step by step

After another night of turbulence, at dawn, everyone finally stopped to rest.

Several men collected firewood, lit the fire, and hunted for food. Kong Zhu and Shi Sang sat together, looking at the map by the light of the fire.

"It's only about ten miles away from the next city. From here, all the surrounding cities are surrounded by the same blocked city. The peasants around the city will not easily enter. If our group passes directly through the city, will it Does it seem too obtrusive?" Shi Sang said: "If it attracts the attention of all forces in the city, then we will be passive."

"Although there are many people with ulterior motives, the only ones who really dare to do it are the emperor and the sidelines. Although the other major hermit clans are eyeing the status of our fortune-telling clan, they will not act in such a sensitive place. It's time to act. Once both sides are hurt, the third party will benefit. Besides, we and Dachang are now facing the same enemy. Before we find out the depth of the enemy, this balance will not be broken for the time being."

Kong Zhu's finger lightly landed on the east side of Dachang, and his fingertips slid along the curve of the map to the west: "Look, the front of the southern border is a land of exile. The environment is so strange that normal people cannot survive. Its east side It's the sea, and the grassland is to the west, if the enemy's troops are stationed on the grassland, our spies will not be able to find it, not to mention, if the enemy is borrowing from the grassland, why not directly attack the loosely defended Western Region?"

Shi Sang shook his head, sighed and said, "I really can't imagine, what kind of enemy would it be?"

"There has never been a living person in the exiled land. No one knows the specific situation." Kong Zhu said indifferently: "And the enemies this time, they not only survived in the exiled land, but also multiplied to an extremely large number." Terrible, and most importantly, no one ever found them."

"Could it be that the land occupied by the exiled land is actually not that big? After crossing the exiled land, there is an empire like Dachang on the mainland there. The people there also discovered this strange place, and We on the exiled land?" Shi Sang speculated.

"It's not impossible, it's just..." Kong Zhu pondered for a moment, then suddenly raised his head and called Su Gewen over: "You have traveled the mainland for many years, but have you ever been to the land of exile?"

"Of course I have been there. It can be said that there is no place on this continent that I have not been to," Su Gewen's tone revealed a sense of pride.

Kong Zhu told him Shi Sang's conjecture just now, and then asked: "How big is the exiled land? Will there really be other countries there?"

Su Gewen frowned tightly, as if recalling his previous experience: "No, it's impossible. The land of exile is very large and vast. According to my observation, only the places I walked are at least as large as two grasslands." It’s wide. I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t go through the entire exiled land. I stayed there for more than half a month. In the end, I couldn’t stand the harsh environment and passed out. It was a friend of mine who rescued me desperately. "

Kong Zhu raised his eyebrows slightly: "With your strength, is it the limit that you can only stay in the exile for half a month?"

Su Gewen hummed in shame: "You all know how bad the environment there is. During the day, the sun hangs high, and the temperature can roast a person, but at night, the temperature drops to freezing, which is similar to that of the extreme north." There is no moon in the sky at all, and there is spooky and ghostly fire everywhere. The terrain of the place is weird, there is no food, no water, and there is not even any living life except us. I don’t know what happened there. What the hell, there are bones all over the place, those of men, women, animals, and children. Almost every step falls, and the soles of the feet are covered with broken bones. Even if the emperors exiled some ministers and their families here, they would never There are so many corpses."

Kong Zhu was startled, and subconsciously repeated: "Bones everywhere..."

She felt as if she had grasped some thoughts, but was mischievously slipped away by that little guy.She faintly felt that it was an extremely crucial clue.

"I read it in an ancient book," Kong Zhu murmured, "it's recorded that besides my family of prophets, there is actually another group of survivors from ancient times..."

"Necromancer." Shi Sang slowly crushed the firewood on the ground.There was an unspeakable coldness in her voice.

The surroundings were all quiet, and most of them had heard of this notorious race in ancient times.Under the current situation, they couldn't help but think of an extremely terrifying possibility, what is the most exiled land?Isn't it the most bones?

Shi Sang pressed heavily on the aching brows, and said: "Okay, everyone, don't worry about it. Everything we haven't seen yet is just our guess. Everyone, take a good rest and recharge your batteries."

Hastily ate some dry food and barbecue to fill their stomachs, and everyone was in no mood to rest.The words they just heard weighed heavily on their chests. Although they were just guesses, they all knew that this was the most likely outcome.

