Chapter 329: Chapter 329

Xiaoyao had also visited that place from back then to investigate, but twenty years had passed and all traces were gone. Therefore, this search was also futile.

After ending his trip to North Ming City, Xiaoyao immediately rode back to East Sea City. Along the way, he didn't attract anyone's attention because he had not only disguised himself but also dyed his thousand-li horse a different color. Originally a pure white horse, it had now become a spotted mixed-color horse.

This was also a necessary thing to do. This horse was also an important clue for finding Xiaoyao. This thousand-li horse was absolutely unique good horse in the Eastern European Kingdom—a very prominent feature.

It was precisely because of this that on his way back to East Sea City, Xiaoyao didn't let loose too much, traveling at a relatively average speed. However, it wasn't too slow either—it could still travel a thousand li per day, qualifying as a thousand-li horse, but just barely.

Such a thousand-li horse wouldn't attract too much attention in the Eastern European Kingdom. Even though the Eastern European Kingdom was a small place, there were still thousand-li horses, and quite a few of them—just relatively ordinary ones, at most slightly better ones. There were no top-tier ones.

Xiaoyao's return to East Sea City was also to find clues, collecting intelligence information like in North Ming City. He had come to East Sea City before but hadn't had time to collect this information. Although Xiaoyao was discovered near the small mountain village at that time, this place was equally important for clues.

After spending another three days, Xiaoyao obtained some more clues. What was somewhat strange was that this time the clues seemed a bit odd. Not only did that couple from the small mountain village appear, but also Fang Chunxue's couple—they had actually been together.

From some people's nearly forgotten memories, it was known that these four people had once been together and had some disputes. They could be certain about these disputes—they were quite serious. Even though some people had forgotten what these four people looked like, they remembered that East Sea City had suffered because of these four people.

Why they disputed, no one knew. They only knew that one couple was at odds with the other couple. In the end, they parted on very bad terms, with one couple even issuing warnings to the others, saying things like they would make them know the consequences and not to regret it.

In any case, this was somewhat chaotic, and Xiaoyao was also starting to get confused. He had originally thought these were two unconnected clues. Now they had actually intersected. Two things he thought should be investigated separately and ruled out separately now seemed to have become one matter.

Although it had become one matter, this didn't seem to make things simpler—instead, it became much more troublesome.

The current situation was one plus one equals more than two. This matter had become much more complex, especially since Xiaoyao now knew that both couples seemed very strong, apparently possessing King Level or above, even Emperor Level strength.

Although that destruction was from twenty years ago, some things hadn't been repaired—they were just covered up and disguised. Xiaoyao found those traces. If it weren't for the traces of time making this somewhat uncertain, he could even deduce the most accurate strength. Now he could only estimate it was above King Level.

Moreover, Xiaoyao speculated that the possibility of Emperor Level was higher, and these martial techniques seemed unfamiliar to him—they should be from very secretive sect forces.

Emperor Level. If it was Emperor Level, then it meant both sides should have Emperor Level people. Otherwise, there wouldn't have been a prolonged battle that brought serious destruction here.

If he was the child of one of these couples, the good news was that his parents had Emperor Level strength. The bad news was that his parents' opponents also had Emperor Level strength, and the opposing force might be even more powerful.

If it weren't like that, how could Xiaoyao possibly have been abandoned? How could no one have come looking for over twenty years? This was sufficient to explain the problem.

Of course, this was based on Xiaoyao being the child of one of these couples. If not, then this reasoning naturally couldn't stand.

From some clues, it appeared that after that incident, the two couples went their separate ways. One couple went toward North Ming City, while the other's destination was unknown. The ones who went to North Ming City were naturally Fang Chunxue's couple.

If he was Fang Chunxue's child, then Fang Chunxue shouldn't have been someone inexperienced with the world. She had originally been traveling outside and definitely wouldn't have felt like someone from another world. That would mean the couple who appeared in the small mountain village probably wasn't Fang Chunxue's couple.

Could the mysterious people who went to North Ming City have been people from that other couple? They wanted to take revenge on Fang Chunxue, killed her, then took Fang Chunxue's child. Unable to bear killing the child, they just abandoned it.

This seemed to make more sense. If things were , then he had gained some mother-killing enemies for no reason, plus a father whose life or death was unknown.

Xiaoyao also felt this possibility was quite high—he should be Fang Chunxue's child. If not, how could fate have led him to meet Chen Xi and go to the Fang family?

