After the fairy disappeared

Chapter 1399 Must Rescue
Only when 230 people had gathered did Qi Yunsheng give the order to set off.

He temporarily assigned Xue Zongwu's elite troops to his own command, and selected more than 60 strong and capable men in the village. Then he went out from the west gate and followed the guidance of the Motherly Needle to track down the enemy.

The speed of these 230-plus people was not slow, but it was no match for Qi Yunsheng himself.

It was he who taught Xue Zongwu the light body skills. Qi Yunsheng had a profound skill and a long breath, and when he ran at full speed he was faster than a horse.

But he made up his mind not to rush ahead nor to be left alone, so he just followed the main force and moved forward together.

A few miles west of Xiaotao Villa is the famous Xing Lake in Mangzhou.

Originally, the lake was only a few dozen hectares in area. It was widened and dredged five times by Mangzhou, and river water was diverted to replenish it, thus creating the vast blue waters of today.

When the team reached here, they were blocked by the lake.

"The murderer may have escaped by boat." Bao Xin walked quickly around the lake and came back to report, "There are six small boats in Liao Village by the lake, each of which can carry six or seven people. Master, do you want to take a boat to chase him?"

Qi Yunsheng looked at the quiet lake in the night, squinted his eyes and thought for a few breaths, then shook his head: "Continue to travel by land, even if it means taking a detour. We are not in a hurry."

Xue Zongwu's martial arts skills had long surpassed his master's. Qi Yunsheng was well aware of how powerful this disciple was, and was greatly shocked to hear the news that he had been killed.

Xue Zongwu is a general who commands troops and possesses a strong Yuan force, which is something that ordinary practitioners cannot compare to. Let's put it this way, there are only a few people in the whole Yao country who have a deeper Yuan force than him.

He also had three deputy generals by his side, all of whom were quite strong - although Xue Zongwu left his two strongest deputy generals in Shuangxi and did not bring them out.

Even so, they were killed by Emperor Jiuyou.

The murderer's strength is truly unfathomable.

When tracking down such a powerful man, Qi Yunsheng had to be extra careful. He must not be as reckless and careless as Xue Zongwu and put himself in danger.

No matter how strong and powerful Emperor Jiuyou is, it is impossible for him to charge into this team alone.

Besides, Qi Yunsheng himself is not an easy person to get along with.

Now, he just had to follow the direction of the murderer, neither too fast nor too slow, because he would catch up sooner or later.

He also sent people to the government to deliver the message. The officials and the army would soon arrive to join him and jointly search for the suspect who murdered Xue Zongwu.

Naturally, no one dared to object to his decision.

But just as they were about to circle the lake, Fu Wending, who was holding the copper bowl, called out, "Master, wait a moment, the golden needle is moving."

The golden needle suddenly turned.

Previously, its swing amplitude was very small, indicating that the murderer was moving at a constant speed in one direction; but now, it changed direction very quickly.

The golden needle pointed to the north.

Emperor Jiuyou went north again? Qi Yunsheng frowned.

But it is always a good thing not to have to go around Xinghu Lake. At his command, the whole team turned around and headed north.

The road to the north is not easy to travel, with mountains and valleys, especially in such a dark night, the lightest is sprained ankle, the worst is falling to death. Fortunately, these more than 200 people are elite, especially Xue Zongwu's army can also march at night.

After walking for a while, you can see the rugged rocks on the north mountain of Xiaotao Villa, which is the starting point for He Lingchuan and the Weng brothers to spread their wings and glide.

They had already arrived at the foot of the cliffs to the north of Beishan Mountain. Looking up at the rocks in the night, they looked like strange monsters.

It was pitch black all around, and Qi Yunsheng felt more and more strange the further he walked.

At this moment, Fu Wending came over again holding the copper bowl: "Master, the golden needles are spinning!"

Qi Yunsheng took a look and saw that the golden needles in the bowl were spinning rapidly, back and forth, without any direction.

How is this going?

After all, he had held the Motherly Needle for many years. After a brief thought, his face changed color:
"The murderer is very close to us!"

The Jiuyou Emperor actually turned back and was right beside them!

When the team heard this, everyone perked up.

More than half of the people present witnessed the scene of Emperor Jiuyou beheading General Xue. When they heard that the fierce man was coming again, they all became extremely careful.

Qi Yunsheng was even more concerned about whether the Great Emperor Jiuyou had discovered that he was being followed. Otherwise, why would he turn back midway?
Then, the mother needle began to tremble.

This means that we are less than twenty feet away from the target!
"Be alert!" Qi Yunsheng took a deep breath and circulated his true energy throughout his body to prevent the Nine Nether Emperor from attacking him. The witnesses had just described to him that the Nine Nether Emperor's attack was really as fast as thunder.

But the Motherly Needle only trembled for a few seconds, then it calmed down and began to rotate again.

The target was moving away from them quickly.

"Follow me, follow me quickly." After Qi Yunsheng said this, he subconsciously stopped because the Mother Needle turned directly from the north to the southeast!

No way?
Fu Wending pointed to the southeast and murmured, "Isn't that direction Xiaotao Villa?"

Emperor Jiuyou went around, did he go back to Xiaotao Villa?

Next, the direction of the Motherly Needle became stable again, always pointing towards Xiaotao Villa, and only changed occasionally.

Qi Yunsheng's face turned ugly.

No matter where Emperor Jiuyou goes, he can follow him slowly.

The only exception is Xiaotao Villa! That is his home, his foundation.

Many of the Qi family’s top-secret information and many of their shameful secrets are hidden in the villa.

