Chapter 134

Everyone jumped off their horses to inspect, only to find that the deceased were all unfamiliar faces; none of them recognized anyone.

There were weapons on the ground, and it was hard to say whose they were.

Zhao Qinghe was burning with anxiety and said in a low voice: "Mount up, quickly!"

A dozen horse whips swung wildly, and after rushing, they finally caught sight of their own wagon train ahead.

There were also commoners following; it looked... okay? Zhao Qinghe and Mao Tao were a bit suspicious, but their lifted hearts settled back down.

The team looked perfectly normal; the official carriages moved forward in an orderly fashion, and the commoners were helping the old and young. Lady Ying, soft-hearted, allowed the elderly who couldn't walk to sit in the carriages to save some energy and avoid slowing down the pace.

Hearing the hoofbeats behind them, the whole team tensed up, only to relax upon discovering the newcomers were their own people.

He Chunhua and his son He Yue rode out to meet them, the joy on their faces gradually fading after seeing Zhao Qinghe and the others, turning solemn.

More than thirty people stayed behind to cover the rear, and only these few returned?

He Lingchuan was not among them.

He Chunhua's voice turned hoarse: "Where is Chuan'er?"

He Yue simultaneously questioned: "Where is my brother?"

"Subordinate is incompetent." Zhao Qinghe looked at Mao Tao, "When we retreated, the Young Master was hit by a stray arrow and fell off the cliff, horse and all."

The He father and son were stunned.

A mountain breeze blew by, chilling everyone to the bone.

He Chunhua couldn't believe it, muttering: "This isn't right! How is this possible?"

He Yue woke up as if from a dream and yelled: "Nonsense!" He spurred his horse, intending to rush back the way they came.

Mao Tao grabbed his reins: "Second Young Master, you can't go; there are still pursuers behind!"

He Yue raged: "Let go!"

Mao Tao wouldn't let go.

He Yue whipped his hand.

Zeng Feixiong rushed over from behind, grabbed He Yue's whip, and asked Zhao Qinghe urgently: "To see a person alive, did you see, did you see the Young Master at the bottom of the cliff?"

"No." Mao Tao shook his head, "I hung a rope down to look, but there was only the horse carcass; I didn't see the Young Master."

Zeng Feixiong let out a sigh of relief: "To see a corpse if dead; if there's no corpse, maybe the Young Master is still alive. Below the cliff is County Magistrate Lake!"

Hearing him say this, He Yue saw hope again.

"Below is a gravel beach, the horse fell to its death there..." Zhao Qinghe nudged Mao Tao, who immediately changed his words, "... but the Young Master is lighter; perhaps he was blown out by the mountain wind and fell into the lake, who, who knows?"

"It must be so!" He Yue said firmly, "There's still a small path to go back, right? I'll go find him!"

He Chunhua pressed his shoulder: "The bigger picture comes first; your brother is fine!"

"Father?" He Yue was stunned.

He Chunhua's face was also ugly, blue and white, but he gritted his teeth and said: "Your brother is a born lucky general; he will definitely turn misfortune into fortune, no need to worry excessively! Don't run around; we need you here."

"Just because the Great Shaman of Zhaomandu said he has a good fate, he doesn't need our help... Dad?" He Yue argued halfway, only to see He Chunhua's forehead covered in cold sweat and his breathing rapid, which startled him.

His own brother had fallen off a cliff; his own father couldn't have anything happen to him too.

He Chunhua grabbed his arm and said sternly: "He's fine! Do you hear me?"

The County Governor's facial muscles twisted: "He will turn misfortune into fortune, understand?"

The last three words were almost shouted.

He Yue saw him lose his composure like this for the first time and subconsciously nodded.

He Chunhua pointed at the wagon formation, his voice squeezed through his teeth: "Go back!"

He Yue had no choice but to turn his horse around and walk back, looking back every few steps.

He Chunhua was still facing that road, and he could only see his father's back.

Zhao Qinghe gulped down several mouthfuls of water; he had been busy killing enemies all night and hadn't moistened his throat. Zeng Feixiong came over, and he hurriedly asked: "Why are there corpses on the road?"

"Lu's bandits." Zeng Feixiong said in a low voice, "The Lord anticipated that Pei Xinyong would go to intercept the ambush at Scout Rock and might have missed some, so he specially sent us to block them, to avoid them slipping to the east and adding trouble for you."

At that time, Young Master He was leading people to block the West Mountain Road; if a bunch of bandits suddenly popped up in the rear, it would indeed be easy to break the formation. Zhao Qinghe sighed: "Lord He is as wise as a god."

"I brought over a hundred brothers, circled to the rear of Scout Rock, and indeed intercepted these twenty or thirty bastards in the mountain forest, beheading the last few on the mountain road. They were frightened birds, not hard to kill." Zeng Feixiong said with hatred, "It's just a pity for the Young Master, sigh!"

Returning to the team, Lady Ying asked He Yue: "What happened behind, did Chuan'er and Zhao Qinghe and the others return?"

"Mom..." He Yue only felt a thousand-jin weight pressing on his heart, so heavy that he didn't even have the strength to open his mouth.

￥￥￥￥￥

By the time Wu Shaoyi not far away regained his strength and slowly opened his eyes, he saw He Lingchuan crawling out of the turtle's belly, covered in blood and filth.

As soon as he came out, he gasped for air.

The inside of the turtle's belly was really no place for a human; it was stuffy and smelly, and he could barely breathe.

Watching He Lingchuan walk over, Wu Shaoyi asked him: "Did you get it?"

"Yeah." He Lingchuan had touched eight round, ball-like objects in the turtle's belly, in places he couldn't mention. Shining a candle on them, a pale white light shone through the crevices of the blood stains.

If it were that kind of ball, there should only be two, so he basically determined that this must be the "pearl" the crocodile demon spoke of.

Besides the eight pearls, he also cut off a few pieces of meat in passing. This turtle demon had been lying in the lake, absorbing the essence of the sun and moon for who knows how many years; it was right to say it was full of treasure, wasn't it? Although he didn't know what it could be used for yet.

The crocodile demon could eat the turtle demon's meat, and crabs and water rats could eat it, so of course, he could take it too. All living things are equal, right? He shouldn't be discriminated against.

Thanks to nature's gift, thanks to the Water Spirit for being magnanimous and sacrificing itself for charity.

He Lingchuan thought for a moment and circled to the turtle's tail, cutting for a good while.

Eat what you want to supplement; for some people, this was the true great tonic, and they would surely collect it at a high price.

He was still planning to take it all: the turtle shell shouldn't be wasted either; he would come back to collect it when he had time.

"There is a pill in the turtle's head, but it was eaten by the crocodile demon." Wu Shaoyi said in a low voice: "Walking scales produce pearls; your luck is not bad."

The so-called walking scales refer to turtles, snakes, lizards, and crocodiles. It is said that carp can turn into dragons; in fact, the walking scale clan can also turn into flood dragons or become dragons if they have the opportunity.

Their bodies, like dragons, can also condense into Yuan pearls.

Yuan pearls are different from demon pills. Every demon that has cultivated successfully has a pill, but Yuan pearls are only produced by the walking scale clan and clams or shellfish.

He Lingchuan looked closely at Wu Shaoyi's wounds: "The bleeding has stopped, and your complexion looks a bit better."

Wu Shaoyi's complexion was even slightly rosy. To put it nicely, this was the effect of the pill; to put it badly, it was the final flash of life before death.

"I need to rest and recover my strength before I can swim back to the shore with you."

(End of chapter)