After walking for a morning, I encountered two waves.
The first wave was just a group of bandits. Because the other party spoke some dirty words, Xi Heng accidentally lost control of his attack. He raised his hand and slashed with sword energy, cutting more than a dozen people in half. No one was left alive to lead the way to their lair.
Only a dozen people died, so she did not bother to draw a soul-absorbing magic circle with blood. She just let their bodies fall into the mountains to be eaten by wolves, tigers and leopards, and decomposed into a pile of bones by flies, mold and other carrion creatures.
However, although the people died immediately, their horses were still of some use.
One of the horses was a brown horse with slightly red threads on its surface. It looked pretty good. Xi Heng grabbed the reins and took them for himself, and no one objected.
Then she hummed a tune that only she knew in this world, gently swung the horse's reins, and continued walking leisurely.
In today's chaotic world, warriors who can still walk alone on the road and are dressed exquisitely are mostly people that bandits cannot afford to offend.
But there are always some idiots in the world who don't understand this truth. They only see that she looks young and that although she has a sword on her back, her figure is slim and graceful, not like a strong person. Rather than a martial artist, she is more like an ignorant lady from a large family carrying a sword, so they become covetous of her.
The second wave of bandits and robbers arrived quite quickly.
Xi Heng killed a group of bandits in the morning, stole their horses and walked slowly. Before the sun reached its highest point, she saw a group of bandits suddenly emerge from the woods and block her way.
The girl raised her hat slightly and saw a thin man with a machete hanging on his waist approaching her.
"Sharp fruit sprout, Kongzi or Xiangjia? Where is this pus going?"
"What are you saying? Dialect?" Xi Heng tilted his head.
When the other party saw that she didn't understand, he immediately called a dozen people from the back to surround her.
Xi Heng didn't care. He yawned lightly and stretched out his fingers to lightly send out a few bursts of energy. The two little thieves immediately fell to the ground.
"There's An Qingzi! Let's attack together!" The thin man thought she was carrying a hidden weapon, so he immediately drew his sword and rushed over with his men.
Xi Heng did not dismount. He pressed his palm and released energy from his whole body. Dozens of people around him fell to the ground.
His head hit the ground, and he was stunned for a moment, then he started to cry out in pain.
She slowly drew her sword, and seeing that the ground was not muddy and would not dirty her shoes, she jumped off her horse and ended their lives one by one like the god of death.
Ignoring the people's pleas for mercy and panic, the girl slashed their necks with her sword, looked at the blood that was slowly flowing out, and said to herself:
"There are only a dozen of us. It would take too much time to use the spirit-sucking method."
"Why can't I just come and kill a few hundred people? Just like the Tianliang Army and the Jingming Sect back then..."
Xi Heng left the thin person who approached her at the beginning alive, used murderous intent to make the other party wake up immediately, and took her to the bandit gang's stronghold.
……
In a blink of an eye, time moved to the afternoon.
A roaring fire broke out on the top of the mountain where Xi Heng was.
The boundless sky enveloped the top of the mountain, and the scorching sun was blocked by white clouds, but the red and yellow fire burning on the wooden walls of the wooden house below was no less bright than the usual sunlight.
The two-story wooden house in the center of the village was set on fire by raging flames. The surface had been burned to charcoal, and inside there were crackling sounds of wood, falling beams and pillars, and crashing sounds.
A moment later, the floors collapsed and fell to the ground, turning the house into ruins.
"I didn't expect that the leader of such a remote mountain village would be a dark force warrior." Xi Heng shook off the thick blood on the sword, casually wiped it on the clothes of a corpse on the ground, and then put it back into the sheath.
At the same time, in front of the door, there was a man with a gloomy and distorted face, and a hint of red appeared between his eyebrows.
Then he hit the ground with his knees and his head fell down.
After falling, there was not even a tremor, let alone any sound, as if it had already become a corpse.
"This move of grace and liberation will kill you if it is not blocked or dodged."
Looking at the effects of the moves, Xi Heng nodded slightly.
"I don't know what kind of swordsmanship this man practices. I can always feel the resentment of a ghost when the sword moves... But his house has been burned down, so it's probably impossible to find him."
Xi Heng glanced away from the madly burning fire and looked at the corpses of various shapes and postures scattered all over the ground around him.
