Peach Blossoms in Chang'an

"Strange beasts? Is it true?" Wu Tao tried to hide his inner uneasiness and asked casually. The knight who led the way had a serious expression on his face, and it was obvious that he was not joking. He lowered his voice and said, "The Misty Forest is shrouded in thick fog all year round. The terrain inside is complex, and there are all kinds of poisonous insects and ferocious beasts. There are also rumors that there are strange beasts guarding treasures there. Few people who go in can come out alive."

Wu Tao took a deep breath, suppressed the fear in her heart, turned to look at her companions behind her, and said: "No matter what is ahead, we have to give it a try, right?" The knights were moved by her courage and nodded in agreement. They packed their equipment, lit torches, and resolutely stepped into the misty forest.

In the misty forest, visibility was extremely low, and you couldn't see your hand in front of you. Wu Tao held the sword tightly in her hand and followed the team carefully. Suddenly, she felt her feet go empty and she fell down...

At the same time, in a secret villa hundreds of miles away from the Misty Forest, Hu Bugui was lurking there in disguise as an ordinary herbal farmer. He took great pains to infiltrate this mysterious organization, just to find out their true purpose and find a way to rescue Wu Tao. During this period of time, he missed Wu Tao all the time. He didn't know whether Wu Tao was safe now and whether she was also looking for him.

"Found it!" Hu Bugui hid behind a woodshed. Through the crack in the door, he saw a man in black stealthily hiding a package in a secret compartment. He held his breath and carefully observed the man in black's every move, hoping to find some clues. After the man in black left, Hu Bugui sneaked into the room, opened the secret compartment, and found an old book hidden inside. He turned the pages and found some strange symbols and patterns recorded in it. It seemed to be a map, and the place marked on the map was exactly... Wu Tao felt dizzy, and when she opened her eyes again, she found herself falling into a cave. The cave was very dark, with only a few faint lights shining in from the cave entrance. She could vaguely see some ancient words and patterns engraved on the surrounding stone walls. Before she could observe carefully, she heard a burst of tiny footsteps coming from the depths of the cave. She quickly hid behind a huge rock, held her breath, clenched the sword in her hand, and stared at the direction of the cave entrance vigilantly.

"Who is it? Come out!" A deep voice echoed in the cave. Wu Tao's heartbeat quickened. She didn't know whether the person coming was a friend or an enemy, but now there was no way out. She took a deep breath, walked out from behind the boulder, and saw the person who was speaking clearly in the weak light.

"Hu...Hu Bugui?" Wu Tao couldn't believe her eyes. The man standing in front of her was the Hu Bugui she had been thinking about day and night! How could he be here? He wasn't...

"Taohua!" Hu Bugui was also stunned when he saw Wu Tao. He couldn't believe his eyes. Surprise, excitement, worry, all kinds of emotions intertwined, making him speechless for a while. He walked quickly to Wu Tao and hugged her tightly in his arms. "It's really you, you're okay, so good!"

Wu Tao couldn't hold back her tears any longer, and she hugged Hu Bugui tightly, feeling his warm embrace, as if she wanted to pour all her thoughts of the past few months into this hug. "Why are you here? When did you come? How did you find me?"

"None of this matters. What matters is that we finally meet." Hu Bugui gently stroked Wu Tao's long hair and said tenderly, "I have been looking for you these days. I swear, I will never let you leave me again."

Wu Tao raised her head, looked at Hu Bugui with tears in her eyes, and nodded vigorously. After experiencing this life-and-death separation, their feelings for each other became stronger and they cherished each other even more.

"By the way, how did you fall into this cave?" Hu Bugui asked, "It's very dangerous here, we have to leave here quickly."

Wu Tao simply told Hu Bugui how he fell into the cave and told him the purpose of his trip.

"You mean, you found the whereabouts of the treasure?" After listening to Wu Tao's story, a gleam of light flashed in Hu Bugui's eyes.

"Well, I accidentally found an ancient book in a cave, which records the secret of the treasure." Wu Tao nodded, "Also, I discovered a secret. The secret of this treasure may be related to that mysterious organization!"

Hu Bugui pondered for a moment and said, "If this is true, then we must not act rashly. We must first figure out what this treasure is and what the mysterious organization is planning before we can formulate the next plan."

"You're right." Wu Tao also calmed down. "I have found the clue to the treasure. Now that we have reunited, with our strength and wisdom, we will definitely be able to find out the truth and crush their conspiracy!"

