CH 16

Gu Qingqiao and Mu Xiyun exchanged glances before standing up and running towards the camp. The three people around the fire also heard it, and when they saw the two hurrying over, Su Yanjun immediately said, “You two go to investigate first, I will go around to the rear, it’s better to go with someone. Brother Zhang and Xiao Zhu pack their bags and lead their horses to follow.”

Several individuals nodded as they went about their own tasks. Gu Qingqiao and Mu Xiyun soared over the creek and a faint scent of blood wafted in the air as the night wind blew towards their direction.

They continued sprinting for almost two miles before spotting the mountain’s base in the distance. They both halted. Several dead wolves were lying on the ground and seemed to have been stabbed several times, but the fatal wound was to the head because the skulls appeared sunken.

Four gray wolves roared around a camp, their front claws impatiently hitting the ground, but they seemed to be afraid. Immediately afterwards, a few people gathered near a stone wall. Although there was a bonfire, its light was faint. Under the dim light, several men with the appearance of family servants holding knives and were already covered in blood were seen as they formed a circle and defended several women inside, one of which was even  holding a child.

In front of them, stood a young girl.

The girl was only about fifteen or sixteen years old, and she was not tall. She was dressed in a light green dress and held a moon-white silk in her hand. It was unknown what the white silk was made from but it seemed to be very tough, and it shone slightly under the girl’s spiritual power. Both ends of the silk were tied with a fist-sized silver ball, which was full of delicate patterns. However, at the moment, they were covered in blood. 

The girl was obviously exhausted from the ongoing battle, but she still stood tall and straight as she faced the alpha wolf with her vigilant eyes. The situation was at an impasse and only an occasional growling sound could be heard. The crowd surrounded by wolves focused their attention on the alpha wolf and did not notice that the grass in the distance shook gently. It turns out that the wolves still have companies, and at this moment they have quietly filled the gap in the encirclement.

Finally, the alpha wolf howled, and the three gray wolves rushed towards the girl at the same time.

The girl inhaled sharply and waved the silk in her hand. The silver ball glowed a little under the moonlight and charged towards a wolf’s head. One wolf leaped and was already in the air at this time, if it successfully landed on her, it would bite off her throat immediately. But suddenly, a silver light flashed, the silver ball at the end hit the wolf’s eye sideways and a dent was immediately formed on its head. The wolf was thrown to one side and a servant behind the girl took advantage of it and immediately stabbed the wolf with the knife, resulting in it immediately losing its breath.

At the same time, the girl’s silver ball swung up and knocked down the two incoming wolves from behind, but then she heard a sudden cry not far behind her. It turned out that while she fought the three wolves, another wolf took the opportunity to attack the crowd behind her. 

The girl gritted her teeth and turned around to stop the wolf, but that’s when the alpha wolf jumped up towards her and went straight at her back. She smelled the wolf’s putrid smelling mouth and felt the humid breath to her ears. The girl shivered and hurried forward with a stiff head to only hear a sharp “ping’ sound in the next second.

The wolf was blocked and its teeth behind her seemed to have bitten something solid.

The girl continued to charge forward with another two steps, waving the silk to knock the two gray wolves out of the camp, and then looked back.

She saw a young man dressed in black clothes, holding two short knives, fighting with the alpha wolf. The wolf was very strong, standing almost as high as the man, with sharp fangs and fierce eyes. The young man had a lazy smile on his face. His movements were not quick, but every move he made felt like he was weightless. It seemed that he had seen through its attacks, and inadvertently turned the attack of the alpha wolf into nothing. After several rounds, he decisively stabbed the wolf in the neck. 

The blood of the wolf sprayed everywhere. It whimpered unwillingly and eventually fell to the ground.

The girl turned her head to look at the camp again, and two white-clothed men had already killed the wolves that came up to them. The girl in green felt relieved, and only then did she realize that she had lost all her strength, and fainted. Gu Qingqiao was the closest to her. Seeing her fall, he quickly supported her and subconsciously glanced at Mu Xiyun in the distance. With the sound of hooves, Zhu Yicheng and Zhang Jinjin rushed forward. Zhu Yicheng was stunned when he saw the girl in green, and blurted out, “Miss Luo!”

