Chapter 327: Chapter 327

Those people understood—this was the time limit Xiaoyao was giving them. If too much time passed, their young master would starve to death. This was a very painful way to die that would make the Cao family master anxious, and he would surely use the fastest time to find ways to resolve this matter. If there were no other methods, naturally he would raise ransom money to save the person.

However, at this moment there was still a problem—a very important problem.

"Where will the ransom be exchanged?"

"At Black Wind Stronghold." Xiaoyao said indifferently.

"Black Wind Stronghold?."

Everyone felt surprised and unexpected about this. Everyone understood what kind of place that was. With Xiaoyao saying the ransom would be exchanged there, could it be he was from Black Wind Stronghold?

"Are you from Black Wind Stronghold?"

"Of course. Who else do you think would dare be so bold as to kidnap your Cao family young master?" Xiaoyao nodded. He seemed to want people to think he was from Black Wind Stronghold. Why was this?

"Impossible. Little divine doctor, how could you be from Black Wind Stronghold? You just saved us." The old man's son spoke up first at this moment, very agitated and expressing disbelief—absolute disbelief.

"That's because I wanted to use you to create confusion. By saving you, who would think I'm from Black Wind Stronghold? But now it's not needed—I've already achieved my purpose." Xiaoyao said indifferently, making it impossible to see his emotional changes. It seemed the previous events were just one of his schemes.

"No, impossible." The old man's son shook his head.

"What's impossible? You're too naive—let me show you the evil of human hearts." After Xiaoyao finished speaking, he punched the old man's son who was nearby, sending him flying. The old man's son immediately vomited blood and was seriously injured, then fell to the ground unable to get up.

"Son. You... you..." The old man was very agitated. He couldn't understand this matter and wanted to say something but couldn't speak.

The old man's son soon received treatment from Doctor Sun. What Doctor Sun found strange was that this injury looked serious, as if the person was about to die. The vital signs were weak but very stable.

No matter what, he would first help with treatment and do what he could.

"Common people are so easy to deceive. Alright, I don't need to teach you what to do next. I'm leaving the city first—don't let me see anyone following, or I'll continue letting your young master bleed." Xiaoyao clapped his hands, then mounted his horse and prepared to leave.

"Please wait." Those Cao family people called out to Xiaoyao. This wasn't because they had other ideas, but because they still needed to clarify something—something very important.

"You haven't told us where Black Wind Stronghold is?"

That's right—where was Black Wind Stronghold? No one knew this. Where would they find this Black Wind Stronghold to pay the ransom?

Regarding this matter, Xiaoyao naturally didn't know either. He wasn't really from Black Wind Stronghold—he originally wanted to know this very thing. So why did he say this?

Was it because he never intended to take this ransom—the ransom was just a pretense, so he randomly named an unreachable place? Or did he have another purpose?

"You'll find a way..." After Xiaoyao finished speaking, he galloped away. Those people didn't pursue either, because they were afraid of what Xiaoyao might do. Also, outside East Sea City was a small plain—if they followed, they would definitely be seen.

They couldn't understand why Xiaoyao didn't directly state the location. Was it for secrecy?

Of course not—because Xiaoyao simply didn't know. This was actually Xiaoyao's purpose. He captured this Cao family young master precisely for this. Don't forget, his purpose here was only one thing—to get more clues about his own background.

Regarding background clues, the Cao family people probably couldn't help much either. Therefore, he wouldn't want the Cao family to help find clues—he wanted the Cao family to help him find the people he wanted to find. In Black Wind Stronghold, there might be people he wanted to find—that old man's daughter-in-law and those small mountain village villagers who hadn't died.

Before this Cao family young master came, he had been considering how to find this Black Wind Stronghold. Now this Cao family young master had delivered himself—of course Xiaoyao wouldn't let this opportunity pass.

What could be clearer about local matters than local power brokers? Probably nothing. The Cao family was the local power in the Eastern European Kingdom. Having them search for Black Wind Stronghold's whereabouts was the best thing possible.

Perhaps the Cao family originally knew where Black Wind Stronghold was located. For Black Wind Stronghold to remain unknown all this time, there must be people protecting them—possibly the Cao family.

Even if it wasn't the Cao family, they might know who it was, thus finding Black Wind Stronghold.

Now Xiaoyao wanted the Cao family to lead the way for him. He could do other things, investigate other matters. The small mountain village was one clue, East Sea City itself was also a clue, and North Ming City also needed investigation.

