Two months later.
In the second floor of the Tianmei Wine House in Qingshan City, Peach Blossom Domain, several tables of diners were seated.
Among them, at the table near the railing, sat a young swordsman and a small white and calico cat.
These two were naturally Xu Mu and Qiongqi.
They looked at the crowd below the wine house with strange expressions, and a question simultaneously arose in their hearts.
"Good sir, why are they all wearing the same clothes as you?" Qiongqi asked Xu Mu.
"How should I know." Xu Mu gnawed on a leg of lamb absentmindedly and replied. He had only just emerged from the mountains today, and had not seen anyone for the past two months.
Yes, two months had passed since he and Qiongqi left the forbidden area via the spatial array.
During these two months, they had been teleported to a nearby ordinary Qingshan Mountain.
The mountains were his territory, so Xu Mu casually found a cave, and together with Qiongqi, they recovered from their injuries. They only emerged from the mountains today after they had healed.
So, this could be considered his first day back officially from Alfheim.
However, upon emerging, Xu Mu was dumbfounded.
Because he discovered that the people in this town, young and old, were dressed surprisingly similarly to himself.
Those young masters with extraordinary bearing had all discarded their luxurious brocade robes and switched to coarse linen clothes. They were no longer holding flutes for leisure, but black long sabers, like the one at his waist.
And beside them, there was almost always a cat with white and calico fur.
"Wearing linen clothes might be for frugality, perhaps because the people of this domain are not very prosperous. As for using sabers, it's probably like how everyone in the Myriad Beast Domain tames beasts; here, perhaps everyone uses sabers," Xu Mu muttered to himself, trying to find some logic in what he was seeing. However, he then helplessly scratched his head.
The first two explanations could hold, but the matter of having a cat beside them, he truly could not find a reason for.
When did people on this continent become so fond of cats?
What had happened in these past two months?
"Brother Qian, what has happened these past few months? Why have all your clothes changed since I came out of seclusion at the martial arts dojo?"
Just as Xu Mu and Qiongqi were both bewildered, a similar question was heard from the neighboring table to their right. Instantly, Xu Mu and Qiongqi both glanced over, and saw two young men drinking.
The one asking the question was wearing a light blue robe, had a rough voice, and a ruddy complexion. The one sitting opposite him was a thin man wearing linen clothes and a saber at his waist.
"Hey, you wouldn't know, but these past few months, our entire Hundred Clans Alliance, and even the entire continent, have been greatly shaken by one event, and that's why things are like this," the young man, whom the burly man called Brother Qian, said as he drank his fine wine.
"Qian Qian, tell me what happened, you're killing me with anticipation!" Seeing him deliberately keep them in suspense, the burly man, full of curiosity, asked urgently.
"The reason is that two months ago, nearly ten thousand human slaves appeared out of thin air in Alfheim," Qian Qian said with a smile.
"Human slaves?" The burly man's expression stiffened, then he asked in disbelief, "In this day and age, there are still human slaves!"
"Although the laws of our Hundred Clans Alliance are not as complete as those of the Great Xia Dynasty or the Great Zhou Dynasty, the matter of human slaves is prohibited throughout the continent. Even the Golden Tent Royal Court abolished human slavery twenty years ago. Where did so many human slaves come from?!"
Qian Qian smiled, deliberately prolonging the suspense without answering, and took another sip of wine. He remembered the burly man was like an ant on a hot pan. He immediately glared and stood up, slamming the table, and said angrily, "Damn it, are you going to tell me or not? If you don't, you're paying for this drink yourself!"
The burly man's action startled many diners at other tables, who looked over with strange eyes.
"Please excuse us, everyone, my friend has a temper like this," Qian Qian said, smiling and standing up to apologize. He then said to Jiang Sheng, "Brother Jiang, don't be angry. Listen to me. These human slaves were not raised by human forces, but by the dwarves living in the deserts of Alfheim."
"Dwarves?" The burly man's eyes widened, his face full of disbelief. "You mean, the legendary dwarves? Do they really exist?"
