On the official road, several figures sped forward.
"They can't run very fast with a carriage, we'll catch up in no time."
"Try to capture everyone alive and bring them back."
The figures exchanged brief words, and their speed increased slightly.
Before long, they faintly heard the neighing of horses from ahead.
Hearing this, a smile appeared on the faces of these people.
But the next moment, a slightly aged, calm voice sounded.
"Tsk tsk tsk... they really caught up. Four Forging Tendons Late Stage Martial Artists. It seems that kid really has quite a conflict with that Gongzi Guo..."
"Who's there!?"
Hearing the sudden voice, the expressions of the several people changed. They immediately stopped and then discovered that on the official road ahead, about ten meters away, a thin old man was squatting, holding a pipe and puffing away.
"This person is a bit strange, let's go together and capture him first."
The figures exchanged glances and immediately surrounded the thin old man.
However, before they could get close, the old man's thin figure had disappeared from view.
Realizing something was wrong, the several people were just about to stop when crisp, muffled thuds sounded from beside them.
In the space of a breath, the several people had fallen to the ground, their lives uncertain.
Huang Quan quickly searched everyone's bodies.
"Only this much money, poor ghosts."
Looking at the few small-denomination banknotes in his hand, he couldn't help but frown and curse, then turned and quickly disappeared onto the official road.
Woof... woof... woof...
On the second carriage, Lao Zhou was driving, and beside him was Big Yellow, wagging his tail and barking continuously towards the back of the carriage.
Looking at Big Yellow beside him, Lao Zhou paid no attention.
He knew that this seemingly ordinary yellow-haired stray dog was Lin Sheng's pet. Although he seemed foolish, Lao Zhou could see that Lin Sheng was quite fond of him, otherwise he wouldn't have specifically asked him to bring along such an animal during a life-or-death escape.
So, he was too lazy to pay much attention to this stray dog, as long as it didn't cause any trouble.
Woof! Woof!!
At this moment, Big Yellow's barking gradually stopped. In his perception, the movements behind seemed to have calmed down a lot.
But soon, he sensed something, twitched his nose, and turned his head in confusion.
But he nearly bumped into a face full of wrinkles, yet wearing a lewd smile.
Yelp!!
Big Yellow jumped up high, his fur standing on end, letting out a drawn-out yelp.
His body uncontrollably rolled off the carriage, but luckily, before he hit the ground, Huang Quan grabbed him and pulled him back onto the carriage.
"What? Am I that scary, little guy??"
Huang Quan looked at the trembling Big Yellow, who was curled up in a ball, with a smile.
Big Yellow finally reacted at this moment, baring his white teeth and letting out threatening growls. But upon sensing the faint Aura emanating from Huang Quan beside him, he quickly stopped growling, shrank back, and lowered his head.
He only dared to look at the other party out of the corner of his eye.
"That's right, a good dog should be like this..."
Seeing Big Yellow's reaction, a satisfied smile appeared on Huang Quan's face, and he reached out his withered hand to stroke his fur.
Big Yellow trembled, his gaze directed at Lao Zhou, who was driving the carriage.
And at this moment, Lao Zhou, facing Huang Quan who had suddenly appeared on his carriage, was also startled, but quickly reacted and immediately showed a respectful smile.
"Senior!"
"Mm, focus on driving."
Huang Quan lightly hummed in acknowledgment, one hand stroking Big Yellow's not-so-smooth fur, the other holding his pipe and taking a deep puff, then exhaling a thick cloud of smoke.
Cough... cough...
Big Yellow coughed continuously from the choking smoke.
"What are you coughing for? This is good stuff, breathing more will do you good..."
Huang Quan said, then exhaled another cloud of smoke, enveloping Big Yellow.
Big Yellow slightly wagged his tail, seemingly very submissive, allowing the other party to stroke him, and even showing a human-like expression of flattery.
This behavior made Huang Quan unable to help but let out a hearty laugh.
Just like that, amidst the occasional bursts of laughter and coughing, the two carriages quickly disappeared onto the official road.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the official road, Lin Sheng was also rushing towards this direction.
It wasn't until evening that the carriages had traveled quite far, already hundreds of miles from Tongzhi County.
The carriages finally stopped at this point.
"Senior, we've been traveling for almost a day, the horses can't take it anymore. Should we rest for a while?"
Lao Zhou looked to the side, seemingly at Huang Quan who was pretending to nap, and asked in a consultative tone.
"Rest, rest. We've gone this far, even if someone wanted to chase, they couldn't catch up."
Huang Quan opened his eyes and said calmly.
