The rain pattered against the eaves, and in the rain-soaked long street, a middle-aged man in a raincoat was cupping his fist in salute towards the approaching horse caravan. Search: \[Complete God Station] to read high-quality literature for free.

"...My surname is Zhao, Zhao Si. Thanks to the respect shown by everyone on the road, I've been given the alias 'Cover It.' In the Lüliang area, if anything comes up, look for me, Zhao Si, and I can usually put in a good word. Since you're here on behalf of the Big Boss, I'll take care of everything from here on out. May I ask, what are you all called?"

" 'Cover It,' not a simple name." The scholar on horseback cupped his fist. "I am Ning Yi, known in the Jianghu as the Blood-Handed Butcher. This beside me is the City-Burning Spear Zhu Biao, along with my brothers. Greetings, Master Zhao."

The young scholar's voice was slow and measured, filled with a strange Jianghu air. The young man named Zhu Biao on the horse next to him greeted Zhao Si and then lowered his head, his eyes shining: "City-Burning Spear... what a cool alias." "Cover It" returned the salute: "I've heard of you."

He frequented the Lüliang area, but hadn't heard of such a formal title as "Master Zhao." After sizing up the two, he thought to himself, "They look like a couple of greenhorns..."

The power structure around Lüliang Mountain was complex. Although the Green Wood Stronghold was open for business and had already achieved a certain scale, traversing the smuggling route through Lüliang was still not easy. Without connections or someone to make introductions, it was basically impossible to even get started. This Zhao Si was one of the Green Wood Stronghold's guides on the outside. He appeared to be in his thirties or forties, with a slightly rusty broadsword on his back. His eyes gleamed with a hint of shrewdness, suggesting that his martial skills might not be very high, but he was the type who was well-connected in the Jianghu. This was probably why the Green Wood Stronghold chose him.

Ning Yi and the others had left all their carts behind in the nearby area and switched to horses to carry the goods into the mountains. They were using the contact method and code left behind by Hong Ti. Although they were connected to the Big Boss, it wasn't anything extraordinary, and it was hard to say where they were coming from.

Zhao Si sized up the caravan along the way. Before long, he had made his calculations. These people were clearly from some influential families in the south. The fact that the leaders were all young suggested that they were heirs sent out by these families to gain experience. This was probably the first time the caravan had traveled this route, but the men in the rear of the group all had strong builds and decent martial skills. Their spirit and energy when walking even resembled that of soldiers. At least south of Lüliang Mountain, they could be considered half a strong dragon.

However, such a strong dragon often amounted to nothing once it crossed the mountain. In the business of traveling north and south, especially when leaving Lüliang, what was needed was not sharpness, but the adaptability to find a way out in any environment. Otherwise, once across the mountain, in the chaotic mix, even a dragon had to coil, and a tiger had to lie low. A team of one or two hundred people, no matter how strong, couldn't be too strong. What was most feared was a young leader, who was rigid and easily broken.

Zhao Si thought to himself, but as a guide, he had to do his job properly. Although the Green Wood Stronghold had developed from within Lüliang Mountain and appeared to be a bandit stronghold to the outside world, it had already established strict rules and rewards internally. In the eyes of Zhao Si and the others, these rules were learned from the southern armies by the Big Boss, "Blood Bodhisattva," but they didn't know that the young man in the carriage at the rear was the one who had established these rules for them.

After the two sides joined, they traveled in the rain for another half day before truly entering the Lüliang Mountain range. This area of mountains stretched endlessly, the roads were rugged, and the population was sparse, making it a different place from the south.

Located on the border, Lüliang Mountain was not only in a state of war for many years, but also suffered from poverty. The crisscrossing loess slopes, sparse vegetation, and crops grown here usually had poor yields. Potatoes, which would later be relatively suitable for planting here, had not yet been introduced to China. Water wasn't scarce, but heavy rains could easily turn into floods.

The people who lived in this kind of place had either left or died. Those who remained did so not so much because they couldn't bear to leave their homeland, but because they simply had no desire to move. Two hundred years ago, this place was relatively peaceful, but since then, years of war and scorched-earth tactics had swept through it. Some people died, while others hid in the mountains, searching for new places to survive. The total amount of food was already small, and some of it was taken away, leaving only cannibalism.

