Returning from the abyss

Chapter 1298 Military Disaster

When the sky was slightly bright, the mountain torrents and earthquakes had stopped. Of course, it was not just Lu Ning who ran down the mountain, but there were also many casualties.

Lu Qingxu naturally wanted to help Zhenjian Villa with disaster relief. He had been an official for a long time and had his own ideas about how to prepare manpower and rescue victims after a disaster. But while helping, he also told Lu Ningyan that Zhenjian Villa's status in the martial arts world would probably be greatly reduced from now on.

Lu Ning was a little puzzled. She also participated in some disaster relief work. Although Zhenjian Villa suffered heavy losses this time, most of the martial arts books and magic weapons were preserved, and the top masters were not injured. Why should its status in the martial arts world be reduced?

However, Lu Qingxu said that what the martial arts world recognizes is prestige. Although Zhenjian Villa was not damaged in terms of military strength, it had lost the magic sword and was unable to hold on to its own territory. In the future, young people in the martial arts world will be cautious when choosing to become disciples. The martial arts world may only change generations every ten years. If this is the case, in twenty years, the so-called Zhenjian Villa may no longer exist.

As for the solution, it depends on what means Luan Tianyin plans to use to break the situation. This matter is not something Lu Qingxu can control. After all, matters in the martial arts world should be settled by the martial arts world.

After staying for seven days and taking care of all the affairs, Lu Qingxu found an early morning and quietly left with Lu Ning.

During this trip to Zhenjian Villa, Lu Ning felt that she had participated in many things, but most of them were actually fruitless, and she had not seen the whole picture of the Zhenjian Villa incident. She knew that her experience was a feature of the fifth-level distribution center. Due to the vastness of the fifth-level scene and the many forces involved, the distribution center's tasks were changed from being released by the distribution center to being discovered by tourists on their own initiative. For tourists who had just upgraded and had not yet followed the previous distribution center task process, this was a situation that was out of their comfort zone.

In the previous scene, there was an instructor leading the team, but Lu Ning didn't feel that deeply about it. Now she understood why Jun Ying had taught them to find a suitable place to stay and identify the main target.

The journey to Huai Ling took another half a month, which was the result of the inconvenient transportation in this scenario. Lu Ning sorted out the gains on the way. The improvement of the five senses from the branch reward was very obvious. Not only was her perception of the outside world more sensitive, but even her reaction speed was improved a lot, which was a great improvement for a martial artist. And that trace of innate purple qi was a completely different kind of power from the internal force in her body. Although it was just a trace, it was difficult for her to call it easily. When she used the internal power to transport it into the meridians, there was always a sense of pain. Although it was not unbearable, Lu Ning suspected that this method of use was wrong.

The rewards for the main quest can be chosen by oneself. Lu Ning discovered that there are actually quite a few techniques that he can use to forcibly improve himself, although they include many basic martial arts that Lu Ning directly inherited.

Naturally, the best ones she could choose were "Senluo Nine Heart Technique", "Cold Breathing", and "Demon Eyes: Drowning Shadow". It was unknown how the distribution center determined it. For Lu Ning, she could only practice Senluo Nine Heart Technique now, and she didn't know how to improve the other two. After thinking about it, Lu Ning decided not to use this one for now - anyway, the distribution center didn't let her use this opportunity immediately.

Speaking of which…after coming down from the mountain, she hadn’t seen Lou Lingzhu, Zhao Yuqiao, and Wen Rong again. Qihuang Sect participated in the follow-up treatment, but she didn’t know where Zhao Yuqiao went. As for the other two, she didn’t know whether they were killed in the mountain torrent, at least her bodies were not found.

Probably they all left.

Lu Ning drove the donkey cart all the way south to Huai Ling. The old chariot that he saw that day did not appear again.

Huai Ling was governed by the Yingzhu Prefecture in the south. With the current ability of the Wei Dynasty to govern the world, a place so far away from the capital could be called a wild land. Yingzhu Prefecture was once famous for its rich pearls, but now it is no longer what it used to be. After entering the prefecture, Lu Ning saw only desolation everywhere, no rice in the fields, and nine out of ten houses in the roadside villages were empty. No one knew where the people had gone.

When Lu Ning and Lu Qingxu talked about this, they also mentioned that they remembered that there were bandits coming from the south. However, Lu Qingxu said that this was a military disaster.

