On the official road, the dust settled.
The woman's heavy kowtows resounded.
Inside the carriage, Lin Sheng frowned slightly.
He disliked trouble, and the woman before him was clearly trouble.
However, her strong will and deep affection, along with her understanding of when to advance and retreat, somewhat surprised him.
For a moment, Lin Sheng hesitated.
In the past, he might have ignored it, but this scene touched him.
He quickly shook his head. With his current Realm and cultivation, why should he be constrained? If his thoughts weren't clear, how could he cultivate?
“Take him.”
Lin Sheng uttered two words indifferently.
Bai Can, who was driving outside, chuckled, reached out, and the child in the woman's arms was already in his hand.
“Thank you, Sir, thank you, Sir! If Nong Yu can escape this calamity, she will surely repay you someday…”
Seeing that the other party agreed, Nong Yu's face immediately lit up with joy.
Looking at the child who had fainted beside Bai Can, she glanced back, immediately got up, and left in the opposite direction of the carriage.
“Let's go.” Lin Sheng had no intention of lingering. Bai Can immediately drove the carriage, and soon, dust rose on the official road as the two carriages set off again.
Caw—
On an ancient tree by the official road, Little Hei flapped his wings and flew, following above the carriage.
However, Little Hei soon looked up above his head, where two black and blue sparrows were circling hundreds, almost a thousand meters above.
Little Hei immediately flapped his wings and flew upwards, letting out two sharp cries.
The two sparrows seemed to realize something was wrong and immediately fled in different directions.
Whoosh—
Little Hei's sharp beak extended, and he bit one sparrow, swallowing it whole. He smacked his lips, seemingly unsatisfied, and turned to look for the other sparrow, but it was already gone.
Caw…
After two caws, he followed the carriage again.
On the other side.
Nong Yu re-entered the mountain forest, but she was exhausted. Although she no longer had the child dragging her down, her speed, even with all her strength, was less than one-third of her original speed.
Whoosh—
At this moment, a sharp whistling sound suddenly came from behind her.
Her expression changed, and her reaction was extremely fast. She immediately dodged to the side, but unfortunately, this time it was difficult to completely avoid it.
Fortunately, the arrow did not hit a vital spot, but grazed her shoulder, tearing off a piece of flesh.
Nong Yu grunted, barely maintaining her balance.
However, before she could escape a few meters, a figure quickly approached.
Seeing that escape was impossible, Nong Yu's face showed determination. She raised her palm and fiercely slammed it towards her own face.
“Want to die? Ridiculous!”
A contemptuous cold snort sounded from beside her. Before her palm could fall, her wrist was gripped by a hand, unable to move.
Nong Yu tried to struggle, but soon smelled a strange fragrance, and a strong sense of powerlessness came over her. Then her body went limp, and she fell to the ground.
“You have a fierce spirit. If you had another 10 years, you might have achieved something, but for now, it's better to be obedient in front of me, Song.”
The black-clad constable grabbed Nong Yu and sneered.
“Song Kui, your Prefecture Office has harmed my Heavenly Sea Sect with fabricated charges. Aren't you afraid that all the Sects in East Sea Prefecture will rise up against you?”
Nong Yu's face was pale, already extremely weak, and her injuries had worsened. In addition, the Prefecture Office's specially made Soft Bone Powder made it difficult for her to even speak, but she still glared angrily.
“Rise up against us, what a grand excuse. Don't worry, little girl, your Heavenly Sea Sect is just the beginning. It won't be long before even the Giant Whale Sect and the like might no longer exist in East Sea Prefecture.”
The Silver Badge Constable named Song Kui sneered.
“What about that little fellow? Tell us, and you'll suffer less.”
“Dream on.”
“Very good, I like your stubbornness.”
Song Kui's face showed a playful expression. He lifted his foot and stepped on Nong Yu's finger, grinding it repeatedly.
Although he didn't believe a few-year-old child could pose any threat, he always liked to nip trouble in the bud, so he naturally wouldn't let go of any potential future trouble.
Nong Yu's face grew paler, enduring the intense pain from her hand without a word.
“Did you catch her!?”
At this moment, another figure appeared nearby, another Silver Badge Constable.
“Caught her, but a small one got away.”
Song Kui replied with a smile, his foot still moving.
“He's just a few-year-old child. He definitely can't escape alone.”
Wang Gang looked at the resentful Nong Yu, frowned, and scanned the surroundings but found nothing.
“Did you see anyone else when you passed the official road just now?”
“I didn't see anyone, but this area for dozens of miles is within the surveillance range of the Azure Sea Sparrows. We'll know if we ask.” Song Kui slowly said.
