Underworld entries, starting with ghost stories.

When the little girl named Little Sparrow came to inform Wu Qing, Wu Qing was practicing horseback riding.

His life improved after he became a secretary here.

While everyone in Doujiazhuang was busy building the stronghold, he was very leisurely.

If someone wants to help, everyone will politely tell him to rest.

Because in everyone's eyes, he was a cultured scholar, a secretary who was neither strong nor capable of lifting heavy objects, yet was very important.

Wu Qing also felt that it might be too late to start practicing martial arts now.

However, you still need to know basic things like riding a horse.

During the time he returned to Wuji Village with Doujiazhuang, he ate more meat and his health gradually improved.

So I tried learning to ride a horse.

It's not that difficult to learn.

"Master Wu!" Little Sparrow came running over quickly. "Miss says there's something urgent and she needs you to go right away."

"Alright!" Wu Qing pulled on the reins and spurred his horse toward the front of the mountain.

Although the ride on horseback was bumpy, this hardship was nothing to him now.

The reconstruction of Wujizhai is progressing rapidly; many areas have been cleaned up and rebuilt.

Some refugees from the surrounding area also came to stay. After checking them, Wujizhai took in all the people they could and put them on the land behind the mountain to cultivate.

For long-term deployments, these personnel are still very important.

They arrived at the courtyard where Dou Xianniang was staying.

The place where Wu Qing was arranged to stay was actually nearby.

Here, more than twenty martial artists are already fully prepared and ready to go.

Wu Qing dismounted and entered the courtyard.

"Qing-ge'er, you've come at the right time!" Dou Xianniang looked at him and said, "We're afraid we need to go out right away."

"Young Miss, what happened?" Wu Qing stepped forward.

He saw an elderly man he didn't recognize standing nearby, who appeared to be an old servant of some wealthy family.

"This is a bit of a problem!" Dou Xianniang picked up a letter from the table and waved it around. "This is a letter from Master Shan."

"Who is this Master Shan you're talking about?"

"Master Shan Xiongxin of Erxian Manor!" Dou Xianniang said, "My father roamed the martial arts world and traveled the Jianghu. When he passed through Taiyuan Prefecture, he had many disputes with some heroes of Taiyuan."

"Fortunately, the two masters of Erxian Manor on Phoenix Mountain helped mediate, and everything was peaceful afterwards. My father also became acquainted with the two masters of Erxian Manor because of this, and they often corresponded with each other."

"I also lived in Erxianzhuang with my father for a period of time. Although the daughter of the second master of the manor, Shan Ailian, was a few years younger than me, we were like sisters and very close."

Wu Qing said, "Miss, you suddenly mentioned this Miss Ailian. Could it be that the trouble you mentioned is related to her?"

Now that Wu Qing had become a secretary, he also worked hard to learn, think carefully, and understand the unspoken meanings behind others' words.

Preparations have already begun outside; things seem to be in a bit of a rush.

In this situation, she only needs to mention that her father, Dou Jiande, was acquainted with Erxianzhuang; there is no need to say anything more about her relationship with Shan Ailian.

There must be a reason why it's mentioned.

Dou Xianniang said, "That's right!"

"Erxianzhuang is located on Phoenix Mountain in Taiyuan. Recently, Li Yuan, the Duke of Tang, offended Yuwen Huaji. Yuwen Huaji and his men slandered him, and the foolish emperor demoted him from the Eastern Capital to serve as the governor of Taiyuan."

Wu Qing exclaimed, "Then Erxianzhuang is in trouble!"

I had previously heard Master Cen say that Duke Li Yuan of Tang had a long-standing feud with the Shan family of Erxianzhuang.

Dou Xianniang said, "That's right. The two lords of Erxianzhuang were forced to move away from Taiyuan. Because they were worried that Li Yuan would send troops to hunt them down and make it difficult to protect their families, they secretly sent a group of people to send Ailian to Doujiazhuang, wanting me to take care of her first."

"But we left in such a hurry that we didn't even have time to inform Erxianzhuang. By the time Ailian and her people arrived, we had already been gone for several days. They didn't know where we had gone, and they dared not return to Taiyuan."

"Erxianzhuang was originally a place where heroes could easily divide gold, so they naturally dared not enter or leave the town at will, and thus could only linger near Doujiazhuang."

"Unexpectedly, they encountered two women leading a band of mountain bandits. They scattered the bandits, killed many of them, and tried to capture Ailian."

Many heroes died protecting Ailian before they were able to escort her to escape into the deep mountains.

Dou Xianniang looked at the old servant next to her: "His name is Shan Fu. He was originally a steward of Erxianzhuang. He got separated from Ailian during the escape. Fortunately, he met our sentries who were going back to investigate intelligence."

Wu Qing asked the old servant, "Your Erxian Village has made many friends among heroes and shared the spoils of war. When you encountered that gang of bandits, didn't you say you were from Erxian Village?"

The old servant hurriedly said, "We told them, but who knew that after those two female bandit leaders heard it, they shouted, 'At least the trip wasn't in vain,' and charged at us."

Wu Qing looked at Dou Xianniang: "This is illogical. How could ordinary bandits ignore the fact that they would offend the outlaws of Erxianzhuang who help distribute and sell stolen goods?"

"Besides, how could there be two female bandit leaders around Doujiazhuang whose origins you don't even know?"

"They certainly weren't there for Miss Ailian at first, since even you, Miss, didn't know Miss Ailian was coming."

Dou Xianniang pondered for a moment and said, "So, they were originally after me?"

Wu Qing said, "Most likely they knew in advance that the government troops were going to besiege Dou Family Village, and wanted to reap the benefits by taking the opportunity to kidnap you, Miss."

"But they didn't expect that you, young lady, would abandon the manor overnight and leave directly. They came up empty-handed, but just happened to run into Miss Ailian and the others."

"What's more worrying is that they are not afraid of offending Erxianzhuang and Jiande Gong at all, so they are probably not ordinary Jianghu forces."

Dou Xianniang said, "Ailian came all the way from Taiyuan to seek refuge with me. If something happens to her, I will not be at ease."

"We don't know what the situation is like on her end. Qing-ge, you are a meticulous person and can see things in advance. Please come with us and find Ai-lian as soon as possible."

Wu Qing also wanted to take advantage of this opportunity to increase his experience points and advance to the next level in one fell swoop.

Naturally, they readily agreed.

He had just learned to ride a horse, and he was quite slow when he rode it at full gallop.

Dou Xianniang then had a martial artist take him along and have him sit in the back.

At that moment, Dou Xianniang, carrying a bright silver spear and with a sharp sword tucked diagonally into the neck of her horse, led more than twenty skilled men from the village out of the mountain stronghold and headed away.

The reason there were only these people was twofold: firstly, more people were needed to stay in the village; secondly, these were the only fast horses available, and time was of the essence, so they needed to bring horses for transfer. Sending too many people would only slow them down.

They rode at full speed, traveling for most of the day, and finally arrived at the place where the old servant Shan Fu had told them, the place where Shan Ailian had encountered the enemy.

The scene was chaotic, with many unburied corpses lying in the woods, all belonging to people from Erxianzhuang.

Wu Qing dismounted and examined the corpses.

He activated the "I want to check the card" skill and first observed a burly, imposing deceased.

This person was clearly quite strong, but he encountered a powerful enemy, was covered in wounds, and died from exhaustion.

— "A corpse".

— "A knife wound".

— "A knife wound".

— "A knife wound".