In the gloomy woodland.
Zhang Rongfang at the back also noticed sothing unusual about the two of them.
However, he prided himself on his strong martial arts skills. Even if these two dared to stir up any trouble, he could forcefully suppress it.
As long as they could reach Huaxin County in the end, nothing else mattered.
The group traveled in silence as the sky gradually darkened.
Zhang Rongfang glanced at the sky; it seed like it was going to rain. The sky was overcast, with dark clouds pressing down.
"Chen family brothers, it’s going to get dark soon. We should find a place to take shelter. Otherwise, it will be troubleso if it rains later." He reminded them.
"Don’t worry, just ahead to the right, after a short slope." Chen Guocao replied casually.
"Alright." Zhang Rongfang nodded.
Soon, the group crested a slope, but there were no suitable camping spots on either side.
"This place isn’t suitable for resting. Chen family brothers, did you rember wrong?"
The man with the Buddhist Beads spoke. At this point, he was already a bit fatigued, slightly out of breath.
"No, no, it’s around here. Let’s split up and search." Chen Guocao replied with a smile.
He was already preparing for an escape.
"I need to go relieve myself." His wife, Xiaohuan, looked around and walked straight toward the woods on the right, glancing back at the others as she went.
"Don’t follow ."
The others looked on with strange expressions. This woman was burly, who would be interested in peeping?
"Then let’s wait for my wife." Chen Guocao waved to the group and shouted.
The man with the Buddhist Beads wanted to say sothing but held back, suppressing a hint of irritation on his face as he spun the beads faster.
The remaining two, one woman sat on a stone she laid with a coarse cloth, and another squatted nearby, holding a blackened object, seemingly half a large coin, silent.
Zhang Rongfang was contemplating the possible situation in Huaxin County and Qinghe Palace, considering his strategies, burdened with thoughts, leaning against a tree trunk to rest.
Soon, shouts ca from the depths of the forest.
"Darling, I don’t have enough grass paper, could you bring so?" Xiaohuan’s voice ca through.
Chen Guocao responded, took off his backpack, opened it, and took out a stack of coarse grass paper.
A few large coins accidentally rolled out of the bag, one large coin was ten small copper coins, and a hundred could be exchanged for one tael of silver.
Chen Guocao didn’t mind, stuffed the money back in, and hung the package on a tree branch.
"Would you keep an eye on my bag? I’ll take the paper to my wife. I’ll be right back."
After saying this, he turned and headed into the woods, responding as he went.
The others were initially worried about the two leaving, but seeing they left their money-filled bundle, they figured they would return.
None of them thought much of it then.
Zhang Rongfang didn’t pay it any mind either.
In no ti, Chen Guocao and Xiaohuan returned.
That evening, they found a place to build a temporary fire and rest. After eating so dry food, they set off again early the next day.
They hadn’t gone far in the morning when Xiaohuan complained of a stomachache and needed to relieve herself again.
Soon, she was calling her husband over to help with the paper again.
The bundle remained untouched.
Once more, the two returned shortly.
They continued traveling until noon.
Xiaohuan again needed to relieve herself, clutching her stomach in apparent distress.
Chen Guocao, as usual, brought her paper halfway through.
As it happened more frequently, everyone got used to it.
The man with the Buddhist Beads seed to have figured sothing out, displaying a look of disgust, turning away without bothering to speak.
As long as the money-filled bundle was there, it didn’t matter.
The four waited in place, no one speaking.
Zhang Rongfang took out a water bottle, opened the cap, and sipped lightly.
Suddenly, his expression shifted. He set aside the water bottle.
Quickly, Chen Guocao and Xiaohuan returned nonchalantly.
They glanced at the group, confirming that everyone had grown accustod to their trips to the woods.
Next ti, they planned a complete escape. As for the bundle left behind, it only appeared to be heavy. In reality, it was filled with stones, disguised with a few large coins on top.
"Alright, let’s continue. Based on the distance, we’ll make a detour and cross a gorge, and we’ll be there." Chen Guocao explained.
"When will we reach the gorge?" soone asked.
"If all goes well, by tomorrow morning." Chen Guocao, planning to escape that night, replied with a smile.
Tomorrow morning? There’s no way it would be tomorrow morning.
"Excuse , where are we now?" Zhang Rongfang looked around and asked.
"This is Qingding Mountain. As long as we cross that specific gorge, we can...."
Bang!!
Suddenly, a shadow flashed.
Zhang Rongfang lunged forward, grabbing Chen Guocao by the collar, lifting him up.
"You’re deceiving ?!"
Qinghe Palace was between Red Mountain and Qingding Mountain, and he was familiar with both more than the average person due to frequent visits.
Yet, now, after walking around here so long, there was no trace of Qingding Mountain.
Earlier, when he crossed a high slope, he scoped the surroundings but found no familiar mountains.
If Chen Guocao had nad a different mountain, he might not have recognized it.
But Qingding Mountain....
Everyone present was startled by Zhang Rongfang’s sudden action.
Zhang Rongfang now stands nearly 1.8 ters tall, with a robust and sturdy build. Lifting Chen Guocao was as easy as picking up a handful of straw.
