Hearing Ji Yuan's voice, Lu Shanjun realized that he had lost his composure. He took a deep breath to calm Zi Jin's emotions. Lao Niu also quickly stopped while he was ahead and turned his focus back to the things they had discussed before.
"Mr. Ji, don't worry. I will definitely help you. It seems that Lao Lu is also involved in this matter, otherwise you wouldn't ask him to come. It's safer to have Lao Lu and I together. In other words, this matter is definitely not a small matter. Sir, can you tell me Lao Niu the bottom line, what exactly is it?"
As Lao Niu spoke, he sat down on the other side of Ji Yuan, took out the teacup, poured himself a cup of tea, and then drank it in one gulp as if he was drinking wine.
Ji Yuan thought about it and asked Lao Niu a question.
"Have you heard of the Apocalypse Alliance?"
Ji Yuan asked Lu Shanjun the same question, and as expected, the latter had never heard of it. After all, Lu Shanjun was considered a very homebody before, but Lao Niu might not be the same. Unfortunately, when Niu Batian heard the name, he frowned and thought about it for a moment, then shook his head.
"I've never heard of it. It sounds like some kind of immortal alliance. No, no, Mr. Immortal Alliance, you wouldn't look for two monsters, me and Lao Lu. Could it be a demon alliance?"
Ji Yuan smiled.
"I guessed some of it right, but this Apocalypse Alliance should not only involve the demon race, but also the magic and other evil ways. It may also be related to the Black Dream Spirit Continent, and perhaps also involves some demon kings and even righteous heavenly demons."
"Hiss... Even the Sky Demon has it?"
Lao Niu took a deep breath and felt his scalp tingling. Although he was a little conceited, he felt scared when he heard Mr. Ji's casual words. It turned out that something that made Mr. Ji so difficult could not be simple.
There is actually no absolute distinction between the Demon King and the Heavenly Demon. Rather, the Heavenly Demon focuses on cultivation, and although the Demon King is also a synonym for strength among the demon clan, he focuses more on status. The demon clan values strength more, and most of them believe in the law of the jungle, so the Demon King can only be regarded as the stronger one among the monsters. The Heavenly Demon is the top one, but it is not actually a name within the demon clan. To some extent, it represents a certain recognition from the righteous. For example, the Nine-tailed Heavenly Fox, at least it does not show evil ways, so the righteous will tend to recognize it as a Heavenly Demon. Of course, the demon clan may not necessarily be interested in this title, but it is obviously a good word and they certainly don't hate it.
"I can't say for sure about this, I can only say that there is such a possibility. After all, the fox that befell you last time should be from the Jade Fox Cave Heaven, and there is also an eight-tailed fox named Tu Siyan who should also be related to the Tianqi League. So we can't completely rule out the possibility that the nine-tailed fox from the Jade Fox Cave Heaven is also involved."
Lao Niu poured himself another cup of tea and drank it in one gulp to calm himself down, then looked up at Ji Yuan again.
"Then what are they going to do? Sir, what do you want me and Lao Lu to do?"
Ji Yuan thought for a moment and spoke truthfully.
"In fact, I don't know much about the so-called Apocalypse Alliance. They hide it well, at least they hide their name and what they want to do well. I hope you can find a way to investigate it. It would be best if you can deal with them and find out their purpose, especially the part about Black Wasteland."
Lao Niu and Lu Shanjun both understood that it seemed that Mr. Ji himself did not know much about the Apocalypse Alliance. He just began to notice the existence of this strange organizational force.
Ji Yuan did not hide anything, and then explained to Niu Batian and Lu Shanjun everything that had happened to him before, including the peach branch boy that Tu Siyan and Dingfengdu met, and the corpse demon who told him the name "Apocalypse Alliance" before.
After Ji Yuan finished speaking, Niu Batian and Lu Shanjun had been thinking about it for a long time. Basically, Ji Yuan's idea was very simple. He would not passively wait for Shi Jiu to say anything. Instead, he hoped that Old Niu and Lu Shanjun would start from the various ferry places of the immortals and conduct their own investigations. Both of them were demon cultivators with clear minds. They would be more sensitive to the existence of other demons, especially the special ones. As for how to contact them, they would adapt themselves.
The aroma of food was wafting from the direction of the kitchen, and the voice of the woman from before could be heard from there.
"Master Niu, gentlemen, lunch is ready. Do you want to eat inside or in the yard?"
Lao Niu temporarily put aside his thoughts and looked at Ji Yuan.
"Sir, shall we eat in the courtyard?"
"Um."
Hearing Ji Yuan's response, Niu Batian turned around and shouted.
"Let's eat in the yard."
"Why!"
The meal was quite sumptuous, with three plates of fresh vegetables, three whole chickens cooked into poached chicken on two plates, and a fish that had been kept in a water tank in the kitchen and was braised. Including the couple, there were five people seated with an extra stool. With a pot of rice and a jug of wine, it was a pretty comfortable meal.
After the meal, the couple prepared a guest room for Ji Yuan and Lu Shanjun respectively. After all, they learned at the dinner table that the two great masters would stay here for a while, at least until Hero Yan returned.
