The First Sword of the Universe

Chapter 391 The transaction went smoothly, withdraw.
After the meal, the two continued their journey towards Wuliang Mountain.

As the sun began to set in the evening, we finally arrived near the ravine where the Shennong Gang was stationed.

"who?"

With a loud shout of warning, two middle-aged men wielding weapons jumped out from both sides of the road, blocking Xu Xingchen and Duan Yu's path.

The two stopped in their tracks, and Duan Yu stepped forward and said, "I am the one who was poisoned by your gang leader's Heartbreak Poison. I have returned with the antidote for the Lightning Sable. Quickly release Miss Zhong!"

In the dim light, the two men blocking the road finally recognized Duan Yu. One of them was overjoyed: "You're finally back, kid! The Chief has been waiting anxiously these past few days. Quick! Quick! Come in with me!"

Another person tried to stop Xu Xingchen, who was carrying something on his shoulder, but after being glanced at by Xu Xingchen, he felt a sudden tremor in his heart and swallowed back the words he was about to say.

The group quickly arrived at the mountain valley and met Sikong Xuan, the leader of the Shennong Gang, as well as other people who had been bitten and poisoned by the lightning weasels.

Apart from Sikong Xuan and a few elders with profound skills, everyone else was lying on the ground, groaning and moaning, their faces turning blue and purple, looking miserable as if they were deeply poisoned.

Sikong Xuan spotted Duan Yu at a glance, but his gaze was drawn to Xu Xingchen beside him.

He glanced at Xu Xingchen and the strange black package on his shoulder several times before turning to Duan Yu and asking, "Kid, you brought back the antidote? Also, who is this person?"

Duan Yu shouted, "I've brought back the antidote! Release Miss Zhong immediately! This is my friend; his martial arts are very powerful, so you'd better not cause any trouble!"

Sikong Xuan snorted coldly and said, "Hand over the antidote first!"

Duan Yu shook his head and refused: "No, you must release Miss Zhong first. I need to see her before I will give you the antidote!"

At this moment, Sikong Xuan could see that what Xu Xingchen was carrying on his shoulder seemed to be a jade statue.

He could carry a jade statue weighing hundreds of kilograms on his shoulders, still maintaining an upright posture, without blushing or losing his breath, and even looking at us with a leisurely gaze.
This person's martial arts skills are so high that they are absolutely unfathomable!
Sikong Xuan hadn't expected that Duan Yu would bring such a martial arts master with him when he returned, and a sense of apprehension crept into his heart.

After a moment of silence, seeing that Duan Yu was still unmoved, he had no choice but to have his men bring Zhong Ling out.

A moment later, a little girl who was tightly bound with rope was brought out.

The girl was about fifteen or sixteen years old, petite and cute, with a round face, and bore a striking resemblance to her mother, Gan Baobao.

Upon seeing Duan Yu's return, Zhong Ling was overjoyed. She skipped and jumped, trying to rush to him, but was grabbed by two men from the Shennong Gang. She could only shout, "Young Master Duan, you're finally back! I knew you'd come back to save me!"

Duan Yu was relieved to see that Zhong Ling was unharmed and said with a smile, "Your capture was all because of me, of course I had to come back to save you!"

Sikong Xuan said coldly, "See? This girl is completely unharmed. Now hurry up and hand over the antidote for the Lightning Sable!"

"Alright, I'll give you the antidote. You not only have to release Miss Zhong, but you also have to give me the antidote for the Heartbreak Powder," Duan Yu said, taking out a small porcelain bottle from his clothes and tossing it into Sikong Xuan's hand. He then explained the precautions and order of consumption.

Sikong Xuan uncorked the bottle, poured out an antidote, sniffed it, and recognized the familiar scent of several herbs used to treat snake venom. Knowing it was probably genuine, he was relieved.

He rolled his eyes, handed an antidote to one of his men, and instructed, "Give this to one of our poisoned brothers and see how effective it is."

The subordinate took the antidote, quickly walked to a gang member lying on the ground, pinched his cheek, opened his mouth, stuffed the antidote into his mouth, and then fed him a sip of water.

Seeing this, Duan Yu said, "Don't worry! This is really the antidote that Miss Zhong's father gave us, it's absolutely genuine; you should release Miss Zhong immediately."

Sikong Xuan said coldly, "What's the rush? Wait and see. If the antidote you brought works, I will naturally release this girl."

Xu Xingchen remained silent throughout, simply observing the people around her with a relaxed and carefree smile on her face.

The jade statue on his shoulder was never taken down!
His attitude only deepened Sikong Xuan's apprehension.

A moment later, the person lying on the ground groaned and woke up.

Sikong Xuan immediately went up to check on him and saw that his pulse had become much more stable and his complexion was not as bad as before, so he knew that the antidote had taken effect.

He had been tormented by the venom of the lightning ferret these past few days, and a great anger had been growing in his heart.

He had originally planned to wait until he was cured of the poison before dealing with Duan Yu and that girl, but now there was an unpredictable variable whose true nature he couldn't fathom, which made him hesitate in his desire for revenge.

His gaze lingered on Xu Xingchen for a long time, but he couldn't detect a trace of fear or apprehension in her.

After a long silence, he finally waved his hand and shouted, "Release them! Give that brat the antidote for the Heartbreak Powder!"

