The Smiling, Proud Wanderer, becoming a disciple of Yue Buqun

"This...this..."

The servant was speechless.

When the officials entered and saw this scene, they all stared wide-eyed in disbelief.

The stench of blood filled the courtyard and assaulted their senses.

"vomit!"

One of the officers couldn't help but vomit.

His vomiting seemed to trigger a chain reaction, and the other officers also felt a churning in their stomachs and began to vomit as well.

"Brother Wang, what should we do?"

An officer approached the lead officer and asked in a low voice, his eyes filled with fear as he looked at the corpses scattered throughout the courtyard.

Brother Wang frowned deeply. After hearing his subordinate's words, his eyes narrowed, and he said directly, "Search. See if there are any survivors inside. Also, have a few brothers ask the people around here which direction the murderer went. Then have a few brothers go back and report to the prefect."

……

After leaving Xi'an Prefecture, Jiang Ning rode Maodou on the wide road, the wind blowing Jiang Ning's hair behind him.

After leaving the Xu residence, he ran straight towards the city gate on the East Avenue. When the guards at the city gate saw a blood-covered man riding a donkey towards them, they immediately tried to stop him, intending to close the city gate and put up a fence.

However, people were coming and going at the city gate, and it would take them a while to close the gate. Jiang Ning took advantage of this opportunity to drive them away. Maodou easily jumped over the fence and ran out of the city gate.

Maodou is indeed exceptionally gifted. As a donkey, he runs faster than a horse, has better stamina, and jumps higher. He can be considered the Red Hare among donkeys.

I wonder where that old Li found this treasure.

Jiang Ning's expression was calm, his eyes fixed ahead, lost in thought.

I originally just wanted to rest temporarily in Xi'an Prefecture, but I didn't expect this to happen.

He massacred a high-ranking mansion in Xi'an Prefecture, and the authorities will likely issue an arrest warrant for him soon.

However, Jiang Ning was not worried about this.

The court in this world has very weak control over the dynasty. When Jiang Ning arrived in this world, he discovered that the dynasty in this world was not the Ming Dynasty in history when he listened to Yue Buqun talk about things outside. Although it was also called the Ming Dynasty, it was not the same as what he knew.

In this world, people from the martial arts world roam freely, and Yue Buqun always expresses his contempt for the imperial court whenever he talks about those past events in the martial arts world.

It wasn't just him; it seems that everyone in the martial arts world is like this.

Yue Buqun once said that there was a security escort agency in Jiangxi where the head escort, Master Yu, and his entire family of more than twenty people were nailed to a tree in front of the government office by the Demonic Sect. Even the children were not spared.

When Zhao Xiankai, the leader of the Wujin Saber Sect in Jinan Prefecture, was getting married, members of the Demonic Sect suddenly broke in and killed his entire family in full view of everyone. Their heads were cut off and fed to dogs, and then they left without anyone stopping them.

Among the guests at the time were government officials.

Even after committing such a act of contempt for the imperial court, the demonic sect remained arrogant and domineering, and nothing happened to them. All of this demonstrates that the imperial court's control over the country was very weak.

Jiang Ning had already heard far too many stories of government inaction from Yue Buqun.

Of course, this is also related to the fact that the Demonic Sect's influence is too great. Even the Yunnan, Guizhou and Sichuan regions, which are difficult for the government to penetrate, are the Demonic Sect's territory, which shows just how powerful the Demonic Sect is.

This is a chaotic era.

Therefore, Jiang Ning was not too worried that his actions would cause trouble for the Huashan Sect.

Furthermore, if given another chance, even if the imperial court were to issue a warrant for his arrest and hunt him down, he would still do the same.

This world is too chaotic, and nobody is doing anything about it.

That's his responsibility.

If this world is so dark that there is not a single ray of light, then he will be the first ray of light to pierce the darkness and shine upon this land.

Jiang Ning patted the edamame beneath him.

"Run slower."

My hip hurts a little.

Chapter 38: Xiangyang

It has been three days since I left Xi'an.

