed there was a name inside the carving, written in running script, looking like a drawing.

He discerned it carefully, and the name was “Xuan Che.”

Was this a name? Or a title? After all, the surname Xuan was rare, almost non-existent in Dalin, only present in Chen’an country and belonging to a prominent clan.

This clan was known as a shadow family, specializing in espionage. Their espionage techniques were myriad, virtually nothing they wanted to know could stay hidden.

The emperor had often thought of bringing this shadow family under his control, but the royal family had many skeletons in their closet that were in this family’s hands, so he could only try to win them over without using force.

People both resented and depended on this shadow family.

“That fourth leader mentioned that the items were placed in their usual spot, but where is that place?”

It was unexpected that Lou Ze and the fourth leader had that kind of relationship.

Chu Tang called Hong Feiyun over, “I have some questions for you.”

Zeng Huo had been a major leader in the organization and knew a lot. After hearing Chu Tang’s words, he was extremely surprised, “How did you know about this?”

Chu Tang said, “I met the fourth leader, and he asked me to retrieve something from their old rendezvous spot. Do you know where it is?”

Hong Feiyun looked jealously at Chu Tang, “How do you know everything?”

“I don’t know either, I just do.” Chu Tang urged, “Come on, stop dawdling. What do you know?”

Hong Feiyun shook his head, “I don’t know their meeting place, but there’s someone who might. Let me take you to him.”

“Wait.” Chu Tang showed the fourth leader’s items to Hong Feiyun, “Take a look at these items, do you recognize anything?”

When Hong Feiyun saw the headless fish, he stood up excitedly, accidentally knocking over his stool, “How do you have the Xuan family’s clan token?”

Chu Tang inquired with a probing look, “You know of the Xuan family?”

Hong Feiyun spoke in a lowered voice, “All of us assassins were once sent to the Xuan family for special training, so we know some things.”

Chu Tang was surprised, “You guys get such treatment? It’s a pity to have killed you.”

Hong Feiyun, “…”

A pity, but still killed by you!

Chu Tang said, “This headless fish was found on the fourth leader, so you mean to say the fourth leader was from the Xuan family?”

Hong Feiyun righted his stool and sat down, “I’m not sure, I’m not very familiar with the fourth leader, and since he liked men, and the assassin group was all men, everyone stayed away from him.”

That made sense, Chu Tang said, “How did Lou Ze come to your organization?”

Hong Feiyun honestly replied, “He was saved by the fourth leader.”

Chu Tang tapped the table, “So a life-saving grace turned into love?”

Hong Feiyun’s mouth twitched, this sounded weird coming from Chu Tang, almost comical.

Chu Tang asked, “Where did the fourth leader rescue Lou Ze from?”

Hong Feiyun replied, “It was when we went to the Xuan family for training.”

Chu Tang said, “So Lou Ze is from the Xuan family?”

Hong Feiyun shook his head, “I don’t know about that.”

Unexpectedly, simply playing a role had such a complex secret behind it; it seemed both the fourth leader and Lou Ze were somehow related to the Xuan family.

After thinking for a moment, Chu Tang said, “Let’s pause this topic for now, let’s first find the items the fourth leader left for Lou Ze.”

Hong Feiyun nodded, “Let’s go.”

They left the bamboo house and flew towards the southeast.

A black-clothed man emerged from the darkness, “Left Emissary, shall we follow?”

“No need.” The voice of the Left Emissary came from inside the house, “That Chu Tang has no known background, appearing out of nowhere, and gives me an unfathomable feeling. Following him would just lead to a loss of life. With all the assassins in the organization wiped out, we are short on people; better save them for more important uses.”

The black-clothed man retreated to his original position and disappeared.

…

On the way, Chu Tang transformed back into Lou Ze, and Hong Feiyun back into Zeng Huo, feeling a sense of rebirth at that moment.

Under Zeng Huo’s lead, the two arrived at a very ordinary-looking house.

Zeng Huo prompted Lou Ze to knock on the door.

Lou Ze looked around and then knocked, “Is Tan Xia here?”