I'm here in the martial arts world just to find love.

The carriage was pulled by two ordinary horses.

The horses used to pull the carts, though sturdy, were not fast enough. In addition, the carts were heavy and the mountain roads were quite rugged, so the journey was even slower.

Jiang Chao decided not to waste any more time. Although Su E's eyesight was not very good, since she came from the Valley of Villains, she must not be an ordinary woman. Even if she had never practiced martial arts, she should not be underestimated. Therefore, he no longer needed to take care of her as before.

Besides, riding in a carriage isn't much better than riding a horse; it's very bumpy. If it were him, he would much rather ride on horseback.

As for Lu Jing, this young man is easy to deal with. He is light, weighing less than 80 pounds, so you can just ride a horse with him without affecting your journey at all.

Su E had no objections. In fact, she had long wanted to abandon the carriage and travel on horseback. Ever since she told the three men about her identity and background at the post station yesterday, she had no intention of letting them accommodate and take care of her any longer.

With the matter settled, after the three of them finished eating the grilled fish and drinking the bamboo spring water, and everything was tidied up, the harnesses were removed from the two horses pulling the carriage. Simple saddles were made from the soft padding and bamboo strips in the carriage, and Su E nimbly mounted the horses.

Jiang Chao, already mounted on his chestnut horse, extended his hand to Lu Jing and smiled:

"Come on, Brother Lu Jing, let's ride together."

Although there were four horses, just enough for each of the four people, Lu Jing only knew how to drive a carriage and couldn't ride a horse. He had no martial arts skills and was extremely thin. Even if he could ride, the others wouldn't feel at ease.

As for the woman in red... this woman must have been quite skilled in martial arts in her lifetime. When Jiang Chao rushed from the valley to the bamboo forest, he specifically tested her speed. Although her limbs were stiff while running, her speed was not slow at all.

Since that's the case, we'll just have to let her walk.

As for the remaining draft horse, Jiang Chao and the others did not intend to release it back into the mountains and let it fend for itself; instead, they decided to take it with them.

This way, Su'e could take turns riding on the road.

"drive!"

With a shout from Jiang Chao, this strange group of four, plus a living dead woman in red, set off on their journey, lightly equipped.

Mountains, endless mountains.

Water, winding and meandering water.

The village, a secluded village where only the sounds of roosters crowing and dogs barking can be heard, but no one is seen.

Nothing particularly remarkable was seen or heard along the way. This remote mountain road leading to Yunmeng Mountain had long been replaced by several better official roads, even though those official roads were a much longer and more circuitous route than this ancient road.

But for ordinary merchants and peddlers who need to travel between places to make a living, and even for those wanderers who travel the world year-round, even if it means taking a longer route, it is still better than taking this seemingly shortcut, but in reality, dangerous and difficult ancient mountain road.

Three days passed in the blink of an eye.

  

Jiang Chao lost sight of the woman in red for a while, and went back to look for her. He found that she had caught several venomous snakes from somewhere, and was breaking off their fangs and pouring venom into her mouth, looking like she was enjoying it.

Jiang Chao was stunned by the scene and couldn't help but marvel at it.

The state of the woman in red was beyond description as either dead or living; in Jiang Chao's view, she was more like something between the living and the dead.

She has a certain degree of self-awareness, but more often than not, she is driven by instinct. For example, she seems to be attracted by his Qilin bloodline and actively follows him all the way.

The Blood Fiend Gu that Su E mentioned, along with several other unknown Gu worms, parasitized her body, maintaining a delicate and eerie balance within her.

As for what is happening inside the hole in her heart, and whether the broken heart pierced by the sword has healed in a bizarre way like her skin, it remains unknown.

Since the person had developed a certain degree of autonomy, Jiang Chao couldn't just cut open their body to examine them out of curiosity.

Moreover, this woman in red, if he doesn't get close, once he exceeds the three-step limit, her empty eyes will become bloodshot and dangerous.

Jiang Chao wasn't afraid of the other party because of his martial arts skills, but he was afraid that if the other party lost control and the two started fighting, he might lose control and kill the other party.

It's more convenient to have a 'living' woman in red than a dead body.

Once we arrive at the martial arts tournament, we'll ask those knowledgeable martial arts masters to tell us the origin of the thing inside the woman in red.

He might even encounter the woman's sect. The uniquely shaped small sword printed on the chest of her robe caught Jiang Chao's attention. There are many martial arts sects that use swords in the world, and he couldn't figure out which sect this woman belonged to.

