Madam, please listen to my explanation.

Chapter 139 Sword Scar
After pointing out the direction, Sang Biao leaped up and went to lick the snake corpse not far away again.

"Brother Chen, so this cat can talk? You're so funny! Such an interesting thing, and you didn't even tell everyone beforehand, hahaha!"

Li Junruo appeared cheerful on the surface, but in reality, the scheming voice in his mind was so angry that it made him want to flip the table!
You've been tricked!
This is clearly a setup!

Thinking back to outside the inn, I remember saying to myself, "That fat cat is asking for death, just throw it away."
Not only that, but it seems he also said that the reason he left its owner behind was simply to make it easier to guide the way?

'Oh, I'm so embarrassed!'

Li Junruo was so embarrassed that she scratched her toes on the ground.

"Yeah, Brother Chen, you're really not a good friend, haha."

Compared to his companion's predicament, Xiao Han was in no better shape.
After all, he had just been saved by the other party once, but at the time he kept quiet and only knew to follow Jun Ruo around shouting "No seats available".
The two cursed inwardly, and their gazes towards Chen Xinghe became more cautious.
"actually."

"Gentlemen, the people and goods are ready. Let's set off without delay."

Just as Xu Jinhuan was about to speak in his defense, the Hegu Tower interrupted his spellcasting.

He scratched his head.

Do you believe me if I say I just found out myself?
Knowing that he couldn't explain it now, he simply shut his mouth and walked forward with the crowd.

Looking at that still harmless smiling face, Xiao and Li really wanted to rush up and beat him up!
Still pretending to be honest?

Nope.
Was he just about to come up with some lame excuse like, "I'm not familiar with this cat and didn't know it could talk"?
In their view, the cat had been deliberately feigning ignorance to mislead everyone, which was why it hadn't spoken until now.
What kind of bad intentions could a kitten possibly have?
Needless to say, it was instigated by the master behind it all!

It seems that not only were we on guard against the other side, but the other side had also been on guard against us from the very beginning.

As expected of the branch leader of Hidden Sword Manor, his skills are superb, and his cunning is also extremely profound.

Li Junruo carefully recalled her words along the way.

Okay
After all, they were within the territory of the Yan Kingdom, and they had been very careful from beginning to end, so they should not have said anything out of line.
"Xu"

Sang Biao reluctantly left the snake corpse, uttering only one word, which terrified Xu Jinhuan so much that he almost lost his mind!
In an instant, the hairs on his back stood on end.

Fortunately, the other party quickly changed their mind: "Brother Xinghe, I want to eat dried fish, meow."

Before he finished speaking, he had already jumped onto Xu Jinhuan's shoulder again.

Xu Jinhuan's eye twitched.

A threat, right?
Was it just threatening me?

This stupid cat has been pretending to be crazy for so long, and now that Youzhou is just ahead, is it finally ready to sell itself for a high price?

Xu Jinhuan looked around at himself.

In this icy and snowy landscape, whatever happens will be wiped away by the snow in the blink of an eye.

They had barely walked a short distance when Nanliang City was already so blurry that it was almost invisible.

And at this moment, he was surrounded by Zhou's elite death squad.
Even though there was his 'fiancée' among them.

Xu Jinhuan had no doubt that once these people knew his identity, they would spare no expense to kill him here!
Witch, oh witch,
You've been hiding this for so long, just waiting for this moment, haven't you?

"I was really careless."

Xu Jinhuan thought to himself.

My lifelong reputation was completely fooled by a cat!
No. It was precisely because the other party had been so obsequious and ingratiating towards me along the way that I gradually lowered my guard and truly began to treat them like a cat.
They almost forgot that the other party was the Southern Frontier Saintess who had bewitched that short-lived emperor with just a few words!

“Okay, Sang Biao, when we get back from Youzhou, I’ll definitely buy you some dried fish.”

He gave casual, perfunctory replies, but in reality, he was already thinking about how to kill the other party after tricking them into giving him snake blood.

