The group had just left the mountainous area, and the ground beneath their feet was still mixed with rocks. The surroundings were extremely desolate, with sparse grass and no villages in sight. The shadows of the mountains were close at hand, making the night even darker.
The cold of the winter night was like a thin blade that peeled off the skin, shattering the fear into tiny pieces and seeping into every part of the body. Looking at the flustered Shi Jingzhi, Zheng Fengdao seemed to enjoy it very much: "Have you thought about it? Tell me about it."
Shi Jingzhi clenched his fists and said, "If I hand over the beads, will you really hurt us, Senior?"
Zheng Fengdao's long face showed a smile. His small triangular eyes looked from top to bottom, as if he was looking at three dead dogs.
"Ah? Oh, probably."
"I swear to your Holy Master. Otherwise I will burn the beads to ashes, and no one can take them."
Shi Jingzhi opened his five fingers slightly, and a ball of yang fire rose from his palms. He did not take off his mask, but his face was full of determination, with the words "burn together with the jade and the stone" written all over his face.
Zheng Fengdao exhaled a mouthful of white steam, and his smile also turned cold: "Tsk... I, Zheng Fengdao, swear to the Holy Master that after I get the Buddhist beads today, I will kill the three people from the Shangku Mountain Sect."
He stared at Shi Jingzhi fiercely, revealing his slightly sharp teeth.
"enough?"
Yan Qing whispered: "Master, he is talking about the internal injuries today, you have to think carefully - uh!"
Zheng Fengdao suddenly flashed in front of the two men, and hit Yan Qing's abdomen with the back of the knife. Yan Qing was tall, but he was hit and flew three meters away. He fell to the ground in pain and vomited in the snow foam.
Yin Ci almost cried out, "Oh, Elder, you just whipped the endangered descendant of your Holy Leader away."
Shi Jingzhi was at a loss and stopped thinking about it. He swallowed his saliva - if Elder Zheng used the blade, Yan Qing would be cut in two literally.
"After I get the Buddhist beads today, I will injure the three people from Kushan Sect." Zheng Fengdao took two steps back and recited it slowly again, dragging out the word "after" long and sticky.
Shi Jingzhi took a deep breath and took out two Buddhist beads that smelled of glutinous rice wine. His fingers were stiff and his palms were trembling slightly, and he didn't know if it was because of the cold or fear.
"I'm still not happy. You're so cunning. Let's ask the headmaster to swear a solemn oath and hurry up."
Shi Jingzhi closed his eyes and said: "If this Buddhist rosary is fake, I, Shi Jingzhi, will have no descendants."
Zheng Fengdao took the beads with satisfaction and sniffed them vigorously: "No, you are smart."
He put away the Nine Ring Knife and walked away in a swagger. Shi Jingzhi quickly walked to Yan Qing's side and checked his injuries.
Yin Ci was enjoying the show: "Master, you just gave it to him like that?"
Shi Jingzhi: "How is that possible? That's fake."
Yin Ci: “…”
Yan Qing: “?”
The panic on Shi Jingzhi's face disappeared instantly: "Thanks to Wuxue Po, I gained a lot of fear experience. Ah Ci, did I pretend to be a good master?"
"Quite similar." Shi Fox's talent was so amazing that he even fooled him.
"I had already guessed that the Ling Cult would block us. Zheng Fengdao has been hanging around us these past few days. I asked the monk for some old Buddhist beads that looked similar, and boiled them in glutinous rice wine. Now that it's so dark, he must be from the Chi Gou Cult, and I can tell the difference."
Yan Qing said in a trembling voice: "Master, you never mentioned this before."
"What if you two knew about it and reacted immediately, but got exposed?" Shi Jingzhi stuffed a bottle of medicine into Yan Qing's hand, and his leisurely attitude returned.
Yan Qing was a little dazed: "But you swore..."
"Swear? I don't believe in that nonsense. The Kushan Sect has been involved with Taiheng for too long, and Zheng Fengdao really thinks we are decent people."
Yan Qing was even more confused: "Aren't we?"