Shi Sang let out a deep breath, as if he wanted to let out all the uneasiness in his heart.She casually lay down beside the fire, put her hands behind her head, and asked Kong Zhu: "The next city is called Qianshu City, how do you plan to enter the city? Do you just go in so openly?"

Kong Zhu laughed, "I really think so, but if we really go in like that..." She paused, and suddenly said: "Maybe we can really go in in a fair manner."

After her words fell, four pairs of eyes looked over at the same time, Shi Sang raised his eyebrows and said with a smile: "Listen carefully."

"Have you forgotten? How did Yan Feng introduce our identities to others in Luonan City before? We are envoys sent by the emperor. If we arrive at southern border, or if the soldiers and horses in southern border can no longer defend, then The blockade of these thirteen cities will be lifted sooner or later. At that time, the news will be exchanged among the various cities, but only the emperor's envoy has appeared in Luonan City, and others will naturally know that the so-called envoy is fake.

If we continue with this identity, we can temporarily help Yan Feng dispel this lie.Er arrived at Qianshu City, since no one entered, the city gate must be closed.We can directly tell them that we are imperial envoys sent by the emperor, my badge is the evidence, and I still have Yan Feng's personal letter in my hand.Let the defenders open the gates and lead us to their leader.You all know what to do next. "

Su Gewen frowned slightly, "Will the ruling be useful to Dachang's army?"

Xingkong glanced at him sideways, with undisguised contempt in his eyes, and rarely said a word: "Idiot! It's Dachang's royal token."

In the Dachang royal family, when every prince and princess is born, there will be a special person to make a token for them. The token is made of gold, with the word "Tianci" engraved on the front. On the back of the token, the prince is carved with nine claws. .The casting of this token is extremely labor-intensive, and ordinary people cannot imitate it. In Dachang, it is a symbol of imperial power.As long as this item is released, no one dares to question the identity of the holder.

Shi Sang frowned: "What handwritten letter? Why didn't I see it?"

Kong Zhu took out a letter from his pocket, waved it in front of everyone, and said casually: "I specially ordered Yan Feng to prepare this. We are imperial envoys sent by the emperor to southern Xinjiang, but we rushed all the way. I accidentally encountered bandits, and lost all the official boots and caps and the emperor's imperial decree. Only the badge was kept close to me, and I was lucky enough to stay. General Yan Feng met us in the palace, knew our identity and difficulties, and specially prepared for us We wrote a personal letter to prove our identity."

Shi Sang couldn't help laughing, and teased, "Ah Zhu, when did you become so shameless?"

Kong Zhu snorted coldly, "I didn't learn from you. Also, I have teeth." She imitated her previous appearance, opened her mouth and approached Shi Sang, letting her see her flawless white teeth.

Shi Sang was obviously stunned for a moment, the suddenly enlarged face was right in front of her eyes, her eyes fell on her bright red lips uncontrollably, and she subconsciously felt dry mouth.

The two of them connected with each other, and Kong Zhu soon noticed her distraction, and asked strangely, "What are you thinking about?"

Shi Sang coughed, turned his head and did not speak.On the other hand, Xingkong couldn't stand it any longer, and said impatiently: "You two are going to flirt, don't you see that there are so many big men sitting here? Really, women are going to like women, but let us How do these men live?"

Kong Zhu was stunned for a while, and it took him a long time to realize the meaning of his words. He glanced at Shi Sang, and then silently moved his body further away from Shi Sang.Shi Sang gritted his teeth, and said angrily: "If you have the ability, you can like men too. There are so many good men in the world, is it necessary to hang them in a forest?"

Xing Kong couldn't talk to her, so he simply turned his face away.

Time passed by, the firewood gradually went out, and the sky began to brighten.

After this rest, everyone's physical strength has recovered a lot, and they set off on the road again.

Next, under the gate of Qianshu City, there is Kong Zhu's token. The group met the general guarding Qianshu City smoothly. Kong Zhu's control technique was naturally very successful. After meeting Yan Feng secretly, everyone left safely. This city.

After a few days of rushing, relying on the emissary status and Kong Zhu's control skills, the group passed through twelve cities without any risk, and in a blink of an eye, they had arrived at the first barrier in southern Xinjiang, Floating Light City .

