Chapter 26: The Black Iron Edict of Longshan Pavilion

The next morning.

In the city of Yishui, at the residence of the great wizard Bai Yuanzhi.

The window was open, and the cold wind of the northern winter blew into the vast meditation chamber, biting through the skin. Bai Yuanzhi, the great wizard, wearing a loose white robe and barefoot, was sitting cross-legged in the chamber, allowing the frigid wind to blow against him. His face had even turned red from the cold.

“Why isn’t it compatible?”

“How could the test subject’s body collapse?”

Bai Yuanzhi kept pondering the problems encountered during the experiment the previous night.

Suddenly—

“Master, master, the lord of Xueying Domain has come to visit!” A somewhat timid voice came from outside. Everyone knew that the great wizard disliked being disturbed the most during his morning meditation.

Of course, he merely disliked it, but it wasn’t strictly forbidden!

During actual experiments, however, it was absolutely forbidden to interrupt unless something of utmost importance occurred.

“That young lord?” Bai Yuanzhi was slightly taken aback, puzzled. It hadn’t been long since Dongbo Xueying’s last visit. Could it be that he had already obtained the heart of the Silver Moon Wolf King or gathered fifty thousand gold coins?

“Quickly, show him in!”

Bai Yuanzhi immediately rose and left the meditation chamber, heading to the reception hall to greet his guest.

…

Great wizard Bai Yuanzhi stood at the entrance of the reception hall to welcome his guest personally. A young boy dressed in black, carrying a weapon case on his back, approached. Bai Yuanzhi couldn’t help but feel a sense of caution toward the young lord, whose aura had become even more restrained. However, Bai Yuanzhi’s spiritual power was formidable, and his perception was incredibly sharp. He could fully sense that seemingly restrained aura, which was even more alarming.

“Great wizard,” Dongbo Xueying greeted with a smile.

“Lord, please,” Bai Yuanzhi replied politely.

The two sat down separately.

“Lord, what brings you here this time…” Bai Yuanzhi looked at Dongbo Xueying.

“Great wizard, please take a look,” Dongbo Xueying said, flipping his hand open. A small iron box appeared in his palm, from which a faintly pungent smell emanated. He handed the box to Bai Yuanzhi.

Bai Yuanzhi immediately guessed what it was. His body trembled with excitement as he hastily reached out to take it.

He gently opened the box.

Inside was indeed the heart of the Silver Moon Wolf King, and it was still very fresh! It had only been a day since the wolf king’s death the previous day, and the heart had been stored in a pendant with absolutely no air exposure, maintaining its freshness at an extremely high level.

“The Silver Moon Heart? It seems like it was harvested less than an hour ago,” Bai Yuanzhi was thrilled. Between the Silver Moon Heart and fifty thousand gold coins, he much preferred obtaining the Silver Moon Heart. Even if he acquired the fifty thousand gold coins, they could only buy some materials… but with the Silver Moon Heart, he could rapidly complete a creation he had long desired to finish.

However, acquiring a fresh Silver Moon Heart was an extremely rare opportunity. It wasn’t easy for someone to go to the Ruin Mountains and kill a Silver Moon Wolf King so quickly. All other preparations for this experiment had long been completed, but Bai Yuanzhi had been waiting for a full eight years for the Silver Moon Heart without ever managing to obtain one.

If he were to specifically hire experts to go to the Ruin Mountains in search of a Silver Moon Wolf King to slay, the cost would be far too high for him to afford.

“Great wizard,” Dongbo Xueying spoke.

Bai Yuanzhi finally suppressed his ecstatic joy and hurriedly looked up, saying, “Lord, rest assured. Since you have brought the Silver Moon Heart, I, Bai Yuanzhi, will certainly devote myself to teaching your younger brother, accepting him as my personal disciple. And once his spiritual power reaches the threshold, I guarantee that he will become a wizard!”

Having received such a precious treasure, he naturally had to do his part well.

“Then I’ll trouble you, great wizard,” Dongbo Xueying smiled. “When can my younger brother come?”

“Anytime,” Bai Yuanzhi replied, then took out a wooden token from his robe. The character “Bai” was engraved on the token. “This is the token of trust. Your younger brother can come with this token.”

Dongbo Xueying nodded.

He wasn’t afraid that Bai Yuanzhi would dare to renege on the deal!

Bai Yuanzhi would certainly not dare to take the treasure and then turn his back on the agreement, especially considering the short time it took to deliver such a fresh Silver Moon Heart. It likely meant that someone had just slain a Silver Moon Wolf King, and it wouldn’t be difficult to secretly kill Bai Yuanzhi in return. After all, the difficulty of killing a Silver Moon Wolf King was no less than that of killing a Star-Level wizard.

“My younger brother will come after the New Year. I will send him over then, and I’ll trouble you, great wizard,” Dongbo Xueying accepted the token and then rose to leave.

Bai Yuanzhi also stood up to see him off.

