Yingguo, Yongzhou, on Mount Zegan.
A figure curled up in the cave and shivered.
Lu Ningxiang hasn't had a good night's sleep for three days. With the increasing number of pursuers, she can't go to any inhabited places at all, and can only hide in this cave to make ends meet.
But now even in the valley, the number of people hunting her has gradually increased, so much that she can already foresee the day when she will be caught.
"Hoo..."
The cave was extremely cold after the rain, and Lu Ningxiang, whose clothes were so damp all over, let out a breath of cold air and rubbed her stiff hands with all her strength.
But this kind of rubbing couldn't bring her any warmth, on the contrary, she felt her body getting colder and colder.
At this moment, she wanted to light a fire to warm her body, but she dared not, because it would attract her hunters.
In desperation, Lu Ningxiang took out an unpretentious stick from her bosom.
"If you encounter any danger again, just hold on to this stick and say silently, I believe in light."
When recalling these words in her mind, although Lu Ningxiang really didn't want to cause trouble to this stranger who had saved her once, and even involved him in this big trouble.
But she was so desperate that she couldn't find anyone who would help her except this stranger.
'I'm sorry, please. '
After reading silently in her heart, Lu Ningxiang held the stick tightly with both hands and said silently: "I believe in light!"
"Hoo... hiss... hoo... hiss..."
Breathing in and out, Lu Ningxiang didn't feel any changes in the stick, it was still so plain and unpretentious.
"Patter."
One tear fell on the stick, followed by a second, and a third...
The unresponsive sign was like the last straw that overwhelmed Lu Ningxiang, causing her to fall into despair, and the grief and pain that had been suppressed for many days burst out all at once.
"If you have something to say, don't cry."
Just when Lu Ningxiang was about to lose control of herself and was about to cry, a strange but heartwarming voice suddenly sounded in her mind.
'It's him... it's him! '
Wiping away her tears quickly, Lu Ningxiang replied: "I'm sorry, sir, I... I need your help."
"Tell me about your current situation."
"OK."
Taking a deep breath of snot, Lu Ningxiang began to describe her situation.
Halfway through hearing it, the voice in her head interrupted her: "In short, they haven't found you yet, have they?"
"Yes." Lu Ningxiang nodded and replied.
"Stay where you are."
"Okay, okay..."
After a while, Lu Ningxiang tried to ask in a low voice: "Sir?"
There was no response, as if the voice that sounded in her head just now was a hallucination.
'No... it must not be a hallucination! '
Holding such belief, Lu Ningxiang waited silently until her body became colder and her consciousness became more and more blurred.
"Sir... are you still there, I want to sleep for a while... just for a while."
"Eat something before going to sleep."
Hearing this sudden response, Lu Ningxiang, who had almost closed her eyes, was taken aback suddenly. She felt that the voice was very real this time, and it didn't seem to come from her head.
In the next second, she felt another wave of warmth, driving out all the chill in her body.
Shocked, Lu Ningxiang opened her eyes and shouted in great surprise, "Sir!?"
Lu Ningxiang couldn't believe everything in front of her eyes. The husband who saved her in the inn that day suddenly appeared in front of her, and even sparked a fire.
'fire! ? '
Shocked, Lu Ningxiang rushed forward and wanted to put out the fire, but was stopped by Jiang Beiran.
"Don't worry, I've already set up a formation in this cave, and people outside can't see us."
Listening to her husband's words, Lu Ningxiang instantly felt relieved, and sat down on the ground.
Throwing a set of clean clothes to Lu Ningxiang, Jiang Beiran hung a curtain for her in a corner of the cave and said, "Change your clothes."
"Thank... thank you."
Nodding towards Jiang Beiran, Lu Ningxiang, who held up her clothes, walked behind the curtain.
When changing clothes, Lu Ningxiang still had the feeling that she was dreaming, and the next second, the warmth brought by the clean fur clothes made her pray in her heart.
'If this is a dream, please don't wake me up. '
After a while, Lu Ningxiang, who had changed into a fur coat, came out from behind the curtain. At the same time, she saw that a pot had been set up on the campfire, and it seemed that she was cooking something.
At this time, Lu Ningxiang, who had recovered a lot, bowed deeply to Jiang Beiran and said, "Thank you for your help, if you hadn't been in time..."