With a flash of light, the ropes binding Zhong Ling snapped.

A man strode forward and handed a porcelain bottle to Duan Yu, saying, "Take one pill a day, and the poison in your body will be cured in three days." "Since we are even now, we'll take our leave!" Duan Yu cupped his hands to Sikong Xuan, who was not far away, then turned around and left the mountain valley with Zhong Ling, who was happily crowding around him, and Xu Xingchen.

This deal was completed without major incident!
On the way back, Duan Yu introduced Xu Xingchen and Zhong Ling to each other.

However, Zhong Ling's mind was entirely on Duan Yu, so she politely nodded to Xu Xingchen and thanked him.

She was quite curious about the jade statue on Xu Xingchen's shoulder.
However, Xu Xingchen had no intention of lifting the black cloak to show her!
After leaving Wuliang Mountain, we walked another seven or eight miles and came to a fork in the road.

Xu Xingchen then said to Duan Yu, "Brother Duan, you and Miss Zhong are out of danger, so let's take our leave now, until we meet again!"

"Brother Xu, wait!" Duan Yu grabbed Xu Xingchen's sleeve and said urgently, "These past few days, I have received your help many times; this time, if it weren't for you intimidating those Shennong Gang members, I'm afraid I wouldn't have been able to rescue Miss Zhong so easily."

"If Brother Xu has no urgent business, why not come back to Dali City with me so I can properly show him hospitality!"

Xu Xingchen originally intended to separate from Duan Yu first, then find a place to hide the jade statue before heading to Dali City to wait for the Great Wheel King Kumārajīva to go to Tianlong Temple to seize the Six Meridians Divine Sword.
We'll see if we get a chance to see the diagrams for the Six Meridians Divine Sword then!
Now, seeing that Duan Yu wanted to invite him to visit Dali, although he knew that part of the reason was the jade statue on his shoulder, he still nodded and agreed after hesitating for a while.

These two things are not contradictory, but if this happens, I'm afraid it will make things difficult for Duan Yu again!

The three of them continued on their way.

Duan Yu and Zhong Ling'er recounted what had happened since they parted ways. When they got to the part about how they were escorted into a courtyard by a group of people and saw a woman dressed in black with her face covered by a black veil, they realized that...

Zhong Ling'er exclaimed in surprise, "That mansion is not far from my home, and the yard is full of roses, isn't it? That woman in black must be my good friend, Sister Mu Wanqing."

Duan Yu exclaimed in surprise, "So you two know each other?! But that Mu Mu girl is so cold and aloof!"

"Sister Mu has a rather aloof personality. That's how she is when she meets strangers!" Zhu Ling'er was saying when she heard the sound of rapid hoofbeats coming from the night.

The three turned their heads and saw a black steed galloping towards them under the faint starlight and moonlight.

A woman dressed in black with a black veil covering her face sat astride the horse, her eyes fixed on Zhong Ling like nails.

Upon seeing the black horse galloping towards them and the woman on its back, Zhong Ling'er was overjoyed and exclaimed, "Sister Mu, why are you here too? Were you worried about me and came all this way to rescue me?!"

The woman in black pulled on the reins, bringing the magnificent black horse to a stop in front of the three of them.

Her gaze swept over Xu Xingchen and Duan Yu, and she asked in a cold voice, "What happened to you? And why are you with these two men?"

"Ah! So Sister Mu didn't come to save me." Zhong Ling'er was a little disappointed, but she still told the whole story.

Mu Wanqing listened quietly, then said coldly, "I didn't expect you to be kidnapped by the Shennong Gang. If I had known, I would have definitely gone to rescue you. But now that you've escaped, hurry back. Also, try to stay away from those two men."

Zhong Ling'er understood the meaning behind Mu Wanqing's words and quickly asked, "Sister Mu, is there something you need to do? Are you leaving now?"

“That wicked old woman surnamed Wang from Suzhou sent men to hunt me down; I have to shake them off,” Mu Wanqing explained casually, then pulled on the reins again and shouted, “Giddy up!”

The black steed beneath him immediately took off galloping forward.

at the same time
From the direction she came from, one could faintly hear the sounds of figures moving quickly.

It must be those people who were chasing Mu Wanqing.

Zhong Ling watched Mu Wanqing's departing figure with a worried expression: "Sister Mu, how did she attract so many enemies?"

Just as Duan Yu was about to say something, a deafening roar suddenly came from the mountain path ahead.

The howling sound echoed and overlapped among the mountains, making Duan Yu and Zhong Ling's eardrums ring.

Many birds that had already settled in the woods flapped their wings and took flight into the night sky.
Many animals dashed and bumped around wildly, fleeing in panic to distant places.
Xu Xingchen looked in surprise in the direction from which the whistling sound came, thinking to himself, "...It's a pretty good expert!"

The whistling sound approached rapidly, even faster than the black steed that Mu Wanqing was riding.

In the blink of an eye, they arrived not far ahead and darted out from the woods beside the road.

"Where to go?"

With a deafening roar, the newcomer slammed both hands onto the galloping black horse.

Bang!
Amidst a muffled, thunderous explosion of energy.

A black steed weighing several hundred kilograms, along with Mu Wanqing on its back, soared into the night sky.
(End of this chapter)