Chapter Twelve: Wanted Dead or Alive

  After bidding farewell to the three, Da Yi walked alone for a while. The depression in his heart gradually dissipated, and he remembered that Hua Lian was still waiting for news at the inn, so he quickly returned to the inn.

  Huā lián had been waiting anxiously at the inn, and as soon as they met, he smiled and said: "Dà yǎn, congratulations to you."

  Dai Yun shook his head and said: "I have not joined the Tianmeng, nor do I want to join in the future."

  Huā Niáng hastily inquired what had happened, but Dà Yī only recounted the disadvantages of joining the Tiān Méng, without mentioning how he himself would escape. The two fell silent for a moment, before Huā Niáng suddenly said: "Dà Yī, if you don't need it, sell me the Xiāo Yáo Lìng."

  "Didn't you understand what I just said?"

  Huā Liǎn shook her head and said, "We cultivate the Tao to one day reach the state of non-reincarnation, eternal life. But how many people can actually achieve that state? Constantly completing Heaven's Edict is indeed the fastest way, but do you know how many fellow cultivators have been killed by demons while demon-slaying? Joining the Zhēn Méng (True Alliance) is still the safest and most efficient method of cultivation."

  Dai Yun hesitated, and Hua Lian stretched out her arm to hug Dai Yun, pretending to be coquettish, tilting her head and pouting, pleading: "Dai Yun, I've given you my body, don't you have any feelings for me?"

  He helplessly sighed and handed the carefree order to Huā Niǎng, saying: "This is a gift for you, consider it as compensation for our encounter."

  Huā Lián received the carefree order, smiled and kissed Dà Yǎn's cheek. She thought for a moment, took out her broken Qinghong sword, and said: "I won't be using this sword for now, you take it, spend some more money to find someone to repair it yourself."

  Dai Yun received the Qinghong Sword, knowing that this sword was a good thing, even if it was broken, it was worth 700 or 800 taels of gold. Huayue gave it to herself, probably thinking of making up for some of the loss of her carefree order, which was said to be worth several thousand taels of gold.

  The two of them exchanged things and fell silent for a while before Hua Lian smiled lightly and said, "I'm leaving."

  Dai Yun knew she was going to join the Tianmeng, and from now on they would be walking in opposite directions. It's likely that they will never meet again. Hua Lian had already reached the door when she suddenly turned around with a smile and asked: "Dai Yun, I've been following you all along just for the sake of the Demon-Slaying Symbol. Do you think I'm shameless and cheap?"

  "There isn't one."

  Tears suddenly welled up in Hua Lian's eyes, and she said: "I know you've always looked down on me. You just enjoy my body. Do you know that I actually really like you? I like being with you."

  Dai Wu was taken aback, and when he saw Hua Nian, she was already in tears. Dai Wu's heart ached, and he took a few steps forward to hug her tightly. He lifted up Hua Nian's face, and suddenly felt a pang of sadness. Hua Nian grasped Dai Wu's hand, and then smiled again. She wiped away her tears and said, "Take care."

  As she spoke, Hua Lian swung open her cloak and pushed the door to leave.

  It wasn't until a while later that Da Ye's emotions had slightly calmed down. Da Ye left the guest room and went downstairs to the first floor, finding a corner where he could drink alone. He poured himself a drink, and after several cups of osmanthus wine, his eyes grew blurry and his heart felt hot, and he became somewhat drunk.

  This inn is called Chang'an Inn, and all those who pass through Chang'an to practice Taoism also rest here. Da Yun leaned on the wooden chair, seeing people coming in and out of the inn from time to time, but didn't pay attention.

  At some point, someone entered the room and pointed in Da Wei's direction. A person quickly walked over, bent down beside Da Wei and whispered: "Da Wei fellow Daoist, Da Wei."

  Another person said: "He seems to be drunk."

  In the midst of intoxication, I saw that beside me was Hong Chai, and another person was Qing Xi. I was helped upstairs to a tea house on the second floor, where I drank several cups of clear tea and gradually sobered up. Qing Xi asked: "Hey, why doesn't that beautiful woman take care of you? She just abandoned you here to drink alone."

  Dai Yi just shook his head and didn't say a word. Qing Xi discontentedly said to Hong Chuan, "Sister, look at this guy who doesn't even acknowledge us, we rushed back in a hurry to deliver the message for him."

  The big man raised his head and looked at the three of them, only to see that they were all serious-faced, obviously something had happened.

  Hong Chui's face was full of concern as she asked: "Dai Yun, are you feeling better?"

  He nodded slightly.

  Hong Chui said: "We got the news on the road, San Hua Tang has just issued a reward of 500 taels of gold for your head."

