Fan Xian's brow furrowed. He looked at the person in the shadows, hesitated for a moment, and then asked, "Why are you so gleeful? Although we don't meet often, this is quite unusual."

The swordsman in the shadows bowed slightly, smiling, and said, "I have always been such a frivolous person. I hope Master Fan will forgive me."

"Frivolous?" Fan Xian frowned and said, "No wonder you caused such a big problem back then because of your playfulness, and the palace specifically ordered your removal."

The swordsman's expression turned stern, and he said seriously, "I owe my life to Lord Shangshu."

Fan Xian didn't say anything further, but thought of other things, other people.

In the battle of Da Dong Mountain, more than a hundred Tiger Guards lost their lives. His Majesty the Emperor, through Si Gu Jian's sword, coldly and ruthlessly purged the Tiger Guards, also sweeping away Fan Jian's greatest support hidden within the royal family. It was precisely because of this attitude and resolve that Fan Jian was forced to withdraw from the dangerous grounds of Kyoto ahead of time.

However, Lord Shangshu had grown up with His Majesty the Emperor since childhood, and had been managing things in the court for many years, even secretly training the Tiger Guards for the Li imperial family for so long, so he naturally had some hidden trump cards.

The black-clad swordsman before Fan Xian was one of them. This black-clad swordsman had once been a member of the Tiger Guards, but later faked his death and became Fan Jian's direct subordinate in the darkness, secretly doing some unsavory things for the Fan residence, even including monitoring the tentacles extended from the palace.

During the Kyoto rebellion, Fan Xian took a great risk by attacking Qing Yu Tang. Fan Jian watched coldly behind him, cleaning up the mess for him. It was the dark forces of the Fan residence, led by the black-clad swordsman, who took action at that time. It wasn't until that day that Fan Xian truly came into contact with his father's last batch of strength.

"You also know about the events on Da Dong Mountain." Fan Xian looked at the swordsman and asked, "How many Tiger Guards are still alive in this world?"

"Lord Shangshu has twenty-one under his command," the black-clad swordsman said with a smile. "If all the Grandmasters are dead, we people will still be of some use."

Fan Xian had only ever dealt with the seven wooden-faced Tiger Guards led by Gao Da, and wasn't used to the black-clad swordsman's tone of voice. He gave a wry smile and said, "Let's not talk about that. Going back to the previous matter, suddenly wanting to raise so much silver, doesn't Father worry that someone in the country will guess something?"

The black-clad swordsman didn't answer this question. Instead, like him, he asked with a soft smile, "Master, your courage seems to have grown a lot recently. Lord Shangshu sent a message, and you really started preparing to move money, even at the cost of reaching out to the Sun and Xiong families. Don't you fear that the court will notice something?"

Hearing this, Fan Xian fell silent. The black-clad swordsman didn't continue to press him. In the three years since the Kyoto rebellion, Fan Xian's secret endeavors in Yu Chang had been carried out extremely carefully, not seeking merit, but seeking perfection, and the progress was indeed a little too slow.

But Fan Xian had to do this, and his father, far away in Danzhou, seemed to approve of his caution—after all, with His Majesty the Emperor on the throne, no one dared to risk provoking anything. If anything leaked, it could only be a scene of blood and fire.

However, as of today, it seemed that Fan Xian and Fan Jian, father and son, had simultaneously begun to speed up their pace. Fan Xian knew in his heart that his father was speeding up because he knew that his own heart was beginning to drift in that direction.

The black-clad swordsman's next sentence also confirmed Fan Xian's guess.

"Master, if you want to do something in the future, don't forget me," the black-clad swordsman said with a smile. "I am also very interested in killing my way into the palace."

The corners of Fan Xian's lips curved up, and he said, "What I'm interested in is whether you plan to avenge your family, or whether you want to avenge those colleagues who died on Da Dong Mountain?"

"Is there any difference?"

"Indeed, there is no difference. For you, for those Tiger Guards hidden in the darkness, His Majesty the Emperor has never regarded you as people. It's only normal that you don't regard him as a monarch." Fan Xian lowered his eyes slightly and said softly, "But the problem is that you are saying this in front of me. Aren't you afraid that I will really kill you? You should be very clear about the relationship between His Majesty the Emperor and me."

