Clues, Part 1

"So that means if I don't agree to go, I won't be able to buy this poison powder?" Wei He frowned.

"Not exactly. It's just, why are you being so stubborn? Things look tense outside, but if they really start fighting, that's still a long way off." Cheng Shaojiu shook his head. "Three years ago, Hong Family Fort was constantly clashing with the Seven Families Alliance. Everyone thought war was about to break out and got terribly nervous, but even now, they still haven't fought."

Wei He fell silent. He only wanted to come and go lightly; in truth, Feiye City was becoming less and less a place where he wanted to stay for long.

Seeing his expression, Cheng Shaojiu knew he had not been swayed in the slightest. He could only wave a hand.

"Forget it, forget it. Since you truly don't want to, I'll turn them down for you. I'll get the poison powder into your hands as well."

"Then thank you, Brother Cheng." Wei He nodded solemnly.

"We're brothers. What's the point of saying such things?" Cheng Shaojiu said indifferently. "Train, train."

"Mm."

Wei He returned to his own spot, where Ouyang Zhuang was already waiting.

He began carefully instructing him in the moves as well.

Time flew by.

In the blink of an eye, another two months passed. Wei He went nowhere. He merely attached his name to several small gangs within the city, receiving some grain and meat each month. Most of the time, he remained with Master Zheng, relying on the medicinal ingredients the old man provided to replenish his blood and vitality.

Master Zheng had a kind of meat called Red Earth Fish. It tasted utterly vile, practically like shit, but its medicinal effect was only a little weaker than Flower Branch Deer Meat. It was also a rare and excellent supplement for blood and vitality.

Wei He accepted Master Zheng's terms and truly became the core disciple Master Zheng focused on cultivating.

This meant he had truly become a closed-door disciple. He was being trained as the future heir of Huishan Fist Academy.

Over those two months, the Three Gangs and Two Sects, Hong Family Fort, and the other smaller forts and wealthy households all came to recruit Wei He.

The terms they offered were all immensely valuable.

Hong Family Fort in particular offered resources and benefits no worse than what Jiang Yan had offered. Yet it also required him to move his family into Hong Family Fort.

They wanted him to serve them unto death.

After considering it for a long time, Wei He still refused. He only chose to attach himself to several small gangs.

Besides that, at Old Zheng's suggestion, Wei He also agreed to become a guest retainer of Qingdu Sect, one of the Three Gangs and Two Sects.

This guest retainer status was no different from the temporary employment arrangement of Yonghe Escort Agency.

They spent a little money to keep him on hand in ordinary times, then hired him separately at a negotiated price when they needed help.

He was essentially a privately affiliated mercenary.

After settling all this, Wei He trained and studied diligently every day. His comprehension of the artistic conception behind the moves progressed reasonably well, after all, his way of thinking was more advanced.

But when it came to accumulating blood and vitality, the results were meager.

After consuming Red Earth Fish, his progress was faster than with Silver-Kiss Black Snake Meat. After all, eating both types together naturally accelerated the growth of his blood and vitality considerably.

Yet no matter how much faster it was, two months still brought slow progress. By now, the Boundary-Breaking Pearl was only two-tenths full—one-fifth of the way.

As for his blood and vitality, he had only just condensed the red imprint of the first Nine-Cloud Flower. It still had to solidify before the first flower could be considered complete.

This was only the first flower, the easiest one, and it already took so long.

Wei He finally understood why Old Zheng had said this stage consumed so much time.

As the situation grew increasingly troublesome, Wei He was deeply dissatisfied with the progress of his blood and vitality.

To speed things up, he decided to find a way to obtain more powerful blood-replenishing medicines.

But every household raised their blood supplements as proprietary secrets and would not allow outsiders to pry into them.

Thus, if he wanted to obtain great supplements that did not belong to others, the only way was hunting!

Wei He knew full well how dangerous it was outside the city, but not everywhere beyond the city walls was dangerous. Otherwise, would not all those people constantly transporting vegetables and grain in and out be doomed to die?

He spent three days leaving the city each day, circling the area around Feiye City and gathering information.

With his current strength and reaction speed, as long as he was careful enough, there truly was little danger.

Then, after observing the city gates for several days, he found an old hunter who often carried prey into the city to sell for grain.

For the price of fifty jin of mixed-grain flour, he hired the man to explain the surrounding area and lead him around the places near Feiye City where hunting was possible, making preparations in advance.

Having gone through several life-and-death battles, Wei He had gained some confidence in his own strength.

Rather than depend on others, it was better to find a way to stand on his own feet.

That was what he thought.

Ten li south of Feiye City, beyond the plains.

There lay a stretch of rolling pale-green mountain forest called Shaoyang Mountain.

White stones dotted the forested mountains, which were steep and rugged, with dense vegetation.

Though the mountain was not especially high, it was rarely visited by people and filled with poisonous insects and fierce beasts. An ordinary old hunter would not dare barge inside recklessly.

At the foot of Shaoyang Mountain, a middle-aged man wrapped in gray animal pelts was followed by a tall, sturdy young man in fitted martial clothes.

One before the other, they stopped at the entrance leading into the mountain.

A faint little path lay at the entrance, its surface overgrown with weeds.

Though the weather was blazing hot, a thread of chill still seeped from the depths of that path.

