Who gave you permission to travel through time with Earth?

"..."

The others had not yet answered, but Li Qinglian and Tao Shan had already made their choice. One of them swung the sword box and casually smashed the two maids who were already frozen with fear into a pulp and threw them aside.

The other Tao Shan lightly leaped forward, silently stabbing with her willow-leaf knife, stopping the Xuanwu Guards who were trying to escape as they approached the edge of the forest, and quickly making several thumb-sized holes in the back of their heads.

Blood flowed silently, then turned into a grayish-white liquid. The Xuanwu Guard, which originally numbered fifteen, now had Fang Jin, the Buddhist nun, and the unconscious Zhou Bensi, leaving only thirteen in the blink of an eye.

Shi Dahu still tried to struggle. He hadn't fainted despite being hit twice by Fang Jin, but he was held down by the other Xuanwu Guards. Even his roar was suppressed, and he only calmed down after a long while.

"General!"

After stuffing Zhou Bensi back into the sedan chair and lowering the blue curtain, all the Xuanwu Guards knelt on one knee before Fang Jin at the same time and shouted in unison in the secluded forest!

Fang Jin's ferocious smile faded slightly, but the mockery in her eyes only intensified. She knew perfectly well that not all of these people were truly loyal.

The first side quest: Intimidate the fifteen victorious heroes of the Golden Cauldron Society and establish your authority. Fang Jin did not receive a notification that the quest was completed, but the (9/15) appended to the quest was quite eye-catching.

This includes the five who died at Tao Shan's hands. No one is more loyal and obedient than the dead. Of the remaining ten Xuanwu Guards, only four were truly intimidated; the rest were merely good at putting on a show.

Fang Jin didn't care about this. He didn't really have the time or energy to care about the "mental health" of his subordinates, especially since there was someone here who was more important than all of them combined.

Fang Jin left the sedan chair and walked past the Xuanwu Guards kneeling in armor. He arrived at the ruins that had been swept clean, where someone was still lying on the scattered gold, bewildered.

It was that "Buddhist woman".

She sat up blankly, spitting the relic uncomfortably from her mouth, but the relic was already embedded in the gold thread and stuck into her shinbone, and she couldn't tear it off no matter what she did.

Then her eyes gradually showed irritation, and she even picked up a yellow croaker on the ground and kept rubbing the edge of the silk thread with its sharp corner... until Fang Jin slowly approached on golden blood and reached out to help her up.

"Girl, it's time for us to get going..."

"You're the one who's just getting started! Can't you see I'm busy? Instead of being a busybody, why don't you sit down and help me!"

Fang Jin thought about it and felt it made sense. Then he took out the kitchen knife that was still stained with Zhou Bensi's blood and gestured at the girl's neck... He firmly believed that he just wanted to help her escape her suffering.

As for why the latter turned pale, waved his hands repeatedly, and suddenly cooperated with them to get on the covered wagon, Fang Jin could only guess that it was a byproduct of her good intentions, a reward as described in Buddhism...

From then on, the group officially began their journey north.

……

The journey north was not easy. Shangjing was located in a warm and prosperous land, while Focheng was a cold and harsh mountain ridge, with continuous mountain ranges blocking the way. If one really had to cross mountains and valleys, it would be a truly difficult journey.

Therefore, they did not go straight north, but instead first traveled south. After entering a deep mountain path called the Nine-Bend Great Corridor, they took a winding, sloping route through the mountainside to reach the northern plains.

This mountain corridor is called Nine Turns for a reason. Countless mountains of all sizes form a winding mountain road with nine bends and eighteen turns. Legend has it that you can find a way to anywhere in the world here.

A day later, they arrived at this giant mountain range dominated by dark brown rocks. The trees on both sides gradually thinned out, and the gray clouds in the sky piled up to almost hang down, making the atmosphere quite oppressive.

"Sizzle... sizzle."

The solemn atmosphere of the expedition team instantly dissipated when the Buddhist nun Li Cuicui grabbed a few dry branches, piled them up, lit a fire on the wagon, and roasted a rabbit with crackling sounds, even brushing it with bright red chili oil.

"You eat meat...?"

Fang Jin was speechless for once. At this moment, Cui Cui was wearing a Buddhist robe with gold trim, a red robe on her right shoulder, and a string of longan prayer beads on her wrist. No matter how vulgar it was, it could still be considered a Buddhist image.

However, his entire being, including his behavior, violated all ten precepts of Buddhism. Fang Jin couldn't find a single thing that could be associated with Buddhist compassion and purity.

"So what if I eat it? I was sold to a brothel, and I made a living by stealing chickens and gambling. I've lived a carefree and unrestrained life for most of my life. Now you think you can't even let me eat a piece of meat?"

"Besides... isn't this more in line with that king's wishes? The more I break the precepts while posing as a Buddhist nun, the greater the humiliation and ridicule I bring to Buddhism. Isn't this exactly what my 'job' is now?"

Cui Cui shook her thigh bone and said that her grilling skills were obviously not good. The bone was covered in blood, which made her feel like she was eating raw meat and abusing life when she ate it.

After gnawing for a while, Cui Cui, her mouth full of blood, lifted her face from the chunks of meat, looked at Fang Jin who was still staring at her, struggled for a moment, bared her teeth, raised another bone club, and said painfully:

"Do you want some?"

"..."

"I don't want to eat."

Fang Jin said coldly, then grabbed the bone stick and plopped down in front of Cui Cui, placing it back on the fire to roast it carefully until the aroma filled the air. She gave Cui Cui a provocative look and said...

"I just can't stand how you waste food."

The two of them got along well... because they were in similar situations. Fang Jin was forced to lead a pack of wolves north, and at the beginning, she was almost crippled and turned into a puppet, and her whole family had no way to survive.

Cui Cui suffered an undeserved misfortune. She was abducted to the palace simply because she resembled the Buddhist nun and came from a lowly background. She was made a fake Buddhist nun and had a relic planted in her body, becoming the biggest and most secret joke that the Li Dynasty gave to the Buddhist city.

The fact that the two of them had such similar... and absurd and comical experiences made them stand here at the same time, which made them feel a little close. Fang Jin even felt that Cui Cui was more trustworthy than Xuanwu Wei.

"...Should we do it?" he said, lifting a corner of the Buddhist robe.

"Get lost, you bastard! At least make your act look convincing!"

Fang Jin laughed and scolded. The Xuanwu guards around her couldn't understand at all. This was not a real Buddhist nun at all, but just a lowly courtesan in the alley of the capital. Why would the general be so kind to her?

They didn't even have the slightest bit of cultivation; at best, they were just a prop that could be discarded after use. Once they arrived in the Buddha City, they were nothing more than a filthy bomb, with absolutely no chance of survival.

The atmosphere within the group gradually became strange, but at least it wasn't as gloomy as it had been at the beginning. After all, this was a winding, labyrinthine corridor, with a complex and comprehensive geographical structure, and a secluded environment isolated from the world.

He was perfectly suited for a certain profession... that was being a bandit. The largest and most chaotic bandit stronghold in the entire martial arts world was located deep in the mountains of Huilang, and even Tieling was just a border area of ​​Huilang.