The young man was startled and asked, "Why?"
Xie Lian replayed the moves he had just used to kill that slave in his mind, demonstrating a few of them casually. He said, "You've never tried wielding a sword, have you? Your sword moves are unpredictable and, while fast and ruthless, they seem somewhat restrained and incapable of full deployment. If you've never wielded a sword before, why not give it a try next time? I think it might be even more powerful."
Whenever he saw someone perform a brilliant move, he couldn't help but want to engage in conversation. Not to point fingers, but to engage in active discussion with the other person, filled with interest. Because of his vast combat experience, he often understood the situation without even thinking about it, though he couldn't articulate the reasoning. He simply felt it was the way it was. Most others listened out of respect for his status, rarely truly considering whether what he said made sense. This young man, however, listened intently, seemingly pondering, occasionally glancing at his sword. After a few words, Xie Lian suddenly heard another rustling sound in the pitch-black forest, as if something were scurrying past. He immediately remembered that he was still in peril, and his interest felt a bit inappropriate. He quickly collected his composure and said, "I wonder if there are any other evil creatures on this mountain? We must thoroughly eradicate them."
The young man nodded vigorously, offering the iron sword in his hands with both hands. Xie Lian shook his head and said, "Just protect yourself. You didn't leave just now, and you can't leave now. I will do my best to protect you, but you must be vigilant."
At that moment, the grass trembled again, and something darted past at high speed. Xie Lian swung his hand and struck it squarely. The creature screamed, "Ouch!" and froze. Xie Lian could smell blood and wondered: if it were a slave, the sticky fluids that would have leaked out after being beaten would have been extremely viscous, and wouldn't have emitted such a bloody smell. So he went forward to investigate. He parted the grass and found a large-headed slave inside, shattered by his blow. But the bloody smell wasn't coming from it, but from something it held in its mouth—a fragment of scalp with long hair!
"This humble slave subsists on scraps, and it seems someone has already been killed." As it crawled along, a few drops of blood dripped onto the grass. Xie Lian immediately followed the trail, the young soldier following closely behind. The further they went, the thicker the bloodstains became, and the stronger the bloody odor. Soon, a faint cry was heard.
The soldier raised his sword to block Xie Lian, but Xie Lian pulled him behind him. After turning around a patch of flowering shrubs, a half-sized cave appeared before them.
This cave had probably once been a temporary refuge for some people, but now, it was littered with corpses. Twenty or thirty despicable slaves were digging up the corpses, gnawing on them with great delight. Five or six more were surrounding a young girl on the ground. The girl wore a look of agony; her stomach had been disemboweled, her entrails spilling out onto the ground, yet she was still alive. She seemed to have been simply dressing herself, wearing a bright red flower in her hair. The bright red blood against the flowers made her look even more cruel.
The slaves were licking her steaming hot entrails, preparing to devour them, when they heard someone approaching. They all turned and rushed over. Without blinking, Xie Lian struck them all dead with a single blow, then immediately examined the bodies. They were men and women, young and old, all covered in dust and dirt, dressed in simple cloth. They were undoubtedly ordinary people from Yong'an. Xie Lian was horrified.
He believed the sudden appearance of demons and monsters in the mountains were all summoned by the eerie man in white. The man in white had rescued Lang Ying, so he was likely in cahoots with him. So why would these despicable slaves prey on the civilians of Yong'an? Inhuman beings wouldn't ally with humans without reason. Could this be Lang Ying's bargaining chip? Using the lives of those who followed him as leverage?
The girl was in pain and fear, spitting blood and sobbing, "Don't kill me, I haven't done anything bad, don't kill me!"
Xie Lian couldn't help but think of the family of three who died under the city wall that day. What bad things had they done? He leaned over, his tone becoming softer as he spoke, "Don't be afraid. It's okay. I'm here to save you."
The soldier drew his sword and pointed it at the girl, saying, "Your Highness, beware of the mountain goblins."
