When Chen Xiao and the other two saw Tong Nuonuo, he was eating a bowl of noodles. When he saw Chen Xiao and Du Rong suddenly followed the host of the house they were staying in, he almost spit out the noodles. "Chen... cough cough cough!" Tong Nuonuo was so happy that he coughed so hard that he was almost dying.
"Nonuo!" Chen Xiao was overjoyed, but Tong Nonuo coughed until tears came out, which made him angry and amused. This scene seemed familiar. When they met again on the boat a few months ago, Tong Nonuo was also in such an awkward state.
Du Rong took off his bag and put it outside the door, and the three of them went into the house. The room where Tong Nuonuo was living was not very big, only about ten square meters. The furnishings in the room were quite simple, even shabby. There was only a single bamboo bed, a bamboo table, and two bamboo chairs with backrests. It was no wonder that Tong Nuonuo had to eat with a bowl in his hands, because there was no dining table in the house for him to put his bowl on.
The owner of the house was called A Shou, and he was very happy to see them reunited. He said warmly and hospitably: "Three distinguished guests have come to our house. According to the rules of our village, we must treat them with good wine and good food. You guys chat first, I will go to the mountain to hunt some game and prepare a good table tonight!"
Du Rong stood near the door, stretched out his hand to stop him, and said, "Brother, don't be polite!" Unexpectedly, Ah Shou gently waved his hand and smiled even more generously: "You call me brother, you must treat me well when you come. You guys take a rest, I'll be back soon!" After saying that, Ah Shou turned around and left, and Du Rong didn't stop him.
Du Rong looked at his hand in disbelief, then looked up at Ah Shou's back. He was a high-level cultivator, but he was pushed away by a villager. No one would believe it if he told others about it!
He turned around, wanting to find someone to talk to about his shock. But Chen Xiao was talking to Tong Nuonuo, and only Master Xi had just turned his gaze away. Du Rong didn't dare to talk to Master Xi, as he felt that he had provoked this person inexplicably recently. So, he could only keep his surprise and doubts in his heart.
Tong Nuonuo was even more excited than Chen Xiao when he saw the three of them coming. He grabbed Chen Xiao's arm and refused to let go, almost bursting into tears: "I never thought that I would see you come to see me in such a helpless situation. Am I dreaming?!"
Chen Xiao smiled and said, "Of course not. Dreaming or awake, you are a cultivator, how can you not tell the difference?"
Tong Nuonuo smiled, and the happiness on his round face was clear. He said: "Chen Xiao, did you get the news and come to rescue us? Who was the last one to go back from our team?"
Chen Xiao shook his head solemnly and said, "No, we just came here by chance. Nuonuo, why are you in this village? Where are the other members of your team? What happened?"
Tong Nuonuo was a little stunned when he heard that things were not what he thought. Chen Xiao's question made him think for a while before he said to the three people carefully: "After I separated from you in Hanshan City, I joined the others and went into the mountain together. This team is led by a ninth-level Jindan cultivator, and there are several Jindan practitioners as the main force. At first, when we received the mission in Zhishitang, we only knew that we had to go deep into the mountains and capture a black-eyed green cub."
The black eye was indeed related to it. Chen Xiao and Xi Yunting looked at each other.
"A cultivator at the ninth level of the Golden Core Stage is only one small realm away from the Nascent Soul Stage. We thought that with this person in charge, it should be a sure thing to catch a young beast." Tong Nuonuo sighed, "But we didn't know that things were not what we thought at all."
Chen Xiao interrupted him: "Wait, isn't it said that cubs are always accompanied by their mothers? Fierce beasts are the hardest to mess with, and their craziest period is when they are courting and raising their cubs. Even I know this, so you guys should know it, right?"
Du Rong patiently explained to his employer, "That's not the case, Boss. The beasts with cubs are those that have not left the nest. Such cubs have no ability to survive. When the cubs grow up and learn to hunt, the mother beast will drive the cubs out of the nest and let them survive independently. Master Tong Xian and his men want to capture such independent cubs that have left the nest. Such cubs are not as lethal as adults, and are less dangerous than capturing cubs."
Chen Xiao suddenly understood. Tong Nuonuo also agreed, "That's right. It's because of the young beast that I dare to take this mission. The reward for the mission is really good, and there are no rigid requirements for the person, which is just right for me." At this point, he was a little annoyed, "If I had been more careful at the time, I should have realized that something was wrong. This person is too unselective. No matter what their main job is, or whether they are high-level or low-level, they will all be accepted."