The blood flowing from these people's necks, chests and abdomens gathered on the ground, forming curved and twisted red lines and pools of blood.
She found a rough duster nearby, soaked it in blood, and drew the necessary soul-absorbing magic circle on the flat ground.
There were no living people around, and all the houses, even the wooden walls, were engulfed in flames.
The firelight shone on the girl's face, causing a slight red glow to appear in her eyes.
With a loud crash, another wooden house collapsed.
Surrounded by flames, Xi Heng painted with blood, with fine lines and neat shapes.
This was probably the first time that she drew the soul-absorbing array so perfectly. The whole array looked like many tentacles of different sizes holding up a long-necked bottle.
There were many corpses stacked together in the belly of the bottle, and Xi Heng had placed a dull red blood spirit stone in the front.
She pinched her fingers and chanted a spell, and the spirit-absorbing magic circle was activated.
The accumulated flesh and blood gradually shrank on the corpse, and the body, which originally had some fat and flesh, gradually became thinner.
The heat from the surrounding fire burned the sticky blood until it gradually dried up.
Xi Heng used up all the flesh and blood, and then grabbed dozens of other corpses and piled them into the center of the formation.
There are more than 200 bandits in this unknown mountain stronghold. Although they are not enough to fill the spirit stones, they are still useful.
In just a quarter of an hour, the village was filled with horrific mummified remains.
When there were no more intact corpses around, Xi Heng put the spirit stone back into his inventory, tidied up his clothes that were not stained with much blood, and left this hell on earth.
She became more and more skilled at killing, and now after a massacre, she no longer had to be covered in blood.
Kenshin has greatly increased his control over the sword. When Xi Heng wants the enemy to be fatally wounded, his blood can be spread anywhere. He can even cleverly make the opponent spray out blood during the killing process to build the prototype of the soul-sucking magic circle for her.
Xi Heng left the burning village and swung the reins to make the horse quicken its pace.
After an hour, a town appeared before our eyes.
She skillfully found the inn, asked the owner to take care of the horses, and ordered some food by throwing in some silver.
After a series of procedures, the dishes and snacks were served. Xi Heng sat down and took out the spirit stone. Looking at the vein lines in it that were slightly flashing as if expanding and contracting, he could vaguely see that there were already two hundred units of spiritual energy stored in it.
"Even if you don't specifically look for enemies, it will only take a dozen days to fully charge one."
She calculated the speed of the fleet and thought that even if the Goddess of Scarlet Sky set sail immediately, it would still take a month to reach Mingzhu City.
Now the fleet needs to stop for repairs, purchase food and logistical supplies, etc., and it may take two months for it to actually arrive.
She was traveling alone, wanting to reach Mingzhu from Qiongya Cangcheng. If she went at full speed, it would only take half a month.
"I have quite a lot of free time during this period... I'll go back to Jiangning City to meet up with my senior sister."
………………
Chapter 100: Worship as a God
Xi Heng was on his way back to Jiangning City to meet his senior sister...
Because it was too troublesome, she would only look for a bandit stronghold every two or three days to ask the bandits' members to help her replenish her spirit stones, instead of killing them one by one.
But even so, after more than ten days, two spirit stones were already full - a total of more than two thousand units of spiritual energy.
For Xi Heng, who can use the Blood Sea Technique as a ship propeller, this amount of spiritual energy is not much.
However, it is enough for a short moment.
In addition, when he was bored on the way, Xi Heng often read the "Three Strategies of Dunjia" left by Fang Tiande, pondering the methods of battle formations and various cunning strategies of using troops.
Among them is the Bagua formation which has many variations, a strong appearance and a wide range of uses.
Xi Heng looked at it carefully for a while and recognized that this formation was the one that Fang Tiande had set up outside Jinshi City to transport troops.
In the end, this formation was barely broken through by the powerful force led by Zhao Wanli and the generals in the city.
Otherwise, if the Bagua formation continues to operate and the siege troops are constantly rotated, the defenders in the city will have sleepless nights... but the city can be breached in just a few days.
This enemy formation must be attacked forcefully, and without sufficient elite forces, it will be easily broken.
At first, Fang Tiande was expected to lead his troops into the city in no time, but unfortunately, Xi Heng showed up halfway.
