C27

As soon as the Sha Brothers and Tang Yi entered the forest, they found Ruan Xingang's body. However, he was bleeding profusely from his chest. In his right hand was a small axe. The axe was covered with a patch of red. It was obvious that he had cut down an enemy before he died.

Ruan Xin and Kou Lingkong were both tough bones. Although one was dead while the other was injured, neither of them let out a loud scream. Thus, Qiu Ling and Sha, who were at the front of the manor, did not hear them.

Tang Yi asked, "Big Brother Sha and Second Brother Sha, do you want to tell the Two Sovereigns and Big Brother Qiu?"

Boss Sha replied, "They're all dead, there's no need! Besides, they were fighting with the old man from the Chastity Temple! Go! Let's chase after them! "Kill those two bastards and avenge the Ruan brothers!"

"Look!" The trail of blood! " The second brother pointed ahead and said happily, "It must have been left behind by the injured fellow! That's easy! Follow the blood trail and see where they can hide! "

Everyone had a happy expression on their faces. They followed the blood trail to the middle of the mountain, but suddenly there was no blood.

"Why is it gone?" Boss Sha scratched his head and asked curiously.

"It should be because he bandaged his wound after running here, there's no more blood!" Tang Yi inwardly laughed at Boss Sha's simple-mindedness, but he didn't show any ridicule as he spoke in a serious tone.

"Yes!" "Makes sense!" Boss Sha nodded his head. "However, there are no more traces of blood, so it's hard to find!"

"I can only look at the footprints!" Tang Yi said, "Like this, we'll slow down a bit!"

Fortunately, it had rained the day before yesterday, and the soil was somewhat damp, so it was easy to leave footprints. The group of people carefully observed the footprints as they walked.

Finding the slope where Madam Fang and the rest had escaped to last night, Boss Sha pointed. "Look, there are footprints over there. They're definitely heading this way!"

As the group approached, they saw a few footprints and followed them down the hill to the river.

"Strange! It seems like there are more than two people's footprints! " Tang Yi muttered.

"Perhaps there are also their accomplices!" A Tang Sect disciple said.

"It must be!" "In the battle just now, I don't remember seeing Yin Tianjin and Fang Class gather at his wife's place!"

The rest of the group thought back, but they were all surprised to find that they had sneaked here.

Tang Yi guessed, "Maybe there's a secret passage outside the manor."

Everyone nodded, so Tang Yi sent Tang Hong back to report. The remaining five people followed the messy footprints by the river bank all the way to Duan Jia Village.

Tang Yi walked up the stone steps and lightly knocked a few times on the door.

With a "ya" sound, an old man with a face like an orange that had dried in the wind stuck his head out from behind the door. He sized up each of the five people and suspiciously asked, "Who are you looking for so early in the morning?"

Tang Yi cupped his hands, "Old man, sorry to disturb you! "We are not looking for you because we want to inquire of you about something. Old man, have you seen two young Daoists not long ago — one of whom was injured and passed through your village?"

The old man shook his head: "No!"

Tang Yi said, "Thank you!" "Sorry for disturbing you!"

After the old man closed the door, Tang Yi and the others searched around the bamboo forest outside the manor, but didn't find anything suspicious.

A Tang Sect disciple looked at the road in front of the manor and asked, "Leader, do you think they escaped on this path?"

"That's a possibility!" Tang Yi nodded.

"Then what are you waiting for? Let's chase them! " Boss Sha could no longer wait as he hurried up the main road.

"Brother Sha, please wait!" Tang Yi said in a deep voice, "Let me think about it..." Perhaps this family would take them in! This way: Tang Chun and Tang Qi will stay here and secretly watch. I'll go with Big Brother Sha and Second Brother Sha! "

The Sha Brothers and Tang Yi were running along the main road, probing along the way. After running for a kilometer or two, they still didn't get any news.

Tang Yi said dejectedly, "Hey, we don't have horses! Don't chase after them anymore! Go back and report this to Big Brother Qiu first, and let him make his decision! "

When the three of them returned to Duan Jia Village, they saw Tang Chun and Tang Qi sitting listlessly in the bamboo forest. Tang Yi asked, "How was it?"

Tang Chun shook his head and said, "We've already jumped up onto the wall and secretly checked the situation in the manor. It seems like we're not here."

Tang Yi nodded. "Let's go!"

As soon as Qiu Ling said he did not see Lady Fang and the children, Tang Hong ran back panting to report the situation.

"Damn it!" So there really is a tunnel! " Qiu Ling was so angry that he pounded the tree trunk.

The Earth Lord originally wanted to chase him, but Qiu Ling was afraid that there wouldn't be any accidents in the manor, so he asked him to stay behind and take care of the injured Sky Sovereign. After he arranged for a few uninjured Duo Cultivation disciples to take care of his injured companions, he led five Tang Sect disciples to chase him.

