"separate?"
On a forest path in the suburbs, a group of people who were sitting under a tree to rest heard the woman's voice and turned to look.
Under the shade of the tree over there, Min Yuerou squatted down beside the old man, took the water bag that her father had returned, and a look of anxiety appeared on her face.
"Dad, what happened? You didn't tell me anything all the way from the capital. Now we are separated again. Who do you want me to find? Dad, what happened in the capital?"
Know, know, know…
Cicadas chirped one after another in the woods. Min Changwen closed his eyes and sighed. His long beard swayed slightly in the wind, and he remembered what the scholar had said before.
"If you encounter difficulties in the capital, you can come to Qixia Mountain to find me."
After a moment, he opened his eyes, put his arms around his daughter, and gently stroked her black hair.
"There are monsters in the capital city. My father was almost attacked the night he left the city. When he went to the residence of Minister Gong, he had already met with an accident. I'm afraid that all the civil and military officials living in the official residences on the entire street have also been attacked by the monster."
Min Yuerou was stunned for a moment and opened her mouth slightly: "Monster?"
Seeing that his daughter was a little unconvinced, Min Changwen didn't know where to start. He supported himself on the ground and stood up, looking at the spots of light that were shining into the woods.
"Perhaps you don't believe it, but it is absolutely true. To avoid being murdered, I left the city overnight. I have a vague feeling that there is something wrong with the Protector of the Nation. He might send people to hunt me down. I took you with me just to get to Qixia Mountain faster."
"Dad..."
The woman bit her lower lip and walked forward, wanting to speak, but Min Changwen waved his hand to stop her from saying anything, and brushed the dust off her shoulder, "They will probably only arrest Dad. You can take a few guards with you to the south, it will be safe and won't delay us. As long as we go to Qixia Mountain, my father might be saved."
Qixia Mountain…
Min Yuerou thought for a moment, then suddenly raised her head and asked, "Are you talking about that Lu Liangsheng, Dad?"
The woman had met this man once or twice in her own mansion, but they were always from a distance and she nodded and said hello. After all, he was born into an official family in the capital, and his circle was basically composed of children of officials. Therefore, he was not familiar with the poor scholar who stayed in her home, and she would not do anything to embarrass herself just because the man was handsome and looked like a lovelorn man.
Occasionally, Min Yuerou heard rumors from the maid outside that this scholar was a Taoist and so on. She generally did not believe it. Later, the other party used magic to summon gods and smashed His Majesty's Chengyun Hall to pieces. Other officials' children around her also told about this, which shocked her.
Unfortunately, the scholar never came back after that. Now when he is mentioned again, I have an indescribable feeling in my heart.
"If it's not him, who else could it be?"
Min Changwen took his daughter in his arms and walked towards the horse that was grazing in front of him. He said as he walked, "My uncle Hua and I were impressed by his character and intelligence. Later, we learned that he could perform magic. We hoped to bring him to the court in the future so that he could accomplish great things that ordinary people like us could not accomplish. Even if the emperor is incompetent in the future, the Southern Dynasty will have an immortal pillar to support it. It will not be difficult for a cultivator to support it for a hundred or two hundred years..."
Having said that, he sighed.
"I just didn't expect that things would go wrong because of this stupidity..."
Guards came over. Min Changwen put his daughter on the horse, then he turned around and got on the horse, pulled the reins and laughed.
"Okay, Yuerou, we'll say goodbye here, father and daughter!"
As soon as he finished speaking, he squeezed the horse's belly with his feet, shook the reins to urge the horse to run, shouted "Gee!", and rushed to the fork in the road ahead with seven guards, heading southwest.
"father!"
As far as the eye can see, there is a figure running in the distance. The chestnut horse that has been chasing for a while stands up, and its pear blossom dress sways gently in the wind.
"Dad!!" she shouted again on horseback, her voice trembling.
Behind her, the guard rode forward and called her in a low voice.
"Miss."
"Yes, I know."
Min Yuerou wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes, took a breath, turned the horse's head, headed in another direction, and shouted loudly as the reins shook.
"Let's go, go!"
He rode his horse into a gallop, and the eight guards following behind him cracked their whips and ran wildly behind him.
The sunlight shines on the moving clouds.
On the empty path, light and shadows twisted, and several graceful figures walked out, their robes fluttering, and their pretty faces beneath their high buns showed no expression.
"He will go find Lu Liangsheng, this way!"
One of the figures pointed to the road heading south. After a moment, the figures disappeared into the air again, as if they were invisible, and quickly rushed towards the road heading south.
"drive!"
"drive-"
After they left for a while, a horse team of more than ten people came galloping. The leader was a man with black shoulders and red clothes, four long swords on his back and another hanging from his waist. He pulled the reins at the intersection and raised his hand to let the thousand guards behind him stop.
