25 "Valley of No Return" (I)
Something's wrong
With a crisp sound, the two men jumped several meters away at the same time. Nangong Xiu was shocked and wondered why this person's spiritual power was so familiar.
The man in green was about to stand up and go forward when he suddenly heard a smug laugh: "All the people you brought with you have fallen, and you still don't want to give up?"
Qu Lingfei finished laughing and looked at the person behind him, "Thank you, brother, you and I cooperated well."
Xie Changyan brushed aside the bloodstained hem of his clothes. Upon hearing this, he raised his eyes slightly and looked at the trembling person kneeling on the ground. A silver needle emerged from between his fingers, "Do you want to be like them?"
"No, no... I don't want to," the man hurriedly got up and kowtowed to the ground several times, "Please spare my life, sir. I was ordered to do this and had no choice. I really don't want to go against you, sir..."
"Bah, you heartless cowards! If I had known I would have killed you all."
Li Jintang stood quietly there, rubbing his fingers nervously on his sleeves, listening to the blue-clothed man's curses one after another.
The young man suddenly turned his head and asked her with a smile: "Miss Li, do you think he should be killed?"
He had a face as handsome as jade, eyebrows like distant mountains, and was dressed in a white robe as white as snow. The wind blew up his sleeves as he stood in front of the girl, perfectly embodying the meaning of gentle and elegant.
If it weren't for the dead bodies lying around to spoil the scenery, it would be hard for any girl not to be moved, even if only for a moment.
Li Jintang didn't expect him to ask her. She was stunned and her eyes slowly shifted to the person kneeling on the ground.
The man was also looking at her, his eyes half filled with fear and half with pleading.
"I……"
How could she one day decide the life and death of others?
Fortunately, before she could say anything, she heard another thud. A man slid to his knees in front of her, and with his hands trembling violently, he touched a piece of paper. "Sir, I just found this thing on that guy. Please be magnanimous and let us go."
Li Jintang turned around upon hearing this and saw the man in green clothes half lying on the ground with blood continuously flowing out of his mouth.
"You... I trusted you so much, and you..."
It turned out that this man stabbed him in the back, and the man in green was not on guard against his own people, so he fell into the trap.
She stood there in a daze, and the flash of compassion that had just passed through her mind disappeared without a trace.
How could someone have the heart to betray his...friend just to save his own life?
"Tian Heng, you deserve it!" The man suddenly called out the name of the man in green. "You probably never imagined that I would do anything to stay alive!"
Li Jintang stepped back unconsciously, and suddenly saw a flash of silver light in the young man's hand. A bloody mark appeared on the necks of the two soldiers, and then they fell to the ground.
Xie Changyan took the map from the fallen corpse. Before the murderous look in his eyes faded, Qu Lingfei and others arrived.
"Xie brother, you... killed them?"
He said "hmm", handed the map over without looking away, and said nothing more.
Nangong Xiu felt his pocket and realized that the map had been stolen. He cursed, "You bastard, you dared to take advantage of your grandfather when he was not paying attention..."
These words reminded everyone, and they hurriedly turned around, only to see that only a few brave pedestrians were walking through the open space. Where was Tian Heng?
"Forget it, as long as everyone is okay," Qu Lingfei was too lazy to chase after him and just urged, "Hurry and check the map to see if there's anything wrong."
Nangong Xiu held the map in his hand for a long time, shaking his head and letting out a long sigh.
"What happened? Was it really broken by that guy?"
"The map is intact," he finally said slowly, "fortunately, fortunately."
“…”
Qiuyan was so angry that she laughed, and she wanted to go up and kick him, "Can't you just finish what you want to say in one go?"
Qu Lingfei stopped her from the side, not knowing whether to laugh or cry, "Alright, let's see what to do next."
"Bugui Valley..." Nangong Xiu muttered these three words, his tone showing worry, "This place is dangerous, everyone must be extra cautious."
"Oh, what's the big deal?" Qu Lingfei put a hand on his shoulder and winked at the person on the other side. "After all, we've been through so much, right, Brother Xie?"
Xie Changyan glanced at him, raised his lips impatiently, and said "hmm" lightly.
It was getting dark, and there were a few flying insects around. Li Jintang covered his mouth, sneezed softly, and waved his hand to drive them away.