Xie Lian naturally knew this was a possibility, a high one, but after careful consideration, he felt he couldn't ignore it and erred on the side of caution. He felt the girl's pulse for a moment, examining her palm prints and fingerprints, quickly confirming she was alive and untrained, so she was weak. He immediately began treating her, pulling a medicine bottle from his sleeve and unscrewing it. A faint, light white smoke drifted past, a delicate fragrance.
This medicine not only temporarily alleviated the symptoms of various poisons, but also had a miraculous effect on wounds. Xie Lian was not stingy with the elixir, and used up the entire bottle on her. He asked, "Are you feeling better?"
The girl's injuries were horrific, a sight too horrible to behold. After inhaling the smoke, some color returned to her face, and she nodded weakly. Xie Lian asked, "Are you from Yong'an? How could this happen?"
The girl shed tears and said, "...Yes, I am. I don't know why, but everything was fine, and suddenly, my father died, and my brother died too..."
Xie Lian patted her shoulder gently and asked, "Who or what was the murderer who killed them?"
The girl choked up and said, "The murderer who killed them is... is... is you!"
When she said the last sentence, her face suddenly turned ferocious, her eyes gleamed, and she opened her arms and hugged Xie Lian!
The young soldier, alert and vigilant, reacted incredibly quickly, stabbing her in the back with a sword. The girl was already severely wounded, and being stabbed by him was definitely not going to survive. However, she laughed joyfully and clung to Xie Lian tightly, refusing to let go. Maintaining this position, she died. She held on so tightly that the young soldier had a hard time dragging her body out. He asked, "Your Highness! How are you?"
Xie Lian had originally thought the girl was planning a sneak attack. But she had no weapons, not even a bite. She simply hugged him tightly, as if that was enough, and she didn't let go until her death. He said in confusion, "I'm fine. I..."
Before he could finish his words, as if mocking him, a sudden dizziness came over him.
The soldier widened one of his bright black eyes and said, "Your Highness?!"
Xie Lian felt a burning pain in his heart and liver. He couldn't speak, nor did he want to speak, and even less did he want to listen. He shook his head and raised his hands in silence. At this moment, from all around him, the sound of women's laughter could be heard.
“Hehehe…”
“Hehehe…”
The two were surprised to find that there was no one else around. The source of the laughter was actually the bright red flowers!
Xie Lian instantly understood what kind of trap he had fallen into—
"The land of tenderness"!
This gentle land was not the same gentle land as that. The gentle land was home to a group of flower demons that lived by sucking the essence and blood of men. Their fragrance wasn't a good thing. Xie Lian immediately said, "Cover your mouth and nose tightly! Don't inhale the fragrance of those flowers!"
The young soldier's face was already tightly covered by bandages, filtering out the scent so he didn't inhale it. He tightened his bandages upon hearing this, then realized that Xie Lian had nothing to hide. He tore off his cleanest sleeve, rubbed it vigorously, and patted it clean. He handed it to Xie Lian with both hands, but Xie Lian said, "No need. It's useless."
He treated the girl with caution, but not with the scent. He leaned in close, unaware that the flower she wore on her temples was a "Gentle Countryside." Before dying, she clung to Xie Lian, ensuring his safety. In other words, Xie Lian had already, without realizing it, taken several deep breaths of the gentle fragrance. Now, it was truly "refreshing."
After the gentle fragrance entered his body, the man's blood would surge. First he would feel weak, then furious. Right now, his entire body felt limp, as if his muscles had been pulled. Once the numbness wore off, he would turn into a barrel of dynamite. If the strange figure in white were to reappear at this moment, Xie Lian had no idea how capable he would be. He had no idea how powerful the other person was, so his first instinct was to reach for the medicine bottle. However, upon reaching for it, he remembered that the medicine had been used up to treat the girl. But, in the end, he didn't survive.
