Taiheng Sect was located northeast of Yongsheng, not far away. Shi Jing did not want to leave too many traces, so he hired a carriage. The group hid their tracks and took a shortcut to set off on foot.
This journey lasted for four full days.
In the first two days, Shi Jing and Yin Ci took the time to study the Compassion Sword while they were on their way.
A miracle doctor still needs to observe, smell, and feel. To solve a difficult disease, he needs to observe carefully in a quiet room, burn incense, and use instruments and medicine to test. Now we are in the wilderness, and the conditions are limited. Two people with bare hands can't find anything just by touching.
One of their claws was about to be burned, and one of their fingers was about to be frozen off, but they were determined to find the clues left by Yan Budu.
Now that everyone was going to Mishan Sect, they were not in a hurry to find Kong Shi's tomb. Shi Jing simply handed the Compassion Sword to Yan Qing, letting Yan Qing practice with it.
Anyway, only Yan Qing can handle this thing.
However, compared with the previous ones, this time's journey to Kushan Sect was not easy at all.
After four days of walking, except for Yin Ci, the other three had a lot of blisters on their feet - the most serious one was Yan Qing, whose soles were soaked with pus and blood.
However, Yan Qing said nothing. Whenever he had time and could still move, he would put his hand on the hilt of the Mercy Sword, and the blisters on his palms were as numerous as those on the soles of his feet.
Perhaps Yan Budu's bloodline still gave Yan Qing a bit of ruthlessness, but Yan Qing used all of that ruthlessness on himself. He was originally serious by nature, and now he has become even more serious, with every move he makes, he has the aura of wanting to break bones.
Seeing his seriousness, the head of the sect, Shi Jing, could no longer sit still and started to catch up in the matter of self-abuse.
So when Yin Ci prepared breakfast every day, the three of them were already staggering and panting from practicing. If you ignore the three people's unrelated skills, the Kushan Sect looks a bit like a serious sect.
On the fourth day, a fine, cold rain began to fall from the sky.
The surroundings were filled with a disconcerting greyness and the road became particularly muddy and difficult to walk on. When they reached the boundary of Taiheng, Shi Jing had no more disciples, so they found someone to stay in an abandoned house and spent the day resting.
There was no village in front of the abandoned house and no shop behind it. The house was not very big and seemed to be a temporary residence for hunters.
The floor inside the house was still muddy, even with gravel. There was more ash than salt in the salt pot, and the small iron pot was covered with reddish-brown rust, with several holes in the bottom. Fortunately, there was a leak in the wall of the house, so the air was still fresh, but it produced an unbearable strange smell.
Yan Qing brushed off the dust on the bed, spread a dry cloth on it, and made room for a dry spot.
Yin Ci set up another stove and chopped some salted meat and wild vegetables to cook soup. When the pot was on fire, he turned his head and saw that the headmaster was teaching two people to use internal force to dry clothes. The three young men had steam coming out of their heads, revealing a pitiful look.
"Once we can borrow the arrows and horses, we won't have to suffer like this."
The rain was disturbing and the people were disturbed. Seeing that the Kushan Sect was in a poor and dilapidated state, Shi Jingxuan hurried to stabilize the morale of the troops.
"The arrow horse is fast and steady, so we can all sit in the carriage. When the time comes, each of us will hold a small stove and feel very comfortable."
Su Si hummed twice perfunctorily, treating Shi Jing's consolation as a trick of quenching thirst with a plum. Yan Qing recovered his breath and began to wipe the Mercy Sword again, as if he wanted to polish the sword with a cloth.
The goose demon Master Bai was lying on the corner of the bed, refusing to move as if he were dead.
In the past few days, the one who has suffered is Mr. Bai.
Shi Jing had reduced his contact with the outside world for a long time. He had to eat only fresh and tender vegetable leaves and could only find some wild vegetables to eat. He couldn't eat whenever he wanted, and most of the time he was held in Su Si's arms. The originally plump goose demon had lost a lot of weight, and his former momentum was much less than before.
Shi Jing failed to comfort the man, so he simply pulled out two particularly fresh and tender wild vegetables to comfort his not-so-good brain. But as soon as he handed over the vegetable leaves, Mr. Bai slowly raised his head, but his eyes looked in other directions.
