Chapter 198 - The Slums

“Yuan Hao.”

Xu Xinyao’s lovely eyes turned thoughtful, as though she were searching her memory for anything related to that name.

After a long while, she looked at Xu Yuan and asked quietly, “Third Brother, why have I never heard of this man at the Yearly Assembly?”

The Chancellor's Manor had countless branches beneath it. Intelligence, money, grain, weapons workshops, and all manner of other operations too numerous to list. The higher-ranking managers among them had to enter the capital once every three years to report.

Originally, it had been once a year, but some prefectures and provinces were simply too far away, and the roads were too troublesome. Once the situation stabilized, it had been changed to once every three years, matching the time when court officials came to the capital to report on their duties.

It was somewhat like a company’s annual meeting.

Among those people, quite a few important figures had to visit the Chancellor's Manor and meet Xu Yinhe in person.

When they were children, the Xu siblings had not understood. They had only thought it lively. But as they grew older, they gradually came to understand much more.

After hearing her question, Xu Yuan rolled his eyes. “Father isn’t planning to let you take over, and he has so many people under him, both in the open and in the shadows. How could he possibly let you know about every single one of them?”

Xu Xinyao pursed her lips. “Then do you know him, Third Brother?”

“I know now...” Xu Yuan shrugged. He paused, glanced sideways at Ran Qingmo beside him, then said unhurriedly, “But the Blackscale Guard contacted me before and said this Yuan Hao seems to be very dangerous.”

“Dangerous?”

“Dangerous?” Xu Xinyao’s eyes held a trace of confusion.

Drawing from the memories of his previous life and the information he had learned earlier, Xu Yuan said in a low voice, “He likes killing people.”

Xu Xinyao’s eyes widened slightly.

Xu Yuan leaned back lightly against the rough cushion inside the carriage and said softly, “Five years ago, the Darkclear Sect in Huai’an Province joined forces with Prince Xiang in rebellion. This man followed the Marquis of Zhenxi to suppress the uprising. In the end, he killed every surrendered soldier who had yielded to him, chopped off their heads, and piled them into a victory mound.”

Xu Xinyao hesitated slightly before asking, “Was it because they lacked military rations, or because the prisoners were difficult to control?”

Aside from ordinary public-security troops, the Great Flame Empire’s regular forces were all made up of cultivators and martial apprentices. Whether they belonged to the imperial court or the sects, even if such soldiers surrendered and lost their weapons, the slightest carelessness could lead to a camp mutiny.

Xu Yuan shook his head. “No. He just likes killing people, that’s all.”

Xu Xinyao fell silent for a short while, then said in a low voice, “Since he likes slaughter so much, why not arrange for him to go to the Myriad Ascents Mountain Range?”

“Xinyao.” Xu Yuan looked into her eyes and said, word by word, “Yuan Hao likes killing people. Not other living things.”

Xu Xinyao frowned. “Why...?”

“How would I know why?” Xu Yuan shrugged. “Probably just a deviant. Still, that deviant seems to be rather good at leading troops. Heh. Father is probably the only man who would dare use someone like that.”

Xu Xinyao said nothing more.

Seeing this, Xu Yuan did not say anything else either. He raised a hand and knocked on the carriage wall. Two breaths after the crisp tap-tap rang out, the wooden window at the front was pulled open, and a slightly fawning male voice came through. “Young Master, what are your orders?”

Xu Yuan asked directly, “Do you know Calm Bay?”

This demon-beast carriage had been bought from a resting merchant at a relay station more than a hundred miles outside the Myriad Manifestations Sect. To avoid drawing attention, they had not bought anything too fine. It was a middling sort of vehicle. The carriage compartment had only been fitted with a single soundproofing array, and the demon beast pulling it was merely a rabbit-eared horse. That kind of demon horse could not be guided with soul intent, so they had hired a local driver along the way.

The driver was slightly startled when he heard the question, then said with some hesitation, “This old fellow does know the place, but...”

