Chapter 71: Venting Anger

"The Ji Clan still has a deep foundation. It is said that the Ji Clan used some secret medicine, not only causing the old master of the Ji Clan's strength to soar instantly, comparable to an eighth-rank Great Wu Shi, but other elders and disciples also saw their strength soar, and they forcibly carved out a bloody path, allowing some of their forces to escape.

As for whether Ji Wenyue is among them, I do not know. It seems you truly have a relationship with Ji Wenyue, but in the current situation, we can only hope she is blessed by fate; there is nothing we can do." Liang Jingtang sighed heavily as he finished speaking.

"Yes, it is said that the four major factions sent out four eighth-rank Great Martial Masters this time, along with many experts. No one can save them; we can only hope they are blessed by fate!" Zhuo Xingji sighed as well.

Xia Daoming, however, seemed not to have heard their sighs of helplessness. Instead, his eyes revealed a firm and cold look as he looked at Zhuo Xingji and said in a deep voice: "Senior Xia Shidi Zhuo, you frequently escort goods outside; you must be very familiar with the Eagle Eye Mountain area, right? I must trouble you to make a trip with me."

"Daoming, are you thinking of saving Ji Wenyue?" Liang Jingtang seemed to have realized something, his face changing drastically.

"That's right!" Xia Daoming nodded.

"Daoming, have you gone mad? The other side has four eighth-rank Great Martial Masters, along with many experts. Even if they are scattered, if you happen to encounter just one eighth-rank, let alone saving people, both you and I will have to leave our lives there." Zhuo Xingji almost jumped up in fright when he saw Xia Daoming nod.

"Ji Wenyue is my close confidante, and I owe her many favors. As long as there is a glimmer of hope, I must go save her! If there is no hope, then one day in the future, I will definitely avenge her!" Xia Daoming said.

"Since that is the case, I will accompany you on this trip. I am an old bag of bones anyway, and if it weren't for you, I would have long since remained in the Vast Mountain." Liang Jingtang said decisively upon hearing this.

"Master, what are you saying? Am I the type of person who fears death? Xia Shidi is disregarding danger to rush to her aid for the sake of affection; can I not accompany him on this trip for the sake of our fellowship?

Besides, I frequently escort goods; I am far more familiar with the terrain, paths, and people outside Li Cheng than you are!" Zhuo Xingji patted his chest, speaking with heroic ambition.

"Good Senior Xia Shidi!" Xia Daoming was so moved that he hugged Zhuo Xingji's shoulder.

"Get lost, I don't have a good Xia Shidi like you! Hiding your cultivation from us is one thing, but when did you get involved with the eldest lady of the Ji Clan without introducing her to us?

Do you know that our Xingyou Escort Agency spends a huge amount of money on elixirs at Changchun Hall every year! If I had known you had a thing with Ji Wenyue, I don't know how much I could have saved every year..." Zhuo Xingji slapped Xia Daoming's hand away.

Xia Daoming had no time to listen to Zhuo Xingji's complaints. As Zhuo Xingji slapped his hand away, he released the full force of his eight meridians' qi.

For a moment, everyone in the meeting hall felt intimidated by a powerful aura, their scalps tingling.

"Eig, eighth-rank!" Liang Jingtang was the first to react, his voice trembling and stuttering.

As for the others, especially Zhuo Xingji, they were stunned like clay statues.

Heavens, an eighth-rank Great Wu Shi just hugged my shoulder and called me his good Senior Xia Shidi, and I actually slapped him away with a look of disgust and complaint!

"Master, Escort Leader Zhuo, your horses."

Amidst everyone's shock, Liu Qiaolian had already nimbly unloaded the saddlebags from the horses and handed the reins to Xia Daoming and Zhuo Xingji.

"Master, the things I brought back this time are incredibly precious; you must hide them well and guard them day and night. No matter what happens, you must try your best to stabilize the situation; wait for me and Senior Xia Shidi Zhuo to return!"

Xia Daoming took the reins, gave Liang Jingtang a serious instruction, then vaulted onto his horse and called out to Zhuo Xingji.

"Senior Xia Shidi Zhuo, let's go!"

Zhuo Xingji, whose mind was a complete mess, didn't care anymore. Upon hearing this, he hurriedly vaulted onto his horse and followed Xia Daoming, galloping straight out of the inner courtyard.

However, just as Zhuo Xingji galloped out of the inner courtyard, Xia Daoming turned back like a whirlwind.

He didn't say a word, simply taking a portion of items from one of the unloaded saddlebags, wrapping them into a bundle on his back, and then leaving like a whirlwind again.

Eagle Eye Mountain.

A branch of the Vast Mountain.

The mountain terrain undulates, stretching for hundreds of miles.

The rain was pouring down.

A dilapidated mountain village nestled on the mountainside had long been abandoned, its fields left fallow.

The village ancestral hall.

