At the beginning, he and Guo Yan's subordinates both died on the cliff outside the city, and then they turned around and broke into the city lord's mansion using this method.
However, Daozhen took Qiao Mu's hesitation as hesitation.
He stretched out his hand, and a piece of yellow talisman paper appeared in his hand:
"This is a boundary-breaking talisman. Its only function is to allow you to enter the isolated city in the desert formation."
He thought for a moment, and then dropped another bombshell:
"In fact, over the years, there have been more than one or two people from the outside world entering that lonely city."
"Among them, there is another person who was the best in the martial arts world forty years ago. He was known as the Sword Exiled Immortal."
"He was actually an ordinary warrior, but in the era when immortals did not appear in the world, he was regarded by ordinary people as a brilliant figure like the land sword immortal. He dominated the martial arts world and was the leader of martial arts before the martial saints."
"He should still be alive now, but is trapped in that isolated city and cannot go out."
The nine great immortal sects did not emerge out of nowhere. Their history is much longer than that of the Great Yan Dynasty. It’s just that in the past, immortals and mortals were separated and they did not interfere too much in human affairs.
Until a certain immortal cultivator refined the first incense talisman.
Qiao Mu heard Dao Zhen's words with details and believed them a little.
You know, the Martial Saint has long been the strongest martial artist in the world, but he claims to be the second best in the world, which is a bit puzzling.
However, Daozhen's statement is actually somewhat doubtful.
The former Martial Saint once said that after the Alien War, as the eleventh martial artist in the world, he made an agreement with the top ten martial arts masters in the world to teach them the "Martial Spirit Holy Rhinoceros Secret" and to have a decisive battle to the death ten years later. The winner would be the only one, the Martial Saint.
If what the Martial Saint said was true, then this so-called "Exiled Sword Immortal" should have died at the hands of the Martial Saint thirty years ago, right
So, who is lying
The boundary-breaking talisman in Daozhen's hand floated up out of thin air and floated towards Qiaomu.
Daozhen continued, "The Martial Saint dominated the world forty years after the Alien War, but forty years ago, he was only the eleventh in the world. There were eleven warriors who were more dazzling than him."
"And the most dazzling one among them is none other than the world's number one swordsman." Daozhen said:
"Even the self-proclaimed title of Martial Saint represents his desire to compete with the Sword Exiled Immortal who once dominated the martial arts world."
"People call you the banished immortal among swordsmen, so I will become the saint among martial arts..."
"And Jian Zexian is indeed worthy of his name. He was not among the 100,000 officers and soldiers in the past. He entered the lonely city later."
"Forty years have passed. As the leader of the previous generation of martial arts, has he discovered a different path from the Martial Saint?" Daozhen smiled slightly.
"I have finished what I want to say." Daozhen stared at Qiaomu with interest:
"Whether to go or not is up to you."
Daozhen threw out two baits, one in front and one behind.
One is the remnant of the former 100,000 elite soldiers, and the other is the former martial arts leader Jian Zexian.
It is indeed difficult to refuse an elder of the Qiao family who has a strong character and values righteousness over life and death.
In fact, it was indeed difficult for Qiumu to refuse.
Wan Ronghua and Jian Gui died, and he had helped Fang Yuan achieve his wish for revenge, and the matter was settled.
Then it would be okay to temporarily leave the imperial capital and explore the isolated city.
Qiao Mu stretched out his hand and grabbed the yellow talisman floating in the air in his palm.
If it were an ordinary person, and an enemy suddenly appeared in front of you in the middle of the night and said a lot of things, it would most likely be a trap.
It is naturally impossible for an ordinary person to agree to this and do what the enemy wants.
But Qiumu is different, he is not normal.
Born immortal, Qiao Mu has always acted without any taboos. Why should we use ordinary people's principles to restrain him
Is there a trap ahead? Is there a mine ahead? Will I die if I touch it
What, there is such a good thing
Qiao Mu didn't care at all whether the enemy wanted him to step on a landmine.
Even if there is thunder ahead, he will still be excited and eager to try.
The only thing he cared about was whether the posture he took when he was blown to death after stepping on a landmine looked cool and pretentious enough.
"Haha, it's just death. I've lived for so many years, why should I be afraid of death?"