The black-clad swordsman said calmly, "I am even clearer about the relationship between you and Lord Shangshu."

"It's very contradictory." Fan Xian sighed with a smile and said, "You are a very powerful group of swordsmen, but you are also a very dangerous group of people. Even I don't know if I can control you. So, I think it's best for you to stay by Father's side. Including those dark Tiger Guards around you, the same applies. Don't try to get involved in my affairs."

A faint look of disappointment flashed in the black-clad swordsman's eyes.

"Only Father can control you. And I want to have everything in my own hands, so it's impossible for me to use you." Fan Xian gradually removed his smile and said calmly, "I have my own strength. Your only task is to ensure Father's safety. As long as you do that and relieve me of any worries, I might be able to achieve the goals of you and your brothers."

The black-clad swordsman fell silent.

The silence lasted for a long time. Fan Xian took a sip of the cold tea beside him and subconsciously curled up his legs, sitting on the chair with his knees hugged to his chest. This posture wasn't very elegant, but it gave him some sense of security.

In that instant, he thought of the Second Prince. Looking at the black-clad swordsman in front of him, he also thought of Gao Da, and of the innocent people who bled and sacrificed because of His Majesty the Emperor's schemes. He even thought of Chen Pingping, and of Jing Ge, who had slit Qin Heng's throat in front of the Kyoto palace gates.

It had been a while since he had seen Jing Ge. A glimmer of light flashed in Fan Xian's eyes. He thought of all the things Chen Pingping had secretly done, pulling many people back from the brink of death, and of how his father had actually been doing almost the same thing in secret all these years.

These two old comrades-in-arms hadn't communicated much, but the methods they had chosen were extremely similar. Perhaps they both knew that only people who had truly experienced life and death had the courage to stand in this world and resist all the pressure imposed on them. Only people who had survived the great ordeal of life and death could still stand tall, brave, and even arrogantly and wildly, under the shining light of imperial power.

This was probably the issue of will that Si Gu Jian had spoken of. It had nothing to do with one's level of cultivation. Only this kind of person could do truly great things, like the black-clad swordsman in front of him, like Jing Ge, who wore a silver mask.

"Go back and tell him that I will resolve the issue of silver as soon as possible, but turning the paper in the bank into the nutrients needed by Yu Chang is inherently difficult." Fan Xian looked at the black-clad swordsman and said extremely cautiously, "I worry that there are spies from the palace around me, so I sought out Guan Wu Mei as a shadow when I came to Weizhou this time. If the Internal Court or the Ministry of Justice or the Censorate notices anything, they will only suspect this. So you also need to be careful and not get targeted."

"The problem is, Master, you came to see Guan Wu Mei to raise silver for Yu Chang," the black-clad swordsman frowned in rare fashion. "What if the other party investigates from here?"

"You and I are like the other side of a cliff, always with a single line of communication. Even if someone wants to investigate, they can only investigate me at most, and they won't be able to investigate any further. As for the flow of silver, the initial process on the books will naturally be handled by the old officials of the Ministry of Revenue that Father left behind in Jiangnan. As for the later conversion..." Fan Xian lowered his head slightly, seeming to think that this matter was also somewhat difficult, and said slowly, "I can handle part of it, and then it depends on what happens in Dongyi City. If there can be imports from overseas, that should speed things up a lot."

"Then I'll be leaving." Although the black-clad swordsman felt that Fan Xian probably hadn't finished saying what he wanted to say, he also knew that he had to leave. He bowed and said, "But in these three years, there's been one thing I've always been curious about."

Fan Xian raised his eyes to look at him, smiling, and said, "What is it?"

"Why is it called Yu Chang?"

After a long silence, Fan Xian said, "Yu Chang is a sword. It's a sword used by a man named Zhuan Zhu. It's a sword hidden in the belly of a fish. This sword may be hidden in the belly of the fish forever, and may never see the light of day. But once it breaks out of the belly, it will definitely pierce someone's chest."