"What's the matter, Qianwei?" someone asked from behind.
Zuo Zhengyang's cheeks puffed up as he looked at the horse hoof prints on the ground, where they diverged at the fork in the road, and roughly guessed something.
"Min Shangshu and I have a history. It will be difficult for me to capture him. If we go straight, we will go to Hegu County. Further south is Qixia Mountain. He will definitely go there... Then I..."
On horseback, he looked towards another road heading southwest, raised his whip and pointed in that direction.
"They scattered and fled. We will chase them along this road."
"yes!"
The horse team turned and galloped wildly. The bright sunlight darkened as time went by, and then turned from dark to bright for several days. On the road to Fushui County through Hegu County in the south, Min Yuerou and her group of nine walked for several days and were exhausted.
On the afternoon of the fourth day, they finally arrived at the northern suburbs of the county, only four or five miles away from the city. There were more and more pedestrians and merchants, and there were also many tea stalls set up on the roadside. The woman called for the guards who were traveling with her to go over and take a rest and slow down the horses.
"Let everyone rest."
Hearing this, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. They had been traveling for several days, and even if the people could bear it, the horses would have been tired. They slowed down and went to the nearest tea stall. They dismounted and shouted.
"Shopkeeper, bring some tea and some cooked meat."
Roadside tea stalls don't just sell tea. After all, they can't make much money. When the waiter saw eight men and one woman coming, he quickly put down the tea bowls and plates he was preparing, picked up the teapot and nine bowls and put them on the table. While pouring tea, he asked:
"My nine guests, cooked meat alone is not enough, it must be paired with rice, or at least some cold dishes. It is the most refreshing thing to eat on such a hot day."
The guy also had good eyesight. Although he said it in front of everyone, the person he was targeting was the only woman among the nine people.
"Waiter, pick up some simple dishes."
Min Yuerou took a sip of the rough tea, sent the waiter away, and glanced around. There were people coming and going, but it was nothing unusual. She had lived here with her father for several years and knew how to get to Qixia Mountain.
After quickly satisfying their hunger, the nine of them led their horses and continued on their way. Min Yuerou reined in her horse, and the guard’s voice came from behind: “Miss, do you know how to get to Mount Qixia?”
The woman turned her head, nodded and said, "I know." At that moment, the guards looked around vigilantly.
There were pedestrians and business travelers coming and going on the road, and all kinds of noise and bustle were heard everywhere. Waiters soliciting customers stood by the roadside and shouted loudly, and vendors who were in a hurry to go into the city drove past in their clanging donkey carts. In this bustling atmosphere as usual, the air suddenly became distorted.
A gust of wind blew.
The next moment, just as Min Yuerou turned around to speak, a flash of blood splashed up, and the last guard screamed miserably, tearing through the noisy noise around them. In an instant, the guard sitting on the horse's back was beheaded and his head flew into the sky.
"Walk!"
The remaining seven guards drew their swords and rushed forward to protect their young ladies. At this time, there were many pedestrians on the road. When they saw the blood arrows and human heads rising into the sky, they were frightened and scattered in all directions, hiding in the tea stalls on both sides.
"Murder!" "What happened?! What happened?!"
"Hurry and report to the officer—"
…
Tap tap tap…
The sound of horse hooves turned from the official road to the mountain road, galloping. The eight people who were fleeing in panic looked back on their horses from time to time. The death of their companion just now made them unable to react at all, and they didn't even know where the person who killed him was.
"Don't stop, speed up!"
"Protect the lady!"
Min Yueru, who was protected in the middle, was terrified. She had learned some martial arts since she was a child. Among a group of officials' children in the capital, she had also taught a lesson to a playboy who wanted to flirt with her. But now, what happened completely shattered her previous ideas. People were torn apart for no reason.
Is this magic
As she was thinking, she rode her horse up and down. On the side of the road ahead, an old man in ragged clothes and with a sallow face was leaning on a branch and poking and stroking the ground as he came towards her.
The road was narrow, and there was something unknown chasing after them. What if they hurt the old man? Min Yuerou quickly shouted to the guards on the side, "Take the old man with you! Otherwise he will die because of us!"
On the opposite side, the old man with a goatee had heard the sound of horse hooves a long time ago, but unfortunately his eyesight was poor. He could only vaguely see a large number of horses rushing towards him. When he was trembling and trying to dodge, he suddenly felt a tightness under his armpits and his body floated up.
"Hey hey... what are you doing? This is a sin. I finally got out of the mountains and I was just walking. Why are you taking me back? What the hell is going on?!"
The sad words were drowned out by the rumbling sound of horse hooves.