"Of course," Qian Qian nodded seriously and continued, "In recent years, human cultivators have been disappearing in Alfheim, their bodies never found. It turns out they were all captured by dwarves and used as slaves to build altars, enslaved for a hundred years!"
"It was only two months ago that they were rescued."
"How could such a thing happen!" The burly man, having just sat down, angrily slammed the table and stood up again, earning a round of eye rolls from the crowd. Some hot-tempered individuals immediately started shouting, "Who the hell are you? Get out if you're not eating!"
"My name is Jiang Sheng, and you're the one who should get out!" The burly man turned around and met the person's gaze without fear.
"Someone from the Jiang family." The person's expression abruptly froze, and then he quickly apologized and made amends. He stopped eating and scrambled to flee the wine house.
Seeing this, Xu Mu's eyebrows twitched slightly.
A surname of Jiang, could it be the Jiang family among the Hundred Clans?
"These damned dwarves, how dare they enslave humans! They truly court death!" Jiang Sheng said resentfully, sitting down after resolving the matter.
"You don't need to be so angry. Those dwarves have already received their due punishment," Qian Qian said with a smile, indifferently taking a sip of wine. He continued, "According to what those human slaves said, they were rescued by a young human swordsman."
"Those dwarves captured people to be slaves underground, but unexpectedly, this time they brought disaster upon themselves."
"A young swordsman." The burly man repeated softly, then his eyes widened, and he asked, "Are you saying that the one who saved them was a young person?"
"Yes, a young person," Qian Qian nodded, sighing, "His age is probably similar to ours, but his strength is extremely great. He was also accompanied by a fierce white and calico tiger. The two of them were the first to resist, and with a 'hey hey,' they managed to turn the entire dwarven world upside down!"
"Amazing. Where is that swordsman now?" Jiang Sheng's eyes lit up, and he happily drank a mouthful of wine. He had practiced martial arts since childhood and abhorred evil, so he was eager to meet that swordsman.
"He was taken away by the elves, seemingly to the Elf Kingdom. And those human slaves were able to safely leave the forbidden area because the elves escorted them on his behalf," Qian Qian said.
Hearing this, the burly man's eyes widened even further.
Not only dwarves, but also elves?
Seeing this, Qian Qian greedily ate the fennel beef on his plate. This was a delicacy he was reluctant to eat even when he was economizing. At the same time, he continued to speak indistinctly:
"Actually, when this news first spread, many people didn't believe it, because, you know, elves and dwarves are both legendary creatures. None of us have ever seen them."
"But as those nearly ten thousand human slaves gradually flowed into the towns controlled by the various clans, and became homeless, the leaders of the major powers finally realized that this matter might be true."
"It's indeed hard to believe," the burly man nodded empathetically, still finding it hard to believe all of this.
"Are you joking with me?" Jiang Sheng asked Qian Qian suspiciously. Qian Qian smiled indifferently and continued:
"It's useless whether you believe it or not. Those great figures before also didn't believe it, but after interrogating those human slaves, they had no choice but to believe. Because the things they described were too real, absolutely not false."
"And so, everyone learned that elves and dwarves truly exist in this world!"
Hearing this, the burly man slowly digested the information and then asked doubtfully, "Then what's going on with the people on the street? Why are they suddenly wearing the same clothes?"
"This has to be traced back to that young swordsman," Qian Qian swallowed a bite of food and then said, "As time passed, the details of that resistance against slavery were gradually revealed."
"It turns out that the young swordsman, on that night, alone, disregarding the obstruction of those timid human slaves, drew his saber to the sky, and thus initiated the resistance."
"The dwarves, with their tyrannical authority and false reputation, forced you to kneel. I want to make you stand up. That was what he said at the time," Qian Qian said word for word, causing Jiang Sheng's eyes to well up as he said, "This person is truly a hero of our human race!"
"That's right, that's why you see so many people imitating him," Qian Qian patted the saber at his waist and continued, "After this incident, all the major clans, including your Jiang family, were investigating the identity of that swordsman. They wanted to know who he was and tried every means, but without exception, none of them succeeded in finding him."