After speaking, he immediately turned over and dismounted, and helped Gu Qingqiao  bring the girl to the camp.

Only then did everyone in the camp came back to their senses. They thought they would die, but they were suddenly rescued. They were so excited that they were left speechless. The hands of several servants loosened, and their swords fell to the ground. The women all let out a suppressed cry.

Mu Xiyun and Su Yanjun helped everyone bandage their wounds and treated two seriously injured with a healing technique. Zhang Jinjin called Gu Qingqiao for help, and disposed of the wolf corpse far away so as not to attract other beasts.

Two women in the camp volunteered to wipe the face and feed the girl in green. Zhu Yicheng stood by, seeing that she was unconscious, he secretly said “please excuse me for my actions”, and probed the girl’s condition with his spiritual energy.

Fortunately, the girl was not injured. She at most only lost her strength and would soon wake up after a while.

At this time, everyone had been settled properly, and a woman walked out of the camp, with a seven or eight year old boy in her hand. She bowed to everyone delicately and said gratefully, “This woman is a concubine of Lin family, and I live in Fangcheng. We were going to Hongye City to visit relatives, but unexpectedly encountered wolves. Many thanks to this girl and fellow heroes for saving us.”

The Lin family was originally from Hongye City. Ten years ago, she married Lin Xuewu, the head of the Lin Family Security Bureau in Fangcheng. Half a year ago, Lin Xuewu had to escort goods to Taiyuan. He had agreed to go home for the New Year, but he had not come back for a long time, and the escorts who accompanied him also disappeared. Concubine Lin reported to the government, but learned that the escort team had not arrived at the delivery office in Taiyuan at all and feared that they had encountered an accident on the way.

Concubine Lin was extremely sad, but she refused to believe that her husband was dead. She had been sending people everywhere to look for him. For several months, she had heard nothing from him. Unexpectedly, news came recently that someone saw a lunatic in Hongye City, who looked very much like Lin Xuewu, who had been detained by the Hongye City Government for hurting people on the street. When she heard the news, she hurriedly took several men to Hongye City with her. 

Concubine Lin originally planned to spend the night at Hongye City, but unexpectedly, the little boy was unable to bear the bumps and vomited all the way, delaying the trip. Everyone had no choice but to sleep outside. Unexpectedly, they were unlucky and encountered a wolf pack attack. However, when Miss Lou, who also traveled to Hongye City alone, saw the injustice, came forward to help kill the wolf. Then Mu Xiyun and his party arrived.

Zhu Yicheng’s eyes toward the girl became more sincere and warm.

The girl in green had already recovered at this time, and saluted everyone. “Luo Qingyao from Baihua Valley. I greet all the immortal masters.” She looked up at Gu Qingqiao, as if she had something to say, hesitated for a moment and then said softly, “Many thanks to this young master, if it wasn’t for your timely rescue, Qingyao would have been buried in the mouth of the wolf at this moment.”

“Miss Luo disregards the danger of her life and saves people in danger. I really admire her!” Gu Qingqing said seriously. 

Zhu Yicheng couldn’t hold back at this moment, he waved at Luo Qingyao and asked, “Miss Luo, do you still remember me?”

Luo Qingyao took a closer look at Zhu Yicheng, and then smiled. “It turned out to be Young Master Zhu, thank you for your help.” 

“Where did I help..” Zhu Yicheng was at a loss for a while, he wanted to say something, but he didn’t know what to say and his face immediately flushed red. Seeing him like this, everyone was secretly amused, and the previous tragic and tense atmosphere was immediately diluted.

“There are still two or three hours before dawn, everyone, hurry up and take a rest,” Su Yanjun suggested. “It’s not safe in the mountains, let’s set off at dawn. I’ll keep watch tonight.”

All the women including the servants had been terrified by the unfortunate encounter and were very exhausted. After hearing the words, and thanking them one by one, they were ready to go to sleep. Luo Qingyao went to rest with the women in the camp. The little boy of the Lin family who was frightened, still cried non-stop no matter how much he was being persuaded.

“Hey, little boy, look at what this is?” Zhang Jinjin beckoned the boy in front of him, put his hand into his sleeve pocket, and pulled out a kitten. At a glance, Mu Xiyun saw that it was the cat that he met in Shantang that day.

