"Why isn't there a sign for this stronghold? Do you normally call this place the nameless stronghold?" Mu Xuyang turned his head and looked at Gu Jinzhong in confusion, after examining the situation in front of the stronghold.
"The name of this stronghold is Black Mountain Stronghold. The leader and people of this Black Mountain Stronghold migrated from other places to escape from their enemies, and they didn't put up a sign to avoid their enemies passing by and discovering their whereabouts." Gu Jinzhong made up a lie on the spot when he heard Mu Xuyang's question.
"Oh." Mu Xuyang couldn't put his finger on it, but he felt that something was off when Gu Jinzhong spoke. Nonetheless, he couldn't identify what was wrong, so he raised his vigilance and followed Gu Jinzhong towards the entrance of the stronghold with composure.
"Brother Lu, I have to trouble you again. This junior brother is reporting to the sect, but it's late, and it's inconvenient to arrange accommodations. So, I brought him here. I'm sorry to trouble you. I hope you understand." When they were near the entrance of the stronghold, the burly men on guard duty turned their heads and focused their attention on Mu Xuyang, Gu Jinzhong, and the other person. Gu Jinzhong worried that the gatekeepers would expose their lie first and reveal that they were deceiving Mu Xuyang, so he quickly spoke to the round-faced man in front of the gate.
"We depend on the care of your Qingyun sect for a peaceful life. Accommodating one or two people is nothing. Please let us in quickly. I'll arrange a good place for the person you brought." After hearing Gu Jinzhong's words, the man surnamed Lu immediately understood and continued, "Okay, thank you, Brother Lu. In that case, let's go in. I'll arrange for your junior brother to meet the friends who stayed here two nights ago. They will leave tomorrow and won't disturb you for too long."
"Okay, thank you, Brother Lu." Gu Jinzhong responded with a smile and calmly led Mu Xuyang to the front of the stronghold. Then, he told Lu to take Mu Xuyang to see the friends who stayed here two nights ago and said that they had urgent matters to attend to.
"Okay, thank you very much then." Mu Xuyang's doubts were dispelled when the man surnamed Lu directly said he would take him to see two guests who had come to the stronghold. Without hesitation, Mu Xuyang followed the man surnamed Lu and entered the stronghold through the gate. Inside the gate, there were rows of wooden buildings. Each building had two guards dressed like the men who brought him in, stationed at the entrance. There were also patrol teams consisting of six people walking back and forth on the paths in front of the buildings.
Led by the man surnamed Lu, Mu Xuyang walked through a vast area of wooden buildings covering an area of 30 square kilometers before finally seeing a cluster of low wooden houses in the distance. "Normally, when receiving guests, people will leave the best accommodation for them. But the people in this stronghold don't seem to know how to treat guests. They arranged for guests to rest in the simplest huts. This is unusual!" Although Mu Xuyang felt that something was not quite right, he still did not suspect that Gu Jinzhong was deceiving him.
Soon, led by the man surnamed Lu, Mu Xuyang arrived at a place where the low wooden houses were more concentrated. Then, he randomly pointed to one of the houses without lights and said to Mu Xuyang, "It's already late. Your two friends should be resting. You will have to stay in this hut tonight, and someone will naturally take you to see your friends tomorrow."
After the man surnamed Lu impatiently explained this to Mu Xuyang, he completely ignored him and left. Mu Xuyang immediately realized that he might have been tricked by Gu Jinzhong and Fang Junyun, and that this place could be a den for trafficking labor. He felt very angry, but in order to find Ao Qing and Nie Yifan smoothly and rescue them from this den, he suppressed his anger and went directly into the wooden house arranged for him by the man surnamed Lu.
After entering the house, Mu Xuyang looked around and became even more certain that he had been deceived by Gu Jinzhong, Fang Junyun, and others. Although he was angry, he did not panic. Instead, he calmly released the old yellow dog from his spiritual creature bag and said to it, "You should be familiar with the body odor of Ao Qing and Nie Yifan. Quickly smell around and find where they are now."
The humane old yellow dog softly whimpered twice and began to search for the familiar scent in this area with many huts.
After about ten breaths, the old yellow dog stopped searching and looked at Mu Xuyang. It vigorously wagged its tail and softly whimpered. Mu Xuyang, who understood the old yellow dog's body language, immediately knew from its actions where Ao Qing and Nie Yifan were. He put the old yellow dog into his spirit bag, left the hut, carefully made his way through the huts, avoiding the patrol's gaze, and smoothly arrived at the hut next to where the old yellow dog had told him. He hid in the darkness and waited for a while. When the patrol passed by the hut's entrance, he quickly slipped into the hut where Ao Qing and Nie Yifan lived.
At this moment, Ao Qing and Nie Yifan were both sound asleep, snoring loudly. Mu Xuyang entered the hut, and they didn't even notice. Seeing that their clothes were already tattered and they looked like beggars covered in stone dust, Mu Xuyang immediately realized that they must have been exhausted from doing heavy labor all day. He felt uncomfortable and thought to himself, "I thought that after I brought them out of Leiying Hall and into Qingyun Sect, they could live a good life. But I didn't expect that they would be tricked into coming to this bandit's den to do hard labor before even entering the sect. Those guards at the mountain gate knew that I was a disciple taken in by Elder Zhong, yet they still blatantly tricked me here. It's clear that these daring and lawless people in Qingyun Sect must have powerful backers that ordinary people can't shake. They dare to be so arrogant and bold. Damn it! I don't care who your backers are, but after I leave here, I will seek revenge. You'd better wash your necks clean and wait to be slaughtered."
Mu Xuyang's gaze swept over the two people, and after sighing, he quickly walked to Ao Qing's side, patted his face covered in stone dust, and woke him up.
Ao Qing woke up in a daze and saw that it was Mu Xuyang who had appeared by his wooden bed. At first, he was pleasantly surprised, but his expression soon turned ugly. He quickly whispered, "Junior Brother Mu, how did you come here? Were you tricked here by those guards at the mountain gate?"
"Yes." Mu Xuyang nodded nonchalantly, then asked, "Quickly tell me what's going on here? Who are these people who have trapped you here and forced you to mine?"
"Okay, let me tell you what we have observed in the two days since we were tricked here," Ao Qing nodded and began to tell Mu Xuyang what they had seen and heard since coming here.