Chapter Eighty-One: Spring and Autumn Garden

  At dawn, Su Tang walked slowly into the Eight-Sided City. His attire was very ordinary, just a somewhat disheveled wandering swordsman, with the flying sword wrapped in his clothes, and no one could detect anything unusual.

  Bamboo City was as prosperous as Red Leaf City, and its scale was similar. Su Tang first found a large inn, and after two hours of busy work, he cleaned himself up, shaved off his big beard, and transformed back into a spirited young man. However, the wildness flashing in his eyes couldn't be washed away, and after being tempered by Yun Shui Ze, he had added a few more points of unruliness to his demeanor.

  Su Tang took the lesson of Red Leaf City to heart and did not rashly go out for a walk, but instead called over his partner and asked him to find someone with good information. He had some things he wanted to ask about, so he first gave his partner a gold coin and said that if he was satisfied, there would be a heavy reward. As the saying goes, "wealth moves people's hearts", so his partner would definitely not casually find someone to fool around, but would do his best to handle it.

  At noon, after lunch, the partner brought a middle-aged martial artist into the room. The middle-aged martial artist walked in and seemed very familiar, warmly saying: "Is this Xiao Lao Di? My surname is Hu, my name is Hu Ge, brothers who are willing to show affection can call me Hu Ge, haha... I don't know what Xiao Lao Di wants to ask about? If you find me, it's like finding the right person. I dare not say anything else, but there aren't many big and small things in this eight-sided city that I, Hu Ge, don't know."

  Su Tang gestured for the fellow to leave, pointed to the chair across from him and smiled: "Brother Hu, please sit." He told the fellow his surname was Xiao. In an unfamiliar place, he naturally wouldn't go around revealing his true name.

  Hugo sat down and looked up and down at Su Tang.

  "Hey Hu, nothing going on this afternoon?"

  "It's nothing, it's nothing..." Hu Ge replied casually.

  "Well, then sell me the time for this afternoon." Su Tang said.

  Hugo was taken aback, wasn't it said that we were buying information? How did we end up buying time instead? And... how does one even sell time?!

  "I came to Ba Mian Cheng for the first time and didn't know anything, Hu Ge, just chat with me casually." Su Tang counted out ten gold coins and placed them on the table.

  "What... is this about?" Hu Ge was somewhat embarrassed, shouldn't there be a starting point?

  "Anything goes." Su Tang took out a handful of gold coins and placed them on the table, about thirty or more: "If I feel that Brother Hu has put in effort and what he says is satisfactory, these are also yours, Brother Hu." Su Tang liked to cut through the chaos quickly and didn't want to waste his energy judging the authenticity of the information. The heavy reward was laid out there, and it seemed that this Hu Ge would speak without hiding anything.

  "Haha... just one look and I knew Xiao Lao Di was a straightforward person." Hu Ge's spirits lifted, and after a moment of deliberation, he began to speak.

  Hugo was a clever man, he started by talking about the eight major cultivation families in Ba Mian City. As soon as he found that Su Tang's attention had shifted and seemed impatient to listen, he immediately changed the subject to another family. After chatting for a while, Hugo mentioned the famous Chun Qiu Garden in Ba Mian City, and Su Tang spoke up for the first time, asking a question. Hugo suddenly realized that since this Xiao Lao Di wanted to make a living in Ba Mian City, he must understand Chun Qiu Garden. If he accidentally offended the master of Chun Qiu Garden or the host, it would be difficult for him to take another step.

  Found the key point, Hu Ge's words box was thoroughly opened, he spoke in great detail, the big master of Chunqiu Garden is called Ouyang Mian, the hostess is called Ouyang Zhēnzhēn, they are siblings, the old man is called Ouyang Guāngyī, who retired two years ago and handed over Chunqiu Garden to the siblings.

  Typically, the division of labor in such organizations is very strict. The big masters are responsible for grasping the direction and dealing with other forces, while the masters in charge take care of all miscellaneous matters to ensure the normal operation of the organization. However, Chunqiu Garden is a bit different. Ouyang Jian takes charge of everything, while Ouyang Zhenzhen dislikes handling affairs and is more enthusiastic about leading wandering warriors on adventures to Yunshui Ze.

  This is snatching food from other wandering warriors, but with a close brother to cover her and the old man still being healthy, no one dares to say anything against her.

  But in recent years, the team formed by Ouyang Zhenzhen has had some unpleasantness with Langtu. Four or more people are called a team, ten or more people form a group, and only over a hundred people can establish an alliance. Langtu not only established an alliance early on but also became a truly large-scale alliance!

  The relationship between Chunqiu Garden and Langtu has become increasingly deteriorated. In fact, this self-formed group of wandering warriors should have been under the control of Chunqiu Garden, but as Langtu grew and expanded, they had long since drifted beyond the reach of Chunqiu Garden's control.

  Hugo deliberately introduced Lang Tu, secretly warning Su Tang that in this Eight-Faced City, not only could he not provoke Chunqiu Garden, but also Lang Tu.

  Su Tang had some impression of Lang Tu, remembering that the first time he entered Yunshui Ze, he clashed with Lang Tu's warriors. He and Fang Yizhe chased and killed them for a long distance, killing all the warriors who let Xi Xiaoru escape.

  Hugo also talked about several people in Chunqiu Garden, including the master of Langtu, especially Ouyang Meng, because Su Tang asked about Ouyang Meng's personality, hobbies and other topics related to Ouyang Meng, Hugo spoke for almost an hour.

  They talked until dusk, Hu Ge had spoken dryly, Su Tang thought he understood and smiled, pushing all the gold coins on the table over to him.

  "Xiao Lao Di is definitely a big shot, haha……” Hu Ge smiled and said, his eyes flickering slightly. Ordinary people would not take out so much money to inquire about news, and he could tell that Su Tang's attitude was friendly and polite, but deep down, he emitted an air of superiority, which made him think of some legends.

  Every city has some sky-high priced quests that are left unclaimed, either because they're too difficult or too dangerous, or because even with the high price, the pay doesn't match the effort required, so no one is willing to take them.

  There are some people who like to wander between cities and accept sky-high commissions.

  They are the true elite among the wandering warriors, the real strong ones!

  Some of them were even disciples who had gone out into the world to hone their skills from various major sects.

  "Hu Ge has won an award." Su Tang smiled.

  Hugo saw that Su Tang had lost interest in continuing the conversation, and he was also tired of talking, so he gathered up the gold coins on the table and smiled as he took his leave.

  After dinner, Su Tang packed up his luggage and walked out of the inn, heading towards Chunqiu Garden as Hu Ge had said. From a distance, he saw the main gate of Chunqiu Garden and turned into a deserted alleyway. When he came out again, there was an additional mask on his face, and his wide cloak fluttered in the night wind. If anyone saw Su Tang at this moment, they would have an illusion, for with the cloak's shading, Su Tang seemed to have merged with the darkness of the night.