A thin mist lingered in the wilderness, and in the distant darkness, there were the sounds of horses neighing and people shouting.
Bang—
Bang Bang—
The shaft of the carriage rolled over the rough ground and turned wildly. A fast horse rushed towards the carriage with a knife in hand and shouted at his fellow driver.
“Stop!”
"The horse is frightened—" As the cart caught up, the big man holding the reins to control the horse tilted his head and looked anxious.
Tap tap tap…
Behind the carriage, the sound of chasing horses' hooves was getting closer and closer. The man riding a horse next to it gritted his teeth and said, "Protect them!" He swung out his sword and cut the horse's neck.
Xilulu-
The horse wailed mournfully, and the galloping horse knelt on its front legs, flipped forward and raised its hooves. Under the huge inertia, the carriage rushed over and collided with the horse.
With a loud bang, the axle broke, the shaft flew out and hit a nearby tree. At the moment the carriage toppled and disintegrated in mid-air, the side wooden wall was knocked open with a bang, and the driver who was driving the car before, holding a child and dragging a woman, crashed out and fell to the ground and rolled several times.
"The three of them stayed behind to cover our retreat. Let's go through the woods, quickly!"
The big man on the horse quickly got off, picked up the child on the ground, grabbed the woman who was knocked unconscious, and ran into the woods. The driver picked up a knife and followed behind, looking back from time to time.
The sound of swords clashing could still be heard.
The light of the torches flickered, and there was a sudden scream. A figure flew across and hit a tree. The tree shook and the leaves fell down.
A slender figure in an open green robe and soft armor with fine scales retracted his hand.
Click…
On that hand, there was an iron glove covered with dense scales, and the fingers had sharp claws. After clenching once, the man walked past the corpses under the tree. His cheeks were pale, and his eyes were cold as he glanced at the only survivor on the ground not far away.
He was one of the three people who were left behind to escort the carriage.
"snort."
The man approached the wounded man, retracted his gaze, raised his foot, and stomped down, twisting the man's neck.
Click.
His cervical vertebrae were broken by being stepped on, and he died beyond all possibility of death.
After a while, more than ten people continued to chase and saw the wreckage of the carriage scattered on the ground.
Someone held a knife and raised his hands: "Tong..."
"Um?"
The fire flickered, and the slender figure turned his face slightly. The man lowered his head quickly: "Leader, there are no bodies around. The other party may have escaped."
"escape?"
The pale-faced man with thin lips at the head of the group spread out his iron hands, and someone behind him handed him a small cage.
"Humph, luckily I expected this to go wrong."
He opened the cage door and released a bird, which was slightly larger than a thumb. The bird jumped into his palm, chirped for a while, spread its wings, and flew towards a certain direction in the forest.
"This bird is a very valuable creature, and is extremely good at finding its way. Follow it!"
With a wave of his iron hand, more than ten people started running, following the flying bird.
…
Rumble...
Under the rock, the Taoist who was holding the white piece and was about to make a move suddenly covered his stomach, put down the chess piece, stood up quickly, and ran outside.
"Wait for me for a moment!"
Lu Liangsheng, who was concentrating on thinking about the chess game, raised his head and looked at the back that ran away.
"What are you doing?"
The Taoist priest walked around the rock and ran to the wild grass behind, howling from afar.
"shit!!"
Lu Liangsheng smiled, looked at the chessboard and continued to think. The Toad Taoist jumped onto the stone, put up his flippers, looked for a while and nodded.
"Come, let me take over this bad chess game and continue playing."
"Then Master, please be careful..."
The scholar picked up the black piece and said something when, in the wind outside, a faint rustling sound came from a distance.
Beast
His thin eyebrows were slightly wrinkled, and his eyes passed over the top of his master's head, looking into the distance, where two men and a woman were running with a child among the trees.
The woman who was following him could hardly walk anymore, and her hair was loose and swaying.
"I can't walk anymore... I really can't do it anymore."
"Madam, please walk a little further. Grit your teeth and walk a little further."
The driver holding the child looked back, swallowed, and looked at the big man with a knife in front of him.
