Chapter 38: Within the Forbidden Grounds

With his fourth breakthrough, Lu Yan’s confidence soared. Even if he encountered a master like Liu Xingren, he would have no fear and might even win in a fight.

Once more, Lu Yan lay in wait outside the forbidden grounds.

He hid in the branches of a towering tree, quietly observing his surroundings. The forbidden area was vast, and though the two great clans had dispatched martial troops to guard it, how many could they really spare? Take the Liu clan, for example: their martial troops numbered only three hundred on the surface. Even with some hidden reserves, they could not exceed four hundred. They still needed to defend their own bloodline territories. To send two hundred martial troops here was already the limit.

Such a large area could not possibly be guarded on all fronts; it was not difficult to sneak inside. Only ordinary warriors dared not try, or perhaps they simply had no reason to.

Lu Yan watched for several hours, discerning the patrol patterns of the martial troops. Then, like a panther, he dashed forward, using rocks and vegetation for cover, and successfully infiltrated the forbidden grounds.

At the same time, he communed with the Dao Tome. The tome’s radiance flickered, vaguely pointing the way. Lu Yan headed in the direction it indicated.

“The Dao Tome’s guidance seems to point toward those collapsed peaks,” he mused.

Suddenly, he noticed someone approaching.

Swiftly, Lu Yan darted behind a cluster of massive stones.

Two martial troops passed not far away.

The outer perimeter was guarded, but within the forbidden grounds, patrols still roamed from time to time.

“If both clans attach such importance to this place, what on earth is hidden here?” Lu Yan’s curiosity deepened.

But he suppressed the urge. Curiosity, after all, could be deadly. His purpose here was to seek out martial sustenance, not to satisfy idle wonder.

After a while, Lu Yan pressed on.

Over the next half hour, he evaded three waves of patrols, drawing ever closer to the heart of the forbidden grounds.

“There, so many tents...” Lu Yan stared ahead, speechless.

The Dao Tome’s reaction was strongest toward that direction.

Yet there, as far as the eye could see, stood at least a hundred great tents, with shadows flickering between them.

The number of people far exceeded his expectations.

“There’s no way both clans could field so many martial troops,” Lu Yan thought.

Even the lowest martial trooper required one breakthrough. They also needed horses, armor, weapons—raising a single martial trooper consumed immense resources.

The Liu and Wu clans were only of the rank of Martial Marquis; they could not possibly afford to maintain so many troops.

Whatever the case, going that way was out of the question—too many people, too great a chance of detection.

Lu Yan could only turn and look left.

The Dao Tome still responded in that direction, though not as strongly.

Without hesitation, Lu Yan went left.

Soon, the terrain opened up.

Here too were a few guards, but Lu Yan slipped past them with ease.

Before him appeared ancient ruins: toppled columns, collapsed buildings, and enormous statues. He even saw a colossal altar, dozens of meters high, likely used for worship in ancient times.

The Dao Tome pointed directly toward this altar.

Lu Yan approached quietly and found that one side of the altar had crumbled, leaving heaps of rubble. The tome’s reaction was centered in that very pile.

He carefully searched, pinpointed the location, and began sifting through the stones with the lightest touch, wary of alerting nearby patrols.

Fortunately, the process went smoothly. After a short search, Lu Yan found a square block of bronze, very similar to the one he had previously bought from Li Helin.

Delighted, he tucked it away.

“The Dao Tome is still reacting,” he noticed, gazing deeper into the mountains.

Beneath one of the peaks, there was a cavern, its mouth gaping in darkness.

His objective lay within.

Lu Yan approached the peak, confirmed it was deserted, and slipped inside.

The cavern was spacious, filled with more ancient ruins—most weathered by time. The walls bore faded murals, now indistinct.

As he reached the center of the cave, a stench assaulted him.

In the middle was a deep pit. One glance inside made his stomach churn—he nearly retched.

The pit was packed with corpses, hundreds at least, some mere skeletons, some still rotting, maggots writhing, flies buzzing.

No wonder this place was abandoned.

Judging by their bodies, the dead were all young people.

“So many dead, and all of them young... Wait—” Lu Yan suddenly recalled how, on his first day in Kaoshan Village, the Liu clan had announced a recruitment of young men to join the army and learn martial arts.

Yet after Lu Yan joined the Crimson Guards and inquired, no one knew where those youths had gone. Their families simply received monthly stipends, so there was no outcry.

He had assumed those recruits were hidden away somewhere, training in secret—a common practice among noble clans.

Now it seemed clear: most were sent to the forbidden grounds, and many had perished here.

Suddenly, footsteps echoed.

Lu Yan slipped behind a statue.

“Hurry, toss the bodies and let’s go. The smell is unbearable.”

“Why do we always get this job?”

“Because our cultivation is low—only one breakthrough. Who else would dare? Enough complaining. Toss them and move.”

Two martial troops, each carrying a corpse, hurled the bodies into the pit and hurried off.

When they were gone, Lu Yan reappeared at the pit’s edge.

Sure enough, two more bodies had been added.

One had half its head missing; the other’s torso was mangled, the flesh torn and bloody—struck down by some terrible force.

Lu Yan sighed. In these times, human life was as cheap as grass, treated no better than livestock.

Without strength, one was at the mercy of others.

Such was the age. All he could do was strive to grow stronger, to ensure a better life for himself and his family. As for the rest, he was powerless.

After a moment, Lu Yan shook off his gloom and resumed his search for Dao sustenance.

Before long, he found a yellow-orange stone atop a broken statue. It looked utterly ordinary—most would mistake it for a common rock.

Were it not for the Dao Tome, Lu Yan would have missed it as well.

He pocketed the stone and consulted the tome again, but there was no further response.

“Two pieces of Dao sustenance from this trip—good enough. Time to leave,” he thought.

The heart of the forbidden grounds, near those collapsed peaks, held too many people, too many masters—perhaps even a Martial Marquis overseeing the area. He dared not venture there yet.

Only when his strength increased—at least enough to escape from a Martial Marquis—would he return to explore further.

Lu Yan quietly made his way out, avoiding two patrols.

Suddenly, the cooing of birds rang out.

Lu Yan’s expression changed at once.

It was the warning call the Liu clan used to alert each other.

Had he been discovered?

Impossible—he had not disturbed anyone.

But something was wrong. Lu Yan swiftly climbed a tall tree and concealed himself.

No sooner had he hidden than several figures came fleeing from the depths of the forbidden grounds, with many more in hot pursuit.

Waves of martial troops began to converge on the fleeing figures.

“We are from the Situ clan of Guangji City! Don’t kill us!”

“Are you trying to spark a war between clans?”

Their shouts rang out.

“Kill them!” came the cold reply.

Arrows whistled through the air—dozens at once—raining down on the three fugitives.

Two were not strong enough and were pierced through, dying instantly.

The third, though struck, survived by virtue of four breakthroughs.

But then a master from the Liu clan arrived—a five-breakthrough expert. His blade flashed, and the survivor’s head flew high.

“You discover our secrets and think you can leave?” the five-breakthrough master said coldly, his eyes like lightning.

“Tighten the patrols. Any intruders—kill without mercy.”

“Yes, sir!” the troops replied. Some removed the bodies, and soon the area fell silent.

Lu Yan waited a while longer, made sure the coast was clear, then climbed down and slipped away.

The patrols were now far more vigilant, but Lu Yan managed to leave the forbidden grounds unscathed and returned to Changfeng City.