"No need for that, meow."

Sang Biao leaned lazily on Xu Jinhuan's shoulder, took out a small snake bone he had picked up from somewhere, and was filing his nails.

A smug smile still lingered on his face.

It gestured with its chin toward a gaunt man walking silently in the crowd: "I can smell what he's carrying in his backpack, meow."

Xu Jinhuan looked embarrassed and turned to look at the Hegu Tower to the side.

The other party remained expressionless, but dared not neglect this cat that seemed to actually be able to guide the way, and reached out his hand to the subordinate.

A moment later, Sang Biao hugged his beloved dried fish with great affection, his round cat eyes narrowing into a curved slit.

'Hmph! You stinky guy, serves you right for ignoring her the whole way. And... and you even gave her a random name!'

After drinking a lot of essence blood containing the aura of a great demon, it suddenly felt as if an acupoint in its throat had been opened.

Driven by some kind of instinct, without any prompting from anyone, it knew that it could speak.

That damned Zhou Jin. He's utterly unworthy of being called the number one person below the sage.

The cultivation method he meticulously researched, while indeed capable of rapidly absorbing the spiritual energy within demon races, undoubtedly had a fatal flaw!
Otherwise, how could he have suddenly swapped bodies with that holy maiden from the Southern Frontier while he was inhaling?
If the other party hadn't made such a solemn promise that it would definitely turn back into its original form, it would have even considered ending its life.
Now that things have come to this, the human and the cat have arrived in Nanliang, less than a hundred li from Youzhou. In any case, let's go with you, sir, to those Ten Thousand Mountains.
That unscrupulous general must have fed himself something unclean.
Now, at the edge of his vision, there were two exceptionally bright orbs of light, one large and one small, emitting a blinding glow in a certain direction.

The light easily pierced through the thick fog and snow ahead, and it was hard to ignore even with your eyes closed.

It knew perfectly well that place must be Youzhou and the southern border!
I'm sorry, sir. I didn't mean to tease you.
However, Mr. Zhou Jin said that you must absolutely not disclose this matter to me in any form without my permission.
There's nothing they can do, meow!

The group hurried along, with groups of two or three sixth-grade experts taking turns leading the way.

Perhaps still brooding over Sang Biao's matter, Xiao Han and Li Junruo remained silent, showing no intention of coming over to talk to him.

Xu Jinhuan, who was exhausted from treating Xiao Chunan, walked alone in the middle of the group, chatting casually with Xiao Qing in secret.

'Xiaoqing, tell me, what's the current situation with this cat?'

I don't know. But it has a strange, familiar smell that smells disgusting.

Hmm, there seems to be a fork in the road ahead.

Does it taste familiar?

Sure enough, Zhou Jin really did leave some kind of backup plan with this stupid cat.
Xu Jinhuan pondered this in secret.

He wasn't worried, as the opponent still had some strength left; after all, at best, they wouldn't exceed the peak of the sixth rank.

What we really need to worry about is whether it will suddenly pull off another "spirit possession" act.

If that's the case.
As she was thinking this, she unconsciously tightened her grip on the other person's hand, which startled a sharp meow from her arms!

Sang Biao suddenly turned his head and looked at Xu Jinhuan with a pitiful expression.

'Woman, give it a rest. I've had enough of your boring tricks.'

Sang Biao's eyes darted around, and he darted out of Xu Jinhuan's arms, climbed onto his shoulder, and stuck out his tongue to lick the other's neck.
'Oh no. Did I really make Mr. angry just now, meow?'

But there's nothing I can do about it!

It's all that old bastard Zhou Jin's fault.
"Slip... Slip. There's a fork in the road ahead. We now have two paths to choose from, meow."

Sang Biao's voice wasn't loud, but everyone pricked up their ears to listen.

Seeing the other person's serious demeanor, Xu Jinhuan suddenly felt a mischievous urge.

He gently placed one hand on the area above the other person's tailbone and scratched the itch with his fingers: "Good bastard, tell me."