Seeing Ruan Xingang's body, Qiu Ling fiercely clenched his fists and said, "Brother Ruan, you died miserably! Rest assured, your brother will definitely avenge you! "

Tang Hong and Qiu Ling arrived at the slope and pointed downwards. "This is where they escaped from!"

Qiu Ling walked a few steps down the hill, checked his surroundings, then nodded and returned. Seeing that there were traces of people passing by, he followed the trail for about ten steps before suddenly squatting down and calling out, "Look, there's blood here!"

The rest of the group hurried over, only to see a few drops of blood on the grass. Tang Hong frowned and asked, "What happened?"

Qiu Ling pondered for a moment, then sneered, "I understand! Those two survivors of Qingcheng must have run up the mountain! As for Yin Tianjin, that slut Fang, and the others, they must have run away last night. They must have taken the same path down the slope! "

"They ran away last night?" Tang Hong sighed, "How can the team leader and Big Brother Sha catch up!"

"I can't catch him for now!" Qiu Ling muttered to himself, "Think about it slowly in the future!"

"Big Brother Qiu, what should we do next?" Tang Zixuan asked.

"What should we do?" Qiu Ling said with hatred, "Of course, we should first find those two Green City survivors and avenge Brother Ruan!"

* *

Shen Lingxiao carried Kou Lingkong and sprinted up the mountain. He had no idea where he got his strength from, but he ran along the mountain ridge for several miles in a single breath. This was probably the reason why the Zhu Clan had chosen this place and chose it. This mountain range seemed endless, as if there was no end to it.

Kou Lingkong broke out in a cold sweat from the pain as he cried out, "Junior brother!" Put me down! You're carrying me, how can you escape! "

Shen Lingxiao was sweating profusely, but he ignored him and hugged his legs tightly, refusing to stop.

Kou Lingkong struggled to get down as he gasped, "The meridian channels in my right leg has been broken! He had been crippled! Put me down! "

Shen Lingxiao said angrily, "Don't wander around! How hard it is for you! Senior Brother, I will not leave you behind! "

Kou Lingkong no longer struggled as tears rolled down his face. He choked with sobs, "Junior brother, you … Why was this difficult? In that case, none of us will be able to escape! "

"Who said that!" Shen Lingxiao shouted, "They can't catch up to us!"

Even so, he was already feeling dizzy and weak. He was only lying to himself.

After running for some distance, Shen Lingxiao suddenly caught sight of a thatched cottage halfway up the mountain. As it was hidden by the lush greenery, he could not see it if he did not pay attention. Overjoyed, he carried Kou Lingkong and fell off the cliff, rushing towards the thatched cottage.

"Woof woof woof!" A yellow dog rushed out and barked at Shen Lingxiao. His eyes locked onto Shen Lingxiao's. His heart tightened and he took a step back, "Wuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwuwu.

"Big Yellow, what's wrong?" A dirty little girl ran out, wearing a patched red flowered jacket, barefooted. He saw a bloodied young man looking at him with a pleading gaze while carrying a bloodied man on his back. He was scared and retreated to the corner of the wall. Big Yellow was trying to protect his master, so he quickly stood in front of her and shouted loudly.

"Daddy!" Come out! There are strangers! " the little girl screamed.

"Little Zhen, don't be afraid! Daddy is here! " Just as he finished speaking, a middle-aged man walked out. From the looks of it, he was a hunter. When he saw the duo's expressions, he was also shocked and hurriedly covered Little Treasure behind him.

Shen Lingxiao wiped his sweat and said gently, "Don't be scared Uncle, we are not bad people! We ran into the bad guys, and my senior brother got hurt. I want to leave senior brother here with you for the time being. After I lure away the criminals, I'll come again to pick him up. "

"No way!" The hunter quickly waved his hand, "You guys should leave!"

Shen Lingxiao took two steps forward, kneeled down and said, "Uncle, I beg of you!" As he said this, he took out forty taels of silver and handed it to the hunter, "How about I hide senior brother in a pile of firewood behind the house?"

The hunter saw that there was so much silver, and was startled, but did not dare to come to collect it. He refused: "No..." "Don't..."

Shen Lingxiao did not allow him to think any further. He stuffed the silver into his hands and carried Kou Lingkong to the pile of firewood at the back of the house. He picked up a pile of hay and placed the boy inside.

Kou Lingkong nodded: "Alright! Hurry up and go! Don't come back! I'll come find you when I'm done recuperating! "

Shen Lingxiao picked up the dry grass to cover his body and quickly walked out. He lifted his hand to caress the shy little girl's messy hair before taking out a piece of silver and giving it to her, saying, "Go and buy some candy!"

