The True Lord has arrived

Chapter 8 Leaving
Zhou Yan had already mentally prepared himself to be torn to shreds by the monsters, and he secretly vowed to himself that even if he was torn apart, he would still have to chop up a few more monsters to make up for his losses. But he did not expect that someone else would come.

He suddenly remembered what Li Zhiwei had said about two reinforcements.

He thought of the talisman she had given him.

'Two reinforcements?'

'That little girl, did she already guess this possibility, which is why she gave me that talisman...?'

With these thoughts in mind, Zhou Yan breathed a sigh of relief. As he did, the energy and emotions that had been surging within him dissipated, and fatigue and pain washed over him like waves.

Do it all at once, second time tired, third time exhausted.

That drive just won't come back.

The man had a stubble beard, bloodshot eyes, and a bloody smell emanating from him, as if he had been in battle all along. His black mountain-patterned armor was imposing, but a jagged gash could be seen on the front.

It appears to have been struck head-on by a heavy battle blade.

The monsters were startled by the man and reacted slowly. The man trembled his knife and moved without stopping. He sliced ​​open the monsters' heads with a horizontal slash, then cleaved one monster's head in half with a vertical slash, and then pulled it back.

Using a saw-like method, the monster died a miserable death.

He sheathed the sword, its blade bearing fine nicks and stained with blood, exuding a fierce and chilling aura.

After shielding Zhou Yan with his knife, the man asked, "You're still alive. Are there any civilians inside?"

Zhou Yan said, "I didn't see it when I escaped."

"is it?"

"Then let's get you out of here first. Hold on to me tight."

The man brandished his sword to protect Zhou Yan, and like Pei Xuanbao before him, he retreated without hesitation. All the monsters blocking his retreat path were almost powerless against that sword and were all cut down.

His swordsmanship is characterized by horizontal and vertical slashes, with wide, sweeping movements and extremely high lethality.

But as they retreated, a voice rang out.

"In the marketplace, people come and go, and trade is fair."

"Customers are welcome to do business here, but to kill my shop assistant and then try to just walk away is a bit too arrogant, isn't it?"

The sound started out calm and distant, but it grew closer and louder until it was almost like thunder, exploding right next to Zhou Yan's ears, causing his head to ache and his vision to go black.

wow——

The man protecting him turned around, his combat boots gliding forward on the ground. He stomped his right foot down hard, and a series of soft, cracking sounds exploded outwards. Then, cracks in the earth spread into the village.

Then, sharp earth spikes burst open from the crack, spreading out densely in front of him. Those little demons who couldn't dodge in time were pierced. The man stood still, spun around, and slashed out with the horizontal blade in his hand.

The horizontal blade, imbued with a black aura, caused the earth spikes that had risen in front of it to burst open.

boom! ! !
Fine fragments of earth spikes, mixed with a brownish energy, were carried by the momentum of the blade, transforming into a blade beam at least three zhang long, slashing towards the direction from which the sound came.

The monsters in front screamed and howled as they tried to avoid the attack.

Zhou Yan could tell from the man's panting that this strike had taken a huge toll on him. The monster in front of him dodged, the ground cracked, and the wind pressure in front of the blade's edge dispersed.

A fair, slender hand with bright red fingernails gently pressed against the blade's edge, then pressed down hard.

The powerful blade of light shattered.

The flowing ribbons swayed slightly, a snow-white foot stepped into the air, then the other foot, and an extremely graceful beauty walked in the air, holding a lady's fan in her hand, waving it slowly and unhurriedly: "Sir, you have quite a temper."

"Even that general just now didn't have such a temper as you."

"I originally thought I was just collecting some meat, but I didn't expect it to cause such a big problem."

Zhou Yan's gaze faltered slightly. The jade book in his mind remained motionless. Since he had not obtained anything related to this demon, the jade book did not react. However, when he saw the woman, Zhou Yan felt an instinctive fear.

This woman is undoubtedly stronger than this reinforcement.

No wonder Pei Xuanbao ran so fast.

The woman looked at Zhou Yan and smiled, "What a handsome young man."

"I wonder how much it's worth."

He reached out to hook Zhou Yan's chin, but was forced away by the blade of the horizontal sword.

The man protecting Zhou Yan held his sword horizontally and said, "Humans are not your 'goods,' Master Qingming."

Master Qingming smiled and said, "So you do know my name."

"Oh? This outfit..."

The owner of Qingmingfang looked at the man and said lazily, "Since you know my name, you also know the rules here. Fighting to the death is meaningless. If you want to take him away, that's fine too. Just give me the price."

The man pressed his sword forward, instinctively saying in a cold voice:
"I don't have the habit of making deals with monsters."

Master Qingming smiled and said, "I can see that you are brave and fearless, but if you are so prepared, what about the child behind you?"

“You knew perfectly well that this was my dojo, yet you still barged in with your severely injured body.”

"They're risking their lives just to save the people, right?"

The man turned to look at Zhou Yan and saw that he was exhausted. Zhou Yan also saw his face and saw that he was tired after a battle, as if he hadn't rested for a long time, but more than that, he was mentally exhausted.