“But?”

“It’s close to the docks. All sorts of people gather there, and it’s very chaotic. If the two young ladies go there, I’m afraid there may be trouble. And you’ll have to pay silver to enter.”

Xu Yuan glanced at Ran Qingmo and Xu Xinyao across from him, then smiled. “Is that so? No matter. Just drive us there. I’ll add thirty percent to your fare.”

The driver gave two dry chuckles, but his voice grew even more respectful. “Right away. Please sit tight. Should take less than half an hour.”

With that, the driver steered the carriage onto the broad road used by beast carts and hurried south through the town.

ᯓ➤

Pingshui Bay.

After leaving the hitching yard, Xu Yuan’s first reaction upon seeing the scenery outside was that it was chaotic. A hundred times more chaotic than the train stations he had seen as a child in his previous life.

Hawking, cursing, brawling, laughter, all of it mixed together into one deafening clamor.

Passenger ships and merchant vessels came and went without end. One large freight carriage after another rolled out from the harbor and branched off toward every corner of the city. Groups of porters squatted along the shore, chatting and laughing. There were merchants, travelers, peddlers, and among them Xu Yuan also saw many sect disciples walking with swords at their waists.

Around the outer edge of the docks lay a dense sprawl of low buildings.

Or, more accurately, a slum.

The cramped buildings twisted together like a knotted rope. Shanties and wooden houses stood crooked and askew, utterly lacking the orderly arrangement near the town gates. One look was enough to know that no urban planning had ever touched this place.

They walked all the way to the entrance of one alley in the slums, asked for directions, and then headed inside.

Xu Yuan felt that this alley was very much like the sort of narrow lane in films where wandering swordsmen killed people. Cramped and gloomy.

As they continued deeper in, the facts proved Xu Yuan’s thought correct, because bloodstains could occasionally be seen in the dirt on either side of the road.

But on second thought, that was only natural. In an age like this, a slum where a few people did not vanish every day could hardly be called a slum at all.

Perhaps because it was daytime, the men had all gone out to work. Along both sides of the alley, only the occasional woman sat by a doorway washing clothes or chatting.

Most of these women, however, seemed quite used to the sight of three people wearing veiled hats. They watched Xu Yuan and the others come, watched them go, then returned to whatever they had been doing. The residents here were mostly born and raised in this place. Anyone who had grown up in a slum like this had seen a thing or two.

After they turned several corners, the alley fell completely silent. Only the faint sound of boots stepping on dirt remained.

“Third Brother.” Xu Xinyao spoke up through voice transmission.

“Mhm?” Xu Yuan, walking at the very front, turned his gaze slightly. “What is it?”

For no apparent reason, Xu Xinyao asked in a low voice, “Did Father not say earlier that we came here only to negotiate and intimidate them?”

Xu Yuan smiled. “Of course. You heard it yourself before. Father has no intention of starting a war for the time being.”

Xu Xinyao said softly, “But that Yuan Hao chose this place as the destination.”

Xu Yuan raised an eyebrow. It seemed this little sister of his really was not stupid. If Yuan Hao wanted secrecy, he most likely would have set the meeting place outside the town, somewhere amid the wide stretches of wilderness.

If he wanted to receive Xu Yuan, this superior who had been dropped in from above, then even if he did not choose some top-class restaurant or pleasure house, he should at least have found a decent inn.

Yuan Hao was someone Xu Yinhe had personally recruited. He could not possibly be a fool. The reason he had chosen a place like this was simple. The more chaotic a place was, the easier it was to hide people there.

After a pause, Xu Yuan asked softly, “You think this is inappropriate?”

Xu Xinyao seemed faintly uneasy. “You said just now that Yuan Hao is a madman. If he hides troops here, I fear he may cause trouble.”

Xu Yuan nodded. “You’re worried he won’t obey Father’s orders? That he’ll act against the Myriad Manifestations Sect directly for his own selfish desires?”

