Behind Zhong Changyao was a large group of Tang Lingguo soldiers, all wearing armor and holding elite weapons, looking at Yun Xian and his group with hostility.
It seemed that they really wanted to kill everyone, so they surrounded everyone, leaving no room for them.
"Zhong Changyao." Yun Xian stood up, dusted off his robe, and said, "You really are no longer pretending."
Zhong Changyao's expression remained unchanged: "I have my own difficulties."
"What's your problem? Tell me. I'm kind-hearted and will understand."
Yun Xian could tell with a shrug that this man's "methods" weren't much better. In the storybook, the final fate of Tang Lingguo was the death of half its citizens, the continued depletion of spiritual energy, the rampant demons, and the people's suffering. He did kill the demon cultivators and seize their rewards, leaving the entire country with only mineral veins and a panicked princess. With her country and people gone, Tang Wuke was just a young lady trapped in seclusion since childhood. On her wedding night, he secretly brought her back to the palace with someone else, and from then on, she regarded him as her lifeline.
Afterwards, although Zhong Changyao thought that Tang Wuke was not as jealous as Jimo Shu, and was sensible and beautiful, she lacked personality and was a bit dull and uninteresting over time. So, like the forgotten Tang Lingguo, after being successfully taken into the harem, she gradually stopped appearing and faded out of everyone's sight.
Zhong Changyao said, "You will know later, so why rush?"
"Just talk. If you like playing dumb so much, I suggest you go to the Lantern Festival instead of going crazy here." Yun Xian drew his sword and said coldly, "How did you know we were here?"
Zhong Changyao did not answer, but looked at the willow catkins behind Yun Xian.
His sight seemed to penetrate the white cloth and saw Tang Wuke curled up inside it. He then slowly turned back and looked at the leader in Yun Xian's hand.
...These should all be his.
If it weren’t for Yun Xian, would he have fallen into such a miserable state now?
"Miss Yun, please don't embarrass yourself." Zhong Changyao said helplessly, "The main city is so small. No matter where you take her, the outcome will be the same."
It’s more like the act of taking the princess around in front of everyone is shocking enough.
"Whether there is an ending or not is my business, and has nothing to do with your words. Also, do you know what you are doing now? You are a traitor." Yun Xian looked at him, scanned him up and down, frowned and said, "But why haven't you eaten the swill grass yet? You are still a half-step Nascent Soul, what can you use to fight me?"
Zhong Changyao's mouth twitched: "Swill... Haha, Miss Yun is so humorous, I don't know what you are talking about."
Zhong Changyao's face darkened as he said, "I know you want to delay time, but this trick won't work on me. Miss Yun, you—"
Yun Xian looked behind him, as if he saw someone, and said in surprise: "Witch, you are here!"
"?!" Zhong Changyao shuddered all over, and his eyes looked back uncontrollably, fearing that some purple silk would be pulled out from the air again. In that split second, he knew he had been deceived.
Sure enough, looking ahead, Yun Xian and his group had already galloped far away on their snakes, raising clouds of dust and hearing Xue Lingxiu's dejected voice: "Such a lousy trick?!!"
"Bad tricks go with bad people!! Just right!!"
"..." Zhong Changyao's expression finally darkened completely, and he said, "Chase after him."
Zhong Changyao was telling the truth. As soon as Yun Xian and his group stepped onto the street, they found it difficult to move forward. Sitting on the snake, those Tangling people not only had no idea how to deal with it, but they only hurled bows, arrows, and kitchen knives at the people on the snake. They were unscrupulous and didn't fear hurting anyone, but Yun Xian couldn't even touch them, and he had to expend his spiritual energy to resist.
The gap between cultivators and ordinary people is too huge. If she used her spiritual energy, this group of people might die on the spot.
Then the irony came. The cultivator who hadn't even been stopped by the Spiritual Severing Stage Demonic Cultivator was instead stopped by this group of ordinary people who had no spiritual energy at all.
The people came like a tide, extremely united.
Someone grabbed Yun Xian's clothes and shouted, "Here! They're here!"
Yun Xian pushed one aside, and there was another, layer upon layer, from bottom to top, endless. The faces of the crowded people were full of numb joy and excitement. It was a scene like hell. Someone grabbed the end of her hair mercilessly. Yun Xian frowned in pain. Something fell down, making a crisp cracking sound.
Yun Xian looked over.
Hmm? Where did the little flower hairpin come from?
The moment the hairpin shattered, a sword light shot up into the sky, leaving a lasting mark in the air.
