Without the demons chasing them, everyone returned smoothly along the same route and got out of the forest.
It was afternoon, the sun was shining brightly, there was grass and a river ahead, the whole world seemed unusually open, and the depression that everyone had accumulated in the narrow space of the forest was completely released.
"It's better outside. It's comfortable just looking at it."
"The forest is only suitable for playing. If you live there for a long time, you will die."
"Let's go back to Lujia Town, then go back to Mi County to stay overnight, and return to Dayuan Prefecture tomorrow."
"good!"
Everyone was in high spirits and walked more briskly.
The palace soldiers secretly breathed a sigh of relief. In the past, when they killed monsters, monsters would often appear suddenly, and the first to be killed or injured were always the palace soldiers, followed by the scholars. So even though they had been loyal to their duties all the way, even with Nu Nu around, they still had some resistance in their hearts, but now everything was over.
Soon, everyone saw Lujia Town from afar, and the faces of the three scholars with the best eyesight darkened.
The area outside Lujia Town was littered with the corpses of fish monsters.
The town of Lujia was in ruins, with low walls outside the town collapsed everywhere and many houses razed to the ground, as if it had experienced a major flood. Some houses in the distance seemed to be on fire, the fire had been extinguished, but there was still light smoke coming out, and many people could be vaguely seen busying about.
"Slow down and prepare to kill the monster."
Everyone hurriedly began to prepare for battle, drawing their swords, holding their spears, and taking their arrows. The scholars also put down their coats and dipped their pens in ink.
Nunu stood upright on Fang Yun's shoulder and looked out, then said in a very normal voice: "Yingying, yingying."
Fang Yun asked: "You said there are no demon races?"
"Oh!" Nunu nodded.
Without waiting for the scholar to give an order, everyone breathed a sigh of relief. They now unconditionally believed in Fang Yun and Nu Nu.
"Let's go and see what's going on! Don't be happy too soon. If the demons are attacking, we can't leave, otherwise we will be deserters."
Everyone became nervous again when they heard this. No one complained, but the atmosphere in the team was bad.
These people have been killing monsters continuously and are already mentally exhausted.
The three scholars looked at each other and frowned. If the demons suddenly appeared, the morale of the team would collapse immediately.
Mr. Wang said, "No one likes to risk their lives to kill monsters. You don't like it, and I don't like it either. Even the Lord of the Court once told us that if he could choose, he would rather read the books of sages, drink tea and admire the moon every day, but he can't! And neither can we! The monsters want to raise humans as food, and the barbarians want to occupy our beautiful land. If we are romantic, we will eventually become slaves of the monsters and barbarians!"
"Back then, the demon saints had difficulty leaving the demon world, so our race had a chance to breathe. Later, the Battle of Muye outside Chaoge City was not a war between the Shang and Zhou dynasties, but a war between humans and demons! King Wen knew that humans and demons could never coexist. It was an eternal feud that could only end when one side was completely exterminated!"
"We scholars are the last line of defense for the Shengyuan Continent and hundreds of millions of human beings. Our will and our strength are the last bastion of the human race. If we dare not fight, then the human race will be destroyed!"
"Would you like to be kept in a pen, slaughtered, and served like that pig?"
"No!" several students whispered.
"Are you willing to watch your relatives, friends, wives and daughters become playthings of monsters?" Mr. Wang asked again.
"No!" More people said this time.
"Are you willing to hand over the human land paved with the bones of your predecessors?"
"No!" many people said loudly.
"Then, we will use the power bestowed upon us by Wenquxing and the saints to kill these monsters and allow our families and descendants to live in peace! Even if we become dry bones! This land belongs to our human race, and no one can take it away! As long as the human race is not destroyed, righteousness will live forever!"
Everyone was inspired by Mr. Wang’s words. This was not the incitement of war poetry, but the power that struck the soul directly!
"As long as the human race is not destroyed, righteousness will last forever!"
Everyone roared along, and their original war-weariness disappeared completely. They were eager to capture the monsters that destroyed the town.
When everyone arrived in the town, the mayor came to greet them with some people.
"What's going on?" Mr. Wang asked.
The mayor's eyes were red, and he tried hard to hold back his grief and said, "I don't know what happened. An hour ago, a large number of demons rushed over, led by a turtle demon as big as a house. Then a big snake came out, and the two sides started fighting. The turtle demon knew magic and sprayed a lot of water that flooded half of the village. Other demons also knew magic, some of them poisoned and some set fires. We just counted them, and more than 40 people died in the town, and more than 30 people were missing, and they must have been abducted and eaten by the demons."
"How did they leave?"
"That turtle demon was extremely powerful. The snake demon couldn't defeat it at all. Instead, it was injured by the turtle demon and other demons. In the end, the snake demon had to flee. Those demons seemed to value the snake demon very much. They didn't care about us and chased after it to kill it."
"Can you ask the magistrate of Mi County for help?"
"I tore off two official seals in succession. The nearby government troops should be arriving soon."
"Do those monster tribes have monster commanders?"
"I don't understand demon language, Chengcai, you know demon language, answer the question of the Juren master."
The student An Chengcai, whom I had met before, came over. He looked much thinner than in the past few days, and his eyes were a little gloomy. He didn't look like a newly married young man at all.
The mayor sighed and said, "His beautiful wife is missing. It seems that she was captured by the demon tribe, but she may be hiding somewhere. Chengcai, tell me what happened."
