Misery: There is a pawn shop here

Chapter 176 Black Clothes and Dark Night
Driven by a desire for slaughter and recruitment, Prime Minister Jia Minggong, who had sold his life, personally led the Youyan warriors to ambush Butterfly Lord and Gongsun Yue. Unexpectedly, a sudden attack from the heavens shattered the Youyan warriors' killing formation, and then a figure forcibly took Gongsun Yue and Butterfly Lord away.

As night deepened, the mountains and forests were silent, broken only by the footsteps and shouts of Jia Minggong and his men.

Jia Minggong hadn't expected the black-robed man to move so fast with Butterfly Lord and Gongsun Yue. Even the elite assassins of Youyan Zhengfu were left behind by their incredible speed. Jia Minggong stared at the empty space ahead, his eyes filled with resentment, and gritted his teeth, saying, "Butterfly Lord, Gongsun Yue. No one can escape the death that Youyan Zhengfu wants to kill. Today's refusal will be your chosen path to death, hmph!"

Jia Minggong snorted coldly. Although he was extremely unwilling, since the target had disappeared, he could only lead his men away.

Inside a secluded cave in the forest, Butterfly Lord and Gongsun Yue were both surprised and suspicious as they looked at the figure in front of them, who was wrapped in a black robe and had a child-like figure.

The person in front of them, or if they could be called human, made indistinct sounds, and only a few words could be vaguely discerned.

"Retire...and go into seclusion..."

"You haven't answered Gongsun Yue's question yet." Gongsun Yue frowned, enduring the pain from her injuries, and asked with clasped hands, "May I ask why you intervened?"

"Go... hide..."

The man in black robes did not answer Gongsun Yue's question, but only uttered a series of indistinct sounds. After a long while, a few words could be vaguely discerned: "Disappear..."

Then Gongsun Yue realized that what the black-robed man had said earlier was the word "retirement." The black-robed man, whose identity was unknown, wanted them to retire.

"Your Mightiness……"

Gongsun Yue wanted to say something more, but the child-sized person seemed impatient. The man in black robes also seemed impatient. Suddenly, his black robes billowed up, and a strong wave of air rushed towards them, forcing Gongsun Yue, who had taken a few steps closer, to retreat.

"Hey, even if you saved us..." Upon seeing this, Diejun was immediately dissatisfied and was about to lash out when Gongsun Yue stopped her.

"Butterfly Lord, shut up!" Gongsun Yue then turned to look at the man in black robes in front of her, her mind filled with a myriad of thoughts.

The person before her had a child's face vaguely visible beneath the black robe, yet there was no sign of life in him. It was as if he were just an empty shell, a corpse. However, the move that person had used to break through the encirclement was strangely familiar to Gongsun Yue.

Looking at the man in black robes, a guess began to form in his mind, but the next moment he couldn't help but subconsciously refute it.

If the person before you is truly... then that is the real...

"I...was...entrusted...to...let...you...hide..."

He spoke one word at a time, his mouth feeling as if it were stuffed with mud, as if he were in a state of confusion, only able to make out a few indistinct words.

Upon hearing this, Gongsun Yue's heart skipped a beat. She unconsciously gripped her folding fan tightly, her eyes filled with excitement, and her body began to tremble slightly. Butterfly Lord behind her noticed Gongsun Yue's unusual behavior and a possibility flashed through her mind, but looking at the strange man in black robes before her, she subconsciously wanted to dismiss the idea.

"you……"

Just as Gongsun Yue was about to speak, the man in black robes suddenly let out a strange scream, sharp and piercing, like the wail of a vengeful ghost. Immediately afterward, an even stronger gust of wind arose, forcing Gongsun Yue back once more. "Get...out...of...the...martial...world..." the man in black robes said coldly and resolutely.

"Big brother!" Upon hearing this, Gongsun Yue swayed, her eyes filled with sorrow and expectation as she looked at the person before her. "You are my big brother, aren't you?"

"Get out..." The man in black showed no sign of distress, uttering only one more word.

"Brother, you... come with me, let's retire together."

"what!"

With tears in her eyes, Gongsun Yue spoke with anticipation. But before she could finish speaking, her black robe billowed, and an invisible force struck her like lightning. Neither Gongsun Yue nor Butterfly Lord had time to react. Gongsun Yue was hit by the force and immediately collapsed unconscious. Butterfly Lord reacted instantly, drawing his Butterfly Slash, the tip pointing directly at the person before him.

"No matter if you are a saint or not, if you dare to touch Ah Yue, you'll be in trouble..." Before Butterfly King could finish speaking, something flew out and landed right in front of him.

Butterfly looked closely and then his expression changed. "Lamplighter, you really are..."

"Go..." Before Butterfly could finish speaking, the man roared again, "Go...you...release...the...acupoints..."

"How did you become like this?" Butterfly Lord frowned, looking at the black-robed man in front of him, his heart filled with doubt and confusion.

Looking back, he had never had a good impression of the person in front of him and had doubted their brotherhood many times. However, after the incident of being hunted down by the Loyal King, he vaguely felt that there might really be a deep bond between the people of Prajna Sea and Gongsun Yue, but they were just separated by their positions.

The man in black robes did not answer again, but silently stared at Butterfly Lord, making Butterfly Lord feel a little uneasy.

Seeing this, Butterfly King could only sigh, bent down to pick up the secret manual from the ground, and glanced at the man in black robes one last time. "You can leave with us. Ah Yue must have the same idea. Or are you still unwilling to give up?"

The black robe billowed, but there was still no response. Butterfly Lord sighed again, then carried Gongsun Yue and disappeared into the night.

"This is all your own choice. Take care of yourself. Don't worry, Butterfly King guarantees with his life that he will take good care of Ah Yue. As long as Butterfly King has a breath left, no one can hurt her."

Just after Butterfly Lord left with Gongsun Yue, the black robe on the man in black robes suddenly fell off, and he collapsed to the ground like a lump of mud. A mass of pure black viscous fluid quickly condensed from his body, forming an indescribable shape. It rolled out of the cave in a way that was difficult for ordinary people to understand and describe, and disappeared into the night.

A short while later, a figure silently entered the cave. The newcomer's eyes were sharp, and when they saw the half-mutilated child's body on the ground, their pupils constricted sharply. After glancing around and confirming that nothing was amiss, they muttered to themselves, "It seems those two have escaped, but..."

“Strange things, no, I can’t put Zhu Yi in danger again because of these things. Yan Guiren, Yan Guiren, isn’t the life you’re living with Zhu Yi now exactly what you wanted?”

"Since I've decided to live in seclusion, how can I let the turmoil of the martial world affect Crystal Lake again? Now that Butterfly Lord and Gongsun Yue have escaped danger, I can rest assured."

After saying this, the man raised his hand and kicked up dust to bury the bones on the ground. Then he walked out of the cave and disappeared into the night.

(End of this chapter)