The first time they entered the mountains, Ding Hai merely took Wei He around to familiarize him with the conditions and terrain within the range. They also learned the roads around the area.
He pointed out, one by one, which places were commonly claimed by which forces and which were the usual territories of various fierce beasts.
Though Ding Hai surely still held plenty back, Wei He increasingly felt that the coarse grain flour he had spent was well worth it.
After five days in a row, Ding Hai had taken Wei He through most of the territory around Feiye City, showing him the general forbidden zones and the areas divided among different factions.
In the end, he even kindly provided a small cave in the mountains where one could rest in a desperate emergency.
Unfortunately, over those five days, the two of them caught nothing but a single gray rabbit.
They did gather quite a few dead vines and the like, which they wound together and tossed before the cave entrance as camouflage.
Once he had roughly learned the process, Wei He began moving about alone nearby and doing what passed for hunting.
From Ding Hai, he obtained a crucial clue, one that was very likely connected to his parents' disappearance.
That Shaoyang Gate liked to come out at dusk to seize people.
To gather information on Shaoyang Gate and uncover its background, Wei He sought out the well-informed Cheng Shaojiu.
"Shaoyang Gate? One of the Three Gangs and Two Sects. What are you asking about them for?" Cheng Shaojiu sat in a tavern chair, the dark circles beneath his eyes somewhat less pronounced.
"You know I've been investigating my parents' affairs. I suspect this matter is connected to Shaoyang Gate," Wei He said bluntly.
There was no point trying to hide something like this. Many people knew about his parents' disappearance and his elder sister's disappearance.
Coupled with how he had been investigating everywhere lately, anyone only needed to connect a few dots to guess his purpose.
"Though Shaoyang Gate ranks among the Three Gangs and Two Sects, they rarely deal with other factions. They have few members, and whenever they emerge, they leave again after only a short time. They never stray far from Shaoyang Mountain, so none of the other factions are willing to provoke them."
Cheng Shaojiu drank a cup of wine and explained, "Your parents were invited to Mingde Temple to carve stone. So many stonemasons left together—surely you aren't the only one investigating this? Why not find the families of the others and investigate together?"
"I did. There were eleven stonemasons in all, but none of the other families wanted to keep looking," Wei He said calmly.
"Shaoyang Gate has few people, but those who travel outside are said to be quite formidable. Don't provoke them lightly. Little He, if you insist on investigating, it would be best to mention it to Master Zheng. His sources are far better than ours," Cheng Shaojiu reminded him.
"I understand." Wei He nodded.
"Oh, right, there's another avenue." Cheng Shaojiu suddenly clapped a hand. "Didn't you agree to serve Qingdu Sect as an affiliated guest expert and external support? You still collect monthly pay from Qingdu Sect every month. Why not ask them? Both Qingdu Sect and Shaoyang Gate are outside the city and belong to the two sects. They've dealt with each other plenty, so their information must be sharper than ours."
"Qingdu Sect... Thank you for the reminder, Brother Cheng." Wei He nodded. If Cheng Shaojiu had not reminded him, he would never have known that Qingdu Sect had dealings with Shaoyang Gate.
At once, he recalled the white-clad steward from Qingdu Sect who had come to invite him last time.
He was said to be the second-in-command responsible for Qingdu Sect's properties within Feiye City. His surname was Bai, and his name was Honghou.
The man's manner and bearing had given Wei He the impression of someone perpetually smiling, gentle and mild.
But someone who could sit in such a position, and who possessed Second Stage Qi and Blood as well, could not possibly be merely a mild-mannered man.
After parting with Cheng Shaojiu, Wei He did not delay in the slightest and immediately headed for Qingdu Sect's Feiye City outpost.
Qingdu Sect's outpost was in Jiujie Town, a town quite far from Huishan Fist. He had to pass through Nanshan Town to reach it.
By the time Wei He found the outpost, it was already dusk, and the sun was about to set.
Compared with Shiqiao Town, Jiujie Town was slightly more normal. It was neither so bustling nor so desolate.
Now and then, he could still see incense stubs that had not yet burned out, clustered in bunches and stuck into the dry mud beside the road.
Qingdu Sect's outpost stood in Jiujie Town's most prosperous district. A general store stood on its left, and a quiet gambling den on its right.
The outpost was a two-story building, with two men wearing green headscarves standing outside its entrance.
Wei He took out the green strip of cloth that marked him as an affiliated guest expert, tied it around his arm, and walked toward the entrance.
The two gate guards glanced at him and gave a slight cupped-fist salute without speaking.
Wei He returned the salute and pushed open the half-closed wooden door.
Inside was a vermilion hall. Around ten sturdy men and women sat separately; some chatted idly, some played chess, and some were actually arm-wrestling while competing to drink wine.
When Wei He entered, only a few people swept their eyes over him. After taking a look, the rest ignored him completely and continued with their own business.
Wei He noticed that these people were basically affiliated guest experts like himself, all with blue-green cloth pouches tied around their arms.
He looked around, then approached a young man leaning beside a wooden pillar and staring blankly out the window.
"Brother, may I ask whether Steward Bai Honghou is here? I have something to ask him," Wei He said with a cupped-fist salute.
"Steward Bai is upstairs. You look unfamiliar, Brother. Did you only come this year?" The man smiled. His face was broad and amiable, but his mouth was unusually wide and his complexion fair, making him unforgettable at a glance.
"Yes, I joined only recently." Wei He nodded.
"My name is Jin Xiufeng. Anyone able to become affiliated with Qingdu Sect is no mediocre figure in Feiye City. Let's all grow closer in the future." The man smiled.
