Chapter 306: Chaos At the Deflecting Blade Manor!
Chapter 306: Chaos At the Deflecting Blade Manor!
The talk with Zhao Qianqiu went very successfully, as expected of the instructor in charge of imparting the Art of Commanding.
His standing towered far beyond the other instructors, allowing the matter regarding Gao Feng, Nie Yan, and the others to be resolved very quickly.
Gao Feng, Nie Yan, Xu Qi, Chen Burang, and Sun Zhiming were originally banned from leaving the training camp without permission, but with Zhao Qianqiu's backing, they managed to receive the privilege to do so.
While they weren't completely unrestrained like the recruits under Zhao Qianqiu, such as Wang Chong and Su Hanshan, they were at least allowed to move freely for half a month for every month now.
Without wasting any time, Wang Chong immediately sent them to the spirit vein to train so as to prevent a situation such as that with Abutong from occurring once more.
At the same time, the rise in their cultivation would also be beneficial for the wars that would occur in the future.
They were the generals that Wang Chong had his eyes on in the future. The stronger they were, the greater Great Tang's hope for survival was.
----
"Wang Chong!!"
"Wang gongzi!!"
Three days later, in the Deflecting Blade Manor, just as Wang Chong was brewing a pot of Tie Guan Yin while basking under the hot sun, deafening shouts suddenly rose outside.
Accompanying those excited shoutings were flurried footsteps that seemed to indicate a huge crowd was swiftly nearing the manor.
"What is going on?" Wang Chong nearly dropped the teacup in his hands from the abrupt shouts. He and Zhao Jingdian glanced at one another in astonishment.
The Deflecting Blade Manor was a distance away from Kunwu Training Camp. On top of that, for fear of a backlash from the royal court, Wang Chong had also moved very carefully in his recruitment process. As such, other than him and the others, very few people would come here. Thus, something was clearly amiss with the ruckus outside.
"Jingdian, go and take a look,” Wang Chong instructed as he glanced outside.
Nodding, Zhao Jingdian placed his teacup back on the table before heading out. Under Wang Chong's influence, he was slowly growing interested in tea as well.
Wang Chong thought that Zhao Jingdian would return swiftly, but it took half a tea's time before Zhao Jingdian finally re-emerged at the doorstep of the courtyard with a look of astonishment on his face.
"What is going on?" Wang Chong frowned.
"Gongzi, there are many people outside. All of them have expressed their interest in joining the Deflecting Blade Manor!" , Zhao Jingdian said after organizing his thoughts momentarily, a bizarre expression on his face.
"What?" Wang Chong was taken aback. Pressing his hands against the violet rattan chairs, he abruptly stood up in shock.
Join the Deflecting Blade Manor?
He hadn't even sent out the invitations yet, why would there be so many people here?
"I'll go out and take a look." Without any hesitation, Wang Chong immediately walked out of the courtyard.
Hong!
The mountain wind blew. As soon as Wang Chong stepped out from the gates of the Deflecting Blade Manor, a deafening ruckus immediately filled his ears. In that instant, he felt as though he had stepped into an entirely different world.
Zhao Jingdian had said that many people were here, but Wang Chong only got a clear idea of what 'many' represented at this moment.
The crowd on the mountain definitely numbered in the thousands. It seemed as if all the recruits from White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, Black Tortoise, and Azure Dragon were all here.
"Wang gongzi, please accept me!"
"Wang gongzi, I wish to join your Deflecting Blade Manor!"
"Me too! Choose me!"
"Wang gongzi is here! Let's go!"...
Upon seeing Wang Chong, the faces of the crowd immediately flushed with excitement. To Wang Chong's shock, there were quite a few ladies from the Vermilion Bird Peak here as well.
However, their chatter formed a stark contrast with the others in the surroundings.
"So that's Wang Chong. He looks dashing!..."
Wang Chong's mind plunged into chaos.
What was going on? Why were there so many people expressing their interest to join his Deflecting Blade Manor?
"Lad, these people are here to join the Deflecting Blade Manor. For some reason, they found out that we have extended our invitations to a few people in the training camp, and rushed here to join the Deflecting Blade manor. Those who have rejected us initially have suddenly changed their mind as well. Most importantly of all, they seemed to have found out that gongzi is the owner of a huge spirit vein beyond the capital!"
Behind him, Zhao Jingdian reported the intelligence he had just gathered as he slowly walked down the slope.
"What?!" Turning around, Wang Chong stared at Zhao Jingdian in astonishment.
How did these people learn of the spirit vein!?
He had never told anyone about the spirit vein other than his own team, and there was no way Xu Qi, Gao Feng, Nie Yan, and the others would reveal the matter to another soul.
