Chapter Thirteen: Making a Move

  More than a hundred villagers from Meng Village drove carts, Zhang Hu led the hunting savages on both sides to escort, and the group struggled to move forward on the narrow mountain path.

  Thirty large carts, piled high with the severed heads of barbarians. The stench of blood mixed with some unknown medicinal smell was enough to knock a person out. In order to prevent the spread of disease from rotting heads, the village elder of Meng Village used herbal medicine to preserve all the heads, resulting in this terrible smell.

  Almost two thousand barbarian heads, according to the bounty that General Meng had just announced, was a small fortune.

  The hunters and the village of Meng reached an agreement, sending the heads to Xiaomeng City, and the money obtained was divided equally between the two parties. This sum of money was enough to compensate for the losses of Meng Village, and it was also enough to allow the hunters to indulge in a life of luxury and extravagance in Xiaomeng City for several months.

  Don't beg to sit on the shaft of a large cart, using a dagger to carefully trim the tail of a porcupine quill, making the prickly tail smooth and flat. Next to him, in a leather bag, over a hundred trimmed porcupine quills were neatly arranged, their tips shining with a faint, eerie light.

  This is a thorn that grows on a poisonous tree called 'see blood seal marquis' deep in the Xiao Meng Mountains. It's tough and sharp, with a natural toxicity that makes it a favorite among barbarians for use as arrowheads. Wu Xi collected over a hundred of these thorns, trimmed the ends neatly, and can now use them as throwing arrows, which are also very powerful.

  In this world without handguns and firearms, Wu Qiong could only hastily gather materials on the spot to enhance his self-defense capabilities.

  Although he had obtained the inheritance of the Taoist scriptures, from his conversation with Zhang Hu, it could be known that this place was extremely deep and treacherous. With his current cultivation at the peak of the Later Heaven stage, he couldn't act as he pleased.

  Satisfied with the last spearhead, he carefully inserted it into a leather pouch and tied the opening with a piece of animal tendon.

  Looking back at the distant mountains, he raised his hands and waved them vigorously several times.

  Goodbye, Mong Village!

  No beggar, a large group of people set out from Meng Village early yesterday morning. From Meng Village to Xiaomeng City, it's more than 500 miles away. Even if they were riding swift horses like the city guards, it would only take two or three hours to arrive. However, with so many large carts in the procession, loaded with people and goods such as animal hides and medicinal herbs that the villagers of Meng Village had prepared to trade in Xiaomeng City, their speed was naturally slowed down.

  The muddy road ahead has come to an end, and everyone can be said to have officially walked out of this vast mountain. Following a main road outside the mountain for more than 200 miles is Xiaomeng City. From Zhang Hu, it was learned that Xiaomeng City has a population of over 2 million, making it the largest city in the surrounding hundreds of miles.

  Among the population of over 200,000, only tens of thousands were fixed local residents, and the rest were mobile populations such as Zhang Hu's hunting savages. The hunting savages, wandering knights-errant, various merchants, and even fugitives who had fled after committing murder, robbers, thieves, swindlers, and all sorts of scoundrels - without needing Zhang Hu to describe them, one can imagine what kind of city it was.

  The big Han in front of the team let out a few cheers, and the convoy finally walked out of the mountain forest and came to the outside highway.

  The team's progress slowed down more and more. Wu Qi sat on the carriage shaft, looking at the thick mud on the official road that was half a foot deep, his face suddenly turned black. Is this the official road that connects Xiaomeng City to other cities? Judging from the condition of the road, Wu Qi was quite disappointed with this ghost place. What kind of damned world did he come to?

  The Mengcun villagers and the hunters, however, were accustomed to this road. They didn't care whether they were barefoot or wearing shoes, and they trudged forward with a nonchalant air, their feet sinking into the thick mud. Especially the men from Mengcun Village, who were tall and sturdy, with each step they took, the mud would splash up several feet high.

  The mud was a strange color, and it also contained some inexplicable and bizarre things, such as dead mice, insects, and all sorts of weird stuff that couldn't be counted. Wu Qi's face turned black, and his whole body suddenly broke out in countless goosebumps.

  After absorbing the soul particles of Le Xiao Bai, he obtained his abnormal IQ and was unexpectedly infected with a mild case of mysophobia. Wu Qi couldn't help but shake his head, forcing himself to focus on the mud on the ground.

  Having come to this world, one must adapt to everything here. If you can't even bear a little mud, how can you survive here?

  Taking a deep breath, Wu Qilang picked up the animal skin bag, jumped down from the carriage, and walked forward with the villagers of Mengcun. The mud splashed through his simple grass shoes, staining his feet and legs, but Wu Qilang's face wore a smile, as if he had recalled the scene when he was only eleven or twelve years old, fighting fiercely with beasts in the muddy arena.

  Today, what we face is a brand new world that is a million times more dangerous than those ferocious beasts, but also a million times more magnificent!

  Inhale, exhale, inhale, exhale. Don't beg, walk and laugh with the villagers of Meng Village, pulling household chores, the cold air in his arms gradually thickening, he doesn't waste any time, silently operating the mantra of "Water Source".

  The water attribute spiritual energy in the surrounding heaven and earth spiritual energy rushed towards him, passing through his palm heart, quickly merging into his meridians.