Soon, the group got off the carriages and stretched their bodies. After all, staying in the carriages on the long journey was tiring. For those with cultivation, it was fine, but for people like Lin Hong, Xie Guilan, and Xiao Shi, whose injuries hadn't healed, it was a bit unbearable.
As they stopped to rest, the horses also lowered their heads to eat weeds by the official road.
And soon, they attracted unwelcome guests.
Because they were far from the County Town, the probability of encountering various fierce beasts even near the official road greatly increased.
In the darkness of night, a pair of blood-red eyes stared at them with bloodlust and greed, slowly approaching.
But the next moment, the blood-red eyes disappeared.
Huang Quan's thin figure emerged from the bushes, dragging a large leopard-like creature.
"Hehe, lucky indeed. This spotted leopard is good stuff, the meat is fatty and not greasy. You're all in for a treat today."
Saying this, Huang Quan skillfully began to skin it.
Lao Zhou and Wang Dehai saw this scene, exchanged glances, and saw a hint of surprise in each other's eyes.
Although it wasn't the first time they had seen this thin old man appear and disappear mysteriously, each time they saw it, it filled their hearts with surprise.
Setting aside other things, such movement speed should not be something a Forging Tendons Realm Martial Artist could possess, not even a Forging Tendons Late Stage Martial Artist.
A thought simultaneously appeared in both their minds, yet it gave them a sense of unreality.
Half an hour later, after the aroma of roasted meat filled the air, footsteps came from behind the several people.
Woof...
Big Yellow immediately barked towards the darkness behind, but soon twitched his nose, as if confirming something.
"Is he back? Good, good, my silver wasn't wasted..."
Huang Quan didn't turn his head, holding a roasted and charred spotted leopard hind leg in his hand, gnawing on it with oil dripping from his mouth.
"Gongzi, he's back!?"
Hearing Huang Quan's words, Lao Zhou and Wang Dehai also reacted and quickly stood up.
And a tall figure emerged from the darkness, it was Lin Sheng who had hurried all the way.
Although he had Huang Quan, a master, as a guard, seeing everyone safe finally dispelled the worry in Lin Sheng's heart.
He first looked at the carriage compartment, where Lin Hong and Xie Guilan, exhausted from the journey, had already fallen asleep. Only then did he sit down by the bonfire.
"Come have a piece, this is my specialty, you won't have a chance to eat it again in the future."
Huang Quan smiled and tore off a piece of beast meat, handing it over. Then he asked.
"How was it? Is the matter settled?"
"Mm, it's settled," Lin Sheng said calmly, his tone flat.
Huang Quan narrowed his eyes. Although the other party's clothes were relatively clean at the moment, he still saw dried bloodstains on his exposed skin.
As if realizing something, he couldn't help but ask.
"How is that Guo Feng? Don't tell me you killed him."
Hearing this, Lin Sheng didn't reply, just nodded slightly.
"Alright, you'd better be careful when you get to Linjiang Prefecture," Huang Quan said somewhat helplessly.
"Although that kid doesn't hold an official position, his father is a County Governor after all. You killed his son, so he might issue a wanted order."
"Wanted order!?"
Hearing these three words, Lin Sheng raised his eyebrows, feeling a bad premonition.
"That's right, a wanted order."
Huang Quan said honestly, his mouth full of meat.
"The Great Yan Kingdom is divided into the Red and Black Ranks. They list criminals who have committed serious crimes. Let's not talk about the Red Rank for now, those who can get on the Red Rank are not ordinary masters, Blood Transportation Martial Artists don't even have the qualifications to get on it."
"Compared to the Red Rank, where everyone listed is basically notorious, the Black Rank is much weaker, but they are also masters with good skills, mostly Blood Transportation Martial Artists."
Speaking of this, Huang Quan swallowed the beast meat in his mouth, paused, looked at Lin Sheng, and then continued.
"You killed Guo Hua's biological son, and his most valued eldest son. If I'm not mistaken, he should put you on the Black Rank. So, you'd better have not revealed your appearance during the process of acting, otherwise you'll have to be careful."
"Of course, there's one more thing I need to remind you. The Black Rank wanted orders are not only pursued by the government side, but you also have to be careful of others, especially those capable rogue Martial Artists, or even assassins, and some martial arts Sects might even be interested in taking action."
Hearing this, Lin Sheng furrowed his brow, somewhat confused.
Huang Quan, however, saw what he was thinking at a glance and didn't keep him in suspense. He took another bite of meat and continued unclearly.
