The immortal is beside me

Chapter 107: The Arrival of an Old Friend, the Khitan Goddess of the Grassland
Several specialists from the equipment department carried the giant sword and walked away slowly. Under the light in the corridor, they could see several strange symbols engraved on the hilt. At first glance, they looked somewhat similar to oracle bone inscriptions, but upon closer inspection, they could find many differences.

That was the Khitan script. Thousands of years ago, this nomadic people from the steppes founded the Liao dynasty, standing in opposition to the subsequent Song dynasty. For nearly two hundred years, they were enemies, often engaged in war, but also allies, sharing trade and mutual benefit. It could be said that they lived and died together.

Today, the descendants of the Song people are still active in the Central Plains, but the Khitan people who founded the Liao Dynasty are almost extinct, and their writing is also on the verge of being lost.

Faced with the symbol on the giant sword, few people know its original pronunciation.

Slightly tile.

This was her former name, and in Khitan, the word means "eagle".

The Khitan people worshipped primitive religion and believed in the supreme heaven. In their tribe's cognition, the eagle was the creature closest to the sky. To receive this name represented that one possessed the highest power and authority in the world and was an agent of the gods.

But she has already abandoned this name and all the identities it brought. She now uses a Chinese name, "Xiao Yao".

To this day, no one knows why Xiao Yao abandoned her old name. Some say she was rejected by the tribe, some say she questioned her faith, and some say she left the grassland and came to the Central Plains for the one she loved.

Perhaps because the last version is the most gossipy, it has become the most widely circulated version today. However, after so many years, the legendary "beloved" has never appeared, so the gossip has remained just gossip.

Of course, this gossip is just one of the many topics surrounding Xiao Yao.

A cultivator from an ancient alien race was a rarity, even among the current sanitation bureau. Normally, her Khitan origins should have drawn considerable criticism, but the reality was that the criticism was so minimal it was practically nonexistent.

The reason is simple, simply because of her extraordinary strength.

In the suite, the sound-transmitting spirit stone placed by the window suddenly emitted light. Xiao Yao raised her hand and tapped the spirit stone. Amidst the flashing light, the voice of a middle-aged woman came out from it.

"Divine Eagle, a scattered group of evil cultivators have been discovered outside Yingzhou. They have extracted the souls of dozens of civilians and now appear to be fleeing outside the province. Local cultivators have failed to stop them. The situation is urgent. Could you please intervene?"

The fingers stroking the bowstring paused for a moment, and Xiao Yao raised her eyes from the window: "A group?"

"There are currently about thirty people, two at the Nascent Soul stage, more than ten at the Golden Core stage, and the rest at the Qi Refining and Foundation Establishment stage."

"Is that all?" Xiao Yao said, "Evacuate the people, I'll be there right away."

"Thank you very much." The voice in the spirit stone seemed to be relieved. "Then we will send people to set up the formation to assist you."

"Just a few mice, no assistance needed."

Xiao Yao raised her hand to extinguish the spirit stone, then slowly stood up, her fingers stroking the longbow in her palm.

The sword is not at hand, so he will use his bow this time.

Thirty kilometers away, outside Yingzhou City, Taihang Mountains.

A light green isolation barrier enveloped the mountains and rivers, and faint vibration sounds could be heard from it. The barrier generators on all sides were glowing red, and were approaching their output limit.

In the mountains, thousands of elite members of the Environmental Sanitation Bureau, armed with live ammunition, were crouching everywhere, ready for battle. Xue Duo, the executive director of the Yingzhou branch, stood on the commanding heights of the mountain, gazing at the battlefield from afar with a solemn expression.

"Captain Xue, those people are gathering and forming a formation. I'm afraid they want to forcibly break the barrier blockade in one fell swoop."

A nervous voice reported from the headset: "The generator's spiritual power is almost exhausted. We may not be able to withstand this wave."

Xue Duo's brows tightened slightly, and he looked towards a corner of the barrier. Dozens of figures were floating in front of the mountain, and various colored spiritual lights were rising around them.

According to intelligence, among these people there are two Nascent Souls and more than ten Golden Cores, which is enough to rival the elite combat power of a medium-sized sect. In this sense, the current battle can be regarded as a small war.

In the previous battle, the Environmental Sanitation Bureau had lost nearly a hundred elites, and was only able to barely slow down their advance, but that was all they could do.

When faced with an enemy of this level, there is only one way to deal with it - mobilize the local strategic level.

The spirit stone in his hand suddenly made a buzzing sound, and a familiar voice came from it.