Wu Tao tightly grasped the sword in her hand, and the sword emitted a bright light, which was a symbol of the power of the treasure flowing in her body. Opposite, the mysterious man was dressed in black, like a ghost in the night.

"I didn't expect you could find this place, but even if you get the power of the treasure, you can't stop me!" The mysterious man laughed wildly, and the long whip in his hand was like a poisonous snake, attacking Wu Tao with a sharp gust of wind.

Wu Tao dodged sideways and swung his sword, a stream of sword energy rushed straight to the mysterious man's face. Hu Bugui attacked at the same time, the long sword in his hand was like a swimming dragon, and his moves were fierce, blocking all the mysterious man's escape routes.

The two attacked and defended, cooperating in perfect harmony, like flowing water, dazzling the people around them. Although the mysterious man was highly skilled in martial arts, he gradually felt the pressure doubled when facing the joint attack of the two.

"Damn it! You two bastards have ruined my plan!" The mysterious man roared, and his moves became more and more chaotic.

"Your ambition is the real evil. Today, we must rid the people of this harm!" Wu Tao shouted, and the sword shone brightly. With a move of "Flying Stars and Flowing Colors", she went straight to the mysterious man's vital point.

The mysterious man was unable to dodge and was hit on the shoulder by the sword energy. He groaned and retreated repeatedly.

“With just this little ability, you dare to try to subvert the world?” Hu Bugui seized the opportunity and stabbed out with his sword, pointing it directly at the mysterious man’s heart.

In desperation, the mysterious man tore off the black cloth on his face, revealing an old and distorted face.

"It's you?!" Hu Bugui and Wu Tao exclaimed at the same time.

The person standing in front of them was Zhao Dehai, an official from the previous dynasty who had been confiscated and exiled many years ago!

"Yes, it was me! Back then, I was murdered by a traitor, my family was destroyed, and I lived in misery in this world just to make a comeback one day and take back everything that belongs to me!" Zhao Dehai looked like a madman, his eyes red, "This treasure is the opportunity given to me by God, don't even think about stopping me!"

"Zhao Dehai, you were greedy for power and ended up like this. Don't you realize it yet?" Hu Bugui shouted harshly, trying to awaken the last bit of conscience in Zhao Dehai's heart.

"Awake? Hahaha, I must take back everything I lost!" Zhao Dehai acted like a madman, waving a whip and making his last struggle.

Seeing this, Wu Tao no longer hesitated, and swung his sword with a sharp sword energy, hitting Zhao Dehai directly. Zhao Dehai lost all his martial arts and was unable to resist at all. He screamed, was knocked away by the sword energy, and fell heavily to the ground.

Hu Bugui stepped forward and pressed Zhao Dehai's acupoints to stop him from doing evil.

"Hand him over to the authorities and let him receive the punishment he deserves." Hu Bugui said coldly, without a trace of mercy in his eyes.

After Zhao Dehai was taken away, Wu Tao and Hu Bugui uncovered the secret of the treasure, which contained not only countless gold, silver and jewelry, but also some martial arts secrets and good recipes for governing the country.

"We can't keep these things for ourselves," Wu Tao said. "We should hand them over to the court to benefit the people."

Hu Bugui nodded in agreement: "You are right. These things can only play their true value if they are used in the right way."

They informed the emperor of the treasure, and the emperor sent someone to take it over and praised Wu Tao and Hu Bugui for their righteous deeds.

The village returned to its former tranquility, and the villagers held a grand wedding for Wu Tao and Hu Bugui to thank them.

Under the peach tree, Wu Tao was wearing a wedding dress, looking gorgeous, while Hu Bugui was wearing a wedding gown, looking handsome. They bowed to heaven and earth, to their parents, and finally looked at each other affectionately and exchanged tokens of love.

The villagers cheered and wished the newlyweds a happy marriage and a long lasting love.

After the lively wedding banquet, when the night was quiet, Wu Tao snuggled in Hu Bugui's arms, gazing at the starry sky, her heart filled with happiness and sweetness.

"Tao'er," Hu Bugui gently stroked Wu Tao's hair, "Can we really continue to be happy like this?"

Wu Tao raised her head, looked into Hu Bugui's deep eyes, and said firmly: "Yes, we will be together forever and grow old together."

However, at this moment, a dark shadow quietly appeared in the distance, staring at the newlyweds with cold eyes, and a strange smile appeared at the corner of his mouth...