"go"
Feng Dazhu was stunned. He hadn't expected her to actually agree. What a kind person she was! She must have been worried about us getting into danger. Not everyone could be a goddess. Many people couldn't match her generosity.
"Anything else?"
"No, nothing happened." Feng Dazhu stuttered. He actually wanted to ask, "What did your family cook? Why does the food smell so good?" But the moment he asked, it sounded like he was asking for food.
He walked quickly out of the yard. Ye Nuan called him and gave him some chili peppers. Feng Dazhu's eyes suddenly lit up and he was very happy.
After the others left, she returned to the house. Su served her a meal and asked, "Why are you still picking up stones? Didn't City Lord Qi give us salt?" Her daughter seemed to like adventure too much, and she, as a mother, was very worried.
Ye Nuan explained: "Picking up the heads was just a cover-up. City Lord Qi asked me to help find a salt mine."
"Salt mine?" Su was surprised. "How can there be a salt mine in the wasteland? Isn't salt only available for sale in the Creation Pavilion?"
In Beichen, salt is under government control, and selling or mining salt privately is illegal.
"Mother, that's exactly why he's looking for salt. Only the Creation Grid has salt, and the price is controlled by them. Whether it's the villagers of Dahuang Village or the people of Luomu City, some people can't accept the high price. Rather than saying that I'm helping him find salt, I'm actually helping ourselves find it."
Her words were half true and half false, but Su took them to heart.
She asked again: "Are you taking Xiaohu with you this time?"
"No, we'll probably have to go quite far this time. City Lord Qi is very skilled, and I have the Spiritual Spring at hand, so you don't have to worry."
Having said that, how can I not be worried?
"Eat, eat, let's not talk about this anymore." Su quickly ended the topic.
The family soon immersed themselves in the joy of eating again.
Tomorrow she has to go pick up stones, so she must notify Qi Wuze. Fortunately, the hunting falcon has come here at night these days, so she just needs to wait.
It rarely rains in the wilderness, and the night sky is usually starry. After dinner, she started making red bean cakes early, and then used the brush Qi Wuze gave her to write more than 20 recipes for chili peppers. Finally, she packed the prepared medicine and sat in the yard waiting quietly.
At one o'clock in the morning, the falcon appeared on time with a small cloth bag around its neck. Ye Nuan took it off and checked, and found several neatly arranged enlightenment books inside.
Didn’t he bring the pen, ink, paper, inkstone and books last time? Why did he bring them again?
She took the things down and put the things she had prepared back on. The things were too heavy, and the falcon tried to grab them several times but couldn't carry them all over. In the end, it had to take them away in two batches.
The first things taken away were medicine and red bean cakes. Qi Wuze had an obvious smile on his face when he got the red bean cakes, but when he got a whole chili recipe book and a cloth bag full of red, green and yellow chilies, the corners of his lips immediately drooped, and he wanted to burn the recipe book on the spot.
He still remembers the pain of eating chili peppers vividly. The usually brave and fearless City Lord Qi was almost suffering from nervous breakdown due to the torture of a small chili pepper. This thing is even more powerful than the knife of a horse bandit.
Seeing him trying to destroy the body, Qi Ya, who was squatting in the house eating red bean cakes, quickly snatched it and ran away. Qi Wuze, imagining his brother getting the recipe and the spicy dishes all over the table, could no longer bear it and chased Qi Ya all over the city lord's mansion in the middle of the night. The city lord's mansion was in chaos, from beams and treetops to rockery and houses. The servants who had woken up for the night were not surprised, yawning and muttering, "I'm afraid we'll have to find someone to repair the roof tomorrow."
The next morning, Qi Wuze got up very early and put on a dark blue robe. But as soon as he left the house, he felt something was wrong and immediately went back to change into a black robe.
He walked out of the City Lord's Mansion and turned around without saying a word. When he came back, he was wearing a black suit with many eye-catching jades on his belt.
Gao Zangfeng came over with his horse and asked in a loud voice: "Would you like to go together, Lord?"
Qi Wuze glanced at him and scolded, "Where's the coolest place to stay? Why are you joining in the fun?"
At dawn, a crowd of people gathered at the Ye family's residence, all waiting for Ye Nuan. In the past, they would go to the village chief's house or the back hills to wait. But Ye Nuan's status was different now. Everyone regarded her as a key figure, and they all looked to her for protection. Therefore, they all came to her house early in the morning without any prior arrangement.
