Chapter 72: Undying Horse

That night, the blood moon was murderous, the fog was pervasive, and a figure stood in the Rest Garden.

The moonlight hit her black hair, and her long eyelashes cast two small, trembling shadows under her eyes.

In this piece of dead silence and filth, she was like a white porcelain doll that had been dirtied by a fanatical believer and yet was piously worshipped.

Sure enough, there was no body. Sera had faked her death.

"Sera is Cecily's maid; she very likely took the truce agreement back to Talen."

"Then, what should we do?"

Adele stomped her feet in anxiety, but Adrian's breathing paused, "No wonder the war was advanced, because Talen had nothing to fear; the truce agreement was taken away."

"Yes, you go to the pier as soon as possible. I guess she will smuggle herself back to Talen."

"What about you?"

Worry flickered in Adele's eyes. Su Mian shook her head, "It's okay, I will find a way to return to the city-state. The truce agreement needs the signature of the Noble Council."

The two looked at each other, said goodbye, and boarded the carriage together with reluctance.

With a rumble, a rainstorm was about to arrive.

The rain curtain rolled down the hillside, overturning the canvas awnings that hadn't been collected in the market square, and the fountain in the center of the square began to splash.

"This damn weather?! Does God know we're going to war?"

"Rain erosion, does it imply the city-state is going to be crushed?"

"Don't say such unlucky things. The priest will bless us... but there isn't enough food in the cellar. What if we are besieged?"

"Let them besiege us. My daughter was long ago taken away by the plague, and I have nothing to miss anymore."

Su Mian's ear tips twitched. She turned her head upon hearing the sound and found it was the old man who had taken her and Si Shi in the day before yesterday.

Su Mian lowered her eyes, took a deep breath, covered her head, and ran toward the horse market.

The rainstorm was like thousands of leather whips lashing the muddy streets, and the horse market had long since become empty.

The hitching post stood alone in the rain, with half a broken rope wrapped around it.

"Is anyone there?" Her voice was swallowed by the sound of the rain.

Su Mian ran toward the row of low stone houses at the end of the square; those were the cellars where horse merchants stored livestock.

Most of the wooden doors had been locked, except for the last one, which was still ajar, leaking a faint oil lamp light through the crack.

Su Mian pushed the door open.

Damp fodder and animal body heat rushed toward her.

A hunched old groom was pouring the last handful of oats into the trough. He turned his head at the sound, his turbid eyes full of fatigue and impatience.

"Closed for business, girl." He waved his withered hand like driving away flies, "The city defense army requisitioned all the livestock that could run this morning. The rest... you can see for yourself."

He pointed to the corner, where an old horse was curled up, its ribs protruding, its eyes covered with white film, breathing with difficulty in the oil lamp light.

Su Mian didn't move.

Rainwater dripped from her forehead, sliding past her tightly pursed corners of her mouth. She untied her soaked coarse cloth robe and took out an oil lamp from the innermost layer of her clothing.

The lamp flame flickered, casting moving shadows in the old man's suddenly shrinking pupils.

The oil wall was engraved with olive branches, the emblem of the Hill family, and it was also the lamp that Adrian had given Su Mian on her first day here.

"I want a top-class horse." She held the oil lamp in front of the old man. "Now."

"You..."

How do you know the horse ranch owner?

This sentence was ultimately not asked. Seeing the girl's urgent expression, he sighed.

"... In the deepest part of the cellar." The old man said in a hoarse voice, hunched his back, turned around, and took a rusty key from the wall.

"There is a gray horse, it's... it's left for the messenger, but it has a fierce temper and has broken the arms of three grooms..."

His voice grew lower and lower, almost becoming a mutter, "God is my witness, this wasn't my idea..."

Su Mian had already followed him to the deepest part of the cellar.

Behind the piled fodder and decaying wooden fence, she saw it.

A tall Andalusian horse, dark gray in color, with sturdy leg muscles.

It had no reins and stood alone in the spacious stall. Hearing the sound, it just turned its neck, its pitch-black eyes reflecting the lamp light and the visitor.

It snorted, and its front hooves pawed the ground uneasily.

Su Mian walked straight over.

The old man stepped back in shock: "Wait! It will—"

Before he could finish his sentence, it was completely stuck in his throat. He only saw the girl raise her hand, and the gray horse ran over intimately to rub against her, its tongue licking Su Mian's hand.

【Why are the aliens contained in the instance so close to you?】

4399 was puzzled. The Gui Du Zi from the last instance was also like this. It was really strange. Su Mian was stunned for a moment.

"I don't know it's an alien; I just felt it had no hostility, so I put my hand on it."

【Hmm! That must be Mian Mian's personality charm!】

【I just checked the system; it's called an Undying Horse. It lives by sucking human blood. When it gains enough energy, it can purify wings.】

"Do you have a knife?"

As soon as 4399 finished speaking, Su Mian turned to ask the groom.

【Ah ah ah Mian Mian, don't be impulsive. Just use it as a normal horse to rush on the road; you don't have to conclude a contract!!!】

But Su Mian didn't speak, using the small knife handed by the groom to cut a wound on her palm.

The whole person's face twisted in pain for a second, then quickly organized her expression.

She handed her palm to the Undying Horse. The horse licked her palm, and heat came through. Until the blood dried, its head slowly lowered, expressing submission.

The groom on the side was dumbfounded. When he came to his senses, he hurriedly went to get the saddle.

"That... Miss, do it yourself."

Su Mian took the saddle, buckled the leather strap into the buckle, and the metal rang lightly.

She flipped onto the horse.

Looking down from above, she took one last look at the old man and said thank you.

She tapped the horse's belly lightly, and the Undying Horse raised its head, rushing out of the door like an arrow from a bow, crashing through the rain curtain, and rushing toward the only gate of the town.

The soldiers at the town gate were bored and chewing on dogtail grass, but saw a horse rushing out of the rain.

He immediately stood up and rushed over to stop it. A black-haired girl wrapped in a cloak sat on the horse's back.

"Why is it you again? Didn't I say..."

Before he could finish, he saw the girl take off her hood.

A pair of cold yet bewitching eyes stared at him, like the gaze of a god inadvertently lowered, stingy, cold, like alms.

He was stunned for a moment, suddenly realizing that the scene before him had changed instantly.

The rain curtain disappeared, and he appeared in a strange yet familiar tavern. The dead memories instantly came to mind.

A wine bottle smashed onto his head.

"Stinking dog, pay back the money!"

"Trash, you dare to come here again? Why? Still not convinced?"

"No... no..."

His words were stuck in his throat and he couldn't say a word. He wanted to scream but felt like he was drowning in water. The whole person was suffocating.

He roared out, the scene shattered, and he lost his center of gravity and fell into a puddle. The gate was already empty.

"Illusion... it's an illusion."

On the other side, Su Mian had already left the city gate and was rushing to the city-state without stopping.

Although she had only traveled this route twice, and both times were sitting in a carriage, relying on her super memory, Su Mian believed she could arrive tomorrow morning. ===== CHAPTER 73 =====