Chapter 274: Mountains and Rivers, Will You Draw Your Sword? (Part )
It was daybreak, the drizzle had subsided, but Jiuli Village was still bustling with activity. The bloodstains left over from the night's battle covered the entire courtyard. The slaves who were cleaning up the filthy blood had been busy for half the night and had not yet finished their work, because there were too many stains in the courtyard. The entire alley was destroyed, and half of the houses collapsed. Those who were unaware thought it was a dragon that had turned over.

However, what reassured these poor slaves was that the usually hot-tempered village chief did not blame them, and did not ask about the things happening here at all. The manager in charge of this matter also looked anxious, as if something big had happened in the village.

The leader of Jiuli Village, who was called Lao Shentu, was more than nine feet tall, with bronze skin and a long flute in his hand, which looked very intimidating. But from last night till now, he had been feeling uneasy, sighing in the hall with his hands behind his back.

Last night, he and Hua Fuzi from the Ten Thousand Poison Cave failed to surround and kill Chi Meng. Instead, the man from the Central Plains took over most of the village. He even came and went freely, and ignored the entire Jiuli Village.

Afterwards, when he was still hesitating whether to continue working for Chi Li of the Ten Thousand Poison Cave or to wait and see the situation in the Shiwan Mountains, suddenly a group of mysterious people wearing masks came and took away the bodies of Hua Fuzi and the other two. There were only ten people, but each of them had a heavy murderous aura and was obviously a master of the Lesser Heaven Rank or above.

This put the leader of Lao Village in a difficult position again.

The Ten Thousand Poison Cave is a huge and powerful place. Even if the Poison Lord imprisoned the Gu King and worked alone, its foundation is still not comparable to that of a small Jiuli Village, not to mention the Saint Chi Meng who has no foundation in the Ten Thousand Poison Cave?

Even with the help of that Central Plains man, it would probably be difficult to make any splash.

The Gu King is weak and incompetent, allowing himself to be controlled by the Poison Lord. Now all his confidants have been eliminated, and the entire Ten Thousand Poison Cave is full of the Poison Lord's lineage. What can the Saint use to fight him?

The leader of Lao Village thought about it for most of the night, and after he figured it out, he still did not dare to disobey the order of Du Gong, and sent people to secretly monitor the whereabouts of Chi Meng and his group.

Fortunately, according to the report from the subordinates, before and after the Central Plains man left Jiuli Village, a fierce battle broke out a few miles outside the village, and the final outcome of the battle was unknown. According to the investigation at dawn, no traces of people were found there, and there were no dead bodies or anything, so it was difficult to say which side won.

This is a reassuring pill after all. According to what Lord Lao observed last night, although the man from the Central Plains had a complete victory over Hua Fuzi and Gui Tou Yao last night, his flesh was exposed from being hammered on his fists, and his internal strength was also greatly depleted. If he goes for another fierce battle outside the village, he may only win a miserable victory, not to mention losing the battle.

Does the leader of Lao Village know who the Poison Lord sent? Hua Fuzi and Gui Tou Yao have been trained in secret methods since childhood. They are not proficient in witchcraft or sorcery, but their internal strength is very deep. According to common sense, only two people are needed to kill the saint. However, unexpectedly, the Poison Lord also sent his old subordinates.

Before the establishment of the Ten Thousand Poison Cave, the various villages in Raojiang had been fighting each other for hundreds of years, and the brutality between them had reached extremes. It can be said that this generation of people had the heaviest murderous aura in Raojiang in thousands of years, except for the Twelve Caves. The six old subordinates were created by the Poison Lord from among the best of them. It is said that when the Corpse Ancestor Hou Qing traveled to Raojiang, it was these six people who tested his depth.

Facing these six people, the man from the Central Plains would be skinned alive if he didn't die. How could he dare to provoke Jiuli Village?

Do you really think that my Jiuli Village is made of mud?

Thinking of this, the leader of Lao Village had a grim look on his face. Before Xiao Yan left last night, he was afraid that Xiao Yan would go crazy and vent his anger on him, so he knelt down in panic, in front of many of his subordinates. Thinking about it now, how aggrieved he felt?
Damn it, if it happens again, he would risk his life to save his reputation!

A guard came to report that the saint had returned to Jiuli Village.

Luo Shentu suddenly stood up and asked a lot of details repeatedly with some discomfort. Especially after learning that the man from Central Plains was still in the team, he felt as if he had eaten shit. He did not dare to be negligent and went out to greet him in person.

…………

"Hahaha! After the Saint left, I have been sending people out of the village to look for her since last night. Unfortunately, the people below are useless and can't find where the Saint has gone. In such weather, how can the Saint and her companions walk in the wild?"

From outside the village to inside the main village, the laughter of the Lao village chief never stopped, as if the return of Xiao Yan and his companions was a great joyous event. He had completely forgotten what happened last night and did not mention it at all. Not only did he personally arrange accommodation for them, he also busied himself inside and outside the village like a servant, as if he was just short of showing them his sincere heart.