"Over here. Meow. Ah. Don't do that. It's shorter over here, but there are more monsters on the way. Hmm. As for over there, there are fewer monsters, but it's twice the distance. Brother Xinghe, don't do anything reckless, meow!"

While resisting, Sang Biao's body honestly arched up.
Its fluffy bottom was sticking up high, and its tail kept wagging.

Even though I felt incredibly ashamed, I couldn't resist the instinctive reaction flowing in my blood.
Xu Jinhuan had been a cat lover for a few days after all, and originally intended to retaliate against the other party in a mild way, but the effect was a bit too good!
Feeling the countless strange gazes coming from all directions, he quickly and sheepishly withdrew his hand.

Hmm. What this silly cat said is exactly the same as what Xiaoqing just analyzed!
"Ahem, Sang Biao is right, isn't he? Brother Fan, which way should we go?"

Before he could finish speaking, Xu Jinhuan suddenly could no longer hear any sound, only a buzzing sound remained in his ears.

At the same time, a sense of foreboding arose in their hearts.

The surrounding wind and snow suddenly turned into bone-scraping flying knives, almost cutting through the exposed skin!
Xu Jinhuan's brow twitched wildly. In his mind's eye, there seemed to be an anxious voice shouting, but no matter how hard he tried, he couldn't hear it clearly.

He had just raised his arms to cover his head and face when he vaguely saw something approaching from a distance at an extremely fast speed.

Beside him, faces were filled with terror.

hum-

It was a streak of indigo sword light.

Xu Jinhuan saw that the people next to him had just made a dodging motion.

The next moment, his body was pierced by the sword light that was almost impossible to see with the naked eye.

The sword's edge almost grazed the tip of his nose.

He turned his head in astonishment and saw that in the sky directly in front of him, something seemed to be constantly rising high and then falling down.

Only by focusing one's energy into the eye can one see clearly.

It was a complete mess, with countless severed limbs and snake tails!

Just as the world in my ears was beginning to return to normal, some scalding liquid began to drip onto my face.

"Acheng! Awei!"

Xu Jinhuan looked in the direction of the sound and saw that the lean man who had just taken out dried fish to feed the cat was still in the same forward-stepping posture.

His left and right sides of his body had completely separated, each falling to one side.
The leader of the group, Heguta, ran towards them with eyes wide with rage.

Suddenly, he was pushed to the ground by a tremendous force.

Behind him, the swirling snow, like towering waves, pressed down on everyone.

"Ah Yu, Brother Chen, watch out!!!"

At the critical moment, the broad, thick sword was suddenly drawn!

Xiao Han flashed and landed in front of Xu Jinhuan and Li Junruo, raised his hand to break the mountain, and slashed down heavily!
The incomparably sharp blade energy cleaved a vacuum zone in the face of the wind and snow.

"This...this is the hurricane stirred up by that sword energy just now!"

Li Junruo's mouth dropped open as she muttered to herself. Even with a peerless master swordsman as her teacher, this was the first time in her life she had so directly experienced the power of a single sword strike from a supreme expert!
Everyone was momentarily blinded by the powerful hurricane.

A few breaths later, when he opened his eyes, he saw that the man named A-Cheng, along with more than a dozen other people behind him, had all been cut in two from the middle.

Heguta scrambled over to the group, his pale lips trembling slightly.

Xu Jinhuan smacked his lips.

Isn't this way of welcoming you a bit too grand, brother-in-law?

If it were a little higher, your sister would probably be a widow.
Hmm... wait, his sister... isn't she married into the family yet?
At the edge of the field of vision, a long ravine was carved out by sword energy on the vast white snow.

The snowflakes, as small as goose feathers, seemed to have eyes; not a single one dared to land on the sword mark.

On both sides, countless snake demons approached, drawn by the scent of flesh and blood.

But upon seeing the sword mark, they all stopped in their tracks.