Shi Jingzhi smiled and said, "When did I ever say I wanted to follow the right path?"
Yan Qing groaned, and it was unclear whether it was pain in his abdomen or stomachache from being on a pirate ship. He bent himself into a lonely shrimp, exuding a faint sense of despair.
Yin Ci was satisfied and started to act out the show again: "Master, let's run away quickly. If Zheng Fengdao finds out something is wrong, he will catch us and kill us all... Now that things have come to this, are we still going to Qizhou?"
Although Lingjiao was in decline, its followers were no different from mad dogs. They would bite back fiercely even if they suffered a small loss. Zheng Fengdao was an elder, but he was fooled around by Shi Jingzhi, a rookie. He probably wanted to use the three of them as a cushion for his bed.
Qizhou was prosperous, so there must be spies from the Ling Cult. Going there was not an option, but it would only avoid a lot of chaos and create a lot of unnecessary trouble.
I was exhausted from being on guard against thieves for a thousand days. Shi Jingzhi and Yan Qing were both very fragile. It would be so disappointing if I couldn't keep an eye on them and they were killed.
Yin Ci thought of this and took the initiative to move closer to Shi Jingzhi, his voice softening a bit: "Master, let's not go to Qizhou, let's find a small place to hide first."
Shi Jingzhi's heart of being a good teacher overflowed, and he was particularly convinced by his words: "Aci's words make sense. Let me think about it..."
Yan Qing curled up for a while, and when he heard the key point, he finally got up from the ground: "I, well, I know a place where I can take shelter for a while."
He brushed off the ice on his body, and his face looked even paler against the gray and black ground.
"Master, the mountain here is connected to Zongwu Mountain, and we can walk along the mountain. There is a village called Xizhuang in Zongwu Mountain. It is usually isolated from the outside world and is very difficult to find. Almost no one knows about it."
Shi Jingzhi's eyes lit up: "Then how did you know?"
Yan Qing looked down at his feet: "I am half a Xizhuang person."
This was like a pillow for a sleepy man. Shi Jingzhi immediately got excited and asked Yan Qing all sorts of questions, even asking him to recite the genealogy of the villagers in Xizhuang. Yan Qing was very patient and answered everything, but there was no trace of nostalgia in his words.
Yin Ci had never heard of Xizhuang, but he knew Zongwu Mountain.
Zongwu Mountain covers a large area, with Yongsheng to the west, Qizhou to the east, and Lingjiao's territory to the south. The only part left is the north, which is high and dangerous, with chaotic peaks and extremely barren land, and basically no one is living.
To go from Qizhou to Yongsheng, you have to make a long detour heading north.
Coincidentally, the ghost tomb is quite far from the Zongwu Mountains. If they turn southwest, they can go straight into the Zongwu Mountains. According to Yan Qing, he knows a shortcut - as long as they are willing to take the risk and endure the hardship, they can reach Xizhuang in three or four days.
Since the destination was determined, Shi Jingzhi was eager to survive and led them to flee overnight. The three of them ran until the sun was high in the sky before settling down in the mountains.
This place is next to a river. The water is clear and not completely frozen, which is perfect for a place to stay.
After going to the ghost tomb, there was one more mouth to feed, and there was not much food left in the bag. Shi Jingzhi looked at Yin Ci eagerly: "Good disciple, I want to eat fish, pheasant is also fine."
And the dishes were ordered.
In the winter, the forest was desolate and there were no wild fruits to be found, so the only way to eat meat was to hunt. He was a mountain dweller, so he was returning to his original duties.
Yin Ci stood up and said, "Those who practice martial arts can stand the cold. Master, go catch some fish. I'll look for pheasants and rabbits. Yan Qing, pick up some firewood. I'll cook for you later."
An hour passed.
Yin Ci was holding three pheasants in his hands. When he looked up, he saw his pitiful master, Shi Jingzhi, sitting by the river, using his inner energy to dry his clothes. His whole body was emitting heat, and he looked like a steamed bun just out of the oven.
Demon Yin asked cruelly, "Master, where are the fish?"
Baozi looked sad and pointed at the red mark on his chin: "I caught a big one, but... well, it almost knocked me out."