Ye Nuan put on her veil and came out with a cloth bag on her back. She had a spiritual spring space, and if she found any salt, she could just put it in there and bring it back. Feng Dazhu saw that she was alone and asked in confusion, "Is Xiaohu not going?"
Ye Nuan shook her head: "No, he has to help dry the peppers today."
The group headed back to the mountain. This time, the village chief was unexpectedly waiting for them by the pond. The villagers were stunned for a moment before they all greeted him. He nodded casually, his gaze fixed on Ye Nuan. His eyes were smug, with a hint of triumph, as if to say: Look, even if you're a great vegetable grower and everyone worships you as a god, you still have to pick up rocks.
You can't survive in the wilderness without salt!
However, Ye Nuan didn't even glance at him. From head to toe, it was as if every hair on her head despised him. After everyone left, Village Chief Jin sneered and walked away, cigarette in hand.
Compared to their previous fears, this time everyone felt more relaxed than ever, simply because they knew Ye Nuan was there. She was a goddess who could drive away wild beasts and protect them. The usually dreary group was now filled with occasional conversation and laughter.
Dahuang Village has been obviously different in the past month. Like many ordinary villages in the interior, people work from sunrise to sunset and rest from sunset to sunrise. They no longer have to worry about going hungry, and casualties have also decreased.
Without having to worry about snakes and wild animals popping out at any time, the journey was naturally faster. Before the sun rose to the zenith, they arrived at the Red Rock Canyon. The villagers went down to collect stones themselves, leaving her to sit in the shade at the edge of the canyon.
Falcons circled in the sky. After the others had gradually left, she found Feng Dazhu, who was not far away, and told him that she was leaving for a while. She also instructed him, "If I'm not back before sunset, you should go back first. Please tell my mother that I will be back later."
Feng Dazhu nodded, then watched her walk away with the falcon. Where the falcon rested stood the tall, straight-shouldered City Lord Qi and a jet-black horse. The two seemed to exchange a few words, but he couldn't hear what they said from a distance. He only caught a smile on City Lord Qi's face and a slight nod from Ye Nuan.
Then the two of them mounted their horses and disappeared into the vast wasteland. Feng Dazhu stood there in a daze for a long time, thinking that they might have lost the goddess.
Galloping across the wilderness always brings a special kind of pride. The sky is vast and profound, a brilliant blue with no discernible color. The sun is strong and fierce. Fortunately, Ye Nuan's headscarf is applied to his face, and the spiritual spring water makes it feel less hot. Qi Wuze has been raised in the wilderness since birth, and his skin has long been tanned to a healthy tan. As long as he's on horseback, he doesn't feel the heat.
The two men and their horse raced north along Red Rock Canyon, their sights filled with jumbled rocks and weeds, punctuated by patches of green. After a quarter of an hour, they spotted a large pack of wolves and other small animals heading for the same spot. Soon, she spotted a spring about ten square meters in the heart of the wilderness, surrounded by shady trees.
Not far behind it is a high mountain covered with snow all year round, and to the north is a desert without even a blade of grass.
As the horses passed by, some wild animals stared at them eagerly, but showed no intention of attacking. Ye Nuan asked curiously, "What is this place?" With such a water source in the wilderness, why didn't the villagers choose to settle here?
"This is Crescent Moon Lake. The animals in the wilderness and the bandits all come here to fetch water. Don't you from Dahuang Village also come here to fetch water at fixed times?" The rule in the wilderness is not to start a fight when fetching water, but the wild animals don't care about that, and the bandits won't care either once they leave the range of Crescent Moon Lake.
Is this Crescent Lake?
Ye Nuan turned her head curiously to look again, and her fine hair slipped out and scattered on the tip of Qi Wuze's nose. This time it was not the smell of hot pot but the clear and soft scent of roses. His nose was tickled, and when he turned his head, he could see her dark and clear eyes.
"Don't look at it"
Perhaps because he was afraid she couldn't hear him, his voice rang close to her ear. Ye Nuan immediately withdrew her gaze and looked towards the endless horizon ahead.
"Hasn't it arrived yet?"
"It will probably take another hour."
