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

Chapter 498 Past Grudges

In the fourth watch of the night, in the room of the deputy banner chief of Hoututang, a solitary lamp burned, and the faint snoring of Xiao Zhao could be heard from next door.

Wu Chengyu looked at the stone box in front of him but did not open it immediately. The box had no decorations on the outside and the lid fit perfectly. At first glance, it was just a very square stone.

But as soon as he got his hands on it, Wu Chengyu immediately knew that the stone used to make this box was no ordinary material. After all, it had been placed in that small space for a long time, next to a chimney. Even if there was no smoke or fire, it was only slightly cooler than the chimney next to it. The heat transmitted through the thick smoke through the stone wall was considerable.

Stones themselves absorb heat quickly but dissipate it slowly. In ancient times, people would place several stones on the stove during the coldest part of winter. The stones would get very hot from the heat, and even if the fire went out, these stones would continue to radiate heat for a period of time.

So this stone box, having been near the chimney for so long, should at least be hot to the touch, but surprisingly, it was ice-cold when I first got it.

After leaving the flue and being carried back to the room by Wu Chengyu, the temperature of the stone box actually dropped slightly, eventually settling at around zero degrees Celsius, as initially estimated.

Upon closer inspection, the material of this stone box is also unusual, much finer than ordinary stones, but it does not reach the quality of jade, or it looks like a piece of jade with extremely poor texture and clarity.

Wu Chengyu used the Canhe Finger technique, applying a slight finger strike to the stone with half his strength, but the stone remained unchanged, its hardness far exceeding that of ordinary stone.

Wu Chengyu suddenly remembered the Cold Jade Bed in the Tomb of the Living Dead. It was said that Lin Chaoying had found the treasure in the far west and transported it all the way to Zhongnan Mountain to make the Cold Jade Bed. So this stone box was also made of so-called Cold Jade.

After being removed from the flue, the temperature of the stone box initially decreased slightly, but then remained at the same temperature. It was essentially a small refrigerator, and one that never stopped running.

At this point, Wu Chengyu had to admire the thoughtfulness of the senior Hou Tuqi, who hid the stone box in a small, independent space within a large flue. It was certainly secretive, and it would be hard for anyone to have thought of it.

However, the climate of Kunlun Mountain is cold, and Hou Tu Tang is located in a damp mountain. The fireplace is usually lit in August every year and will be lit until April of the following year, a full nine months, keeping the space at a high temperature.

Given the century that has passed, if the box were made of ordinary materials, the contents would probably have rotted from the high temperature long ago. Only this kind of thousand-year-old cold jade, which maintains a relatively low temperature for a long time, can ensure that the contents do not deteriorate.

The box wasn't locked, but it hadn't been opened for years, and the lid seemed to be welded to the box. Fortunately, Wu Chengyu always carried Black and White Impermanence with him. Black and White Impermanence used black iron, black gold, and many other rare materials, and in terms of sharpness, it was definitely no less than the Dragon-Slaying Saber and Heaven-Reliant Sword of later generations.

Wu Chengyu, holding the White Impermanence, carefully pried open the stone box lid bit by bit along the seemingly lifeless crack. During the process, no poisoned arrows were suddenly shot out.

The contents of the box did not disappoint Wu Chengyu. At first glance, it was a blueprint of the same material and style as the sheepskin blueprint he had received before.

This time there was a large stack, but these blueprints had been stored in a stone box for a long time and never saw the light of day, so they were actually newer than the one in Wu Chengyu's hand.

Wu Chengyu opened these drawings, and as expected, they were the same drawings that Hou Tu Qi Gang had used to build the secret passage for the Ming Cult. Each drawing showed the structure of a section of the secret passage, and together with the original drawing, they formed a complete set of drawings for the Ming Cult's secret passage project.

Of course, Wu Chengyu still couldn't understand it, so he flipped through it briefly and put it aside. But under this stack of drawings was a thicker parchment, darker in color, folded three or four times. When unfolded, it was immediately discovered that it was a route map of the entire secret passage after it was built.