"This is Shaoyang Mountain. All the vast stretches of mountain forest south of Feiye City belong to Shaoyang Mountain. There are bears, tigers, leopards, wild boars—everything. You can hunt whatever you want." The middle-aged man introduced it.

"Can we still run into big game now?" the young man in martial clothes behind him asked in a low voice.

He wore dark green clothes, with several small pouches tied at his waist, a short blade strapped to his thigh, and a long cloth bag slung across his back.

It was none other than Wei He, who had spent many days preparing.

The old hunter before him was Ding Hai, the one who had brought back the most prey of all the hunters Wei He had seen these past days.

"Big game? That depends on luck. These days, when hunting, you first have to avoid the earthen forts of the various households. You can't enter the forts or the surrounding areas marked with signs. Otherwise, you'll be breaking the rules."

Ding Hai stepped forward along the path, drew the chopping blade from his leg, and began cutting down the weeds.

"Be careful and follow me. There are many poisonous insects here. The recent drought has reduced their numbers somewhat, but in the past, no one would have dared come near this place."

Wei He nodded and followed, listening as Ding Hai spoke ahead of him.

"I don't know why you insist on coming out to hunt yourself, but if you want to catch anything, the first thing you need is patience.

"Bring enough dry rations and a water skin. Prepare a waterproof pack, medicine for injuries, basic snake venom medicine, spider antidote, and the like. If possible, it's best to bring some bait too."

"Bait?"

"Mm. Something that gives off a scent to lure prey when you truly can't find any." Ding Hai took a dark brown object resembling a chunk of meat from his bag. It was only half a palm in size.

"There's also scent-removing powder, beast droppings, and some rope." Ding Hai continued.

He led Wei He down the path. Before long, they reached a somewhat shadowy patch of withered yellow woodland.

Yellowed fallen leaves littered the forest floor, forming a thick carpet over the ground.

The trees overhead stood bare, with few leaves remaining, and the air was filled with a dry smell.

"This place hasn't had rain for a long time. Many trees and animals have dried up and died. So only if your luck is good enough will you find anything. As for whether it's something big, that depends on whether you can seize the opportunity." Ding Hai lowered his voice.

"All right."

Wei He watched him crouch down and search around the ground. Before long, Ding Hai found a trail left by some unknown animal beneath a great pine tree.

"In this place, besides being careful of fierce beasts, you also need to watch out for people." Ding Hai stood and chose a direction based on the trail, walking slowly onward.

Wei He followed behind, listening intently.

"What kind of people should I watch out for?"

"People around here." Ding Hai smiled. "Shaoyang Mountain is divided into an outer region and an inner region. In many places in the outer region, you often run into experts who come here to hunt for sport. The moment you run into such people, hurry and run."

He walked to the side of a tree trunk, confirmed the direction again, and made a mark on the bark with his short blade.

"Also, there's a forbidden time here. If you come hunting, you must remember never to come at dusk."

"Why?" Wei He asked.

"Because dusk is when Shaoyang Gate's people come out to hunt. But... heh." Ding Hai sneered a few times. "What they hunt isn't animals. It's people."

"People?" Wei He froze. "What do you mean?"

"When making a living outside the city, there are rules everywhere." Ding Hai paused.

"From morning until noon is when Hong Family Fort patrols the roads. It's fairly safe then. As long as you don't barge into their main groups, there won't be a problem."

"From noon until dusk, Hong Family Fort's teams return, and it becomes the time for the two sects to move about. Qingdu Sect and Shaoyang Gate are also local tyrants outside the city. They often operate near Shaoyang Mountain.

"Qingdu Sect's people are fine. The moment you encounter them, stop, lower your head, don't speak, and don't run around. They won't bother with you either."

"But if you encounter people from Shaoyang Gate... if they're in a good mood, they'll let you off. If they're in a bad mood, you'll definitely be captured and taken away."

Ding Hai used his chopping blade to cut down the weeds ahead and continued.

"Still, Shaoyang Gate's people don't seize everyone they see. They only come out once in a while, and there aren't many of them to begin with. Unless your luck is truly terrible, you won't run into them."

Wei He nodded slowly.

"What about at night?" he asked.

"At night?" Ding Hai's expression turned strange as he looked back at him. "Night is naturally when the fierce beasts roam. You can't see a thing—would you dare wander around with a torch?"

"I understand."

Understanding dawned on Wei He. Suddenly, he thought of his elder sister Wei Chun, as well as the earlier disappearance of his parents. Could it have been connected to Shaoyang Gate?

"Brother Ding, do you know about the group of stone sculptors that disappeared outside the city nearly two years ago?" he asked in a deep voice.

"I know. Those stone sculptors were headed to Mingde Temple at the time. I even saw their group on the road halfway there. There were quite a lot of them." Ding Hai answered casually.

"What? You saw them?" Wei He's heart leaped with joy. "Then do you know how they disappeared?"

"How did they disappear?" Ding Hai turned back, his face filled with heavy mockery. "Do you know when I saw them? At dusk!"

"You mean it was Shaoyang Gate?" Wei He's voice rose slightly.

"I didn't say that. But that's the most likely possibility. That day, I saw Shaoyang Gate's people in their white clothes wandering about from afar. They stood out like a sore thumb." Ding Hai replied.