Azure Cloud Stronghold

Shen Jingchuan traveled back to his room in the west courtyard and put all the one hundred Spirit Stones and pills given to him by Xiao Mingshu into his Spatial Ring.

He glanced at it; the pills were still the same three types, so he didn't pay any more attention.

Eighty Spirit Stones were given to Xian'er to absorb, while the remaining twenty were kept in the Spatial Ring to continue nurturing and enhancing the newly brought-in pills.

After chatting with Xian'er for a while, I began to cultivate.

The next day, after breakfast, Shen Jingchuan greeted the people in the courtyard, saying that he had to go out on errands and that they didn't need to wait for him to come back for lunch.

Xiao Mingshu asked another question, "What are you going out to do?"

"Let's go outside the city. We need to hurry to the market to arrange things in advance," Shen Jingchuan replied casually.

Xiao Mingshu became interested upon hearing this. She had been meditating and cultivating all night and was just about to go out for some fresh air:

"Perfect timing, I'll go with you to clear my head."

Shen Jingchuan didn't object and nodded in agreement.

He led out Big Black and then told Liu Hu to hitch up his own carriage.

Just as they finished packing, the people from Zhenyuan Escort Agency arrived. Shen Jingchuan led them to the west courtyard, handed over all the carriages parked there, along with the several that had been delivered the night before, and all the necessary accessories, to the Lin Shan brothers, and then climbed onto Big Black.

Liu Hu drove the carriage, with Xiao Mingshu and Huan'er sitting inside. The group went straight out of the city and headed out of the city.

On the way Shen Jingchuan rode his horse alongside the carriage, casually telling Xiao Mingshu about recent events, including the background and consequences of his carriage business and the conflict with the Four Great Lineages. He told her everything in one go.

After listening, Xiao Mingshu said:

"Is this such a small matter? I'll have Huan'er make a trip there later, reveal her identity, and tell them. They'll behave themselves immediately."

"No need to trouble you, sister."

Shen Jingchuan smiled:

"I already have a solution of my own. Besides, the Pan Household has tried to kill me twice; it's not going to end like this."

Xiao Mingshu didn't insist; this kind of trivial matter between mortals was nothing to her.

"You figure it out yourself. Only talk to me if you really can't handle it."

The two chatted as the carriage traveled along the mountain road deeper into the mountains. The mountains on both sides became steeper, and the forests grew denser. Xiao Mingshu raised an eyebrow and glanced out. "You're taking this road further and further off the beaten path. Are you trying to lead me to a bandit's den?"

That's roughly the idea.

Shen Jingchuan on the reins:

"But it's not the kind of bandit's den you're thinking of. You'll see when you get there."

He then told Xiao Mingshu about the origins of Azure Cloud Stronghold, saying that he had recently gathered a group of refugees and set up a plot of land in the mountains, allowing them to cultivate the land, build walls and houses, thus providing them with a place to settle down and make a living.

Xiao Mingshu frowned after hearing this, her tone carrying a hint of confusion:

"You're supposed to be a cultivator, why aren't you focusing on your cultivation? What are you doing bothering with these mortals? There are so many refugees in the world, how can you possibly manage them all?"

Shen Jingchuan was silent for a moment after hearing this, then his voice became deeper:

"Sister, I also suffered when I was young, and I can't bear to see people struggling to survive. You haven't witnessed the cannibalism during famine years; once you see it, you can't bear to watch it again."

The carriage fell silent upon hearing this. Although Xiao Mingshu, born into royalty, knew of the hardships faced by ordinary people, there was still a distance between them.

But ultimately, the world belonged to the Xiao Household, and Shen Jingchuan's words left her speechless for a moment. She simply returned to her carriage and remained silent.

After walking for about half an hour, a tall and flat stockade wall suddenly appeared at the end of the mountain path ahead.

The walls are entirely gray-white, with a smooth and neat surface, without even a visible crack, making them completely different from ordinary mountain fortresses built of earth and stone.

Seeing this, Xiao Mingshu couldn't help but sit up straight and take a closer look.

She had traveled all over the country and seen many cities and mountain strongholds, but she had never seen a wall like this before. It looked so flat and sturdy that it was even more orderly than the city walls of the prefectural city.

When the carriage arrived at the village gate, there was no need for announcements. The village guards recognized Shen Jingchuan at a glance, quickly opened the heavy gate, and ran inside shouting for someone to inform Chief Hu.

