Mountain and River Festival

Chapter 392 The Smugglers
The woman fled too quickly; the pig that had been kicked away hadn't even hit the ground yet when Ah Nuo rushed over to catch it.

I thought the little pig might have been kicked to death, but it turned out that the spot where it was kicked was just red and swollen, and it was actually not a big problem.

Ah Nuo was shocked: "Yu Yu, you're not really Sister Yu in disguise, are you? How come you're so hard?"

The little pig didn't know who she was talking about, and lay there crying.

Ah Nuo was also an alchemist, so she gave the little pig a pill.

The little pig fell asleep comfortably.

Lu Xingzhou turned his head and felt a warm feeling, and smiled unconsciously.

A grinding sound came from beside him: "How long are you going to keep laughing at this woman's rag? Does it smell good?"

Lu Xingzhou realized what was happening and said righteously, "I need to study her fabric to see if it exists in this world."

Sheng Yuanyao tried to snatch it: "What do you know about fabric? Let me see it!"

Lu Xingzhou was unwilling to give it to her; if he did, she would most likely turn to ashes the next second. He hurriedly took the ring back.

That's no lie. What's the point of collecting a rag? To smell it? I really want to study whether it's similar to the materials used in the ancient realm by Duan Ning and the others.

After all, the woman's origin from the ancient realm was just my guess, and it might not be true. She might be from another force.

If it's an ancient realm, there's a question that remains unanswered: the people from the ancient realm who came to attack the Holy Mountain were at least a force, with at least one super-grade individual. It couldn't possibly be a woman of around grade two, fighting alone, could it?
What's she doing here alone? Stealing something?
This made Lu Xingzhou slightly less confident in his judgment that she came from the ancient world; perhaps she really was just a female thief taking advantage of the Holy Mountain incident to fish in troubled waters.

Sheng Yuanyao failed to grab the rag and started whimpering, "Lu Xingzhou!"

Lu Xingzhou asked, "Are you still going to touch the bird or not?"

Sheng Yuanyao's eyes flickered: "What kind of lewd words are these? I just fell for them."

"What do you mean by 'tigerish thoughts'? I'm talking about the skeleton of that bird over there."

Enraged, Sheng Yuanyao kicked Lu Xingzhou, who dodged quickly. Sheng Yuanyao then turned to the bird: "This doesn't look like a phoenix, it looks more like a thunderbird... It's actually quite suitable for me. A phoenix is ​​too much for me, so I'll leave it to your Shen Tang."

Thunderbird...

The Kui Niu is also somewhat related to lightning, so this place is generally biased towards that attribute?
Sheng Yuanyao continued to pet the bird. The demonic energy from the Thunder Bird's corpse seemed to have a cleansing effect on her, and she was too lazy to pay attention to Lu Xingzhou for the time being.

This was truly a stroke of luck for her.

With Sheng Yuanyao busy with important matters, and A'nuo and Xiaozhu recovering from their injuries, Lu Xingzhou went off to do some archaeological dig, hoping to discover something. Perhaps the cause of the battlefield could be explained by the Kui Niu's "Give me back my life!"

Before anything could be discerned, the communication jade talisman vibrated, and Ye Tinglan called out.

Lu Xingzhou found a corner to answer the call: "What's wrong?"

Ye Tinglan's tone was very anxious: "I haven't contacted you for just a few days. How did you get involved in the chaos in the Demon Realm? I heard that the tyrant killed tens of thousands of people. Are you all alright?"

So it turns out that a spy from the Demon Capital relayed the information to Ye Tinglan...

But the scout was clearly unaware of Lu Xingzhou's role in the whole affair, so he didn't say anything. Upon hearing this, Ye Tinglan was alarmed. The demon realm was in chaos, rivers of blood flowed, and her lover was currently in the demon capital! How was he? She immediately made contact.

Lu Xingzhou didn't know whether he should tell her that he had almost single-handedly instigated this bloody conflict, and that even the Dragon Emperor had been ridden...

