Chapter 30: All schemes are no match for his blade

A middle-aged man dressed in black martial robes, his hair tied with an iron crown, walked over slowly with a trace of a sneer on his face.

"I sensed it just now; Zhang Erhe's cultivation will definitely not exceed the middle stage of the Houtian Realm."

"The reason you were no match for him back then was because he had been tempered by three months of battlefield experience in Fengtian County, carrying a heavy murderous aura."

"Now, that aura has likely been completely worn away, and he has long since lost his former combat strength."

The middle-aged man looked toward Yao Gao and Fang Dahe and said indifferently, "Yu Ceng, the Lord of White Sorrow Mountain, was slain by the assassin Black Tiger. Within a three-hundred-mile radius of the martial world, my Sixth Master has no rivals left."

Yao Gao and Fang Dahe lowered their heads, not daring to make a sound.

The man before them was backed by the Zhao family—the Xiantian Realm expert, Cloud-Treading Tiger, Zhao Changchun.

Zhao Changchun was not only a Xiantian Realm powerhouse but also possessed ruthless methods.

The Zhao family's influence governed the underworld of Jiulin; destroying the Eighteen Camps of Qingshan would be no difficult task.

"Rest assured, my Sixth Master respects Zhang Erhe's righteousness and believes that you men of Qingshan Camp are true warriors."

A slight smile appeared on the black-robed middle-aged man's face as he reached out to pat Yao Gao and Fang Dahe on their shoulders.

"My Zhao family wants the Second Master to lead the call. If Qingshan Camp joins forces with my Zhao family, we shall control the three-hundred-mile martial world."

"Once it is done, you brothers can take the wealth and live as wealthy men."

"I, Zhao, am a man of experience, and I naturally know that as long as one can live a stable life, who would wish to live as an outlaw?"

Yao Gao's mouth twitched, but he did not speak.

"Um, you wouldn't... the Second Master won't have any trouble, will he?" Fang Dahe hesitated for a moment before speaking in a low voice.

"Haha, how could that be? My Sixth Master intends to make the Second Master the Alliance Leader of both Jiulin and Qingshan..." The black-robed man laughed, putting his hands behind his back as he looked toward the departing carriage.

Fang Dahe and Yao Gao lowered their heads and sighed helplessly.

On the other side, Kong Baitang emerged from the Zheng Family Manor accompanied by several attendants. By the side of the main road outside the manor, a grey-blue carriage pulled by two horses was already waiting.

Kong Baitang boarded the carriage and stepped into the cabin, where a thirty-year-old man sitting upright, dressed in half-body cyan-black leather armor, awaited him.

"How is it?"

The young man spoke in a flat tone.

Kong Baitang lowered his head slightly and recounted the events of the banquet.

"That Zhang Erhe lacks depth; he is likely filled with nothing but notions of righteousness and morality."

"Master Tao should be interested in this business."

"However, this matter requires careful planning; we cannot act too hastily—"

Opposite him, the black-armored youth pressed his palm against a long sword resting on a small table before him.

His fingers tapped lightly, making the atmosphere in the carriage heavy.

"Kong Baitang, is your Kong family unable to obtain iron cables and pulleys?"

"At the price I am offering, the people willing to fetch them could line up all the way to Luyang Prefecture."

"If it weren't for the fact that you have done many things for my Great Yan, do you think this young master would grant you this opportunity?"

The young man's voice was as cold as frost.

Kong Baitang trembled all over and hurriedly said, "Young Master Xiao, please give me some time, just a little more time."

"Zhang Erhe is nothing but a green youth; with a few tricks, I can have him in the palm of my hand."

"Rest assured, since ancient times, heroes have struggled to pass the test of beauty, let alone someone who has never seen the wider world."

"My Kong family has brought several Buddhist maidens from the Liangyuan Territory this time; I have a way, I have a way..."

...

On the road toward Luyang Prefecture, the carriage jolted along, its canopy creaking.

Inside the carriage, Zhang Yuan sat opposite Young Master Tao.

Young Master Tao looked at Zhang Yuan and smiled faintly. "Why didn't you just go with the flow just now, agree to Kong Baitang, and then uproot him and the Kong family entirely?"

"Given your temperament, you never leave behind anyone who tries to scheme against you."

The image of boundless righteousness had always been merely a facade for Zhang Yuan.

The real Zhang Yuan was always decisive in killing and never dragged things out.

No scheme was faster than his blade.

