Chapter 83: Conclusion

Taian City, Prefectural Yamen.

It had been nearly half an hour since the people from the three sects came to help.

Although Wang Hai and Mei Qinghe had joined the fray after regulating their breathing for a moment, it had eased the situation somewhat.

But as more and more people piled up outside the gate, some were no longer surging in through the main entrance but were pushing down the walls to open up paths.

This meant that the directions Wang Hai and the others needed to defend had changed from one to three.

And the number of people surging in at once had also become three times what it was before.

The Gu soldiers mixed in among them were also gradually increasing.

This caused the "half-hour" evacuation time Wang Hai had estimated earlier to be drastically shortened.

Now, it had basically reached the deadline.

Wang Hai wiped the bloodstains from his forehead and turned to look left and right.

Deng Baixuan was the first to be dragged to the back.

His sword took the middle path, which was not suited for a cowardly or hesitant temperament. Therefore, among the several sect leaders, Deng Baixuan's sword technique was the worst.

Yet he was the softest-hearted one, striking lighter than Liu Baiyun, and was always looking left and right, distracted by taking care of his own disciples.

A moment of negligence allowed a Gu soldier to get close, biting his right hand; he could only withdraw from the fray, leaving Xiao Si to purge the Gu poison.

The second was Liu Baiyun.

She had managed to hold on until now, but her true energy had also hit bottom, forcing her to retreat and regulate her breathing to recover.

Zhou Yingxue even took the opportunity to mock her a few times, but Liu Baiyun endured it and did not retort.

The disciples of the several sects had also suffered heavy losses by now, with only half saved and dragged to the rear.

As for the other half, Wang Hai and the others were too late to rescue them; after struggling in the crowd for a while, they had already lost all sound.

Deng Baixuan was in the back, gritting his teeth, tears streaming down continuously.

At this moment, it was Zhang Jingfeng, Zhou Yingxue, Gao Ling, Wang Hai, and Mei Qinghe—these five—who were shouldering the burden, barely holding the situation.

It was just that Gao Ling's true energy was also nearly exhausted, Mei Qinghe had injuries, and Wang Hai had only just risen to fight after recovering a little true energy, and was now also nearing exhaustion.

"Can't wait any longer!" Wang Hai thought inwardly.

"If the Thousand-Household's side were going smoothly, he should have arrived long ago. If he hasn't returned yet, there must be far more Gu soldiers outside the city than here."

"I don't need to worry about the Thousand-Household; I just need to be able to take Xiao Si away!"

In Wang Hai's heart, except for Li Miao and Xiao Si, the lives of others were simply unimportant.

With his mind made up, Wang Hai secretly retreated backward.

Xiao Si discovered Wang Hai's intention and shook her head at him gently.

Wang Hai acted as if he hadn't seen it.

Just as Wang Hai was about to strike to seal Xiao Si's acupoints, Zhou Yingxue let out a cry of pain.

Four Gu soldiers!

Zhou Yingxue had defended against two, but two suddenly pounced from under her feet, hugging her legs and biting frantically, tripping her to the ground.

Once she fell, the defensive line collapsed instantly.

Wang Hai reached Xiao Si's side in an instant, reaching out to strike at the major acupoint on the side of Xiao Si's neck.

Xiao Si opened her eyes wide, looking at Wang Hai.

"Can't worry about that much anymore; if you want to resent me, if you want to break your inner demon, you have to be alive to do it!"

Wang Hai had made up his mind, his finger already touching Xiao Si's skin.

Just at this moment.

Slap.

A light sound.

Wang Hai's finger was raised high.

Li Miao appeared beside Xiao Si and slapped Wang Hai's hand away.

"You're already committing domestic violence before you've even entered the door, Hai'er."

Hearing Li Miao's usual teasing, Wang Hai instantly lost his strength, but he laughed out loud.

The heart that had been hanging for half the night finally settled down.

Li Miao raised his hand into a palm, true energy surging, and pushed a palm toward the crowd.

"Mountain-Moving and Sea-Overturning."

The crowd fell one after another like harvested wheat stalks.

Mei Qinghe hurriedly stepped forward, pulled Zhou Yingxue, and retreated behind Li Miao.

Li Miao's left hand remained still, suppressing the crowd, while his right hand grabbed Xiao Si's pulse, channeling true energy into her.

Xiao Si's originally pale complexion gradually returned to normal, flushing with color.

With her constitution, if it were just blood loss, it wouldn't have left her in such a sorry state.