As he spoke, he took out a miniature conch, the size of a baby's fist, from his Arms and placed it to his mouth. As a strange, melodious chirping sound rang out.
Soon, several black and blue sparrows quickly flew down from the sky.
As rhythmic chirping sounds came from the conch, one of the sparrows immediately landed.
It landed in Song Kui's hand, letting out crisp chirps.
Soon, his eyes narrowed slightly, then a cold smile appeared.
“Found him.”
*
*
Clip-clop…
Urgent hooves sounded on the official road, and two carriages sped away.
Their speed was much faster than ordinary carriages, indicating that the horses pulling them were certainly not ordinary beasts.
Although the speed was fast, the carriages were not bumpy; on the contrary, they were quite stable.
Inside the carriage, Lin Sheng moved his neck, emitting waves of cold Qi. In the corner, a four or five-year-old child was curled up, still unconscious, or more accurately, deeply asleep, but enveloped in coldness, his tiny body began to tremble uncontrollably.
Lin Sheng frowned. The black rhombus pattern on his back flashed with black light, and the cold Qi in the carriage quickly disappeared. The child also stopped trembling.
“Half a month, the fifth Demonic Mark has finally been condensed successfully.”
He murmured to himself silently.
In fact, two days ago, he had already condensed the fifth Demonic Mark, advancing his cultivation further into the Middle Stage of Blood Transportation.
However, the Qi and blood energy obtained from dispersing his cultivation had also been completely consumed. To be precise, when the fifth Demonic Mark was more than halfway condensed, that Qi and blood energy had already run out, so his cultivation speed after that slowed down considerably.
Fortunately, with the Long-Bearded White Ape integrated into his body, his spirit had greatly improved. Although his cultivation speed was not as fast as the previous times, it hadn't slowed down too much.
But with the disappearance of the Qi and blood energy, he also discovered some problems in his cultivation.
Now, every time he cultivated, that cold sensation became increasingly strong, no longer limited to affecting himself, but even having a certain impact on others around him.
Although the current impact was not very strong, it was foreseeable that as his cultivation improved, this impact would become greater and greater, so it would be best to be alone in a room when cultivating in the future.
His gaze fell on the child in the corner of the carriage again. He naturally wouldn't keep this child with him forever. Once they reached their destination, he would find a town family to leave him with, and as for what happened after that, it would depend on his own fate.
He didn't even consider the woman's so-called repayment.
After all, for him now, ordinary things could hardly catch his eye.
Moreover, in his opinion, the woman's situation was not good.
Her body was at its limit, and someone was chasing her from behind. If there were no accidents, she would most likely not escape, so how could she talk about repayment?
“Sister… Father, Mother…”
At this moment, the child in the corner mumbled continuously, as if dreaming of something.
“Life is always more fragile than imagined…”
Lin Sheng shook his head slightly, muttering softly.
He immediately attempted to cultivate Heavenly Serpent Bone Exchange. During this time, he had focused almost all his attention on cultivating the Supreme Heavenly Demon Scripture, and had not cultivated this secret technique much.
Just as he settled his mind and prepared to cultivate.
Woof…
Dahuang, who had been lying obediently in the carriage, suddenly stood up and barked.
Lin Sheng also opened his eyes, then shook his head slightly.
“Things are unpredictable, and heaven does not always grant wishes. So be it. Since they've come looking for trouble, I'll just clear them out…”
Bai Can, who was driving outside, obviously sensed something and said softly.
“Young Master, it seems someone doesn't want us to leave. They're here…”
“Stop the carriage ahead…”
As Bai Can's voice fell, a loud shout came from behind the carriage.
Two figures were rapidly shooting towards the carriage, moving very fast, constantly closing the distance between them.
And behind them, hundreds of meters away, there were also several figures following.
“I told you to stop, didn't you hear me!?”
Song Kui's eyes narrowed, revealing deep coldness, as he saw the two carriages showed no sign of stopping. He kept moving, already taking a large bow from his back, drawing an arrow, nocking it, aiming at the front of the carriage, and preparing to shoot.
“Wait, Brother Song!”
At this moment, Wang Gang, who was beside him, suddenly spoke to stop him.
“What's wrong, Brother Wang?”
Song Kui paused his actions and asked with a frown.
“The horses pulling the carriage are quite extraordinary; they seem to be Red Blood Steeds.”
Wang Gang's gaze focused on the horse beasts.
“Red Blood Steeds?”
“That's right. I, Wang, am quite interested in horses and mounts. As far as I know, these Red Blood Steeds are a specialty of Fulong Tao, and ordinary forces are not qualified to use them.”
Wang Gang slowly said.
“Fulong Tao? Brother Wang, what do you mean?” Hearing this, Song Kui's face showed some surprise.