Chi Meng puffed up his face and kicked him out of the yard.

Not until the courtyard door was tightly closed did Luo Shentu's face, which was about to burst with laughter, slowly stiffen. He stroked his chin and began to think.

"Follow this prescription, get all the herbs and prepare a bucket of hot water, hurry up!" Chi Meng suddenly opened the door and threw out a note.

Luo Shentu was shocked, fearing that Chi Meng would see his meaningful expression, he quickly forced a smile again, trotted up, and took the note himself. Before he could say anything, Chi Meng had closed the gate.

He was quite annoyed. Before the Gu King was imprisoned, Chi Meng sneaked out of the Ten Thousand Poison Cave to the Central Plains and stayed at Jiuli Village. He was very polite to him. How could he be treated like this by just calling him uncle?

Moreover, he had just observed that although the Central Plains man seemed to be fine, he had not spoken a word all the way, perhaps he had been injured secretly. The Central Plains woman looked even weaker and was obviously seriously injured. In addition, there was a young man wearing a hood and whose appearance could not be seen clearly, who looked like a useless person. How dare such a combination of people boss around his Jiuli Village?

Do you really think that his Jiuli Village is made of mud?
Oh shit.

Luo Shentu was furious, but he did not slow down and asked someone to prepare the medicinal materials immediately.

……

After Xiao Yan wrote down the medicinal materials and placed Ji Ruxue in the recipe, he went to the main hall to visit Chi Meng.

Chi Meng was also seriously injured, but most of them were superficial wounds. Unlike Ji Ruxue, the arrow that shot her was poisonous. Although Xiao Yan had medical skills, he did not have the right medicine at the time, so he had to temporarily seal Ji Ruxue's meridians to ensure that the poison would not spread.

Although Chi Meng was willing to use her golden silkworm Gu to treat Ji Ruxue, which was the holy Gu of the Ten Thousand Poison Cave that everyone said had been stolen by You Chuan, Xiao Yan did not agree. The poison looked fierce, but it was only strange. He could use a hot bath to cleanse Ji Ruxue's marrow and bones to force it out. Using the only golden silkworm Gu in the entire Raojiang was a bit of a waste.

In the main hall, there were two figures, one on the left and one on the right. Chi Meng folded his arms across his chest, staring at the opposite side, as if he had eight hundred questions and didn't know where to start.

You Chuan took off his hood, looking a little tired, his face looked even more disheveled, his eyes were bloodshot, as if he had not rested for several days and nights, and he also didn't say a word.

It was not until Xiao Yan came in that the two of them stood up one after the other. Chi Meng glanced at You Chuan, feeling somewhat worried about the latter, and asked in a low voice, "What's wrong with the young lady?"

"As long as the meridians are stabilized, there's nothing serious." Xiao Yan said, "Go and rest quickly. You can rest assured that I'm here."

Chi Meng was in a bit of a dilemma. She was in a mess last night and her clothes were now covered with uncleaned mud, which looked very ugly. She was not that tired, she was just worried about the young lady.

In fact, she was still wearing Xiao Yan's clothes, which could slightly hide her embarrassment.

"The young lady was injured while trying to save me. I am worried until she wakes up." Chi Meng said. Xiao Yan nodded, without further persuasion, and just looked at You Chuan.

The latter saluted him with his hands on his chest, and did not seem to be jealous of Chi Meng's closeness to Xiao Yan.

Xiao Yan's strength is far superior to his. Given this fact, the gap cannot be narrowed by just being sarcastic. It would be better to admit it honestly. It won't be too late to worry about these things when he is able to challenge Xiao Yan.

What's more, if it weren't for Xiao Yan, he and Chi Meng would have both survived a near-death experience last night. How could he have any hostility towards Xiao Yan?

"Tell me about it." Xiao Yan said to You Chuan while sitting on a chair.

Chi Meng put his hands on his hips, looked around at the two of them, and didn't interrupt.

You Chuan sighed. He knew that his sudden appearance would make anyone suspicious, so he didn't get angry. He just told his whole experience in detail.

It started from when Chi Meng left the Cave of Ten Thousand Poisons, he agreed to act out a betrayal with Du Gong in order to look after Chi Meng's safety, to how he was framed for being in cahoots with the Nanping Kingdom, and then how he ended up in the Nanping Kingdom, and had to become an enemy of the Raojiang soldiers in order to protect the innocent villagers in several villages.

"After that, after my constant explanation, a village chief also felt that my collusion with the Nanping Kingdom was quite suspicious, so he agreed to secretly let me return to Raojiang. Under his cover, I had already returned to the Northern Frontier half a month ago, and heard about your group killing the corpse monster..."

You Chuan's voice was a little hoarse. After drinking half a cup of hot water, he continued, "In fact, I initially thought that someone was acting under the name of Chi Meng and had been tracking you for a while. Later, based on your direction, I roughly determined that you might have two targets."

"With your pig brain, can you determine the direction of our nest?" Chi Meng obviously didn't believe it.