The sound of horses' hooves echoed through the air, and behind them lay rolling yellow earth. An hour later, Qi Wuze reined in his horse, and Ye Nuan dismounted. The earth beneath their feet was no longer the burnt yellow it had been before, but rather a mottled white, and the sun shining on it was still quite dazzling.
"We're here. Do you see the mountain in the distance? This is the territory of the Snow God Mountain. The mountain is covered with ice and snow all year round. It used to be a saltwater lake that never froze, but it's dry now."
Ye Nuan squatted down and picked up a layer of crystal particles from the ground with her hands to examine them carefully. These particles reflected colorful light in the sunlight. The white was not pure, and there were scattered impurities inside. Looking around, the entire salt-alkali land was barren, covered with patches of white salt-alkali frost.
Even if this saline frost is dissolved, only carbonate can be extracted, which is completely inedible.
She stood up, looked around again, and said to Qi Wuze, "Can you have your people look for a salt mine between this dry riverbed and Snow God Mountain?"
Qi Wuze was puzzled: "Well salt mine?"
"How do I find it?"
Ye Nuan pondered what she had read in the book, then summarized it in her mind, saying, "If the mud and sand don't float on the surface, or if there's a noticeable white frost on the surface, like the ground here, you can have people dig down and find the strange-smelling brine flowing out."
Finding salt is more important than finding iron ore. Qi Wuze wrote down her words one by one and nodded, saying, "Okay, I'll send someone to look for it tomorrow."
"Get on the horse. I heard from someone that there seems to be a salt lake deep in the desert." To the north of the wasteland is an endless desert, and the desert city that produces the most glittering brocade is inside it.
The desert is more dangerous than the wasteland, and there is a possibility of encountering sandstorms and desert monitors, but they are just looking at the edge of the desert and it should be no big deal. He asked someone to check the sky when he came, and there will be no sandstorms in the near future.
He mounted his horse first, reaching out to pull Ye Nuan up. Before they had gotten far, a large group of people surrounded them. The shouts and laughter were all too familiar. Qi Wuze's face changed slightly, and he turned his horse and ran. His speed was more than twice as fast as when he came.
Ye Nuan also saw it, it was Wei Qian’s man again!
Why is this one-armed bandit leader so lingering? She happens to run into him every time she goes out.
In fact, this was a complete accident. The people of Weijiazhai came out to fetch water and happened to see Qi Wuze's horse passing by. After panicking, they realized that he was alone and immediately returned to inform their leader. Wei Qian had recently been beaten badly by Qi Wuze. When he heard that he had escaped alone for a tryst, he excitedly brought over 200 people to surround him.
Just in case, he borrowed a dozen ferocious hunting dogs from Chu Xuesong.
Qi Wuze's snow-riding horse was a top-tier luxury horse, carrying the two of them at a breakneck pace. However, Wei Qian was prepared. To prevent him from escaping, he had already divided into three groups and surrounded him from three sides. If he wanted to escape, he could only flee to the Snow God Mountain behind him. However, the snow on the Snow God Mountain never melted year-round, making it impossible for ordinary people to climb. It was a dead end.
Wei Qian knew it, and Qi Wuze naturally knew it too.
Seeing that they were getting closer and closer to the Snow God Mountain, Qi Wuze suddenly reined in his horse, raised his four hooves high on the snow, and turned to face a group of aggressive horse bandits.
Qi Wuze raised the corners of his lips, his wheat-colored skin glowing in the sunlight.
"Are you scared?" His voice was calm but contained a soothing power.
These words were obviously said to Ye Nuan.
"I'm not afraid!" She had seen Wei Qian kill people, so how could she not be afraid? Ye Nuan was just cheering herself up.
"Hold on tight, let's charge out!" Qi Wuze laughed loudly, and at the same time drew out the black gold broken-veined knife in his hand, pinched the horse's belly, and charged towards the bandits who were surrounding him.
Wei Qian saw them rushing towards him and said excitedly, "Stupid! Skin him alive!"
The black gold broken-pattern knife shuttled among the horse bandits, and the sharp blade cut off Ye Nuan's hair several times. She was afraid of hindering Qi Wuze's movements, so she could only lower her body and cover the horse's back. In the melee, she could only hear Wei Qian's wanton and vulgar words.
"Qi Gou, I didn't expect you to like this!"