"My name is Wei He. We can chat when the chance arises." Wei He nodded.
After parting from the wide-mouthed man, he went up the stairs to the second floor and soon saw Bai Honghou by the window, slowly practicing calligraphy alone with a brush.
When Bai Honghou saw someone come upstairs and recognized Wei He as the newcomer he had recently recruited, he remembered him.
"Brother Wei, it's rare for you to pay us a visit. Sit, sit." He pointed at a row of empty chairs on the second floor, then set down his brush and walked over.
Every year, he recruited several newcomers with Second Stage Qi and Blood like Wei He for the sect.
Likewise, every year, several of the existing affiliated guest experts would be lost for all sorts of reasons.
To maintain stable numbers, whenever there was a vacancy, he promptly recruited new people.
Wei He was a newcomer brought in to fill one such vacancy.
"Brother Wei, what brings you here this time?" he asked with a smiling face.
"Steward Bai, do you know anything about Shaoyang Gate?" Wei He asked softly.
"Shaoyang Gate? What, did you have a conflict with them?" Bai Honghou frowned slightly, the smile on his face swiftly vanishing.
"Not that. I simply wish to learn the general circumstances of that sect for other reasons," Wei He replied.
"Shaoyang Gate... Heh. Actually, even if you hadn't asked, we would have reminded you later." Bai Honghou smiled, though there was a chill at the corners of his mouth. "Shaoyang Gate and our Qingdu Sect have always had friction from time to time. Their sect is somewhere deep within Shaoyang Mountain—no one knows exactly where. They're extremely mysterious, and they have few members. Yet those who emerge are each cunning, fierce, and not weak. If you encounter them, you must be especially careful."
"How strong are the people they send out, generally?" Wei He went straight to the heart of the matter.
"Shaoyang Gate has few members. Usually, they either do not come out at all, or once they do, there are mainly two reasons. One is hunting—not hunting animals, but capturing people. The other is trade, exchanging materials and such with outsiders."
Bai Honghou truly knew more than the others and spoke at length.
"If you encounter someone trading alone, with your strength, escaping should not be a problem.
"But if you encounter a hunting party, it's best to conceal your identity. Don't say you're from Qingdu Sect. Their hunting parties always have at least two Second Stage Qi and Blood partners, sometimes three. They hunt separately and bring along some slave-men as well. They're very troublesome."
"Slave-men?"
"Shaoyang Gate commonly uses secret drugs to control servants, making them sell their lives and die for them. Those are the so-called slave-men. However, slave-men are usually only a little stronger than ordinary people because they suffer long-term torment and their bodies are damaged by the secret drugs. Just be wary of sneak attacks." Bai Honghou answered.
"Then may I ask, Steward, how can one identify people from Shaoyang Gate?"
"Identify them? That bunch of monsters is the easiest to identify. Go near Shaoyang Mountain, and if you see a freak dressed in white, with a body as fat as two or three ordinary people put together, then he is definitely from Shaoyang Gate." Bai Honghou's face showed disgust.
"They're that fat?" Wei He asked curiously.
"Shaoyang, Shaoyang. They do not touch women and preserve their virginity, cultivating that single breath of Shaoyang Qi. Coupled with their sect's special cultivation methods, every one of them is enormously fat. If you encounter one, you must be careful. Shaoyang Gate members are famed for their mighty strength. Do not clash with them head-on."
"Thank you, Steward Bai, for clearing up my doubts!" Wei He finally had a rough idea in his mind.
What had once been complete ignorance had become at least a basic impression of Shaoyang Gate.
With that, he bade farewell to Steward Bai, left Qingdu Sect's outpost, and hurried back.
After returning, he did not immediately head to Shaoyang Mountain to seek out Shaoyang Gate members. Instead, he obtained fresh poison powder from Cheng Shaojiu and carefully made his preparations.
Aside from lime, poison powder, and poisoned spikes, he also prepared a row of rusty awls soaked in fecal water.
The awls were rusted scraps purchased from a blacksmith's shop. He bought them home and gave waste a second life, turning them into this row of great killing weapons.
In this chaotic era, where medicine was scarce, once someone was pierced by such an awl, the wound could easily become infected, fester, and show symptoms of tetanus.
Wei He had once been pierced by a rusty nail in his previous life, so he had specifically studied the principles behind how tetanus formed.
Tetanus infection generally required two necessary conditions.
First: contaminants such as rust or dirty water had to enter the wound.
Second: there had to be an oxygen-free environment. Generally, deep wounds, wounds containing blood clots and necrotic tissue, had a high chance of tetanus infection—perhaps even as high as eighty percent.
With that, these awls became remarkably cost-effective when Wei He lacked poison.
After all, snake venom was too expensive, and he had no other way to procure more toxic substances. He could only make these simplest and most convenient good things himself.
Once tetanus erupted, the mild cases caused muscle spasms and permanent muscular rigidity, crippling one's Martial Arts Cultivation.
In severe cases, it directly caused death by high fever.
It could be called the cheapest and most cost-effective poison.
After making all his preparations, Wei He checked all his equipment once more, then drew a map of the surrounding factions himself and brought along dry rations and water.
He went to ask Master Zheng for leave, then headed toward Shaoyang Mountain.
His primary purpose was hunting: first becoming familiar with the wilderness, then preparing to hunt rare birds and exotic beasts in the future.
Continuing to spend money buying meat that greatly replenished qi and blood was far too costly. Since others could catch such prey, he naturally could as well.
What was more, he had an even deeper plan.
Should war break out, he needed to familiarize himself with the wilderness as much as possible, so that he would be prepared to lead people in flight later.
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