An Chengcai bowed to everyone and said, "My Lords, the words of those monsters are very confusing. I can't repeat them one by one, but I can guess the general situation. The snake monster seemed to have stolen something, and the people from the Yangtze River Dragon Palace sent a turtle monster to kill the snake monster. The snake monster called the turtle monster a monster general, but the turtle monster was much more powerful than ordinary monster generals. The snake monster easily killed three ordinary monster generals, but it couldn't beat the turtle monster at all."
The three scholars and a few other scholars all changed their expressions.
"Is there a protrusion on the turtle monster's head, as if it's about to grow horns?"
"Yes! Could that be a dragon turtle?"
"It can't be a dragon turtle. A dragon turtle is also a species of dragon, on par with a flood dragon. That demon turtle is very likely to have dragon blood and belong to the pseudo-dragon family, otherwise it wouldn't be so powerful. What about the snake demon?"
"I'm not sure about that." An Chengcai lowered his head and thought hard, as if he was trying hard to recall something.
Mr. Wang asked again: "Does that snake demon have a red fleshy crown on its head and black and red patterns on its body?"
The mayor immediately shook his head and said, "No! The big snake monster had nothing on its head, and its body was green. It was a big green snake, very scary, especially when it opened its mouth. It scared me to death. But the big green snake seemed to be pretty good, and didn't hurt anyone intentionally. That monster turtle was no good, and killed many of us. Even Mr. Yang didn't know if he was captured by the monster tribe."
An Chengcai suddenly clenched his fists and lowered his head even lower.
Nunu looked at An Chengcai suspiciously, sniffed gently, and his eyes fell on An Chengcai's chest, not knowing what he was thinking.
"Besides those demon generals, how many other demon soldiers are there?"
"At least five or six hundred. Most of them are fish monsters. But the snake monster killed more than two hundred of them. The bodies are outside. You can count them."
Mr. Wang sighed and said, "Then let's stay here for now and wait for the government troops to arrive. Whether to leave, stay, or fight, we will decide after the government troops arrive. Don't be idle, help the people in the town."
So everyone started to help the townspeople clean up the destroyed area.
Soon, more than thirty ox-drawn carts came from afar, creating a cloud of dust.
Leading the group was an armored ox chariot, also pulled by two armored oxen, but the two armored oxen were covered in iron armor, and the chariot pulled behind it was also very small, with only three people standing on it: one was driving the chariot, one was a general in armor, and one was He, the county magistrate of Mi County.
Everyone immediately went forward, and the ox-cart gradually slowed down. The general jumped off the ox-cart. His face was not blocked by the helmet, so Fang Yun did not recognize him, but many people around him recognized him.
"General Chen!" Everyone saluted.
Fang Yun immediately guessed that this person should be Chen Xibi, the general of Dayuan Prefecture, a fifth-rank official.
County Magistrate He and Chen Xibi were both Jinshi, but one was elegant and the other was rough.
"What's going on?" Chen Xibi asked, glancing at everyone.
Mr. Wang immediately reported what had happened.
"Who is Fang Yun?"
"It's me, the student." Fang Yun stepped forward and said.
Chen Xibi looked at Fang Yun and nodded, then said to everyone: "Since they are two demon generals, there is no need to alarm Lord Yuanjun. The great scholars of Jingguo are all in the Holy Academy and have not returned yet. Lord Yuanjun must stay in Yuhai City to prevent the sea tribe from attacking. I will leave two Shifu troops to guard here, and everyone else must follow me to hunt down those demons to prevent them from killing more people."
Chen Xibi paused, glanced at everyone in the State Academy of Literature, and said, "You have been temporarily recruited as the government army! Follow me to kill the monster!"
Mr. Wang glanced at Fang Yun and said to Chen Xibi, "Sir, we just killed a demon general and our strength has not yet recovered. Especially Fang Yun, who has just become a saintly scholar and is not very useful. It is better to let Fang Yun return to the state academy and let us help you kill the demon."
The people nearby were shocked. This Shengqian Xiucai was even rarer than Shengqian Tongsheng, and only one appeared in a hundred years. Moreover, Shengqian Xiucai was the current limit. Except for Confucius' direct disciples, no one could become Shengqian Juren.
The status of a scholar before the Holy Emperor was higher than that of an ordinary juren, almost close to that of a jinshi.
An Chengcai stared at Fang Yun, his eyes full of shock.
Nunu still stared at An Chengcai.
A hint of surprise flashed across Chen Xibi's eyes, and then he asked Fang Yun: "Are you seriously injured?"
"No."
"You can't draw a bow or wield a sword?"
"able."
"Then follow me! What kind of man is he if he doesn't experience the battlefield of life and death! I have a 'Mountain Inkstone' here to lend you. If you encounter danger, inject your talent into it and trigger the power of 'Mountain Fu' to protect yourself! You will not die before I die in battle!" After Chen Xibi finished speaking, he threw the Mountain Inkstone to Fang Yun.
Fang Yun hurriedly took it and said, "Thank you, General Chen."
Chen Xibi smiled slightly and said, "The future of Jingguo depends on you, but you have to listen to me now!"
Everyone laughed.
"Let's go!" Chen Xibi said with extraordinary decisiveness.
The student An Chengcai suddenly shouted, "General, my wife may have been abducted and killed by the demons. As a scholar, I must avenge her! I am proficient in archery, often go hunting, and have worked with the townspeople to kill demons. Please allow me to join the army, General."
"Okay! It's a pity that you are not a scholar and cannot use the treasure, otherwise I would lend you another one. Come with the students in the courtyard! Get in the car!"