Situ An's face was shocked for a moment, and then he said, "I'm stupid and I can't figure it out."
Shen Qingqiu followed the river water with her eyes, "It's strange, I don't know why this river water has such strong medicinal properties." Situ An at the side followed her gaze. He was a martial artist with excellent hearing. After listening for a while, he said, "The source of this water is just ahead, no more than a mile away."
The two looked at each other and quickly walked towards the water source.
Shen Qingqiu closed his eyes, sniffed gently, and finally walked to an open piece of land, "Lend me your sword." Situ An immediately took off the sword from his waist. Shen Qingqiu walked forward a few steps and dug hard at the open ground.
As a result, the sword was almost bounced out. Shen Qingqiu's eyes lit up, "This is it."
“Dig.” Shen Qingqiu threw the sword back to Situ An. Situ An nodded and started digging in the empty space.
After a while, the sword encountered a hard object again. Situ An guessed that this thing was what Shen Xiangjun wanted. Fearing that it would be damaged, he abandoned the sword and began to dig with his hands. Soon, he dug out a palm-sized, pitch-black stone and handed it to Shen Qingqiu.
Shen Qingqiu held the black stone in his hands, "This should be volcanic rock."
Situ An was surprised, "Volcanic stone!" As a man who had been on the march and fought in wars, he had of course heard of the name of volcanic stone. It was rumored that this thing was the magical weapon that the victorious general of that year worshipped as a treasure. He used this thing as decoration and inlaid it on his spear, and then he became invincible.
"I always thought this thing only existed in legends, but I didn't expect it to really exist."
Shen Qingqiu said, "There is no wind without waves. Sometimes legends are not all false." Holding the volcanic stone, Shen Qingqiu sniffed it. "Although I don't know why it is so magical, the spring water soaked in it can infinitely stimulate the potential of the human body, just like that wild boar. This dense forest was originally the world of tigers, but it can survive safely for so many years. I think it must be the effect of the volcanic stone."
"If this thing is taken out, it will probably cause chaos in the world again."
Shen Qingqiu had no interest in becoming the king, nor did she plan to be the savior. But now her mother and the little brother she had just given birth to lived in this world. Shen Qingqiu would not allow and would never let others destroy her family.
"What are you going to do, sir?" Situ An asked.
Shen Qingqiu nodded, "Since this thing has landed here, it should belong to this place, and no one can take it away." When Situ An heard her say this, he knew that she had already made up her mind, and did not ask any more questions.
After extracting what he wanted from the volcanic rock, Shen Qingqiu buried the stone. The medicinal properties would always dissipate over time. If it was really dug out in the future, it would not cause much trouble.
"I think your injuries have almost healed. You can't stay here any longer." Shen Qingqiu said.
Situ An nodded, his expression solemn, "I went out this time to support Lord Gu, and now I have wasted so much time here, I don't know what chaos has become outside."
"The horses are ready. I will go back today to say goodbye to the Fang family, and then we will set off."
Situ An then remembered Shen Qingqiu's action of buying horses during the day, and couldn't help but bow in admiration, "My lord thinks further than I do."
Shen Qingqiu waved his hand, and the two of them quickly returned to the village together.
Fang Xiaoxiao and Fang Yuan heard that the two wanted to leave, so of course they stopped them. Especially Fang Xiaoxiao, she was young and had developed some feelings for Shen Qingqiu during this period, so she was particularly reluctant to let them go, "Sister Shen, your injury hasn't healed yet. What if the injury relapses if you leave now?"
After saying that, he glared at Situ An behind Shen Qingqiu. When he was not here, Sister Shen did not say she was leaving. It was all because of this unlucky guy that Sister Shen was leaving after just a few days! Situ An had no choice but to touch his nose.
“Xiaoxiao, I have no choice but to recuperate here. The war is intense right now, and if I go back, it will delay the affairs of my country.” Shen Qingqiu was also very patient with these simple brother and sister in the mountains. “I didn’t care about my country at first, but you see your village is so peaceful. If there is a war, not only the people you hate will be razed to the ground, but the whole village will be razed to the ground. Will you still stop me?”
Fang Xiaoxiao was young, but she understood the truth. She quickly stopped holding Shen Qingqiu's hand and looked at her with watery eyes.
"If you miss me, you can find me later."
Shen Qingqiu smiled at her, then took out a jade pendant from his waist and handed it to Fang Yuan, "I think you are a good student. If you have the opportunity to go to the capital in the future, take my jade pendant and go to the best school to study."
Fang Yuan held the jade pendant in his hand. He looked at Shen Qingqiu for a while, and finally put the jade pendant solemnly into his waist. He looked at Shen Qingqiu and said, "Miss Shen is very kind. Fang Yuan will definitely remember this."
Shen Qingqiu curled his lips slightly. Situ An had already brought the horse over. "Xiang Jun, if you want to hurry, then hurry up. Otherwise, it will be dark soon."
