Li Ruo's face flushed from the hot breath, "Not yet..."
"Not yet!" Xie Xiao stared at her, unsure whether to continue or not, his handsome face contorted in frustration. "Then what should we do? Or perhaps—"
"Dream on."
The first day of the Lunar New Year.
Someone suddenly cried out, startling the few birds on the mountain into flying away.
"Idol!"
"Heavens! Isn't that the statue of the Great Emperor Ziwei of the Central Heaven? Why is it there?!"
There was no snow today, and the sky was still somewhat bright. At the top of the Ziyang Peak Waterfall, a huge statue of a deity, purple and gold, stood prominently. Holding a talisman, wearing an imperial crown and a dragon robe, it was majestic and solemn, facing east and overlooking the entire General Mountain!
Oh, isn't that the best place to watch the sunrise?
The Ziwei Emperor is the master of all stars and the grandmaster of all things. What does it mean that his statue appears on Ziyang Peak and faces east?
The news spread like wildfire, quickly reaching the entire General Mountain, and many people came running over.
"My God, isn't that the statue of the Ziwei Emperor of Qinghua Mountain?" Huaqing Temple is second only to Qingfeng Temple in Yuzhou, and some people who frequently visit to worship there recognized it.
Some people say, "Didn't you know? A while ago, the immortals at Huaqing Temple disappeared without a trace."
"real?"
This is truly amazing!
The statue flew to General Mountain!
The statues at Huaqing Temple are so big and heavy that it would take dozens of strong men with carts and ropes to move them. How did they get here without making a sound?
If it didn't fly in, what else could it be!
"A miracle! This is a miracle!"
“It must be that the gods heard our girl’s call and came. The fact that she sent us medicine moved the heavens.”
"Don't you know that the Taoist priest is also a divine being? He can communicate with gods above and ghosts below." The more he talked, the more mysterious it became.
Soon, everyone prostrated themselves in worship.
The news was sent to the capital city by waterway at an urgent speed of eight hundred li, and then to the Yutai Temple in the capital.
"What! The Ziwei Emperor has flown to General Mountain!" Several ministers panicked and, disregarding the fact that it was the New Year, rushed to find the Emperor.
Forced to abruptly leave his boudoir, the Emperor slammed the inkstone onto the Minister of Personnel's head, his eyes blazing with fury. "This is nothing but a pretext Xie Xiao, Li Qing, and their accomplices to launch a rebellion. Look at how panicked you are, utterly spineless!"
The Minister of Personnel wiped blood from his face and howled in pain.
The Minister of Revenue gloated, "His Majesty is wise. The idea that a divine statue flew to General Mountain is definitely a fabrication. Only a fool would believe it."
"Yes, it's outrageous!" The Vice Minister of Works was so angry that he cursed. "Damn it, I've been to the most famous Huaqing Temple. The deities inside are as big as small mountains. It would take so many people to move them."
“Indeed, if you’re so capable, let the immortals of our Jade Terrace Temple fly away too,” said the Minister of Revenue.
He genuinely didn't believe it, yet he loved to flatter, "Your Majesty, in less than two days, once Minister Wu's army arrives, they will be exposed for who they truly are, crying for their fathers and mothers."
Hearing this, the emperor felt somewhat relieved.
It was the second day of the Lunar New Year.
Unseen by the emperor, Li Qing led 10,000 members of the Li family army, while Li Ruo led 300 female soldiers including Yang Huahua and Ye Sang, and they arrived at Qinghua Mountain in a grand procession.
Qinghua Mountain was in chaos. As soon as they arrived, they heard a woman's scream.
"Help! Let me go, you beasts!" The girl was being dragged by two men toward an iron pot.
There were two men in front of the iron pot. They were tall and strong, with menacing expressions and greedy looks on their faces. One of the men was holding a knife.
"Quick, drain her blood first, wash her clean, and then put her in the pot," a man said impatiently.
"No, no, don't eat me!" The woman's eyes were filled with terror as she struggled incessantly.
“If I don’t eat you, who will I eat? Lowly people like you deserve to be eaten. After I eat you, I’ll eat your brother,” the man with the knife said.
Just as the knife was about to fall on the woman's neck, suddenly there was a loud bang, and a bloody hole appeared on the man's forehead. He looked ahead in disbelief, and before he could make a sound, he collapsed to the ground.
"you--"
"We are your ancestors!"
Li Ruo kicked the middle-aged man into the pot, and amidst the screams, Yang Huahua and Ye Sang, along with the Ziyang Women's Group, had already captured the men and women.
The woman who had fallen to the ground and was nearly cooked and eaten survived, staring blankly at the other women.
Wow, a beautiful fairy sister draped a cotton coat over her!
The woman kept kowtowing, "Fairy Sister, please save my family. Because we are poor and have no weapons, those wealthy families robbed us of our food and are about to capture us to eat. They have occupied Taoist temples and Buddhist temples and are specifically bullying us who are unarmed."
Li Ruodao said with a look in his eyes, "I'm not a fairy sister, but we can help you catch them."
Well, in just a few days, those people have already "united" together. No wonder they come from a big family.
In Qinghua Mountain, nearly half of the households belonged to wealthy and powerful families. They were also quite clever. After the Prince of Jiangning withdrew, they gathered together and moved into Huaqing Temple and Huaning Temple. They kept the unarmed ordinary people like pigs and sheep, preventing them from escaping and providing them with water to keep them alive. Their plan was to cook human flesh and eat it after all the food was gone.
Today is only the first day.
It was noon, and the people from those large families were waiting for meat to fill their stomachs. Although they didn't want to eat human flesh, some said they would rather die than eat it, but most decided to sacrifice some people in order to survive.
Sacrifice those who are powerless to resist.
This is the principle of the survival of the fittest.
However, after waiting and waiting, no food arrived. Just as someone was about to go out to check, they were suddenly stunned.
Countless soldiers came in from outside, a mighty and overwhelming force. The one leading them was as big as a small mountain, and his dark face was like that of a demon from hell.
"Arrest everyone inside!" the man shouted.
After wave of wails, everyone inside was captured and taken to the open ground outside.
Huaning Temple, which had been without incense offerings for three months, has once again lit up with wisps of smoke.
The women soldiers of General Mountain are burning incense!
Several family members felt that the woman leading the group looked somewhat familiar, as did the armored man beside her...
"Li Qing!" exclaimed a woman.
Li Ruo looked over, and the face seemed somewhat familiar. Suddenly, her eyes widened slightly. "It's you!"
"It's you!" The woman's eyes widened. "You're not dead!"
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