One day later.
Heiya Ridge.
"This is the place. We were ambushed by the bandit leader of the Black Wind Stockade and a mysterious person just as we were about to leave this mountain," Gu Mo pointed forward and spoke.
Old Ma was still puzzled and said, "For so many years, the leader of the Black Wind Stockade and the old man have not crossed paths. Why would they suddenly rob the old man's escort this time? Everyone knows the old man's strength. Is he not afraid that the old man will drag him down before his death?"
Jiang Yuan said, "There is only one explanation. Either the goods my father was escorting this time were tempting to him, or the mysterious person proposed a condition that tempted him."
Gu Mo nodded: "Indeed when we accepted the goods for the escort that day, the client paid a tempting price."
"What price?"
"A deposit of a hundred taels of gold, and another thousand taels of gold upon delivery."
"His!" Old Ma took a sharp breath: "So generous? A thousand taels of gold, which is equivalent to ten thousand taels of silver. What could possibly be in this small brocade box worth such a price?"
"Is there a catch?" Jiang Yuan suddenly asked.
Gu Mo thought for a moment and then shook his head: "There shouldn't be. The old man has escorted countless goods through his years in the martial world, he is very experienced. People have asked him this question before, and he said there's no problem."
Jiang Yuan nodded, trusting Jiang Zhenyuan's judgment.
Having wandered the martial world for so many years, his experience was definitely much richer than his own, and his considerations were more thorough.
What's more, he had experienced it himself, and his judgment must be more accurate than his own speculation.
Then Jiang Yuan asked, "Do you know what my father was escorting?"
Gu Mo shook his head: "I don't know. We have never opened that brocade box. As escorts, we can't pry into the goods of the client. This is an iron rule!"
Jiang Yuan touched the brocade box on his body and became curious.
After thinking for a while, he gave up.
It's not worth it. There's no need.
Moreover, he still has to deliver this escort himself.
Otherwise, what about the compensation for the more than twenty escort brothers who died here?
Those escorts are the pillars of their families, and possibly their entire family relies on them for support.
Now they have died here following Jiang Zhenyuan and without sufficient compensation.
One can imagine that many tragic things will inevitably happen.
Since he took on this karma, he has to fully understand it.
Then, Jiang Yuan said, "Let's go! Go into the mountain and bring all their bodies back to Lin'an County. Let their souls return to their hometown and their leaves return to their roots."
Just then.
Gu Mo suddenly said: "Young master, there are some people following us from behind!"
"Don't mind them. My father's accident will be known to the whole city soon! As long as they don't come up looking for death, let them be."
"Yes!"
As Jiang Yuan and the other two entered the forest.
Several masked figures suddenly appeared in the open space here.
Someone looked up and said: "Heiya Ridge? It's a must-pass route for Jiang Zhenyuan, it seems that Jiang Zhenyuan might really have fallen here."
"Speculation is useless, just go in and take a look!"
"Which force are you from, brother?"
"Shenwei Martial Arts Hall!"
Heh heh! You wish!
I'm from the Shenwei Martial Arts Hall myself.
The man thought to himself.
As soon as Jiang Yuan and the others entered Heiya Ridge, the light dimmed instantly.
From time to time, a few eerie cries of black crows came to their ears, sending chills down their spines.
"This place, at first glance, is a place of great danger. Why would the old man choose this path?"
Old Ma muttered.
"This is the only way!" Gu Mo said.
After a while.
Old Ma's eyes were bloodshot as he looked ahead.
He saw that within a range of a hundred meters in front of him, there were bodies lying horizontally and vertically, all with missing parts.
Since they were all martial artists with extraordinary skills.
Even though they have been dead for several days, their bodies were still filled with a formidable aura, and the black crows circling around only dared to probe repeatedly.
Especially one of the bodies, even though it had been dead for many days, no crow dared to approach it.
The next moment.
Old Ma took a deep breath and opened his throat towards the front.
"Roar!"
A roar like a thunderbolt on a flat ground. Immediately, large flocks of black crows flew into the sky.