In truth, anyone who had survived the three months of bloody battles in Fengtian County was someone who was decisive in slaughter and ruthless in action.

When Young Master Tao handled the aftermath for Zhang Yuan, he never hesitated either.

"It's not just Kong Baitang." Zhang Yuan looked out the carriage window at the stretching mountain ranges, a sharp glint appearing in his eyes. "The mere Kong family cannot touch the true secrets of the pulleys."

"There must be secret spies from the Yan Kingdom lurking about."

Although he was only in his early twenties, his life experience far exceeded his appearance.

The smile on Young Master Tao's face slowly faded as he raised his hand and pulled back his left sleeve.

Beneath his scholar's robes, a folding hand crossbow was strapped to his forearm.

The difference with this crossbow was that at the folding string-pulling mechanism, two small steel wheels had been added.

"A crossbow equipped with pulleys can pull a bow with three times its strength using only one-third of the force."

"With the strength of one ox, one can fire a crossbow as heavy as three oxen."

Young Master Tao pressed his palm lightly against his arm, his eyes revealing a profound and irrepressible fanaticism.

"Once my Great Qin is equipped with tens of millions of these powerful crossbows, we can sweep across Yongtian Continent and unify the five nations..."

The pulleys and iron cables designed by Zhang Yuan based on his memory had long since been sent through the hands of the Vice Minister of War, Zhou Chang, to the master smiths of the Ministry of Works in Great Qin.

Back then, more than ten craftsmen from the Ministry of Works had stayed in Zhang Yuan's courtyard in Dingjia Alley for over a month.

Forging the pulleys and cables was not difficult; the difficulty lay in mastering the underlying principles and finding durable materials for forging.

The pulleys at Qingshan Camp were all forged by the Ministry of Works' smiths, partly to experiment with forging materials and partly because Zhang Yuan had requested it.

Before Kong Baitang, many had tried to forge iron cables and pulleys, but none could be used because they could not bear the weight.

Either they would break after a few uses, or they failed to provide enough mechanical advantage to reduce effort.

Kong Baitang had likely encountered this very problem, which was why he sought Zhang Yuan, intending to use silver to buy pulleys and cables.

He would not know that the people forging these cables and pulleys were all in the Ministry of Works, currently working at full capacity to forge various pulleys for military crossbows.

"I will go to see Wang Qinian. Hasn't he always wanted to deploy the Black Cavalry to experience the military might of the Black Armored Cavalry formations?" Zhang Yuan spoke, his posture straight.

Wang Qinian, the official of the Black Ice Platform in Luyang Prefecture, had risen from a ninth-rank spy to a sixth-rank official in only two years, and he had never even engaged in combat himself.

Such a legend had already spread within the Black Ice Platform; many said Wang Qinian did not even know the true power of the Black Cavalry.

Wang Qinian had also mentioned to Zhang Yuan several times that he wanted to move the Black Cavalry.

"You want the people of Qingshan Camp to witness it as well, and use it as a convenient way to intimidate them, don't you?" A hint of a smile appeared on Young Master Tao's face as he shook his head. "You still can't bear to let go of that burden."

Zhang Yuan did not refute him.

Indeed, he wanted those frogs in the well at Qingshan Camp to see that the Great Qin government did not refrain from destroying them out of lack of ability, but rather to use the strength of the martial world to preserve the bloodlust and courage of the warriors.

"However, the Zhao family stepping forward is an opportunity." Young Master Tao looked at Zhang Yuan. "That Cloud-Treading Tiger is no weaker than the White Sorrow Mountain Lord, Yu Ceng, whom you killed."

"What do you think about using him to shift the martial world's suspicions away from Black Tiger?"

The name Black Tiger was on the top hundred elite list; there were surely many martial arts experts searching for him.

Young Master Tao intended to transfer Zhang Yuan's identity as Black Tiger.

"It's not impossible." Zhang Yuan nodded. "Ordinary martial world hunts are no longer of much use to me, and Xiantian Realm assassination missions are extremely rare. There is indeed no need for this Black Tiger identity anymore."

"Furthermore, it would be much more interesting if the Black Armored Cavalry of the Luyang Prefecture Black Ice Platform, led by Black Tiger, led the Black Cavalry to execute Black Tiger." The smile on Young Master Tao's face did not fade, his eyes shining with wisdom.

"The credit this time will be enough to allow Wang Qinian to rise another step. You, too, could become the official of the Luyang Prefecture Black Ice Platform, commanding the entire prefecture's Black Ice Platform and Black Cavalry."