Wang Chong had absolute trust in them.
"... Furthermore, rumors have it that the spirit vein gongzi found is exceptionally huge. The spiritual energy there is exceptionally dense, and ten days of cultivating there can reap equivalent results to months of hard work elsewhere. Thus, the group standing before us now doesn't just consist of those from Kunwu Training Camp. Even those from Shenwei and Longwei are here, as well."
"In other words, everyone knows about the existence of the spirit vein now?" Wang Chong asked.
"That's right!" Zhao Jingdian nodded seriously.
In an instant, Wang Chong's face turned grim.
This matter was far more severe than he had thought. If this news wasn't just confined to Kunwu Training Camp, it would mean that it was known throughout the entire capital by now.
Wang Chong understood the significance of a massive spirit vein. There was no power or nobility who could possibly resist this allure.
In his previous life, up to the point that the spirit vein exploded, no one had noticed it despite its proximity to the capital.
In that moment, there were countless who, just like Wang Chong, felt that it was a huge pity.
This was also the reason why Wang Chong rushed to claim the spirit vein as soon as he acquired the resources to do so.
However, how did this matter get exposed?
One must know that even the Wang Family guards were kept in the dark about the true nature of this operation. They only knew that an extensive construction work was going on deep in the mountain.
That was how far Wang Chong went to conceal this matter.
But the news still eventually leaked somehow, and the matter was spiraling out of control.
In that instant, Wang Chong panicked.
No matter what, he didn't believe that Gao Feng, Nie Yan, and the others would betray him.
Someone must have intentionally let the news out!, Wang Chong thought. He had no doubt about that.
Honestly speaking, he was extremely displeased by this matter.
Who is the person who spread the news out?, Wang Chong thought.
He disliked the feeling of being led around the nose by someone else in the dark.
Hualala!
While Zhang Xuan was in contemplation, a letter pigeon suddenly swooped down from the sky. Wang Chong stretched out his hand and grabbed it.
There was a simple note tied to the leg of the pigeon, and two familiar, thick brush strokes were written on it.
"It is a letter from teacher!"
Whenever the Demonic Emperor Old Man sent a letter to Wang Chong, he would leave two thick brush strokes on the back to indicate his identity.
This was the first time Wang Chong had received a letter from him since he came to Kunwu Training Camp.
"So that is what happened!"
After reading the contents of the letter, the frown on Wang Chong's forehead tightened, but the mystery which had confounded him had been resolved.
The Demonic Emperor Old Man's note was rather short, mentioning only that a suspicious group of men had appeared in the vicinity of the spirit vein recently.
Wang Chong's teacher hadn't fully recovered yet, so he wasn't able to view the situation clearly from his location then. However, he could tell that all of them possessed exceptional cultivation, and their armor was clearly that donned by the guards of the royal court.
One of them was even holding onto something resembling a geomantic compass.
Even though the Demonic Emperor Old Man stopped the letter here, this was more than sufficient for Wang Chong.
Indeed, someone has intentionally spread the news regarding the spirit vein. It seems like even teacher has heard of the news. Considering how chaotic it was already here, there must have been quite a few people who went to check out the spirit vein in the past few days, Wang Chong thought.
The only consolation at the moment was that Wang Chong was at least smart enough to spend the money to buy the mountain, as well as the land surrounding it.
Furthermore, the Wang Clan's name was also strong enough to deter most powers from doing anything extreme. No one would dare to intentionally cross Duke Jiu.
On top of that, the Imperial Army instructors were stationed on the spirit vein as well. Thus, the situation should be still fine for now.
As long as Wang Chong refused to sell the spirit vein, no one would be able to do anything to him.
Most probably, that bunch of men chose to intentionally expose this news to fluster Wang Chong.
Since someone was holding a geomantic compass, that person should be a seer. Only those who engage in divination would use a compass. However, how did that person manage to divine the location of my spirit vein?
Wang Chong was perplexed.
Since no seer was able to divine the presence of a spirit vein in his previous life, why would it be different now?
That presence of the spirit vein had been concealed by an immense congregation of malicious aura, and that should have been able to confound most seers. Otherwise, considering the massive spiritual energy gathered in the area, how could it possibly remain undetected until the day it exploded during the catastrophe?
Thus, Wang Chong found it inconceivable that someone actually managed to divine the location of his spirit vein.
A divergence in destiny had truly occurred!
"WANG CHONG!..."
Just as Wang Chong was deep in thought, a snappish voice sounded out. A valiant lady with a spear behind her back appeared below. Before her presence, the crowd immediately split apart to open a pathway for her to pass through.
A few guards of the Deflecting Blade Manor stepped forward to stop her, but Wang Chong hurriedly halted them with a wave of his hand!
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