Chapter Five: The Tip of the Iceberg

  After passing through the city gate, Mu Hailin found that the two sides of the valley were no longer steep cliffs, but rather a pair of long and narrow city wall walkways, with thick battlements and shooting holes, all carved out of the cliff face, yet still not a single person in sight.

  Apart from this, Mu Hailin also found that the road under his feet was no longer the yellow earth road before, but a flat horse road paved with foreign cement.

  Mu Hailin took a rough estimate and figured that the road was about one mile long, with another city gate at the end that looked exactly like the previous one.

  Mu Haolin's heart was filled with trepidation as he led his horse forward. Unlike the previous city gate, this second gate was wide open at this moment, and a lone rider stood guard in front of it.

  In the distance, a man stood at the city gate, wearing a black leather top hat, a black leather trench coat, black leather boots, and black leather gloves. He had a pair of round, black-framed sunglasses perched on his nose bridge, and his face was expressionless as he sat astride a magnificent, coal-black Don River horse with not a single white hair on its body.

  As Mu Haolin approached, the man raised his right hand and pushed down on the frame of his sunglasses, which were perched on the bridge of his nose. He looked up at Mu Haolin with a distant gaze as he rode his horse slowly closer.

  Finally see a living person!

  Mu Haolin suppressed the excitement in his heart, took a deep breath several times, and pulled his horse to a stop about five meters away from Tang Dynasty.

  Mu Haolin clasped his fists together and asked with an unusually solemn expression, "I am Mu Haolin from under the Canglong Ridge. May I ask your noble name, are you the master of this Duanhun Gorge?"

  "Not bad!" The black-clad knight, who considered himself quite cool, nodded solemnly and also made a fist and bowed to Mu Hailin, "I am Tang Chao, courtesy name Xinhua, and have lived in this place for several years. According to local customs and traditions, Tang should be considered the master of this place."

  "Have you really been living here for many years?" Mu Hailin asked with a trembling voice, unable to contain the excitement in his heart.

  "Of course!" Tang Dynasty replied proudly: "When you came over, you should have seen the changes in Duanhun Gorge. Without years of effort, it is impossible to achieve today's scale. Hehe, Mr. Mu, I know what you're worried about. I can take full responsibility and tell you that from now on, there will be no more deaths or curses in Duanhun Gorge!"

  "God is great, our ancestors are at peace, and the curse that has haunted my family for so long is finally lifted!" Mu Haolin leapt off his horse and knelt on both knees, his eyes brimming with hot tears as he bowed his head to the sky. After three bows, Mu Haolin quickly crawled on his knees to Tang's horse and knocked his forehead loudly on the ground, "Master, from now on you will be the eternal benefactor of my family!"

  Tang Dynasty was startled by Mu Hailin's move and quickly got off the horse, but still maintained a safe distance and did not go forward to help.

  "Speak up, there's something to say." Tang Dynasty stretched out his hands and politely advised: "Mr. Mu, what do you mean by this? I'm almost confused by you."

  "Master, you may not know that our Mu family has an ancestral rule: whoever can break the thousand-year curse of Duanhun Gorge will be the master we swear to follow to the death!" Mu Hailin did not rise to his words, and then he kowtowed twice more to Tang Chao before standing up.

  "For over a thousand years, every generation of the Mu family has had one direct descendant die in this Soul-Taking Gorge." Mu Haolin sighed and explained: "Since our ancestors discovered that there was an unowned land of several thousand square miles within the Soul-Taking Gorge, it became the ancestral teachings and will of the Mu family to fight for a place to survive and thrive for future generations. However, over a thousand years have passed, and none of our ancestors were able to fulfill this wish. Unexpectedly, in my generation, the dream has finally come true! Master, please accept Haolin's loyalty, from now on I will follow you wherever you go, through thick and thin, and be willing to die for you!"

  As he spoke, Mu Helin was about to kowtow again.

  This time, Tang didn't let Mu Hailin make another big move, and reached out to grab Mu Hailin's arm.