Then, Old Ma walked over.
He touched their faces one by one, his lips moving slightly as if he was silently reciting their names.
Old Ma's feelings this moment, Jiang Yuan could not experience, but he could understand.
Among these people, some of the young talents were even watched by Old Ma as they grew up step by step.
For Old Ma, some were like brothers, and some were like sons.
He had been lonely for most of his life, and these people were his closest family.
In the distance.
Someone stood on a tree branch and saw this scene, his expression became solemn.
"Indeed, Jiang Zhenyuan really had an accident, and it seems that all the talents of the Zhenyuan Escort Agency are buried here!"
Below, someone was slowly approaching in a strange way.
"What is he going to do?" Someone behind him asked.
"He probably wants to confirm whether Jiang Zhenyuan is among these bodies. We are so far away, we can't see their faces clearly."
On the other side.
Jiang Yuan felt the masked man behind him getting closer and closer, and his brows furrowed slightly.
After a moment, Jiang Yuan said: "Gu Mo, take action!"
"Yes!"
Before the words had even fully left his lips, Gu Mo's figure seemed to transform into a gust of wind, racing toward the man behind them.
Not good!
The man felt Gu Mo's intense killing intent and his pupils suddenly contracted as he hurriedly retreated.
However, the next moment.
He pulled out a black iron rod from the black cloth behind him, gritted his teeth, and met Gu Mo head-on.
"Shenwei staff! It seems he is indeed from the Shenwei Martial Arts Hall!" someone in the distance commented.
Another person's face instantly filled with embarrassment, because he had just impersonated a member of the Shenwei Martial Arts Hall in front of this man.
Fortunately, his face was covered with a black kerchief, so no one could see his expression.
Someone else questioned: "Why doesn't that person from the Shenwei Martial Arts Hall flee? Why is he choosing to face Gu Mo directly? Gu Mo is a Body Forging seventh-layer master, how can this sixth-layer man be his opponent?"
The man then exclaimed: "Wait! Gu Mo, why is he holding an ordinary iron sword, has he given up his saber for sword practice?"
"How is that possible?" someone else scoffed: "Gu Mo of the Zhenyuan Escort Agency, who doesn't know his saber skills are outstanding and his talent is extremely high. How could such a master of saber skills give up his saber for a sword?"
"As for why he doesn't run away, haven't you noticed the vast difference between their speeds? Running away would just expose his back and get him killed even faster!"
While they were discussing, a scream came from a distance.
"How is that possible?" someone exclaimed in shock.
They saw that the man from the Shenwei Martial Arts Hall had fallen straight to the ground, with a column of blood spraying from his neck.
"What happened? Did anyone see it clearly?"
The man asked in confusion.
"All I saw was a flash of sword light, and then the man from the Shenwei Martial Arts Hall was decapitated, along with his staff." A man nearby swallowed hard and replied.
"This...how is this possible? One sword killing a Body Forging sixth layer master, are you kidding me? When did Gu Mo become so terrifying? Moreover, he wasn't even using his favored saber, it was just a very ordinary iron sword, how could it cut through the Shenwei staff?"
In the face of this person's doubts, no one could give an answer at this time.
They were still in a state of shock. The scene before them was far beyond their expectations.
They could think that the man was not Gu Mo's opponent, the advantage of a Body Forging a seventh layer versus a sixth layer was too great.
But no one expected that the man would not even be able to withstand one round, being killed instantly by a single sword strike.
At the same time.
Gu Mo from a distance said: "My young master has said, anyone who dares to approach, will be killed without mercy!"
The last three words sent a chill down everyone's spine.
The strongest among those who could come here was only at the Body Forging sixth layer.
With this precedent in mind, who would dare not take his words to heart?
It wouldn't take much effort for Gu Mo, who could kill the man from Shenwei Martial Arts Hall with one sword, to kill them.
In the distance, Gu Mo gave the crowd a cold look.
After confirming that they would not dare to move again, he turned around and went back.