Qiao Mu laughed heartily, grabbed the yellow talisman in his hand, turned and left.
In the first half of the night, he had the idea of seeking justice for Fang Yuan, so he made two lightning attacks, killing Wan Ronghua and Qin Shiqing successively before escaping quietly.
In the second half of the night, he heard the news about the remnants of the Great Yan army and was willing to go and decided to leave the imperial capital.
Wherever your heart goes, your body will go. No taboos, you will eventually reach your destination.
The mundane rules and regulations could not restrain his thinking. As long as he had an idea of something he wanted to do, he could set out before dawn without having to worry about anything else.
Daozhen was looking at the old man's back, and a strange look could not help but flash in his eyes.
One of his original intentions was to test whether this old man from the Qiao family was also like the other members of the Qiao family he had met, who said what they meant and what they said.
And the Qiao Mu in front of him at this moment did not disappoint him.
Knowing it's a dead end, I'm still willing to go there.
Such a heroic attitude indeed made even him, a cultivator who liked to observe mortals, admire it.
In the second half of the night, Qiumu had already thought about leaving.
Before leaving, he went back to the Fang family's old house.
I originally wanted to see Fang Yuan again before leaving, but I didn't expect that Fang Yuan was not in the Fang family's old house in the middle of the night, and I didn't know where he had gone.
"You didn't come back all night, did you go to a brothel to listen to music?"
Qiao Mu didn't think much about it and was about to leave, but he heard a meow. The calico cat Wuchang in the corner jumped out, whimpered at him, and couldn't help but move close to his nose and sniffed hard.
"Is it absorbing the death energy from when I died in Wan Ronghua's house before, or is it a sign that my journey out of the imperial capital will be a dead end? How auspicious."
Qiao Mu couldn't help but stroke the cat wildly in delight, but the cat suddenly broke free and jumped into his shadow.
"Hmm? Although this cat looks a bit silly, it seems to be quite intelligent."
Qiao Mu shook his head.
When he visited the Wan family mansion at night, Wuchang did not follow him.
On the contrary, this time when preparing to leave the imperial capital, the cat seemed to have sensed something and hid in the shadow of the tree in advance.
Perhaps this strange species of monster that is sensitive to death can really predict good and bad fortune.
Knowing that his visit to the Wan family was just a small event, he did not follow. Now that he was leaving the imperial capital to investigate the whereabouts of the 100,000 remaining troops, he suddenly hid in the shadows.
Just follow it, Qiao Mu has no way to drive it out of the shadow anyway.
So, Qiao Mu took advantage of the night and left the old house alone.
If he killed Wan Ronghua, he might be wanted after dawn, so he should leave the capital late at night to avoid trouble.
As for the guards of the outer city wall of the imperial capital, they were naturally unable to stop him as he had already perfected his Shadow Step, allowing him to climb over it easily.
Chapter 173 Son of the Sea
The drizzle fell on the river surface with the wind, creating tiny ripples.
Qiao Mu leaned against the boat railing, looking casually towards the river bank.
The rain was not heavy, but the path beside the river bank was wet by the drizzle and became muddy.
Although it was raining and the road was a little muddy, many people were walking in a hurry, wading through the mud with umbrellas in hand.
"There are quite a few pedestrians..." Qiao Mu thought thoughtfully.
He is in good shape.
In order to assassinate Qin Shiqing and escape in the imperial capital, he used the secret self-mutilation method of Heavenly Demon Disintegration.
After leaving the imperial capital, he found a place to commit suicide and refresh himself, at the cost of aging in exchange for refreshing his physical condition to the best.
"The Qingming Festival is approaching. Those people along the coast are in a hurry. They should be rushing to the cemetery in Anxi Pass to pay tribute to the dead souls." A voice came from the side. It was the captain of the ship who was talking.
After the alien war, Anxi City was razed to the ground overnight and disappeared without a trace, and the area within a hundred miles turned into a desert.
Later, the imperial court sent people to build a pass at the border of the desert. It was originally supposed to be called Anxi Pass, but this place was considered a resting place for 100,000 soldiers, so it was called Anxi Pass. As a result, the disappeared lonely city also gained the name of Anxi City.