  Mu Haolin's mind was racing, thinking of trying out the extraordinary skills of this sudden benefactor in front of him. His body suddenly sank, and he crouched down on one knee.

  Feeling the other party's sudden surge of strength, Tang Dynasty secretly raised his vigilance while maintaining an unchanged posture, supporting the other party with one hand.

  Mu Hailin obviously has an uncommon skill, unfortunately he encountered the Tang Dynasty's once-in-a-thousand-years freak.

  No matter how hard Mu Hailin tried, Tang Dynasty could hold him down with just one hand, rendering him completely immobile.

  After a while, Mu Hailin's face showed a look of shame and he bowed his head in admiration, saying: "Those who can get the favor of the true God Anla are indeed extraordinary, Master's divine power is amazing, I surrender!"

  Tang Dynasty smiled calmly, took a step back and said, "As the saying goes, without three points of courage, who dares to go up to Liangshan? Don't you think that anyone can break the thousand-year curse of Duanhun Gorge? Mr. Mu, I, Tang Dynasty, am not someone who underestimates myself. Since I have the ability to make this place surnamed 'Tang', it's not impossible for your Mu family descendants to follow me and become illustrious from now on."

  Mu Hailin didn't think that Tang Dynasty was boastful, but instead bowed his head and said respectfully: "Please enlighten me, sir."

  "I'll take you around first, and then you can decide later." Tang Dynasty smiled slightly without a sound, mounted his horse, turned the horse's head, and galloped towards the main city of the Tang Family Fortress on Base Mountain with a "whoosh".

  Mu Haolin didn't hesitate for a moment, and followed by jumping onto the horseback. With a loud "hualala" sound, he fiercely shook the reins and chased after Tang Chao.

  No need to ask, when Mu Hailin arrived at the gate of Tangjia Fort, he saw the eight 203mm caliber fortress guns, sixteen 150mm heavy artillery pieces, and the other fifty-six 150mm heavy artillery groups scattered throughout the base mountain. The look on his face was full of unconcealable surprise, making Tang Chao feel a bit complacent.

  With Mu Ha Lin, Liu Zong Yuan entered the Grand View Garden, and then strolled around the outer city of Tangjia Fort. Later, Tang invited Mu Ha Lin onto a small airship renamed "Tangjia Fort No. 1".

  Control the airship at an altitude of one thousand meters, and let Mu Hailin truly feel in the sky what it means to have abilities that reach the heavens! At the same time, also let Mu Hailin deeply experience how this piece of natural pasture below is so breathtakingly beautiful.

  Through the front window of the airship's cockpit, Mu Hai Lin gazed down at the herds of cattle, sheep, horses and other wild animals roaming or grazing below. He was still a bit dizzy even now. After a while, he finally came back to his senses, standing beside Tang Dynasty with his hands clasped behind his back and his head bowed in respect. In the end, he couldn't help but ask cautiously: "Master, isn't there anyone else here besides you?"

  "Since those people have helped me complete the construction of Tang's castle, it's only natural that they don't need to stay here anymore." Tang said with a ambiguous smile, "I hope this place is a blank canvas where I can add patterns and colors as I please without any external interference."

  The faint and light reply of Tang Dynasty undoubtedly stirred up a huge storm in Mu Hailin's heart.

  What kind of manpower, material resources and financial resources are needed to complete such a "miraculous" magnificent project? What kind of mysterious force does the master represent after his death? What is the relationship between him and President Yuan?

  With the limited knowledge and understanding in Mu Hailin's mind, he naturally thought that the Tang family building leaning on the mountain was absolutely impossible to build with personal financial resources. Only by pouring all the country's resources could it be possible to build such a military fortress.

  Being able to follow such a powerful master, the old Mu family can finally make a name for themselves and bring honor to their ancestors!

  It was at this moment that Mu Hai Lin became even more determined to follow Tang's mysterious master to the death.

