"You are also being hunted by someone. If possible, escape to the ends of the earth where no one can find you, and spend the rest of your life in ease with your martial arts realm of Ming Jin... Even if it is not possible, I hope you can try to stay away from the affairs of the martial arts world and live a good life." Xi Heng recited.
The four words "live well" were written twice.
The beautiful and fluent handwriting falls to the end, and turning to the back, it is the three-level mental method and moves of the dark power.
……
Chapter 31: The Journey of a Knight
Xi Heng rested for a day in his own hut in the village, relieving the fatigue and sleepiness brought by a whole day of wandering, and then got up and left.
During the day, she walked along the familiar road into the Kangcao Pavilion in the village, bought some knife wound powder in the pharmacy, took off the blood-stained black cloth wrapped around her shoulders, smeared the medicine powder on it, and then bandaged it with silk again.
After doing all this, Xi Heng picked up his sword and strode out of the village.
On the way, she met many familiar people from the village before the time travel, but no one could recognize her.
After changing into a warrior's outfit and regaining the temperament of a warrior, she is very different from before.
"Go to the capital." Xi Heng casually picked up a tael of silver and threw it on the donkey cart at the entrance of the village.
"..." The driver was stunned for a long time, and then said cautiously: "Lady, my car can only carry you for a day's journey at most. It can't go any further."
"Oh." Xi Heng just asked casually: "Since you can't go, I'll go by myself."
"Hey." The driver said humbly.
"How much is your donkey?" Xi Heng pointed at the black donkey pulling the cart.
"No sale, no sale." The other party waved his hands repeatedly.
Xi Heng casually took out a silver note worth forty taels of silver from his sleeve:
"Here is 40 taels of silver. You can exchange it at the Jin Gun Bank in Jinshi City... Wait, Jinshi City is still under siege, so the bank should be closed... But there should be branches in other cities, so you can look for them yourself."
After she said that, before the other party had time to react, she drew her sword and cut the reins that tied the donkey to the wooden cart.
“Lady… this, this——” The other party stretched out his hand to stop her.
Xi Heng took a glance, then turned his wrist and smoothly made a sword flower in front of the opponent, stopping his movement.
After that, she took the broken reins of the donkey and walked away slowly, no longer paying attention to what was happening behind her.
Xi Heng walked along the long loess road for a while, patted the neck of the docile donkey beside him to make it stop, and tried to ride on it.
Donkeys are shorter than horses and can sit sideways on them with just a slight jump. And because of their slow pace, they can sit steadily even without a saddle.
Xi Heng hung the package on the donkey's neck and walked steadily towards the north.
The capital city is just to the north. Even without a map, you can arrive there as long as you find a wide enough road and follow the signs.
"I might as well kill some people along the way and try to practice my sword skills." Xi Heng thought.
Of course you can't just kill anyone you see, that won't do any good to your sword spirit... Just kill those who should be killed like a knight.
"The Zhao guest's hair is covered with wild tassels, and the Wu hook is bright with frost and snow..." The girl hummed softly on the way.
The sun moves westward and the sky changes.
The clouds flow gracefully, forming various shapes and then gradually separate.
Not long after, Xi Heng arrived at a small city called Zhaocheng, further north of Jinshi City.
The city wall here is only four or five meters high, several times smaller than the huge Jinshi City. Outside the city gate is the gathering place for the refugees who walked out of Jinshi City.
There are many refugee camps on the dry loess land outside the city. Although they are called camps, very few of them can actually pitch tents to shelter from wind and rain.
Most people were just scattered in twos and threes, lying or squatting on the ground, not saying a word, with deathly pale faces.
A few scattered shouts could be heard from time to time. It was probably some conflict among the refugees, or people gathering together to rob and fight the weak, or someone wailing because they couldn't stand the collapse of the environment, or children crying out in hunger.
In front of the refugees who were lying on the ground in groups to rest, the thick city gates were closed tightly, with no intention of welcoming the refugees from outside in.
In addition, there were dozens of guards with bows on the city wall, who seemed to be staring at these suffering civilians of Da Zhao as if they were thieves of the Tianliang Army.
Xi Heng sat on the donkey and slowly walked into the refugee camp, attracting many people's attention.
Most of them retreated when they saw the long sword hanging at her waist, but many of them were still ready to take action.