When Chen Xiao heard this, he had a bad feeling. Why was it like they were sending these people to be cannon fodder when they were being accepted by everyone?
And then, in Tong Nuonuo's description, the truth was not much different. He said: "After we got deeper into the place, we realized that the target was not a young animal at all, but a black-eyed blue with a cub!"
Du Rong gasped: "With a cub? This cultivator leading the team is really crazy, isn't this just spending human lives to pay for it?!"
Tong Nuonuo wrinkled his nose, twitched his lips, and his eye circles were actually a little red: "This is the reason why they hit me! Those who were not aware of the situation in the team were so scared that not many people escaped. The scene was really tragic." His round face made him look very young. In such a situation, the three people present could imagine how scared and panicked the boy was.
Chen Xiao sat down next to him comfortingly and patted his back gently.
Tong Nuonuo looked at him gratefully, holding his arm tightly, and continued: "At that time, someone shouted and scattered to escape. I was lucky because I was running in a completely different direction from the others. The black-eyed man chased after the large group of people and ignored me completely."
This is really a wrong move! Chen Xiao and Du Rong sighed.
Tong Nuonuo said bitterly, "The idea of those Jindan-stage immortal cultivators was to use the crowd to lure Wuyanqing away, and he took the opportunity to take the cub away! Of course, they didn't get anything good later, because Wuyanqing, who had almost killed all of them, turned around and bit these people." He looked up and explained to the three people, "These events were told to me by another cultivator in the foundation-building stage. His name is Wu Qing, and I call him Brother Wu. He was also lucky, as Wuyanqing's claws tore off a large piece of meat from his back. The bones were exposed, and the spine was broken. The whole body couldn't move, only the head could move."
Chen Xiao asked sharply: "You thought we were here to rescue you. Could it be that there are other survivors besides you and Wu Qing?"
Tong Nuonuo nodded: "Yes. At that time, people fled in scattered groups, and some people luckily avoided Wu Yanqing's pursuit and hid. They didn't dare to come out until Wu Yanqing chased the Jindan practitioners. I heard from Brother Wu Qing that these people were very angry that the leader didn't take our lives seriously. It was even possible that the leader posted the task anonymously, and then took it himself. He was just trying to earn our lives and use it as bait. This is a blatant fraud, and if Zhishitang knows about it, he will definitely investigate!"
Du Rong nodded and said, "That's right. Such a terrible incident is simply sensational. And it's a scam released in the name of Zhishitang. Isn't this directly smearing their faces? If Zhishitang knew about it, they would definitely not let this group of people go!"
Tong Nuonuo said, "That's right. So, this group of people wanted to rush back to Hanshan City and go to Zhishi Hall to sue these people for setting up a scam and killing people. It was just because of the black-eyed green that the cub's father was also enraged and was wreaking havoc nearby. Their cultivation was not very high, so they had to travel together. Because Brother Wu Qing was seriously injured and lacked elixirs, he asked them to take the name certificate away and stay there to die." Tong Nuonuo sighed, "It was really dangerous at that time. When I happened to get to him, he only had his last breath left. Fortunately, I still had the life-saving elixir given by my master, which pulled him back from the brink of life and death."
Chen Xiao said: "This martial immortal master is really lucky... And how did you get here? Were you discovered by people from the mountain village?"
Tong Nuonuo blushed as she said, "No, the people in this mountain village know how powerful the beasts are, so they don't go into the territory of the beasts in the deep mountains. It was only with Brother Wu Qing that I carried him on my back and he showed us the way that we left. By coincidence, we met A Shou who was out hunting. Brother Wu Qing's injuries were really serious, and I wasn't sure I could bring him back to Hanshan City safely. We had no choice but to live in this mountain village temporarily until Brother Wu Qing recovered. Unfortunately, I only had one life-saving elixir and a small bottle of rest pills. After I took them, Brother Wu Qing's recovery slowed down. Until now, his wounds have just healed and he still has no feeling in his body."
Because Tong Nuonuo was prone to getting lost, Wu Qing and A Shou didn't dare to let him walk alone. Tong Nuonuo was also smart and knew that if he got lost, he would cause trouble to others. So he basically followed Chen Xiao's instructions. Once he found himself lost, he would stand still and wait for people to find him, and never walk around recklessly.