They only dared to roar and flick their tongues in place, but none of them dared to approach the people near the sword marks even a fraction of an inch.

"It's too fast, there's no time to react. Is this... is this the power of a sword immortal's sword?"

Li Junruo stared at the ravine and exclaimed in disbelief.

The scene she had just witnessed still left her with lingering fear.

If that sword had come from a different direction, and instead slashed horizontally...
What chance do these people have now?

"No, Yu, this is not the complete sword strike of the Sword Immortal; it is merely the residual power of the opponent's sword move."
Don't forget, it's still dozens of miles to Youzhou from here!

After saying this, Xiao Han left the group and cautiously walked towards the sword mark.

Heguta seemed to have adjusted his mood, got up again, and approached expressionlessly.

"Young master, that sword strike just now killed seventeen of our men. Adding the twelve who perished in the city, our casualties are now close to one-third."

Please advise whether we should continue forward.

Li Junruo bit her lip, a hint of bewilderment appearing on her face for the first time.

She was shaken.

If such indiscriminate attacks were to continue outside Nanliang City, there would be no chance that our team would reach Youzhou alive!

But if we turn back now...
Will Chen Xinghe agree?

Without his guidance, this group, by sheer chance, might not have made it back to Southern Liang to rest before dying on the road.
Xu Jinhuan looked at the 'employer' and 'bodyguard' pair and couldn't help but chuckle.

If there truly were such a trustworthy and fearless bodyguard in the world, he would really like to get to know him.
"Young Master Fan, please make a decision quickly!"

Seeing that Li Junruo remained silent, Heguta urged her expressionlessly.

"us."

"Is there even a question? Of course, we should keep moving forward."

Xiao Han suddenly turned his head, pointed to the ravine in front of him, and said with a smile:
"Didn't you see? Senior Sword Immortal has already shown us the way."

His eyes blazed with boundless fervor, and for the first time, he voiced his opinion:
"The sword energy can't possibly bend over. As long as we move forward along this path, we can not only avoid the wind and snow, but even those disgusting snake demons won't dare to approach."
Ah Yu, Master Gu, what are you still hesitating about?

Seeing how logical and insightful his analysis was, Li Junruo suddenly realized that it was as if she was only getting to know the young man in front of her for the first time now.

It seems that no matter what dangers lie in their way, nothing can extinguish their boundless dedication and passion for martial arts.

Honestly, she herself also desperately wanted to go to the vicinity of Youzhou City to take a look.

She didn't tell anyone that ever since she left the city and got closer to Youzhou, the jade bracelet on her right wrist had become increasingly warm.
It seemed as if a voice from the depths of my being told me that I absolutely had to go.
Head to Youzhou City!
"Xiao En Gong is right!"

Xu Jinhuan suddenly stood up and said softly:
"Although the aftershocks of battles between sword immortals and great demons occasionally strike along this path, I, Chen, dare to guarantee..."
A strike of that magnitude, like the one just now, is definitely an exception. He pointed confidently to the vast, distant land and continued:

"You may not trust me, but we've walked for quite a while now. Have any of you seen a second sword mark on the ground around us?"

A word to awaken the dreamer.

Li Junruo suddenly realized that if such attacks occurred frequently on the road out of the city, it would have been riddled with ravines long ago!
Having thought this through, she no longer hesitated and nodded emphatically:

"What Brother Xiao and Brother Chen said is exactly what I wanted to say. Master Gu, thank you for your help!"

She was unwilling to turn back.

Now, he was even more eager to know what awaited him in Youzhou City.
"it is good."

Without any hesitation, Heguta nodded in agreement.

The next moment, Xu Jinhuan suddenly heard a whooshing sound in his ears.

In an instant, more than a dozen bodyguards rushed over and pinned him to the ground!
"Master Gu?!"

Li Junruo and Xiao Han exclaimed in surprise at the same time.

"Let me go! You surnamed Gu, what do you mean by this?"

Before Xu Jinhuan could finish speaking, his hands and feet were already bound by thick iron chains.

