Starting with the divine power of the Great Vajra, he traversed the heavens.

Chapter 224 Rescuing the Servant Han Bai (Seeking monthly votes at the beginning of the month!)

Spring rain adds flowers to the road, and the flowers stir up a mountain of spring colors.

As the sun sets, Taohuadian Village is filled with peace and tranquility. Villagers slowly return home, carrying hoes on their shoulders. At the same time, a white donkey carrying a baby on its back also takes them home.

Many of these babies were wearing bibs and had their bottoms exposed, clearly indicating that they were new additions to the village.

When the donkey is brought to the village, the villagers will give it some fruits and vegetables to eat, and they will even feed it their homemade "peach blossom wine".

The white donkey welcomes all comers, feeding and drinking as he pleases. When he gets drunk, he'll bray once to say hello and then waddle home.

Inside the San Gao Residence.

Xi Yingzhen, dressed in a Taoist robe and holding a pipe, sat in the pavilion, playing chess with Ren Shaoyang.

Each of them had a pot of "Peach Blossom Wine" beside them. Every now and then, they would tap their fingers together, take a sip of wine from the pot, puff out a couple of puffs of smoke, and then turn to look at Hongxiu practicing her sword.

Springtime is in full bloom, and the beauty is as stunning as a jade sword.

"Oh my, it's beautiful!" Xi Yingzhen shook her head, looking completely content.

Ren Shaoyang laughed and said, "Duan Shou is pulling noodles right now, saying he's making oil-splashed noodles. It'll be even more delicious when we slurp them up later!"

"Noodles, please!" Xi Yingzhen stroked his white beard, somewhat hesitantly asking, "Do you have any garlic?"

Ren Shaoyang hesitated for a moment: "It seems not."

"Oh dear!" Xi Yingzhen slapped her thigh. "How can we eat noodles without garlic? That's the garlic we're after!"

"Alright, alright!" Ren Shaoyang placed a piece and said helplessly, "I'll go to the village chief's house and get some garlic later."

Xi Yingzhen beamed: "Hey, that's more like it!"

At that moment, the girl outside the pavilion gazed at the curved sword, turned gently, and began to dance towards the setting sun.

Her waist was as slender as a willow, her blade as radiant as the afterglow of the setting sun. With each leap, she moved like a willow swaying in the breeze, and with each fall, she streaked like a shooting star. Her movements were sharp and ethereal, a perfect harmony between woman and blade.

Blood-red shadows crisscrossed the arena, growing faster and faster, the setting sun casting its light upon them like a streak of sparks rolling across the blade.

Xi Yingzhen watched for a while and nodded, saying, "Hongxiu's swordsmanship can be considered the pinnacle since the time of the Great Eagle Sect."

Ren Shaoyang looked at Hongxiu and let out a soft whistle. With a flash of light, his blade split a large blue stone in two with a hiss. He couldn't help but laugh and said, "The blade energy ten feet away is incomparably sharp. It can indeed be called the peak."

Xi Yingzhen laughed and said, "In the Central Plains, Feng Han is the most respected swordsman, but he is still some distance from Hongxiu. If we talk about those who have reached the realm of the celestial in swordsmanship, there is no one in the Central Plains, but there is a formidable figure overseas."

Ren Shaoyang's eyes flashed, and he said in a deep voice, "Who is it?"

"The Great Collection of Water Moon in the Eastern Sea".

Ren Shaoyang nodded and said casually, "Japanese pirates!"

Xi Yingzhen smiled and said, "This person is obsessed with the way of the sword. The Water Moon Sword Technique is most adept at bewitching people's hearts. If he comes to the Central Plains, he will definitely seek to fight my granddaughter to the death. We must not be careless."

"Elder Xi," Ren Shaoyang raised his glass and clinked it against his, chuckling, "you seem to be subconsciously ignoring our 'Knife King'."

"Ouch~!"

Xi Yingzhen slapped her forehead and exclaimed, "How come I always forget about him?" As she spoke, she looked towards the kitchen, at the man pulling noodles, "Could it be that he always looks so simple and honest that people can't remember him?"

"Perhaps he really is too deceptive."

Just as the two were chirping away at Ding'an behind them, they heard Ding'an shout loudly, "Coming, coming! The noodles are ready!"