  Mu Hai Lin was wise enough not to ask the Tang Dynasty why a seemingly ordinary private castle needed to be defended with such a large-scale heavy artillery group and fortress cannons.

  With Mu Hai Lin's military background, he could guess with his toes that the heavy artillery emplacements of this scale would definitely be accompanied by countless machine gun bunkers.

  Perhaps those soldiers received strict orders and all stayed in artillery positions and bunkers waiting for orders.

  In the darkness, Mu Hailin felt that the airship's speed had slowed down.

  He took a peek at the Tang Dynasty and saw that this mysterious owner was holding a pair of binoculars in his hands, observing the movement on the ground while muttering curses: "Damn it, I shouldn't have been so kind-hearted, I should have made up my mind to wipe out these wolves earlier! These beasts are making me lose at least a few hundred sheep. Damn it, if the tiger doesn't show its might, it's really like a sick cat. I'll make you beasts know who the real master of this grassland is!"

  Mu Haolin was startled by the Tang Dynasty's words, and he looked out of the window to see a group of over a thousand wolves on the grassland below, surrounding a herd of wild sheep.

  "What a huge pack of prairie wolves! Even on the Mongolian steppes, I've never heard of a wolf pack of this scale." Mu Hai Lin exclaimed breathlessly.

  "Heh heh! Wait and see, I'll take down this whole pack of beasts!" Tang Chao smiled coldly, controlling the airship to slowly follow the wolf pack on the ground as they moved towards the dense forest in the northwest.

  In front of Mu Hailin, the Tang Dynasty would not expose the wristwatch communicator. He picked up the wireless radio on the flying boat and gave a direct order: "Kitty, target Wolf Valley, use fortress cannons to fire high-explosive shells, and blow that place flat for me!"

  "Yes, boss." The stiff and cold voice coming from the wireless phone made Mu Hailin's scalp numb as he stood by.

  Eight 203mm caliber fortress guns fired in unison, producing a devastating power that was even more visually shocking when viewed from high altitude.

  After three salvoes were fired, the Tang Dynasty corrected the coordinates of the little cat in mid-air, and then came a carpet-like saturation bombing that covered the sky.

  The Tang Dynasty had long discovered that a large number of prairie wolves lived in the southeastern mountainous area of this vast grassland. Due to ecological balance considerations, they had not disturbed these prairie wolves before, and occasionally even hunted them for fun. Now that it has been decided to open up this natural pasture to outsiders, for the safety of the herdsmen who will migrate and settle here in the future, it is time to solve this security problem. More importantly, we can take advantage of this "artillery exercise" opportunity to greatly intimidate Mu Hai Lin, which can also be considered as giving him a warning.

  There is no doubt that Mu Hai Lin's shock at this moment cannot be described in words.

  The Tang Dynasty didn't bother to continue showing off its strength, and from high altitude observation, it saw that the Wolf Valley had been completely flattened, so it turned around and headed back.

  When the airship arrived above the castle, Tang found that there was a group of people and horses waiting outside the Soul-Breaking Gorge as if they were waiting for someone.

  "Is that your person over there?" Tang Dynasty asked calmly, pointing to the snowy ground in front of the canyon entrance.

  "Yes, master. They are all sworn brothers who have gone through thick and thin together. The leader is my third brother, Mu Haitao." Mu Hailin replied respectfully.

  The Tang Dynasty did not let the airship stop, but controlled it to fly slowly towards the entrance of the canyon.

  "Don't call me master, you're yelling at others, and I'm also uncomfortable listening to it." Tang's expression was calm as he glanced at Mu Hailin, "If you really have the intention of working together with me to build a career, just call me boss from now on. Verbal things don't matter much to me, what's important is actual action."

  "Yes! Boss." Mu Hailin stood up straight and replied solemnly.

  "Have you been in the army before?" Mu Hai Lin still maintained a standard military posture, and Tang Chao asked somewhat unexpectedly.