"Those who can get on the Black Rank, even those ranked lower down, as long as they can be captured or killed and sent to the government, they can receive a considerable monetary reward. At least five or six thousand taels of silver are available, as for those in the middle ranks of the Black Rank, over ten thousand taels is easy, and the rewards for those in the front ranks are even more generous."
"Some time ago, I saw the Black Rank, the one ranked first is called Reverse Sword Wan Yanbei, the Imperial Court reward is a full hundred thousand taels of silver, and there are some other rewards, the value of which is even more than that hundred thousand taels of silver."
"In short, wealth moves people's hearts, not just money. The strongest Sect, the strongest force, the strongest noble family in the entire Great Yan Kingdom is this Great Yan Imperial Court. Perhaps there's even an opportunity to choose a martial art technique from the national treasury as a reward. In short, this Great Yan Imperial Court is truly willing to spend money..."
At this point, Huang Quan smacked his lips, as if he thought of something and didn't continue.
After hearing Huang Quan's words, Lin Sheng couldn't help but sigh.
"This Great Yan Imperial Court really plays a good game."
By issuing these Red and Black Ranks, they not only have the deterrence from the official forces, but also can utilize civilian power, using money, pills, and even martial art techniques as incentives, which can mobilize skilled Martial Artists from the martial arts world for their own use.
Besides this point, there might even be deeper intentions, such as absorbing ordinary Martial Artists with good talent from the martial arts world, or even outstanding geniuses from some small forces.
However, it must be admitted that the Great Yan Imperial Court is indeed a top force capable of suppressing all Sects and noble families in the country.
The rewards offered are indeed extremely generous, even he was a little tempted.
A hundred thousand taels of silver, no, more than a hundred thousand taels of silver, and additional rewards that are more valuable than a hundred thousand taels of silver. This adds up to more than 200,000 taels of silver.
He sold almost an entire Silver-patterned Black Crocodile cub and only just managed to exchange it for ten thousand taels of silver.
As long as he killed or captured that Reverse Sword guy, he could instantly obtain the equivalent of more than 20 Silver-patterned Black Crocodile cubs.
However, he quickly suppressed this thought in his heart and instead carefully considered whether there was any possibility of exposure during his actions.
After thinking for a while, his heart settled slightly. Most of Guo Feng's men who had seen his appearance were killed by him.
Aside from that, what they saw was basically his appearance after integrating with his beast and activating his talent.
That wasn't too big of a problem. The only thing to be careful about is to be cautious when unleashing his full strength in the future.
However, now he has the Blood Demon Centipede as an integrated alien beast, so even if he unleashes his full form again, his appearance will likely be somewhat different from before, so there's no need to worry too much.
At this moment, Huang Quan seemed to have eaten and drunk his fill. He patted his belly, put down the hind leg he had gnawed down to the bone, and threw it to Big Yellow, who was watching eagerly beside him.
Big Yellow also cooperated, biting the large bone on the ground before it even landed and began to chew on it.
A smile appeared on Huang Quan's face, and he reached out to stroke this yellow-haired stray dog as he had before.
But this time, he narrowed his eyes, and as soon as his palm landed on Big Yellow's back, the next moment, he felt a strong pain coming from his palm.
This sudden pain made him perk up and jump off the ground.
"Ouch, this damn animal, dares to bite me... Let go quickly..."
He cursed loudly and reached out to teach him a good lesson.
Big Yellow, however, immediately let go of his mouth, Holding a big bone on the ground, ran behind Lin Sheng in a flash, his head still rubbing against his thigh, but when his gaze turned to Huang Quan, he again showed a fierce look and barked twice.
"Damn it, you dog, you're infuriating me!!"
Looking at the deep marks on his hand, it was only because of his good Physique, otherwise, this animal might have actually bitten through.
Thinking of the dog's submissive appearance in the carriage before, and now this behavior, Huang Quan was almost enraged.
"I won't today... Bah... Grandpa today... Bah, if I don't teach you a good lesson today, you won't know what it means for a flower to be so red..."
"Alright, it's just a dog. With your strength, are you really going to stoop to its level?"
Before he could act, Lin Sheng's voice sounded. He didn't really care about this. He knew Huang Quan was very interested in Big Yellow, and he didn't know what had happened between the man and the dog while he wasn't there.
Huang Quan originally wanted to go over and kick Big Yellow hard a few times, but hearing Lin Sheng's words, he calmed down somewhat and sat back down indignantly.
But when he saw Big Yellow, who was Shrinking behind Lin Sheng, with a human-like smug expression on his face, his anger surged again.
"Bah! A dog relying on its master's power!"