Rong Xi Camp used to be a self-sufficient village in the mountains. The village leaned against the mountain and was situated by a stream. The villagers earned a living by hunting and fishing and cultivating rice terraces. The villagers all lived a sufficient life.
There were around ten families in the entire village with around seventy or eighty people, including the elderly and the children. They lived in houses made by stacking stones on the mountain flank.Â
âGreat Hero, we donât dare to lie. If the Rong Cityâs Castellan didnât force the men of our camp to work two or three years, let alone robbing, we would even return the bag of money picked it on the road.â The leader led Lin Si Yao to a stone house on the middle of the mountain flank, explaining gingerly.Â
âRecruited for what?â Lin Si Yao observed around. Indeed, just as the man had told him, there was an old woman around eighty years old and a month-old infant in swaddling clothes.Â
âI only heard it from the others. Seems we have to go and build a pagoda or a tower on a mountain in the East.â The man scratched his head, telling Lin Si Yao all the information he knew. \n
âWhich pagoda?â Lin Si Yaoâs eyes darkened. He asked in a low tone.Â
âErr⊠Which pagoda? The name is⊠Hey! Guang Zi, do you remember the name of that pagoda?â He frowned, thinking for a while but couldnât remember the name, so he asked the younger man who was also the one who had reminded him to not forget taking the carriages.Â
â⊠Yun Luo Pagoda. Yeah, right, itâs Yun Luo Pagoda.â The teenager then clapped his hands, nodded his head to confirm.Â
Lin Si Yaoâs both hands balled into fists. Good! Possibly, Rong Cityâs Castellan had taken the money he had given to Yun Luo Pagoda.
Immediately, Lin Si Yao turned around, throwing the chief a heavy bag of money. Then, he sprung, heading down the mountain until the thick tree branches covered his figure.Â
ââŠBossâŠWe⊠We had almost kicked an iron plateâŠâ The teenager pointed at the direction Lin Si Yao had disappeared, and said fearfully.Â
Right, if the one who had defended them hadnât been that mischievous young man but this cold-faced man, they would have been all killed. At this moment, perhaps they would have reunited with their ancestors in King Yamaâs hall.  \nâGuang Zi! How many coins are in⊠here?â The man pointed his shaking hands toward the open bag of money. He had only seen the silver fragments in bean-size. He had never seen silver ingots before. He and the teenager came and carefully calculated. Heavens! There were seventy silver ingots. That man had just casually given them seventy ingots. Who was he? This time, even if all the able-bodied men in their village were forced to build some pagoda, the women, children, and elders left home wouldnât be starving.Â
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âYou tell them that we will make a detour around Mount Qi Yun in the East of Rong City. Weâll depart right now.â Lin Si Yao returned to where the others were resting. Immediately, he ordered Situ Yun then scooped Su Shuilian, jumping into the carriage.Â
âDid something happen?â Su Shuilian broke the steamed bun she had heated and added some beef and pickled radish, bought from the inn, into the bun. She handed it to Lin Si Yao.Â
âNothing important. Itâs just the Yun Luo Pagoda on Mount Qi Yun that sheltered me for eight years. Donât you want to go there and see?â Receiving the sandwich from her, he smiled and asked.Â
Su Shuilian knew he wanted to change the topic. Otherwise, he would not want to make a detour so suddenly. \nVisit wuxiaworld.eu for extra chapters.
When night fell, the carriages had finally arrived at Mount Qi Yun, the border between Rong City and Gan Ming City. Mount Qi Yun, as its name implied, had clouds covering the peak making it look as if it touched the sky.Â
After ten years of changes and development, Qi Yun Town by the foothills wasnât a small village with several houses seventeen years ago. It had become an important, bustling town that connected the two cities in the West and in the East. Moreover, during the two recent years, Rong Cityâs Castellan had favored Yun Luo Pagoda on the mountain, which also made people rumor that Qi Yun Town to be a holy-land. Every day, so many pilgrims came and visited the pagoda. Â
âAre you going to visit Yun Luo Pagoda? Luckily, our inn still has several suits. They should be enough. Tomorrow, the weather will be pretty nice. You can go to the mountain to watch the sunrise. The sunrise on Mount Qi Yun is also an attraction. Many tourists come here just to behold it.âÂ
Yue Rong Inn, the biggest inn in Qi Yun Town, was built and managed by Rong Cityâs Castellan. It was a two-story courtyard with forty standard rooms and around ten single rooms which was enough to host only one person. The entire inn could host more than one hundred people at the same time.Â
Situ Yun talked to the receptionist and requested six luxurious rooms, of which one could host three people Yang Jing Zhi, Qing Lan and the female bodyguard Jian Yue from Blood Union. The four drivers stayed in the twin rooms on the first floor near the lobby to take care of their horse carriages. Â
After everything was arranged for the group, it was around 9.p.m. already. People took their dinner at the lobby before returning to their rooms to rest.Â
\nTomorrow morning, they will go to the mountain.Â
âSenior Uncle?â Situ Yun opened the door and saw Lin Si Yao with his harsh face.Â
âIâm going to the mountain. Stay alert.â Lin Si Yao indifferently instructed. Â
â..OkâŠâSitu Yun nodded. He watched Lin Si Yao turn and leave the inn through the window, disappearing into the darkness of the night.Â
âDid something happen?â A cold voice similar to Lin Si Yaoâs arose behind him. Situ Yun turned around, looking at Jian Heng, who was focusing on cleaning his sword. He didnât speak, as if trying to confirm that he was the one who had just spoken.Â
âItâs not a concerning tone.â Situ Yun rolled his eyes. He turned and lay on his bed. He looked as if he was sleeping but actually, he was concentrating on the commotion on the corridor outside. As his Senior Uncle wasnât here, the safety of his beautiful sister and the twins in the wet-nursesâ room diagonally opposite to his room was his biggest responsibility.Â
As for Lin Si Yao, he had put force into his feet and quickly climbed Mount Qi Yun, arriving at Yun Luo Pagoda, the familiar place in his memory.Â