In years of famine, eating people in the wilderness was not uncommon. After the Wu Dynasty gradually developed, there was enough food outside Lüliang, although it was difficult to say if it directly helped Lüliang Mountain in any way. In the past few decades, there hadn't been many famines that led to cannibalism, but people were still starving to death. Given the limited total amount of resources, in order to feed some people, others would inevitably starve to death. This was the most cruel law of survival, regardless of human compassion or malice.

When people were on the verge of starvation, they would do anything. This area was like a breeding ground for Gu. Over time, most of the order had been broken, morality had become vague, and no one talked about ethics. Only survival itself became clear. The people who survived in this environment were extremely cruel, extremely simple, or both... It wasn't that no one wanted to establish order, but those who tried usually failed, ending with blood and death.

Occasionally, they would have some conflicts with the outside world. And occasionally, when the outside armies thought there was profit to be made, they would come in, try to kill a group of people, and then hand them over to the state as the results of bandit suppression. Apart from the victims themselves, basically no one cared about such things.

In such a situation, surviving was not much different from the wolves in the mountains.

"...This mountain is unsafe everywhere. Outsiders basically can't get in." The rain had stopped, and as they traveled along the mountain road, Zhao Si pointed to the surroundings and introduced, "To the west of here, there used to be a bandit named Zhang Dabao, who was famous for a while, for about... two years, I guess. Then he died, killed by the second-in-command of the stronghold. His body hung on the mountain for a few months. The second-in-command took over for less than half a year, and the stronghold was gone. Now, several groups are fighting back and forth, all crazy. A group of hunters has set up camp over there, very arrogant, not giving face to anyone, so we have to take a detour."

"...Speaking of those who can be considered somebody, a little to the northeast, the more famous one is Little Xiangma Qiu Mengtang, who is said to be related to Tiger King. He has many men under him now and has quite a bit of momentum. After passing by, there's Chen Zhenhai, the 'Rampage Mountain King' of Chenjia Canal, and Luan Sanlang, the 'Black Skull King' of Skull Stronghold. After passing our Green Wood Stronghold, there are probably the Fang brothers, Fang Yiyang... In addition, a group of Liao people recently came from the north. They are said to be the remnants of the Liao army after the Liao Dynasty fell, with as many as two thousand people. They have had several conflicts with our Green Wood..."

Zhao Si was a local snake and knew the major forces in Lüliang Mountain like the back of his hand. Sometimes, when a group of people appeared on the side of the mountain road, he would go over to negotiate. After exchanging a series of codes, the other party would silently let them pass. In fact, in such mountains, the problem wasn't the major forces, but some small bands of Xiangma who didn't follow the rules at all. Large forces often had rules to follow, but those who only cared about the next meal and moved from place to place were very troublesome. Even if the Green Wood Stronghold had agreed on rules with them, these people might be found dead on the mountain a few days later, replaced by another group. Therefore, the Green Wood Stronghold had spent a great deal of effort to maintain this winding mountain road.

Often, Ning Yi and the others could see wooden stakes stuck in the ground near the mountain road. Some of the stakes still had corpses or skulls on them. The exposed bones and decay were the most barbaric warning signs, but there were few corpses left, indicating that there had been fewer killings recently. More often, there were only empty poles that had been standing for who knew how long.

"The group just now, the leader is called Huang Yuan, a pack of wolves, but they have to give us face... These places were all taken by the Big Boss back then. There was a row of heads at the time, and blood flowed down from them, turning the entire slope red." After sending away a group of road blockers, Zhao Si returned, waving his hand to introduce the surroundings. He looked at Ning Yi and the others, with a hint of self-satisfaction on his face. "Now, to enter the mountain, Master Ning, who has his own team, will naturally be led by Zhao Si alone. If they are some scattered individuals, we'll let them wait for a group to enter together. We still have to send dozens of people to follow them. It's like this now; the road was even more chaotic back then..."

Zhao Si was talking about the situation when the Green Wood Stronghold first started doing these things. Although Lüliang Mountain was chaotic, there had always been smuggling through here. Either there were truly skilled and daring镖师 (bodyguards), or some merchants who took risks for profit. Although Lüliang was chaotic, it was sparsely populated. Once they got through, they could make a big profit. It was very difficult when the Green Wood Stronghold and others first contacted these merchants. Even locals had to fight several times to get through.

Later, as the business began to grow, the Green Wood Stronghold, which could provide income and food, also expanded rapidly. In order to maintain a relatively stable road, Hong Ti and others traveled almost every mountain. They negotiated terms, made introductions, fought, killed people, either in small groups or in large-scale firefights. In the end, the number of wooden stakes planted on the entire road was basically the same as the number of heads.

