Chapter 1618: Stalling for Time

Actually, these three had strong cultivation and their own specialties, but unfortunately, their luck was bad, bumping into Mother Zhu lurking in the forest. To catch these three running around, the Earth Cave Spider Queen perfectly missed the professional skill competition between Dong Rui and Cao Wendao, secretly feeling it was a pity.

"Can't keep them." Dong Rui didn't care about their life

Number Sixty-Six stepped forward, one bite per cocoon, swallowing all three in three seconds without even chewing.

Its mouth wasn't big, and its size wasn't big either; the other puppets hadn't even seen how it swallowed them whole before the three cocoons on the ground were gone.

Mother Zhu also looked sideways. With such a scavenger, destroying evidence was indeed very convenient. Unlike her, killing was easy, but destroying the body was hard.

"The main force is coming." Dong Rui said hurriedly, "I'm leaving first!"

The lingering sound of the last two words remained as the Ghost Ape had already carried him onto the Mud Palace, and the other two puppets followed in spontaneously.

The Snail Toad's head sank, and it dived underground with the hard shell on its back.

Mother Zhu looked around the messy battlefield, moved her eight legs, and disappeared into the dark night in the next second.

￥￥￥￥￥

Boom, a loud noise came from the west, and everyone turned their heads at the sound, seeing a plume of thick smoke rising in the sky.

An explosion? The tremor traveled from the direction of Taoxi all the way to everyone's feet.

Qingyang's expression changed. She had personally blocked He Lingchuan, so why did an explosion happen there?

Could it be that He Lingchuan's three hundred cavalry were just a diversion, and someone else was pursuing Cao Wendao? No, that shouldn't be.

She knew Cao Wendao's abilities very well; for ordinary people to dare to pursue him was purely throwing their lives away.

Unless He Lingchuan had sent an entire army.

"What happened?" She said generously, "Let's go take a look!"

Here, He Lingchuan was also cursing Dong Rui in his heart for making such a big commotion right from the start! But he spurred his horse, and his mount darted out like an arrow, seizing the downhill path first.

Wansai Feng and the other elite cavalry followed closely behind, blocking the path tightly.

They were blocking Qingyang now just as she had blocked them earlier.

"It's probably improper storage of gunpowder again! There have been four self-explosions of gunpowder for the East Expansion Project!" He Lingchuan reined in his horse and looked back, "Disturbing the Regent, these idiots deserve to die a hundred times over; I will send people to handle it right now."

This time it was his turn to speak with cadence, calm and powerful, as if he really wanted to seek justice for Qingyang.

Moreover, the eastern suburbs of Tianshui City were originally a large construction site, with yellow mud dug up everywhere and supplies piled up everywhere. Who dared to say that Taoxi didn't have things stored there, and who dared to say there wasn't explosives among that pile of things?

Non-standard construction and improper storage—wasn't that a common occurrence? He forced the Taoxi explosion to be linked to the project, and it actually sounded two parts reasonable.

"I will go with Island Master He." Qingyang knew he was stalling for time, didn't she? "Let's see what kind of explosives can have such power."

It was ridiculous; just a moment ago she was stalling for time to let Cao Wendao escape, but now it was He Lingchuan who wanted to stall her from going to the scene.

He Lingchuan coughed and hesitated before saying: "Regent, please."

Having said that, he turned his horse and rode.

He could be informal, but Zhao Song still had to pay respects to Qingyang first, make a "please" gesture, and only then lead his men to walk beside He Lingchuan, separating him and Qingyang into two groups.

Taoxi wasn't far, this stretch of road was only about two li away, but the ground was muddy, and the mounts often slipped.

Soon, a rich green color appeared in everyone's field of vision.

The vegetation by the creek was always the densest.

The thick smoke had not yet dissipated, guiding everyone's direction.

Before long, they arrived at the creek side.

Seeing the scene before them, everyone was stunned.

On the open ground by the creek were two damaged carriages, the horses pulling them lay several zhang away, and carriage parts were scattered everywhere.

One of them was still burning.

Qingyang kept a straight face and looked around: "This doesn't look like a storage camp."

The creek side was empty, with only traces of a campfire having burned. Had Cao Wendao originally stayed here?

Qingyang's subordinates went to the carriages to inspect and soon returned to report: "Palace Master, there is a large pit on the ground with traces of an explosion. The temperature was very high at the time, but the explosives were not buried in the soil."

Not buried in the soil, yet it could explode so violently?

"Explosives for mountain excavation, right?"

Everyone dispersed to inspect, and before long, someone reported: "There are two corpses in the grass more than twenty zhang away; they were indeed killed by the explosion."

More than twenty zhang?

Qingyang's eyebrows furrowed slightly, but He Lingchuan was calm and composed.

Yes, Dong Rui had just told him that he and Cao Wendao had fought while moving, and the battlefield had shifted, no longer by the creek.

He Lingchuan was also quite interested in what a duel between puppet masters looked like, but he figured it wouldn't be standing in place and bombarding each other.

There were fallen trees everywhere, showing the intensity of the battle; on the ground were several pools of dark red or light green mucus, like blood flowing from the bodies of certain creatures.

Someone or some monster was injured, and the injuries were not light.

Qingyang's brows were tightly furrowed.

She recognized that the dead corpses were Cao Wendao's disciples; she had seen them following behind Cao Wendao.