Tong Nuonuo couldn't do anything, and their food and drink were completely taken care of by A Shou. A Shou was single, without any family burden, and usually he could feed the whole family, and there was no surplus food at home. Fortunately, when Tong Nuonuo was rummaging in the square box that he always carried with him, he found the snack package that Chen Xiao had given him, and found 80 spirit coins when he opened it. Tong Nuonuo thanked Chen Xiao and said, "If it weren't for these spirit coins, we would have starved to death."
Tong Nuonuo said: "This village is difficult to enter and exit, and ordinary people will never be able to leave the mountains in their lifetime. But strangely, there are many people with spiritual roots in this village. Almost every household has someone who can practice, and some families are even very good at practicing. Even though this mountain village is far away from Hanshan City, there are people who go there occasionally to buy some daily necessities. So, spiritual coins are not so useless here."
Chen Xiao knew this situation very well. Places like Fan Village with good feng shui are prone to produce outstanding talents. In the previous life, such a manifestation was easy to produce candidates and officials. In this world where cultivation is the mainstream, it has become a large number of students and cultivators.
Thinking of this, Chen Xiao's mind suddenly lit up. He remembered! When he was standing on the hilltop of Fan Village and looking at Feng Shui, the inspiration that he didn't catch in his mind was this!
Chen Xiao's mind turned rapidly, and his thoughts became clearer and clearer in his mind. He discovered a way for Feng Shui masters to improve their status in this world the fastest!
There are many immortal gates in this world, just like hundreds of famous universities. Apprentices are like students, and a place with good feng shui is an excellent source of students. And he just happens to have the ability to find excellent sources of students. He can definitely cooperate with the immortal gates that are eager for talent, and it is not impossible for him to even become a guest of honor.
Famous sects need excellent students, and he can use this opportunity to get in touch with the high-ranking sects in the immortal sects, and it can also improve the status of Feng Shui masters in the world of immortal cultivation, thus gaining a higher starting point. This is a win-win situation, and the other party cannot disagree.
After sorting out the clues, Chen Xiao suppressed his excitement. Now is not the time to think about these things. He will think about them carefully when he has free time later.
Tong Nuonuo finished talking about his experience, and Chen Xiao also told him about his recent situation, omitting the part about how he pretended to be a child of an aristocratic family in Hanshan City. He started directly from his experience, and in the middle he introduced how he met Master Xi by chance, and how he got his help, which saved their lives.
Tong Nuonuo had never expected that their adventures would be even more thrilling than his own, and he couldn't help but feel scared for them. Tong Nuonuo's round face was full of seriousness, and he said: "The beast you encountered should be the father of the cub that followed later. Brother Wu Qing told me that beasts like the black-eyed green have a very strong sense of territory. Females and males in an area are often fixed mates - although they don't live together, they only mate during the estrus period. The male will occasionally bring prey to the female while she is raising the cub. It must be just by coincidence that the male happened to catch the cub being snatched away."
Xi Yunting listened for a while, and suddenly said, "After the male beast died, I went to Zhishi Hall in Hanshan City. I didn't hear any news of practitioners bringing back cubs. There were no corpses of the mother beast and no traces of fighting on the way there. This is a question, where is the mother beast now?"
Tong Nuonuo only realized that there would be such a follow-up. He thought about it and his eyes widened in horror: "Could it be that the group's target is not only the cubs, but also an ambush to capture the mother beast as well?!"
Xi Yunting said slowly: "It is very likely. If you want to take the cub as a hostage, Wu Yanqing will definitely succumb given his wisdom."
Du Rong slammed the table in anger: "These inhumane people are so hateful!"
Chen Xiao, however, made a different discovery from another perspective. He said, "From the fact that there is no movement in Hanshan City, even if the survivors went there later, I am afraid that the news would be suppressed before it reached Zhishitang."
Tong Nuonuo was startled and stood up: "You mean, those people have been silenced?"
Chen Xiao also stood up quickly, pulled Tong Nuonuo and said, "Not necessarily, maybe these people are being held under house arrest."
This possibility is not high. The other party is ruthless, how could he leave such a handle. Now Chen Xiao couldn't help but feel very lucky that Du Rong temporarily went to the valley to stay after being injured. If they returned to the mountain village or Hanshan City at that time, they might also be killed and silenced.
Du Rong was silent, worried. Xi Yunting looked at the two of them and bluntly stated a more cruel and realistic possibility: "Perhaps they will be attacked by the male beast and wiped out before they can even reach Hanshan City."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