Far outside the north city gate, Kong Zhu and the others could hear the thick smoke and the sound of fighting. Kong Zhu stopped his mount and showed his token.The soldiers guarding the city did not dare to neglect, and hurriedly got down from the tower to open the city gate.Several people got off their horses together, Shi Sang glanced at the soldiers who opened the city gate in front of him, the young man's face was dull, it seemed that he was used to such things these days.

One of the leading soldiers said respectfully: "My lords, please come down with me. The enemy is attacking the city. My general should be on the south wall now. So please go to the general's mansion and wait."

Kong Zhudao: "We want to see the battlefield directly."

The soldiers wondered: "Your identities are precious, how dare your subordinates let you go to such a dangerous place, if you hurt your lord..."

Kong Zhu glanced at him lightly: "Lead the way. I will explain to your general."

The soldier had no choice but to say reluctantly: "Then please don't leave your subordinates too far away, the city is quite chaotic."

Shi Sang frowned slightly, what he said was thought-provoking.There is a war ahead, and if the people don't close their doors, is it possible that they are still causing trouble in the city?Or is it someone else's business?

The soldiers walked in front to lead them the way, and there was a small group of heavily armed soldiers guarding them, looking around anxiously.Everything has an unusual smell.

Before entering the city gate, a young soldier secretly glanced at the officer in front of him, and while he was not paying attention, asked Kong Zhu in a low voice: "My lord, did His Majesty send you here? Will our Floating Light City have reinforcements soon?" ?”

Kong Zhu was stunned, and exchanged a glance with Shi Sang: "Hasn't His Majesty sent 15 vanguard troops to the southern border? They should have arrived by now."

The face of the young soldier suddenly burst into surprise, but soon he said with a bitter face: "My lord, everyone said that our Floating Light City has been abandoned by the emperor, and the adults of the Black Wolf Cavalry and the Forbidden Army have already led The subordinates left Floating Light City, and took away 20 of our brothers, preparing to retreat to Fuxi City. Now those who stay in Floating Light City, we temporarily transferred more than 40 soldiers and horses, plus those who were taken away And combat reductions, there are only less than 15 left. And for more than a month, all our aid here has been cancelled, and the soldiers have been out of food for many days. If there is no more reinforcements, we will have to Kill the mount."

Not only him, but other soldiers around him also surrounded him.The leading captain paused for a moment, but did not turn his head. Obviously these were also questions in his heart.

"My lord, we soldiers are doing better, at least we can rest our stomachs, but the people in the city..." The soldiers who spoke showed a look of unbearable expression, and the soldiers around fell silent.

Kong Zhu was full of doubts in his heart, and he couldn't help but look back at the city they just passed by. Fuxi City is the third city in Southern Xinjiang, and it is also a large commercial city in Southern Xinjiang. Its prosperity is not much worse than that of Shanghai.Not only it, there has been no war in southern Xinjiang for a long time, and all the cities are quite rich, but such a place can't even prepare rations for 15 troops?

The leading general suddenly turned around, gritted his teeth, knelt down abruptly, and said, "My lord, I won't hide it from you anymore, Floating Light City can't last for three days now, my lord, can you tell me , Our nearly 15 brothers, have they been abandoned by the court? My lord, even if we die, we must die clearly."

Kong Zhu didn't know how to answer him at all, so he could only tell them what he could say: "I don't know either... Before we came here under the order of His Majesty, 15 vanguard troops had already set off from the devil's capital. The 30 soldiers and horses recruited by the emperor are also rushing to southern Xinjiang in batches. They will be able to gather in southern Xinjiang in at most one more time."

The general knocked his head on the ground feebly, and murmured in a lifeless ashes: "We gathered in the southern border, not in my floating city... The floating city is hopeless, the floating city is hopeless."

He wailed loudly, and the iron-clad man was crying so hard, and the subordinates around him also quietly wiped away their tears. The sobbing gradually became louder, and a sense of mourning spread rapidly.

Kong Zhu and the others didn't understand the situation in the city, so they could only look at them helplessly.At this time, they didn't realize that they were going to face real hell here.Every step a group of people took here left a deep mark on their own future, which could never be erased.And those heroic souls of the soldiers who were firmly trapped by the Floating Light City will gain eternal life in another form.