Once exposed, how can the Qi family stay in Yao Country? Don't forget, there is also a Qingyang Regent who is eyeing them covetously. If these things fall into her hands...

Qi Yunsheng finally understood Xue Zongwu's original fears.

But in order to track down the murderer, he brought out all the strong men in the village. Now there are only ordinary chores and servants in the village, and at most there are dozens of guards, which poses no threat to the Nine Nether Emperor.

Did that guy calculate his actions well, so he led them away and sneaked into Xiaotao Villa himself?
However, they were in the valley in the north, separated from the northern mountain by a cliff, and there was no ready-made road to take. If the 230-plus people wanted to return to Xiaotao Villa, they would have to go around the west slope and then enter from the west gate. Not only would they have to go around a long way, but the return route would be even more difficult!

At this moment, two fireworks suddenly rose from the southeast night sky, both blue and red in color.

Warning! Xiaotao Villa was attacked.

Everyone looked at Qi Yunsheng: What should we do?
Qi Yunsheng was undecided.

In fact, there is another way to quickly get back to Zhuangzi:
Cross the mountains and climb back directly from the valley below the cliff!

There is a "monkey path" there, which is the path that monkeys often take to go up and down the valley. Although Qi Yunsheng is over 60 years old, he is still more flexible than monkeys when he uses the light body method, and his two disciples are not much behind.

They can go back over the mountain from here, which is more than twice as fast as going around the west slope.

But this will inevitably separate us from the main force.

Not all the members of Xue Zongwu's guards were experts, so it was impossible for them to climb back from this hundred-meter cliff with an almost ninety-degree slope. The number of people who could go back over the mountain with Qi Yunsheng was limited.

Could this be a trap? Was the opponent trying to isolate him and then attack him?
Will he repeat Xue Zongwu's mistakes?

Qi Yunsheng was still hesitating when suddenly several loud rumbling noises were heard not far away.

When they heard the sound, they looked up and saw flames and black smoke rising from Xiaotao Villa!
Emperor Jiuyou is causing trouble in the villa again.

How many explosions has this happened tonight?

By listening to the sound and determining the location, Qi Yunsheng could basically determine that it was the north-central direction. Maybe Liuxiangju exploded?

Ten breaths later, there was another series of explosions, this time farther away.

Qi Yunsheng has been doing business here for many years, and most of the Qi family's inheritance and wealth are in Xiaotao Villa. However, if Emperor Jiuyou continues to bomb it, Xiaotao Villa will be completely destroyed.

He gritted his teeth, turned around and said, "Those who can climb the mountain, step out."

Let’s look at the number of people first.

Some of Xue Zongwu's guards came out upon hearing the noise.

In addition to Qi Yunsheng and his two disciples, there are nearly thirty people who can climb the mountain. They are indeed the elite troops trained by Xue Zongwu.

Qi Yunsheng was overjoyed and felt at ease.

No matter how powerful the Nine Nether Emperor is, he is only three people, one or two of whom are wreaking havoc in Xiaotao Villa. What is the probability that they will secretly plot against Qi Yunsheng on the Monkey Path?

Well, even if the Nine Nether Emperor is really lying in ambush on the way up the mountain, can't they defeat him if they fight one against all thirty of them?
Qi Yunsheng himself has a profound cultivation base and hasn't met an opponent for a long time. Tonight he was just shocked by Xue Zongwu's death and was cautious by nature. But now he thought carefully, could the power of the Nine Nether Emperor really defeat Qi Yunsheng + two favorite disciples + thirty elite soldiers in the army?
Let's talk about the facts and the reason. Why did the Nine Nether Emperor choose to attack at Xiaotao Villa? It was simply because Xue Zongwu would only bring a few people into the villa. On the other hand, the Nine Nether Emperor was afraid of Xue Zongwu's large army and did not dare to attack when he was surrounded by elite soldiers. He just wanted to wait until he was alone.

Qi Yunsheng now has more than thirty elite soldiers around him, what is there to be afraid of?

Even if we take a step back, even if we can't win, can't we run away?

After realizing this, Qi Yunsheng calmed himself down and secretly laughed at himself for being so nervous and overly cautious.

It’s better to take a shortcut back. As long as the shortcut is good, we can get there within a quarter of an hour.

"Walk."

He waved his hand and two disciples took the lead.

More than thirty elite soldiers of the Xue family army surrounded him and crossed mountains and rivers.

The remaining hundred or so people were unable to climb the mountain, so they had to take the long route around the west slope.

Looking at the dark rocks, Qi Yunsheng threw out an insect-shaped puppet and whispered some incantations.

This is also a magic tool made of the Motherly Needle. It looks like a toy, but when it is thrown on the ground, it makes a slight "bang" sound and turns into a four-foot-tall giant flea.

This thing looks a bit like a cricket, shiny black, with short wings that can hardly fly, but strong legs. Qi Yunsheng and Fu Wending rode on it and climbed up the hills as if they were walking on flat ground.

It can't fight but is good at crawling, and can exist for more than three quarters of an hour. Apart from consuming too much energy, there is no other problem.

Qi Yunsheng felt a pity that the blue bird monster was killed by the enemy, otherwise with it flying for reconnaissance, the safety factor would be greatly increased.

Soon, the team climbed over several huge rocks.

Qi Yunsheng knew the monkey path behind Xiaotao Villa very well. Both of his disciples had walked on it more than once and were very familiar with it. They knew that the most difficult and dangerous part of the journey was ahead, while the road behind was relatively flat.

The Jiuyou Emperor still hadn't shown up, and Qi Yunsheng's tense nerves relaxed a little.

(End of this chapter)