Rainwater continuously poured in through the collapsed broken walls and leaking roof.

Ji Yuanzhen sat leaning against the incense altar, panting heavily, coughing into his hand from time to time.

He, who had always been good at preserving his health and possessed a somewhat immortal, transcendent temperament, now had a sallow face covered in wrinkles, his eyes turbid, looking like an octogenarian on the verge of death.

A group of important Ji Clan disciples sat around him.

A little further away, in a place where the rain couldn't reach, some women and children were gathered.

These Ji Clan women and children, usually pampered and living a life of luxury, had never experienced fleeing in the wilderness. Terrified, exhausted, and starving, they were soaked by the rain, and many were curled up shivering, some even running high fevers and deliriously talking.

Outside the ancestral hall and at the entrance, a dozen or so able-bodied Ji Clan disciples and death warriors stood in the rain, wearing bamboo hats, hands on their sword hilts, their gazes sharp as knives as they guarded the perimeter, exuding a bloodthirsty aura. No one knew how many people they had killed along the way.

"Grandfather, how are you?" Ji Wenyue gripped her grandfather's ice-cold hand, tears streaming down her face, her heart filled with self-reproach.

If she had agreed to marry Ding Chushan or Xu Shixiong, the Ji Clan would not have ended up in this state.

Two Ji Clan disciples saw Ji Wenyue crying and showed mocking expressions.

"Hmph, what's the use of asking now? If it weren't for you, our Ji Clan wouldn't have ended up like this!" Finally, one of the Ji Clan disciples couldn't help but scold.

This person was only twenty-four or twenty-five years old, but he was already at the sixth-rank realm, his body covered in multiple wounds and bloodstains.

"Exactly, if you had been willing to marry Ding Chushan or Xu Shixiong, our Ji Clan wouldn't have suffered such heavy casualties and be like stray dogs now!"

Another Ji Clan disciple, slightly older but not yet thirty, chimed in upon hearing this.

This person was also at the sixth-rank realm, with not many wounds on his body, but his face was pale as paper because he had used secret medicine, damaging his meridians and losing all hope for a higher realm.

The others listened and looked at Ji Wenyue in silence, their gazes complex.

The Ji Clan had suffered heavy casualties this time, their future uncertain, and everyone had a fire burning in their hearts, needing a vent.

Although many of them knew this matter couldn't be blamed on Ji Wenyue, they were still influenced by their situation and the words of those two.

"The Phoenix Cry Pill was clearly refined into six pieces, yet you took two for yourself. What did you take two for? Was it to give them away for nothing to that man you often meet in secret at the Quiet Heart Tea House!

Don't think we don't know that over this past year, you've taken a lot of silver and elixirs to give to him for nothing!"

The young man with multiple wounds became angrier the more he thought about it, unable to help but spill some information he had inadvertently heard from Ji Wenyue's personal guard, Du Yuxian.

"What, Wenyue actually took the Phoenix Cry Pill to give to an outsider!" This time, those who had been silent also stirred, their gazes toward Ji Wenyue filled with anger.

Ji Wenyue said nothing, just lowered her head, her thoughts drifting to that deserted wilderness because of everyone's words.

Those few days should have been the most terrified and helpless days of her life, but they ended up becoming her most unforgettable sweet memories.

Ji Yuanzhen slowly sat up straight, his previously lifeless and turbid eyes becoming cold and sharp. He slowly swept his gaze over everyone, finally landing on a middle-aged man with a clean-shaven face.

"Shouli, where is the family rod!" Ji Yuanzhen asked in a deep voice.

Seeing Ji Shouli Shouli, the current head of the Ji Clan, Ji Wenyue's eldest uncle.

Ji Wenyue lost her father at an early age and was raised by Seeing Ji Shouli Shouli, who treated her as his own.

The injured young man who just spoke and blamed Ji Wenyue was his son, named Ji Wennan.

He was Ji Wenyue's cousin.

The other person who blamed Ji Wenyue was the grandson of an elder, also of the same generation as Ji Wenyue, named Ji Wenbin.

Both of them were the best of the Ji Clan's younger generation.

Both of them had received one of the Phoenix Cry Pills refined by the Ji Clan, allowing them to break through from the fifth-rank to the sixth-rank, and they were the people who would shoulder heavy responsibilities for the family in the future.

"Father!" Seeing Ji Shouli Shouli's face changed slightly.

"Grandfather, Wenyue is young after all, actually..." Ji Wennan followed up.

"I asked where the family rod is!" Ji Yuanzhen said expressionlessly.

Seeing Ji Shouli Shouli turned helplessly and took the family rod from the old servant behind him, holding it up with both hands for Ji Yuanzhen.

PS: I am currently striving to get on the Sanjiang list; this depends on the number of followers. The competition in the Xianxia category is quite fierce, so I ask book friends to please help by following. There should be four updates today.