Qiao Mu is too old. His physical body is over a hundred years old and looks very old.
The captain of the ship knew that Qiao Mu was going to Anxi Pass, and thought that the old man had relatives who died in the war forty years ago, so he made a long journey to Anxi Pass to pay homage.
It was quite pitiful when you think about it this way. The captain of the ship also took sympathy for Qiumu, the centenarian, and took good care of him along the way.
Seeing Qiao Mu leaning against the railing in a daze, he came over and chatted with him for a while:
"In fact, in the past few years, there were more people coming to pay homage. Many people did not believe that their relatives had died and wanted to force their way through the Anxi Pass and into the desert to look for their relatives in the Anxi city..."
"In recent years, natural disasters have occurred frequently, and famine has often occurred, so fewer people have gone to Anxi Pass. After all, they can't even take care of their own lives, so how can they have time to pay tribute to the dead souls..."
Large-scale wars involving hundreds of thousands of people usually took place in the remote areas of Kyushu.
But the Inhuman War forty years ago was different.
The former Martial Saint gathered an army of 100,000 men and women, and only a few hundred miles away from the imperial capital, before leaving Zhongzhou, they encountered the immortal cultivators from the Immortal Sect. In the one battle, the entire army was wiped out, and the area within a hundred miles was turned into a desert.
The late emperor at that time was heartbroken almost overnight. He, who had originally advocated war, turned to kowtow to the Immortal Sect... After all, the disappeared City of Parthia was only a few hundred miles away from the imperial capital.
If the nine great immortal sects were able to destroy the city of Rest, it wouldn’t be difficult for them to destroy the imperial capital.
Precisely because the city of Parthia was located in the heart of Zhongzhou, people often went there spontaneously to pay tribute.
"Here, we've reached the shore, and we've also reached Anxi Pass." The captain of the boat anchored at the river bank and pointed forward:
"Remember not to leave the pass, old man. No one who leaves the pass and enters the desert can come back. There is a cemetery at the Anxi Pass. If you want to pay tribute to the dead, you can go there."
Qiao Mu looked forward as the captain pointed and was slightly surprised.
As a warrior, he has sharp senses and can see and know more than just the pass in the distance.
The terrain at the pass is dozens or even hundreds of meters lower. From here you can overlook the Parthian Pass in front and the vast desert outside the pass.
The lowlands were completely barren, with sparse, dry grass and trees that stood out from the rest, clearly contrasting with the lush green grass behind the trees.
With Anxi Pass as the boundary, there is lush grass in front and barren desert behind, which is quite abrupt.
..
In front of Anxi Pass is a small town with only a few hundred households, which is a resting place for passing travelers and merchants.
Qiao Mu sat down in the lobby of the inn at the entrance of the town and ordered a bowl of longevity noodles as usual to celebrate his 109th birthday and to get some information at the same time.
"What, father-in-law, you want to get out of Anxi Pass? You'd better give up this idea." When the shop owner heard Qiao Mu say this, he hurriedly advised.
"The one guarding Anxi Pass is an iron lady, the kind who is ruthless and impartial. She will not let anyone pass through."
"If you want to pay tribute to the dead, there is a forest of steles of 100,000 soldiers to the north of the town..."
"Why can't we get out of the country? After all, why did the imperial court set up a checkpoint here?" Qiao Mu asked puzzledly.
"How would I know..."
The shopkeeper was obviously a little indignant:
"This town was only built in the last twenty years. The hundreds of households in the town are mostly families of soldiers who were blocked at the Anxi Pass."
"If there was a way to get out, why would we have to wait until now?"
"In fact, leaving the customs may not be a good thing." The middle-aged man with big, bright eyes and a round face at the next table interrupted:
"Before the Anxi Pass was built, many people entered the desert, but never returned. Some even said they encountered ghost soldiers passing through the desert..."
"Big Eyes, you are telling a story here. How can it be so outrageous?" The shopkeeper shook his head:
"I think maybe the imperial court is afraid of foreigners, and is afraid that the people will go to the battlefield site to pay tribute to the dead souls, and they are afraid of angering foreigners, so they set up a checkpoint here."
This inn is not big and business is usually slow.
Now that Qiao Mu was chatting with these people, he attracted the attention of people at the surrounding tables.