"They don't know the swordsman's name, nor his origin, they only know that he was wearing linen clothes at the time, with a black long saber at his waist, and holding a tiger that resembled a white calico cat in his arms."
Qian Qian said, gesturing to himself and the other cultivators dressed similarly downstairs:
"As you can see, because of this matter, young people throughout the Hundred Clans Alliance region have begun to fanatically admire that mysterious swordsman. He is considered the light of the human race."
"Ink saber, white cat has become the fashion for every person who uses a saber, regardless of gender. Even some ability users who don't use sabers wear a saber at their waist to show respect."
"Like you?" Jiang Sheng suddenly realized. He wondered why Qian Qian, who used a crossbow, was carrying a saber.
"Yes," Qian Qian nodded and smiled.
"Wait, you mean the entire Hundred Clans Alliance is looking for that young swordsman, but no one has found him yet? How is that possible!" Jiang Sheng asked in disbelief. If all the Hundred Clans were searching together, they could dig up a loach from three feet underground, but they couldn't find that swordsman? How was that possible?
"Of course, they can't find him," Qian Qian gave him a look as if he were looking at an idiot. "You know, our Hundred Clans Alliance is not monolithic to begin with. Plus, with so many young people dressed like this on the streets, it would be truly strange if they *could* find him."
"So, the identity of that young person with the ink saber and the white tiger remains a mystery."
"So that's how it is." After hearing the whole story, Xu Mu also turned around with sudden understanding.
So in these past two months, his deeds had become known to everyone in the Hundred Clans Alliance. No wonder so many people on the street were imitating his clothing and had a calico cat beside them!
"Good sir, you're famous," Qiongqi said with a strange look while eating mutton.
Because he couldn't understand why these people were imitating Xu Mu, but had kittens beside them, when he was so fierce!
"When I saved those people, I really didn't think about these things," Xu Mu said, chewing on his food with a calm expression. "At that time, I was just thinking, if these people were my relatives, or Wu Kui, or people from Fengqing Village who encountered such a situation, what would I do? The answer had already been given countless nights ago, so I drew my saber."
"As for fame, it's not necessarily a good thing."
Xu Mu said, his expression somewhat solemn.
Although so far, the people from the great clans had not found his identity, it did not mean they never would.
Although he had disguised himself, with the ink saber, white cat, and linen clothes, and the members of the accompanying adventure groups, it would be very easy to find out what he had done in Tucheng.
If they investigated further, and if something went wrong with Le Lingyun's side, the Ye family would immediately be able to guess that the young swordsman who rescued the human slaves and the swordsman who captured Ye Que in Black Horn City were the same person.
After all, he had Qiongqi with him in Black Horn City, and he was dressed the same, just without the disguise.
"Le Lingyun should be able to guess it's me. Senior Wine Immortal and the Nangong family should also be able to figure it out. The rest are Nash and Sla from the Elf Tribe..." Xu Mu thought, then suddenly startled, "And Nan Feng, how could I have forgotten him!"
"This kid knows everything about me. If they reveal my identity, not only the people of the Hundred Clans Alliance, but also the Demon Slaying Division and the Gold and Silver Merchant Guild will come to arrest me, and it might even affect Fengqing Village!"
Thinking of these things, Xu Mu immediately stood up excitedly from his chair, attracting many glances.
"Nan Feng, he probably hasn't said anything, otherwise, the fact that you are called Xu Mu should have spread by now," Qiongqi said with a solemn expression.
"He hasn't said it now, but it doesn't mean he never will. We must find him as soon as possible!" Xu Mu said, a hint of killing intent emanating from his brows.
He had lost his appetite. He just wanted to find Nan Feng quickly and shut his mouth!
And just as he stood up and was about to turn to leave, a group of people dressed in luxurious clothing slowly came up the stairs of the wine house, blocking the entrance to the floor.
The young master holding a folding fan at the forefront first looked Xu Mu up and down, then smiled disdainfully, and then said to Jiang Sheng at the next table, "Young Master Jiang, long time no see!"