He Lan Tianxia

After everyone finished eating the bird eggs, Murong Junlan glanced at the unconscious Lingyi and Luoxie, and handed a message to the old pine tree spirit: "Go and get a few jars of Spicy Eagle Ancient Wine."

The old pine tree spirit looked around and saw that he was alone, then glanced timidly at the innkeeper: "Me?"

Murong Junlan: "You dare not go?"

The old pine tree spirit hesitated, unsure whether to nod or shake his head. He thought to himself, "Your Highness, didn't you see the innkeeper sitting right here? Speaking of the innkeeper, he's really good-natured. He clearly ordered his page to cook for him, but the innkeeper just snatched it away and, after eating, treated him like he wasn't there, ordering someone else to fetch his wine." At this moment, his stomach rumbled in protest.

Murong Junlan stopped the bird egg he was about to put in his mouth, then flicked it away with his hand: "There's one left. Get some wine after you finish eating."

The shopkeeper hadn't expected the bird egg to suddenly fly over, but he reacted quickly, tilting his head so the egg grazed his face. However, because the distance was so close, and Murong Junlan's hand had applied considerable force, the egg still left a thin scratch, causing a sharp pain. The shopkeeper held back his anger to the limit, but he still stood up expressionlessly and walked straight towards the wine cellar.

"Your Highness, be careful!" Jiang He suddenly shouted, and then a flurry of darts flew over.

"Protect the two." Murong Junlan swiftly teleported to Ling Yi and Luo Xie's side, his thin rope suddenly shooting out, spinning rapidly, and the small Yi dart fell to the ground. Suddenly, a packet of powder was thrown, and Murong Junlan shouted "Watch out!" before scooping them up with his long arm, grabbing Ling Yi and Luo Xie in each hand. Since he couldn't free his hands, he kicked the old pine tree spirit away. Although it was just a light kick, it made the old pine tree spirit dizzy and disoriented. Bang! The old pine tree spirit crashed into the wall like a heavy weight, then slid down and lay motionless.

Dead? Murong Junlan felt that his kick might not have been that forceful. Could he have hit a vital spot? After settling Lingyi and Luoxie in, Murong Junlan went over and reached out his hand to the old pine tree spirit: "Old man, are you alright?"

The old pine tree spirit was still immersed in the blissful collision of emotions when Murong Junlan called its name three times before it snapped out of its daze. It jumped up, dusted off the invisible dirt on its body, and replied, "It's alright, Your Highness."

Murong Junlan flicked his hand and sent over two pills that the Azure Eagle had made last time: "Take them if you need to, don't get confused."

The old pine tree spirit rolled on the spot and followed in a great mood.

"Jiang He, keep an eye on them." Murong Junlan put the two down and chased after the shopkeeper. He was in a hurry to get the Spicy Carved Ancient Wine to detoxify. Although he wasn't exactly an expert here, he knew the general layout. He hadn't been to the wine cellar before. Which path should he choose? Murong Junlan hesitated at the forked entrance. The middle path was too direct, unlike Murong Dubai's personality. The left side was to the east, which was against the current, and the objects there were difficult to control. If he followed his heart, the right path would be more likely. After analyzing the situation, Murong Junlan stepped into the right-hand entrance.

The cave was clean, though it didn't seem like it was frequently used. Murong Junlan ignored it and walked straight in. He had witnessed the innkeeper's skills and estimated that catching up with him would be a piece of cake. Strangely, he couldn't see anyone. There was another corner ahead, and the cave entrance seemed a little lower and narrower. Murong Junlan expected some kind of trap to suddenly shoot out an arrow, but nothing happened; he didn't even feel dizzy. Murong Junlan stood still. This was completely abnormal in the strange world of martial arts. At this moment, he realized he had unknowingly walked into someone's trap, and the one who set it must be the innkeeper.

Suddenly, his feet swayed, then swayed again, as if he were floating. Murong Junlan turned to retreat first, but with a rumble, a stone door behind him collapsed, and as he walked forward, another stone door in front of him collapsed with a similar rumble.

Murong Junlan laughed and shouted into the cave, "Show yourself! Isn't this game of hide-and-seek childish?"

"So what?" It was indeed the shopkeeper's voice.

"Are you getting revenge for that bag of bird eggs? What a woman's compassion! No wonder you're just a watchdog for Murong Dubai." Murong Junlan suddenly burst into laughter.

With a "thud," something fell down, and the ground wobbled. The shopkeeper must have been angry.

Murong Junlan had just steadied himself when a gust of wind suddenly blew in, spinning around and carrying a pulling force.

A swirling wind could actually come from inside the cave? That proved the innkeeper's skill was not to be underestimated. However, this little breeze was nothing to Murong Junlan. He cautiously walked forward, the wind growing stronger the further he went, until it suddenly howled, making his clothes crackle. Murong Junlan suddenly stopped. He remembered that the old pine tree spirit hadn't taken long to fetch the wine, and he hadn't heard of any danger involved; the wine seemed to be scooped up like water. How come now… had he taken the wrong path?

