Chapter 323 - 188: Conflict of Personalities

Chapter 323: Chapter 188: Conflict of Personalities

Bai Xiaosheng awkwardly scrambled up from the ground.

"Younger Brother Gongsun, she..."

Bai Xiaosheng started to speak, then hesitated.

"Fatty Jiang, don’t ask what you shouldn’t." Zheng Xiu patted Bai Xiaosheng’s shoulder. "Not every ’secret’ is worth risking your life to uncover."

Xie Luohe shot Fatty Jiang a look, a faint, unreadable smile on her face.

Jianghu Bai Xiaopang shuddered and forced a smile, nodding. "Younger Brother Gongsun is absolutely right, absolutely!"

"What do you two think?"

Zheng Xiu looked at the mountain wall.

It was pockmarked and uneven.

Xie Luohe’s attacks had left craters all over its surface.

"Back then, Lord Nie personally came to Yanzhou to oversee the flood control efforts. That must have been when he secretly built his treasure vault here. Otherwise, the historical records wouldn’t be reduced to just a few lines. What’s more, I’ve learned that none of the craftsmen in charge of filling in the river survived. Perhaps... they all died for this ’secret’."

Keeping a secret comes at a price.

"Come here."

Still sulking, Xie Luohe beckoned to Zheng Xiu.

The perfectly normal gesture looked utterly ridiculous when performed by her mummy-wrapped hand.

Zheng Xiu stifled a laugh and walked over.

"Knock on it."

Xie Luohe jutted her chin toward the stone wall.

"Do you want me to knock as hard as you did, or just tap lightly?"

"You idiot," Xie Luohe chided with a laugh, pointing to her ear. "Let me hear the sound inside."

Zheng Xiu understood at once and rapped his knuckles against the stone wall.

"Here, here, and here. Over there. Come on."

Xie Luohe casually ordered Zheng Xiu around. After he had knocked back and forth all over the stone wall, she pressed her ear against it to listen, then stood at one spot and nodded. "This is it."

"And?"

Xie Luohe’s gaze was certain, her eyes shining. "There’s a hollow space inside, and I can hear the faint sound of water. If we dig into the mountain wall from this spot, going about five feet down and thirty feet in, we can reopen the underground river. Once we do that, we can follow the river upstream and get into the treasure vault."

After being rubb—no, after being bear-hugged by Zheng Xiu, Xie Luohe had once again regained her usual composure.

Bai Xiaosheng, hearing this, wasn’t surprised at all by how Xie Luohe had figured it out.

Ever since he had personally witnessed Xie Luohe’s "Demonization," he would have found it perfectly normal even if she were to levitate on the spot by stepping on her own feet.

Bai Xiaosheng no longer saw Xie Luohe as a Human.

He even had the urge to go and rewrite the Weapon Manual right now, moving Xie Luohe’s ranking from fiftieth all the way to the top.

Her title would be: Luohe Divine Arrow.

While Jianghu Bai Xiaopang was gravely considering the important matter of "rewriting the Weapon Manual"...

Xie Luohe walked over to Fatty Jiang.

Fatty Jiang was so startled he scrambled back a few steps. "Luohe Divine Arrow, what are you trying to do?"

Xie Luohe: "?"

"Ahem, what I meant to ask is, what can I do for you?"

Xie Luohe said calmly, "Bai Xiaosheng, I want to make a deal with you."

"A deal?"

"I know you are well-connected and resourceful in the Jianghu. Could you hire a team of skilled craftsmen to clear the underground river channel that’s been blocked for years?"

Hearing this, Bai Xiaosheng’s eyes narrowed. "What’s in it for me?"

Xie Luohe’s calm tone suddenly became firm and decisive. "My share and Gongsun Mo’s share of the treasure in Nie Gong’s Treasure Vault will be yours! You can even take the ’secret’ of Nie Gong’s Treasure Vault for yourself! Whether you want to announce it to the world or keep it to yourself, it’s all up to you!"

Zheng Xiu was taken aback. ’She really doesn’t see me as an outsider, huh? She’s even throwing in my share just to get Fatty Jiang to help.’

After telling Fatty Jiang her proposal, Xie Luohe gave Zheng Xiu a playful wink.

Zheng Xiu’s objections instantly vanished.

’Whatever you say, goes.’

Bai Xiaosheng mulled it over for a moment. This "deal" was no loss for him at all. The "secret" of Nie Gong’s Treasure Vault—the very idea of it—held an extraordinary allure for him.

Bai Xiaosheng had spent his entire life tirelessly uncovering the secrets of others, the secrets of history, the secrets of the Court, the secrets of the world. Now, a secret that had lain hidden for nearly a century was right in front of him. Even if Xie Luohe hadn’t asked, he would have done everything in his power to get inside and investigate.

Fatty Jiang agreed on the spot and headed back to the city to make preparations.

Before she left, Xie Luohe glanced at her two mummy-wrapped hands, then at the pockmarked mountain wall, and departed with a sigh of resignation.

When they arrived, Zheng Xiu and Xie Luohe had each ridden their own horse, but with her hands bandaged up in this sorry state by Zheng Xiu, she obviously couldn’t hold the reins. Zheng Xiu let one of the horses go free, mounted the other, and held out a hand to Xie Luohe. "Get on."

In that instant, Zheng Xiu’s posture and smile silently overlapped with a scene from a dream. A fleeting, dazed look crossed Xie Luohe’s face, and she hesitantly climbed onto the horse behind him.

During the ride, Xie Luohe’s hands were wrapped around Zheng Xiu’s waist, but she kept her body a finger’s-width away. They rode in silence.

Unaware of the turmoil in Xie Luohe’s heart, Zheng Xiu got her settled back in the city before returning to the street to set up his painting stall.

He opened for business and earned three taels of silver.

Bai Xiaosheng was indeed efficient. The very next day, he told Zheng Xiu that he had already found the twenty-six best craftsmen in all of Yanzhou. They were now rushing to Li City and would arrive in about ten days.

Now, all they could do was wait.

Zheng Xiu touched the lump on his forehead and hesitated for a moment, but ultimately decided to wait for the craftsmen to arrive.

’So something really did happen to Dugu Xiang.’

The appointed time had passed, and Dugu Xiang still hadn’t shown up. Zheng Xiu thought of the great fire at Hidden Sword Manor that night, and of the man Fan Yao, who had "wasted forty years of his life," and everything became clear.