Mountain and sea lantern

Chapter 615 Thieves also have their ways
The woman in red stared at the image in the mirror of Shi Chun holding Li Hongjiu tightly, and slowly replied telepathically, "No rush, let's take another look."

As he spoke, he glanced at Wei Mo's side.

Seeing the Empress's attitude, Alan had no choice but to continue observing.

At sea, Dong Sheng and his group received a message from Wei Mo that Shi Chun had run away with Li Hongjiu. They were shocked and quickly rushed into the open fog, shouting and searching everywhere.

However, there was no reaction in the vast sea of ​​fog, and for a time, even the figures of the two celestial masters could not be found.

Upon receiving the reply, Wei Mo's face darkened. He knew all too well what this trip meant for him. Being assigned this task was both a misfortune and an opportunity. In the words of Right Assistant Marquis Jia Huan, this was a task directly for the Empress, and afterwards he would have to personally report to her in person.

Whether one should be a useless piece of trash in front of the Empress or a person of exceptional ability depends on the final outcome.

Especially now that something like this has happened, someone that even several experts at the Celestial Immortal level couldn't catch, if he could capture him and bring him back, he could easily gain special treatment by simply mentioning it to the Empress.

Although things are not going well right now, from another perspective, it is actually an opportunity for us.

Without hesitation, he quickly informed Shi Chun and his companion of the direction they had fled, ordered relevant personnel to pursue them, and once again urgently dispatched experts to the scene.

Except for a few who remained to search, the rest of the Dongsheng forces at sea rushed out of the dark clouds in pursuit.

After getting away from the fighting scene and flying out of the area shrouded in dark clouds, Shi Chun saw land and immediately landed with Li Hongjiu. They hid under a big tree to conceal themselves, and then took out the mother-child talisman to contact Wu Jinliang and ask for the exact location.

The fact that so many celestial experts could be mobilized to deal with them shows how powerful their opponents are. Running around aimlessly is not a solution. In addition, Li Hongjiu's injuries should not be delayed any longer, and she needs to find a place to receive proper treatment as soon as possible. For safety reasons and to avoid being captured, going to the Underworld is the safest option.

There's no need to worry about exposing the Underworld to Li Hongjiu. He's incredibly weak right now, so he can do whatever he wants with him. Just knock him out.

Wu Jinliang, emerging from the ground, looked around, somewhat perplexed. Being in an unfamiliar place, he had no idea of ​​his exact location, only that he wasn't too far from the sea.

Upon seeing this, Shi Chun immediately told him to evacuate quickly, saying that the enemy might launch a large-scale search, and he might be found if he was too close.

So the two agreed on a specific location that was both convenient and known to both of them: the location where Wu Jinliang would hide and observe along the way before he moved.

Wu Jinliang was closer to that side, so Shi Chun told him to go ahead and dig a hole to prepare for the rescue.

After agreeing on the plan and determining the direction, Shi Chun picked up Li Hongjiu again, lifted her into the air, adjusted the direction, and rushed off.

After assessing their direction of travel, Wei Mo, who was in front of the mirror, immediately ordered the pursuers to change direction and to intercept them laterally. He instructed them that even if they could not capture Shi Chun, they must at least hold him off to buy time for the urgently summoned experts to solve the problem.

After finishing the arrangements, he stood with his hands behind his back in front of the mirror, watching Shi Chun fleeing with someone in his arms. He couldn't help but feel a pang of nostalgia, recalling their first meeting at the Heavenly Rain Meteor Gathering, when Shi Chun was just a small-time hoodlum fresh out of exile.
I made promises back then, and I thought he was a talented person. I wanted to make an exception and recruit him, but in the end I gave up and let him have his way. These scenes seem like they happened just yesterday.

In the blink of an eye, only a few years have passed. That kid has become an intimate friend of Young Master Nan, and now he has also become a sworn brother of the closed-door disciple of the Sect Master of Yanbao Sect.

Wei Mo never imagined that one day he would personally mobilize troops to capture this fellow, especially since he was acting on orders from the royal court.

Putting everything else aside, just looking at the scene before him, he still sighed, "Li Hongjiu has now become a useless burden. Knowing that someone wants to kill Li Hongjiu and that it will implicate him, he still manages to protect her to the death and refuses to give up. With such a friend, Li Hongjiu has not wasted his friendship with him."

These words left Nan Gongzi feeling quite bitter. Shi Chun had been kind and righteous to him as well, and looking at himself, he felt truly ashamed.

He sighed softly and nodded, "That's just the kind of person he is. In this day and age, he's a rare find."

Upon hearing this, the masked woman in red glanced in this direction. Although hearing is unreliable, there was already corroborating evidence in the mirror. When she looked at Shi Chunji's figure in the image again, her eyes held a different kind of scrutiny.

No one present knew the true situation of the battle inside the tornado, but it was basically confirmed that the three Celestial Immortal experts who participated in the battle were probably in grave danger, and Li Hongjiu was naturally injured by those three as well.

Although Li Hongjiu could not escape unscathed, her strength in this battle far exceeded everyone's expectations, amazed everyone, and elevated her to a very high level in everyone's mind.

Carrying the injured man, Shi Chun flew swiftly, constantly on guard, thinking he had been careful enough. He never dreamed that he would receive such extraordinary treatment; someone had even brought in a celestial telescope to keep a close watch on him.