Before they had walked halfway, several thugs dressed in coarse brown cloth and holding weapons such as pitchforks or crude machetes and kitchen knives surrounded them.
"Young lady..." The leader laughed evilly and just said a few words, Xi Heng jumped off his mount, drew his sword, took a step forward and slashed at the man's neck.
A red line appeared instantly, and after the long sword drew a white mark, a red line also appeared on the opponent's neck, and the voice stopped.
Blood gushed out of it.
Xi Heng took a half step back and watched the warm and sticky blood spurt onto the ground.
The unfriendly-looking fellow covered his throat, but he couldn't stop the blood from spurting out. After two or three meters, he fell to the ground with twitching bodies.
"..."
The air fell into deep silence.
"You actually..." The other person in front said in a trembling voice while gritting his teeth.
Xi Heng immediately turned around and swung his sword, then raised his finger and the long sword instantly pointed at the man's chest.
The sword wind burst out, and a gust of wind caused the man to stop his movements and sounds. The murderous intent it carried made him tremble all over and break out in a cold sweat.
"Get lost." Xi Heng uttered this word calmly.
After a moment of hesitation, the man immediately turned around and fled in panic.
Even the other civilians around who had no grudges against Xi Heng took a few steps back.
Xi Heng sheathed his sword and led the donkey towards the closed city gate.
She no longer had any reservations about killing people, especially killing such evil people.
Ever since the news of the breach of Jinshi City spread, the vast countryside and hills on the surrounding roads have been filled with disorderly refugees.
Xi Heng was dressed fairly neatly and was riding a donkey with a bulging package hanging around its neck. It was obvious that he had some belongings.
On the surface, she looked like a lonely young girl, with a slender figure that looked as if she would fall to the ground if a strong wind blew - naturally, she would be coveted by others.
Therefore, even though Xi Heng carried a sword as a deterrent, he still encountered many gangsters and bandits who came to rob him along the way.
Some come in groups of three or five, and some even have dozens of people.
There was no difference in the looks and expressions of those bandits and the people Xi Heng had just killed. In Xi Heng's eyes, they were all killable people.
So, she killed dozens of people in just one day.
"Kill one person every ten steps, and leave no trace in a thousand miles..." Xi Heng recited a few simple lines of poetry as he approached the city gate.
Arriving in front of the solid city wall with almost no gaps, the girl looked up at the archer who was drawing his bow and arrow.
She took the package from the donkey's neck, gathered her strength, and climbed up the wall using light Kung Fu techniques.
"Stop!" Seeing this, the archer above immediately drew his bow and arrow.
Xi Heng didn't respond at all, but he climbed the short four or five meter long city wall in just two or three steps.
When they stepped onto the city wall, the guards at the city gate couldn't even draw their bows.
She uttered a sigh of relief, and when she saw the leader of the guards shooting a sword at her, she immediately drew her sword and stepped forward to slash fiercely—
The sword blade flashed a red light for a moment, met the arrow tip in the air and cut it off directly, and even cut the long arrow shaft into two halves.
"I have reached the peak of Ming Jin, don't waste your energy." Xi Heng said calmly after he cut through the sword.
The guards on the city wall dared not shoot any more arrows until the leader of the guards waved his hand downwards and everyone put away their weapons.
A warrior who has achieved great success in Ming Jin is a general with a command of a thousand men even in the army of Da Zhao, and is not someone that their dozen or so archers can deal with.
"Why are you here, lady?" Seeing that Xi Heng had no hostility, the archer chief breathed a sigh of relief and asked.
"I came across this city on the way and came in to stay for a night." Xi Heng said simply, then walked to the other side of the city wall, stepped on empty air and fell down.
The body slid down naturally due to gravity, raising a cloud of dust when it landed.
She brushed off the dust on her body and saw that the city was extremely empty.
Although there were crowds of refugees outside, it was quite quiet inside.
A gray and cold city wall separated the heat and silence inside and outside, and Xi Heng seemed to be walking in an empty land.
"I killed another person, but I still can't feel any changes in the sword's intent..." She sighed softly: "I was clearly very serious when I swung the sword."
She killed so many people along the way to protect her own safety, but her understanding of the mysterious sword intent in her heart only increased a little.
If I were to hone my sword skills in this way and achieve hidden power, I wouldn't know how many people I would have to kill.