"You don't need to talk about this, come and sit down."
"Yes." Lu Ningxiang agreed, and sat down on a small bench beside the fire.
"Come on, eat a piece of cake to cushion your stomach first." Jiang Beiran handed a piece of cake to Lu Ningxiang and said.
The moment she saw the pancakes, Lu Ningxiang's eyes lit up, but she still did not lose her manners, and she took the pancakes with both hands after expressing her gratitude to Jiang Beiran.
When picking up the cake, Lu Ningxiang took the first bite very reservedly, she just took a bite lightly, but when she tasted the aroma of the cake, she couldn't hold back anymore, the next second, third bite , that is bigger than one bite.
Seeing Lu Ningxiang gobbling it up, Jiang Beiran opened the lid of the pot, scooped up some hot water from a bowl, and passed it to her.
Although a bowl of chicken soup plus a few hot meat buns definitely tastes better, but for Lu Ningxiang now, having a piece of pancake and a bowl of hot water is already the ultimate happiness.
"Thank you." Lu Ningxiang, whose mouth was full of cakes, thanked her, took the water bowl and drank most of it with a "gurgling".
When Lu Ningxiang calmed down a bit, Jiang Beiran asked, "Who are you, who is chasing you, and what are you going to do?"
From the first time he met this woman in front of him, the system skipped the option, Jiang Beiran knew that it was impossible to get rid of this woman easily.
So when this woman asked him for help through Ruyi Sign, Jiang Beiran didn't feel any surprise, and it can even be said that she was a little surprised that she didn't ask him for help until now.
Hearing her husband's sudden question, Lu Ningxiang instinctively wanted to take out the brocade handkerchief and wipe her mouth first, but when she touched the sleeve, she realized that it was not her own clothes.
"Here." Jiang Beiran picked up a square handkerchief and handed it to Lu Ningxiang.
"Thank you." Lu Ningxiang blushed a little after receiving the handkerchief, but quickly wiped off the oil stains around her mouth with it, and replied, "This... the little girl's surname is Lu, and her name is Ningxiang. sister."
'…'
'Another princess? '
Although Jiang Beiran guessed that this woman was probably a child of a rich family, he didn't expect that the family would be so big.
Jiang Beiran doesn't know much about the political system of the Kingdom of Ying, but he knows that their emperor is more prestigious than those of the Kingdom of Sheng, and those who can get to the top are either high-level sects or children of big families, and their cultivation bases are not too low .
As for how the emperor was elected, as well as the power and specific responsibilities, he didn't know anything.
There are two reasons for the princess to be reduced to such a point. One is Gong Dou, but what is the matter with Jiang Beiran that Yang Guo Gong Dou has nothing to do with him? So it can be ruled out directly.
The second is that a coup d'état is taking place in the country, and some people think that the head sitting on the imperial chair should be changed.
'But this has nothing to do with me... Why does the system have to drag me into it. '
While Jiang Beiran was guessing, Lu Ningxiang continued to answer his questions.
"There should be...a lot of people chasing me, and I can't tell who they are." After speaking, Lu Ningxiang took another sip of hot water, calmed down and answered the last question: "I want to ask for help, but... But I don't know who to turn to."
Glancing at Lu Ningxiang's body that was no longer trembling, Jiang Beiran took out another pancake and handed it to her, "Do you want more?"
"Gudu..." Lu Ningxiang swallowed her saliva looking at the pancake covered with sesame seeds, then nodded and said, "Mm... thank you."
Passing the pancake to Lu Ningxiang, Jiang Beiran continued to ask, "So I'm the only one you can ask for help now?"
Lu Ningxiang, who was about to put the pancakes to her mouth, paused, lowered her head and nodded: "Well, I... can't believe anyone now."
"Okay, then tell me specifically what happened to you and what kind of help you want, and then I will decide whether to help you."
Hearing this sentence, Lu Ningxiang stopped eating pancakes, sat upright and said, "It's a bit long to say."
"It's okay. I have to be free today. I have a lot of time. I can listen to you slowly."
"Yes, then... Let me start talking about it before my father disappeared."
…
After one night, Jiang Beiran almost figured out why Lu Ningxiang was in such a mess, just as he had guessed at the beginning.
coup.