During this period, there were naturally those who wanted to get a piece of the pie, but in fact, only the Green Wood Stronghold had truly established relationships throughout the entire route. People who wanted to lead a team through were often turned into food by the "wolves" guarding the road. There were also those who were fearless and blocked the road or destroyed it, wanting to extort the Green Wood Stronghold - which was naturally extremely stupid. Soon after, someone would lead a team to kill them.

"...That's how it is, sweeping it again and again. Now, when the name of our Green Wood Stronghold's Big Boss, 'Blood Bodhisattva,' is mentioned, who dares not avoid it!" As the caravan moved forward, Zhao Si looked at Ning Yi while talking. He originally wanted to scare this young master with these cruel things, but after talking for a long time, he felt somewhat bored.

Ning Yi listened to these things with great interest. Hong Ti wouldn't mention these things when she saw him, such as killing until the blood flowed like a river, or various firefights. Naturally, she hadn't mentioned the "Blood Bodhisattva" alias, which was gradually becoming frightening in Lüliang. Blood Bodhisattva... how many people would you have to kill to get such an alias... Compared to a good alias like "River-Mountain Iron Sword," "Blood Bodhisattva" was clearly a minor character's name. He had to laugh at her when he saw her.

"It's also because of this that the people in the stronghold haven't gone hungry since last year. Because of the Green Wood Stronghold's sharing, the surrounding mountains are also doing better." Zhao Si was still a simple mountain man, and now he looked at Ning Yi, "Master Ning, you're from the south, you haven't seen people starving to death, have you?"

"There was also a famine in the south last year," Ning Yi smiled, "Speaking of which, about the rumors that have been circulating recently about your female leader looking for a husband..."

Zhao Si's gaze turned cold: "Master Ning, are you interested in this?"

"I do want to see it."

He said he wanted to see it, not that he wanted to participate, and Zhao Si's eyebrows relaxed slightly: "Hmph, that's just a rumor on the road. I don't know who's spreading it in secret, causing a bunch of people to rush to the stronghold recently. The Big Boss has superb martial arts. With a sword in hand, a hundred people can't get close to her. How can those ordinary people compare? Martial arts competition to find a husband, a bunch of things that don't know how to die..."

He rambled: "From back then until now, the Big Boss has roamed hundreds of miles of Lüliang with a sword, and how many heroes and ruthless people have turned pale at the news. Lu Shang of the previous year, a ruthless person among ruthless people, highly skilled in martial arts, and didn't recognize his relatives when killing people, ran to our Green Wood Stronghold to make trouble, wasn't he still chased by the chieftain for a day and a night and then killed? Last winter, the Old Wolf Lord, the most powerful in the western mountains of Lüliang, saw that our Green Wood Stronghold was growing stronger and plotted to ambush the Big Boss. He chased her all the way in the mountains. The Big Boss, with a sword and a torch, even encountered the most deadly wolf pack in winter, but she managed to fight her way out. Seven days later, the Old Wolf Lord thought the Big Boss was dead, but he was beheaded in front of everyone by the Big Boss. And there was even further back, a gang of horse bandits from Fenyang..."

Seeing that Ning Yi was interested in these things, Zhao Si was quite proud when he talked about these things about the "Big Boss." But after rambling for a while, he noticed that the expression in the eyes of this young master seemed to have changed. He was still smiling and softly asked, "At this time, do you still need your chieftain to run around outside? What about you?"

"There are naturally people around the chieftain." Zhao Si waved his hand, "But Lüliang Mountain is too chaotic. Some people follow the rules, some don't. It's hard to explain these things to you clearly... Moreover, how high is our chieftain's martial arts? Let me tell you, Zhao Si only learned three killing moves from the chieftain, and only after coming out to do things did I get the name 'Cover It.' It's hard to tell you these things. If some blind fool comes along, you'll know..."

Being accused of only letting the chieftain go out to do things clearly made Zhao Si feel a little uneasy, and he added a lot of words. Ning Yi smiled and didn't ask any further. After walking for a while, there was another mountain pass ahead. A team of people in the mountain pass was looking in this direction from a distance. Zhao Si gestured, then spurred his horse and continued to negotiate.

