Chapter 457 He wanted to know what lay at the end of the road.
The outbreak of orchid poison invaded Black Castle, somewhat hindering the venomous insects' advance in devouring the five elements of energy. However, in just a few moments, the solid and majestic castle, standing in the wind and snow, lost its majesty and became extremely fragile.
It looked glamorous on the outside, but was a complete mess inside. Black water that had poured down from the top floor had corroded all the floors, as if a huge hole had collapsed in the sky.
Those royal soldiers still underground almost all failed to escape. Those guarding the royal city had nowhere to run and died amidst continuous screams.
After a person dies, the poisonous orchids and venomous insects fight each other.
Gu Gan and several guardians used magic to redirect the underground toxic gas towards the location of the black water worms, thus stopping the worms from advancing further.
Once the situation was somewhat under control, Gu Gan anxiously asked Zhu Laosan, "Where is Zhiya?"
Zhu Laosan almost didn't realize who he was asking: "They should be behind, young master, don't rush!"
"What do you mean 'should be at the back'?!" Gu Gan was furious and about to explode when he heard Xun Zhiya's call, so he let Zhu Laosan go.
Xun Zhiya rode the Golden-Winged Roc in the air. Gu Gan used his wind-controlling technique to step forward and anxiously examined her: "Have you been injured by orchid poison or vipers?"
"Don't worry, I'm fine." Xun Zhiya shook her head, her eyes showing concern. "And you?"
"I'm fine, it's just that I overused my Five Elements energy." Gu Gan breathed a sigh of relief.
Xun Zhiya added, "I saw Elder Xue chasing after the mysterious person in the insect pool."
She pointed in that direction: "In that direction."
When Gu Gan called out to Yu Sui, Xun Zhiya was still unconscious and did not know that the mysterious person Xuehe was chasing was Yu Sui.
Upon hearing this, Gu Gan's expression changed instantly, and he spoke rapidly: "Zhiya, take Zhu Laosan and the others back to the ground. He is an important witness. The amount of orchid poison gas is too large, and the guardians cannot hold out for long."
He ordered Xun Zhiya to lead his men to leave the underground city and return to the surface as soon as possible.
Xun Zhiya asked, "Then what will you do?"
"I have to go find Uncle Xue." For some reason, Gu Gan didn't tell Xun Zhiya about Yu Sui's matter even though the words were on the tip of his tongue. "The Insect Mother must be in that mysterious person's hands. We have to get her back."
As he spoke, he glanced around but found no trace of Mei Liangyu, and his brows furrowed.
Gu Gan was worried about Xuehe's safety, but he was also eager to see Yu Sui.
Xun Zhiya considered Xuehe to be one of Gu Gan's few remaining relatives, so she did not stop him. After Gu Gan left, she immediately found Zhu Laosan and told him to quickly retreat back to the ground with her.
Zhu Laosan was unaware of Gu Gan's thoughts and thought that the young master cared about him. Moved by this, he immediately abandoned the others and followed Xun Zhiya to save his life.
He summoned the managers and protectors who were still by his side, and brought a lot of people with him. At the same time, he used a megaphone to announce to the outside world that he wanted the lowly sorcerers who were not his confidants to go down and maintain the magic array, so that Dou Wu and the other protectors could get away. He then told Dou Wu and the others to leave immediately.
When Xun Zhiya led Zhu Laosan out of the well, they saw the bustling world outside.
The people from the Nangong Sanbu surrounded the well, and Kong Yiyi, trapped in the magic array, was cursing Sheng Fei, who had his back to her. Sheng Fei stood in front of the Zhongli family's carriage, looking up coldly, silently confronting the woman sitting inside.
Zhu Laosan never imagined the outside world could be so noisy and exciting. His face turned ashen, and his mind was filled with curses.
But the people outside heard the commotion and all turned to look at them.
Sheng Fei coldly swept his gaze over the people who came out of the well and said, "Take them all down."