Although Jiang Ning wasn't too worried about being wanted by the government, he wouldn't be so arrogant as to swagger around the official road and enter major cities after massacring a wealthy family's mansion. If he were that arrogant, even if people weren't interested in him, they would still come after him.

So these past few days, Jiangning has been taking small roads and mountain paths, trying to avoid main roads, and at most passing through a few villages or towns.

He should wait a few more days. If he still didn't see any action from the government after a few days, then he would be safe.

Fortunately, although we were traveling in the mountains, we didn't have to worry about food. There were fish in the river and rabbits in the mountains, so we could also eat meat.

However, it doesn't have much flavor.

But that's enough; we're not here on vacation.

night.

Jiang Ning sat at the entrance of the cave, roasting rabbit legs. Outside, a fierce wind and rain raged, and the trees rustled in the wind.

Unfortunately, the weather turned bad today; a downpour has been falling since morning, so Jiang Ning had no choice but to stay in this cave.

He came down the mountain on April 13th. Seventeen days have passed since then, and it is now the beginning of May.

The journey from Xi'an to Xiangyang is over a thousand li. He has traveled nearly two hundred li in the past three days, and there are still about eight hundred li to go to Xiangyang.

He took a side path, a mountain path, which was much more circuitous than taking the main road.

Based on the current journey, if all goes well, he should arrive in Xiangyang around May 12th, just in time to meet Yue Buqun and Ning Zhongze.

Jiang Ning ate the rabbit leg while sensing the internal energy within his body.

These past few days, aside from eating and traveling, he has only slept a few hours at night, spending the rest of his time practicing the Innate Skill.

After three days of practice, he finally understood that the Innate Skill had the effect of refreshing the mind and keeping one energetic even if one didn't sleep all night. However, it put a great burden on the body. The effects might not be noticeable in the short term, but problems would arise over time.

If we compare the human body to a machine, then the brain is the switch. Jiang Ning's brain has never been turned off. He travels during the day and cultivates at night, so his body is always running. Over time, he will definitely not be able to take it.

Therefore, although Jiang Ning was eager to master the Innate Skill, he also had to consider the physical burden. Moreover, Taoism emphasizes gradual progress, and the Innate Skill is no exception.

However, after cultivating for these few days, Jiang Ning's internal energy had become a very pure wisp, much better than before when it was barely bigger than a hair.

After finishing the rabbit leg, Jiang Ning stood up, drew his sword, and began practicing swordsmanship inside the cave.

The cave was spacious, with a large interior space, enough for him to stretch out.

Maodou was already fast asleep nearby.

Inside the cave, besides the crackling of the campfire, there were only snores and the sounds of sword practice.

……

Apart from the torrential rain seven days ago, the weather has been clearing up since then. Three days ago, Jiang Ning made a special trip through a county to see if the government had taken any action. However, he didn't see the bounty for him because of inconvenient transportation or because the government hadn't reacted yet. This reassured him, and he stopped deliberately avoiding large cities in the following days.

He was sitting on Maodou's back, and Maodou was carrying him in a southeast direction.

Previously, when he was riding Maodou, he didn't have a saddle, which made riding Maodou very uncomfortable. He bought a saddle in the county he had passed through and put it on Maodou's back, which made it much better.

The shopkeeper was completely dumbfounded when he saw him put the saddle on the back of a donkey.

As Maodou ran, it let out cheerful chirps. Its big front teeth gleamed in the sunlight, and the bells around its neck jingled melodiously.

Five more days passed during this journey before he finally arrived in Xiangyang.

During the journey, he did not encounter any similar incidents to the one where Xu Yaozu forcibly abducted a woman in the street. The journey was relatively peaceful, probably because he passed through mostly villages.

However, when he passed through one of the villages, he discovered that the villagers were about to drown a woman under the village chief's instructions, and he stopped them.

After questioning, it was learned that the woman was already married, but had an affair with another man after marriage, which was eventually discovered by her husband.

Fearing exposure, the woman conspired with her lover to poison her husband, but the husband discovered their plan.