Children were naturally fond of small animals. Holding the kitten’s warm body, he gradually stopped crying, but he seemed to be still a little scared, so he squeezed in front of the fire and stared at Su Yanjun and Lin Xiyun with wide eyes.

Zhu Yicheng didn’t do much in the battle. At the moment, he was no longer sleepy. When he looked back and saw that Luo Qingyao had fallen asleep, he took out a booklet from his sleeve, lit a fire, and looked at it very seriously.

Zhang Jinjin stepped forward and glanced. “Ah? Lingshan Taoism Discourse War Preparation?”

Unexpectedly, there was still someone who knew about the book, and Zhu Yicheng’s eyes lit up. “Yes, yes, it is Lingshan’s latest guide book of this year, including all the Lingshan successful participants that have successfully reached the top for the past three years, as well as an exclusive summary of the Lingshan chief.” 

Zhang Jinjin waved his hand. “Lingshan’s illusion is changeable, and the illusion changes with people. What’s the use of seeing successful examples? When you go in, the illusion has already changed. It’s better to look at the failed cases and summarize the reason for those failures.”

Looking at Zhu Yicheng with a sluggish face, he added casually. “The chief of Lingshan, wasn’t he nabbed by the Golden Pavilion two years ago?”

Zhu Yicheng was immediately dumbfounded.

“Immortal master, Immortal master,” the Lin family’s child called while pulling Su Yanjun’s sleeve, and asked, “are they talking about Lingshan?” 

Su Yanjun raised his hand and scratched the kitten’s forehead lightly, then laughed softly, “Yes, what they are talking about is the Lingshan Lun Dao.” 

“What is Lingshan Lun Dao?”

“Lingshan is not far from here, just beside Hongye City.” Su Yanjun’s voice was as cool as a jade, and it was very pleasant. People who hadn’t slept in front of the fire were attracted to him and listened to his explanation quietly.

“It is said that Nie Wuya, the first ancestor of the Nie family in Lingshan, was only a blacksmith in Hongye City in his early years, specializing in weapons, but he entered the Dao in the process of forging iron day after day, and finally cultivated and ascended. Before his ascension, he made a lot of spiritual weapons. I don’t know what fortuitous encounter he had, but he actually mastered the method of forging celestial weapons. The weapon forged by him would be connected to its master’s soul, and can be upgraded along with the cultivator’s realm.”

“Before Nie Wuya’s ascension, he lamented that no one could inherit his skills, so he set up a formation in the mountain where he was casting swords every day, and recruited immortal disciples above the foundation realm to participate in the trial. The immortals would enter the mountain and compete with each other. The winner had to pass the test of the Lingshan array. If you can get its approval, you can get a celestial weapon at the Immortal Lake on the top of the mountain. “

This was a story that had been widely circulated in the Immortal World, and many children have grown up listening to it. 

“What kind of treasure is Brother Zhu’s book?”

Su Yanjun was an upright person, he didn’t care about what circulated in the markets. In addition, it was seven or eight years ago that he participated in Lingshan Taoism Discourse. He didn’t understand the so-called “Lingshan  preparation for war” which only emerged in recent years, and he didn’t know how to explain it.

“Little goblin, that’s not a treasure.” Zhang Jinjin smiled and said. “It’s just a few stories in Lingshan, which are fun to read. If you want to know, when you get to Hongye City, ask your mother to buy a copy for you.”

When the kid heard that it wasn’t a treasure and he could buy it everywhere, he immediately lost interest, made a big yawn, and soon went to sleep. 

Gu Qingqiao sat beside Mu Xiyun and said softly. “You can sleep for a while, and I will help your senior brother watch for the night.”

Mu Xiyun didn’t speak but he made a gesture to Su Yanjun. The two men stood on one side of the camp and meditated silently. 

Gu Qingqiao watched as Mu Xiyun walked away. He raised his head and inadvertently met Zhang Jinjinye’s teasing eyes. He was not annoyed. He picked a place where he could see Mu Xiyun and lay down to rest.

The author has something to say:

Small Theater:

Gu Qingqiao: Ah Yun ignored me, so sad.

Author: Who made you change your face? 

Gu Qingqiao: You say, who was it, hmm?

Author:… I have something to do, I’ll leave first.