His gaze swept quickly past Zhu Laosan and landed on Xun Zhiya. Sheng Fei stared at Xun Zhiya for a while; her presence undoubtedly confirmed Ji Hongxing's words, meaning that Gu Gan, Nangong Sui, and Mei Liangyu were all in the world below the well.
They haven't come out yet.
Sheng Fei slowly walked towards the well.
It's alright, he can wait. This time, whether they are human or ghost, he has to see them.
Xun Zhiya was also taken aback when she saw Sheng Fei. After hearing Sheng Fei's words, she frowned even more and activated her protective aura, saying, "How did you end up here?"
"Is Gu Gan downstairs?" Sheng Fei asked patiently.
Xun Zhiya asked warily, "What do you want?"
Sheng Fei asked with a half-smile, "So Nangong Sui and Mei Liangyu are down there too? What are they doing?"
This question left Xun Zhiya speechless. Before she could answer, Zhu Laosan beside her yelled, "Kill them all! Hurry! Don't let a single one of them leave here!"
"Wait!" Xun Zhiya turned around to stop her. But the other protectors were faster than she was.
Sheng Fei's forward steps were blocked, and Dou Wu and Ye Shuiya, who were blocking him at the front, worked together to push him back.
The Nangong family guards also joined the fight to protect Sheng Fei, and the two sides clashed.
The Azure Dragon Army remained stationary beside Zhong Lique's carriage.
These people only obey Zhong Lique's orders. If she doesn't give the order, even if Sheng Fei is hacked to death by Zhu Laosan, he won't advance a single step.
Xiao Tao lowered the curtain, turned to Zhong Lique and said, "Miss, the scene outside is chaotic. Should we retreat back into the city first?"
She disliked Sheng Fei. Sheng Fei had been making things difficult for her young mistress all the way, and his words were always harsh. The young master had even had several conflicts and fights with him before, so Xiao Tao was afraid that Sheng Fei would get angry and lay a hand on her young mistress.
Zhong Lique lifted the curtain and looked at Kong Yiyi and the others trapped in the formation. Her confrontation with Sheng Fei earlier was to demand the release of Xing Chun and the others. She knew those people were her brother's friends in Taiyi.
Sheng Fei refused to release them because they were involved in the Lan poison case.
"Tell Mr. Qiu to release the man," Zhong Lique whispered.
Xiao Tao nodded and turned to leave. Qiu Bu was a master of the thirteenth realm of martial arts who accompanied and protected Zhong Lique.
He wore a dark brown turban, his face was aged, and he looked to be in his seventies or eighties, yet he walked with a light and agile gait. Qiu Bu fumbled for the sacred wooden divination stick in his hand; the surface of the stick showed many signs of wear and tear.
Qiu Bu had just stepped out of the Azure Dragon Army ranks and hadn't even made a move when someone had already broken through the famous family's magic array for Xing Chun and the others.
The elusive Luo Bo stood behind Kong Yiyi, his hands forming a hand seal to dispel the magic array. Kong Yiyi turned around and met Luo Bo's open, gaping mouth full of bloody teeth.
"What do you mean?" Kong Yiyi asked.
Rob pointed to the two groups fighting ahead and said meaningfully, "Let's make things a little more lively."
Wanqi touched his neck, feeling a chill run down his spine. Could this guy be planning to eat them up in the chaos?
Luo Bo simply smiled at the suspicious looks from Wan Qi and the others, then disappeared into the reeds.
He didn't seem to have any intention of helping Zhu Laosan and the others.
For Rob, this was the perfect opportunity to leave Xuan Kui. He hoped the scene would descend into chaos, ideally with everyone dead.
Anyway, he had already obtained enough orchid poison while he was underground. The orchid poison that Zhu Laosan used to control them was enough for him to use for the rest of his life.
Kong Yiyi and the others were released, but they were immediately targeted by Xuan Kui's men, and some of them bypassed Sheng Fei and his group to attack.
"You take the men and go first." Kong Yiyi handed Du Zheng and his sister's group over to Wan Qi.
Wan Qi glanced back at the situation and obediently led his men away first.