You Chuan patiently explained, "It's not hard to guess. If you two are from the Central Plains and want to enter the Ten Thousand Poison Cave, you can't avoid the poisonous miasma that never dissipates. If you don't want to be affected by the poisonous miasma, you can only go to Guishizi to seek the poison-avoiding beads. Secondly, Jiuli Village is the only way to the Ten Thousand Poison Cave. The owner of Lao Village was a close friend of the Gu King. If you want to seek help, you can't avoid this place."

After hesitating for a moment, he continued, "Based on my understanding of Chi Meng, she will not give up Jiuli Village, a strong supporter. As long as you wait here, she will not miss you."

"Humph!" Chi Meng was very unconvinced and said, "There are so many villages that have received favors from my father. Who said that I only have Jiuli Village as a strong supporter? There are also Shetou Village, Xitou Village, and Guagua Village..."

She counted on her fingers one by one, looking very confident.

But Xiao Yan knew that all these villages had been destroyed when Chi Meng headed north a month ago. They were either trying to be rude or had been fooled by the Poison King and didn't take it seriously at all. Of course, they wanted to send troops to rescue the Gu King, but they were weak and could not be the first to do so. They could only wait for the opportunity.

In fact, if we really want to talk about how evil Du Gong is, it is not entirely true. At least in the current Raojiang, his reputation is still good. He is still the wise witch king who is as famous as Gu King, and treats Raojiang wholeheartedly.

After all, even Chi Meng could not find any evidence against the Poison King. She could not even provide any solid evidence that the Gu King was imprisoned. In the eyes of the people of the Ten Thousand Poison Cave and even Raojiang, the Gu King was bedridden and unable to see anyone, so the Poison King could not be blamed.

He did not expose the truth, but just nodded and asked You Chuan: "If that's the case, how do you know that there is a problem with Jiuli Village?"

"Yes." Chi Meng's face became alert and she looked You Chuan up and down. When she heard about You Chuan and Du Gong's plan just now, she was already very disgusted. What he said about looking after her might be to monitor her whereabouts, but You Chuan, this idiot, couldn't tell the difference.

"You haven't had much contact with that bastard from Jiuli Village, so how do you know that he has betrayed my father?!"

You Chuan hesitated for a moment and looked at Xiao Yan: "Do you know the Twelve Caves?"

"Have heard a little bit."

"Foster father... from what I know, he has a secret technique that was passed down to the Twelve Caves, which can strengthen a person's bones and meridians. Under this secret technique, no matter the target, they can achieve the effect of muscle growth and bone building. Correspondingly, this secret technique can increase the strength of ordinary people several times. Just relying on the strength of the body, they can fight against experienced masters."

"Hua Fuzi and Guitou?" Chi Meng rolled his eyes, but was too lazy to correct him about whether he was a righteous father or not, so he just interrupted.

"It's stronger than that." You Chuan said, "But my foster father doesn't seem to have fully mastered this secret technique. He needs to consume a large number of sacrifices every year, both living and dead, with varying strengths, all of whom are subjects of his experiments. Obviously, he can't do this in such a large scale in the Ten Thousand Poison Cave, so the experimental subjects are all from the Northern Frontier... Every time the death row prisoners from various villages and the Central Plains are sent to the Ten Thousand Poison Cave, they will transfer in Jiuli Village for a while."

Chi Meng's brows were already furrowed, as if he realized the seriousness of the matter: "So, those corpse monsters..."

"It is very likely the semi-finished product refined by my adoptive father." You Chuan nodded.

"This vicious bastard!" Chi Meng suddenly stood up and said angrily, "What on earth does he want to do? He is so cruel and crazy. I thought he just wanted his father's power, but I didn't expect him to be so evil behind the scenes!"

Xiao Yan was not too surprised, but continued to ask: "So, you found us for this matter?"

"That's right. Before this incident happened, I discovered this incident by chance, but I didn't verify it until the corpse monster appeared. I made the connection." You Chuan said seriously: "I don't know why you came to Raojiang, but my godfather's trip will definitely bring a great disaster to the entire Raojiang. Now, perhaps the only way to find out the truth and save the people of Raojiang is to go to the Twelve Caves or rescue the Gu King."

He stood up and clasped his hands across his chest, saying, "I am not strong enough and I know I cannot fight against my foster father, so I can only place my hopes on you. Along the way, I have already seen that you are much stronger than us. At this moment, I hope you can help me..."

Hearing this, Chi Meng couldn't help but become nervous. He clutched the corner of his clothes and looked at Xiao Yan carefully.

The latter did not respond immediately, but suddenly remembered the game that Kuijia mentioned last night.

"The so-called playing with people's hearts, the identities of officials and thieves, is whether the people believe what the officials say, or the officials obey what the people say. If your identity does not change, you will not be able to get out of the Ten Thousand Mountains."

Obviously, at this moment, Xiao Yan was the "thief", and the commander was of course the "official".

It seemed that there was a big conspiracy that began to cover Xiao Yan's eyes.

(End of this chapter)