It indicates the distribution of various mechanisms in the secret passage, where the warehouse is, where the water source is, and where the leader's seclusion is. Most importantly, this secret passage has a total of five entrances.

Three of them are on Bright Summit. One of them is marked as being under a stone bed in a certain room, which is obviously the bed that Yang Buhui later used. Another one is at the location of the sacred fire at the highest point of Bright Summit.

The third is a secret room next to the main hall of the Ming Cult headquarters on Bright Peak. This entrance should be a place where the Ming Cult leader frequently enters and exits.

In The Heaven Sword and Dragon Saber, Yang Xiao was fighting a great battle with Wei Yixiao, Yin Tianzheng and the Five Wanderers when he was ambushed by Cheng Kun, who suddenly appeared from the side.

The fourth entrance is a hidden place outside Bright Peak. It is a secret passage that leads directly out of the Ming Cult headquarters on Bright Peak. This is probably the place Cheng Kun is most familiar with. He used to enter from here every time he had a secret meeting with Madam Yang Dingtian.

The last entrance is marked with a dotted line, and there is a line of small text next to it that says that even the leader of the Ming Cult did not know about this entrance. It must have been the escape route left by the leader of the Hou Tu Banner at that time.

However, this passage was probably never used. If it were for building an emperor's mausoleum, and the craftsmen were to be trapped inside and buried with the emperor, then this exit would have been the last straw.

However, the secret passage they built for the Ming Cult was intended for the future leader of the cult, so there was no need for them to be buried alive with the Ming Cult. The craftsmen of Houtu Banner should have been killed on the spot, with no chance of escape.

Regardless, Wu Chengyu has now achieved his goal. Being sent to Hou Tu Banner was a brilliant move; initially, he only thought Hou Tu Banner offered an opportunity, but now he's achieved his objective in one fell swoop, and is about to complete his main quest. The Great Shift of Heaven and Earth is inside the secret passage, and the map is in his hand. If it weren't for other side quests, he could have already obtained the manual, turned around and left the Ming Cult, returning to his carefree Jiangnan.

Inside the stone box, besides the blueprints, there was also a letter and a token.

The token is hexagonal, with the words "Five Elements" engraved on one side and an unreadable pattern on the other side, which looks somewhat like ancient pictographs. Wu Chengyu guessed that it represented the five elements: metal, wood, water, fire, and earth.

He put down the token first, then picked up the letter casually.

If any descendants of my Five Elements Camp see this letter, they will know the extraordinary injustice suffered by our ancestors in life and death. I hope you will all learn from this and take heed!
I recall the days when the Daoist Emperor sat amidst splendor, yet the tribute of flowers, stones, and birthday gifts was devoured like ravenous wolves. A thousand miles of fertile land were reduced to barren wasteland, and cries of despair filled the roads.

Fang La raised his arms in the lacquer garden to punish the wicked, and his followers flocked to him.

We, the brothers of the Five Elements Camp, are originally generous men from the North. In the past, we braved snow and wind, brandishing our swords to resist the tyrannical Liao. When the Jin invaders swept south, our homeland was plunged into carnage, forcing us to migrate south. We originally intended to join the banner of righteousness, to save the nation from collapse, and to rescue the people from the boiling cauldron.

Little did we expect Fang La to be so wicked! Upon hearing that our camp resolutely refused to convert to Manichaeism, he devised a vicious scheme.

They pretended that Xiaoshan was undefended, luring our elite troops out in full force, and secretly leaked this information to the Song court. The Song court's elite troops then surrounded our camp at Hangwu Mountain.

Alas, my loyal men, trapped in the snare of our comrades! A bloody battle raged all day, corpses filled the deep ravines, streams flowed red with blood; the pillars of the Five Elements Camp were all broken by the Song army's hail of arrows! Alas! To lose our blood relatives and kin at the hands of our comrades, how unbearable is our pain!
Fang La, a ruthless warlord, feigned compassion and gathered the wounded and exhausted men of my camp, forcibly merging them into his ranks, calling them the "Five Elements Banner."