By noon on the fourth day, Jiang Chao and his group had finally arrived at their destination after trekking through mountains and rivers.

From afar, the Yunmeng Mountain range is majestic, winding like a reclining dragon coiled on the earth.

Upon closer inspection, however, it was discovered that the mountain was not particularly steep.

The mountaintop is shrouded in colorful mist, while below, mirror-like lakes shimmer and sparkle. Under the blazing sun, white mist rises and wisps of water, revealing the reflections of the mountains and the clouds in the sky, creating an illusion of being transported to a fairyland.

As the group approached on horseback, the surrounding area finally became lively.

Various martial arts figures, dressed in bright clothes, came one after another towards Yunmeng Mountain, some in small groups, some in pairs, and some alone.

Yunmeng Mountain is the most magnificent mountain in Yunzhou and has always been known as the fairyland of Yunmeng.

The scenery here is enchanting, with lakes and mountains at the foot of the mountain and clouds swirling around the mountaintop, making it an extremely pleasant place.

Not to mention this martial arts tournament, even at ordinary times, many martial arts practitioners and scions of noble families come to Yunmeng Mountain for sightseeing.

They wanted to absorb some of that so-called celestial aura.

There are no immortals in Yunmeng Mountain, but there are quite a few Taoist temples and Buddhist temples.

Legend has it that within the Yunmeng Mountain range, there are thirty-six Taoist temples, seventy-two Buddhist temples, and countless hermits and hermits who live in seclusion there.

These Taoist temples and Buddhist monasteries, which are well-known in the martial arts world, are all places where incense is extremely popular.

For example, Yunxi Temple, Bixia Temple, Zixu Palace, Qingyun Temple, Xuantian Temple, Lingyin Temple, and so on, the list goes on and on.

Without exception, most of the Taoist temples and Buddhist monasteries that built their retreats on Yunmeng Mountain, as well as the hermits and hermits hidden deep in the mountains, did not participate in this grand gathering of martial arts practitioners.

Although this martial arts tournament was held at Yunmeng Mountain, the __cpLocation was not one of those ancient temples and monasteries, but rather an open area at the foot of Yunmeng Mountain.

Therefore, they were not afraid that these martial arts practitioners would come up the mountain and disturb the peace of those who were cultivating in seclusion there.

If any ignorant martial artists take advantage of this martial arts gathering, either with ill intentions or by going up the mountain to provoke those who are practicing asceticism, then they can only pray for good fortune.

In short, although the martial arts tournament is jointly organized by several major martial arts sects and families, it does not mean that the personal safety of these martial arts practitioners who gather here from all over the world, whether by invitation or by their own initiative, is their own responsibility.

If you accidentally offend a master, you will have to bear the consequences yourself.

The arrival of Jiang Chao and his group attracted the attention of many people on the road, because their combination looked rather strange.

The three women had different temperaments and appearances.

The two men were both quite young; one was imposing and clearly came from a wealthy family.

The other one appeared much more ordinary. Although he had a handsome appearance, he did not look like someone who practiced martial arts. He was thin and weak, and looked more like a pageboy serving a young master.

But since they were all here to attend the conference, they still had to show proper etiquette. Most of these people from the martial arts world had traveled all over the country and were well-informed. They would not easily provoke such strange groups. At most, they would take a few more glances and then consciously look away.

There were also some bold and reckless individuals who would stare intently at Su E, Chu Ning, and the woman in red, making noises and gossiping with those around them, completely disregarding the feelings of those involved. Jiang Chao simply ignored these busybodies.

As long as they didn't come forward to harass him, Jiang Chao pretended not to see them.

However, as is customary, Chu Ning, who had vowed to become a chivalrous heroine, was a little timid when she saw so many people from the martial arts world for the first time.

Jiang Chao couldn't help her with that. She had to overcome her own mental hurdle. Otherwise, she would get nervous whenever she saw a lot of people. How could that work?

How will I be able to roam the martial world and uphold justice in the future?

The group rode three different types of horses along the winding lakeside road, slowly making their way towards the conference venue with the flow of people.

While passing a small pavilion by the lake, an unexpected incident occurred.

The woman in red, who was three steps behind Jiang Chao's horse, suddenly swayed as if hit by a heavy object and flew sideways toward the other side of the lake.

With a "plop," it fell into the clear lake water where white mist was rising.