He glanced at the corpse beside him. The girl was still smiling, as if genuinely happy that she had tricked her enemies before her death and could finally see her family. It was only because the bloody scene had diluted the dangerous color of the flowers, and the blood had diluted the strange fragrance. He had never imagined that a girl of only fifteen or sixteen could have such an expression of extreme resentment on her face and be capable of such a resolute act.
Over there, the flower fairies were extremely excited and whispered:
"Bait."
"I caught it."
"It really is that Crown Prince."
"It's him."
"So handsome... My roots, my roots are about to break out of the soil!"
The young soldier swung his sword, flattening a patch of flowers. However, the flower stems were surprisingly flexible, and the broken sword felt dull after the first cut. The flower demons swayed and screamed in surprise, "Oh my! This little brother, who hasn't even grown all his hair yet, is quite fierce! I'm finally about to bloom, how are you going to compensate me?"
The young soldier's eyes were blazing with anger: "You're looking for death! I'll burn you all to death!"
The flower demons stuck their green leaves on the stems and shouted, "How powerful! We didn't provoke you, why are you so angry?"
Xie Lian also said, “Don’t burn them! They’re demons. If you burn them… they’ll produce poisonous miasma. You can’t pull them out either!” The young man immediately stopped trying to pull them out. Xie Lian said weakly, “The stems are full of poisonous thorns…”
The flower fairies said tenderly, "Oh, Your Highness is so gentle, thank you for protecting us. Wait, we will bear fruit soon! We will definitely love you well, hehehe..."
"It's rare to find a man who has practiced Tongzi Kung Fu since childhood. Although your virginity has been broken, your magic power will drop by a level. However, I have no choice but to inconvenience you, hehehe..."
The flowers in the land of tenderness rubbed against each other, letting out a soft giggle, their lewdness clearly revealed. The young soldier was stunned for a long moment. He seemed to have a vague understanding of the words "virgin," "broken virginity," and "realm," but he could tell it wasn't a good word. He swung his sword hard to cut through the flowers while shouting, trying to drown out the teasing and prevent Xie Lian from hearing. Xie Lian's knuckles were crackling.
I see!
It turned out that the whole series of events tonight were a trap set specifically for him.
By kidnapping only Qi Rong, they calculated that, given the pride and consideration of the Fairy Music Martial God, he would pursue alone, minimizing the danger. The severely injured girl, on the other hand, was intended to exhaust his elixir, leaving him unable to recover even after inhaling the gentle fragrance. Demons, ghosts, and the living collaborated, waiting for him at this very moment.
Xie Lian's practice indeed required virginity. After the ascension of this lineage's practitioners, those who came to worship them firmly believed that the deity they worshipped was transcendent and untouched by human desires. Therefore, failure to protect one's virginity would undoubtedly lead to the collapse of the believer, severely damaging their magical power. While the consequences wouldn't be severe enough to lead to a direct fall from priest to mortal, with years of arduous cultivation in the future, there was still a chance of recovery. But at this point, there was no room for him to remain in seclusion for several more years of arduous cultivation!
Huangji Monastery's strict rules and regulations were a given. Xie Lian, as the most accomplished and foremost among them, had never broken any of them. He believed he had long since become as strong as stone, his heart untouched by even the strongest winds. He had endured numerous such trials, each time passing flawlessly. However, despite his composure, he was still young and vulnerable. And now, with a small soldier beside him, listening to the flower demons hurling obscenities at him that barely amounted to a hint, coupled with the lingering fragrance of the flowers, his blood boiling, and his restless spirit, Xie Lian inevitably felt a touch of shame and irritation, a blush creeping over his face. Unfortunately, he couldn't stand up.
He could barely hold on now, but if this group of gentlemen really gave way, it would be a disaster. The best solution was to quickly return to the Imperial City and have Feng Xin and Mu Qing protect him. However, Xie Lian was too weak to even stand up. Helpless, he could only say to the soldier, "Come here."
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