"Remove the barrier."

This short sentence made Xue Duo feel excited all over. She knew who this voice represented.

Without thinking, she put on her headphones and tuned into the general channel.

"Everyone, please pay attention and lift the blockade barrier."

The sound was transmitted to everyone's ears through the radio, and at the same time, there was a sound of wind coming from the sky.

A strong wind swept across the sky.

The wind blew in their faces, and everyone on the ground raised their heads and looked towards the source of the strong wind.

High in the sky, a woman in a fur coat was floating there. A green wind was howling beside her, like the cry of an eagle. In her hand, a longbow was glowing.

In the air, Xiao Yao slowly raised the bow in front of her and plucked the string with her fingers.

With just this one movement, the strong winds from all directions gathered towards her, forming a green arrow between the bowstrings, containing all kinds of pressure. At this moment, she was the center of the storm.

The blockade barrier dimmed, revealing dozens of figures wrapped in golden light. At this moment, they stood there motionless, as if they were imprisoned in place by an invisible pressure, unable to move at all.

The next second, the wind started to blow.

An arrow of green light cut through the sky, and fell into the mountains with the power of a hurricane. In an instant, the mountain peaks collapsed, sand and rocks flew everywhere, and the aftermath spread out. The commissioners on all sides had to hold on to the things around them tightly, so that they could barely avoid being blown away by the spreading wind.

When the wind died down and the mountains returned to peace, all the spiritual power disappeared, and only a few pieces of flesh and blood exposed between the earth and rocks proved what had just happened.

Just one arrow, and everything is over.

The entire mountain was in deathly silence. No one dared to speak at this moment. Everyone was looking at the figure in the air as if they were looking at a god.

As everyone looked up, the figure put away his longbow, slowly floated down to the ground, and finally landed in front of the observation tower on the commanding heights.

The moment she landed, Xue Duo had already run over with everyone and bowed slightly.

"Thank you for your help," Xue Duo said respectfully. "The power of the 'Divine Eagle' is truly unparalleled."

She meant it sincerely. As the director of the regional bureau, she had worked with this strategic-level expert several times, but each time she was shocked by the power of Hui Xiaoyao's attacks. Xue Duo had heard many legends about this strategic-level expert.

Thousands of years ago, she was the number one prodigy in the northern grasslands. She dominated countless powerful people in the grassland tribes, led the entire Khitan tribe to rise and establish the Liao Dynasty, and was worthy of being called the guardian of the Liao Dynasty.

After entering the modern era and joining the government, she single-handedly suppressed hundreds of foreign invasions and feudal restoration attempts. She destroyed dozens of rebellious sects alone, truly suppressing thousands of heroes.

Even at the strategic level, Xiao Yao's combat power is still unique. Many people believe that she is the strongest person in the current extraordinary system, and is very likely the best master in China.

When facing such a legendary strongman, no amount of respect is too much.

"Recently, there seem to be more evil cultivators using soul-sucking as a means." Xiao Yao said as he looked at the cracked mountains and rivers.

"That's true," Xue Duo said. "A few months ago, a group of evil cultivators from Peach Blossom Spring appeared in Liangzhou, and a few days ago, news came from Ganzhou that even Buddhist monks have begun to attack ordinary people. It's really not peaceful lately."

"Since there's no peace," Xiao Yao said calmly, facing the mountains, "then we'll just have to fight our way out of it."

The mountain breeze blew past her, making her long hair flutter on the side, just like a real eagle spreading its feathers, and her slender and beautiful body exuded an aura that looked down on the world.

That is a strategic-level bearing and a fighting spirit that comes from the blood of the grassland.

The overwhelming momentum was so overwhelming that Xue Duo couldn't help but fall silent. After a long silence, she realized that Xiao Yao was staring intently at the mountains and rivers before her, as if she was thinking about something.

"Condor, have you noticed anything unusual again?"

"Nothing unusual." Xiao Yao shook her head. "It's just that looking at the Taihang Mountains reminds me of some old memories."

Old things? This word made Xue Duo startled slightly, and he asked cautiously: "Can I listen to it?"

The whistling wind suddenly became gentle, caressing the woman's long hair and making it sway in front of her face. The towering Taihang Mountains were reflected in her pupils, and there seemed to be some waves in her autumn-water eyes.

"A thousand years ago, when Liao and Song were still at war, I once fought a cultivator from the Central Plains in the Taihang Mountains."

Xiao Yao looked at the mountains and said softly, "That battle was my biggest defeat."

Her voice was very soft, but to Xue Duo's ears it was no less than a nuclear bomb explosion.

