In the world of martial arts, grind your skill level to become a saint.

"Look at those farmlands below. Who do you think owns them?"

Wang Yu looked down at the vast expanse of farmland and asked Su Hao a question.

Su Hao shook his head upon hearing this.

"Yanshan City has three gangs and two factions, one alliance and one fortress, and these fields are the foundation upon which they stand. Within a five-mile radius, there are outposts of various forces. Whether they are bandits or refugees, basically no one dares to run wild in this area."

Wang Yu paused for a moment, then continued, "However, once we're outside this circle, we really need to be on our guard, because the methods used in Yanshan City won't work outside. That's why those bandits in Black Wind Valley have always dared to cause trouble."

"Given the Zhou family's strength, eliminating these bandits shouldn't be too difficult, right?"

Su Hao was also somewhat puzzled at this moment.

With the Zhou family's financial and human resources, eliminating a little-known bandit gang should have been a simple matter.

However, the Zhou family preferred to hire a guard team at great expense to escort the medicinal herbs every time, which suggests there must be another reason behind it.

"If we can pinpoint the Black Wind Gang's hideout, the Zhou family certainly has the financial and human resources to do so. However, Yanshan is too vast, making it incredibly easy to hide people. But once the Black Wind Gang discovers this and decides to deal with them, it will trigger their furious retaliation, and this supply line will be cut off. That's why the Zhou family hasn't broken ties with them."

Wang Yu explained.

"I see…"

Su Hao seemed to be deep in thought.

However, I felt a bit more wary about this part of the journey through Black Wind Valley.

In such times, talking about benevolence and righteousness with refugees and bandits is of little use. These people are inherently dangerous and prone to violence; if you were to actually encounter them, the most likely outcome would be a fight to the death.

As they walked and talked with Wang Yu, the group gradually descended the hillside and arrived at a wide road.

Su Hao took out a piece of dried meat from his bundle, gave one to Wang Yu, and then took another piece for himself and chewed it with water.

There were no supplies available along the entire journey from Yanshan City to Qiufeng Mountain, so Su Hao prepared enough dried meat in advance to replenish his strength along the way.

As the procession continued forward, the once wide official road soon began to narrow and become rugged.

The surrounding area gradually became denser, and as far as the eye could see, there were endless rolling forests.

Snapped!

Su Hao lashed out with the wooden stick, striking a greenish-yellow snake hidden among the leaves by the roadside.

The snake struggled briefly after being struck hard, then fell to the ground, curled up a few times, and remained completely still.

Ignoring the snake carcass on the ground, Su Hao used a stick to swat off a few small insects, resembling leeches, that had somehow gotten stuck to his pants. Then, he took out more yellow powder from the bag and sprinkled it on his body to drive away the poisonous insects.

According to Wang Yu, these poisonous insects are called centipedes. They usually hide in bushes and thickets, feeding on tree sap and animal blood. When they encounter people or animals passing by, they will jump up and stick to them to suck their blood.

Because they contain paralyzing toxins, they are difficult to detect immediately. By the time it is discovered that they are feeding on blood, they have already grown from the size of a thread to the size of a thumb.

While a single one may not cause fatal damage, a large number of them can be a different story.

Wang Yu told me that someone had accidentally wandered into a place full of locusts and was sucked dry by these long-starved creatures, their blood completely drained, which was extremely terrifying.

The group followed the mountain path, heading deeper into the mountains, and soon arrived at a place filled with scattered rocks.

"The temple is ahead. Let's rest for half an hour before continuing our journey!"

At this moment, Shen Qing, who was leading the group, stopped and shouted to the people behind him.

The group nodded in agreement and began to walk towards a dilapidated temple in the middle of the rubble.

The temple was quite spacious, and everyone simply found a place to sit and rest.

Due to years of neglect, the interior of the temple appears somewhat dilapidated, with the roof tiles and beams rotten and falling off.

The ground was littered with broken wood chips and shattered tiles.

Su Hao sat on a broken piece of wood, his gaze fixed on a headless statue in the center of the temple. The statue had six arms, and some unknown runes were engraved on its belly. Each of the six arms held a different weapon.

From the shapes of the weapons, Su Hao could vaguely identify six types: knife, axe, fork, halberd, whip, and mace.

Su Hao had no memory of such statues, nor did he know which religious sect they belonged to.

However, judging from the broken head of the statue and the scattered fragments of the head on the ground, the temple must not have been effective, otherwise it would not have been destroyed like this.

Pulling himself back to his senses, Su Hao straightened the door behind him, then took the knife and closed his eyes to rest.

There are still seven or eight miles of mountain road ahead. Although the distance is not long, we must be vigilant at all times to deal with possible venomous snakes, insects, and wild beasts. We cannot afford to be careless.

But he had only just closed his eyes when footsteps sounded again outside the temple.

Su Hao opened his eyes and saw several figures dressed in different styles walking in through the doorway.

At this moment, the other members of the team also opened their eyes, gripped their weapons tightly, and became wary.

Fortunately, after entering the temple, these people did not pay much attention to Su Hao's group. After looking around, they walked to an empty spot and sat down.

The two groups each occupied a separate area in the temple, and neither paid any attention to the other.

Su Hao frowned slightly as he watched these people sit down.

Although these people did not show any hostility and seemed to be just other passersby, Su Hao always felt that there were eyes watching them from the other group.

Su Hao wasn't the only one to notice this. Perhaps sensing that something was off, Shen Qing also glanced warily at the people at the very back.

After hesitating for a moment, he got up and ordered the team to set off again.

Seeing this, the others had no objections and packed their bags again to continue their journey.

After this little incident, the group left the temple and sped up instead of delaying.

Shen Qing probably sensed that something was off about those people, so she wanted to get rid of them as soon as possible.

After walking for about half an hour, the group finally arrived at the entrance of a narrow, deep, and dimly lit valley.

This is the Black Wind Valley mentioned earlier.

Su Hao stared straight ahead at the valley that looked as if it had been cleaved open by a giant axe. A cool breeze blew from it, making the originally hot air feel cold.

At this moment, Shen Qing once again explained the precautions after entering the valley, then drew his long sword from his waist and led the team into the valley.

Su Hao was about to follow, but he quickly stopped.

He felt something crawling on the skin of his arm and quickly looked down.

His expression froze instantly.