After settling Ji Yuan and Lu Shanjun, Lao Niu couldn't wait to leave again and set out on the road back to Luoqing City. On the way, Lao Niu took out one of the dates and held it in his hand.
"How about taking one and exchanging it for some money? But there may not be any rich people who know the value of it. But if I go out with Lao Lu this time, I should be able to meet a lot of girls, right?"
"That's not bad... Well, business is more important, hehehehehe... Rourou, here I come!"
Lao Niu touched the two gold ingots in his arms and quickened his pace with a playful look on his face.
Lu Shanjun looked at the direction where the old cow left, then retracted his gaze to look at Ji Yuan standing beside him.
"Master, this old cow was so gloomy just now, but now he is so happy when he goes out. It's really hard to understand."
Ji Yuan grinned.
"This Lao Niu is a celebrity in the brothels of Luoqing City. The owners and madams of the brothels are all very familiar with Lao Niu and treat him as a distinguished guest. They will inform him first of any good news. In his words, he enjoys all the blessings of being a man, so of course he is happy all day long."
As he spoke, Ji Yuan also looked at Lu Shanjun.
"Have you eaten the dates? I'll give you some more. One is not enough to taste. Let's go to the courtyard and eat while we talk. We haven't finished talking about what happened on the road before."
Upon hearing this, Lu Shanjun became excited and quickly followed Ji Yuan to the stone table in the yard. Some things were not convenient for the couple in the manor to hear, so Ji Yuan also cast some spells to isolate them.
Then the next moment, Lu Shanjun saw a pile of jujubes on the stone table forming a small hill, with more than a hundred of them. This treatment was a bit different...
…
At this moment, at Datong Hill a hundred miles away from Luoqing City, Yan Fei had just shaken off the blood on his sword and slowly put the sword back into the scabbard. He was nearly fifty years old now, his face looked more weathered, and the palm-length beard and hair on his chin were fluttering in the wind. There were many dead bodies on the mountain path in front and behind him, and some people were dazed or frightened.
"Bang-dang..." "Ding..." "Ding-dang..."
The weapons in some people's hands slipped and fell to the ground. They were trembling all over and couldn't even utter the words to beg for mercy.
On the other side, next to several ox carts and horse carriages, the rescued people saluted Yan Fei with gratitude.
"Thank you so much, hero! Thank you so much for saving me!" "Thank you so much, hero!"
"Sir, why did you spare the lives of those people over there?"
"Yes, hero, these bandits have done so many evil things that are against the will of heaven and earth. If we don't kill them all, they will harm people sooner or later!"
Amid the repeated thanks from the rescued people, this kind of voice suddenly appeared, and then this kind of voice became more and more, until everyone joined in.
Yan Fei glanced at the eight shivering people. Their faces were very young, even a little immature. Confusion and intense fear were written on their faces. They were so nervous that they could not utter a word.
Yan Fei turned his head to look at the person he rescued. As soon as they met his eyes, everyone subconsciously quieted down. After all, this man killed more than 20 people without blinking an eye, and everyone was scared.
"Although these eight men came with these bandits, they hesitated whether they attacked you or me. They did not swing their weapons once. They had no murderous intent or evil spirit, and they never killed anyone."
After saying this, Yan Fei looked at the eight people again.
"You seem young, but you were timid towards the people around you when you were robbing. Tell me what happened?"
"Bang", "Bang", "Bang"...
The eight people finally reacted and knelt on the ground one after another.
"Master, please spare my life, master, please spare my life. We are all trying to survive. We want to find a place to learn a skill and do any job to make a living. But we didn't know that the recruiter was in a den of bandits. Some people who didn't want to be bandits were killed. We would die if we didn't take up weapons. We have never killed anyone and we don't want to kill anyone. Please understand!"
These people begged for mercy and kowtowed to the ground from time to time.
Yan Fei looked at the people who were rescued over there.
"You guys go ahead and be careful on the road. These days are not peaceful. I will deal with these eight people."
The people over there looked at each other, not daring to disobey, except for one older person who asked cautiously.
"Uh, could you please leave your name, sir?"
"Yan Fei."
"We will always remember your kindness, hero. Take care!"
Life was hard and these people were unable to repay him, so they could only thank him verbally, and then drove away in ox carts and horse carts. Soon, only Yan Fei and the eight people kneeling on the ground were left on the mountain road, which made the latter look even more frightened.
Yan Fei looked at these eight young and tender faces.
"What's your name and where do you live? Tell me everything one by one. Don't tell lies!"
Just coming into contact with Yan Fei's cold eyes, the eight people dared not breathe, how could they dare to tell any lies, and they told everything in detail. Most of them also reported that they had relatives at home who needed to be supported, and almost everyone was single and wanted to start a family.
After the last one finished speaking, Yan Fei was silent for a while before speaking lightly.
"If it had been twenty years earlier, I would have spared no one alive just now. It's not that I'm in a good mood now. I already know your life stories. If you go astray again one day, I will find you."
The eight people looked at Yan Fei blankly, as if they didn't understand what he meant.
"Everyone, get up, go back and behave yourself, get out of here—"
“Yes, yes, yes!” “Okay…” “Yes!”
"Let's go now, let's go now!"
Several people supported each other, bowed to Yan Fei repeatedly, and then stumbled away quickly.