"Jian Ge Emblem?" Yun Xianxin thought, "Was this given by Senior Brother? When?"
Someone shouted from the back, "Princess! The princess is among them! As long as you hand the princess over to Lord Demon, we can return to normal!"
The layers of hands paused for a moment, then began to dance wildly again.
"Who? Who is the princess?! Don't fight with me!"
"What an ungrateful person! We provide her with food and clothing, and we give her all the best things in the world. What else does she want? And now she wants to run away?"
"If we capture the princess, will the Demon Lord give us a reward? Will the Emperor give us a reward?"
"I don't ask for anything else, just give me an extra acre of land."
"Let's take all of these cultivators back to Lord Demon! They are really meddling in other people's business! Ugh!!"
While Liu Xu was busy, several scratches were left on her face. She frowned and found that Tang Wuke behind her was trembling violently and uncontrollably. She thought to herself, oh no, I forgot to block my hearing!
The big black snake worked two jobs, and its stomach was full of apples. As a demonic beast, it naturally wasn't very kind. It was too lazy to attack Yun Xian and the others. Firstly, it thought it might still be useful, and secondly, it didn't need to attack.
Over the years, cultivators who came to Tangling Country either returned or died. Deaths were relatively rare, but nine out of ten were not killed by demon cultivators, but by this group of people.
The situation was getting out of control, Yun Xian had no choice but to draw his sword, thinking of breaking out of the encirclement, but it turned out that whoever he said was here, Jimo Shu, actually showed up!
She stood in mid-air, with her arms folded, looking at the grand scene below, which was like a market, and exchanged glances with Yun Xian for a moment.
Yun Xian: "..." This witch seems to be slacking off. She doesn't want to fight Jimo Shu.
Jimo Shu moved her lips and said, "If you want to leave, leave now. I'm too lazy to beat you up."
Not only that, as if he had spotted a signal mid-air, Su Chi, who had been out of contact, quickly appeared. Seeing this scene, his brows furrowed slightly. Behind him, Ming Shu and the other cultivators sighed with tense expressions.
Really... no matter what, it will end up in this worst situation.
As we all know, killing is easy, saving is hard. But saving is harder than killing, and injuring without killing is also harder. Everyone had to consider the physical condition of these people, not using too much force, but not too little either, otherwise the kitchen knife would whiz into their faces again, which would be really embarrassing.
Suddenly, they all suspected that they were not here to deal with the evil cultivators, but had a blood feud with the people of Tang Ling.
"Let's go!" Su Chi said to Yun Xian, "I'll lead the way...Snake?"
Even the expressionless eldest brother was stunned for a moment by this huge black snake that he had inexplicably used as a mount, and then he quickly said, "Go west."
If there is really no other way, everyone can only leave the city temporarily.
Tang Wuke's legs and hands were touched countless times. These people's actions were cruel and hurt her a lot. She was buried in the ocean of voices and could not feel the pain.
It was just a chill, a bone-chilling chill, that infected her limbs. She bit her fingers, but still couldn't stop shivering.
Liu Xu seemed to be carrying her at a very fast speed. In that tiny gap, Tang Wu Ke saw a cold sword light coming straight at the back of Liu Xu's head. Her pupils suddenly dilated, and without thinking, she raised her hand to stop it.
The pure and gentle white spiritual light exploded again!
The force was so astonishing that it instantly blew everyone around her several feet away. Even she herself couldn't control herself and flew backwards far away, like a kite with a broken string, coughing up blood with broken internal organs.
In this small space, only the willow catkins were unharmed. She seemed to sense something and immediately reached out to touch behind her in panic.
No one was moved by her poke.
Tang Wuke is missing.
“Yun Xian! Yun Xian!!” Liu Xu’s nose suddenly felt sore, and she almost burst into tears: “It’s gone! The knife! The knife is gone!!!”
—
Half an hour later.
Tang Wuke was curled up dejectedly on the small bed in the barn. Several familiar girls in black robes were sneaking in and out, chewing some herbs and applying them to her.
The small bed was very hard and her whole body was in pain, making it difficult for her to breathe, but she had a faint smile on her face.
She looked at her palm, feeling extremely happy.
There was spiritual energy, it really was there! This time she was sure it wasn't an illusion, she really had it!
She won't be a drag anymore, she can help!!
"Shh, keep your voice down." A young girl closed the door carefully, "The group outside is still looking!"
She hadn't had time to put on some soot today, so her exposed face was pretty, red from the sun, the face of a simple farm girl.
They were actually the women who encountered the laundry ghost by the river.