With that, he cupped his hands and thanked the hunter. The hunter waved his hand and said, "Rest assured!"

Shen Lingxiao climbed up the cliff, righting the long grass he had pressed down while he was falling. He took more than 10 steps forward, worried for a moment and tore off a corner of his clothes and hung it on a sharp tree fork beside him.

In one breath, he ran several miles until he reached a rocky mountain. Suddenly, he tripped and fell to the ground. He quickly got up to check, only to see that he had tripped over a thick, exposed root.

An unknown big tree that only two people could hug was standing on top of the hill. It was verdant and tall, with lush foliage. Thick tree roots were exposed on the ground, extending in all directions. It was as if a group of pythons had left their holes as they scattered in all directions. The trees were surrounded by shrubs, ferns, and the like. They grew densely amidst the rocks.

Shen Lingxiao took a few steps forward and glanced back at the tree. He then turned back and muttered, "What a good place!" This was pushing them too far! Come, let's fight for our lives here! "

He then went into the shrubbery and used his sword to chop down over ten small trees. He cut off the branches and sharpened the ends, turning them into a three-foot-long sharp stick. He placed a few in the long grass and carried a few in his arms. Then he walked to the tree and used both hands and feet to climb up. He hid himself in a dense branch with a sword in one hand and a few sharp sticks in the other.

After about half an incense worth of time, there was someone speaking. Shen Lingxiao's heart tightened as he looked towards the source of the voice. The leaves were lush and dense, so he could not see through it, and could only listen carefully.

A lady asked in a clear voice, "Brother Qiu, are you sure this piece of cloth belongs to them?"

Qiu Ling replied, "Of course! This piece of clothing should have been left behind by the younger one scraping against the tree fork. "

The lady chuckled and said, "The fox's tail has finally leaked out!"

Qiu Ling said, "These two fellows are really tenacious. One of them even suffered a heavy injury, yet they actually managed to run so far away."

A Tang Sect male disciple said, "There's a wounded person. They can't run very fast! [The trouble is that this mountain is easy to hide from, but hard to find!] "Oh right, Big Brother Qiu, how can you be so sure that they're running forward and not hiding somewhere?"

Qiu Ling said, "I'm just guessing, since we can't catch up to them, they will obviously choose to run as far away as possible in safety."

When Shen Lingxiao saw Qiu Ling chasing after him, he predicted that his master had been killed and was shocked. His vision went dark and he almost fell down from the tree. He wiped away his tears and calmed his mind. He held the weapon tightly in his hands and clenched his knuckles until they turned white.

"Look!" That tree is so big! " Another girl's sweet voice.

While they were talking, the group of people had already arrived a few feet away from the tree where Shen Lingxiao was hiding.

* *

Qiu Ling, who was walking at the front, observed his surroundings and warned, "This is a good place to ambush. Be careful!"

As soon as his voice fell, the branches trembled, and three sharp sticks whizzed down towards his chest. Fortunately, Qiu Ling had already placed his hand on the hilt of his saber and was secretly on guard. He immediately drew his saber and with a "kacha" sound, the rod would hack to the side in the future.

With a "shua shua" sound, the other three sticks were already less than two feet away from his chest. Qiu Ling did not have time to return the blade, and could have jumped away to dodge, but he was afraid of injuring the Tang Sect disciples behind him. With an explosive shout, he raised his elbow and smashed it into the sticks.

A streak of sword light cut down from the tree branch, arriving above Qiu Ling's head in the blink of an eye.

With a dang sound, although Qiu Ling was forced to take a step back, his blade moved like lightning, blocking the attack. Just as he was about to attack, he was suddenly tripped by a tree root and nearly lost his balance. After landing, Shen Lingxiao's sword was like the wind, and with a flick of his wrist, he stabbed towards Qiu Ling's chest.

Qiu Ling's reaction was surprisingly fast. At the moment of a thousand attacks, his body unexpectedly flashed horizontally. With a "pu" sound, he pierced his left shoulder and immediately became drenched in blood.

These few rounds were like lightning. By the time the five Tang Sect disciples had reacted, Qiu Ling had already been struck by the sword.

The Tang Sect disciples cried out in alarm as their steel darts, flying daggers, and iron tribulations all struck out. While dodging, Shen Lingxiao dialled his hidden weapon and leaped into the shrubbery to escape.

With a sharp piercing sound, a bunch of arrows flew towards Shen Lingxiao like locusts chasing after their target.

Shen Lingxiao groaned and fell into a pile of grass.

"It hit!" He was hit by my Sky Net Crossbow! " Tang Zixuan cried out in joy.

