Harvest

Is this the most hidden thing you've been keeping?

Liang Yue couldn't help but feel a little emotional.

Yu Wenlong lived very close to this place, ensuring that if anything went wrong, he could first retrieve these items before fleeing the Divine Capital.

Yet, he was caught and subsequently identified after committing misdeeds while following General Ling on the expedition to the East Sea.

When he risked his life to return to Dragon Abyss City and almost succeeded, he was exposed and captured due to a twist of fate, ultimately meeting his demise.

He left the only information to his lover, but he didn't expect that Nine Yang's accomplices had noticed their relationship was more than just casual and, fearing he might leak secrets, had already prepared to eliminate Phoenix Butterfly.

In the end, the one who came here and obtained hisRelic was Liang Yue, the Imperial Capital Guard who had initially caused his exposure.

This is what is called the cycle of karma.

It truly is a cycle.

Liang Yue rewrapped the package, climbed back to the surface, closed the mechanism, restored everything to its original state, and then carefully left. Even if someone else came here later and figured out the method, they wouldn't be able to get these things.

He returned home before the curfew, slipped into his small room, and began to examine the items.

The first thing he picked up was the banknote.

Liang Yue didn't like money; he wasn't interested in it at all.

The reason he picked this up first was that it was the easiest to understand – just pick it up and look at the bank and the amount.

This banknote was a two-hundred-tael note issued by Yongshun Bank. Its authenticity was not in question; it was likely the travel expenses he had prepared for his final escape.

A full two hundred taels.

Aside from the time at the Zhen family, this two hundred taels was already the most money he had seen in this world.

He carefully folded it, afraid of even a slight crease, and placed it close to his body in his chest pocket. Liang Yue planned to keep this money for his own emergency use and absolutely not touch it easily.

There was no other way; he was afraid of being poor.

For their family, the amount of two hundred taels was enough to be considered an overnight fortune!

After putting away the banknote, he picked up the strange piece of leather.

This was a damaged and irregular piece of ancient leather, like sheepskin, and it shimmered with golden light under the lamp. It was palm-sized, very thick, and felt heavy in his hand. The reason it was called strange was that it looked very old; one could sense its ancientness at a glance, but when it was exposed, one could still smell the scent of blood on it.

The front of the leather had dark golden patterns that vaguely formed the character "Dou" (Dou), yet it seemed slightly different from the current characters, more like the patterns drawn on talismans.

Most importantly, as Liang Yue looked at it, he felt a will trying to break through the leather, and the DaoRhyme within seemed extremely strong.

Could this also be a profound visualization diagram?

Liang Yue considered it for a moment and decided to try visualizing it later. He would look at the next item first.

He took out the long knife with the ebony handle.

This knife also looked very ancient, likely quite old. The lower half of the blade was covered in a lot of dried mud; Yu Wenlong hadn't even bothered to wipe it off.

He looked it over from top to bottom, but there were no names or markings. He decided to pull it out and see.

Then, something strange happened.

He held the scabbard in his left hand and the hilt in his right. He applied a little force, but the hilt didn't budge, remaining firmly in the scabbard.

"Hmm?" He was puzzled.

He added a bit more strength, using the same force Da Chun used to eat sweet potatoes.

"Ho... ah!"

In the end, Liang Yue used all his might but still couldn't pull the sword out.

"Truly strange."

He turned the ebony-handled longsword over. It felt light in his hand, and the material didn't look valuable. Why was it so hard to pull out?

Driven by curiosity, he simply took the longsword and went out, walking a few steps to Pang Chun's house.

"A Yue?" Pang Chun, who had finished his shift, saw him coming and immediately came out to greet him. "What's wrong?"

"Help me with something." Liang Yue handed him the longsword. "See if you can pull it out."

"Heh heh, this little thing, it's not easy... Mmm mmm mmm..." Pang Chun took the sword, intending to pull it out casually, but found his hand tightening. He really couldn't pull it out.

"Wait a moment, I'll change my stance."

Pang Chun was unconvinced. He adopted a horse stance, spread his arms, and put all his strength into trying again.

Liang Yue sat on the stone steps nearby, watching him exert himself. In terms of pure strength, even someone one or two major realms higher than Da Chun might not be stronger than him. If he couldn't pull it out, it meant this sword was truly not something he could consider.

"Ah..." Da Chun was still exerting force when suddenly there was a ripping sound, followed by his exclamation: "It opened!"

"Let me see!" Liang Yue immediately stood up and leaned closer. The scabbard was still tightly sealed. He frowned and asked, "What opened?"

Pang Chun's voice was muffled as he said, "My crotch opened."

The story ended with Da Chun clutching his crotch and running back into the house in a posture of urgency.

And that ebony-handled longsword still hadn't been pulled out.

Liang Yue went home dejectedly, having no choice but to put the sword away for now and try again when his realm was higher.

However, this proved one thing: this sword was definitely not ordinary. Anything Yu Wenlong carefully collected like this indeed had some mystery to it.

The last thing Liang Yue opened was the letter.

The paper of the envelope looked quite new, so it must have been placed there by Yu Wenlong not long ago. Upon opening it, the handwriting was quite delicate and elegant.