Tang Wuke fell heavily to the ground. Fearing of being chased, he thought he was about to be caught. However, he turned a corner and was pulled into the girl's small barn, thus successfully escaping the disaster.
"Are you really the princess?" Several girls gathered around her, anxiously asking, "I don't know what to do with your injury. I've already brought the herbs..."
They were all only fourteen or fifteen years old and didn't dare tell their parents.
Yes, if I told my parents, they would definitely throw Tang Wuke out on the spot.
"I'm fine." Tang Wuke listened to the noise outside and tried to sit up. "...Yeah. I am."
"Really?"
"I was wondering at the time why this girl was so out of place."
"You don't need cold water to wash clothes in the palace, right? That's great. I want to try it too."
Tang Wuke had never been around so many people of his age before, and for a moment he didn't know what to say.
"The group of people outside are still chasing you." A girl moved a little and blocked the gap again. "Just stay here for a while."
Actually, they didn't know what to do after they stayed here. Going outside after a while would still be dangerous, but it was better than not resting at all.
Tang Wuke nodded quietly.
The girls walked around, looking like they had something to say. After a while, one of them came over and asked cautiously, "Have you been following that group of cultivators?"
Tang Wuke nodded.
"So, are they very powerful?" Another one came over and said, "I've heard that powerful cultivators can split mountains and seas, and chop ten bundles of firewood in one go... Although they're not as powerful as the Demon Lord, they're definitely very powerful!"
Tang Wuke still nodded and said, "It's not like we're going to cut through mountains or seas...but ten bundles of firewood should definitely be no problem."
Seeing that she answered everything and didn't have the condescending look they had imagined, the girls finally couldn't control their curiosity and all rushed over to her.
"If you encounter that kind of laundry ghost, you can easily kill it."
"You don't have to worry about encountering ghosts on the road anymore. You can go out and have fun during the Ghost Festival."
"Also, they don't need to wear black robes or put dust on their faces. They are so powerful anyway. They are not afraid of anything."
"Yes! And more!"
As they spoke, they kept unconsciously avoiding a single sentence. Perhaps it was out of inexplicable fear, or perhaps it was a complete lack of awareness, until Tang Wuke slowly clenched his hands, lowered his eyes and said, "...It would be great if I were a cultivator."
As soon as the words fell, the dark and dilapidated barn fell silent in an instant.
"You can't say that..." Someone said hurriedly, "No one has it. If you do, you'd be too unsociable. It's enough for us to have Lord Demon to protect us."
"As long as we're careful and attentive, nothing will happen. We don't need to chop ten bundles of wood at once..."
"But," Tang Wuke raised his head and said, "What if Lord Demon stopped protecting us one day? What if he wanted to harm us? By then, we would have nothing left. What would we do?"
The girl panicked and denied, "How is that possible? Lord Demon has already said so!"
Tang Wuke asked back, "How is it impossible? Do you trust others more than yourself?"
"You...you..." The girl bit her lip dejectedly and said, "I can't argue with you. You're a princess, you've been educated, and you're so smart."
Tang Wuke remained silent, and the once harmonious atmosphere suddenly grew colder. She suddenly felt a little regretful, wondering if she shouldn't have said that. These people had saved her, yet she still said that.
"Actually, I've thought about it, but I've never dared to say it." In the silence, the thin and weak girl in the corner said, "It would be great if I could be more powerful."
"Me too." Another person said sullenly, "It would be great if I had spiritual roots."
"Why is there no spiritual energy in Tang Lingguo? Why is there no spiritual energy... If there was, this wouldn't happen. No one would be asked to... do that kind of thing."
Tang Wuke suddenly caught a glimpse of something out of the corner of her eye and wiped her eyes in shock.
Beneath the dull black robes of the girls, a faint glimmer of fire appeared!
No, rather than a flame, it was more like a faint white light, growing silently like a flame along with a muffled sound.
The light was so weak that it could be ignored, but it was exactly the same as the spiritual energy in her hand. They seemed to come from the same origin, gentle, pure, and seemed to be able to accommodate everything.
The tiny spots of light were like bright lamps, illuminating the confused faces of the girls.
At this moment, there was a loud kick at the barn door, followed by the helpless screams of a middle-aged man and woman. The woman cried inside, "Ping'er! Who are you hiding in there?! Come out quickly! You are confused!!"
"Someone reported seeing someone who looked like the princess running here. Come out now! The Emperor has issued an order that anyone who harbors the princess and the monks will be killed without mercy!"
The next moment, Tang Wuke watched helplessly as the faint light and the girls' faces went out with a whoosh.
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