  He was shocked and immediately came to his senses. Sanhuatang, he had also heard of it, a notorious gang, many Taoist practitioners who could not solve their own private grievances, all through Sanhuatang's wanted list. Dahai knew that he had always been alone, never having grudges with others, this matter was probably done by the people of Zhenmeng, and it was very likely that it was still the work of Bingyan alone.

  Now that there is a reward, someone may have already accepted it and will soon come after me. Three Flowers Hall will likely send their own assassins first. The enemy is unknown, I am in the open, and as soon as I step out of the inn, I might be struck dead by someone, and then the assassin will calmly disappear into the crowd.

  Hong Chui saw Da Kun's face change color, and said in a warm voice: "Brother Da Kun, be careful, but don't take it too seriously. As long as you stay at the inn for these few days, nothing will happen. Let's wait a few more days to investigate before we do anything."

  Dai Yan knew that Hong Chui was right, the Chang'an Inn was a gathering place for Taoist practitioners from all over the world, and there were often high-ranking officials coming and going. It could be said that it was the safest place in the world. For many years, there had been an unwritten rule that no one was allowed to make trouble or kill anyone at the Chang'an Inn.

  Dai Wei was forced to stay in the inn, and several days passed with nothing to do, feeling extremely bored. What made Dai Wei feel a bit guilty was that Hong Chui and three others stayed in the inn to help Dai Wei deal with the assassination attempt. After a few more days, when Dai Wei walked into the second-floor teahouse, he found Hong Chui and Qing Ping talking, although he couldn't hear what they were saying, their expressions seemed to be arguing. Seeing Dai Wei approaching, the two closed their mouths, Qing Ping slightly unhappy, bowed to Dai Wei and left.

  Daiyu sat down opposite Xiangling and suddenly asked: "Is Qingping planning to leave?"

  Hong Chuan was taken aback and said, "No."

  Looking at the red tassel, pretending to turn her head and look elsewhere, Dai Yun's face darkened with a bitter smile. This woman was not good at hiding or lying, everything was written on her face. Dai Yun said casually: "I actually heard it all."

  "He wants to go and do the Earthly Mandate, but I won't go, don't worry, I'll stay here with you."

  The woman in front of him had not finished speaking, and her face was already red. Even a blind person could see that she had confessed to Da Yun, possibly without realizing it herself. Just now, Hua Lian had made Da Yun feel quite melancholic, and he didn't want to get entangled in any more romantic affairs. With his emotions adrift, Da Yun sighed casually: "Why do you want to accompany me? I'm not worth your company."

  The face of the red tassel became even redder, and she hastily explained: "That day you helped us deal with the wild boar demon, and also the black fox demon in front. If it wasn't for you saving me, I would have died long ago. Now that you're in trouble, if I don't help you, wouldn't I be heartless?"

  Dai Yi smiled and said, "You don't accompany me, I might die. If you accompany me, maybe one more person will die, not worth it."

  Hong Chui said with a serious expression: "Where the Tao is, righteousness cannot be refused. Even if I die, I will die with you together."

  The sentence was finished, and Hong Chui also found that his words were somewhat grammatically incorrect, and he burst out laughing. He said again: "One person's wisdom is short, two people's wisdom is long. We are together, and we can't see if we can deal with those killers."

  Hong Chui knew that he was just comforting himself, but Da Yi couldn't help but feel a sense of relief and smiled: "Alright, I've made friends with you."

  Hong Chui also said: "Good, after dealing with the person who assassinated you, we will go to exterminate the demon together."

  The two exchanged a smile, and Hong Chuan stretched out her white palm, gently colliding with Da Yun. Da Yun turned his head to look outside the window, where the sunset was shining, illuminating the sky and earth. Da Yun's heart became invigorated, and he began to think of ways to deal with San Hua Tang's bounty. The two fell silent for a moment, Da Yun lowering his head in thought, while Hong Chuan rested her chin on her hand, tilting her head to stare blankly at Da Yun, a faint, serene smile hanging from the corner of her mouth.

  Two days passed, and Hong Chui met a friend named Sanzhi. Sanzhi had a pale face, a cold expression, and big eyes that stared at everyone with a sneaky look. However, whenever he was in front of Hong Chui, he could force out a smile on his face and followed her closely. The two whispered to each other, discussing the matter of Dabao being wanted. Dabao listened from the side and immediately noticed that Sanzhi had a crush on Hong Chui, speaking clumsily and trying to please her.

  Daiyu had been racking her brains for several days, but still couldn't think of a solution, and gradually became somewhat melancholy, often staring blankly out the window. One day, while walking around on the second floor, Daiyu inadvertently saw Honglian whispering to an old man in a corner, the old man's face was smiling, reaching out to hook Honglian's chin, Honglian tilted her head to avoid him, seemingly begging for something.