Ding An carried a bowl of oil-splashed noodles in each hand, walked quickly to the pavilion, put it down, and said to the two men, "Old Xi, Cripple, you eat first, I still have some in the pot."

"Hey! There's food!"

The little beggar sheathed his scimitar, skipped and hopped into the pavilion, and patted Ding'an's prosthetic hand.

"Bang bang~!"

"Ouch, little beggar, be gentle, don't hurt him!" Ding An immediately shouted, taking out a handkerchief from his pocket and wiping the feather-patterned steel prosthetic hand with his breath.

The little beggar snorted and shouted, "Your thing is black and hard, how could I possibly break it?"

Ding An shook his head, turned around to protect his prosthetic arm, and ran towards the kitchen: "I'm ignoring you!"

Ren Shaoyang pushed the noodles forward, handed chopsticks to Hongxiu, and said with a smile, "He only finished assembling it these past few days, so it's a rare treat."

"Hululu"

The little beggar ate his noodles in big mouthfuls, his eyes vacant, and said as he chewed, "But he's too fond of it. Now he's acting like a woman, yelling at the slightest touch."

"Little sister, you're not allowed to talk about Ding'an like that!" Ren Shaoyang frowned. "A mechanical arm! For a man, that's second only to a straight stick!"

“I agree,” Xi Yingzhen said, raising her hand.

The younger sister lowered her eyes, pouted, and said, "Oh! I know I was wrong." Suddenly, she frowned, "Brother Shaoyang, where's the garlic?"

Ren Shaoyang jumped up and strode towards the door: "I'll go get it right now!"

"Hehe~" The younger sister and Xi Yingzhen exchanged a glance and laughed.

Ren Shaoyang borrowed two heads of garlic from the village chief's house and was also given a sausage. He returned to the Sangao residence with a full haul.

Then you see Xi Yingzhen, the little beggar, Ding'an, and a big fat Taoist priest squatting on the ground, holding up a large bowl and eating noodles.

"Oh, Brother Ban Dao is here?"

Ren Shaoyang greeted them, handed the garlic to Xi Yingzhen, took the bowl of noodles from the little beggar, and quickly slurped down a couple of mouthfuls. It was hot and spicy, with a fresh, fragrant, and oily flavor. Delicious!
The young Taoist took the garlic from Hongxiu's hand, cracked off a clove, and then ate half a bowl of noodles in large gulps, his face beaming as he exclaimed, "Delicious!"

The fat Taoist chewed a few bites, swallowed quickly, and then said, "I just arrived, but something big has happened."

"What's up?" Ding'an asked casually.

The little Taoist put down his bowl, wiped his mouth, and said, "Xiao Bai has been locked up in jail. They say he killed someone."

"what?"

Hongxiu and Ding'an were both startled.

The beggar frowned and said, "Han Xiaobai might be a bit of a womanizer, how could he possibly kill someone? He's probably been framed!"

"Yes! Yes!" Ding An nodded repeatedly.

Xi Yingzhen stroked his beard in thought, then asked, "What exactly is the situation?"

Xiao Ban Dao Ren said, "Several top experts from the Eight Sects Alliance arrived at the Han residence. That night, they discovered that Xie Qinglian of the Changbai Sect had died in the Han residence's armory. The only people present were the unconscious Han Bai and a bloodstained dagger in his hand."

"So, this confirms that Xiao Bai is the murderer?"

The young Taoist nodded and said, "That's right, he has already been taken to the Huangzhou Prefecture prison."

Xi Yingzhen chuckled softly, looked at Ren Jianshen who was leisurely eating noodles, and said, "Shaoyang, what do you think?"

After finishing the last noodle, Ren Shaoyang handed the bowl to Ding An, clapped his hands, and said casually, "It's a very crude frame-up."

"Oh?" Xi Yingzhen asked with a smile. "What do you mean?"

At this moment, Hongxiu and Ding'an brought several bowls of noodle soup from the kitchen, and everyone picked them up and drank them, using the soup to aid digestion.

"Phew!" Ren Shaoyang blew on the steam from the noodle soup, took two sips, and said, "Brother Xiaoban, who escorted Xiaobai to the authorities in the armory?"