"Let go of my husband!!" Xiaohuan drew a broken dagger from the side and stabbed at Zhang Rongfang’s waist.
Before the half-dagger got close, Zhang Rongfang kicked her in the stomach.
Bang!
Despite being 1.8 ters tall, as strong as Zhang Rongfang, Xiaohuan was kicked to the ground, unable to move.
"Damn you, how dare you hit my wife!!" Chen Guocao’s eyes turned red, and he pulled an iron rod from his back waist, aiming it at Zhang Rongfang’s face.
Unfortunately, his iron rod froze halfway through the swing.
A sharp short sword pressed steadily against his neck, ready to slice his throat with a slight push.
"Say one more word?" Zhang Rongfang held the short sword, his face gloomy.
"Haha... Trying to scare ? Do you dare? Killing soone ans getting beheaded. With so many people watching, if you have the guts, stab here!" Chen Guocao suddenly realized, laughing wantonly.
"You think Chen Guocao is easily intimidated? I’ve seen a lot of your kind pretending to be scary, don’t bring that nonsense to ...."
Poof.
The sound of flesh and bone being cut through spread.
Zhang Rongfang let go, allowing Chen Guocao to clutch his own neck and fall to the ground.
"Getting paid to do a job is perfectly reasonable. Yet you took the money and still tried to harm ?"
The anger surged in Zhang Rongfang’s heart. If the news from the Golden Wing Pavilion was true, he had just wasted almost two days!
In three days, if he couldn’t make it back, what if his master and senior brother were in trouble!?
He didn’t care for many people, but he always observed his master Zhang Xuan’s sacrifices for him.
If he couldn’t make it back on ti now...
Ah!!
The man with the Buddhist Beads scread, turned, and took off running.
The other two, a man and a woman, were so frightened they retreated repeatedly, not daring to approach.
anwhile, Chen Guocao’s wife Xiaohuan trembled as she stood there, watching her husband’s bleeding neck, her mind dazed, her face pale.
"Where exactly is this?!" Zhang Rongfang shouted sternly.
"I... I don’t know! We didn’t know anything about Qingding Mountain; we just wanted to scam so money and then quietly run away, quietly run away.....!"
At the end of her words, Xiaohuan pounced forward, clutching her husband’s body, tears and snot streaming down.
"You said you don’t know the way to Hua Xin!?" Zhang Rongfang was stunned.
"No... we don’t know! But I can lead you back! Without , there’s no way back! You won’t find the way!"
Xiaohuan glanced at Zhang Rongfang holding the short sword, her body shrank with fear.
But she quickly realized sothing and hurriedly said.
The remaining two heard this and their faces showed disbelief.
These two actually didn’t know the way??
Bang!!
Zhang Rongfang could no longer suppress his anger, hitting a nearby tree trunk, causing it to shake and a large amount of leaves to fall.
A flock of small birds above were startled and flew away chirping.
Everyone else shuddered violently with the tremor.
"Husband... husband!!" Xiaohuan couldn’t help but cry over the body.
"Return the way we ca right now!" Zhang Rongfang stepped forward and grabbed her hair.
He had to rush back to Tan Yang as soon as possible, find soone else to guide him, and head to Huaxin County.
"All... alright..." Xiaohuan sobbed in agreent, suddenly raising her right hand, trying to throw a handful of white powder.
But how could her speed be a match for Zhang Rongfang?
One was an ordinary person, the other a seventh-rank martial artist; the gap was too large.
Zhang Rongfang pressed down hard, pinning her forearm.
Crack.
Xiaohuan’s forearm was crushed, then pulled in the opposite direction.
Another bone-breaking sound echoed.
Her entire right arm was completely dislocated and fractured.
The white powder scattered all over the ground to no effect.
"You killed my husband, I’ll fight you!!" Xiaohuan scread, grabbing the iron rod in her other hand to stab at Zhang Rongfang’s stomach.
The iron rod had just been raised when an audible crack was heard.
Her head was twisted one hundred eighty degrees, and she stopped moving.
Thud, Xiaohuan fell beside her husband’s corpse, her body twitching, gradually losing breath.
Zhang Rongfang took a deep breath.
These two scamrs wasted two days of his ti and still dared to act maliciously. Indeed, they were wicked people deserving of death.
He no longer looked at the bodies; the key now was what to do next!
The journey from Tan Yang to Hua Xin took three days.
If he traveled the official road, he might be able to ask for directions along the way.
But now that the official road was sealed, he could only take smaller paths. With no one to guide him....
He scanned around, the two who were just there, now fled in panic in the direction they ca from.
Zhang Rongfang didn’t care.
After all, he had disguised his face before setting out.
If a colleague saw him now, they probably wouldn’t recognize him.
Zhang Rongfang now had much thicker eyebrows, two dark circles under his eyes, slightly darkened cheeks, and a small red birthmark on his chin.
His considerably thicker exposed long legs were usually hidden by his robe, making for a surprisingly effective disguise now.
He didn’t know how to do makeup, but he was adept at saring things on his face.
Anyway, it’s not like he’s doing it to look pretty.
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