Since the disciples died by the creek, what about Cao Wendao? Could he successfully retreat?

Qingyang's subordinates also dug out three flying snake corpses in the nearby grass.

Zhao Song saw them for the first time, picked them up to look back and forth, and was somewhat curious: "This is the first time I've seen a snake with wings. This thing looks strange; is it born looking like this?"

"Doesn't look like it's born that way." As soon as He Lingchuan saw the flying snake corpses, he knew that the injuries on them were mostly caused by the bat puppet.

None of Dong Rui's puppets were seen here, so they must have moved to the next battlefield with him.

Dong Rui knew that once the explosion happened, Qingyang and He Lingchuan would both rush over.

To avoid being disturbed, he and Cao Wendao fought while retreating, so the battlefield was no longer by the creek.

Wansai Feng and Wansai Liang suddenly ran over from the dark forest, carrying two people: "These two were lying in the woods, unconscious!"

It looked like they had been knocked unconscious by the explosion.

"Good!" He Lingchuan's spirits lifted, and he said before Qingyang: "Hand them over to Commander Zhao!"

Zhao Song was sent by King Yao to protect him and represented royal power. Now that such a thing had happened, Zhao Song had the right to interrogate these two prisoners.

Qingyang frowned; although she knew these two were Cao Wendao's disciples, she had no reason to demand them.

Besides, how could He Xiao easily hand over prisoners who had fallen into his hands? Zhao Song immediately said: "Check their injuries."

Don't let them die before they open their mouths.

Two medical soldiers immediately stepped forward, felt their pulses, checked their eyelids, and listened to their heartbeats, tinkering for a while before reporting: "They were likely knocked unconscious by the explosion, and their internal organs were shaken, but there is no danger to their lives."

He Lingchuan knew that these two were likely further away from the carriage at the time, which was why they had saved their lives.

Qingyang's subordinates had been observing the surroundings and now came to report: "The traces of the fight go all the way to the northwest."

"Pursue!" She didn't care about the life or death of Cao Wendao's disciples. But she had a bad premonition: could Cao Wendao be reliable this time?

The group ran a hundred zhang to the northwest, and Yuan Xuan found a mark on a large tree by the road: "Palace Master, Ah Qi left a mark, it's heading due north."

Before Qingyang came out to block He Lingchuan, she had sent three subordinates to find Cao Wendao, and Ah Qi was one of them.

The mark he left, of course, pointed to Cao Wendao.

Yuan Xuan leaned into Qingyang's ear and whispered: "Ah Qi and the other two have no news; I sent a signal to them just now, and there was no reply."

Among the Green Guards, there were naturally some methods for real-time short-range communication.

Qingyang immediately asked him: "What were the last three messages they sent back?"

"There is movement in the woods to the north."

"Something is following us!"

"And the last one..." Yuan Xuan recalled, "Heading north, very close now."

Qingyang immediately turned and said to everyone: "Go north."

He Lingchuan was stunned: "Wait, shouldn't we go northwest?"

Qingyang saw his eyes flicker and his expression become somewhat nervous, so she was naturally even more determined to go north.

Others had no choice but to accompany her.

After walking north for more than a quarter of an hour, Ah Qi's mark appeared twice more; it could be seen that it was carved in a hurry, and the content was the same: strong enemy, heading north! Finally, they walked to an open space, bare and not growing many plants, possibly saline-alkali land.

There were traces of trampling and dragging on the ground, and three throwing knives were nailed into the trunks of two small trees not far away, and three or four branches were broken.

Not long ago, a battle had taken place here.

With Qingyang's experience, she knew at a glance: this battle lasted for a very short time, and the fighting style was unconventional—there was no blood.

The opponent was very strong, and her men were missing.

She glanced at He Lingchuan, whose expression was normal as he also observed the surroundings.

Was this He Xiao's arrangement? In terms of time, it was unlikely; but she knew in her heart that it was most likely him!

Also, what about Cao Wendao? There were no signs of him or his puppets here.

Just at this moment, a strong wind blew, and the wind seemed to be mixed with a few roars, appearing and disappearing.

"To the southwest!" Qingyang quickly raised her head, "Go!"

However, just as the group had mounted their horses, several loud noises came from the southwest!

Explosion, another explosion.

And this time the intensity of the explosion was unprecedented; even from so far away, the ground under everyone's feet was trembling.

Without Qingyang urging them again, everyone spurred their horses toward the southwest.

The fact that the explosion had just occurred meant that the conflict hadn't ended, and rushing there now might allow them to see the parties involved.

After traveling four more li to the west, there was another open space.

The scene here was even more frightening than by Taoxi.

Even Zhao Song couldn't help but shrink his neck: "What, what kind of monster is this?"

The ground was blasted into a giant pit, inside which lay a behemoth, dark red body, spotted patterns, three zhang long, with a mouth big enough to stuff a dozen people into at once!

But this big fish lay helplessly and quietly on the ground, its belly broken into a large hole, with its intestines and stomach flowing all over the ground.

The fish blood that flowed out filled a puddle, and the fishy smell was pungent.

Everyone surrounded the pit and looked at it, feeling it was incredible. How could such a large monster appear around Tianshui City, and one that wasn't registered?

It was terrifying to think about.

He Lingchuan subconsciously touched its belly: "It's still warm."