  It's not necessary to transform and refine the spiritual energy like other cultivation methods, turning it into one's own cultivation. As soon as the external heavenly spiritual energy enters Wu Qi's body, it immediately becomes part of his innate True Water Spiritual Ring. Once he gets the scripture, it becomes his own, where is the need for transformation and refinement?

  Relying on this characteristic, the cultivation speed of the stolen scriptures is more than ten times faster than any other cultivation method!

  He was savoring the clear sensation of his own strength increasing bit by bit, and was delightedly listening to several big men from Meng Village boast about their bravery in hunting at night, when he suddenly heard a miserable howl coming from the bend in the road ahead.

  Dozens of divine steeds galloped from the front, dozens of knights with elegant clothes and armor rode on the steeds, their faces pale as if they were howling like a mourning dog, rushing forward in a frantic and disorderly manner.

  These knights' armor was askew, and on the way, someone was taking off their helmet and throwing it to the ground, and they were also randomly discarding their swords and other weapons, just wanting to lighten their load a bit so that their mounts could run faster. Behind these knights, seven or eight black-clad men were holding crossbows, unhurriedly and slowly, as if target shooting, methodically loading and firing bolt after bolt.

  In the blink of an eye, more than a dozen knights were shot in the back with arrows and fell from their horses with a mournful cry. These people fell to the ground, splashing mud flying far away. The crossbow arrows seemed to be tempered with severe poison, and these knights had just fallen to the ground, convulsing for a few moments before becoming stiff and motionless with black air on their faces.

  Don't let these knights and those knights collide head-on, those knights who were already frightened and screamed loudly, the mad horse rushed towards Mo Qi and collided with them face to face. While riding wildly, these knights were still cursing frantically: "Get out of the way, you bastards, get out of the way!"

  The leading several Mongolian villagers were caught off guard and were hit in the chest by the horses in front. These horses were exceptionally powerful, with a shocking impact force that sent several Mongolian men flying three or four zhang away, spitting out blood on the spot, their chests caved in, clearly shattering their breastbones.

  "Screw them!"

  The villagers of Mengcun were born in the mountains and forests, often fighting for life and death with the barbarians, almost every day they fought against various fierce tigers and poisonous insects, the most ferocious and savage. Seeing these fleeing knights being so unreasonable, the leader of the Mengcun people immediately shouted loudly and drew out his weapon.

  More than a hundred Mongolian villagers drew out their weapons, big knives and heavy swords, like waves welcoming the knights.

  All that could be heard were a few loud "heys", and more than ten cavalrymen frantically galloped away, bleeding profusely as they fell to the ground. Their mounts had their limbs chopped off by the villagers of Mengcun, and after stumbling forward for over ten zhang, they heavily crashed to the ground. The cavalrymen were hacked into pieces by broadswords and large blades, chaotically mixing with the mud.

  In the blink of an eye, the knights who were fleeing in a frenzy all died under the swords and knives of the Mongolians.

  The villagers of Meng had just raised their weapons and were about to cheer towards the sky when several black-clad men who were chasing after these knights suddenly shot crossbow arrows at them from a distance. The sound of bowstrings echoed, and more than twenty powerful crossbow bolts whizzed in, deeply penetrating the bodies of several villagers of Meng.

  The poison arrow was extremely potent. Several villagers from Meng Village didn't even let out a cry, their bodies shook violently and they fell heavily to the ground.

  It happened suddenly, and the villagers were caught off guard. They stared blankly at their fallen tribesmen, momentarily stunned into silence.

  Mo Qi was the first to react, and while those black-clad men were busy restringing their crossbows, he let out a loud curse and rushed towards them at a rapid pace. Mo Qi's running speed wasn't particularly fast, but it was by no means slow either; in just a few strides, he had covered less than ten zhang of distance from those black-clad men.

  With a casual grab in the beast skin pouch, several stalks of Meng Ci were firmly clamped between his fingers. Without asking, with a flick of his wrist, the innate spiritual water surged into the Meng Ci, and several faint blue lights shot out, hitting the throats of five black-clothed men.

  A four-foot-two-inch-long thorn pierced through the necks of five men in black. Several men in black stared at Mo Qi incredulously, their hands tightly grasping their necks, and fell to the ground in a daze.

  The remaining three men in black looked at Wu Qi with a mixture of shock and anger, one of them cursing: "You lowly commoner, how dare you hurt our people?"

  Mo Qi moved forward silently, swiftly pulling out a thorn and stabbing it out dozens of times. The three men in black couldn't see Mo Qi's movements clearly, they only felt a flash before their eyes, a cold wind swept around their bodies, the thorn quickly pierced through them, making them look like sieves.

  "Lowly people? How noble are you? You're dead, and aren't you just a pile of rotten flesh?"

  He let out a cold laugh and with a heavy foot, he stomped on the head of the black-clothed man who had just cursed at him.

  A faint sound of breaking wind from the weapons came from the front road corner, and he tilted his ear to listen, frowned slightly, then ran quickly in that direction.

  Zhang Hu rushed up with his men and grabbed Wu Qi's shoulder: "Brother, this is a mess that can't be helped!"

  Zhang Hu's fingertips had already grasped Mo Qi's shoulder, but it was as if there was a layer of slippery oil on Mo Qi's shoulder, and his fingers slipped to one side.

  Without turning his head back, Zhang Hu smiled and suddenly accelerated underfoot, and after a few ups and downs, he rushed out.

  Zhang Hu stomped his foot and muttered a curse under his breath, then reluctantly followed.

  ****

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