Travelers on the Same Road

In a shadowy forest.

At some unknown moment, numerous ghostlike figures had appeared. There were well over a hundred of them, yet gathered together, they did not make a single sound.

Among those hundreds of figures, a cold, indifferent gaze suddenly emerged.

It belonged to a man in azure robes. His entire person was like a venomous snake hidden in the darkness—silent and still, yet capable of delivering a fatal strike at the most opportune moment!!

"My lord, everyone is in position. All personnel await orders. We need only your command."

A masked subordinate hurried forward, dropped to one knee, and spoke with utmost respect.

The man in azure slowly walked out of the forest, exposing his slightly pale face to the sunlight.

It gave him an eerie, sickly appearance. Especially those gray eyes, like a dead man's, which made one's entire body turn cold.

"Do you remember the ultimate purpose of our mission?"

With his back to all his subordinates, the man in azure spoke in that manner. There was an eerie calm in his voice, as though he were a man on the verge of death.

His gray eyes in particular were exceedingly strange, reflecting light like two mirrors.

"We remember... until death, without rest!!"

A uniform yet low voice came from behind him.

"Very good... then let us begin..."

The instant his words fell, the man in azure vanished from where he stood.

The journey was somewhat dull. They did encounter a band of bandits along the way, but the moment those bandits showed themselves, Liu Qingni cut them down with a single sword strike.

Other than that, there were no further mishaps.

According to Liu Qingni, that band of bandits had been an accident.

The route she had chosen had been specially screened by the Secret Bureau.

It deliberately bypassed dangerous regions and chaotic martial world territories where all manner of fish and dragons mingled. It was the safest route, one least likely to invite further trouble.

However, after entering Cloud Prefecture, Liu Qingni had clearly become more cautious.

She no longer closed her eyes to regulate her breathing and recover during the journey. Her gaze constantly swept over the surrounding forests and branching paths, her attention fixed on every movement nearby.

"Miss Liu, what is it? Is there something special about Cloud Prefecture? You seem a little overly tense," Su Qingyang said.

"Cloud Prefecture has been somewhat unsettled lately. According to the Secret Bureau's confidential reports, the province's largest martial world factions have been clashing without end. There are already faint signs that war may break out."

Liu Qingni reined in her horse and slowed down, explaining in a low voice,

"We are currently within the sphere of influence of a martial world faction called the Black Cloud Sect. Under these circumstances, they will certainly guard every passage and road junction."

"Though Young Master need not fear them, it is better to have one less matter than one more. If we can avoid conflict, we should try not to collide with them head-on."

"So that's how it is."

Su Qingyang nodded in realization. Though he had not left home these past few years, he had once learned about the state of Great Jin as a whole.

Great Jin had twelve provinces and sixty-four prefectures. Martial world sects were deeply entangled throughout every province, and martial artists emerged one after another. Quite a few top sects possessed such immense strength that they could stand on equal footing with the local authorities.

Aside from Central Province, where the Imperial Capital stood, and the surrounding provinces, which were tightly controlled, the other major provinces existed under joint rule by the imperial court and martial world sects.

Though most martial world factions would not take the initiative to provoke the imperial court.

Many long-established sects, relying on their deep foundations, had never truly placed the laws and regulations of the authorities in their eyes.

It was not as though the imperial court had never considered sweeping clean the martial world and unifying the Martial Dao.

Yet those sects with millennia of inheritance often concealed inexhaustible reserves. Every few years, a Martial Dao Grandmaster would emerge into the world.

And the deterrence of a Grandmaster was, in some respects, even greater than the nuclear deterrence of Su Qingyang's previous life.

After all, a single Grandmaster could break a Thousand Army, and one person alone could shake an entire city.

Moreover, most of them were elusive and impossible to track down. Without an expert of the same rank to restrain them, they could often come and go freely even within the Imperial Capital.

Thus, for a long time, the imperial court and the martial world had each kept to their own boundaries, rarely interfering with one another, maintaining a balance where well water did not offend river water.

But in recent years, with the emergence of firearms, the situation had begun to undergo new changes...

Su Qingyang pondered the matter.

According to Liu Qingni, firearms had been developed by the Divine Craftsmen Pavilion in recent years, and the moment they emerged, they caused an enormous uproar.

Although ordinary handheld firelocks were not very powerful, and even at close range found it difficult to tear through the flesh and skin that first-rate martial artists had tempered over many years.

The further-upgraded Divine Might Cannon, however, could already severely injure Houtian martial artists.

Though it still had all manner of flaws, such as being too slow and far too inaccurate...

Firearms had only been invented a few years ago, not to mention how cheap the Divine Might Cannon was to produce!

A Houtian martial artist, on the other hand, had to temper their foundations from childhood onward, consuming vast quantities of pills, heavenly treasures, and rare materials, before achieving anything after more than a decade of bitter cultivation.

The resources and years piled into it made the cost impossible to calculate.

Cannons, by contrast, could be mass-produced and equipped in batches once a single batch had been cast.

Su Qingyang understood even more clearly the potential of firearms. Even in their current crude state, one could, when poor, make precise strikes; when rich, blanket the enemy with firepower...

Either would make ordinary martial artists who underestimated the power of cannons stumble badly and suffer bitterly.

If this world did not have experts at the level of Martial Dao Grandmasters, Great Jin would likely already have been capable of sweeping through the martial world of every province and pacifying the chaos under heaven.

But as before, it was a pity that Martial Dao Grandmasters existed in this world.

Not to mention the current Divine Might Cannon—even if they truly created the nuclear weapons of his previous life, it would still be difficult to threaten a Grandmaster's life.

"Interesting, truly interesting." Su Qingyang secretly sighed to himself,

"With firearms and the Martial Dao developing side by side, what kind of situation will this world eventually head toward?"

Liu Qingni quietly cast him a sidelong glance, then instantly withdrew her gaze. Looking straight ahead, her expression remained cool and detached, though no one knew what she was thinking.

At that moment, Su Qingyang suddenly spoke, interrupting her thoughts. "Eh, Miss Liu, take a look. Are there people on the mountain opposite us?"

Liu Qingni's gaze sharpened as she looked toward the opposite mountain.

Sure enough, amid the dense forest several li away, three people could vaguely be seen leading their horses along the mountain path with their heads lowered as they hurried onward.

Though the trees obscured them, a closer look made it clear that they were traveling in the same direction as Su Qingyang and Liu Qingni.

"Are they your colleagues?"

"Looks like these people have the same idea as you. They also intend to take a detour through here," Su Qingyang asked casually.

A gleam flashed through Liu Qingni's eyes, and she turned to look at Su Qingyang.

Under ordinary circumstances, she might have needed to be more wary upon encountering fellow travelers. But now, a Grandmaster stood beside her.

Then it should be others who needed to be more wary of them.

"I'm not sure, but we should still be careful."

Liu Qingni gave him a reminder. Su Qingyang nodded slightly, patted his horse's back, and continued onward.

Before long, the people on the opposite mountain path also discovered Su Qingyang and Liu Qingni.

While feeling greatly surprised, they also became extremely tense.

The leader kept staring at them, his right hand slowly settling on the hilt of the saber at his waist, as though he might draw it and charge forth to kill them at any moment.