When they saw a large number of people suddenly running towards the official road from all over the mountains in the afterglow of the setting sun, Yan Liqiang and others were stunned. They all stopped on the official road at the same time and looked at the people running on the hillside, in the vegetable fields, and in the wilderness two miles away.
"What does this mean? Is this a special welcome ceremony here? It's too warm..." Yan Liqiang squinted his eyes and looked at the people in the distance, muttering to himself.
No one responded around, because no one in the team understood what was going on. Why did such a large number of people suddenly pour out from the wilderness ahead
"Brother Wang, what's the area ahead?" Yan Liqiang asked Wang Hui beside him while squinting his eyes. Because his eyesight was better than anyone else in the team, even though he was several miles away, he could still see the sweat on the faces of the people running towards here and the look of fear on their faces. Many of those running over were carrying a simple bag, some were carrying the elderly and children, and many of them were looking back in fear while running, as if there was a tiger chasing them.
"Twenty miles ahead is the county seat of Shidu County in Peiling Commandery in Yuanzhou. After passing Shidu County and crossing the Tongling Line, we will be in the south of the Han Empire..." Wang Hui frowned, looking at the people running several miles away, and answered Yan Liqiang's question casually. These old escorts who had traveled all over the country were like living maps with satellite positioning systems. Along the way, several escorts could accurately tell the approximate area where everyone was with their eyes closed.
Today, in this divine realm of heaven, is October 2, the 17th year of Yuanping in the Han Empire.
At this time, almost twenty days had passed since Yan Liqiang and his party left Fengzhou City. During these twenty days, they only rested in Fengzhou City for one day. After leaving Fengzhou City, they headed south, overcoming numerous obstacles on the road. They had walked thousands of miles and had already walked more than half of the way back to the Sword God Sect.
"No, something must have happened ahead, otherwise those people wouldn't be running around like this..." Gong Dequan immediately interjected.
Yan Liqiang also noticed something was wrong, because even if there was a real tiger, the people all over the mountains would not run towards this side so desperately. There was only one possibility for such a scene, someone was chasing them. The people who could make so many people run for their lives must not be three or five, but a large group.
"Everyone, get ready. If things go wrong, we'll turn around!" Yan Liqiang said, taking off the bow on his back. "Brother Hui, is there any other way to bypass Shidu County?"
"Yes, yes, but if we go around Shidu County, we will be delayed for another two days on the road!" said Wang Hui.
"Two days is just two days. If something really happens ahead, we can only take a detour..." Yan Liqiang said in a deep voice, "You guys wait here first, I'll go over and ask someone to find out what happened!"
Yan Liqiang had just finished speaking when he was suddenly shocked, because he saw a man appear on the hillside in the distance. The man was riding on a rhinoceros horse. He suddenly jumped out from behind the hillside and stood on the hillside, riding the restless rhinoceros horse, looking coldly at the people running all over the mountain in front of him.
The man was wearing simple leather armor, carrying a bow on his back, holding a white wax spear in his hand, and wearing a black turban on his head. Judging from his clothes, he was not a soldier of the Han Empire. What shocked Yan Liqiang was that he saw a white lotus on the black turban worn by the man.
Yan Liqiang thought he was seeing things, but when he looked carefully, he saw that there was indeed a white lotus embroidered on the black turban that the man was wearing.
Yan Liqiang had never seen anyone dressed like this before, but the white lotus on the man's black turban made Yan Liqiang think of three words: White Lotus Sect. I heard that the White Lotus Sect's soldiers were dressed like this...
As soon as the man appeared on the hillside, hundreds of cavalrymen emerged from behind the hillside in the blink of an eye. They were dressed in a variety of ways, some in leather armor, some in cloth armor, and some in rattan armor. They were holding various weapons, and even their mounts, only one-third of them were rhinoceros horses, and the remaining two-thirds were ordinary horses. The only thing in common was that each of these people wore a black turban with a white lotus on it.
Seeing these people appear, the people who were running all over the mountains became even more terrified and ran for their lives. At this time, a cloud of black smoke rushed up in the sky in the distance.
"White Lotus Sect..." Wang Hui beside Yan Liqiang shouted.
The White Lotus cavalrymen who appeared on the hillside also saw Yan Liqiang and his group. Yan Liqiang and his group were on the official road. Dozens of them riding on rhinoceros horses were quite eye-catching, and the distance between them was not too far for the cavalrymen.
After a brief silence, the first White Lotus cavalryman who appeared on the hillside waved his hand, and hundreds of cavalrymen on the hillside rushed down the hillside at once. The rushing White Lotus cavalrymen instantly split into two parts. One part was all riding rhinoceros horses, about a hundred people, and they rushed directly towards Yan Liqiang and his men, while the remaining cavalrymen spread out from the left and right wings of the hillside, as if they wanted to catch those who were fleeing all over the mountain and prevent them from escaping.
"Hurry up, I'll cover you..." Yan Liqiang roared loudly, and everyone in the team quickly turned their horses around and galloped back the way they came.
Yan Liqiang stayed at the end of the team, slowed down the speed of his rhino horse, and turned back to look at the White Lotus soldiers who were rushing down.
The White Lotus sect soldiers who rushed down the slope and divided into two wings caught up with the people running up the slope and in the wilderness in the blink of an eye. Yan Liqiang saw several soldiers on horseback raised their long swords. When the swords flashed, the heads of several running people flew up and were chopped off by the White Lotus sect soldiers who caught up from behind...
Screams and panicked shouts echoed across the hillside and the wilderness.
"Everyone, those who kneel down will not die. Those who dare to flee and resist the Holy Church, this is the example..." The White Lotus sect's soldiers roared, and many people who were originally fleeing were frightened by the bloody scene and knelt on the ground, not daring to flee. The White Lotus sect's soldiers chased those who were still fleeing from both wings, regardless of gender, age or young, and hacked them wildly, blood splattered everywhere...
The wind blew over from the hillside, and in the blink of an eye, the wind was filled with the smell of blood.
In just a short while, the closest group of White Lotus cavalrymen riding rhinoceros horses that were chasing Yan Liqiang and his companions caught up to more than 300 meters away from Yan Liqiang. The person in the front was the first one who showed his head on horseback on the hillside just now. It seemed that he was a small chief and leader of these cavalrymen.
Yan Liqiang gritted his teeth, rode on the rhino horse, turned around instantly, twisted his waist, and drew his bow...
The arrow is like a shooting star.
As soon as the bowstring sounded, the White Lotus leader who was charging in the front was instantly pierced through the face by an arrow from Yan Liqiang and fell off his horse...
(End of this chapter)