Most people will never be seen by something like the Mirror of Heaven in their entire lives, but he was seen by it more than once. On the way, he received another message from Wu Jinliang, saying that the cave had been dug and was waiting for him.

The image in the Heavenly Mirror noticed that Shi Chun was holding someone and couldn't easily examine the Mother-Child Talisman. It immediately tried to zoom in to see what was on the talisman, but Shi Chun only glanced at it and then stopped, thus preventing them from succeeding.

However, even with the help of the Mirror of Heaven, his journey was destined to be difficult.

Just as he determined from the terrain below that he was not too far from Wu Jinliang's location, and as he flew upstream along a winding river, what was bound to happen finally arrived.

The sun had already risen. At a distance beyond the reach of his right eye's special ability, his normal vision could see a group of people floating in the air waiting for him. Upon seeing him arrive, they even split into left and right wings to encircle him.

Shi Chun abruptly stopped flying, retracted the wind scales, and stood steadily in the air with his feet spread apart. He quickly pulled out a rope, carried Li Hongjiu on his back, and then used the rope to tie Li Hongjiu to his body.

The dazed Li Hongjiu, after being tossed around like this, had a trickle of blood trickle from the corner of her mouth again. She slowly opened her eyes and saw Shi Chun tying the two of them together. Naturally, she realized something was wrong. She looked up and, although she was too weak to use her magic eyes to see who it was, she knew she had run into a trap again.

He gave a bitter laugh and said weakly, "Forget it, put me down. Your cultivation level is not high to begin with, and carrying me will only be a burden to you. You should find a way to protect yourself."

While keeping a watchful eye on his surroundings, Shi Chun unleashed his Black Lotus magic weapon, hung a large gourd around his neck, and declared righteously, "Brother Jiu, I know you come from a prestigious sect and look down on someone like me with such humble origins. It's alright. Since we're brothers, there's no reason for us to abandon one another. Even thieves have their code of honor. I, Shi Chun, have licked blood from the edge of a knife, killed countless people, but I've never abandoned my brothers. I never have, and I never will!"

He learned the saying "Even thieves have their code of honor" while reading books in the library in recent years, and today was the first time he used it. He felt that he had read the book and that it was quite satisfying to say it.

He was quite regretful that when he was in exile and ruling Dongjiuyuan, he couldn't say such reasonable things to his brothers.

But then I thought about it again, and talking about 'honor among thieves' in exile seemed a bit ridiculous, because it really can't put food on the table.

But as soon as he said this, Li Hongjiu's weak face showed obvious emotion. His Adam's apple bobbed, and he turned his head to look at the profile of the bastard who had tied him to him. His eyes also showed a different kind of light, as if he wanted to get to know him again.

A few thoughts raced through his mind in an instant. After clearing his throat with a cough, Shi Chun continued, "If we can fight our way out today, I'll save my life with you, brother. If we're destined to die here, it will be my honor. I don't ask to be born on the same day, month, and year, but I do ask to die on the same day, month, and year! Brother Jiu, we've made a promise. In the next life, we'll meet again as brothers, with no more grudges between us!"

In this situation, hearing such words, Li Hongjiu suddenly felt a little overwhelmed. Her nose inexplicably stung, and her eyes reddened. She still didn't give him any face and said, "Shi Chun, I know you always talk nonsense. Do you think I'll fall for your act?"

Shi Chun took out a bell and hung it on his finger, saying, "At a time like this, why bother arguing? Brother Jiu, a dying man's words are always kind!"

In fact, Li Hongjiu wasn't wrong. He was indeed spouting nonsense. Try having a different group of people say the same thing and see if they can still say such things.

He recognized these people as the same ones from Dongsheng before. Among them, the experts at the Heavenly Immortal realm were either severely injured or killed. The rest of them were people who dared not step forward back then. Even if they were a group of Earthly Immortal realm experts, he was not someone to be trifled with.

He had tried it before when he was besieged by the demonic forces.

He desperately tried to repair those broken magical artifacts, all so that he could have some self-defense capabilities and prevent others from bullying him.

Therefore, he definitely won't surrender easily; he'll definitely try to break through. If there's really no other way, then he can only get rid of Li Hongjiu, this burden, first. We haven't reached that point yet, so naturally, he should try to get rid of her as much as possible.

If we don’t say it now, when will we wait?
Li Hongjiu was silenced by his words, her lips clenched, watching helplessly as Shi Chun took the Flying Dragon Sword and held it horizontally in his mouth, while holding a mace in one hand and a bronze mirror in the other, with the Black Lotus Dharma Image protecting him.

Judging from this posture, even a fool could tell he was going to fight to the death.

Whether his intention to protect Li Hongjiu was genuine or not, the close-up mirror image of him binding the bloodied Li Hongjiu to his back, clearly indicating their willingness to live and die together, made all eyes in front of the mirror image solemn.

Who doesn't yearn for a better life? Who wouldn't want to meet such a friend in their life?

Young Master Nan felt increasingly ashamed. He had encountered someone who was originally his friend, yet he had repeatedly betrayed him. He was partly responsible for driving the other party to such a desperate situation.

The woman in red, who had been staring at the screen with a strange look, suddenly shifted her gaze and asked Alan telepathically, "Are you sure they want to take him alive?"

Alan quickly replied telepathically, "Yes, when I contacted Bingxiao before, he said that those people wanted to capture Shi Chun alive, and also told him to be careful when he did it."

(End of this chapter)