“Shaolin Ma Junsheng!” the little Taoist priest said. “The one presiding over the case is his nephew, He Qiyang, the chief constable of the three provinces.”

Hongxiu chuckled and said, "A servant who doesn't know any martial arts actually killed Young Hero Changbai in the Han family's armory? Such a ridiculous case was closed so quickly. I don't believe for a second that Ma Junsheng and He Qiyang didn't collude."

The Taoist priest thought for a moment and then asked in surprise, "Could it be that Ma Junsheng is a prime suspect?"

Ren Shaoyang finished his bowl of noodle soup and said slowly, "He did it."

Xi Yingzhen nodded and asked, "Why did Ma Junsheng kill someone?"

Ren Shaoyang said, "Because there is an extraordinary sword in the armory."

"A knife?" the half-Taoist asked, frowning. "What kind of knife?"

“If it’s that knife,” Xi Yingzhen said solemnly, “the logic of Ma Junsheng killing someone to cover up the crime and framing them makes sense.”

The young Taoist priest hurriedly asked, "Oh dear, Elder Xi, what kind of knife is that?"

Xi Yingzhen laughed and said, "Eagle Knife!"

"Huh?" The little Taoist priest was taken aback. "How come this thing is in the Han residence? Shouldn't it be in the hands of the Living Buddha Yingyuan?"

“It was Feng Xinglie who put it there.” Ren Shaoyang stood up, patted his hem, and slowly said, “Back then, Feng Xinglie got the Eagle Blade from Ying Yuan and secretly put it in the Han family’s armory.”

Seeing him set off, Hongxiu immediately asked, "Where are you going?"

Without turning his head, Ren Shaoyang said, "Go to Huangzhou and rescue the servant Han Bai."

The little beggar's eyes lit up, and he quickly followed, saying as he walked, "He's not in any immediate danger."

“Yes,” Ren Shaoyang said in a deep voice, “because there is a powerful figure in Huangzhou prison who cultivates the ‘Dao Heart Demon Seed’.”

Hongxiu's expression changed. After thinking for a moment, she said, "Chi Zunxin, who has been missing for three years?"

“That’s right,” Ren Shaoyang said. “Pang Ban was a disciple of Meng Chixing of the ‘Demon Image Sect,’ a lineage that has been passed down among foreign races since the Sui and Tang Dynasties. Chi Zunxin, on the other hand, inherited the lineage of the Yin Gui Sect’s Blood Hand Li Gong.”

"After Wu Zetian replaced the Tang dynasty, the demonic sects in the Central Plains declined and their lineage was scattered. Therefore, only Pang Ban and Chi Zunxin knew the incomplete version of the Dao Heart Demon Seed Technique."

The little beggar suddenly realized and said, "So, the reason why Old Ghost Pang Ban attacked Chi Zunxin with his protective hand guards was to complete the incomplete 'Dao Heart Demon Seed'?"

“That’s right!” Ren Shao chuckled. “He set his sights on Chi Zunxin not only to complete the Great Law, but also to recruit the ‘Zunxin Sect’ to deal with the Angry Dragon Gang. It’s killing two birds with one stone.”

"I understand!" the little beggar shouted. "You said Xiao Bai is in danger, does that mean Chi Zunxin will use the Dao Heart Demon Seed Technique to use Xiao Bai as a furnace?"

Ren Shaoyang said, "I'm not sure, so I'll go and check."

"We must go see!" Hongxiu said coldly. "How can my little brother be harmed at will?"

As they talked, the two quickly left the village, summoned the white donkey and the big cat, and sped off towards Huangzhou.

Inside the San Gao residence, Xi Yingzhen and the other two were somewhat stunned as they watched Ren Shaoyang and his companion leave quickly.

After a while, Ding'an said blankly, "There are still some noodles in the pot. Do you want some beef noodles?"

"There's more?!" The little Taoist's eyes lit up. "I can eat three more bowls!"

"Eat, eat, eat!" Xi Yingzhen roared. "All you ever think about is eating!"

Ding An chuckled: "Old Xi, would you like some?"

Xi Yingzhen stroked his beard and said proudly, "I can have at least five bowls!"

(End of this chapter)