Qiu Ling was afraid that he would lose too much blood, so he quickly sealed the few acupoints around the wound and chased after Shen Lingxiao. In the air, he saw Shen Lingxiao get up and laughed sinisterly: "Where are you running to!" The ultimate move of the Thunderbolt Sword Technique, "Riding the Wind and Wave", was swung towards Shen Lingxiao's neck like a tornado.

Shen Lingxiao was shocked as he tried his best to parry the blow with his sword. "Dang!" The sword and blade clashed and the sword was knocked away. Shen Lingxiao fell to the ground from the immense force.

Qiu Ling landed in front of him and said with a cold smile, "Accept your fate!" With both hands holding the saber, he fiercely slashed down towards his chest.

Just when he had chopped down half a foot, a sharp stick suddenly shot out like a poisonous snake from the long grass. "Pick!" It ruthlessly stabbed into his lower abdomen. Shen Lingxiao quickly rolled out of the range of the blade aura.

Qiu Ling felt a strange pain in his lower abdomen. With a "peng" sound, the thunderbolt knife fell into the grass. He covered his lower abdomen with his hands and looked down with his eyes wide open in surprise. A sharp rod had already deeply embedded itself into his lower abdomen.

Qiu Ling let out a wild roar and pulled out his sharp rod, blood spewing out from his mouth like a fountain. He looked to be about to stab Shen Lingxiao with his stick, but his hands and feet had already given in. He knelt down weakly and twitched a few times before he stopped moving.

How could he be willing? How could he close his eyes? After roaming the martial arts world for twenty years, he died in the hands of a nameless junior.

A Tang Sect male disciple followed closely behind. Seeing Qiu Ling fall, he cried out in shock, "Big Brother Qiu …" Before he could finish his sentence, a sword light shot out from the long grass like a dragon. The disciple's head flew out in blood and fell into the grass.

"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Screaming in a mixture of male and female voices, she was scared by the homicidal maniac lurking in the grass and hurriedly retreated to hide.

After a while, they heard a series of sounds as they gradually descended the slope. Tang Zixuan fiercely swallowed a mouthful of saliva, regained her senses, and said with a trembling voice: "It's him! He's not dead, he's running downhill. "

"What should we do?" Tang Jing still had lingering fear in her heart as she asked absentmindedly. The other two male disciples also didn't have any ideas as they looked at Tang Zixuan with questioning gazes.

"I saw it clearly. An arrow had obviously hit his leg!" Tang Zixuan firmly said, "Come, let's go take a look at Big Brother Qiu and Tang Shan."

The four carefully approached him, but when they saw that Qiu Ling was still kneeling in the grass and did not fall, they checked his breath and found that he was already dead. Next to him was the bloody head of Tangshan, and his headless body was lying not far away.

The four of them held onto Tang Shan's corpse and cried for a while. Tang Zixuan wiped her tears away and said while clenching her teeth: "Stop crying! "Let's go chase that criminal!"

As a result, the four of them got up and walked down the slope. They saw bloodstains along the way, but when they reached the halfway mark of the mountain, there was no trace of blood.

"What's going on?" Tang Hong asked curiously.

"It must have healed! He must be hiding somewhere nearby! " Tang Zixuan sneered, "However, the arrow was poisoned. He won't be able to hold on for long!"

"Little sister Zi Xuan, what should we do next?" Tang Jing asked again.

Tang Zixuan pondered for a moment and said, "How about this: Tang Hong and Tang Yao will stay behind. Sis Jing, go back and report this!"

"This …" Tang Jing hesitated, thinking to go back alone. She was afraid that the homicidal maniac would appear again along the way, so she hesitated.

Tang Zixuan saw through her thoughts and shook her head, "Forget it, you can stay! Tang Hong, go back and report. "

After Tang Hong left, the three searched around the vicinity for a while, but could not find any trace of Shen Lingxiao.

"Did he run far away?" Tang Yao muttered to himself as he looked at Tang Zixuan.

"You know, the faster you run, the faster the poison breaks out!" Tang Zixuan sneered.

Tang Hong ran back in a single breath. Coincidentally, she ran into the Sha brothers and Tang Yi's group who had just returned. Panting, she told them about the murder of Qiu Ling and Tang Shan.

"What?" Boss Sha grabbed Tang Hong, "Are you f * cking joking?"

"It's true!" Big Brother Sha, if you don't believe me, I'll bring you over to take a look! " Tang Hong's shoulder bones were about to break as she said with a bitter face.

"Second brother!" Let's go! Cut that stinking thief into ten thousand pieces! " Boss Sha was infuriated. He called out to the second brother, who was still in a daze, and pushed Tang Hong to lead the way.

"Tang Hong, bring Big Brother Sha and Second Brother Sha over first!" Let's go back to the village and tell the duo, then we'll come back later! " Tang Yi instructed.