It is called survival, but in reality, it is enslavement and exploitation. The iron flag is raised high, but it only serves to appease the villains; former comrades are now fish on the chopping block.

Every time I hear the drums and gongs, I seem to see the bloodshot eyes of an old friend gazing at me! For years I have endured humiliation, swallowing my anger and grievances, not to live a life of ignominy, but to await the moment when thunder roars from the heavens! Even a broken tree retains its deep roots; how could I forget the pain of lying on firewood for even a day?
I am the chief craftsman of Houtu Banner, commissioned to build the secret passage to Bright Summit. I have devoted many years of effort to chiseling through mountains and rocks, digging thirty feet into the ground, secretly employing the principles of Qimen Dunjia, and finally completed this secluded path. The difficulty of the project is beyond comprehension; the blood and sweat of my brothers have permeated the very marrow of the stone.

However! The day the secret passage is completed will be the day when all the craftsmen of our Thick Earth Banner perish! We foresaw this long ago.

Since ancient times, the art of emperors has been to discard their bows once the birds are gone; secrets are rarely kept by those who know them. We, who personally control the vitals of the secret passage, have drawn its entire map and know its key mechanisms, are now a hidden danger. How can we be allowed to remain hidden under the sun and moon?
Our lives are as worthless as grass, our deaths are insignificant. But the deep-seated hatred and unyielding resentment we harbor cannot be buried with us in the afterlife.

Therefore, in a desperate situation, braving great dangers, I left this book and the complete map of the secret passage here!

I only hope that one day our sharp blades will be drawn, and this sea of ​​hatred will be washed clean with the blood of our enemies! I hope you will cherish your lives, and that one day, wherever our armies point, we will wipe away this great humiliation together!
I now possess a token of the Five Elements Camp. Whoever holds this token shall be the leader of my Thick Earth Camp. Let us unite the descendants of the Five Elements Camp to exterminate the Ming Cult's descendants and appease our vengeful souls.

After reading the letter, Wu Chengyu finally confirmed his initial guess: the Five Elements Flag did not originally belong to the Ming Cult, but was acquired through a merger.

The Five Elements Banner was originally a Han Chinese resistance force against the Liao Dynasty. Later, when the Jin Dynasty destroyed the Liao Dynasty, they were forced to migrate south. Later, seeing the suffering of the people in the Song Dynasty and Fang La's rebellion, the Five Elements Banner joined the uprising.

Their unique tactics and formidable fighting power inevitably attracted Fang La's attention. However, the Five Elements Camp was unwilling to accept the Ming Cult's doctrines. After Fang La's attempts to persuade them to surrender failed, he led them into a trap set by the Song Dynasty army, resulting in the loss of most of the Five Elements Camp.

He then forcibly incorporated the remaining forces of the Five Elements Camp into the Ming Cult, transforming the Five Elements Camp into the Five Elements Banner.

After the Fang La Rebellion failed, the Ming Cult moved to Bright Peak and ordered the Five Elements Banner to work as laborers to build the Bright Peak headquarters. At the same time, they ordered the craftsmen of the Thick Earth Banner to secretly build a secret passage. After the passage was completed, these craftsmen, including the banner leader at the time, were secretly executed.

Left with no other choice, the leader of the Hou Tu Banner left behind this stone box, containing the secret passage map and all the grudges within the letter, hoping that the descendants of the Five Elements Camp would one day be able to avenge their grievances.

It must be said that before coming to Bright Peak, Wu Chengyu never imagined that things would unfold in this way. Most importantly, it is clear that the Five Elements Banner has been suppressed over the years and has never had a high status in the Ming Cult.

The flag lord and deputy flag lord were appointed by higher authorities. The original descendants of the Five Elements Camp had always endured humiliation and hardship. Pang Kun should be a descendant of the former Five Elements Camp. At most, they could only serve as general flag officers and could never truly control the power.

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(End of this chapter)