Zuan flew northwest for about half the distance when suddenly a thought struck him. He looked down at the ground and saw two figures there, dressed in what appeared to be the uniforms of academy disciples.
He quickly landed in front of the two men: "Who are you?"
As they spoke, he carefully examined the two people. Their appearances were quite ordinary, the kind that you wouldn't recognize if you threw them into a crowd.
His clothes were mostly torn, and there was still a trace of blood on them, as if he had been through a fierce battle.
Both of them were pale and breathing heavily, indicating they had suffered serious injuries.
"We are disciples of the academy who came here for training. And who are you?" The two looked at him warily, secretly tightening their grip on their weapons.
Zu An raised an eyebrow: "I am the academy's chief priest, and I've come here to investigate the mutation of Tongluo Mountain."
"So it's the High Priest!" The two breathed a sigh of relief and hurriedly bowed to him. "Please, High Priest, save our lives. We thought we were going to die here."
"How did you get injured?" Zu'an asked in a deep voice. This Tongluo Mountain was too strange now, and any information was useful.
The two exchanged a glance: "We encountered a purple monster. That monster was terrifying. We were no match for it. Luckily, we had some protective gear, which allowed us to escape."
"What does that monster look like?" Zuan asked.
"It's entirely purple and looks like a ghost from a storybook."
"It seems to be covered in purple flames, and no matter how we attack it, we can't seem to hurt it."
...
The two of them took turns describing the monster they remembered.
Zuan figured the two of them must have encountered a Purple Flame Ghost, and it seemed there was more than one Purple Flame Ghost in the mountains.
It's quite remarkable that these two disciples managed to escape with their lives from the Purple Flame Ghost. They truly deserve to be called geniuses from academies all over the country.
He originally wanted the two of them to meet up with Ji Xiaoxi and the others, but then he thought about it again. He had flown all the way here and was not close to where Ji Xiaoxi and the others were. They might not be able to find him. Moreover, if they encountered that Purple Flame Ghost again on the way and lost their lives, he would feel uneasy.
“I need to go ahead and scout things out. You guys come with me. I’ll take you out of the mountains after I’m done,” Zu’an said.
The two exchanged a glance and hurriedly bowed to Zu An: "Thank you, High Priest!"
Staying by his side would save my life.
Zuan nodded, thinking that he should tell the academy when he got back to stop sending disciples to the trial.
"By the way, what are your names?" he asked casually.
"Disciple Wang Shao."
“Disciple He Lu.”
The two bowed and answered.
"What?" Zu An felt a chill run down his spine. They were the companions of those academy disciples from earlier. Weren't they dead?
"What's wrong with the Chief Priest?" The two were puzzled by Zu'an's reaction.
"It's nothing." Zu An remained calm, secretly wondering if the situation was too critical at the time, and Yao Fang and the others didn't have time to check on the two of them carefully. They also had some magical artifacts that allowed them to feign death, so they secretly left after Zi Yan Gui left.
Or are Yao Fang and the others lying?
He was full of doubts, but he didn't show them.
He quickly led the two disciples on a journey to the northwest. The two disciples were clearly not yet capable of flying, so he carried them by the shoulders as they flew.
After a while, sounds gradually came from ahead, and shadowy figures could be vaguely seen, seemingly searching for something.
Zuan neither dodged nor avoided, and led the two of them over.
"Who!" The others noticed the commotion and drew their weapons to surround them.
Seeing the situation on the other side, He Lu and Wang Shao both breathed a sigh of relief: "It's not a monster."
Zu An carefully examined the group of people opposite him. They were wearing the uniforms of yamen runners and constables. The old woodcutter being protected by them was trembling and extremely pale, perhaps because he was too scared.
Zu An recalled what the embroidered-robed messengers he had encountered before entering the town had said. It seemed that these were the constables who had gone into the mountains to investigate the case of the missing woodcutter.
"Who are you?" The constable in charge looked at Zu An and his group warily.
"We are disciples of the academy, and this is our academy's chief priest, he's incredibly powerful!" Wang Shao introduced first.
"So it's the Chief Minister." The constable's expression changed slightly, and he hurriedly led his men to bow.
Zuan's gaze fell on their somewhat tattered clothes: "Just finished a battle?"
The head constable nodded and said, "That's right. Some monsters suddenly appeared here. They're very powerful. My brothers and I thought we were doomed, but unexpectedly, the High Priest arrived. It seems we're saved."
Zuan was somewhat puzzled: "I've encountered those monsters before, they're extremely powerful, how come you only suffered minor injuries?"
It should be noted that although these disciples of the academy all treated him with the respect due to a junior, each of them was actually a genius youth from all over the country. Any one of them, if placed in Bright Moon City, would be no less than genius disciples like Chu Chuyan and Pei Mianman back then.
So many disciples from the academy encountered that monster together and suffered heavy losses. How could these constables and yamen runners, whose cultivation levels were far inferior to theirs, only suffer minor injuries?
The constable was taken aback, but still explained, "Perhaps the monster was injured, and Zhang the woodcutter is very familiar with the situation in these mountains, which is why we were lucky to escape with our lives."
"You guys seemed to be searching for something just now?" Zuan looked around, but unfortunately didn't see anything.
"It's just a lone monster, and it's badly injured. We were thinking of catching one and taking it back, maybe we could make a great contribution and get a reward, but we searched for half a day and couldn't find it. I guess the monster has already escaped, so let's go back first."
This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