Shen Jingchuan dismounted, and Xiao Mingshu also got off the carriage with Huan'er. She looked around with a hint of curiosity in her eyes. With her cultivation, she was naturally not afraid of any bandits or robbers, especially since Shen Jingchuan had brought her here. She had no guard up at all.

He had barely stood still when Hu Tieniu came rushing out of the village, shouting with a smile from afar:

"Young master! You've finally arrived!"

As he ran closer, just as he was about to say something, he caught a glimpse of Xiao Mingshu and Huan'er standing beside Shen Jingchuan out of the corner of his eye. The two were dressed in luxurious clothes and had an extraordinary demeanor. He could not sense the aura of cultivators, but they were clearly not ordinary people.

Hu Tieniu's heart skipped a beat, and he quickly stopped talking. He bowed respectfully, not daring to look at Shen Jingchuan for long, and waited with his head down for instructions.

Shen Jingchuan nodded slightly to him and asked, "Have you taken care of everything I asked you to do?"

"Everything is taken care of, young master," Hu Tieniu replied hastily, bowing his head.

"Let's go to the council hall to talk." Shen Jingchuan strode into the village, with Xiao Mingshu and Huan'er following beside him. As they walked, their eyes swept over the scenery of the village.

The roads in the village were smooth and sturdy, and the houses were arranged in a neat and orderly manner. Although the people coming and going wore coarse cloth clothes, they all looked calm and composed, showing no signs of being refugees.

Xiao Mingshu was secretly amazed. She had thought it was just a makeshift bandit den, but she hadn't expected it to be so well-organized.

A moment later, they entered the council chamber. The room wasn't spacious, but it was clean and tidy.

Hu Tieniu strode to the wooden table, took out a thick piece of kraft paper from his pocket, and carefully unfolded it.

The paper was rough and hard, and the lines on it were drawn crookedly, but the outlines were still discernible: a square was drawn in the center with the three characters "Yuxi Prefecture" written on it, and several different marks were scattered around it.

Hu Tieniu pointed to the circles:

"These circled areas represent the estates of the Huang Household and Pan Household outside the city. The ones with dots in the middle indicate that the Huang Household owns three estates and the Pan Household owns two, distributed around the city."

He then clicked on the cross and triangle next to him:

"This cross marks the Li Household's estate, and the triangle marks the Wang Household's. Each of these families owns one estate outside the city. You previously said we shouldn't touch them initially, so we didn't investigate in detail. We just thoroughly investigated the terrain, the number of guards, and the locations of the warehouses in these five estates."

Shen Jingchuan's tone was calm yet carried weight:

"Let's start with these five; we'll move in tonight."

Hu Tieniu's eyes lit up instantly, his Blood Qi surged, and his voice became deep with excitement:

"Alright! Young master, I plan to take down those two from the Pan Household first! They're closer to our Azure Cloud Stronghold."

He immediately bent down, his rough fingers tracing patterns on the parchment, assigning two teams, setting a meeting time, and quickly explaining the arrangements.

After arranging the offensive, he straightened up and reported:

"Young master, we currently have a total of one thousand soldiers, eight hundred crossbowmen and two hundred spearmen. All of them are equipped with the bulletproof vests and helmets you sent. They are fully equipped and ready to be deployed at any time."

"Let's go out and take a look," Shen Jingchuan said, and then walked out.

Hu Tieniu quickly followed, and once in the courtyard, he shouted "Assemble!" His four bodyguards immediately scattered and ran off, shouting "Assemble!" as they ran. Their shouts carried on the wind and echoed throughout half the village.

Listening to the shouts all around, Shen Jingchuan secretly planned to get some whistles or bugles later. Relying on people to shout like this was both tiring and time-consuming.

Xiao Mingshu remained silent throughout, simply watching with her arms crossed.

Before long, squads of soldiers emerged from the alleys, their steps swift and quick. They quickly formed ranks in the open space. While their military bearing was not exactly impeccable, they were by no means a rabble.

Their attire, in particular, is extremely strange. Without a doubt, it's 99% the work of the Shen Household.

She glanced at Shen Jingchuan sideways, raising an eyebrow slightly—this brat claimed he couldn't bear to see the poor suffer, yet he had secretly trained such a force; he was more discreet than she had imagined.