This sounds like a dream when you tell it to others.

He could only say, "I'm fine here. The Dragon Emperor wouldn't make things difficult for an envoy for no reason."

"No, I'll come pick you up. Even the demons can't stop me."

"...No need." How could Lu Xingzhou dare to let her come? Was the problem that they couldn't leave now a matter of strength?
Ye Tinglan finally realized something was wrong: "Hey, you didn't actually climb into Long Qinghuang's bed, did you?"

Lu Xingzhou replied matter-of-factly, "No. I'm thinking about how to leave openly and honestly."

Ye Tinglan said, "That woman is unreasonable. How could she possibly let you leave openly and honestly?"

Lu Xingzhou seized the opportunity to ask, "You and Long Qinghuang have probably rarely faced each other directly, right? Except for that time with Dongyue Hanchuan? Why do you seem to have a lot of opinions about her?"

"We crossed paths a few times in the past, didn't we? This woman is fierce and savage, so domineering that she acts like the heavens are second only to her, and she can't tolerate the slightest disobedience." Ye Tinglan said, "If a person like this were a ruler, it would be alright if there were external enemies. I've heard that the Demon Realm is relatively civilized and peaceful, and she can listen to a few words of advice from her courtiers after her defeat. But once there are no external enemies, this kind of person would be a tyrannical despot. Look at this time, the bloodshed is like a river... But speaking of which, I used to think that she and the Holy Mountain were one, but I only found out this time that they weren't."

As expected, Ye Tinglan's wariness and resistance towards Long Qinghuang stemmed partly from her natural dislike of that kind of domineering emperor, and partly from her extremely poor impression of the Holy Mountain.

Lu Xingzhou then said tactfully, "Since you know she can listen to a few words of advice from court officials, then you should trust my eloquence."

Kissing skills count too. Ye Tinglan asked suspiciously, "Are you really alright?"

"It's really nothing," Lu Xingzhou said. "Your call came at just the right time; I have many things I need to verify with you."

Feeling needed, Ye Tinglan felt comfortable and lazily said, "Speak."

"Did you already know that the demonization of officials in the Great Qian Dynasty was related to the Holy Mountain?"

“Indeed, I vaguely sensed that feeling of having my Qi stolen, but I didn’t have enough evidence. And since they are officials, it’s difficult for us to find them one by one. This requires the Emperor’s cooperation, but unfortunately, Gu Zhanting, for some reason, let it go. This is also the root cause of the growing estrangement between me and Gu Zhanting.”

"Hmm... So now that you've captured Fang Qihao and searched his soul, and recently conquered the sea, you should understand the motives of these ancient beings, right?"

"Yes, Zhao En is the leader of this group. Zhao En's original intention in stealing the fate of the Tian Shuang Kingdom was to use the fate of a nation to establish a foothold for himself, rather than simply seeking a breakthrough. It was just that you and I ruined it. In other words, the act of stealing the fate and the subsequent provocation on Jin Feng Island are actually causally related, and not independent events."

"What's the situation now?"

"With the destruction of Golden Wind Island, almost all the known ancient smugglers have been wiped out. Only Zhao En escaped with his arm severed but did not return to Golden Wind Island and has disappeared without a trace. I haven't been able to contact you often these days because I've been focusing my energy here... It's a pity that the sea is too vast and they may have fled to overseas countries, making them really hard to find."

"So they're not in cahoots with the ancient beings who attacked the Holy Mountain?"

"They were all brought together by Zhao En, but their ideas differed, so they didn't join forces with Zhao En and split up."

"Oh? What are they thinking?"

"From the soul search conducted by Fang Qihao and his group, we learned that another group of people do not agree with entering this world by possessing another body. This is mainly because they themselves are disgusted by the idea of ​​possessing another body. These two opposing ideas are also the same in this world. Xuan Nu seems to have possessed bodies generation after generation and is used to it, but we really hate this method."

"Well, continue."