Watching Dongbo Xueying leave, Bai Yuanzhi held the iron box and secretly pondered: “This young lord had said a month ago that he would deliver the Silver Moon Heart or fifty thousand gold coins within a month. Now he has brought it so quickly, and the Silver Moon Heart is so fresh. Obviously, he has just slain a Silver Moon Wolf King. Who killed it? Xueying Domain doesn’t seem to have such a strong expert.”

Zong Ling and Tong San were already well-known, but neither of them could kill a Silver Moon Wolf King.

“Could it be this young lord?” Bai Yuanzhi secretly speculated.

He had met Zong Ling before. Even though the Six-Armed Snake Demon Zong Ling was a strong expert, he hadn’t made Bai Yuanzhi feel threatened.

Only this young lord was someone Bai Yuanzhi couldn’t fully read.

…

Dongbo Xueying then went to repay the ten thousand gold coins he had previously owed for purchasing the Flying Snow Divine Spear. Then, accompanied by some of his subordinates, he quickly returned to Xueying Domain.

Entering through the castle’s main gate.

All along the way, the soldiers and servants were extremely respectful.

“Brother, brother, you went to Yishui City this morning and didn’t even take me with you,” Qing Shi said from the third floor of the castle’s main building, leaning on the railing and looking down.

“When I left, you were still asleep,” Dongbo Xueying replied, leaping up. In a flash, he landed beside his younger brother on the third floor, taking out the token and handing it to him. “Qing Shi, take a look. What is this?”

Qing Shi took the wooden token with confusion: “A wooden token? What’s it for? There’s a character ‘Bai’ on it?”

“This is the token of trust from the great wizard Bai Yuanzhi. After the New Year, you can go to the great wizard and become his personal disciple,” Dongbo Xueying said.

“Huh? The great wizard is willing to accept me as his personal disciple? Haha…” Qing Shi was so excited that he started shaking his hips. “That’s great! That’s great!”

“But brother, won’t I not be able to see you then?” Qing Shi felt a bit reluctant.

“Haha, Yishui City is not far from here. You can come back to visit me anytime, and I can also go to see you,” Dongbo Xueying laughed.

“Okay,” Qing Shi nodded heavily. He had long read many books about wizards left by his mother and was very much looking forward to the life of a wizard.

…

That afternoon.

Snowflakes were falling gently from the sky. As the northernmost province of the entire empire, snowy weather was very common.

Dongbo Xueying was sitting cross-legged in his room, watching the snowflakes falling outside. After reaching the master level in spear techniques, although he still spent an hour practicing every day, the actual purpose of his training was more to stimulate the faster growth of his physical body. As for improving his spear techniques… at this point, it required the cultivation of the natural world.

Taking the natural world as his teacher, he would seek enlightenment from it.

“Master, master, there’s someone outside claiming to be the master of the Longshan Pavilion, wanting to pay a visit to the master,” a servant ran in, somewhat out of breath.

“Longshan Pavilion?” Dongbo Xueying’s eyes flashed with a glint.

He knew some information about the Longshan Pavilion.

It was a very mysterious organization, spread throughout the entire empire. The master of the Yishui City branch of the Longshan Pavilion held a status no less than that of the city’s governor.

He immediately got up and hurriedly went to the main gate of the castle to personally welcome the guest.

“Open the gate and let the honored guest in,” Dongbo Xueying arrived at the main gate of the castle.

A group of people were stopped outside, led by a middle-aged man with black hair and an impressive bearing. Beside him was an elderly man with white hair, and behind them were a group of high-level knight guards.

“Haha, I’ve heard of the great reputation of Dongbo Xueying, the Spear Demon, for a long time. Seeing you today, I can confirm that you are indeed extraordinary,” the black-haired man smiled. “I am Si An, the master of the Longshan Pavilion in Yishui City!”

“Greetings, Master Si An,” Dongbo Xueying was also quite courteous. “Master Si An, please come inside.”

Dongbo Xueying and Master Si An walked side by side, with the others following behind.

“Master Si An has braved the snow to come here. May I ask what brings you?” Dongbo Xueying smiled and asked as they walked.

“Lord, you single-handedly eliminated the Cutlass Alliance. Surely you wouldn’t want to keep such a major event a secret? And yesterday, you carried the pelt of the Silver Moon Wolf King and ran over nine hundred miles in one go. Many people have seen that. Would you also keep the matter of slaying the Silver Moon Wolf King a secret?” Master Si An smiled and asked.

Dongbo Xueying was secretly astonished.

What he had done yesterday seemed to be already known by Master Si An today. The Longshan Pavilion was indeed powerful.

“Of course, I came here today not only to deliver the reward for killing the wanted criminal Gai Bin, but also to present you with the Iron Black Token from our Longshan Pavilion,” Master Si An said.

“The Iron Black Token?” Dongbo Xueying’s heart trembled slightly.

He had been waiting for this day…

For far too long!