He didn't tell the reason, but Lu Ning could see that Lu Qingxu's mood was getting worse as he got closer to Huai Ling.

Although he was not satisfied with some of the conditions in his hometown of Huai Ling, Lu Qingxu was still very proud of the Lu family's success. In his impression, the Lu family's efforts had driven the prosperity of the entire area around Huai Ling. However, the decline of this place also meant that the Lu family's influence on the surrounding area was fading.

In the evening, Lu Ning parked the car next to a village. The situation in this village was slightly better than what he saw on the road. The fields were being harvested, and there were a few old people sitting on rocks at the entrance of the village chatting. Lu Ning went up to ask questions and learned that this was Liujia Village, so he asked where he could rest.

"For the two of you, just go to the threshing area behind the village and pick a house to live in." An old man pointed with his pipe.

"Where are the people there?"

"There is no house here." The old man tapped his cigarette ash on the ground. "Just after the summer, several officials came and said they wanted to recruit soldiers. In previous years, there was no recruitment in the fall. The few boys in the village were all taken away. Later, there was no news. Instead, a group of bandits and a group of soldiers came. After two rounds of robbery in the village, several houses were empty."

"Do you know where this person is from?" Lu Ning asked.

"From the accent, it sounds like we're from the south. I don't understand what they're saying." The old man smiled bitterly, "We don't need to understand. They've put a knife to our necks, so we have to hand over our belongings. That's it."

"Thanks, old man."

"Girl, you'd better be careful when walking. Those bandits will rob you when they see people like you," said the old man.

After Lu Ning thanked him, he drove the donkey cart to the threshing ground. The house here was very old, but it had not collapsed. Although it was covered with dust, it could be lived in after cleaning.

While cleaning the house, Lu Ning told Lu Qingxu about what she had just learned. Lu Qingxu could only smile bitterly.

Since ancient times, the time to deploy troops was mostly after spring ploughing. After all, spring planting and autumn harvest were major national affairs and could not be neglected. It was a well-known fact that it was not suitable to deploy troops in winter. Although Lu Qingxu was a civil servant, he also knew this.

If a big country wants to recruit soldiers before the autumn harvest, it is probably because its national strength is insufficient.

This is exactly the case with the Wei Dynasty.

Lu Ning set up the pot and built a stove with stones. She had become very good at this in the past few days. She lit a fire with a few small pieces of firewood, boiled water first, and started preparing food for the evening. The food she prepared for the long journey was all dry food, not for the taste, but for the time it would be stored longer.

Lu Qingxu was not idle either, he took some firewood he picked up on the road and chopped it up, preparing to add fuel to the fire. While the two were busy, they suddenly heard someone outside knocking on something and shouting, but they couldn't hear clearly because they were too far away.

"What's going on?" Lu Qingxu raised his head. Lu Ning immediately grabbed the sword and put it on his back: "I'll go take a look."

"If there is anything you don't know how to handle, come back to me."

"I know."

Lu Ning walked out of the yard and passed through two doors. Her improved hearing allowed her to clearly hear what they were shouting.

"The soldiers are coming!"

"Hide the person quickly!"

"Where's the baby? Come home quickly..."

After a while of chaos, Lu Ning saw a few people who could barely be called soldiers appeared at the entrance of the village. They were dressed in rags and had only a set of armor on them, which was also stained with dirt and blood. They held a spear in their hands and a knife on their waists, which were basically the things that the Wei army was issued when they were recruited.

There were only six of them, and they could not even be considered strong. Only one of them looked strong and muscular, while the rest were pale and skinny, with greed evident on their faces.

They had already captured several elderly people with disabilities. The burly soldier looked at the village and laughed, "Brothers, this village looks quite wealthy. We are so lucky!"

"Where are the living people in the village! Come out quickly!" a soldier shouted shrilly, "The grandfathers are fighting to death in the south, and you are living in peace here?"

Lu Ning saw that several old men were begging for mercy, but the soldiers turned a deaf ear to their voices and continued to shout loudly.

But the funny thing is that despite their loud voices, they dared not enter the village. Lu Ning saw clearly that except for the leader, the other six soldiers were probably not able to fight at all. If there were more than a dozen young men in the village who rushed out, they would probably be able to drive them away.

bluff……

Lu Ning was too lazy to wait for this farce to continue, so she walked out with her sword in hand.