Through Lu Ningxiang's mouth, Jiang Beiran had a relatively full understanding of the political system of the country of Ying.
To a certain extent, like the Sheng Kingdom, the elected emperors of Ying Kingdom are the spokespersons of a certain force.
It's just that the emperor elected by Sheng Kingdom is purely for the purpose of rectifying common people, and he is almost no different from ordinary people when facing practitioners.
And the emperor of the Yang Kingdom is closer to the political system of the Six Kingdoms, that is, he pays more attention to the imperial power, and can supervise and manage every move of all sects and families, so that they don't go too far.
To put it simply, there must be someone who has the final say, who can stand up to mediate or make arbitration when differences and conflicts arise within the country due to interests.
This is also the direction that Jiang Beiran wants Shengguo to develop. There must be someone who can make a decision, otherwise there will be too many voices, and there will be too many arguments every day, and nothing will be resolved in the end.
Under such circumstances, the first requirement for a sect qualified to appoint an emperor is naturally to be able to convince the crowd in terms of strength.
The background of the current emperor of the Yang Kingdom is the Wuya Sect, and this Wuya Sect is second to none in the entire Yang Kingdom in terms of the suzerain's cultivation level and the number of Xuanzun.
But not long ago, the No. 1 sect of the Yang Kingdom suddenly changed, and the reason was due to internal factional divisions.
You must know that the internal collapse is far more serious than the attack of foreign enemies. In a very short period of time, the entire Wuya Sect was in chaos, and Lu Ningxiang's father, who is also the current incumbent of the country, oh no, it should be said now. It was the previous emperor Lu Huaian who disappeared in this sudden change.
Of course, the Wuya Sect, which was in the stage of internal strife, could not elect an emperor. After all, they were divided internally, so how could they possibly elect a spokesperson.
So I randomly chose an insignificant person to go up first.
And this little man is Lu Huai'an's youngest son, Lu Ningxiang's younger brother Lu Ganzhen.
This completely puppet-style ascension to the throne is naturally impossible to have any real power, but in this case, some people still want to pull him down and replace him with another puppet.
When he heard this, Jiang Beiran almost confirmed one thing.
That is, this Wuya sect is indeed a colossus, and even though it has already been divided internally, there is no situation where the wall is overthrown by everyone.
Of course, this is only based on Lu Ningxiang's description. As for whether someone is "pushing the wall", it must be further investigated to find out.
However, for Lu Ningxiang, the result of the internal division of the Wuya Sect, the future of the Yang Kingdom, and those sects that are eyeing the tiger, none of these have anything to do with her.
She just wants to live now, and live with the whole family.
As she said, even if it is just a puppet's throne, there are still people fighting for it, and the split factions want the puppet they have chosen to sit on the throne, so her younger brother will be an eyesore.
There are many people who want to get rid of it and then quickly.
'Oh, it sounds like a big head...'
Sighing in his heart, Jiang Beiran added some dry firewood to the bonfire.
After a burst of crackling, Jiang Beiran looked up at Lu Ningxiang and said, "So who do you think you can ask for help, or why do you think others should help you?"
Lu Ningxiang could only remain silent after listening.
At this point, she couldn't believe those uncles and uncles who usually seemed amiable.
She now looks at every family member and thinks they are the murderers who caused her father to "disappear".
She can't ask for help from her own people, so she can only ask others for help. Although the hope is equally slim, as she said, she has nowhere to go.
"I... I still have chips, let others help me with chips." Lu Ningxiang suddenly muttered in a low voice.
"What chips?"
Raising her head suddenly, Lu Ningxiang looked directly at Jiang Beiran and said, "Treasure house! My father's treasure house!"
Hearing about the treasure house, Jiang Beiran became interested immediately.
"Be specific."
"My father has been in power for sixteen years, and the treasures he has saved can pile up into mountains. Every one of them wants to get these treasures, but they don't know where the treasures are hidden."
"You know?" Jiang Beiran asked.
"They thought so too, and that's why I was able to escape from the palace." Taking a deep breath, Lu Ningxiang continued: "Since my younger brother took the throne, our family has been under house arrest in the palace. Until one day, I found an opportunity to ask my nanny for help, and wanted her to help me escape from the palace."
"She... is also the only relative I can trust in the palace."
When she said these words, Lu Ningxiang had an indescribable loneliness on her face.