It was already afternoon. After walking for a while, everyone set up camp in a mountain area nearby. This hill didn't seem barren. There were strange rocks and dwarf trees, and not very dense bushes and grass in the distance. A small stream wound through the mountains. As the sun set, everyone chose a place with a wide view, and they could see the ruins of a village in the distance, which was obviously uninhabited now. Ning Yi stood on the foothills, looking at the direction where the sun was setting.

Zhu Biao, carrying his spear, walked over from not far away: "I exchanged a few moves with that 'Cover It' just now. The martial arts here are different from the south. They are all trained in life-and-death battles, and they focus on momentum. If an average expert can't withstand that desperate ruthlessness, they will be killed in two strikes, but if they can withstand it, it's hard to say."

Ning Yi also smiled: "They practice swordsmanship here not for competition. If you withstand it, they will naturally turn around and run, and then retaliate by any means possible."

Zhu Biao's martial arts attainments were much higher than Ning Yi's, and he naturally understood these things. In fact, although he was talking about Zhao Si's momentum, for Zhu Biao, with the cultivation of people like Zhao Si, whether or not there was momentum made no difference in a real fight. This was mainly because the gap was too big. He grinned and said, "Brother Ning, are you thinking about Senior Lu's affairs?"

"When I first considered Lüliang Mountain, I had the idea of smuggling." Ning Yi put his hands behind his back and frowned, "Opening the door to do business is about profit. But with profit as the core, it is difficult to cultivate enough loyalty. I'm afraid that several bosses will unite for profit. Everything develops well usually, but when it comes time to take action, everyone will be timid."

He paused: "So, I reminded her back then that the armed core in her hands was the most important thing, and that people who could fight had to be controlled with the strictest discipline. And when cultivating cohesion, her personal martial arts and charisma had to be used. As long as a martial arts grandmaster knows a little bit of management, the possibility of being betrayed will be much smaller. But now it seems... Has she cultivated this personal charisma a little too much?"

Ning Yi's tone was quite complicated as he spoke. When he first entered the mountain and heard various things, he naturally found them interesting, and he regarded Lu Hongti's alias of Blood Bodhisattva as a joke. As for things like killing and killing, Ning Yi certainly yearned for a more peaceful life, but he had a deep understanding of the dark side of the world. It was only after listening to Zhao Si's self-satisfied boasting for a long time that he truly extracted complex emotions from it.

"...What Lu Shang, what Old Wolf Lord. Zhao Si's words certainly have a discount, but it certainly can't be too fake. What about one person, one sword, and one torch, facing a pack of wolves in the snow and ice, with people chasing after her? Brother Zhu, what do you think?" He thought of the woman facing the wolf pack in the snow and ice, and for a moment he felt quite beautiful, but then, he couldn't help but sigh.

Zhu Biao shrugged: "Well, I think... wolves also understand human nature. If it's just one or two wolves, I might be able to scare them away. Senior Lu is so powerful, ordinary wolves probably wouldn't dare to bite her."

"But that's the snow and ice, a pack of wolves that have been hungry for a winter..." Ning Yi waved his hand, "Her martial arts are already high, and she only needs to put on a show every year for her personal charisma. As for the rest... high-pressure policies, mysticism, and the like are not good to use. She also likes to do everything herself. Letting her raise a group of people is to do things for her. Is she raising them for show? When I get there this time, I have to take a good look at what her stronghold looks like..."

Zhu Biao had been working under Ning Yi for more than just a day or two, and Ning Yi had taught him a lot of things. He curled his lips and smiled, knowing that he didn't need to say anything. At this moment, he suddenly sensed something and looked towards the distance. In the sparse poplar forest over there, birds flew out with a whoosh, and then there was a bang. The sound wasn't loud. After the sound, everything returned to silence.

Like a gust of wind suddenly sweeping across the foothills, half of the hundred or so people who were setting up camp in the distance were alarmed at this moment and looked over there.

It was an almost suffocating silence. In the camp, Zhao Si rushed out, jumped onto a large rock, unsheathed his steel knife, and waved his other hand to the rear: "Don't panic!" Of course, no one was actually panicking.

Inhale, exhale. In the poplar forest, a figure suddenly flashed, and in the intersection, a short scream of "Ah" was heard. Then, a figure appeared on the tree, and there was the sound of weapons clashing. Here, only simple sounds were heard.

"Who!"

"Come out--"

"Yah!"

"Everyone be careful, they're tough--"

Some of these sounds were shouted out, and some stopped abruptly. Blood stained the poplar forest, and a head rolled across everyone's vision. Then, a corpse with its chest split open was thrown out. Obviously, just now, two small groups of people had met silently in this small forest and then engaged in a short but deadly battle.