"After I go to the Northern Frontier, I can also try to practice this formation."
"But I won't be leading too many troops in the early stages, so I'll study other small formations first..."
The book also recorded surprise attack formations such as the Flying Bird Formation and the Flying Dragon Formation, which were more to her liking.
……
Go, go, go.
On the twenty-first day of the journey, Xi Heng changed into more delicate clothes and returned to Jiangning City after wandering all the way.
Now it is early summer, people are hurrying on the road and the queues at the city gate are bustling.
Xi Heng had rarely seen such a lively scene on his way here from a remote place in the south.
Most of the big cities in the south were in turmoil due to wars. Few business streets or entertainment places in the city were open. The streets were mostly empty. When the spring breeze blew, no corners of passers-by's clothes could be found. At most, it raised a cloud of dust and damp mud.
After crossing the Xiu River and arriving at Jiangning City, which is close to the capital, we finally saw the prosperity and bustle that Da Zhao should have had.
Xi Heng was infected by the atmosphere, and the indifference and murderous intent that were usually on his face during the journey were temporarily alleviated.
While queuing to enter the city, I happened to meet a few believers in front of me who were wearing black snake-patterned robes of the Dark Sky Sect, and they were also queuing to enter the city.
"Has the sect developed to this point..."
On the way here, she also passed by several branch altars of the Dark Sky Sect and saw refugees gathered in front of the altar to receive help.
Since those cities are areas where the government does not have strict control, it is still normal.
The Jiangning City in front of them is close to the capital, and the government should be very strict with the management here, but people from the Dark Sky Sect have sneaked in.
After sighing casually, Xi Heng, as a chivalrous knight, casually threw a few taels of silver to the guards at the city gate and entered the city.
The city is as prosperous and bustling as ever. It is still noon now, and smoke is wafting from the doors of many shops around, like strands of silk connecting to the blue sky.
After walking slowly for a long time with the horse's hooves stepping on the bricks and stones, Xi Heng bypassed all the streets and alleys, big and small, and came to the inner city, and returned to the gate of his and his senior sister's home.
The surface of the light red wooden door showed signs of slight fading, and a few unnatural cracks appeared on it.
The corners of the steps in front of the door seemed to have not been swept for a long time, and the dust had piled up to form a rough yellow outline.
The girl stepped on the brocade shoes, bent her white and tender fingers slightly, and knocked lightly on the door.
bang bang,
Today was different from the past. There was no immediate response after I knocked on the door.
Xi Heng knocked twice more and waited for almost two or three minutes before someone finally opened the door. It was the petite maid who looked familiar.
"Miss, you're back..." She spoke only after seeing the visitor was stunned for a moment.
"I'm back, but I probably won't be able to stay for long." Xi Heng asked, "Is Senior Sister here?"
"The eldest lady went out a month ago, saying that she was going to improve her martial arts..." The other party opened the door and respectfully invited the second lady to come in:
"When the eldest lady left, she dismissed half of the maids, leaving only me, Lanxiang, Xingxiang and the kitchen granny."
"Where did you go?" Xi Heng was a little disappointed, but not too surprised.
After all, my senior sister is also a chivalrous hero, she won't stay at home waiting for me like a secluded wife.
She is on a long voyage and has no definite return date. Given my elder sister's personality, she probably wouldn't miss her every night and stay at home all the time...right?
Xi Heng thought about it and suddenly felt a little unsure.
If it was the elegant Senior Sister Hong Miao who was in the martial arts hall back then, she would naturally not be bound by any constraints.
But ever since she took revenge and was saved by Xi Heng, she would often act like a little girl...making her a little confused about what her senior sister was thinking.
"The eldest lady left a message saying that she was going to Eastern Hailu." said the maid.
"Isn't the land of Hailu occupied by Dong Huangmei Mountain? Why would Senior Sister go there?" Xi Heng wondered.
"I don't know, but the young lady left another letter, which is now in the wooden cabinet beside the bed..."
"Oh." Xi Heng then stepped past the man and entered the yard.
Walk past the small apricot tree planted in front of the courtyard, around the pond and through the corridor, and you will arrive at the door of the main house.
The interior of the main house was clean, and the pink flowers in the vase on the table nearby added a touch of spring.
