" Meng Qi? That traitor from the Spirit Vein Bureau?" Mu Canglan's brows furrowed. "Ten years ago, he secretly leaked information to the imperial court, causing more than three hundred people in the Spirit Vein Bureau to either die or flee. How is he still alive?"
"She's doing very well, even getting promoted." The Snow Empress's tone carried a hint of sarcasm. "Now she's the head of the Spirit Vein Bureau, riding high on her success."
Mu Canglan clenched his fist, his knuckles cracking. After a moment of silence, he released his grip and pushed the token back in front of Snow Empress: "Speak, what do you need me to do?"
"Lead the way." Snow Empress looked directly into his eyes. " Xuan Abyss Workshop is deep in the Falling Rosy Clouds Mountain Range, filled with miasma. I know you mined in the Falling Rosy Clouds Mountain Range for ten years back then; you could navigate every ravine and every miasma with your eyes closed."
Mu Canglan fell silent. He lowered his eyes, gazing at the flickering flame of the oil lamp, and after a long while, he finally spoke, " The Falling Rosy Clouds Mountain Range... I haven't been back to that place for ten years. The miasma is even thicker than before. I heard that the people from Xuan Abyss Workshop have set up a new poisonous miasma array around it. If an outsider goes in without an antidote, they will bleed from all seven orifices and die within the time it takes to brew a cup of tea."
"That's why I came to find you." The Snow Empress put the token into her sleeve. "Your methods of breaking the miasma formation back then are unmatched in the entire Southern Frontier."
Mu Canglan shook his head with a wry smile, " Snow Empress, you make it sound so easy. I'm just an old man brewing wine now, seventy percent of my cultivation has been lost, and I can't even use the thirty percent of my power I had back then. Even if I know the way, those poisonous miasmas can't be overcome with experience alone."
"Cultivation can be restored, but if you don't recognize the path, you can't walk it." The Snow Empress stood up, looking down at him. " Mu Canglan, the life you owed me back then, it's time to repay it. I want you to take me to the Xuan Abyss Workshop and destroy the Puppet Armor inside. After it's done, I'll wipe the slate clean of your and your former subordinates' records in the Southern Frontier."
Mu Canglan looked up at her. The dim oil lamp cast her long shadow, a desolate white against the back wall. He remembered that rainy night ten years ago, when the Spirit Vein Bureau was massacred by the imperial court. He was severely injured and lay in the mud. It was this girl in front of him who dragged him out of the pile of corpses, carried him all night, and crossed two mountains to find a safe place. At that time, Snow Empress was only sixteen or seventeen years old, so thin that her shoulders were all bones, yet she still managed to carry him, a man a head taller than her, out of the desperate situation.
"... Alright." Mu Canglan finally nodded. "I'll go with you. But you have to give me one night. I need to go to the south of the city to find someone. Without him, going into Xuan Abyss Workshop is just suicide."
"Who?"
"Back then, the Poison Master of the Seventy-Two Caves was unparalleled in the fight against miasma in the Southern Frontier. He now runs a pharmacy in the south of the city, and should still have the formula for the Miasma-Repelling Pill from back then." Mu Canglan stood up and put on the old cloak hanging in the corner of the wall. "Two hours from now, bring your men to ' Hundred Herbs Hall ' in the south of the city to find me. If I'm not there, leave a note under the stone lion at the entrance."
Snow Empress nodded in agreement, turned around, and pushed open the door to leave. Mu Canglan watched her figure disappear into the night, let out a long sigh, blew out the oil lamp, and groped his way towards the south of the city.
Yin Wujou stayed in the old ancestral hall all night. Liu Yanzhao remained unconscious, occasionally frowning and muttering in his sleep, vaguely uttering a few names. Yin Wujou leaned closer to listen and vaguely discerned a few words such as " Meng Qi," " Zhou Jing," and " Mysterious Abyss," but could not string them together into a complete sentence.