He headed straight toward North Ming City, throwing the Cao family young master into an abandoned cellar along the way, then changed his appearance and entered North Ming City. At this time, the entire Eastern European Kingdom was probably searching for him with all their might. He didn't want to needlessly provoke others to look for him—changing appearance was more convenient. For origınal chapters go to novｅlfire.net

As for what would happen to that Cao family young master in the cellar, Xiaoyao didn't consider this. He just tied him up inside and made defenses making it impossible for him to escape.

No, Xiaoyao didn't leave any food—just placed several buckets of water. He really planned to let this Cao family young master starve until the day he was rescued, or until the moment he died.

Only now did the Cao family young master know fear, know how helpless he could actually be. He began reviewing his life—besides this, there didn't seem to be anything else for him to do.

At the same time, he was also praying—praying that after Xiaoyao achieved his purpose, he would kindly tell others he was here so he could be rescued.

He could only pray now. He had thought about escaping himself, but no matter what methods he used, he hadn't succeeded. Xiaoyao had prepared defensive measures, and with this unskilled Cao family young master's abilities, how could he possibly break Xiaoyao's defenses? If he could, he wouldn't be a dandy and wouldn't be here.

However, whether his prayers were useful didn't depend on Xiaoyao, but on whether his father could quickly "find" Black Wind Stronghold.

While Xiaoyao searched for clues in North Ming City, the Cao family was issuing wanted notices for him while secretly contacting Black Wind Stronghold. In fact, Black Wind Stronghold did indeed have some relationship with the Cao family, or rather with several great families of the Eastern European Kingdom. This was why Black Wind Stronghold's location had never been found.

The relationship between Black Wind Stronghold and great families like the Cao family was very subtle. They used Black Wind Stronghold to do things they couldn't be seen doing. On the surface, their robberies were for money, but in fact this wasn't so.

If someone paid attention, they would notice that after some of Black Wind Stronghold's actions, someone among the several great families would profit.

For instance, after Black Wind Stronghold massacred a village, a great family would occupy that village, then discover a mineral deposit there. But they wouldn't make a big deal of this—they would just quietly mine it and rake in money...

This time with the small mountain village was also similar in nature—a dark commercial behavior by families like the Cao family.

Sometimes people could do anything for profit...

"They captured the young master? And want me to pay a hundred thousand silver? What do they want to do?" When Master Cao received this news, what he showed was anger and confusion.

The anger didn't need explanation—anyone would be angry if their son was captured. What confused him was that this matter sounded very absurd, because Black Wind Stronghold had a cooperative relationship with them. Although they had never met face to face, there had always been profitable exchanges. There was no reason to kidnap his son.

This didn't make sense—couldn't make sense no matter how he thought about it.

"Go contact Black Pockmark and have them explain."

Black Pockmark was the intermediary between Black Wind Stronghold and these great families. The Black Wind Stronghold people were also very smart—they never had direct contact with these great families. Although they were protected by these great families, they also did work for them. There was no talk of who owed whom.

The Black Wind Stronghold people also knew that cooperation with these people was fine, but if the relationship went too deep, they would definitely be devoured by them. So they chose to maintain distance from families like the Cao family—a choice that was undoubtedly very correct.

However, even though Black Wind Stronghold maintained distance from the Cao family, they had always been in a cooperative state without disputes. On the contrary, they cooperated very well. Therefore, with the current situation arising, Master Cao felt very unable to understand.

Master Cao thought of many reasons. What he felt was most likely was that someone wanted to deal with him, and this was just the first step through Black Wind Stronghold. Given Black Wind Stronghold's nature, as long as there was money, they would very likely abandon their cooperative relationship with him.

Black Wind Stronghold was originally this kind of existence—whoever offered better conditions, they would work for. Since the Cao family had reached today's position, they naturally had many enemies. Moreover, those doing such things weren't necessarily enemies—mostly they were competitors.

The Cao family's position in the Eastern European Kingdom also gave them many competitors. Competition between rivals, regardless of place or era, was inevitable—even small places were the same, dark and cruel.

Some say struggles in certain places are much more cruel—palace struggles more cruel than family struggles, great families more cruel than small families. Actually, these were all about the same. It's just that great families were more widely known with broader scope. In terms of darkness and cruelty, none were weaker than others.

If weaker, it was because the people were weak, not because the environment was weak.