Translator: Storm in a Teacup
When the four were talking about Long and his men, the three of them were doing the same as well.
“What are you up to by using them?” Ouyang Chuan asked directly.
Yingfeng stood silently in the corner, in case Long might ask for his opinion.
“It’s too risky to expose our people, so we’d better use them. If so, a bilateral conflict will not be caused even if they fail,” Long said.
Ouyang Chuan frowned slightly. “But we are not familiar with these people at all, not to mention they are robbers committing countless crimes. Are you sure you want to use such people?”
“Of course not.” Long threw up his hands. “If I can’t trust them, how dare I use them? But if they could be controlled, that would be different.”
Ouyang Chuan was startled slightly.
Long smiled and said, “Didn’t Liu Suifeng give us a lot of good stuffs before we left?”
“You want to control them with poison? Aren’t you afraid that it would work the other way around?”
“So, they have to take the poison willingly.” Long smiled.
“Willingly… take the poison…” Ouyang Chuan’s mouth twitched. “You’re not dreaming, are you?”
“That depends on us.” Long waved his hand. “Everyone has his weaknesses. We just need to find them out… At least by now, I have found one.”
“Huh? What?” Ouyang Chuan asked with interest.
“Their brotherhood. None of them want the other three to be injured, so convincing them one by one would be our way out. However, that is my last choice. It would be best if they would do it willingly. I’ve told the Shadow Guardians to check their backgrounds. Before we get the information, we wait here.”
“Aren’t you in a hurry to get to our destination?” Ouyang Chuan refuted weirdly.
Long smiled faintly. “It’s worth waiting.”
Ouyang Chuan shook his head. “You are the boss, but I still don’t think these bandits are that easy to be controlled.”
Long smiled noncommittally.
Wang Qi had held his hatred for more than ten years, so he didn’t care if he had to wait two more days.
Long was the same.
The contradiction between Eastern Darkness and Tianlong Dynasty was still under control, at least they were not at war yet.
Therefore, he was not in a hurry.
As for Fang Shuoyang and others who might be in danger, if Eastern Darkness had any big move, he would get the news here!
He took his time.
Therefore, in the next three days, Long had a “visit” in the Black Wind Forest with Ouyang Chuan and the guardian.
It was fair to say that they were there to observe the terrain.
However, the four didn’t even stop them all the time, which was kind of a surprise.
It was true Long could take his time here, but he wanted to get to Eastern Darkness as soon as possible.
Shi was not by his side right now. For someone who was suffering from lovesickness, it was reasonable that he wanted to solve all these troubles and get to his beloved one within the shortest time.
Therefore, in addition to the Shadow Guardian, Tianji Sect also participated in the investigation.
Moreover, Long wrote a word at the bottom: Urgent!
By doing so, Long estimated that it would take them five days at most to investigate the background of the four.
To be clear, taking such a long time was only because Long was asking for a very detailed result.
Otherwise, given the four of them had been in the Black Wind Forest for several years, two days would be more than enough!
The more detailed the information was, the longer the process would last.
During the three days, Long really went around here, wandering from the east to the west of the forest.
In addition, he also learned many traps in the forest.
Why did the army fail when they went into the forest and tried to attack them?
These traps in the woods of course!
Otherwise, how could the army be unable to deal with these people!
Out of curiosity, Long even asked once who had put forward the idea to set all these traps. But he didn’t expect anyone to give him an answer.
Unexpectedly, soon, a little old man was sent to him.
The man might look normal, but he was absolutely a master on this!
Long kept asking him about his traps for a long time, and the old man was so generous to answer him very carefully.
However, Long was not much interested as he performed. After asking and learning its secrets, he let it go and left it behind.
At the same time, Long could also tell something from the situation.
To be specific, the four might have already known who he was. And more importantly, they wanted something from him. Or perhaps… they were hoping that he could bring the Black Wind Forest the real “independence”.
This could be regarded as they were showing their sincerity, otherwise they didn’t have to treat him politely.
And they almost satisfied all Long’s needs!
On the fourth night, Long finally received all the information he wanted.
All those materials were brought by Yingfeng. He took a trip out of the Black Wind Forest and contacted with his partner there.
Except for Wang Qi, the other three shared similar experiences, i.e., being forced by life and becoming bandits afterwards.
However, their tragedies were all human-caused.
The two of them were not favored at home, so they were “murdered” by the matriarchs of their families. Their mothers suffered the same, so they started their journey of revenge.
The youngest man among them, however, was almost killed together with his family by his opponents. He was lucky to survive, but his opponents, unfortunately, were actually his father’s elder brother and his family.
Since the three of them killed their own relatives, the impact was very bad.
Given the fact that they became bandits afterwards, their reputations became worse.
They were lucky to have some adventures, or they would not become such martial art masters by now.
As for Wang Qi… the information was very simple.
He was a servant of a large family, but was almost killed by his master. Then he took revenge, killed his master’s family and became a wanted criminal.
However, this was what was on the paper.
In fact, there was something more behind Wang Qi’s story.
It turned out that Wang Qi was not from Tianlong Dynasty, but Eastern Darkness!
His information in Eastern Darkness was not so easy to be checked, but Long still got his story. Wang Qi had used to be the orphan of a former prefecture of Eastern Darkness!
Eastern Darkness… Long knocked on the table. After reading the information, he handed it to the Shadow Guardian and told him to ruin it.
Now that he had learnt the truth, he didn’t need to keep these papers, but bear them in mind.
If Wang Qi’s family died in the imperial court of Eastern Darkness, then the one he wanted revenge was actually the emperor of Eastern Darkness.
But was the emperor of Eastern Darkness that easy to be killed?
Of course not, or he would not wander into Tianlong Dynasty!
According to their attitude, if they had already known his identity, then… they were up to something that Long had in mind as well.
That’s why they didn’t even intend to hide anything from him.
However, they were also doing this to test him, wondering if he could be used.
Yes, they wanted to make use of Long as well.
But people were meant to be made use of when living in this world.
If someone lived in the world but was worthless to others, then he must be good-for-nothing!
Therefore, Long didn’t mind at all that this was a trade that both parties take what they needed.
But even if he wanted to use these people, he had to make sure that they deserved to be trusted!
With a porcelain bottle in his hand, Long had already made a decision in his heart.
In the middle of the night, Long enjoined, “Ying Feng, go and invite the four masters here.”
“Yes, Master.”