When Murong Junlan realized this, he began to back away, regretting that he hadn't brought the old pine tree spirit with him.

With a loud "bang," the road behind them was blocked. Murong Junlan stopped; he had no intention of moving forward. He looked up and shouted, "Come out! Is it any kind of man to resort to underhanded tricks?"

“Winning makes you a real man. What do you care about my underhanded tactics, Prince Murong? Let me tell you, you can’t blame me. You made the mistake of entering the tribute cave yourself. Ha…” The shopkeeper laughed uncontrollably.

"Wrongly entered a tribute cave?" Murong Junlan felt a chill run down his spine, but he remained calm and composed. He snorted, "I thought it was something scary, but it's just a tribute cave. You probably don't know, but we came in here once before, and we came out safely."

The shopkeeper did not respond, seemingly pondering whether what he said was true or false.

"Don't believe me? You can go out and ask your Young Master Bai, but I bet he'll slap you across the face."

"What do you mean?" the shopkeeper asked curiously.

"You'll know what it means if you ask yourself." Since he couldn't advance or retreat, Murong Junlan simply leaned against the cave wall, took out a short knife, and started carving words. What should he carve? He would carve "Dreamlike Twin Shadows".

"Prince Murong, how does this dilemma feel?" the shopkeeper asked again.

"Wrong, it's that you're trapped and have no choice but to surrender." Murong Junlan raised his hand, and the short knife plunged into the stone wall with a "whoosh." Murong Junlan took out a purple bamboo flute from his pocket, put it to his lips, and began to play "Remembering the Flute on Phoenix Terrace" without restraint.

"Prince Murong is indeed a hero. He doesn't care about an army of 100,000. Even when he's trapped in Gongdong, he still has the mood to play the flute?" The shopkeeper laughed smugly.

"Otherwise what?" Murong Junlan put away the bamboo flute, reached out and pulled out a short knife, and continued to carve with great skill. Wherever the tip of the knife went, it scattered specks of stars, and then the knife flew into the stone wall with a series of rustling sounds.

"Prince Murong, are you testing the thickness of the stone wall?"

"You're not stupid at all, you can tell. I thought you'd been spoiled rotten by those pale-faced scholars and only knew how to do menial tasks like catching bird eggs." Murong Junlan didn't even look at the shopkeeper, focusing solely on carving the characters. Suddenly, Murong Junlan made a graceful turn.

With a "whoosh," the shopkeeper threw out a Yi token.

"Smack! You…" The shopkeeper's eyes widened in shock. He stood there in disbelief. Upon closer inspection, he saw a bird's egg pressed tightly against his forehead. He didn't know how deep the wound was, but he felt a sharp, piercing pain in his head followed by a numbing, throbbing pain throughout his head. Then, he heard a sharp, sudden sound. With a "bang," the stone slab in front of the shopkeeper was completely overturned.

Because of carelessness, the shopkeeper's seemingly foolproof plan to trap the fish in a jar was completely thwarted by Murong Junlan before it even began. How did he do that? No, he had to stop him and retaliate. But Murong Junlan's subtle movements were even faster than the shopkeeper's thoughts, so fast that it felt like a fleeting illusion.

Hey, he couldn't move his hands, his legs, or his words. All the shopkeeper could do was stare and watch, his heart pounding. The shopkeeper knew that his heartbeat wasn't excitement, but extreme panic. This god-like man was indeed above his master, Young Master Bai.

The shopkeeper was unconvinced, a million times more unconvinced. He was about to unleash his ultimate move, a desperate, mutually destructive tactic forced upon him only in a critical moment. The shopkeeper gritted his teeth, a pill nestled at the back of his tongue. If this pill were to break, it would instantly release the pressure points that had been struck, allowing him to escape as quickly as possible. But at this moment, the shopkeeper didn't want to do that. Blinded by humiliation and hatred, he decided to choose a fight to the death.

The shopkeeper gritted his teeth and spat out an extremely fine Yi token towards Murong Junlan with a "poof." As Murong Junlan dodged, his still somewhat clumsy hand pulled up a thin iron wire hidden in the shadows of the stone wall. The stone slab beneath his feet suddenly cracked open. The shopkeeper gritted his teeth and said:

"Let's die together." With a "thud," the two fell into the deep, several-foot-deep Gong Cave...

Damn it. Murong Junlan was startled by the sudden fall. Fortunately, he had learned from his previous experience and immediately set up two protective barriers to prevent the mercury from contacting and corroding him. To his surprise, the mercury in the cave was not still, but flowing, and quite rapidly at that. Murong Junlan quickly used his lazy man's secret technique to avoid sinking into the mercury.