Shen Qingqiu nodded, then stepped onto the horse and raised his pigtails. The two horses started to move forward side by side. Not far away, one could see the two people's clothes fluttering as if they were taking off.
Fang Yuan pinched the warm jade pendant on his chest, staring at the figure in the distance with a dazed look.
"Brother, are you still looking?" Fang Xiaoxiao looked at her brother.
Fang Yuan quickly withdrew his gaze and just touched the jade pendant in his hand.
"Since you like Sister Shen, why didn't you tell her while she lived in our house for such a long time... now that she's gone, what's the point?" Fang Xiaoxiao held her lips. Of course, she also wanted Sister Shen to be her sister-in-law.
Fang Yuan quickly lowered his head with a red face, "Don't talk nonsense!"
"What nonsense was I talking about? Who was the one who just stared at Sister Shen and refused to take his eyes off?!" Fang Xiaoxiao asked unwillingly.
Fang Yuan was blocked by his sister and was afraid that she would go around saying bad things about Shen Qingqiu, so he quickly covered her mouth and went into the room, "Didn't you hear how that person called Miss Shen?"
Fang Xiaoxiao was stunned for a moment, "Mr. Shen?"
Fang Yuan had studied, so as a country boy, he might not know the really important news in the court. But he knew that the only person with the surname Shen who was called Xiangjun was the daughter of Marquis Gu in the capital. Xiangjun was already someone he could not reach, not to mention the daughter of a rich and powerful family like the Marquis's.
"Perhaps from the beginning to the end, she was just a dream that was out of my reach." Just like the day when her mother and sister found her injured in the mountain stream, she rushed in and left in a hurry.
Fang Yuan held the jade pendant in his hand. If he studied hard, would he be able to go and see it one day?
——
Situ family garrison.
Situ An was originally the head of the Situ family of this generation, but he suddenly disappeared a few days ago, leaving the Situ family leaderless. However, with such a large army going to support the front line, it is not a good thing if the general is missing.
For this purpose, Situ Yun, the eldest son of the Situ family, specially set up a competition arena today.
Situ Yun was eight feet tall, wearing a general's robe, and looked very brave. He walked onto the stage and said, "The army has always appointed capable people. Now my brother has suddenly disappeared, and the Situ family cannot be without a leader for a day. Now I have set up a ring. Whoever can successfully defend the ring will be the leader of these hundreds of thousands of lions."
The subordinates bowed and said, "Everyone in our Situ family knows that the eldest son is a skilled warrior. We have no complaints about you being the commander-in-chief!"
Situ Yun bowed and tried to be humble, but his subordinates did not give him the chance. "Master, please take the seat. Even if it is a contest, we are not as good as you. You deserve to be the commander-in-chief."
Situ Yun declined for a while before saying, "In that case, I will respectfully obey your command." Situ Yun walked onto the stage with a smile and was about to hold up the general's seal.
"Wait a minute!"
With the sound of flying horse hooves, Situ An was the first to enter the martial arts arena, and Shen Qingqiu, dressed in a black cloak, followed closely behind.
Situ Yun looked over and saw Situ An who was unharmed. He couldn't help but widen his eyes. He was not dead! How could he not be dead? He was so seriously injured, but the two assassins sent couldn't kill him?
Thinking of this, a hint of murderous intent appeared in Situ Yun's eyes.
"There is murderous intent. It seems that the person who wants to kill you is here." Shen Qingqiu whispered in Situ An's ear.
Situ An nodded. He was a free and easy person but not stupid. As soon as he left, his elder brother set up a ring and wanted to take his place as the general.
"Brother, I will be away from the army for some time. What do you want to do?" Situ An asked with a smile.
Situ Yun did not say anything, but instead winked at his confidant, who quickly spoke up, "Second Young Master, you disregarded the military rules and left rashly, which is a big taboo. In this army, the strong are respected. The eldest son is good at both civil and military tactics, but you, the second son, were sent to the army as a general because you were born of a legitimate son and did not even have any experience. How can we be so lucky?"
Situ An sneered and looked at Situ Yun again, "So this is what Big Brother meant as well?"
Situ Yun raised the sword in his hand, "Second brother, the arena has been set up. It's not easy to change orders in the army. Why don't you come up and compete with me?" He knew in his heart that Situ An was not a fool. He would be able to figure out the assassination in time. It would be better to do it once and for all.
Situ An closed his eyes. He never expected that his elder brother would go to war with him.
"Be careful when you go on stage." Shen Qingqiu reminded again.
"Thank you, Mr. Xiang."
Situ An flew onto the ring, and Situ Yun immediately drew his saber, and the two fought back and forth. Situ Yun had been in the army for many years, and his kung fu was not weak, while Situ An, a legitimate son, had a good teacher, but he had not practiced much, so his moves were not as good as Situ Yun's.
But during this period of time, he had been traveling and sparring with Shen Qingqiu, and coupled with the wild boar soup he had eaten, his martial arts skills had improved a lot compared to before.
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