Zhao Si couldn't figure out what was going on. He looked back. In the setting sun, the people behind him scattered across the mountains, some with knives, some with guns, some with crossbows, silently forming formations, with almost no one speaking, and a chilling murderous aura. Several people were still looking at him on the big rock in confusion. A young man who had talked to him before, hiding behind a rock, tilted his head, silently indicating to him: you haven't come down yet, what are you doing standing up there.

In the more distant place, the two young men leading the team had also slightly changed their positions, silently and quietly sizing up everything below, with almost no surprised expressions in their eyes. In fact, with Ning Yi's personality, in a chaotic place like Lüliang Mountain, there was no way he would only place his safety on a guide from the Green Wood Stronghold. It might seem troublesome if something unexpected happened, or if someone had a brain cramp, but it wasn't enough to surprise him.

Turning back again, with the corpse being thrown out, a figure slowly withdrew from the forest. It was a tall man. Zhao Si had seen him in the caravan today. This man had a scar on his face, was burly, and had a steady pace. He seemed quite skilled, and even in Lüliang Mountain, he was probably a tough guy that others wouldn't dare to mess with. In Ning Yi's team, he served as a small team leader. At this time, the man had a steel knife stained with blood in his hand. He made a few gestures towards the top and then walked to a pile of rocks behind him, concealing his figure. Then, several people successively withdrew from the forest, who were members of the small team responsible for guarding under his command.

"There are three to four hundred people, coming from the southeast..." Zhu Biao interpreted the information sent by the other party and told Ning Yi. Ning Yi nodded: "Pick up Nie Shan and them."

The Nie Shan he mentioned was the name of the man below. This Nie Shan was originally a small leader in Liangshan. He was cruel and killed many people. Later, he was instructed in martial arts by Lu Hongti in the Dulonggang camp - mainly, he was beaten up. After repenting, his martial arts improved. In fact, most techniques, whether martial arts or art, after reaching a bottleneck, what can promote a breakthrough is often philosophical understanding, that is, the tempering of the heart. The repentance in Dulonggang certainly had its twisted side, but it also brought a kind of extreme fanaticism. With such people, plus the later training focused on the team as a team, in the small-scale skirmishes of sentry duty in the forest, they were almost a nightmare-like existence. The elite vanguard of the other party sneaking into the forest was almost wiped out as soon as they made contact.

The movement in the mountains was quiet and orderly. Some were guarding, some were packing things. Nie Shan and others had also come from below. From afar, when the first batch of people appeared in the field of vision, Zhao Si saw two people here drawing bows and setting arrows, and continuously shooting down several figures with a swish swish swish. The other party quickly retreated, but then there were more and more of them, surrounding them from the southeast.

"Master Zhao Si." Ning Yi approached, "At this time, what kind of people do you think it is that can have three or four hundred people coming over?"

"Damn it." Zhao Si gnashed his teeth, "This is still the territory of the small bandits. When we passed that mountain pass just now, we greeted their people. Qiu Mengtang, does he not want to live? He's attacking us, what is he thinking, damn it!"

Saying these words, Zhao Si looked around. Seeing that these hundred or so people were gathering and moving, the spirit and energy on everyone's body did not show the slightest disorder, and he finally confirmed that these people were indeed not simple. He gritted his teeth and rushed out towards the place where the figure appeared.

"Qiu Mengtang! Chieftain Qiu!" He shouted loudly towards the figure over there, "I am Zhao Si of Green Wood. Today, I am bringing my brothers through, by the order of the Big Boss! You have already received the toll, what is this! Have you taken the wrong medicine! You dare to break the contract with my Green Wood Stronghold--"

A small brother in a mountain stronghold dared to challenge the other party, which was the might that Green Wood Stronghold had drawn out in blood. In the warm yellow sunset, a voice came from over there, it was the small bandit who roamed Lüliang.

"Zhao Si. I want to leave behind the batch of people you are leading today. As for what happens afterwards, my Little Xiangma will personally explain it to Blood Bodhisattva." The tone sounded a bit lazy, but it was driven by internal force. Because the atmosphere here was solemn and quiet, it echoed throughout the mountains, stirring up a cold aftersound, "I will only say this once, you can go."

On the mountain, Ning Yi frowned: "I always encounter things, it's really inexplicable..."