What was truly fatal was the Gu poison within her body that she could gradually no longer suppress after the loss of blood energy.

And with Li Miao helping to suppress it, Xiao Si could naturally recover on her own.

After finishing these things, Li Miao flashed forward, curling his fingers into a claw, grabbing into the void.

He pulled back several unconscious disciples from the crowd.

Li Miao threw the several disciples behind him and simultaneously signaled for the several sect leaders to retreat.

The several sect leaders had seen the traces of Li Miao's struggle with Lan Lechuan and knew that they were no longer needed, so they each went to find their own disciples to check their injuries.

"Xiao Si, which ones are the Gu soldiers, point them out to me."

Previously, Xiao Si's main energy had been on suppressing the Gu poison within her body and she couldn't be distracted, so she could only leave it to Wang Hai and the others to adapt.

At this moment, the Gu poison had subsided, and Xiao Si raised her small hand, pointing to one person in the crowd.

Bang!

As Xiao Si's hand stopped, a hole appeared on that person's forehead, piercing through from front to back, and he collapsed softly to the ground.

Li Miao's left hand formed a palm, suppressing the crowd with true energy. His right hand brought his fingers together, using the Ming Sect's "Profound Heaven Finger."

Point at one, and one died.

Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!

In just a moment's time, more than a dozen people in the crowd had died.

"All gone!" Xiao Si said.

"Good."

Li Miao's right hand grabbed into the void, the bluestone slabs on the ground shattered, and a handful of pebbles flew into his hand.

Then he scattered them into the air!

This handful of pebbles, numbering in the hundreds, hit the commoners' acupoints with incomparable precision.

The crowd instantly cleared out a large area.

Repeating this several times, there was no one left standing in front of the prefectural yamen.

Of course, people were still surging in continuously.

But with Xiao Si calling out the names and Li Miao executing them, without the threat of Gu soldiers, everyone could handle it easily.

By the time dawn was about to break, Xiao Si let out a long breath: "It's okay."

Li Miao reached into his bosom and took out a mass of wriggling flesh—it was the mother Gu dug out from Mao Yingxia's body—and handed it to Xiao Si.

Xiao Si grabbed this mass of flesh, bit the tip of her tongue, and sprayed a mouthful of fresh blood onto it.

That mass of wriggling flesh instantly froze and stopped moving.

Then Wang Hai dissected the chest of a Gu soldier, grabbed a mass of Gu insects, and also handed it to Xiao Si.

Xiao Si stuffed this mass of Gu insects into the mother Gu.

Facing the first ray of sunlight from the rising morning sun, Xiao Si's fingers slowly clenched tight.

Suddenly, the commoners on the ground who hadn't been purged of Gu began to convulse violently.

"This..." Mei Qinghe couldn't help but speak, but was stopped by Li Miao with a wave of his hand.

Finally, Xiao Si's fingers closed, and that mass of flesh was crushed.

"Cough, cough—retch—"

One could hear a continuous sound of coughing and vomiting among the commoners, and Gu insects like fine threads crawled out from their seven orifices, turning into fly ash in the air.

After finishing all this, Xiao Si collapsed softly to the ground.

Li Miao caught her, pressed her pulse, and channeled true energy into her.

Wang Hai looked at Li Miao worriedly: "Thousand-Household..."

Li Miao waved his hand: "She'll be fine within a year or so; this girl has a stubborn temperament and insisted on perfection."

"Her 'Human Gu' was originally a semi-finished product; exerting too much effort this time, she can't quite suppress it."

Looking at Wang Hai, Li Miao said: "After finishing this errand, you take Xiao Si back to Shuntian Prefecture to report. I'm going to the Miao Border to settle this matter."

"Originally, taking Xiao Si out, I had the intention of going to the Miao Border. Now it's just a bit earlier, it doesn't matter."

Li Miao handed Xiao Si to Wang Hai and turned to look at Zhang Jingfeng: "Sect Leader Zhang, what is the situation on the Mount Tai Sect?"

Zhang Jingfeng told Li Miao his experience in detail.

Mei Qinghe, listening to Zhang Jingfeng's description from the side, gripped her sword hilt until it creaked.

When it came to the hatred of killing her mother, Yun Zelin was the main culprit; it was just that he had faked his death to escape, and Mei Qinghe had only learned the news that he was still alive a few days ago.

Now that Mei Qinghe knew her enemy was close at hand, how could she endure it?

"Lord! I will go with you!" Mei Qinghe said.

"Even if I can only stab him once, even if I die at his hands, I must settle this with him!"

(End of chapter)