Chapter 145: The Zhouzhuang Mission

Zhouzhuang was not a mountain resort, but rather a small village.

Although its scale was not particularly small, it lacked any sense of prosperity. A few dozen households lived scattered across the desolate wilderness, the entire village merely an untidy accumulation of crumbling mud-and-tile houses. Two intersecting gravel paths formed a cross shape that neatly divided the settlement into four quadrants.

On the two narrow streets, there were only a few grocery stores, pawnshops, blacksmiths, pharmacies, and roast-meat shops. At the entrance of the village, not even a vegetable market could be seen.

The Dark Night Flowing Light Sword was hidden in such a poverty-stricken village? Zhang He found it impossible to believe, no matter how he thought about it.

Yet this was precisely Zhouzhuang, and the lifeless place Fairy Lingyin had told him to visit.

The old NPC was clearly quite advanced in age, with white hair at his temples and deep wrinkles on his forehead. The hospitality he offered Zhang He consisted only of a small basin of yellow rice and a tiny saucer of pickled mustard greens to accompany it.

To be honest, these items were truly hard to swallow, and Zhang He would have much rather returned to the banks of the Nan River to roast and eat snakes.

However, upon seeing the old man's dirt-smudged child at the doorway staring longingly at the basin of rice before him, Zhang He could not bear to face the pure, hopeful gaze of the children. He could only make the excuse that he was not hungry, whereupon the children happily scooped up the rice basin and ran out into the courtyard.

This village was simply poor—too poor—so poor that Zhang He felt any words he might speak would be superfluous.

"The Alliance Master and his wife have already passed away and ascended to immortality?" At this moment, the old man's hair seemed even whiter, his demeanor even more aged, as he kept muttering this phrase over and over.

"Village Chief, please accept my condolences," Zhang He could only offer this word of comfort.

The old man sighed and said, "Years ago, when the Alliance Master passed through Fengling Ferry, this humble old man was still a woodcutter in this village. The Alliance Master, knowing that Zhouzhuang was plagued by endless banditry, led me back to this estate overnight. The Alliance Master and his wife kept watch here for three days and three nights, eliminating a total of more than fifty bandits from various factions. From then on, our Zhouzhuang lived in peace and contentment, full of joy and harmony. Although those are events of more than ten years ago, they remain vivid in my mind as if they happened only yesterday..."

Zhang He asked, "Then, what about the Dark Night Flowing Light Sword?"

The old man replied, "That sword has a unique trait. Whenever a night is windy and the moon is high, or when it rains incessantly, the sword naturally emits a bright light. Bandits from afar could see that as long as the sword was present, the master was present, and thus they dared not make a move. But..."

Seeing his tone shift, Zhang He had a bad feeling.

Sure enough, the old man sighed and said, "Half a year ago, a group of pugilists arrived. At first, they asked to borrow the sword for temporary use, but since it was originally the Alliance Master's possession, how could I lend it out? Afterward, they decided to offer a heavy bounty to purchase it, which I naturally refused even more firmly. Who would have thought that a dozen days later, the sword would vanish into thin air?"

"Could it be that these people stole it?" Zhang He asked in surprise.

The old man nodded helplessly: "After the theft, I naturally kept quiet and inquired everywhere about the sword's whereabouts."

Zhang He asked, "Then did you find out anything?"

The old man sighed and said, "Three hundred li north from here lies Mount Gaoshen. Legend has it that a treasure is buried within the mountain, amassed by the Chenzhou rebel army during the Yellow Turban Rebellion at the end of the Han Dynasty. Later, when the Chenzhou righteous banner provoked an extermination campaign by the imperial court's elite troops and suffered defeat, they retreated to Zhouzhuang at the end of their rope. It was then that someone proposed opening the treasure hoard to plot a comeback."

Zhang He listened quietly, never expecting the Dark Night Flowing Light Sword to have such a significant background.

The old man sighed: "Unfortunately, this treasure could never be opened by human strength alone; it required the specific key belonging to the treasure to unlock it."

Zhang He could not help asking, "What kind of key is it?"

"It is precisely this Dark Night Flowing Light Sword," the old man explained. "This sword possesses a spiritual connection and recognizes its master, chiming and glowing by itself in the dead of night. Without this sword, the treasure can never be opened. Therefore, back then, the Chenzhou rebel army entered the treasure mountain and was completely helpless. Ten thousand people could only starve to death in the deep mountains, and barely more than a dozen survived. Through the succession of generations, it became the dozens of households up and down this village today. I have heard that my ancestors were the women and children of the army at that time, dispatched to a neighboring province to borrow grain, and thus miraculously escaped that great famine..."

Zhang He's heart was sinking bit by bit; matters seemed to be developing in the direction he least desired.

"Village Chief, according to what you say, that group of pugilists clearly came for this treasure, which is why they tried to borrow the sword, and when borrowing failed, they resorted to covert theft?" Zhang He analyzed.

The old man nodded weakly: "They have already found the treasure and excavated it. However, recently Mount Gaoshen has been plagued by endless disasters, and the treasure has changed hands through many twists and turns. I hear that this newly arrived group has already entrusted the Baili Escort Agency of the capital to transport this treasure, and I believe the Alliance Master's sword has already fallen into their hands."

Zhang He finally let out a sigh. He knew he had run into big trouble once again—to be precise, monstrous trouble.

Sometimes, whatever you fear most is precisely what comes to you, and what you wish for is precisely what fails to materialize. How you handle such encounters in life depends entirely on how you seize the moment.

Yet Zhang He could not help but admire this NPC old man deeply: "Village Chief, you would rather endure poverty and hardship than use the treasure sword to unearth that treasure. It shows your noble character and high integrity, which makes we younger generations feel utterly ashamed."