"You are a Yu Chang, Jing Ge was once a Yu Chang, and the shadow beside me is also a Yu Chang." Fan Xian said with a smile, "It's just that you have all begun to see the light of day. Only my Yu Chang still has to be hidden."

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Fan Xian stayed in Weizhou for one night and discussed the matter of raising silver with Guan Wu Mei. Xia Qifei was in Suzhou at this time and could not come over no matter what. He had to remind the owner of the Xin Ming family through Guan Wu Mei that the stakes in this matter were high. The next day, the representatives sent by the Xiong family of Lingnan and the Sun family of Quanzhou arrived in Weizhou. Fan Xian just hid in the dark to take a look, confirmed the attitude that these two wealthy merchants might hold, and then put his mind at ease.

The excuse used by the Xin Ming family was indeed very practical. Although there was no news from the north, the Sun and Xiong families would not believe that Xia Qifei would deceive them in this matter, because there was no benefit to such deception.

The key to mutual lending between merchants is actually to consider the other party's ability to repay. In the eyes of the Sun and Xiong families, even if the Northern Qi court began to vigorously crack down on the Ming family's smuggling of goods to the north because of the Dongyi City incident, the Ming family was now backed by Master Fan, with a steady stream of goods from the Internal Treasury as a guarantee. It was still a golden nest, and there was no way that they would not be able to repay the money.

After confirming that this sum of silver could be credited to the account, Fan Xian secretly asked Guan Wu Mei to notify Xia Qifei to host a banquet for Yang Jimei, the number one salt merchant in Jiangnan, in the Hua Garden. Presumably, he should have hidden a lot of silver in his mansion, and it should not be too difficult for Xia Qifei to borrow silver from him.

If Yang Jimei couldn't raise the money on his own, he would naturally mobilize the salt merchants of Jiangnan to help. It had to be said that Fan Xian had spent two or three years in Jiangnan and had indeed laid a solid foundation. As long as he didn't touch the foundation of the court on the surface, he had the full ability to gather the strength of the Jiangnan business community. And this force was indeed a bit scary, able to raise so much silver in a short period of time, which not everyone could do.

These things took Fan Xian a whole day. At dusk, he left Weizhou City and disappeared into the blood-like color. From that day on, not only did his subordinates in Jiangnan not know where he had gone, but even the trusted aides of the Supervisory Council and the Qi Nian group completely lost track of him.

A young ninth-rank expert who had been immersed in the Supervisory Council for his entire life, deliberately disguised and set out on the road, had the full ability to avoid the eyes of everyone. In this way, Fan Xian disappeared.

...

...

After who knows how many days, when the spring in the inner abdomen of the continent had reached an unsurpassed depth, a dusty figure appeared outside a large mountain depression at the junction of Northern Qi and Dongyi City.

This place was very remote, but the transportation was not backward, because it was a transit point on an old trade route many years ago. It had been abandoned for a long time and had long since disappeared from the map and from the minds of many people.

Looking from outside the mountain, this place was quiet. Occasionally, the barking of dogs and the crowing of chickens could be heard. Farmers walked on the paths. It was already late at night, but the farmers who appeared occasionally seemed to need no light at all to see the slightly wet and muddy ridges under their feet.

That figure quietly brushed past these farmers, heading into the mountains.

The road leading into the mountain became winding, like a Yu Chang twisting and turning. That dusty figure kept walking into the mountain. He didn't know how long he walked, his clothes and straps dripping with dew, his cloth shoes breaking off dead branches. Finally, he climbed halfway up the mountain. Originally, there was still a desolate mountain village in front of him, but when he turned his head, he saw lights twinkling, manors all over the mountain, and countless buildings with a fresh taste, appearing in the valley like a miracle.

That figure threw away the bamboo stick in his hand and looked at the lights in the belly of the mountain under his feet. For some reason, he felt very moved in his heart, to the point that his eyes were almost wet.

Because he knew how much mental energy and money this scene hidden behind the farmhouses and in the Peach Blossom Spring had consumed, and how many people had worked hard for it.

Just like the farmers he had met in front of the mountain.