  An old Taoist walked by, saw it in his eyes, and whispered to Da Yun: "Young man, take good care of your woman. That person is called Old Smoke Gun, a notorious lecher."

  He bowed his hands to show gratitude. He hid aside, seeing Hong Chai and the old smoker chatting for a few more sentences, the old smoker had an expression of having nothing to fear, while Hong Chai was speaking in a low voice. In the end, it seemed like they didn't come to an agreement and parted ways unhappily. Hong Chai walked back with her head down, lost in thought, completely unaware of Da Yun.

  Dodge the red hairpin, Da Yun rushed up to Lao Yanqiang and said: "Fellow Taoist, you seem to have designs on that woman just now."

  Lao Yan Gun heard a hint of inquiry in Da Ye's tone and coldly sized him up before saying, "Who are you? That has nothing to do with you."

  "She's my friend, why isn't it any of my business?"

  "Friend?" The old smoker hesitated for a moment, then seemed to understand and sneered: "I see, you're that little kid who's been put up for bounty recently. Your woman is quite good to you, huh."

  "What did you say?"

  The old smoker walked up to Da Yun with a mocking expression and whispered, "Kid, I didn't have to talk to you, but I'm in a good mood today, so I'll tell you. She asked me to help her get rid of the assassin's pursuit, and I made her let me sleep with her for a few days."

  Look at her face changing color, the old smoker's face smiled even more, shaking his head and saying: "Your woman has a good figure, brother, haha."

  Lao Yanqiang whistled as he walked past Da Yun, who turned pale and was stunned for a while. When he returned to Hong Chuan's side, his face had turned iron-gray. Hong Chuan noticed that Da Yun's expression was off, and when she saw Lao Yanqiang looking over from another table with an ambiguous smile, she immediately lowered her head.

  Dà Yǎn thought for a moment and sighed: "I, Dà Yǎn, have not yet reached the point where I need women to accompany me."

  Hong Chuan's face turned white after hearing this, and she hastily said: "I'm sorry, I was wrong."

  She let out a deep sigh, wanting to say something but ultimately not saying it, and returned to her room with a gloomy face. Hong Chui sat alone for a while, frowning and thinking deeply, before finally leaving the second floor teahouse and going to her guest room. She stood in front of Da Yun's door for a moment, wanting to knock several times but ultimately withdrawing her hand each time.

  Three branches walked over at some point and asked somewhat sourly: "Is this the room of Senior Brother Da Yun?"

  San Zhi said: "What Da Yan Dao friend said is right, that old smoker is not a good thing, I San Zhi will not agree to it either."

  Hong Chuan said gloomily: "Old Smoke Gun can set up the Bagua Soul-Confusing Array, as long as we can set up this array, we can help Da Yun safely leave Chang'an."

  Sanji listened, somewhat embarrassed and restless. After a while, he suddenly said: "Hong Chui, I will eventually master the extraordinary Taoist skills. At that time, no matter what happens, I can help you."

  Sanlian seemed to have mustered up a lot of courage to say this, and his forehead was already tense with fine sweat. Sanlian murmured again: "Hong Chai, I will be leaving Chang'an for a while and won't be able to see you, but I'll come back soon to find you."

  He actually confessed three times, but Hong Chui only thought about something in her heart and vaguely asked: "Are you going back there again?"

  The door of the room opened, and Da Yun let the two into the room. He had already heard their conversation inside, and suddenly made up his mind, saying: "In a few days I will leave the inn, you can also go."

  Hong Chuan asked: "How did you leave the inn?"

  He nodded heavily and said: "I've thought of a way to deal with those killers."

  "Wait, Dabao, you actually don't have any good ideas, do you? You can't take risks."

  He furrowed his brow and said: "The assassins sent by the San Hua Tang won't be that formidable, I've been hiding in the inn for too long, I've made up my mind."

  "Impossible," Hong Chui hastily said. "Don't you know that the assassins of San Hua Tang rarely miss their targets, and the bounty on your head has already been increased to two thousand gold?"

  Dai Wen heard this and let out a bitter laugh. This was something he hadn't anticipated. If his bounty were to increase to two thousand, there would definitely be even more people who would take action for the sake of money. Dai Wen shook his head, his face set in determination, saying: "You all leave now, I need to rest well for a few days. Those who want my life will also make me regret it."

  Hong Chai persuaded for a few more sentences, but Da Yun still shook her head slightly. Hong Chai looked at Da Yun who was standing with her back to her and looking out the window, and saw a gentle look in her eyes. Finally, Hong Chai's expression turned resolute, and she turned around and left.