"Sanshi."

"May this letter find you well."

"I heard you are about to go on an expedition to the East Sea. Although Haiyue Kingdom is small, you must not be careless. The battlefield is dangerous; I only wish for your early return."

"Recently, Nine Yang has been cold. The area near Illusion God Peak is already frozen, beasts do not come, and sending messages is difficult. The winter in Nine Yang is far from comparable to the Yin Dynasty, and the hot season is far hotter than the Yin Dynasty. The jungles and wilderness are dangerous, and the miasma never dissipates, truly incomparable to the Nine Provinces."

"But I was born here, and there is nothing I can do. I only hope winter passes quickly and spring arrives with flowers blooming. I still remember the day we met was in the spring of March, with green mountains and vast grasslands."

"Oh, right, there was finally a result regarding the matter I mentioned last time. That item is about to appear, seemingly in an area south of Dragon Abyss City, following the flow of the earth veins, appearing and disappearing. Several priests have tried to deduce its location, but none could calculate it. I think even people from the Divine Capital's Heavenly Questioning Tower or the Mystic Sect's Ma Yi lineage would not be able to pinpoint its location."

"They always want me to help, but I've already gone gray in the hair and don't want to get involved in these matters. My willingness to stay on Illusion God Peak is already the greatest return I can give to Nine Yang. I truly detest the priests' contempt for life."

"If only there were no more wars between Nine Yang and the Nine Provinces, and everyone in the world could love each other, how wonderful that would be."

"Xian Le's hand."

Liang Yue read the letter from top to bottom, folded the paper, put it back in the envelope, and carefully placed it back.

The "Sanssi" mentioned in the letter, who was fighting in the East Sea, was undoubtedly Ling Sansi, the youngest Divine General to emerge from the Yin Dynasty army, who was currently being heavily promoted.

The letter was sent in winter, which was precisely when Ling Sansi led his army to conquer the Haiyue Kingdom.

And that "Xian Le" should be a woman, and since she was on Nine Yang's Illusion God Peak, she was definitely not an ordinary person.

Illusion God Peak was cut down from the heavens by the Chu Saint in ancient times. Later, it was regarded as a sacred mountain by the ancient Yang Kingdom, and now it is a place revered by all Nine Yang tribes. Only priests can live on it.

Nine Yang's priests are similar to the Yin Dynasty's Divine Officials; they are all exceptionally talented secret technique masters, hard to find even among a million people.

For such a woman to write a love letter to Ling Sansi...

The amount of information was a bit overwhelming.

But how did this letter end up being intercepted by Yu Wenlong?

However, he was indeed a Traveling Official under Ling Sansi's command and a Nine Yang spy, so it was possible for him to discover some clues.

He might have kept it to blackmail Ling Sansi or the woman later. After all, both were people of high status and power, and if they were exposed for colluding with the enemy, the consequences could be very severe.

Hiss... Liang Yue suddenly thought of a possibility.

Yu Wenlong had been captured in the army, yet he managed to escape on the way to the Divine Capital. Although he was not weak in cultivation and was cunning and treacherous, could the contents of this letter have played a role?

He decided not to dwell on such matters.

Anyway, he didn't plan to interfere in other people's affairs, nor did he have any intention of blackmailing anyone.

Aside from this gossip, what caught Liang Yue's attention the most in this letter was the treasure that was said to be about to appear.

What kind of thing could make the distant Nine Yang Illusion God Peak so concerned and perform multiple divinations?

And it was located south of Dragon Abyss City...

South of the city again? Why was the south of the city so lively recently?

Wait...

If that was the case, wasn't the time this woman sent the letter exactly when the Heaven-Piercing Tower was being sited? Could there be a connection between the two?

Liang Yue had a strange feeling that these events, one after another, seemed like a large net, completely enveloping the area south of Dragon Abyss City.

"Forget it, I won't think about it anymore." After a while, he shook his head with a smile. "Anyway, even if there's a treasure, it won't fall into my hands unless it pops out from under my house."

After going through everything, the only truly useful item was that silver note. The other things seemed to have no practical value for now.

Oh, I almost forgot.

Liang Yue took out the ancient leather with the character "Dou" on it, cleared his mind, and attempted to visualize.

He focused his gaze and divine sense on the ancient leather, staring at the character, and slowly sinking...

Boom—

In an instant, the Dao charm within surged over like a torrent, no, like a mountain collapse and a tsunami! This intensity was something that even a hundred cultivation visualization diagrams combined couldn't compare to.

It came so intensely that Liang Yue could even hear whistling sounds by his ears.

Suddenly.

His consciousness appeared in a chaotic, pitch-black space. Or perhaps the world wasn't like this, and his divine sense wasn't sufficient to fully perceive it.

In the darkness, a majestic voice, like a great bell, boomed, shaking like thunder.

"Fight!"

With another boom, Liang Yue's eyes went black, and he fainted cleanly.

"Young man, welcome to the Realm of the Nine Secrets."

Good morning.

I originally wanted to write a purely plot-driven story, but it felt a bit difficult. Perhaps my skill isn't enough yet. I temporarily added a setting to see how it works out.