The Legend of the Condor Heroes: From Being Expelled from Peach Blossom Island

Chapter 242 Tracking and Conspiracy

After leaving the oil shop, Wu Chengyu looked at the Big Wild Goose Pagoda in the distance.

This ancient city of Chang'an bears little resemblance to the later city of Xi'an, except for the Big Wild Goose Pagoda, which locals call a "rotten coward."

The Big Wild Goose Pagoda has undergone several renovations. It was originally built under the supervision of Xuanzang and was modeled after the Gaya Pagoda in India. It is a five-story brick-outer, earthen-core structure.

During the reign of Emperor Gaozong of Tang, the height was increased to nine stories, and during the reign of Empress Wu Zetian, it was reduced to seven stories, forming a unique structure of "seven visible stories and nine hidden stories".

During the Later Tang Dynasty of the Five Dynasties period, it was restored to seven layers. Later, during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, it was reinforced and an outer layer of 60 centimeters was added.

Therefore, the Big Wild Goose Pagoda that Wu Chengyu saw in later generations was much larger than the one in front of him, and it looked quite novel at first glance.

However, Wu Chengyu only sighed slightly, as the time he had been in the time travel had made him slowly forget many of his memories.

He glanced at the sky; the moon was already high in the sky. He immediately turned and left. Of course, he hadn't gone far when he noticed a tail following him.

There were four people in the tail. One of them was the same shop assistant from the oil shop, dressed the same as before. The other three were dressed in night clothes. Their tracking skills were quite good. The four of them took turns following, using some light-footed skills to maintain a certain distance so that the person being followed would not notice them, but they would not lose them either.

Unfortunately, this method might work against ordinary people, but it would be a huge mistake to use it against Wu Chengyu.

He simply darted into the shadows of the corner, and the four men could no longer see him. Some of them grew anxious, and the man quickly followed, only to find that the corner was already empty. They hurriedly split into four directions to search, but it was destined to be fruitless.

After the four of them ran away, Wu Chengyu slowly walked out from the corner of the street on the other side. He observed that one of the four was in the middle and was in command, so he used his lightness skill to quietly follow behind that person.

The four searched separately for a while, and finally reunited at the place where Wu Chengyu had disappeared. After whispering among themselves, the three of them did not leave but stayed nearby, while the leader turned and headed in another direction, completely opposite to the direction of Da Ci'en Temple.

Wu Chengyu followed him silently, which was also part of his plan; he was waiting for these people who were tailing him.

The Jin spies set a trap at the Great Ci'en Temple, where there must be experts waiting. But if Wu Chengyu doesn't go there, they won't leave anytime soon.

However, the Great Ci'en Temple was definitely not the real stronghold of these Jin spies. Since Wu Chengyu had agreed to help the Quanzhen Sect, he naturally wanted to eliminate evil completely.

Those masters are just blades; if the person wielding the blade doesn't die, it's useless for Wu Chengyu to kill any number of masters.

The person in front of me wandered around Chang'an City, and soon arrived at a market town. It was a place of dazzling lights and bustling activity, which turned out to be a brothel.

The man walked a few steps to a brothel. Just when Wu Chengyu thought he was going to visit a brothel again and wondered if there were any women from Mizhi inside, the man unexpectedly bypassed the brothel, went into a small alley, and came to the back of the brothel.

The brothel was brightly lit at night, but the back alley was quiet with only a few candles, creating a stark contrast with the brothel.

There is a courtyard in the back alley. People who don't know the situation might think that this courtyard is connected to the brothel. Even if they pass by in the alley, they will think that it is the backyard of the brothel. However, in Wu Chengyu's three-dimensional map, the two are separated by a wall. The brothel is just a cover for this courtyard.

The man walked to the courtyard gate, knocked lightly a few times, and someone immediately opened the door. They looked around but found no signs of being followed, so they quickly closed the door again.

Little did they know that Wu Chengyu had already scaled the wall and entered from their blind spot.

There were only two rows of houses in the courtyard. One row of houses was completely dark, and there was no sound of breathing inside. In the middle of the other row of houses, a light was on, and there were sounds of people talking inside. However, guards stood watch every two meters around this row of houses, completely surrounding them. There were also hidden sentries on the rooftops, leaving no room for anyone to sneak in.

Fortunately, Wu Chengyu didn't need to go there. He simply found a corner where people would likely overlook him, entered a state of deep concentration, and completely blended into the night. No one, whether it was their senses or intuition, would notice that someone was in that corner.

Next, he covered the row of houses with a 3D model, openly observing the people inside and listening to their conversations.

There were five people in the room at the time. One person was sitting at the table with a plate in front of him. He silently picked up something from the plate and crunched it. Judging from the smell, it looked like roasted soybeans.

The other four people stood to the side with their hands at their sides, each holding their breath and standing straight, not daring to speak easily. One of them was the person Wu Chengyu had been following all along.

After a while, the person sitting there seemed to have finished eating the soybeans, and then he remembered to speak. His voice was somewhat effeminate, unlike that of a eunuch, but it gave people the feeling of a venomous snake wrapped around their neck, cold and slippery, flicking its tongue from time to time, ready to pierce their throat at any moment.

"Number One, tell me about your situation."

"Yes, Chief," the man on the far left replied first.

"I was ordered to infiltrate the bandit army in Shaanxi. It was not easy at first. I finally managed to get in touch with a minor bandit leader and gain his trust."

He now intends to recruit me into the bandit army, but I still need to pass a test. I learned from him that the bandit army in the Qinling Mountains has recently begun to shrink, transferring many of its personnel from outside. He did not say the specific destination or reason.

In addition, according to him, some people in the bandit army who were quite good at training soldiers have emerged and have begun to train them rigorously. The bandit army's combat power has been greatly improved compared to before. They also selected some young people and trained them from a young age, but the specific training grounds and the source of the personnel are unknown.

Everything must wait until the subordinates officially join the bandit army before it can be reported to the leader.

The leader then picked up a few more soybeans, put them in his mouth, chewed them a few times, and said...

"After you infiltrate, you have three tasks. First, find out why they are retreating and whether they are planning something big."

Second, we need to find out the specific origins of those who trained the soldiers. I recently reported to the Song Dynasty's intelligence network that many of the descendants of Yue Fei's army who were hiding in the Song Dynasty have recently disappeared. These people have mastered Yue Fei's training methods and should not be underestimated.

If these people in the bandit army are descendants of Yue Fei's army, the consequences are unpredictable.

Third, I need to find a way to gain the trust of the bandit leaders and as much as possible to find out the whereabouts of the bandit leader Yan Chunyu. I want to find an opportunity to kill her in one fell swoop.

Since this woman became the leader of the bandit army, we have suffered a lot of losses. The last plan we devised, in which Number Two would infiltrate them by posing as a remnant of the Hebei bandit army, was extremely difficult, but this woman still managed to see through it.

Yan Chunyu is a woman who knows how to train troops and is skilled in strategy. She is a major threat to us and must be eliminated as soon as possible. Once she dies, the bandit army on the Jingzhao Prefecture Road will be leaderless and will inevitably fall into chaos. I don't believe they can have a second Yan Chunyu.

I heard she's changed her title to "Red Maiden," so let her blood stain her battle robes.

　I wrote until very late last night and ended up having insomnia. I still couldn't fall asleep at 3 a.m. I usually post new chapters around 7 a.m., so I just got up and posted the new chapter first, so I can sleep in a little tomorrow morning. Ever since I started posting 10,000 words every day, I've been getting up around 5 a.m. It's really exhausting. I just hope I can sleep in today.

　　Thank you all for your continued support.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)