Half a month has passed since the last attack by mountain bandits. Apart from the daily heavy snow, no other major events have occurred during this period.
The overwhelming white snow not only trapped ordinary people in their homes, but also trapped mountain bandits on the mountain.
Outside the Lishan Villa, snow was falling heavily, but inside a warm bedroom in the inner courtyard, a woman dressed only in a light undergarment was lying on a daybed with a carefree posture. She would occasionally reach for something from the small tea table next to her, which was piled with candied fruits, snacks and drinks, and put it in her mouth. She was truly carefree and at ease.
At this moment, Cheng Ruyi held a map of Wolong Village in her left hand and a hot milk tea in her right hand, frowning as she seriously considered a possibility: with her current skills, could she sneak into Wolong Village undetected?
Since obtaining the [Flowing Light Dance], she has practiced day and night. Now, not only the Cheng family, but even the people of the entire Lishan Village have become accustomed to seeing a woman suddenly fly out of the forest and disappear from the forest after a few leaps.
"Madam Cheng seems to have jumped higher today than yesterday!"
"Why do I feel like she's getting faster and faster? She disappeared in the blink of an eye! This lightness skill is truly amazing!"
"That's right. I wonder if our Da Niu can learn from them. I heard that the people in their courtyard practice martial arts every day!"
"I know that. I overheard the village chief mention it before. He said that not everyone can learn it. It depends on talent, you know... something about muscles and bones!"
"If you ask me, learning martial arts must be very difficult. Look at Madam Cheng. No matter how strong the wind and snow, she starts jumping around in the mountains and forests before dawn every day. I can still see her when I'm about to go to sleep at night. I don't think I can do that in this cold weather."
"Speaking of which, I saw her charging at the front when the bandits attacked the village, cutting down quite a few of them. I never imagined women could be so powerful! I wish I could be like that..."
"Yes, I'm a little envious of her too..."
Cheng Ruyi was naturally unaware that her practice would cause a heated discussion among the villagers of Lishan Village, as she had been focusing all her attention on gaining experience points during this period.
After more than ten days, she was finally able to adapt to and understand the [Flowing Light Dance] technique, but she was not yet a formal beginner.
As for why she suddenly became so diligent in practicing light-body skills, it naturally has to start from the night she got the map.
The moment her hand touched the map, the system immediately notified her:
"Ding! Special mission triggered, please check!"
Special Mission: The Mystery of Wolong Village (Incomplete)
Mission Details: Wolong Village, located at the intersection of three regions, seems to hold a great secret, possibly involving multiple hidden forces. Use your wisdom and courage to unravel the mystery and perhaps discover a surprise after clearing away the fog of confusion.
Note: This special mission is valid for 20 days only and will automatically expire after that.
Looking at the system interface, Ruyi felt only exhaustion...
She read it carefully, word by word, many times, and found that there was no explicit or implicit indication of any danger that would result from not completing this special task. In other words, even if she left it alone, this matter should not have any real impact on her in the short term.
Based on her past personality, she would definitely choose to remain unchanged and not move unless the enemy moves.
However... she suddenly thought of the original owner. This system belonged to the original owner, and according to the original owner's personality, she would definitely take this special mission. So it is very likely that even if she doesn't accept it now, this mission will eventually appear in another form.
At that point, they might lose the initiative, and it's not impossible that they'll face another inevitable death.
Moreover, she was also curious about what the surprise mentioned inside would be, and the time limit made her feel a little itchy!
After half a month of practice, Cheng Ruyi was able to use the most basic movement techniques of the [Flowing Light Dance], and with the Flying Swallow Lightness technique she had learned for nearly half a year as a foundation, even Guo Xiaoyu could not get close to her when she used her full internal energy.
According to Xiaoyu, judging solely by her lightness skill, she has already successfully entered the "mastery" stage, and if she doesn't do anything reckless, she can barely venture into the martial arts world.
What's more, she also has the cheat code "Lightness Talisman," which is a cheat artifact that can increase agility by 90% for three hours and bring the special effect of "light as a swallow"!
Ninety percent sensitivity is almost doubled. Could it be equivalent to or even surpass the "mastery" level?
Guo Qinglan once said that there are very few people in the martial arts world who can reach the "perfect" level. Although their escort agency is the largest in Yongzhou, there are no more than five people who have reached this level.
So theoretically speaking, as long as she uses it properly when necessary, escaping shouldn't be too much of a problem.
It seems the plan is quite feasible, but to save our lives, we still need to make a lot of preparations!
Mangshan is located at the junction of Huaishan County, Xinbi County, and Nanyang County. It has always been a no-man's-land. Although the mountain is not high, it covers a large area. In addition, the terrain is complicated. Over time, it has become a hiding place for all kinds of outlaws. Where people gather, groups will naturally form, and that's how mountain strongholds are formed.
Starting from Lishan Village and heading to Nanyang County by donkey cart, it would take about four hours. From there, it would take at least two or three more hours to get to Mangshan. Given the current bad weather, even traveling on the official road would be very difficult. It is estimated that it would take at least twice as long as usual to reach the destination.
This back-and-forth is a huge waste of time.
According to the map, if you go directly from Lishan to Mangshan without taking the detour to Nanyang County, the journey will actually be much faster. However, half of the route is not an official road, making it not only difficult to travel but also very dangerous.