The old man smiled bitterly: "When the Alliance Master drew his sword to help the oppressed back then, he did not use it to unearth the treasure, but instead entrusted the sword to me for safekeeping to deter bandits. If the Alliance Master himself was unmoved by wealth, how could we break our faith and secretly excavate the treasure? Besides, after all these years, the Han Dynasty has long perished; what use would it be for us to unearth the treasure? The imperial court of today is not without ambition; the current emperor governs with diligence, pacifying the realm and bringing peace to the common people. Should the fires of war ignite once again, how many families in the Southern Dynasty would be torn apart and left destitute? Why put ourselves through that?"

Zhang He fell silent. What the Village Chief said made a great deal of sense, but having traveled through countless hardships to reach this place, could he simply stand by and watch the Dark Night Flowing Light Sword be hauled away by the Baili Escort Agency?

Fortunately, the old man continued: "Young man, since the Alliance Master and his wife have already passed away, and Miss Lanlan has entrusted you to retrieve the sword, this humble old man is incompetent and failed to properly safeguard it. I wonder if you might retrieve this sword on my behalf and return it to the Alliance Master?"

As soon as he finished speaking, the system chime sounded: Respected player, do you wish to accept the Zhouzhuang quest?

This time, Zhang He hesitated just a little. Since the system was prompting him to accept the quest, the difficulty of this undertaking was likely to be substantial. But since he was already here, what harm was there in trying his luck with an adventure? As the saying goes, wealth and honor are sought through danger.

Of course, although his inner thoughts were somewhat gloomy, his spoken reply had to sound polished: "Both the Alliance Master and the Fairy have shown me great kindness; retrieving the divine sword is naturally my bounden duty. However, I must still consult the Village Chief regarding many detailed matters."

The Village Chief's expression relaxed, and he said, "I will naturally tell you everything."

Exiting the Village Chief's house, night had already fallen. Zhang He had more or less asked about all the necessary circumstances. Furthermore, the Village Chief presented him with a martial arts manual, reportedly left behind by Feng Yi back in the day. Since the old man did not know martial arts, keeping it was useless, but Zhang He understood that this manual was essentially the deposit for this quest. Once you accepted this quest, you had to complete it; otherwise, should you abandon it halfway or interrupt it for any other reason, the system was very likely to deduct your attribute points, and in severe cases, even revoke your martial arts.

*Transferring Flowers and Wood*, Usage Requirements: Level 50 or above in Nourishing All Things internal energy, range of 20x20 meters, requiring at least two or more enemy units, consuming 5 points of internal energy attributes per second. Effect: Transfers 20% of attack damage.

This was an internal energy manual, and moreover an intermediate martial art—practically a utility-based supporting combat skill. With this manual, he would at least have some assurance of safety when facing multiple enemies.

However, Zhang He still could not bring himself to feel happy, because based on the Village Chief's account, he already knew that the Dark Night Flowing Light Sword had currently fallen into the hands of the Baili Escort Agency, and the system-imposed time limit for its retrieval was ten days.

In other words, if the Baili Escort Agency set off tomorrow, failing to retrieve the sword before they left Fengling Ferry would mean Zhang He's quest to recover the sword was essentially a failure. Fengling Ferry was a crucial transportation hub; regardless of who obtained the sword and left from there, numerous alternative routes were available. Pursuing them would not only be exceptionally difficult, but also extremely time-consuming.

Furthermore, the ten-day time limit indirectly indicated the perilous nature of this quest, leaving Zhang He with very little time to spare.

The real problem was that snatching the Dark Night Flowing Light Sword from the Emei Sword Sect and the Baili Escort Agency was practically akin to pulling teeth from a tiger's mouth—perhaps even more difficult than that.

One had to remember how many visible and hidden factions were currently eyeing this precious cargo! Not a single one of the various factions embroiled in this turmoil was an easy opponent.

Death Verdict, the lesser figures of the Emei Sword Sect, the Wind and Cloud Hall, the Golden Palace Clan, the Sun and Moon Divine Cult... The backgrounds of these factions were larger than the last, outrageously so. To snatch the sword away under the control of these factions—should he carve a path through a sea of blood, or take it with resourcefulness?

Beneath the starlight, Zhang He wore a pensive expression.

At that moment, the children in the courtyard had finished eating their basin of rice and were chasing each other, frolicking and playing.

Mimicking the swordsmen and martial arts heroes of the pugilistic world, they wielded bamboo poles and tree branches, brandishing them wildly. Among them, a slightly older child leader wielded a long bamboo pole, standing imposingly in the center of the courtyard as he shouted, "I am Guan Yunchang of Jingzhou! This general has been dispatched by Liu Huangshu to capture the rebels. Will you lot surrender immediately or not..."

Zhang He's eyes lit a spark; he had finally figured out the general direction for resolving this matter. At that moment, a milk-white carrier pigeon came fluttering through the evening air. Zhang He removed the pigeon ring and took a look, a slight sense of relief washing over his face. The note conveyed information that Ma Junmei and Hua Feihong were hurrying in this direction, closely followed by the fat couple, while Zhong Shuman had departed due to urgent matters and was already heading toward the capital.

To complete the quest of the Dark Night Flowing Light Sword, relying solely on himself was indeed impossible. But with helpers, things would be different. If soft tactics failed, they would use hard ones; if hard ones failed, they would use strategy. Even if it meant stealing or robbing, he had to get his hands on that sword. Otherwise, the hardship of the entire journey, wandering as a refugee from Chu Prefecture to Chenzhou, would have been completely in vain. (To be continued)