Be a proper Taoist priest in The Condor Heroes

As for when this group of people will be discovered, that's not his concern.

The Mongols would certainly not care whether these people lived or died; at most, the leader of the Black Tiger Gang might investigate for the sake of his commission.

When the leader of the Black Tiger Gang received the message, Su Yan had already led Xiao Nianba out of Taiyuan Prefecture. Along the way, thanks to the Quanzhen Sect's token, the Mongol checkpoints did not cause any trouble.

According to Master Song Zhifang, at least within Mongolia, the Quanzhen Sect's token can avoid most troubles, but these troubles are only official ones and do not include the ones in front of us.

More than twenty emaciated refugees, their bones showing, surrounded Su Yan and his companion, simply because Xiao Nianba had accidentally revealed a few pieces of coarse grain cakes.

They were all skin and bones, their clothes tattered like rags hanging on their bodies, unable to cover their withered limbs. Some were barefoot, their soles bleeding from cuts on the gravel, covered in black scabs; their faces were covered in soot, only their eyes gleaming with a desperate green light, clinging tightly to the bundle on Su Yan's back, a sign of being driven mad by hunger.

"Hand over the grain... hand it over!"

An old man stretched out his hand tremblingly, his withered fingers with prominent knuckles and dirt stuck in his fingernails. His voice was hoarse, as if it had been sanded, with a plea that concealed a desperate madness.

Su Yan's heart sank, and he subconsciously took half a step back, drew his sword, and spoke in a chilling tone.

"Those who take one step forward shall die!"

"There are only two of them! If we rob them, we can live!"

An elderly woman stepped forward, her eyes red-rimmed and her lips chapped and peeling, as she roared.

"Exactly! Let's rob them!"

The crowd erupted in a commotion, pressing forward one by one, their eyes filled with despair that overwhelmed their reason. They were so hungry that all they could see was food; Su Yan's threats seemed pale and powerless in the face of hunger.

"Rob it!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the crowd surged towards Su Yan like tinder that had been set ablaze. Some withered hands reached for his chest, others for his bundle, and still others lunged at the listless little boy behind him.

He was shouting incoherently.

"I want to live!!!"

Su Yan dodged the old man who was the first to pounce. The old man missed and fell to the ground, getting a mouthful of mud. He got up and tried to charge again.

Su Yan knew that if he didn't act soon, he and Xiao Nianba would be torn to pieces by these starving refugees sooner or later. Now was not the time for sentimentality.

A flash of cold light.

He didn't want to hurt anyone, but he had no other choice at that moment.

A man wielding a broken piece of wood charged forward. Su Yan flicked his wrist, and the iron sword pierced the man's chest with precision. With a muffled thud, the man's body stiffened, his eyes widened, and he fell to the ground with a face full of resentment and hunger. Blood instantly stained the wild grass beneath him.

He sidestepped another refugee, slashed horizontally with his iron sword, a flash of cold light, and the refugee screamed and fell to the ground, clutching his bleeding throat, twitching a few times before going still.

The stench of blood mingled with the stench of weeds, instantly filling the air.

They stared at the scene before them in horror, filled with apprehension.

The crowd began to back away.

They were utterly stunned. The bodies of their two companions lay before them, and their eyes, once filled with hunger, were now filled only with deep fear.

"Dare to follow? This is what happens, humph!"

With a cold face, he didn't look at the refugees again. Holding Xiao Nianba's hand, he turned around and walked forward through the weeds without looking back, his steps as heavy as if they were filled with lead.

Xiao Nianba didn't say anything, just followed Su Yan forward expressionlessly. She had experienced hunger before and knew how attractive these foods were to those people.

But the pain from the blisters on her feet told her that this was just the beginning, and there was still a long way to go. The dry food was not even enough for her and Yan Ge'er. Although she could eat very little, it was still a tight situation.

They had only been away for two days, and this was already the fourth time they had encountered refugees trying to rob them.

Powerless.

This is Su Yan's biggest feeling. There are many virtuous and righteous people in this era, but in the tide of this era, these people are just a small ripple. The Taoist temple can save the people of a city or a place, but it cannot save the people of the entire north.

Buddhism teaches that all sentient beings suffer, but chanting scriptures cannot deliver the souls of those whose bones have been devoured by wild dogs.

The root of this chaos lies not in how vicious the soldiers and bandits are, but in the fact that those who rule the world have never cared about the lives of the common people.

Compared to the situation in the city, the situation outside the city was obviously much more tragic. Along the way, there were corpses everywhere. What should have been a lush and leafy wilderness was a barren expanse as far as the eye could see. Occasionally there were dead tree stumps, but they still couldn't hide the corpses scattered all over the ground.

The dead people were scattered like withered branches, lying at the base of broken walls, along ditches, and deep in the grass. You would bump into one every few steps, and it was hard to find even a clean place to put your feet.

The corpses were all emaciated, reduced to mere skeletons. Thin tattered cloths wrapped their jagged frames, and their exposed hands and feet were dry, blackened, and the skin clung to the bones like crumpled paper, rustling in the wind. Some lay in shallow ditches, their faces buried in the yellow earth, their clothes torn to shreds by wild dogs, their exposed spines protruding sharply, no longer resembling human beings.

Walking in such a mountain wilderness, the yellow earth underfoot seemed to be soaked in despair. Every step could be stepping on withered bones, and every glance could reveal shocking tragedies. Even Su Yan, who came from a peaceful era, had gradually become numb, let alone these ordinary people.

Those who starved to death were once ordinary people who desperately wanted to survive. But in this chaotic world where people devoured each other, they couldn't even get a grain of rice or a blade of grass. In the end, they could only fall in this desolate wilderness and disappear silently, as if they had never lived in this world.

After leaving Taiyuan Prefecture, the two traveled through the wilderness for several days, avoiding official roads as much as possible. Within the Taiyuan Prefecture area, the Quanzhen Sect's token could indeed play a significant role, but in the desolate wilderness, the Mongol soldiers had little to fear.

Moreover, there are often refugees, defeated soldiers, and bandits robbing and plundering on the official roads. Although Su Yan, a third-rate martial artist, is not afraid of them, he is carrying Xiao Nianba and if the other side has a large number of people, it will be difficult for him to protect Xiao Nianba.

This is a real world. Even a first-rate martial artist cannot be judged by anyone if their qi and blood are not exposed. At most, one can judge by a person's temperament. He remembered that in the original novel of The Return of the Condor Heroes, it was mentioned that Qiu Qianchi's twin brother, Qiu Qianzhang, used his brother's name to deceive people and forge martial arts skills to intimidate the heroes.

Brick powder was used to imitate the palm force of Iron Palm Kung Fu, and underwater hidden stakes were used to imitate the light-footed skill of walking on water.

Therefore, to avoid trouble and to evade those experts hiding among the crowd, traveling in the mountains and wilderness is the safest option.