One of the soldiers immediately said, "Oh, there's actually a pretty one..."

The leading burly man pressed the head of the soldier who spoke, and then asked cautiously: "May I ask this person..."

"Which group did you guys fall from? How did you get defeated?" Lu Ning asked directly.

"This... I wonder who you are? The military situation is urgent, please forgive me..."

"You think I can't tell? You don't look like you're delivering military intelligence documents, otherwise you would have gone straight to the post station to get a fast horse to enter the capital." Lu Ning snorted coldly, "You robbed villages along the way. You must be a defeated army that was dispersed, right?"

"This... this can't be blamed on us. We've only been on the battlefield for two months, and we haven't even mastered our weapons yet. The military orders from the young general assigned by the higher-ups couldn't reach us," the big man said with a fist, "I was able to escape with a few brothers only because of my wits learned from hunting. The army has long been dispersed, and even if they want to beat us with a military stick, they won't be able to find anyone!"

"You seem quite confident. What's my question? Which army are you from and which battlefield are you fighting on?" Lu Ning asked.

The big man hesitated for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said, "Since you are a martial artist, I will tell you. We are the troops of General Teng and General Fang Dong who are suppressing the rebellion in Southern Xinjiang. It's just that General Fang's command was not good, and we went up the mountain to suppress the rebels, but we were ambushed and scattered."

"On the mountain? How long have you been running to get here? This place is quite far from Southern Xinjiang, right?"

"Miss, you don't know that the people of Southern Xinjiang are good at traveling in the mountains, and they have been hiding here for a long time. They incited the Southern Xinjiang tribes that had already naturalized to rebel again, so it is quite difficult to suppress the rebellion this time."

"From what you say and what you know, I'm afraid you're not just a soldier." Lu Ning narrowed his eyes, "Why did you become a soldier?"

"Girl, the army is gone, we just want to escape back home and live in peace. We brothers are not from southern Xinjiang, if we can only survive, who would be willing to fight to the death?"

"Even if you go back, you will still be killed if the government finds you back home." Lu Ning shook his head. "Besides, you are looting along the way. You are no longer soldiers, you are still bandits."

"Bandits...be bandits!"

The big man suddenly stepped aside, and a short soldier behind him raised a crossbow and shot an arrow at Lu Ning.

Ordinary soldiers don't have crossbows. Lu Ning used an arrow to deflect the crossbow arrow and rushed forward. The big man roared and grabbed an old man next to him: "Don't come over! We just want to survive. If you come over, I will-"

Before he could finish his words, a stone hit his wrist. The intense pain made him let go of his hand. Lu Ning came in front of him with swiftness and cut his throat with a sword.

The strong man covered his neck and retreated twice, and then fell on his back after some blood foam came out of his mouth. The other soldiers rushed over and stabbed with their spears. Lu Ning shook his head slightly and rushed forward with his sword. In just a few moves, these soldiers were all dead on the spot.

The old men were already frightened and sat there, not knowing how to react. Lu Ning dragged several corpses together. They had nothing but weapons and armor. She pointed at the corpses and said, "Whatever is on them belongs to your village. Remember to burn it to avoid the spread of plague."

"Girl...you...no, lady..."

"We'll leave tomorrow."

Lu Ning left these words and returned to the yard next to the threshing ground. When Lu Qingxu saw her coming back with some blood stains on the corners of her clothes, he knew what had happened.

"It's all right, father."

"A Ning, since you have made this decision, I won't say anything. But in the future, when you travel the world and kill people, you should have the determination you have today."

"Of course." Lu Ning sat down in front of the pot and served himself a bowl. "Father, if the Wei Dynasty's luck is over, how will you deal with it?"

"That requires us to really see that destiny is hard to defy." Lu Qingxu said, "If the world is in chaos, the common people will suffer, and there is no telling when the war will end."

Lu Ning drank a mouthful of soup, was silent for a moment, and then asked, "But aren't the common people suffering now?"

Lu Qingxu was stunned for a moment, which was rare, and then he sighed.

"This place has been plunged into war. If it cannot be stabilized, the same will happen to every place you and I pass by in the future."

"How about Huai Ling?"

"Huai Ling, I'm afraid he won't be spared either. Ah Ning, on the way back, I will tell you in detail what Huai Ling Lu is like."