The man's face was hard and cold. Finally, he asked, "...What do you want?"

Master Qingming slowly said:

"You have one arm, one eye, and a master archer." "You know my name, so you should know my training. This place values ​​fair trade."

Zhou Yan saw the man staring at the Qingming Fangzhu, and then said, "Alright."

He planted his knife in the ground, then turned around, his cloak billowing. He reached out his other hand to cover Zhou Yan's eyes and said softly, "It is a great demon who has achieved great cultivation. In its markets, the principles of trade are followed."

"do not be afraid."

Zhou Yan felt the man's body groan, and then warm blood fell onto his face, slowly flowing down. The smell of rust filled his nose, and Zhou Yan's pupils contracted. Then he heard the man's voice say, "Is that enough?"

Master Qingming smiled slightly and said, "...Alright, let's go."

Zhou Yan realized what was happening. He tried to open his eyes, but the man gently covered them and whispered, "Don't look, let's go."

He was still very strong. Not to mention that Zhou Yan was already exhausted, even if he were still in good condition, he would not be able to resist his strength and would be carried outside.

The two men, one big and one small, walked out like that.

The monsters did not stop them and let them leave.

A young man stepped out from among the demons and said:
"The shopkeeper didn't kill them?"

The beautiful woman's body swayed and trembled, then her entire body emitted a fluorescent glow. Rumbling sounds filled the air as the earth shook, and then the ground cracked open, revealing a giant beast slowly rising to its feet.

Even so, the vast majority of its body was underneath, with less than one-tenth of it visible above the ground.

That village is located on the scales on the neck of this giant beast.

Behind the manor, faintly visible, were a continuous stretch of buildings, but they were hidden by a layer of dark clouds. The giant beast looked majestic, and a fleshy tube extended from behind the beautiful woman to the beast's body.

This beautiful woman, whose every smile and frown was exquisite, was actually just an organ of this giant beast.

The young man was also looking at this giant beast.

This is the true great demon, [Qingming Fangzhu].

However, the shop owner still spoke in the guise of a beautiful woman, without mentioning the strange feeling she had just experienced. She simply said lazily, "I believe in fairness. They have paid the price, so let them go."

"Besides, killing that man... would cause trouble."

trouble?

Zhu Zicheng, the godson of the third aunt of the Weaver Girl, raised his eyebrows.

"Speaking of this man, he's actually willing to pay such a price for a stranger?!"

The Qingming Pavilion Master said, "When you've made the biggest mistake in your life and become self-destructive, the only thing you can do is do good deeds to keep your mind from collapsing and to comfort yourself."

"That's just how people are."

"As for what wrongdoing."

The Master of the Azure Netherworld stretched out his hand and beckoned—beside the arm that landed there, there was a waist token, shrouded in a layer of azure light, which flew into the Master of the Azure Netherworld's palm. He looked at the waist token with a solemn expression.

Then he tossed the waist token into the young man's hand and said, "Take a look for yourself."

Zhu Zicheng initially didn't care, but after one glance, her expression changed drastically:

"what?!"

"He, they..."

He slowly raised his head and said, "I thought they were just any soldier, but... weren't they almost completely wiped out north of Xiangji Temple?! Could there be a mistake?"

The owner of Qingmingfang said calmly, "He comes from Chang'an."

The waist tag was very old-fashioned, with the words "Anren Army Shen Cangming" written in large characters on one side.

The other side is a majestic character.

[Tang Dynasty]

Zhu Zicheng said, "Anren Army, is that the border army that the Great Tang is stationed at? It seems that the last Anren Army also had a group that was coerced into the An Lushan Rebellion, thinking that they were saving the Great Tang, but they fought a bloody battle with the Great Tang's central army."

Master Qingming said lazily:

"You mean, the Tang Dynasty's central army, which is a mix of troops from the Western Regions and the Uyghurs?"

Zhu Zicheng simply said, "He is An Renjun."

“From Chang’an.”

"Was it really on the battlefield north of Xiangji Temple that you survived?"

Zhu Zicheng repeatedly checked the waist tag:
"He is a cavalry general of Anren Army."

"A Central Plains border army that fought against Tibetan cavalry for thirty-eight years without retreating."

Master Qingming picked up the waist token and whispered:

"The last elite of the Tang Dynasty."

She released the waist token, which fell downwards onto the ground of the demon market with a soft clang. Tang Zi fell into the pool of blood and filth, causing ripples to spread outwards.

On the day of Gengzi, all armies set out; on the day of Renyin, they arrived west of Chang'an and arrayed themselves north of Xiangji Temple and east of the Li River. Li Siye led the vanguard, Guo Ziyi the central army, and Wang Sili the rearguard. The rebel army numbered 100,000 and was arrayed to their north…

From noon to dusk, 60,000 enemy soldiers were beheaded, and the rebels were utterly routed.

——————Zizhi Tongjian, Tang Dynasty Annals, Volume 36

(End of this chapter)