"I'm afraid thousands won't be enough..." Xi Heng shook her head. She didn't enjoy killing, she just felt it was necessary.
She's not a psychopath who enjoys killing people.
Although he has killed so many people, Xi Heng feels that he is not a bad guy, probably.
"Come to think of it, I'm tired of riding the donkey." Xi Heng looked around and said to himself, "Is there a stable in this city..."
She wanted to buy a horse to ride, but the city in front of her looked quite desolate, and the shops with various signs on both sides were closed.
After walking slowly for a long time, I finally saw some shops that were open for business and there were some pedestrians on the road.
Many of them were disaster refugees who had somehow managed to get in, looking exhausted, and carrying their families and luggage.
Their situation was better than that of the refugees who were crowded together and camping outside the city to rest, but even if they entered the city, they would still be subjected to all kinds of difficulties.
Not long after Xi Heng walked, he saw a group of people who were slightly stronger than ordinary people, with solid steps and postures. They seemed to have practiced some martial arts and gathered together. When they saw the refugees entering the city, they surrounded them and extorted them for so-called protection fees.
"Just three taels of silver?!" The leader showed a fierce look: "How dare you fool me?"
"Gentlemen." A man who looked like a poor scholar among the four people in the surrounded family said tremblingly: "Jinshi City is big, and there are many rich people in Zhongcheng, but my family is really a humble family."
"When we left the city, we were first robbed by the thugs of the big family, and then we encountered bandits. If we didn't abandon our property and run fast, we would lose our lives. Now that we have reached the edge of the city, we have to give five taels of silver to the informant before they will let us into the city... We have been exploited all the way and are really poor... Please be kind, please be kind!"
There was no light in his eyes, and he clasped his hands together, bowing and praying to the person in front of him as if he was worshiping Buddha.
"No money? If you have no money, what are you carrying?!" The other party suddenly waved his hand, and the people behind him rushed forward skillfully and grabbed the package on the person in front of them.
"This, this is not valuable, it's not money!" The man was anxious and hugged the package he was carrying tightly.
"Give it here!" The leading guy stretched out his hand and pulled it open with a "hissing" sound.
First, a few old books that looked quite worn fell to the ground, followed by a picture rolled up with a thin wooden stick, and then a mahogany tablet and a statue of Guanyin fell.
The porcelain Guanyin fell to the ground, but it only made a few soft rolling sounds and did not break.
The leading strong man grabbed a few books on the ground with one hand, flipped through them several times but couldn't find a few silver notes and silver leaves from the interlayer, so he said with angry eyes:
"Where's the silver?!"
"This is the account book... this is the family tree. There is no money, no money." After being yelled at, the man's legs went weak and he almost fell to his knees tremblingly.
"You're useless without money!" The sturdy man grabbed a few old books and slapped the man on the head like a slap in the face: "Get lost!"
"Yes, sir! We'll leave now, we'll leave now..." The man said humbly, picked up the books and the Guanyin statue scattered on the ground, and hurriedly left with the package and his wife and daughter behind him.
The family members were naturally trembling and refused to say a word.
They had just walked a few steps away when a shout came from behind: "Wait!"
The man paused, turned his head slowly, and smiled in a way that was uglier than crying:
"Gentlemen, if you have any other instructions, I will do my best as long as it is within my ability."
"That's right, but there's nothing for you to do." The sturdy man came closer and squatted next to the little girl led by the man.
"Daddy, I'm scared..." The little girl didn't move, her voice trembling.
The man next to him gritted his teeth, slowly squatted down, and reached for the knife hidden at his waist.
"Little scholar, you are poor now, and you won't get anything good by bringing this child with you. At most you will have some simple meals every day..." The sturdy man reached out and wiped the mud on the girl's face that was used to cover her appearance. Seeing that her facial features were neat and clean, and there were not many flaws in her appearance, he pinched her mouth, glanced at her teeth and tongue, and nodded with satisfaction.
"Why don't you hand her over to us and let her work as a maid in a wealthy family? She can eat some vegetables and meat every day, and it will be worth it for this girl's natural good looks."
"No..." The man immediately shook his head.
Xi Heng stood at one side and watched for a long time, then he covered his lips and yawned slowly.
The unobstructed breathing sound attracted the attention of a thug over there, who gave Xi Heng a threatening look.
