Long Long and others took Qi Qiaofa with them and rushed rapidly toward the east along the waterway.
Qi Yingzhu only gave them a quarter of an hour. When the time was up, they would be chased immediately, so they would naturally have to run away without any scruples.
Finally arriving at the border of the Two Rivers Plain, Long Long threw Qi Qiaofa to the shore without hesitation, and then continued to sprint eastward.
"Long Long." Qin Zhou asked worriedly, "Are you going to let him go just like that?"
"There's no point in killing him." Long Long said calmly.
"No." Qin Zhou hesitated for a while before saying, "If we can hold him hostage all the way, we can protect ourselves even if we are caught up by the pursuers later, right?"
“If we choose to go back on our word and take him hostage, then those who were originally without pursuers will now be pursued.” Long Long smiled slightly.
About another quarter of an hour later, a large number of monks from the Horn and Hair tribes finally arrived and rescued the injured Qi Qiaofa.
Seeing that Qi Qiaofa was fine, Queen Lu Ya also felt relieved. She turned to look at the cold Qi Yingzhu. She wanted to slap her daughter, but she raised her hand and then dropped it again.
"Why did Your Highness let them go?" Lu Yan asked seriously, looking at Qi Yingzhu who had an expressionless face.
"If you don't let go, where will your brother's life be?" Qi Yingzhu asked him back.
"If the other party escapes here and still refuses to let us go, your brother's life will also be threatened." Lu Yan said meaningfully, "Why don't you deal with him and delay it until we get here?"
"He won't let go." Qi Yingzhu replied.
"But why?"
"He won't completely break off relations with us." Qi Yingzhu said indifferently, "Killing his brother will do him all kinds of harm and no benefit. He is not the kind of person who acts recklessly and disregards the overall situation."
Upon hearing this, Lü Yan fell into deep thought, but Queen Lü Ya got angry:
"Who are you mocking as someone who doesn't care about the overall situation?"
Qi Yingzhu turned her head away and did not answer.
"Your Majesty, calm down." Lu Yan quickly tried to smooth things over. "Now it seems that your Highness was not wrong to let Long Long and his group go. At least the Second Prince's life was saved."
"You lead your men eastwards immediately and capture that thief!" Lu Yayi said in a commanding manner, then turned to stare at Qi Yingzhu and said in a cold voice:
"Are you still dreaming of marrying that little thief?"
"My daughter doesn't dare." Qi Yingzhu lowered her head and closed her eyes.
"If the Dragon Clan loses this time, you may still have a chance." Lu Ya sneered sinisterly, "But if the Dragon Clan wins, there will really be no chance for you and him."
"Think it over, my silly daughter."
Lu Yan led his men to leave the Mesopotamian Plain and headed eastward rapidly.
"General," the adjutant asked, "If the dragon tribe uses their water escape technique to its full potential, it will not be easy for us to catch up. And will there be any adverse effects if we go too deep into Nanzhou?"
"If he just flees eastward along the river, it will be difficult for us to catch up with him," Lu Yan replied calmly, "but if they want to return to Dongzhou, they must leave the waterway and turn north."
"The shortest distance from Jinjiang to the Sanzu Mountains in the north is about 1,400 miles. As long as we head east in advance, we can stop them on their way home."
…
"What, we are going into the sea?" Qin Zhou asked in disbelief.
"That's right, we must go into the sea." Long Long replied.
He quickly sketched out a topographic map of the eastern part of Nanzhou using the fine sand at the bottom of the river:
"The tributary we are on is called Jinjiang."
"The Jinjiang River continues eastwards and passes through the Great Lake, which is famous for its bad reputation. It passes through the Great Lake, then over the Qiyun Mountains, and flows into the ocean."
"If we want to return to Dongzhou, we have to leave the waterway and head northeast before the Jinjiang River merges into the swamp. The journey is at least a thousand miles and the risk is huge."
"It would be better to go through the Dirty Swamp and the Qiyun Mountains, then go around the sea and return to Dongzhou."
"It is said that the swamp is full of miasma. Ordinary cultivators will lose their way if they enter it, and eventually be poisoned by the miasma." Qin Ye also added, "Brother Long Long, if you want to enter the swamp, the biggest enemy is not the pursuers, but the terrain."
"Don't worry." Long Long couldn't say that he could scan, so he could only pretend to be in control of the situation and said calmly, "I have my own secret method to identify the direction in this swamp."
Since he said it was a secret method, the crowd couldn't ask any more questions. In addition, given the prestige he had built up along the way, they could only believe what he said.
The group continued along the Jinjiang River without stopping, and finally arrived at the swamp.
On the other side, patrols had already been deployed on the road from the Wuze to the Sanzu Mountains, but they did not wait until Long Long and his men fell into the trap.
"The situation has changed." Lu Yan suddenly said in a deep voice, "They should have entered the dirty swamp."
"A swamp?" the adjutant asked in astonishment, "Isn't it filled with miasma and visibility is limited to a few feet?"
"They knew we were setting an ambush here, so they had to take the risk?"
"Don't worry about it." Lu Yan said calmly, "Since the enemy has been forced into the swamp by us, your majesty's order has been fulfilled, and we will withdraw our troops."
Seeing that Lu Yan showed no sign of surprise at all, the adjutant secretly realized that this new ancestor actually had no intention of capturing Long Long at all.
Otherwise, as long as the troops were divided into two groups, with his subordinates blocking the way to the Sanzu Mountains while he went alone to the direction of Wuze to pursue and kill them, it would be impossible for Longlong and his men to escape so smoothly.
What exactly does the general mean? Thinking of Qi Yingzhu before, the adjutant showed a thoughtful expression.
…
The Jinjiang River was originally quite clear, but after it merged into the swamp, it quickly turned into a strange green color.
The closer you get to the river, the darker the green color becomes, and it carries a strong miasma that makes you feel dizzy just by getting close.
Everyone could only flee forward along the riverbed, trying hard to fight the miasma.
"What kind of poison is this?" Long Long was also troubled by the miasma, "How can it be so powerful!"
"It should be the poison of Jiamu." Qingping Sword, who had not spoken for a long time, suddenly said, "If you only practice Jiamu and not Yimu, and practice it to the extreme, you can turn life into death and produce this kind of poison full of vitality."
"So that's how it is." Long Long naturally understood that a solitary yang cannot survive long.
Theoretically speaking, the more you practice Jiamu, the more powerful your wood-based spells will be, but the consumption of your true energy will also become more exaggerated. Yimu can reduce the consumption of spells, so most wood-based spells will not deliberately avoid Yimu.
According to Qingping, this miasma seemed to be from a demon cultivator at a very high level. When he was cultivating his bloodline magical powers, he lacked Yi Wood, and he practiced Jia Wood to the extreme, which caused the imbalance of Yin and Yang and produced this so-called "Jia Wood poison".
"Ajing, can you detect the direction?" Long Long asked.
"It cannot be scanned at the moment." Kunlun Mirror replied, "But as long as you follow the direction where the miasma is most intense, won't you be able to find the source?"
"As expected of A Jing, you are really smart!" Long Long praised.
"Humph, flattery has no effect on me." Kunlun Jing said proudly, "You should think carefully about how to convince them to go with you to explore the source of the poison."