"Found it!"
Snow Robe's voice carried fatigue, but also a barely concealed note of excitement.
It flapped back onto Lu Changfeng's shoulder, urgently pointing a little wing toward the northwest of the city. "Over in the northwest! That lifeless color-there's no mistaking it. Northern Sea Flood Shark hide!"
The Northern Sea Flood Shark lived in the bitterly cold deep seas of the far north. Once tanned through secret methods, its hide was not only tougher than metal, but could also conceal energy and nurture a blade's edge, making it one of the core materials for crafting top-grade "edge-concealing scabbards."
If this really was a gang fitting swords with scabbards, they would need a considerable quantity of material.
Lu Changfeng looked in the direction indicated.
The northwest... on the map he had briefly studied upon entering the city, that area had not seemed purely residential.
Lu Changfeng asked, "Qing Dai, what is that place?"
Qing Dai took out a map and examined it carefully. Understanding flashed in her eyes, and she said softly, "Sir, the most prominent building there is a gambling house called Jade Cloud Garden. Its nominal proprietor is a ruffian named Yu Qian, but the Youzhou Inner Guard has long had it on record that the true power behind it is a bloodline left in Youzhou by Murong Ke, the former Yan dynasty's Grand General Who Assists the State-a present-day branch of the Murong Family. The current family head is named Murong Qianqiu. His son, Murong Ying, is thirty-four. He is reportedly quite gifted and has already received the true teachings of the family's [Rushing Thunder Sword Art], with cultivation in the Fourth Realm. Reports also indicate that the Murong Family has close ties to several large horse ranches and hide merchants in the Northern Lands."
"Hide merchants...