At the third quarter of the hour of Yin (3:45 AM), when the sky was darkest, extremely light footsteps came from outside the ancestral hall. Yin Wujou stood up alertly, instantly releasing his Spiritual Power to sense the aura of the person who came—it was the Snow Empress, followed by a middle-aged man with a dark aura and dragging steps.
Snow Empress pushed open the door and entered, her clothes still damp with morning dew, and the white shirt on her shoulder had a few more new wrinkles at the tear. Behind her Mu Canglan wore a faded old cloak, his face ashen, his eyes puffy, clearly indicating that he had not had a good life these past few years.
"This is Mu Canglan," Snow Empress introduced briefly. "Tomorrow morning we will leave the city through the secret passage and enter the Falling Rosy Clouds Mountain Range."
Yin Wujou and Mu Canglan nodded to each other. Mu Canglan's gaze lingered on Yin Wujou for a moment, seemingly surprised by his youth, but he didn't ask any questions. He went straight to the corner to look at the unconscious Liu Yanzhao, checked his pulse with his fingertips, and then examined the location of the three sealing silver needles.
"Your technique is very precise," Mu Canglan praised. "The three vital acupoints were sealed perfectly; even if he wakes up, he won't be able to move a single bit of his Spiritual Power. You haven't wasted your time these past years."
"Enough with the nonsense." Snow Empress unfolded a sheepskin map on the table. "This is a map of the Falling Rosy Clouds Mountain Range that I brought out from the secret chamber of the Meng family. Take a look and see if the location of the Xuan Abyss Workshop is marked correctly."
Mu Canglan walked to the table and leaned over to examine it closely by the dim candlelight. The sheepskin map was meticulously drawn, with the direction of the mountains, the distribution of rivers, and the range of the miasma zone all marked. In the center, a circle was drawn with cinnabar, and next to it were written four tiny characters, " Xuan Abyss Workshop ".
"That's right." Mu Canglan pointed to the circle. "This mine was originally a secret mining site of the Spirit Vein Bureau. After it was abandoned, it was taken over by Liu Yanzhao's people and converted into a workshop. The entrance is on the northern foot of the Falling Rosy Clouds Mountain Range. There are three layers of poisonous miasma array outside. The outermost layer is miasma, the middle layer is poisonous vines, and the innermost layer is patrolled by Puppet Armor."
" Puppet Armor patrols?" Yin Wujou frowned. " Puppet Armor is patrolling right outside the workshop?"
"No more than ten, responsible for patrolling." Mu Canglan's finger moved along a winding dotted line on the map. "But there are at least a hundred Puppet Armor inside the workshop. According to Liu Yanzhao's secret letter, they are all assembled and waiting for the order to go to the capital to be loaded onto carts and transported into the imperial city. We must destroy the armories before they start transporting them, otherwise even if we capture Liu Yanzhao, those Puppet Armor will activate on their own at the time he sets."
Snow Empress paused for a moment, then asked, "How much do you know about the internal structure of the workshop?"
"I went there once ten years ago. Back then, it was still a mine belonging to the Spirit Vein Bureau. I roughly remember the internal structure." Mu Canglan folded the map and put it in his pocket. "But ten years have passed, and Liu Yanzhao's people must have made a lot of changes. I can only lead you through the outer miasma and poisonous vines. Once inside the workshop, we'll have to rely on our on-the-spot judgment to find out exactly what traps and Hidden Weapon are inside, and how many guards there are."
Snow Empress nodded, then turned to Yin Wujou: "After dawn, take Liu Yanzhao to a safe house in the east of the city and wait for me. I'll come and meet you after I've settled Mu Canglan in. We'll split into two groups—I'll take Mu Canglan to the workshop to destroy the armor, and you'll be responsible for guarding Liu Yanzhao and continuing to question him to see if you can find out the specific time of the Puppet Armor's activation."
"Should I guard it alone?" Yin Wujou hesitated for a moment.