Of course, this was also just a possibility. No matter how high the possibility, it was still just a possibility.

To clarify these matters, Xiaoyao needed to continue asking the small mountain village people about things. The best targets would be those he hadn't contacted yet—namely, those captured by Black Wind Stronghold. The most likely to have information would be that old man's daughter-in-law.

Xiaoyao felt the possibility of this daughter-in-law being captured didn't seem very high. Black Wind Stronghold had no reason to want such an ordinary middle-aged woman. Unless there were special reasons, they wouldn't waste the food.

However, though this possibility wasn't high, it was still possible and couldn't be ruled out. Therefore, Xiaoyao still needed to go to Black Wind Stronghold once. For this, he already had a guide—finding Black Wind Stronghold wouldn't be very difficult.

Who was the guide? Naturally Master Cao, who was already in contact with Black Wind Stronghold people.

This matter seemed to be getting interesting. The Black Wind Stronghold people didn't seem to deny that they hadn't captured the Cao family young master. They were just being vague, telling Master Cao to do what he should do, and other matters would be discussed later.

This was very simple. For Black Wind Stronghold, regardless of whether they did this or not, having someone deliver a hundred thousand taels of silver was something they wouldn't refuse. Therefore, they wouldn't expose this matter and gave people a kind of tacit attitude.

After receiving the silver, Black Wind Stronghold would say they didn't know about this matter—it wasn't their doing. They wouldn't return the silver; it was delivered by the other party themselves.

Deception? How to put it—they had never said this matter was their doing. This was what the others thought themselves.

Black Wind Stronghold was prepared to do exactly this. They also weren't afraid the Cao family would turn hostile, because in fact they had no face to turn—there was no such relationship.

As for whether Black Wind Stronghold would face retaliation, this was very unlikely to happen because Black Wind Stronghold had beneficial relationships with many families, including the Cao family. Even if the Cao family wanted to tear up this relationship, other families wouldn't agree, and the Cao family couldn't possibly oppose these families.

There was also another point—Black Wind Stronghold felt that if someone was targeting the Cao family, then where would the Cao family have the energy to manage them? Dealing with others' moves would be the Cao family's real business. If the Cao family couldn't resist, then this hundred thousand taels would be taken for nothing.

Therefore, no matter how they calculated, Black Wind Stronghold felt that swallowing this huge sum was a very low-risk matter. As bandits, what did this little risk count for?

Regarding this point, Xiaoyao had also thought about it. He felt that as bandits, how could they possibly not want money? Even if the risk were greater, they would still swallow it, let alone when the risk wasn't that big.

If this were the case, the Cao family would definitely send this hundred thousand taels over. The commotion this would cause was imaginable. Even if they conducted it very low-key, transporting so much silver would let Xiaoyao catch many tails.

What Xiaoyao hadn't expected was that because this was a huge sum and Master Cao wanted to have a dialogue with Black Wind Stronghold, he would go personally. However, this wasn't very important to Xiaoyao because whether Master Cao went or not wasn't very important—Xiaoyao had already achieved his purpose.

Master Cao wasn't afraid of danger going to Black Wind Stronghold, probably because he felt Black Wind Stronghold wasn't the mastermind. He felt he could persuade Black Wind Stronghold.

Of course, in fact, there was no need to persuade anything because Black Wind Stronghold simply didn't know about the matter.

He would soon know about this...

In the deep mountains, at the end of a road that basically no one traveled, there was a mountain stronghold. The environment seemed quite nice, with the feeling of a summer resort. Thıs content belongs to novel·fiɾe·net

However, this stronghold wasn't any summer resort—this was a bandit den, the most famous bandit group in the Eastern European Kingdom: Black Wind Stronghold.

At this moment, many people were gathered here moving boxes of things. Someone had knocked over one box, revealing gleaming silver ingots.

So many boxes of silver—at least several tens of thousands of taels. This was a huge sum that most people had never seen in their lifetime.

This was the ransom the Cao family gave to Black Wind Stronghold. Several leaders of Black Wind Stronghold also came out to welcome Master Cao's arrival, with smiles that rarely appeared on their faces.

Anyone seeing someone bringing them money would smile, even these bandit leaders. They looked at Master Cao like seeing the God of Wealth, spirits high.

However, their God of Wealth was very displeased, especially when he inquired about his son's whereabouts.

Obviously, the bandits didn't know about this and answered very straightforwardly. Now they were already on Black Wind Stronghold's territory, and the silver was already in their hands—they no longer needed to pretend.