“Mhm.” Xu Xinyao nodded.

Xu Yuan waved a hand. “No matter.”

“But...”

“Enough. Even if you don’t trust that Yuan Hao we’ve never met, you still have to trust our father’s judgment, don’t you?”

Xu Yuan shook his head and looked around at the narrow alleyways pressing in on all sides. “I actually think Yuan Hao did nothing wrong. Xinyao, there’s a great difference between drawing your sword during negotiations and holding that sword against the other party’s neck while you negotiate.”

After a long silence, Xu Xinyao reminded him in a low voice, “But the town has a grand defensive formation.”

Xu Yuan shrugged. “Don’t ask me. I don’t know. We can ask Yuan Hao directly later.”

“All right...”

They said nothing more and continued forward. After turning another corner, Xu Yuan and the other two arrived at a rather strange alley.

Some women wearing cheap make-up sat at the doors of the houses. Most of them were plain, even ugly. Their coarse linen clothes half-covered and half-exposed them, and their figures varied widely.

Seeing such a street, Xu Yuan did not stop walking, but the corner of his eye twitched on its own.

When those women saw a man arrive, their eyes lit up all at once. But after they noticed the two women following behind him, and the graceful figures hidden beneath the thin silk of their veiled hats, most of them tactfully returned to their former lazy postures.

Of course, a few still worked hard to throw Xu Yuan flirtatious glances. Who knew? Perhaps the man had eaten his fill of mountain delicacies and seafood and suddenly wanted a coarse-grain bun instead.

Xu Yuan continued forward in silence.

Ran Qingmo’s eyes held a faint trace of confusion as she looked at these scantily clad women.

Xu Xinyao lowered her gaze and refused to look.

As they walked along, some doors were shut tight. Outside some of those closed doors stood one or two men waiting, telling one another crude jokes unfit for polite company.

Still, no blind fool came over to tease Xu Xinyao or Ran Qingmo. People dressed like the three of them were usually sect disciples. If someone got killed for running his mouth, then most likely he was simply killed. Whether a few taels of silver were paid as compensation would depend entirely on the other party’s mood.

There was one man who, seeing the three of them walk away, opened his mouth with a lewd grin as though he wanted to mutter something. But another fellow grabbed the man and warned, “Those Immortal lords have sharp ears. If you want to die, go ahead and say it.”

The street was very long.

Near the end of it, the corner of Xu Yuan’s eye twitched again, beyond his control. He saw a line. A very long line, with roughly 20 people in it. Most were dressed in cotton or silk, and there were even a few low-ranking martial apprentices among them. They stood there silently without speaking, probably because they did not know one another.

Seeing these people, Xu Yuan looked at the tightly shut door with a strange expression.

Just as he was thinking about it, Ran Qingmo tugged at the corner of Xu Yuan’s clothes. “Xu Yuan.”

Xu Yuan answered softly, “What is it?”

Ran Qingmo looked at that tightly shut door and asked, “Mhm... what are they doing?”

“Don’t you have soul intent?”

“Master said that when walking outside, one must not casually use soul intent to probe others,” Ran Qingmo replied in her clear voice.

“He was right.” Xu Yuan nodded and withdrew his soul intent. “This kind of thing is better left unseen.”

“Then you know what they’re doing?” Ran Qingmo asked.

Xu Yuan shook his head without the slightest hesitation. “I don’t know.”

“Pfft.” Xu Xinyao, standing to the side, laughed out loud.

Xu Yuan looked back and glared at her.

Xu Xinyao pursed her lips.

Ran Qingmo looked at the siblings with confusion in her eyes.

Xu Yuan coughed lightly. “Enough. I’ll teach you another time when there’s a chance. For now, forget it.”

Beneath the veiled hat, Ran Qingmo’s lovely eyes blinked, and she gave a small nod. “All right.”

And as the three of them walked past, within that line, one martial apprentice quietly left the queue and followed behind Xu Yuan and the others.