Heguta moved swiftly, taking a strip of cloth and stuffing it into his mouth.

After doing all this, he stood up expressionlessly and said coldly:
"Since we are going to continue, then let's follow my rules."

Gentlemen, please forgive my intrusion, but we have already lost so many brothers, and we really cannot afford any more accidents.

The road ahead is there; no guidance is needed for now. Please, Young Master Chen, rest for a while. I swear on my life I will not do anything reckless. We will release him once we reach Youzhou.”

After saying that, his men stepped forward and lifted Chen Xinghe up.

Xiao Han was about to say something more when Li Junruo stopped him.

"Chu Nan, let's go."
Brother Chen was already injured, so this way we can save him some energy.

We must hurry on our way; in a place like this, every moment we stay increases the danger.

Xiao Han was extremely anxious, but knowing that he couldn't go against everyone's wishes, he stopped insisting.

Seeing that the men seemed about to tie Chen Xinghe to the wooden crate they were carrying, he hesitated for a moment before speaking up to stop them:

"Brother Chen saved my life after all, please don't be so rude. Let me carry him!"

The group set off again, carefully following the sword marks on the ground.

No one noticed that from the corpses along the way, streams of black and gold demonic energy were continuously flowing into the body of the person whose hands and feet were bound.
-
Youzhou, above the sea of ​​clouds.

Shen Ye held a rusty longsword in his hand, slightly lost in thought.

Did I accidentally cut something just now?

For some reason, he had been feeling uneasy since yesterday.

At his level, he had already achieved a state of communion with the heavens.

Even though he considered himself to be the weakest in mind among the current supreme experts of Qin Lu.

But this feeling will never arise for no reason.

What exactly is it?
"Shen Ye!!!"

Suddenly, a deafening, shrill sound filled my ears.

Shen Ye didn't even have the patience to look at it again. He simply raised his sword and held it in front of him, effortlessly blocking the heavy punch coming his way.

boom--!
The rusty sword, looking disheveled, steadily received the fist that was as big as a small mountain.

A powerful shockwave spread out, blowing his long silver hair wildly.

A large blank area was suddenly blasted out from the thick sea of ​​clouds.

Below, the people in Youzhou City were struck as if by a bolt from the blue, causing the snow on the rooftops to fall in a flurry.

"I said, didn't we already return the Soul-Sealing Bell to you? You can't beat me in a fight, so what exactly do you want?"

"You wicked creature! The Gu Soul Bell is an object transformed from the remnant body of the Gu God. How can you take it and return it as you please?!"

Moreover, it was you who violated the principle that supreme beings are not allowed to set foot in the Southern Frontier!

The white-haired old ape opposite them, with two horns on its head, looked ferocious and was extremely angry.

Blood dripped continuously from his right fist, corroding the ground and creating huge, deep pits.

Shen Ye casually picked at his ear.

Still acting.

He knew that the other party was not nearly as angry as it appeared.

After fighting for so long, he had injured two of the three great demons, leaving only the thick-skinned old ape himself, who still refused to leave.
I still haven't figured out what these monsters are after in this entanglement.

If the fighting continues, the people in the city will soon freeze to death, won't they?
Besides, the wine was all gone long ago.

He only took a trip to southern Xinjiang and said a few harsh words. Was it really necessary to be so petty?
His patience was wearing thin.

Especially after that inexplicable feeling of palpitations became increasingly intense.

If I didn't have to spare a single ounce of my strength to protect Youzhou City.
If it weren't for preserving strength, I would have confronted that person face-to-face.
If we don't have to worry about using too much force and accidentally destroying the entire Youzhou.
Those three rotten garlic cloves are really not enough to deal with.

"Big guy, I'm annoyed."

Shen Ye's tone suddenly turned cold.

He suddenly pointed to a certain empty space, instantly sending a chill down the spine of the being lurking within!

"You really think I can't see?"

If you keep bothering me, I'm going to chop it up.

(End of this chapter)