"You're blind, but you dared to lay hands on such an ugly woman."
"I'll let you two become a pair of ghost mandarin ducks!"
Each word was more disgusting than the last. Two hundred people surrounded Ye Nuan and the other two in the center. Wei Qian knew how powerful Qi Wuze was, so he didn't approach him, but fought from a distance. They were just trying to outlast him. Even if Qi Wuze was powerful, if he wanted to protect Ye Nuan, two hundred people wouldn't be able to outlast him.
As Wei Qian whipped her horse once more, Qi Wuze, clutching the whip, hung upside down from the horse's belly. Immediately afterwards, another sharp arrow pierced the air, aiming squarely at Ye Nuan, who was on horseback. Seeing no escape, Ye Nuan rolled off the horse, expecting a horrible fall. Unexpectedly, the dozen or so barking hounds suddenly closed in on her, acting as a dog cushion the moment she landed.
Ye Nuan rolled around a few times, and the dogs dispersed and surrounded her to prevent the bandits from getting close. The bandits around her were startled and confused, and then there was a collective gasp, and then the bandits became excited again.
"Boss, look at this ugly girl."
"Boss, the scar on her face is gone."
"Prettier than Pavilion Master Jiang."
For a moment, everyone's eyes were focused on Ye Nuan. Ye Nuan was so dizzy from the fall that she didn't even realize her veil had fallen off. When she got up and saw the astonished and greedy eyes of the people around her, she finally reacted.
Wei Qian's eyes flashed with ferocity, and he laughed loudly, "Brothers, charge! Kill Qi Gou and take this woman back to play with her to death!"
Qi Wuze looked back at her, only momentarily surprised. He quickly untied the jade belt from his waist and threw it toward her. Ye Nuan immediately understood what he meant and caught it accurately. The next moment, she leaped up, about to get back on the horse, but then a whip was wrapped around her waist again.
Wei Qian smiled sinisterly and said, "It's not a good habit to eat alone with such a beautiful woman."
As the two sides entangled, Ye Nuan's waist was almost broken. She cursed inwardly and had to save herself.
She concentrated, her right wrist beginning to heat up. A spiritual current spread through the air like a mist. The previously obedient horses suddenly became restless, neighing and groaning, becoming a chaotic mess. Wei Qian and Qi Wuze's horses, in particular, began to go wild, jumping around uncontrollably. They were about to fall off, and Wei Qian hurriedly withdrew his whip. Qi Wuze, however, was steadier, his legs like iron clamps, holding the horse tightly.
The moment he saw Wei Qian let go, he suddenly exerted force with his left hand, pulled Ye Nuan back into his arms, and then rode away. Wei Qian frowned, turned around and gave chase. The group ran around the salt and alkali land several times, and finally forced Qi Wuze and Ye Nuan into the Snow God Mountain.
Hearing the deafening sound of horse hooves, Ye Nuan became anxious and hurriedly said, "Don't go forward, go back." This group of people dared to run like this on Snow God Mountain. They must have never seen an avalanche.
Qi Wuze didn't understand why she was so reluctant to approach Snow God Mountain, but after hearing her say that, he turned his horse around. However, it was too late. The moment he turned his horse around, the earth suddenly shook, and rolling white snow fell from the mountaintop, roaring like a torrent.
Even the fiercest bandits were frightened by this situation and turned their horses around and ran away. Now they were not chasing people, but being chased.
Before the group of people had run far, the ground suddenly collapsed, and the people on the edge of the landslide fell directly into the ground along with their horses. Qi Wuze narrowed his eyes slightly, whipped his horse's butt hard, and jumped up and rushed over. Just as he was about to cross the landslide, a horse whip wrapped around Qi Wuze's right foot like a poisonous snake.
The horse was running too fast, and Qi Wuze's hand was caught on Ye Nuan's waist, pulling them both off their horses and leaving them dangling over the edge of the landslide. Fortunately, Ye Nuan reacted quickly, reaching out and clinging to a protruding rock on the ground. Thus, Wei Qian, Qi Wuze, and Ye Nuan were hanging like beads on a string, ready to fall if Ye Nuan let go.
The earthquake had stopped. Ye Nuan felt the stone loosen bit by bit as her hands strained. Her face flushed red as she turned and yelled at Qi Wuze: "Kick that bastard down!"