"Atang, remember to wear more clothes next time," Qiuyan looked at her as they walked, "it's not good to catch a cold."
"I'm fine." She rubbed her nose and responded vaguely.
"I can hardly see the road anymore," Qiuyan said, stumbling twice over the dead vines. "Are we going the right way?"
"Strange," Nangong Xiu raised his hand and looked at the map carefully in the moonlight, "This should be it..."
"We're back." Xie Changyan pointed to a tree under the moonlight. There was a mark carved with a knife on the trunk.
"This, this, this..." Nangong Xiu frowned even deeper, "I've been to this valley before, and the road back then wasn't as winding as it is now..."
Suddenly, a loud rumbling sound swallowed up the next words, as if the ground beneath feet collapsed. The surrounding trees shook and leaves fell like raindrops.
Suddenly, everything went dark. The moon seemed to be obscured by dark clouds, not even a ray of light could penetrate. I could faintly hear someone shouting, "The ground is about to collapse! Everyone, use your spiritual power to wield your swords and protect yourselves..."
It seemed like someone was calling her...
"I, I'm here..." Li Jintang stood on tiptoe and shouted twice, but there was no voice around. She looked down at the dagger at her waist, and a trace of despair appeared in her eyes.
How is she supposed to fly?
Suddenly, her feet shook violently. Without time to think, she groped and squatted under a big tree. She hurriedly untied her belt and tied herself to the trunk. Then she hugged her head with both hands and closed her eyes tightly.
Daddy once said that words and beliefs are powerful. She couldn't just sit there and wait to die... Li Jintang's mind went blank, and she quickly whispered, "I can't die, I can't die..."
After reciting it several times, he felt that the word "can" was not appropriate, so he changed his words and continued: "I will not die here..."
Perhaps because I was too nervous, I couldn't even hear the loud sound of the ground cracking. Only my own trembling voice was left.
"You really can't die."
A voice that didn't belong to him reached his ears. Li Jintang was stunned for a moment and turned his head away blankly.
In the darkness, I vaguely saw a white figure moving towards me.
There really are gods...
The figure drew closer. The girl loosened her entangled hands and slowly tried to stand, but her feet felt weak. She heard her own voice hesitantly call out, "Xie An?"
"Um."
The moment she got a response, she felt her tense nerves relaxing little by little.
The clouds moved and the moon disappeared, and the clear moonlight returned to the earth. The young man flipped his wrist, which was tightly gripping the hilt of the sword, and the blade was put back into the sheath.
Li Jintang paused, as if he smelled a faint smell of blood.
"Aren't you leaving yet?"
The girl raised her head, the crescent moon reflected in her eyes, "I, I can't stand up anymore."
Xie Changyan was silent for a long time. She sighed inwardly and was about to stand up by holding onto the tree trunk when a scabbard suddenly appeared before her. "Miss Li, if you keep refusing to get up, I'm going to lose my patience."
Fearing that he would really abandon him, Li Jintang hurriedly stood up shakily, holding the scabbard. Before he could say "thank you", the other party's clothes swept past him and he walked straight past.
She hurried forward, tilted her head to look at him and asked, "Where are we going?"
He didn't answer, but just walked away. Li Jintang found that the closer he stood to him, the stronger the smell of blood became.
"Xie An, are you hurt?" She looked around and didn't seem to find any monsters that could hurt people.
"No." He replied concisely, but his pace slowed down unconsciously.
Li Jintang finally caught up with him and walked side by side with him. She turned her head and looked around. If she could only hear some rustling sounds of the wind before, now it was so quiet that even the sound of the wind could not be heard.
That's not right... There's clearly no wind at all, but why are the leaves shaking?
"Xie An..."
He had barely uttered half of his words when his sight suddenly caught a red eye peeking out from between the dense trees, the bloodshot inside still clearly visible.
She cried out in surprise and nearly fell backwards. The person in front of her stopped, confusion showing on his face, "What's wrong?"
"No, nothing," she said, only to realize she'd spoken too early. She quickly corrected herself, saying, "Something seems amiss. Don't go any further."
Xie Changyan glanced sideways slightly, and under the dim moonlight, she saw that he seemed to smile.
"You just realized something's wrong now?"
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