"Therefore, after connecting with Zhao En and Gu Zhanting, this group of people had other ideas. They felt that with the support of the most powerful empire in the world, they could actually live normally here under the empire's cover. Of course, they needed a pledge of loyalty, which led to the attack on the Holy Mountain."

Lu Xingzhou went through the process again and asked, "Didn't they want to occupy the Holy Mountain themselves?"

"If Gu Zhanting had successfully defeated Long Qinghuang in the previous battle, the Holy Mountain might have given them a foothold, but Gu Zhanting lost."

"So they weren't in the Demon Realm? They went back to the Great Qian?"

"Probably so. We can't find out this from Fang Qihao and the others, but judging from common sense, they should have returned to Daqian."

Lu Xingzhou touched the red fabric of his clothes and pondered for a long time.

If this group of people from the ancient world have already returned to the Great Qian Dynasty, then who is this woman?

Ye Tinglan was saying, "Others need to possess another body to stay, so we analyze that if they want to stay long-term, they must have to pay some kind of price, it's not just about having Gu Zhanting to cover for them. We don't know what that price is yet."

Lu Xingzhou recalled the few words he had heard from the Huo family.

Marriage?

Is the marriage merely a political alliance, or does it have something to do with their survival in this world?
Is he thinking that leaving a seed here is also a form of invasion?
Whatever the meaning behind this, Gu Zhanting probably feared being usurped, so he refused to arrange the marriage himself or through a prince. The Huo family, who are used to taking the blame, thus stepped in.

Uh... Could the person to be married into this marriage be the owner of this tattered cloth?
If she could potentially become Huo Xingyuan's second wife... then Huo Xingyuan, your future wife's back is quite fair. Unfortunately, she turned and retreated too quickly, and I didn't get a clear look at her face. It was Ah Nuo who got a good look at her face...

The clues from all sides are now largely connected. What needs to be figured out is how these ancient beings survived. And... Lu Xingzhou really wants to have a face-to-face conversation with an ancient being to understand what's going on with them.

"If you search their souls, do you find any reason why they tried to sneak into this world, or why the two worlds are not connected?"

Ye Tinglan said, "Fang Qihao only knows that this is a good world where the general cultivation level is lower, but the resources and spiritual energy are not lacking at all, so he has been longing to come here. I also know that there should be a bigger reason behind it, but Fang Qihao's level is not high enough, so I can't get any clues from him. Perhaps only Zhao En knows this. Hmm... perhaps Yuan Muyu took away Duan Ning's remnant soul, and there will be some other clues there. I will try to contact her and exchange what I have."

In other words, the so-called ancient realms and immortal realms are no better than this place in terms of resources and spiritual energy, but the competition is even more intense.

No wonder ancient books record that those who reach the Huiyang realm within a hundred years are all geniuses. However, given that people today are generally not as good as those in ancient times, Ye Tinglan and Yuan Muyu can both reach the Huiyang realm within a hundred years. The fundamental reason is that the environment of this world is no worse than that of ancient times.

What everyone lacks is actually the inheritance of classical texts?
This kind of division is really strange.

Lu Xingzhou pondered for a moment, then said, "If the matter in the sea is basically resolved, then you don't need to stay there looking for Zhao En anymore. It's like looking for a needle in a haystack; there's no way to find him. The Holy Land can issue a sea hunt to get the attention of all the countries and major immortal sects in the sea. I think you should go back to Daqian. I feel like Gu Zhanting is about to cause trouble again."

Ye Tinglan agreed, then asked, "When will you be back?"

Lu Xingzhou couldn't answer that question, so he could only say, "It'll be soon."

"But I miss you... Xingzhou." The Holy Lord's voice became gentle and sweet, making Lu Xingzhou feel a shiver run through his body, and he sighed inwardly.

I feel I still need to have an open and honest talk with Long Qinghuang... Forcing things won't work. At least for now, helping her restore her energy and addressing the infertility of her clan is a negotiable condition, right?
Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

P.S.: I'm back! Still asking for monthly votes!
(End of this chapter)