"We have run quite far. They should not be able to catch up with us. Let the Madam and the Young Master rest for a while."
The big man gritted his teeth. The woman opposite him had pale lips and face covered with cold sweat. She sat on the ground, panting. The child in her arms was dazed and listless. If they kept going, the woman and the child might die before the other party caught up with them.
With his cheeks puffed up, the big man nodded: "Okay, but let's get out of this forest first and then rest."
After saying this, he persuaded the woman on the ground, who was helped up by the driver and stumbled along for a while. The man leading the way in front chopped the branches blocking the way. As he looked, he saw a fire burning under a large rock just a few dozen steps away.
The driver asked carefully, "Could it be that they are setting an ambush here specifically to wait for us?"
"How can an ambush be so open and aboveboard?"
After all, the man had martial arts skills and sharp eyes and ears. Not far away, an old donkey sneezed in the grass. In the range of the firelight, a young man dressed as a scholar was sitting there, with two bookshelves next to him.
After observing the other person's attire and belongings, the big man felt relieved.
"He is a scholar."
After a whole day of chasing, the men were indeed exhausted. Since there were people around and a fire, it would be best to warm themselves and rest. The leading man approached and found that the scholar was playing chess alone, with a big toad in a short coat lying next to him. For a moment, he regretted coming in.
"This person is a little weird, don't talk."
The big man instructed the woman and the coachman, asked them to move a little closer to the fire, then put the child in the woman's arms, held the hilt of the knife, and clasped his fists towards the scholar.
"We are passing by here. Sir, please give us a favor. If we are disturbing you, we will leave after a rest."
Lu Liangsheng had already heard the man's whispered advice before, and he also glanced at the other group from the corner of his eye. The woman was dressed simply, but her exposed neck and hands were white and delicate, not like a woman who wore such coarse cloth clothes. The other man had rough hands and feet, but he was carefully protecting his left and right, and was obviously a servant.
As for the big man who bowed, there is no doubt that he is a guard.
However, when traveling at night in the wilderness, it is necessary to be alert if you meet anyone, and Lu Liangsheng would not get angry because of this.
He raised his hand and smiled in return.
"It's okay. This big rock is not mine alone. You and I can do whatever you want."
“Thank you so much!”
After that, the two sides did not talk anymore. The child leaning on the woman's arms raised half of his face curiously, looked at the figure on the other side of the fire, and asked in a low voice: "Mom, that person seems to be playing chess with a toad..."
The woman's hair was disheveled, and her beautiful face flashed across her face when she turned her head. When she heard the child's words, she quickly covered her son's mouth.
"Jing'er, don't talk nonsense."
The driver beside him was leaning against the wall of the cave. He looked worriedly at the handsome scholar who was holding the chess pieces and studying the chessboard with a focused expression.
Lower your voice.
"Sir, I think we should go... That scholar is scary to me. I often hear people say that if you meet a handsome scholar on the road in the middle of the night, he is definitely not an ordinary person."
"Hmm... I think it's a bit weird too."
The man agreed with what he said. As a warrior, he felt more acutely. He didn't know if it was because he was too sensitive when being hunted, but the scholar over there made him feel more and more uneasy.
"Now go."
He grabbed the long knife at his feet and was about to take the child from the woman's arms, when a buzzing sound suddenly sounded outside.
bee
Lu Liangsheng raised his head and saw a tiny green bird hanging at the entrance of the cave, flapping its wings quickly.
The big man who was about to leave saw the bird, his face changed drastically and he blurted out.
"It's Mi Niao, they found us, let's go!!"
Just as a loud shout of "go" echoed in the cave, a scarlet shadow suddenly flashed across everyone's sight like lightning and grabbed the wandering bird.
With a swish, the bird disappeared, leaving only a feather that slowly fell to the ground.
"Bird... Where's the bird?"
The big man, as well as the coachman and the woman behind him, stared at the feathers on the ground in amazement, and their gazes slowly turned to the fire.
Hiccup!
The big toad on the chessboard had its belly puffed up and a feather hanging from the corner of its mouth.
"Quack..."