It didn't have the strength to stare at the four people, but only made two weak "ang ang" sounds, and used its mouth to pull Su Si's sleeve hard, dragging him towards the door - even if the group went back to Lianshan, it had such a proactive reaction.
Several people had blood blisters on their bodies, and the smell of blood was not faint, but Shi Jing could not smell anything unusual around him. Instead, Yin Ci stopped the spoon and raised his eyebrows.
"Someone is coming this way." He said simply.
"Hide, Master Bai is warning you." Su Si made a prompt decision, "This place is deserted and remote, and those who come here may not be kind."
Yin Ci shook his head: "It's too late to hide now. People outside can see the smoke from the cooking. It's a wasteland outside, and we can see everything at a glance. We have been careful enough along the way. That person may not be sent by Chong Kushan."
After hearing this, Shi Jing thought for a moment, and hurriedly rummaged through his luggage, throwing a few old clothes to Su Si: "Aci and I will hide, Su Si, you deal with them."
Su Si liked to find faults whenever possible, but he never talked nonsense at critical moments. He wrapped his clothes with a turban and tied a cloth around the back of his hands, pretending to be an old man. Yan Qing quickly tied his eyes and covered the sword of mercy with a quilt.
At first glance, they looked like a poor father and daughter making a living in the wilderness.
The room was small, and Shi Jing and Yin Ci had nowhere to go, so they could only roll under the bed. It was dark on a rainy day, and the bed was covered with rags, which was a great place to hide.
Yin Ci adjusted his position and held the Shadow Sword tightly. He wanted to make sure that if something happened, he could rush out and kill people immediately. Shi Jing was holding Mr. Bai in his arms. He looked more interested than nervous.
He even had the leisure to look at Yin Ci a few more times and help him brush away the spider webs on his hair.
It was a cold and damp rainy day, and the fishy smell of the earth was digging into his nostrils. Yin Ci had originally held his breath and concentrated, half of his heart was empty. But Shi Jing was talking to him, disturbing him so much that he could not concentrate much.
Aren't you afraid? Yin Ci held back and asked silently.
If I were alone, I might be afraid. Shi Jing smiled and replied, "Now I'm hiding like this, I just feel it's friendly and fun. It reminds me of the past...
At this point, he suddenly stopped talking, pressed his forehead, and his face turned pale.
Yin Ci hesitated for a moment, but still freed up one hand and lightly pressed the side of Shi Jing's forehead. The latter breathed a sigh of relief, and his tense body relaxed a little.
After making sure that the other person's condition did not continue to deteriorate, Yin Ci withdrew his hand and looked back at the bed intently. Shi Jingyi stopped talking and he and Bai Ye lay together, listening to the bubbling of the wild vegetable soup.
Half an incense stick passed.
Just as the pot of wild vegetable soup was cooked, there was a hurried knock on the door. Su Si cleared his throat and said in a trembling old man's voice: "Who is it?"
"Help!" The man's voice was hoarse and broken, and he was panting. "Old man, please be kind and let me hide. I, Tai Heng, will reward you handsomely!"
Yin Ci paused under the bed.
… Tai Heng
Although this place is remote and desolate, it can also be considered as the territory of Taiheng. Is there really someone so blind as to attack the Taiheng disciples here
Su Size and Yan Qing exchanged a glance. He climbed onto the bed, facing the wall, and drew his butcher knife. Yan Qing took two steps forward and carefully opened the door.
"It's you?!"
The person at the door exclaimed.
The man's voice was not loud, but one could make out his original voice. This time everyone heard it clearly - it was Jin Lan, one of Shi Zhongyu's followers in the ghost tomb.
Yan Qing naturally heard it, and he quickly opened his mouth with a questioning tone: "It's Jin Lan."
"Let him in." Shi Jing said muffledly under the bed.
After getting permission, Yan Qing pulled Jin Lan into the door and then bolted it: "Why are you here?"
"I still want to see you. Why are you here? Who is that old man on the bed?... Forget about it. Let me find a place to hide. Please close the door."
After that, Jin Lan took a deep breath and crawled under the bed with her bag.