Ruyi had already tried it before. Using her lightness skill to travel at full speed, it took only two hours to get to the prefectural city, which was several times faster than taking a donkey cart. However, it was very energy-consuming, and she had to stop to replenish her energy almost every half hour.
After a year of continuous research, in addition to the previous "Nourishing Energy Sugar Pill", Ruyi has also created an advanced version of the "Super Concentrated Energy Pill". Most importantly, she has used the Lesser Rejuvenation Pill to refine the "Basic Healing Pill" and the "Emergency Life-Saving Pill". The former is responsible for replenishing internal energy, and the latter is responsible for healing injuries and saving lives. As long as it is not a fatal blow, it can definitely save lives.
Actually, she still really misses the invisibility talisman; it's the ultimate lifesaver for ambushes, survival, and travel. Unfortunately, she hasn't drawn one since, and she wonders if it will appear in this year's annual gift pack...
It took her several days to prepare everything. On an ordinary snowy day, after dinner, Cheng Ruyi went out confidently. In a flash, she disappeared into the snow and vanished without a trace.
The Cheng family members were used to her going out to practice her lightness skills until late at night after dinner, so no one would notice that this time her figure disappeared in a much farther direction than before.
The 【Flowing Light and Flying Dance】 technique emphasizes comprehending the laws of time and space, and is a movement method that follows and understands the rules of nature. Therefore, it not only has no effect in the wind and snow, but can even use the wind and terrain to achieve an acceleration effect. Thus, in less than two hours, Cheng Ruyi had already successfully reached the foot of Python Mountain.
Although she was physically exhausted, she was mentally invigorated. She had used her lightness skill to travel at full speed and gained a lot of experience. At one point, she had a splitting headache, but after getting through it, she suddenly entered a mysterious and wonderful state. When she came to her senses, she found that her understanding and proficiency in the [Flowing Light Dance] technique had improved a lot. She knew that she had truly succeeded in mastering the basics.
I had been using my internal energy to travel and hadn't felt too cold, but now that I've stopped, I'm starting to feel a bone-chilling cold.
So she randomly found a relatively clean cave and hid inside, intending to rest for a while. After entering the cave, she first took out a wooden board from her Qiankun bag to block most of the cave entrance, and then took out a water-repelling pearl for illumination. Although the light was limited, it did not stop her from eating a large bowl of steaming hot stewed chicken tails.
She remembered that she had set off at the hour of Xu (7-9 PM), and now it was probably the end of the hour of Hai (9-11 PM), close to midnight. Hmm, after having a late-night snack, she really needed to exercise to digest, and a night raid might be a good option.
According to the map of Wolongzhai, she should be at the foot of the northeast corner of the back mountain. The terrain here is steep, with many cliffs and precipices, so there are almost no sentry posts, making it the most suitable place to sneak in.
Mangshan is not high, and this level of cliff is no challenge for her at all now.
After Cheng Ruyi easily traversed several small hills, she immediately spotted the rather impressive Wolong Village standing atop the central hill and couldn't help but raise an eyebrow.
Having seen the map before, she had a vague feeling that the layout of Wolong Village was a bit strange. Not only was it very well-designed and functional, but it also emphasized left-right symmetry. The pavilions, towers, gardens and the like were scattered throughout, making it look like a small palace. This was clearly not something that uneducated people forced to become outlaws could design.
Now that she has seen it with her own eyes, she is even more certain of her thoughts: this Wolong Village is indeed extraordinary!
However, this also had its advantages. Such a neat and well-organized building at least indicated that the map was very accurate. Moreover, the map not only marked all the sentry posts, but also recorded the patrol routes and shift change times in detail, which greatly facilitated her subsequent actions.
Following the map, she swiftly used Yunmenghe to take down the bandits at each of the sentry posts one by one. Thanks to the snowy weather and low visibility, they couldn't see the specific situation at the sentry posts on the other side. In addition, those in charge of these sentry posts were mostly people at the lowest level who didn't know martial arts, so they had almost no ability to resist her. Most of them didn't even know what was happening before they were put to sleep.
After taking care of the sentry post, the long-range threat was practically eliminated; the next step was to deal with the patrol team.
Theoretically speaking, these people should be relatively more troublesome. Not only are they numerous, but they also know some martial arts. If it were a direct face-to-face confrontation, her chances of winning would not be great.
Fortunately, tonight was not only dark and windy, but it was also snowing heavily outside. So, these undisciplined and unruly bandits were unlikely to obediently patrol according to the rules. Very few people were seriously patrolling the entire stronghold. Most of them were gathered together eating, drinking and having fun, without any sense of crisis.
Ruyi quietly dealt with one of the bandits who had slipped out to relieve himself, then put on his clothes and walked in openly. After walking around the room, all the bandits lay down and fell into a deep sleep.
So she followed the same method all the way, taking advantage of the cover of the heavy snow, carrying three Cloud Dream Lotus flowers that were still blooming in the spiritual spring water, and wandered around the mountain village as if it were empty. Half an hour later, everyone in the entire mountain village except for a few important courtyards had fallen into a dream, and if nothing unexpected happened, they would not wake up for at least three days.
Looking at this huge mountain stronghold, which now seemed like her own home, she could come and go as she pleased. She couldn't help but marvel at how effective the products of the cultivation world were. Mortals were truly powerless to resist. She even wondered if she had been too conservative. Perhaps she could have been more high-profile.
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