It was the first time Qi Wuze heard her swear, but he didn't care at the moment. He swung the black gold broken knife with one hand and chopped at the horse whip. Wei Qian below laughed: "Then let's see who is faster, you chop faster, or I pull faster?"
He then yanked the whip hard, leaving deep bloody wounds on Qi Wuze's legs, leaving them visible to the bone. With another tug, the stone Ye Nuan was clinging to finally loosen.
She was a little desperate: No, no, no, no, absolutely not!
Snap!
Ye Nuan screamed, but Wei Qian was laughing. The three of them fell into the crack in the ground. The moment they fell, Qi Wuze rolled on the ground holding Ye Nuan and hit the hard stone directly.
They originally thought that it would be dark underground, but they all discovered that there was actually a natural cave underground, and some unknown plant in the cave was emitting a lustrous luster.
The cave was deep but wide. In addition to Ye Nuan, Qi Wuze, and Wei Qian, there were also several horses that had fallen to their death and more than twenty horse bandits.
Seven of the twenty or so horse bandits were injured, and the rest had minor scratches. When they saw Wei Qian, they ran over and surrounded him, shouting, "Boss!"
Ye Nuan was not injured, but the sudden loss of weight made her feel a little dizzy. Just as she was about to get up, Qi Wuze behind her groaned.
Only then did Ye Nuan notice that his right leg was covered in blood, and the clothes on his back were torn by the sharp rocks. His exposed back was covered in gravel and was also bleeding.
Yue Nuan hurriedly got up to help him up, anxiously asking, "Where's the medicine I gave you?"
Before Qi Wuze could reply, Wei Qian laughed first and approached them with a whip in hand: "Hahaha, has the arrogant City Lord Qi finally met this day?"
Qi Wuze gritted his teeth and stood up, shielding Ye Nuan behind him, trying to maintain his usual frivolous tone: "Heh, what qualifications does the Wei family, who only has one hand left, have to challenge this city lord!"
His voice was calm and composed, even still retaining his usual arrogance, but Ye Nuan, who was standing behind him, noticed that his back was still bleeding, and the muscles in his shoulders were tense and even trembling slightly.
It must be very painful!
Wei Qian narrowed his eyes and looked at his right foot soaked in blood, then looked at his increasingly pale lips, and sneered: "You are at the end of your strength. Wait until I cut off your limbs and take advantage of your woman in front of you. See if you still dare to be stubborn!"
Ye Nuan felt a chill down her spine when she heard this. She was considering whether to give the spiritual spring water directly to Qi Wuze, but if she did so, her secret would be exposed.
As Wei Qian was about to get closer, the bandit behind him suddenly yelled and pointed at Ye Nuan with a terrified expression. Wei Qian looked up, his eyes suddenly widened, and he backed away.
Ye Nuan and Qi Wuze felt a chill down their spines and turned their heads to look behind them.
I saw that the originally quiet plant emitting fluorescent light stretched out its curled leaves, and under the leaves were fine hairs that also emitted fluorescent light, slowly approaching the dead horse underground.
Then it curled up and wrapped, the fluorescence was still soft, but the horse underground corroded at a speed visible to the naked eye, and finally only an empty skeleton was left.
Ye Nuan opened her dark eyes wide, and she pulled Qi Wuze up and ran. However, Qi Wuze's leg was injured, and he fell down unexpectedly when she pulled him.
As he fell, he threw Ye Nuan out and shouted: "Go!"
The horse on the ground had melted away completely, and the glowing leaves extended towards Qi Wuze. Just as they were about to touch his legs, he swung his knife in the opposite direction. The glowing grass twisted twice, like an angry lion. The leaves became several degrees brighter, and it pounced on him even more ferociously.
Ye Nuan hadn't expected that he would protect her like this in such a critical moment. Gritting her teeth, she picked up the machete dropped by the bandit on the ground, blocked Qi Wuze's path, and began to hack away.
Wei Qian and twenty or so horse bandits watched coldly, even thinking that this woman was extremely stupid, and said sarcastically: "She is so affectionate that she is willing to sacrifice her life for a man."
They want to see how these two people died.
Qi Wuze endured the severe pain and wanted to take Ye Nuan away.
But the next moment everyone was stunned...
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