“Crossing several prefectures, thousands of miles, from Fulong Tao to East Sea Prefecture, could these people have some secret? Just in case, it's better to notify the City Lord before taking action.”
“That's good. Brother Wang, you're always so thorough.”
Song Kui's face showed a look of realization. He nodded in agreement and was about to retrieve his arrow.
However, at this moment, the rapidly moving carriage in front suddenly stopped.
The two looked at each other, somewhat surprised.
However, they soon saw a thin, old man, dressed as a coachman and holding a horsewhip, jump off the carriage and walk towards them.
His steps seemed slow, but each step covered a distance of more than ten zhang.
Seeing this scene, Song Kui and Wang Gang were shocked and immediately realized something.
However, before they could make any moves, the old man's playful voice already reached their ears.
“So, you want to leave now? Too bad, it's too late…”
“We are from the East Sea Prefecture Office…”
Wang Gang's face showed fear as he spoke sharply.
But before he could finish, two thin hands lightly landed on their chests, and fierce Qi instantly erupted.
With two loud explosions, Wang Gang and the other man were sent flying backward. When they landed, they were unrecognizable and lifeless.
“I know you are Silver Badge Constables.” The thin old man said with a smile.
This scene made the several figures who were rapidly approaching from behind instantly stop, their faces stunned as they looked at the thin old man walking towards them with his hands behind his back on the official road.
Then their hearts were filled with icy coldness, and without any hesitation, they turned and fled.
The old man chuckled, and his figure instantly disappeared from where he stood.
Soon, several muffled thuds sounded on the official road.
A few breaths later, everything returned to calm.
Outside the carriage, Bai Can's voice sounded.
“Young Master, it's been handled. They were the Prefecture Office's lackeys, and also…”
At this point, his voice hesitated.
“Bring her in.”
Lin Sheng's calm voice came out.
Bai Can's face immediately showed a smile. At this moment, he was holding a woman, who was Nong Yu.
He quite admired this woman, but since Lin Sheng was the main person in charge of this trip, he couldn't act on his own.
He immediately placed Nong Yu inside the carriage.
At this time, the Soft Bone Powder on Nong Yu had completely taken effect; she couldn't even speak. However, her consciousness was quite clear. She personally saw Bai Can kill Song Kui, Wang Gang, and several Silver Badge Constables in a few breaths.
She was very clear about Song Kui and Wang Gang's strength; they were Peak Bone Transformation Realm experts, the main and deputy captains of the Prefecture Office's many Silver Badge Constables.
Being able to easily kill them was definitely not something a Bone Transformation Realm Martial Artist could do. Clearly, the seemingly unremarkable old coachman was a God-Form martial artist.
And for a God-Form martial artist to be a coachman, the identity of the person inside the carriage was probably beyond her imagination.
Inside the carriage, Lin Sheng looked at the extremely disheveled Nong Yu.
At this moment, her aura was even more withered, and her clothes were mostly soaked with blood. If it weren't for her Bone Transformation Realm cultivation, she would probably have bled to death.
Lin Sheng frowned, reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder, and a surge of force entered her body.
Although his cultivation had dissipated, the Three Corpse Soul Severing Palm's poison still remained in his body. The technique of removing the poison could also be easily done with Qi.
As the force surged through her meridians, Nong Yu soon coughed violently, spitting out a mouthful of black blood.
The strength in her body began to recover quickly.
“Thank you…”
“Don't speak. Swallow the Medicinal Pill.”
Lin Sheng took out a red Medicinal Pill, flicked his finger, and it landed in her mouth.
Feeling the pure medicinal power within the Medicinal Pill, Nong Yu immediately sat cross-legged, adjusting her breath and refining it.
It wasn't until an incense stick's time had passed that she opened her eyes.
Her face, which had been as pale as paper, now had a touch of redness, and her withered aura had recovered significantly.
She didn't bother to continue adjusting her breath and refining, immediately kneeling in the carriage.
“Thank you, Benefactor, for saving my life. Benefactor has saved my siblings and me twice. This humble girl is willing to…”
“Alright, no need to say more.”
Lin Sheng didn't let her finish, waving his hand to interrupt, and asked.
“Let me ask you, why are the Prefecture Office people pursuing you?”
He already had a guess in his heart, but he still needed to confirm the specifics.
“Reporting to Benefactor, my Heavenly Sea Sect was originally a Sect with a Legacy of several hundred years in East Sea Prefecture. A few days ago, the Prefecture Office suddenly issued a warrant for us on fabricated charges, arresting hundreds of Disciples in the Sect. Only a small number of people escaped the city…”
Nong Yu had no intention of hiding anything and directly explained what had happened.