Defeat? Has the Condor ever been defeated?

Ever since she first met Xiao Yao, her impression of this strategic-level warrior had always been that he was unstoppable, crushing everyone with every move, rarely even engaging in back-and-forth combat. But this one sentence shattered all her previous impressions.

"Who is the Central Plains cultivator you are talking about?" Xue Duo's tone became more cautious.

"His name is Zhou Tong. When Liao and Song coexisted, I walked with him for a hundred years." Xiao Yao said, "He is my enemy, and also the one I pursue."

Each sentence was more explosive than the last. Xue Duo stood there in a daze, and couldn't help but think of the "lover" rumor that had been circulating in the Environmental Sanitation Bureau for a long time.

In the past, she thought it was just a strategic-level legend effect, just like the public always likes to make up stories about celebrities, but after hearing this, could the rumor be true?
"What happened to 'Zhou Tong' later?" Xue Duo asked.

"later."

The wind from all directions suddenly died down, and the flying long hair fell down.

Xiao Yao lowered her eyes slightly, looking at the longbow in her hand with the word "Qing" engraved on it. In an instant, it seemed as if a tiny crack appeared in her eyes, oozing out sadness like a gurgling stream.

"Then, he was gone."

"Ah"

Zhou Qing yawned at his desk.

Perhaps it was because he had been involved in several things recently, he felt a little sleepy again in broad daylight.

Compared to a few months ago, his progress in refining his mind in the mortal world has advanced a lot. The time he feels sleepy has been shortened by more than half. He can now sleep at night and wake up early in the morning like ordinary people, without being as confused and disoriented as he was at the beginning.

The sleepiness soon dissipated. He rubbed his eyes slightly, unfolded the newspaper in his hand, and continued to read the current affairs news.

"Hey, I saw the notice on the official account. Qinglong Temple and Famen Temple are both closed."

Sitting in the seat in front of her, Qin Hongmei flipped through her phone and asked, "Has there been any crackdown lately? Several of the city's famous Buddhist temples are closed, even the Big and Small Wild Goose Pagodas. I was planning to take my relatives there this weekend."

"What's so interesting about the Wild Goose Pagoda?" Li Jie, who was standing next to him, said casually, "Before we broke up, I went there once with my ex-girlfriend. There were just two towers standing there. There really wasn't much to see."

"Break up?" These two words triggered Qin Hongmei's gossip radar, and she immediately put the matter of the Buddhist temple and the Wild Goose Pagoda behind her. "Why did you break up? How did you break up?"

"Nothing." Li Jie hummed, "My family wanted me to find a local partner, but she wasn't one, and my parents didn't allow it, so we broke up."

"Oh, I see." Qin Hongmei didn't get any exciting gossip, and felt a little disappointed. "Indeed, if you can find someone local, you should find someone local. Otherwise, every family has different habits and ideas, and there will be problems if they get along."

They were exchanging gossip over there, and their voices fell into Zhou Qing's ears over there.

Facts have proved that after thousands of years, some ideas have become very different, but some ideas have been passed down from generation to generation, such as those who are not of my race must have different hearts.

He actually understood this point quite well.

Back when he was struggling in the world of cultivation, many of today's Chinese territories didn't belong to the Central Plains. What might seem like an interprovincial marriage now, but going back a few hundred years, it would have been intermarriage. For ordinary people without conflicting interests, opposing intermarriage was perfectly normal.

To be honest, he himself used to believe in the theory of race. He killed many of the Five Barbarians when he was a casual cultivator, and the Turks and Tibetans when he was in the Immortal Alliance. He also firmly believed that those who were not of his race must have different hearts.

It was not until he later met a friend from the Khitan tribe and had contact with her for more than a hundred years that his idea changed slightly.

I heard from Yuan Tiangang before that the Khitan people have now been integrated into the Central Plains, and the Khitan goddess has also come to the Central Plains to settle down. She is serving as a strategic figure in the government system, protecting the people.

Thinking about it this way, the goddess named Xiao Yao was also an old friend whom he hadn't seen for hundreds of years. When he had some free time in a few years, he also planned to go find this old friend to catch up.

As for now
The door was suddenly opened, and Liu Jianhua, the director of the street office, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, walked into the office with a stack of reports in his hand.

"I just received a new notice. The higher-ups are planning to conduct a performance evaluation of each subdistrict. This evaluation is extremely important and will directly impact this year's unit ratings. Everyone must pay close attention to it. I'm assigning tasks now."

(End of this chapter)