Chapter 112: Changes in Nanyang
Inside the Black Deer's cave, Zhao Yushu was still in shock. He tried to close his eyes and feel the message coming from the mountains. Then the messenger from the underworld left.
Old Zhao let out a sigh of relief, took out the core and handed it to Black Deer: "How do I use it?"
"eat."
Okay, simple and crude.
"The mountain god said before that he was immortal. Could he still be hiding in here, waiting for you to eat it and take over his body?"
"I, know, am dead."
Well, he was stripped of his deity, and his own Minghong, yes, my Minghong, absorbed his divinity. As a god, he could not be deader.
Zhao Yushu handed the fruit core to Hei Lu's mouth. Seeing him eating it bite by bite like an apple, he wanted to have a bite himself.
After finishing chewing the fruit core with great effort, the black deer continued to stare at the sky with wide eyes. It seemed that it would take a while for the effect to take effect.
"Lord Lan, that Neijing has left."
Lan Rong nodded, bowed to thank Zhao Yushu for his reminder, and turned to leave.
"Lord Lan!" Zhao Yushu called out from behind. Lan Rong stopped and tilted his head slightly but did not turn around: "What's the matter?"
"I would like to thank Lord Lan for saving my life."
Lan Rong narrowed his eyes slightly: "Then what?"
"I would also like to ask, where is Miss Lan?"
Lan Rong snorted: "Master Zhao, a scholar from the White Horse Academy?"
"Exactly."
"Just focus on your studies and don't be too obsessed with anything. You may be an official in the same court one day, so don't embarrass yourself."
Lan Rong left after he finished speaking, leaving Zhao Yushu confused and at a loss.
"What does he mean?" Zhao Yushu turned to Heilu.
Hei Lu rolled his eyes and said, "If you ask me, who should I ask? You people are talking in confusing ways. Can't you be more straightforward?"
At dawn, Hei Lu slowly climbed up from the stone bed and shook Zhao Yushu who was sleeping on the ground.
Lao Zhao rubbed his eyes: "Are you okay?"
"All right."
"Okay then, I'm leaving. I've been out for several days and haven't done any work. I still have to go to Nanyang to look for someone. By the way, I'm leaving this sword here, my friend." Zhao Yushu took out the Minghong, and Heilu's eyes suddenly widened.
After glancing at Minghong reluctantly for a few times, Heilu patted Zhao Yushu's shoulder heavily with his hand: "This is for you, my friend!"
Old Zhao laughed and patted Black Deer in return: "Don't be reluctant, friends, give and take, this is for you!"
Zhao Yushu drew out his fire-patterned sword and handed it over. Although the sword did not perform very well in this battle, it was indeed a good weapon.
Hei Lu took the sword in surprise, tied it to his belt with great care, and grinned foolishly.
"Okay, take a good rest. Don't go to the Mountain God Temple recently. There might be government officials there. It would be hard to explain if they bump into you. I'm leaving now."
"I'm looking for you. Where are you going?" Black Deer shouted from behind.
"I'm going to the southeast now, and will be back in Dongdu in about half a year. If you want to find me, go to Dongdu Baima Academy and tell the gatekeeper to look for Zhao Yushu."
The two men waved goodbye, and Zhao Yushu walked out of the pond and down the mountain, returning to Muping Village. He informed the village chief of the murder of the villagers, and immediately the whole village was filled with tears.
Zhao Yushu stayed for another three days, helping the villagers transport all the corpses from the mountain back to the village for burial, and left behind a few silver bills.
Troubled times are approaching, and almost all the strong men in this village have died, leaving only the old, weak, women and children. How can they survive?
What else can I do besides keeping some money?
Zhao Yushu did not rush to Nanyang, but hired a carriage and traveled slowly. In the carriage, he spread out a piece of paper and wrote a letter, in which he described in detail his experience in Jiufeng Mountain, but concealed the matter of Minghong.
The letter was written to his half-teacher Liu Jijiu. He deliberately mentioned the underworld's plan to steal the divinity and the plight of Muping Village, hoping that the experienced Liu Jijiu could come up with a solution, as it was not something that a young man like him who had just entered society could solve.
The carriages in that era were very slow, so slow that they could only travel fifty or sixty miles a day. Under the current road conditions, it would take at least half a month to reach Nanyang.
In half a month, apart from eating, drinking and sleeping, Zhao Yushu spent all his time learning new moves from Tiancansi Chengying and Tanyunshou, striving to become a skilled person rather than a reckless man who chopped with a knife.
It’s a waste of the magical skill Shadow Step.
But now the Fire Patterned Sword has been given to Black Deer, Minghong is only effective against gods, and Madam Xu is extremely powerful but easily exposed. After thinking about it, it turns out that only Chengying is available for the time being, so I have to work harder in this area.
As his realm was elevated to the third heaven, his Shadow Step also advanced. Now the moving range was expanded to three meters, the lead time was shortened by nearly half, and the cooldown was also reduced by nearly half.
According to this advancement method, when you reach the third level of the seventh level, the pre-swing and cooldown time can be almost ignored.
Tan Yun, who had never practiced the finger techniques, also officially began to practice. After the practice was successful, combined with the flying needle technique he had learned before, it would become a very powerful medium- and short-range combination technique, which is very suitable for his assassin style.
Half a month passed in the blink of an eye. With the solid foundation of Jade Rat, Zhao Yushu barely became familiar with the first part of the fingering technique. By the way, he was forced to recognize the major acupoints around the body. In the future, as long as he studied hard and practiced diligently, he would be able to truly turn it into his own skill. And Chengying also became much more proficient. At least now he can easily control the direction when throwing it out and pulling it back, and he is no longer restricted to using it as an accelerator.
"Sir, Nanyang City is ahead, but the road is not easy to drive on." The driver's voice came from the front. Zhao Yushu pushed open the door, took a look, and understood why the driver said the road was difficult to drive on.
The wide official road was crowded with people, but these people were not entering the city;
They are refugees.
These people were ragged, with their families, pale and thin, and lined up on the official road, seemingly waiting for something.
"Why are there so many refugees?" Zhao Yushu jumped out of the car and looked at the chaotic team in front of him with puzzled eyes.
"My lord, you don't know. Now is the end of spring and the beginning of summer, the time when there is a shortage of food. The south suffered from drought last year, and we also suffered from snowstorms. It was already difficult, and the court did not provide disaster relief, but also increased taxes by 20%, saying that they would fight the Liao Kingdom for military funds. Alas, after so many years of fighting, we are still the ones who suffer. If it weren't for your kindness and righteousness in giving me such a big order, I don't know how my family would survive."
The old coachman kept complaining, and Zhao Yushu listened to him quietly without agreeing or refuting. Finally, seeing that the carriage could not move forward, he paid the balance and let the coachman go back by himself. He then walked forward along the crowd with the package on his back.
Soon, Zhao Yushu found out why these people gathered here: someone was distributing porridge.
There were several big pots under two huge porridge stalls on the left and right of the official road. The snow-white rice porridge in the pots gave off an enticing aroma. A dozen big men were carrying rice bags and clean water, and the leader was a handsome young man in white.
"Prince Wang is so kind and righteous!"
"Prince Wang is a good man!"
The refugees who received the porridge thanked the young man in white profusely, and the young master smiled and bowed in return, which made Zhao Yushu feel a little better about him.
"Who dares to distribute porridge and gather people here privately!" A hurried sound of horse hooves was heard from the city. Before the people arrived, a loud shout arrived first.