Killing, Saving

With that thought in mind, Su Xinghe immediately sprang into action.

He quickly returned to the mine tunnel, found Little Beggar who was eating, took two thousand taels' worth of banknotes from him, and warned him to focus on practicing his swordsmanship and not run around.

Then he set off alone, quietly making his way toward the back mountain.

The White Cloud, Azure Cloud, and Scarlet Cloud Branches stretched for over a hundred li, forming one branch of the Cross Ridge Mountains within Taiguang Prefecture.

Azure Cloud Mountain was covered in mines.

After more than a thousand years of mining, its old and new mine tunnels were too numerous to count. It was a mountain without grass or trees, yet also the liveliest of all.

Following the valley, he did not take the trade road.

Avoiding the carts hauling ore and the patrolling martial artists along the way, he trekked beside mountain streams for most of the day before a broad river came into view.

Merchant ships raced through the river, riding wind and waves.

Fishermen's songs lingered along the banks as well.

At a glance, Su Xinghe knew this was the Clearwater River that wound past Lin County. He walked another dozen-odd li eastward, leaving the deep mountains and dense forest behind.

Here, villages and small towns began to appear along the riverbank.

Beneath the clear autumn sky,

Wisps of cooking smoke rose straight into the clouds.

Dancing with the evening glow as the sun sank westward.

Su Xinghe still did not take the main road. He only kept his head down and hurried eastward through the riverside grasslands, avoiding the crowds on the road.

Amid wave after wave of fishermen's songs,

The red sun gradually vanished amid the rosy clouds over distant mountains.

Su Xinghe looked at the