  "Uh, I used to be in the New Army for three years, and I've done infantry and artillery. Mu Hailin nodded and replied: "Later, because of dissatisfaction with the official's strict military pay and bloodshed, I joined a few brothers to break one leg of that battalion commander, took off my uniform and became a deserter."

  "What did your Mu family used to do?" Tang Dynasty suddenly asked a more serious question.

  "The Kai Biao Bureau." Mu Hailin replied without hesitation: "For several generations, my ancestors were in Hexi to walk the road and protect the goods. Until my great-grandfather's generation moved to Ruoqiang."

  "Haha, no wonder your kung fu is quite good." Tang Chao smiled and patted Mu Hailin's arm lightly.

  "Compared to you, boss, I'm just a fancy boxer." Mu Hailin shook his head with a bitter smile.

  "Don't compare with me." Tang Dynasty smiled calmly: "In your words, I am favored by the true God Anla, and naturally cannot be compared with you ordinary people."

  "Being able to break the thousand-year curse of Duanhun Gorge, in my heart, you are a god, boss!" Mu Hailin devoutly covered his right hand over his chest and bowed to Tang Chao with a Muslim salute.

  "Do you believe there really is a God in this world?" Tang Chao asked Mu Hailin with a hint of a smile.

  "I believe!" Mu Hailin replied firmly without hesitation.

  Thinking of his own bizarre encounters, Tang Chao gazed up at the sky ahead and sighed, saying: "I believe it too."

  While they were talking, the airship had already arrived above the entrance of the Soul-Breaking Gorge.

  In the snowy land, Mu Haitao led a group of brothers who were all getting a bit impatient and anxious, but the master had not returned, so no one dared to make any rash moves.

  Especially with the continuous roar of giant cannons coming from the valley, it further proves that a huge change has occurred in Duanhun Gorge, and it's unknown whether this change is a blessing or a curse for the old Mu family.

  Mu Haitao was so anxious that he spun around in circles on the spot, and just as he was at a loss for what to do next, suddenly one of his brothers shouted loudly: "Quickly look, you guys quickly look, there's something flying in the sky!"

  Everyone heard the words and looked up, only to see a huge elliptical monster falling from the sky, scaring this group of iron-made men to shout and scatter in all directions.

  "Everyone, stop right there!" Mu Haitao, who had some experience, shouted loudly: "You're all just a bunch of country bumpkins! This thing is an airship, I've heard the old Russians mention it before. People can stay on top."

  The airship slowly descended to about fifty meters above the ground and hovered in mid-air, followed by Mu Hailin's voice coming through a loudspeaker: "Haitao, I'm your big brother, everything is fine with me now, you take the brothers back to the hideout first and wait for my return before we talk."

  "Big brother!"

  "What a big deal!"

  "What a big deal!"

  Upon hearing Mu Hailei's voice, Mu Haitao and the group of brothers first looked foolish, then all simultaneously raised their heads to gaze at the sky, wildly waving their hands and shouting loudly. Several even took off the sheepskin hats on their heads and threw them up towards the sky.

  "Get back in line, all of you!" Mu Haolin's roar came from the loudspeaker again: "You're not ashamed, I'm still embarrassed! All of you get back in line, and you, Old Three, Mu Haitao! It's you, kid! Listen up, take everyone back with you, and after we get back, summon all the brothers from outside. At that time, I have important news to announce."

  On the ground, including Mu Haitao, forty-nine iron knights all responded with a loud "Yes!" and mounted their horses in unison, each movement proud, strong and agile.

  "Big brother, I'll take the brothers back first!" Mu Haitao, riding a sorrel horse, shouted loudly into the air.

  "Be careful on the road." Mu Hailin responded: "Let's go!"

  "Brothers, all of you, return to the camp! Charge!" Mu Haitao let out a loud roar, turned his horse's head around and galloped wildly in the direction where Cang Long Ridge was located.

  "Giddy up!" "Giddy up!" "Giddy up!"

  “……”

  In the midst of continuous shouting, forty-nine iron riders rose up a vast expanse of snowy mist, galloping wildly.