The two still couldn't let go of Yu Sui and Mei Liangyu, but Wan Qi felt that the two should have no problem getting away.
If you can't win, you can run away, right?
If those two are determined to run, how many people can catch them?
Wan Qi wasn't worried at all.
Even so, he kept turning back.
"Isn't that Da Shan's sister? What's she doing here?" Xing Chun looked at Zhong Li Que's carriage through the crowd.
No sooner had he finished speaking than Qiu Bu appeared before them: "Gentlemen, Miss Zhongli requests your presence."
Kong Yiyi and Xing Chun were cleared from the battlefield and came to Zhong Lique's side. Sheng Fei turned around and saw this scene, only frowned slightly, and did not stop them.
Zhong Lique leaned out of the car window and asked with concern, "Are you alright? What happened here?"
Her gaze fell on the strange skeleton that Kong Yiyi was carrying on her back.
"It can't be explained in a few words, but what are you doing here?"
“I am here on imperial orders to travel and record the celestial phenomena,” Zhong Lique explained briefly. “This is not a good place to talk. Why don’t you two come back to the city with me? When we came here, the Nangong family had already notified the Yulan Division. They should be coming with the Xingshui Division.”
Although Xiangshan City is a remote border region, it has everything it needs, and the Yulan Division is one of the Legalist organizations jointly supported by the six kingdoms. Each city has Yulan Division personnel stationed there, the only difference being the number of personnel.
Xing Chun was familiar with the procedures of these two companies and estimated that they would spend a lot of time interrogating and clearing people up. He thought that by following Zhong Lique, he could avoid this part of the interrogation, so he agreed with Kong Yiyi.
Zhong Lique summoned Qiu Bu and led his men away.
She wasn't worried about whether Sheng Fei would die or whether the treasures she was escorting would be lost; she just needed to stall Kong Yiyi and Xing Chun to notify Shui Zhou.
At least until Yu Sui left, she didn't want Shui Zhou's people to come over.
The evacuation of Zhongli's family was unexpected by Sheng Fei. In the midst of the chaos, he caught a glimpse of the departing convoy out of the corner of his eye and laughed in anger.
The underground city was completely shrouded in smoke, obstructing visibility in the misty world. The earlier screams and horrific cries had ceased, and in the silence, only the roar of the snowmelt beneath the bridge could be heard.
Mei Liangyu was still inside the mountain, walking on a dark yet fiery red road, a road carved out by the ingenuity of the mechanical heart.
He became one with the mountains, roaming freely within them, and wherever he went became a new path.
Therefore, Mei Liangyu also discovered that deep within this mountain, there were many fire-absorbing ice stones. He didn't even know if he should call them that.
Using mechanical arts to carve through the mountain terrain is also destroying these "stones." He doesn't want Shui Zhou to get anything that could endanger Yu Sui, even though this behavior is very selfish.
Mei Liangyu discovered that the deeper he went underground, the more "stones" he found.
It wasn't that he discovered this path through his lowly skills, but rather that this path was leading him forward.
Mei Liangyu turned around and looked back, and found that the road was flowing slowly, like the surging and roaring snow outside, heading towards some unknown destination.
He frowned, feeling that once he had gone to a certain depth, his connection with Yu Sui was severed. He could no longer sense the Five Elements energy from the outside world.
The "stone" appears to be intact, with black and red patterns on the walls on both sides and on the ground where one walks, as if it were scorched by a raging fire or burning "charcoal".
In Mei Liangyu's eyes, those tiny red lines were like flowing magma, densely covering the entire space, transforming it from its initial tranquility and coolness into heat and scalding.
Mei Liangyu reached out and touched the wall. It looked scorching hot to the naked eye, but it felt neither hot nor cold to the touch.
Fire in stone.
Perhaps this is what the father truly wanted.
It can withstand the existence of different flames.
Or rather... it's about returning the strange fire to its original place.
Mei Liangyu continued walking forward.
He wanted to know what lay at the end of the road.
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