Shi Jing and Yin Ci: “…”
Jin Lan: “…”
During the trip to the ghost tomb, Shi Jing wore the Nuo mask most of the time. Jin Lan had never seen Shi Jing's face before, and he felt a little dizzy when he suddenly saw these two faces, and it took him a long time to regain his ability to speak.
"Yan Qing! There are two foxes and fox demons under the bed... Ugh!"
Just as Jin Lan was about to crawl out, Yin Ci dragged her back to the bed without mercy and covered her mouth with his hand. Yan Qing also patted the bed to show him that he was relieved.
Jin Lan had seen a lot of things. He quickly calmed down, stared nervously outside the bed, and hugged the package in his arms tightly.
The next wave of visitors was not so polite—the leader simply kicked down the wooden door and barged in with grandeur.
"Search!"
Yin Ci saw a pair of feet swaying in front of him. Judging from the legs and feet, the leader was a sturdy middle-aged man, dressed like a bandit. They did not ask questions as Jin Lan expected, but treated the "father" in the house as nothing and started to rummage around.
Judging from the footsteps, there should be three pursuers.
The two men kicked the broken cabinet and the pile of straw near the door.
The freshly cooked bacon soup was spilled on the floor. Shi Jing's eyebrows instantly twisted and his face turned even paler.
"You bastard, where did you hide those people?" The leader grabbed Yan Qing and asked him to lead him.
"We are just passers-by, we stopped to rest when it rained, and we met people." Su Si turned his back to the crowd and answered in his old voice. "It's almost the New Year, why do you want to bleed?"
"The boss is really going to see blood today." The leader sneered, "Kill these two first to avoid any trouble. Search quickly, don't let the boss wait anxiously - hiss!"
Before the leader could finish his words, Yan Qing grabbed his wrist tightly. Yin Ci rushed out from under the bed, and the Shadow Sword flashed past, directly cutting off the man's feet.
Yin Ci drew his sword very quickly, without any hesitation. The leader's ankles were cut off with skin and bones, and a large amount of blood spurted out. The sturdy man opened his eyes wide, and his heavy body slowly fell backwards.
Blood splattered at the same moment.
Shi Jing slapped the bed board apart, and with golden fire in his palm, he slapped the bandit's men who were closest to him. The men were hit hard by the palm and hit the waste wall. The long sword they used for self-defense was deformed by the golden fire.
Su Si also chuckled, stepped into the air, and pinned the last person to the ground. The meat-carving knife pressed against the man's throat, leaving a very thin line of blood.
Everything happened extremely quickly. Before the leader's body fell to the ground, all three had been controlled.
The leader gritted his teeth, and the blood on his ankle gradually spread on the muddy ground, emitting a strong smell of blood. The three people looked at everyone gloomily, and no one begged for mercy or cried out in pain.
Jin Lan held the package, opened his mouth, and looked at Bai Ye in bewilderment. The latter looked at him with complicated eyes, and finally stuck his head out and pinched his nose hard.
Jin Lan burst into tears immediately and crawled out from under the bed in a panic.
"You guys are quite courageous. You don't look like ordinary bandits, but more like martial artists."
Yin Ci sheathed his sword and stepped on the wound of the leader. The veins on the leader's forehead bulged, but he remained silent.
"Jin Lan, why did you provoke them?"
Jin Lan looked at Yin Ci fearfully, but still swallowed the question "Who are you?" and said, "I, I didn't provoke them! I was asked by the senior sister to get some herbs from Yidu, but I didn't know that I would be targeted by these villains and followed all the way here... I always thought they were after the medicine, so I thought about other things."
The leader's blood pooled down to the soles of his boots. Jin Lan took another breath: "This medicine is expensive, but it's not worth it—"
As soon as he finished speaking, a dagger swept across his cheek and stabbed straight into Yin Ci who was standing beside him.
Yin Ci dodged by turning his head. He pinched the dagger with his fingers and stopped it firmly. Even so, the dagger's strong wind cut off a few of his hairs, and the strong internal force passed through the thin blade, making his five fingers numb.
If the medicine was as precious as the Ice-top Snake Lotus, it would not be Jin Lan's turn to escort it. For a box of medicinal materials, it would not be necessary to go to this extent.
Regardless of the purpose, the person who took action this time is undoubtedly a true master.