A whirlpool swept in, causing Murong Junlan's body to spin uncontrollably. He wondered if this was a mercury cave or a mercury river. It seemed he had underestimated the pale-faced scholar, Murong Dubai. If this mercury river was created by Murong Dubai, then his abilities were not to be underestimated. If not, and the river was naturally formed, then this place would be a strategically important military location.

Lost in thought, Murong Junlan drifted off into his own world, his body floating aimlessly until he felt something stop him. The surroundings weren't completely dark, but visibility was poor. He dared not move, knowing that mercury was a dangerous liquid. If he hadn't practiced the Lazy Man's Manual, he might have already sunk to the bottom of the river, leaving not even bones behind.

After being stranded for a while, his body started spinning again, faster and faster, until even this seasoned commander was dizzy and disoriented. He spun around until he encountered something, and his body began to bounce back and forth against a wooden stake. Murong Junlan thought to himself, "You'd better spin me out to some other place where birds sing and flowers bloom."

Meanwhile, in the other cave, the pale-faced scholar who had faked his death was vomiting a lot of blood and feeling extremely unwell, but he was thoroughly enjoying his time with his beloved Yan. At that moment, his Yan was still sitting on the only stool, sulking.

The woman wandered aimlessly around the room. A rope at the corner of the wall caught her attention. She reached out and pulled, stretching it longer and longer until it got stuck. Finally finding something to amuse herself, she started to struggle with the rope, pulling and releasing it repeatedly – ​​quite entertaining! After pulling on it for a while with great interest, she grew impatient. Suddenly, she pulled out a thin cord and wrapped it around the rope, preparing for a real workout.

Murong Dubai was so shocked by what he saw that he jumped out of bed. "My dear Yan, this could be fatal!" Just as the woman was about to pull with all her might, Murong Dubai desperately lunged forward. However, because he had injured his lungs while forcibly sucking out the poison, he lost his grip and pushed the woman forward. The woman's pulling strength was already great; the push amplified the force two or three times, and she was thrown forward uncontrollably.

With a loud crash, a person fell from above, landing squarely on top of Murong Dubai. Poor Murong Dubai had no chance to dodge and was immediately knocked unconscious.

The woman, whose heart had been pounding with fright, took a while to calm down. She let out a big breath, patted her frightened heart, and comforted herself, "That scared me to death." She turned to look at Murong Junlan, who had fallen to the ground, blinked, and said in a dazed tone, "I think I've seen this handsome guy before."

The woman approached and looked at Murong Junlan, noticing mercury on his clothes. She then frantically patted the mercury off with her hands, muttering, "Mercury is poisonous. How can a grown man not have any common sense? Hey, get up, get up." After patting off the mercury, the woman began patting Murong Junlan's face.

Murong Junlan was still dizzy and impatient with being patted on the face. Suddenly, he grabbed someone and his eyes snapped open.

He roared with resentment, "Do you know who I am?"

"So what if you're who you are?" the woman retorted angrily.

"You've offended me," Murong Junlan warned.

"I offended you, you offended me! You just popped out of nowhere and scared me half to death." The woman grabbed Murong Junlan's hand and pressed it against her chest. "Listen to this, my heart is still pounding." The woman then stretched out her right hand and said righteously, "Pay me for my emotional distress."

Murong Junlan was enraged by the woman's bold actions and was about to yell at her for being shameless, but he stopped himself. He found that his hand, which the woman was holding, actually felt quite comfortable, and he didn't even want her to let go. So, in that moment of eye contact, Murong Junlan stupidly blurted out, "What is compensation for emotional distress?"

The woman was furious. "What are you pretending to be confused about? Don't you even know about compensation for emotional distress?" She flung Murong Junlan's hand away and threw a punch at him.

"Smack." Murong Junlan's shoulder took a solid punch from the woman.

"This is called compensation for emotional distress."

"Huh?" Murong Junlan didn't understand at all.

"Don't you understand?" The woman reached out and threw another punch.

"Smack." Murong Junlan's shoulder took another solid punch from the woman.

It hurts a bit, but it feels good. Go ahead and do it.

Murong Junlan's submissive expression completely ignited the woman's anger. "Since you're willing to let me beat you up, I'll give it my all!" she thought. So she punched Murong Junlan a good ten times, until her anger subsided somewhat. The prince, Murong, even seemed to be enjoying it. The woman stopped. She was fed up. This feeling of punching cotton didn't bring the thrill of victory; instead, she felt like she was just making things harder for herself.

Just as the woman was about to unleash her second wave of anger, Murong Junlan took out two gold bars from his sleeve and handed them over, saying gently, "Here, for compensation for emotional distress."

"Are you out of your mind?!" The woman threw the two deposit bars on the ground, sat back down on the stool angrily, and said to the air, "I'm thirsty."

Only then did Murong Junlan begin to look for water to drink in the cave.