In a fit of rage, the husband accidentally killed the adulterer and, in fear, told the local village chief, who was also their clan leader, what had happened.

When the village chief learned of what had happened in the village, he organized the villagers to put the woman who had been having an affair into a cage and prepare to throw her into the river to drown.

This is their tribal rule.

Jiang Ning confirmed the truth of the matter with the woman, so he stopped interfering.

He has no say in this matter, nor does he want to.

The woman was initially grateful to Jiang Ning for saving her, but after Jiang Ning gave up on saving her, she started cursing at him.

After this interlude, nothing else happened, and Jiang Ning continued his journey until he arrived in Xiangyang.

Compared to Xi'an, Xiangyang was not as prosperous. After all, Xi'an was the capital of six dynasties, and it could only be compared to Jiangnan, Luoyang and the capital.

But Xiangyang is also a large city.

Today is May 12th, which is close to the date he had calculated before.

Jiang Ning led Maodou around the city of Xiangyang.

Unlike in Xi'an Prefecture, there were significantly more martial arts figures in Xiangyang City. You could see people carrying weapons every few steps. Some looked fierce and menacing, while others walked in groups of three or five. Compared to them, Jiang Ning's attire was much more ordinary.

Previously, when he massacred Xu Heqing's family in the Xu residence in Xi'an Prefecture, his newly bought clothes were stained with blood. However, he later washed them clean, and the smell of blood on his body was not so strong. Now, you can't tell at all that he killed so many people.

What's odd is that he's leading a donkey.

It wasn't that no one led a horse into the city, but everyone else was leading a horse, so it seemed rather strange that he was leading a donkey.

Along the way in Jiangning, I noticed that the buildings on both sides of the road were decorated with lanterns, and some streets were already decorated with lanterns and calligraphy and paintings.

According to Yue Buqun, the lantern festival in Xiangyang will begin in three days, so they may have already arrived in Xiangyang.

Jiang Ning planned to find an inn to stay in first, and then ask passersby if they had seen Yue Buqun and the others.

Yue Buqun and his group of dozens of people were quite conspicuous together.

"Oh? Junior Brother? What brings you to Xiangyang?"

Just then, a familiar female voice rang out from behind him. Jiang Ning turned around and saw a woman carrying a lantern in a small alley next to him, looking at him with a surprised expression.

"Senior Sister Du?"

Chapter 39: It really is you!

Jiang Ning was also surprised.

Unexpectedly, I ran into Du Lanyin as soon as I entered the city.

At this moment, Du Lanyin walked over, looked at Jiang Ning, covered her mouth and laughed, "When I first saw you, I wasn't sure, and I was afraid I would mistake you for someone else. I didn't expect it to really be you. Wearing this outfit, I thought you were some young master out for a stroll."

Jiang Ning asked, "Where are Master and the others?"

Du Lanyin said, "We went to visit a friend. We only arrived the day before yesterday. The lantern festival is still three days away. Master took us to stay at an inn, and we've been playing around in the city for the past few days."

Jiang Ning nodded knowingly.

"Why did you bring a donkey? It doesn't suit your style. A horse would have been much better."

Du Lanyin looked curiously at Maodou behind Jiang Ning and wanted to reach out and touch it, but perhaps understanding Du Lanyin's words, Maodou turned its head away and wouldn't let her touch it.

"It's called edamame, and I bought it in Huayin County."

Jiang Ning explained.

Du Lanyin slightly widened her eyes and pointed at the edamame.

"Did you ride it all the way to Xiangyang?"

Jiang Ning nodded.

Du Lanyin chuckled, looking at Maodou with curiosity, and then reached out to touch the bell under its neck.

However, the usually docile Maodou seemed to have a temper, shaking its head back and forth and refusing to let her touch it. Du Lanyin pouted, put her hands on her hips, puffed out her cheeks, and stared at it with a sullen look.

Jiang Ning laughed and reached out to pat Maodou's head.

"Come on, junior brother, I'll take you to the inn. Junior sister and senior brother are there."

Du Lanyin led the way.

"it is good."