Yin Ci's mouth twitched: "No fish, no fish. There is enough chicken."
Yes, my cheap master had amazing internal strength, but very little combat experience, and not much life experience either. He must have not taken the fish's strength seriously, and he was beaten by it on the spot, hurting his dignity.
"You laugh at me." Shi Jingzhi said bitterly.
"No, Master, you are mistaken."
"Aci..."
Halfway through the quarrel, Yan Qing came back. After seeing his spoils, the master and disciple shut up at the same time.
Yan Qing was carrying Lao Gao's firewood on his back and dragging a skinny wild boar in his hand. His head and neck were covered in sweat and mud, and it was obvious that he had been in a tough battle.
Receiving the surprised looks from the two, he panted and explained, "I saw it when I was collecting firewood, and tried to grab it."
Shi Jingzhi's eyes were dull: "The Taiheng Sect also has this kind of training?"
"Someone taught me when I was a kid." Yan Qing smiled shyly, "I don't know how to cook, so I have to trouble Brother Yin. Hey, no fish?"
Sect Leader Shi looked at the chicken in Yin Ci's hand, then at the wild boar that Yan Qing dragged over, and raised his head: "Sect Leader, I suddenly don't want to eat fish. It's too luxurious to eat fish in the wilderness. Let's do it another day, another day."
Master Zhuang definitely could not have imagined that his masterpiece would be used to kill chickens and dismember pigs a hundred years later—Yin Ci drew out the Diaoying Sword and dealt with the prey neatly.
Three chickens were stuffed with hay and spices, rubbed with salt, smoked with pine branches, and roasted. Yin Ci cut the whole pig into neat pieces. He smoked the ribs, fried the spices and salt on a stone slab, and asked Yan Qing to boil water, peel the sausage casings, and make some sausages as dry food.
The aroma of barbecue spread everywhere, and golden fat dripped into the flames, making a sizzling sound.
Yan Qing looked at him with awe: "You are not ashamed to be a hunter. I thought it would be troublesome to use a sword..."
Yin Ci also raised his head: "As long as you are familiar with the connection between bones and flesh, you can remove the meat with your bare hands."
Shi Jingzhi finally shifted his gaze away from the roast chicken, as if he had realized something.
As soon as he started eating, that serious air disappeared.
The headmaster had a mouth full of chicken and a piece of ribs in his hand: "Yan Qing, you have ghost eyes, why did you join the Ling Sect? You have to open your eyes in front of Zheng Fengdao, he will never dare to hurt you."
Yan Qing's face turned red from eating: "I would rather die than have anything to do with Ling Cult."
"Why?"
"Everyone in the Demon Cult has a sick mind. The Chi Gou Cult worships Su Zhi, and the Ling Cult is extremely fanatical about the Yan family bloodline. I am a servant and I don't understand anything. Even if I get a high position in the Ling Cult, I can only be a puppet, and I will create countless enemies out of thin air."
"The so-called 'benefits' are just food to eat, and a few innocent women to be forced into sex with like animals."
The more Yan Qing spoke, the more aggrieved he felt.
"It's like being a good citizen. You can support yourself properly and spend your life with the one you love."
Yin Ci: “…” This kid is realistic and sees things clearly.
It was ironic. Yan Qing was the most talented of all the descendants of the Yan family he had ever met, but he had no interest in Lingjiao.
Shi Jingzhi was also very satisfied with this answer. When the three of them had eaten and were on their way again, he helped Yan Qing carry some sausages and bacon.
With this wild boar, the group had no shortage of food. They were young and strong, and they all had a good foundation in martial arts, so they walked quite fast. After just two days, the Kushan Sect found Xizhuang.
It’s just that the situation in Xizhuang is a bit strange.
The small village lay quietly in the snow, with smoke from cooking fires and crops in the fields crushed by the snow. The houses were well preserved, with cured meat and fish drying under the eaves, fresh rice in the jars, and cold food on the stove.
The livestock fell inside the shed, already frozen stiff.
The villagers seemed to have disappeared out of thin air.