“Holy crap...”
Lu Yan craned his neck, his gaze traveling all the way up to the terrifyingly tall city wall before him. The entire wall was a dark, dull greyish-black, with massive bricks tightly interlocking. From a distance, it looked incredibly heavy, as if cast from thoroughly tempered pig iron, carrying an air of indestructible oppression.
Lu Yan muttered to himself. Logically speaking, this shouldn't be the case. With that bunch of corrupt officials in the Central Continent Alliance who would skim money at every single opportunity, any project handed to them would inevitably turn into a crumbly tofu-dreg project.
Besides, everyone had been grumbling that this defensive line was an unfinished project. Yet as he looked out, the wall was completely intact, with no large gaps, and no bare, exposed foundations from a halted construction. Where was there even a hint of it being unfinished?
Filled with doubt, Lu Yan turned his head to look at the guide beside him. The guide was riding a spirit horse, the spiritual light on its body flickering, bright one moment and dim the next; even its spiritual energy was running low.
The guide happened to turn his head as well, meeting Lu Yan's questioning gaze. As the two of them trotted along on horseback, they had unwittingly arrived right beneath the towering wall, and the guide instantly understood what Lu Yan was pondering.
“Boss, don't be fooled by how tall and intimidating this wall looks. To put it bluntly, it's just an empty shell. Not a single defensive formation that should be laid out on the wall has been engraved.
“It's barely enough to fool the commoners inside and outside the city to make them feel secure. But if the Ice Spirit army ever marches over in full force one day, this high wall won't be any different from a barrier made of paper—it'll collapse at a single poke.”
Lu Yan raised his eyes and scrutinized the massive wall before him once more.
Even if it was just an empty shell with a grand exterior, they had at least solidly piled up the wall. The appearance was quite decent, and one couldn't find many faults with its construction.
Based on Lu Yan's long-standing understanding of the Central Continent Alliance crowd, it would already be a miracle of conscience if those fellows had piled up a heap of loose, crumbling dirt that would collapse at the slightest breeze.
Yet this wall before him, putting aside whether any formations were laid on its surface, had bricks piled straight and seamlessly, one by one. A faint, barely perceptible shimmer hovered on the surface of the bricks; without looking closely, one wouldn't notice it at all.
Holy crap, these bricks were actually fired from spiritual materials! Although they weren't some extremely rare, top-tier materials hard to find in ten thousand years, building an entire city wall out of such spiritual bricks meant the cost of materials alone was an unimaginable astronomical figure.
Given the nature of the Central Continent Alliance crowd, how could they possibly resist skimming a massive fortune when faced with such an immense amount of resources?
Lu Yan's suspicion had reached its peak. He absolutely did not believe that these people would be honest and not pocket a single cent.
He made up his mind on the spot to simply ask openly and get a clear answer. This person was a guide he had paid to hire, and with a well-informed insider right in front of him, it would be a waste not to ask. He wasn't a fool; he was a paying customer. And the customer was king.
“Based on the usual style of the Central Continent Alliance, it's really hard to believe they actually built this wall to look like this.”
The guide never expected Lu Yan to be so direct and blunt. He raised his eyebrows, a trace of surprise flashing in his eyes. “You seem to know the Central Continent Alliance very well, Boss. Have you dealt with them before?”
Lu Yan did not respond or offer any answer. The guide didn't wait for him to reply either; he also realized his question was somewhat abrupt and intrusive. After all, he was just a guide hired for money and shouldn't pry into his employer's private affairs.
“The materials used to build this wall weren't purchased with the Central Continent Alliance's money at all. They were pooled together by all the small and large sects of the Central Continent working in unison. Those people are all sharp as tacks; none of them are fools. Who would dare hand over heaps of spirit stones and silver to the Central Continent Alliance to let them procure the materials? That would literally be throwing meat buns at a dog—gone forever.”
“But this wall had to be built. The Formless Spirits are watching like hawks. Once the defensive line completely collapses, no one will escape; we'll all be finished. So everyone put their heads together and decided not to hand over a single spirit stone. Instead, they delivered cartloads of pre-purchased bricks and various materials directly to the Central Continent Alliance. It disgusted those bastards of the Central Continent Alliance as if they had swallowed a live fly, leaving them with grievances they couldn't voice, haha.”
As the guide spoke of this, the corners of his mouth curled up, his delight completely unhidden, radiating a sense of sheer satisfaction from the bottom of his heart. Lu Yan could clearly feel that this man despised the Central Continent Alliance from the depths of his soul, his words filled with blatant mockery and resentment.
It seemed he harbored no small grudge against the Central Continent Alliance.
“Then why do you resent the Central Continent Alliance so much? How exactly did they screw you over? Besides, where did you hear all this inside information that ordinary outsiders wouldn't know?”
The guide froze for a moment, then let out a long sigh, speaking quite candidly. “Sigh, Boss, I won't hide it from you. When the wall was being built, I was one of the laborers who got screwed over by them. I'm a native of Beizhou City, and my family lived quite comfortably in the early years. I even had a bit of a cultivation foundation myself.”
As he spoke, he gripped the reins of the spirit horse with one hand and clenched his other hand into a fist, flexing his arm muscles slightly. A layer of not-so-obvious, even somewhat thin and weak muscle lines tensed up. “I used to have a cultivation of the second level of Body Tempering. Back then, I came to carry stone blocks and transport materials for them, building this wall day and night. You also know what those dogs are like, Boss. After working ourselves to the bone for ten days, we would at most get paid for two days in the end. The rest was all pocketed by them.”
He reached up to scratch the back of his head, his eyes dimming a bit. “Later, that older brother raised the banner of rebellion. Those dogs couldn't beat him and didn't dare vent their anger on him, so they turned around and took out all their rage on us ordinary folks. My family was considered wealthy back then, and we were directly raided by them.”
“I didn't even dare spend the spirit stones distributed to us by those rebels, fearing that the moment I showed my face, I'd be caught and punished by the Central Continent Alliance. Left with no way out, I could only wander and drift around. It just so happened that you hired me, Boss. And now, here I am, returning to this place with you...”
The guide seemed to suddenly recall an important matter. He looked up at Lu Yan, his tone tinged with caution. “By the way, Boss, do you have any banknotes on you? I have a few spirit stones on me and want to exchange them for some banknotes. Walking down the street with spirit stones is just too conspicuous.”
Lu Yan followed his gaze. Beneath the city gate's archway, two Central Continent Alliance cultivators were curled up against the cold wall, fast asleep, their long sabers loosely slung across their chests, completely off-guard. A faint smile played at the corners of his mouth.
“No need to exchange them. And you don't have to worry about bringing trouble upon yourself by spending your spirit stones anymore.”
Having just killed someone, Lu Yan's hands were still warm. He flipped himself nimbly off the horse, his feet landing steadily on the rough, hard stone ground.
“From this day forth, there will be no more of such troubles!”
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