Returning from the abyss

Chapter 1281 Fengzhen

"All the martial arts figures who have gone south recently are like this."

Lu Ning took a bite of the cake. After being softened, the cake had a stronger aroma of grains.

"That's great. We just happen to be on the same road. Why don't we travel together so that we can take care of each other on the way?" Chen Yusheng immediately made an invitation.

"Why?" Lu Ning glanced at him, "You don't have any followers?"

"I came out to explore the martial arts world alone, why would I bring followers with me?" Chen Yusheng shook his head. "Since there is a grand event happening, I will naturally participate."

This kid didn't tell the truth. Lu Ning glanced at him. At this time, the shopkeeper also brought the noodle soup and a piece of cake. Chen Yusheng grinned, took the cake and took a bite, and then his expression froze.

Lu Ning pointed at the bowl in front of him. He quickly lowered his head and took a big sip of soup to clear the dry biscuit crumbs in his mouth.

"This is too hard to chew." Chen Yusheng complained quietly, "Why is the food so dry?"

"It's easy to preserve." Lu Ning also took a sip of the noodle soup. "This kind of cake won't go bad even if it's kept for several months."

"Isn't this a shop selling food? Isn't it made freshly prepared?" Chen Yusheng looked up and saw that this was just a shed and there was no store front at all.

"Don't be so surprised, it looks fake. I have no intention of traveling with you. It's fine if we meet by chance on the road, but forget about accepting an invitation." Lu Ning shook her head slightly.

"Oh..." Chen Yusheng stretched out his tone and asked in a low voice, "Are you going to escort me?"

Lu Ning didn't answer him.

"I heard that Hongwei Escort Agency has a single escort that will be escorted from Fengzhen to Daonan Prefecture." Chen Yusheng said, "Zhenjian Villa is in Daonan Prefecture. It will be much safer for us to follow the escort team than to go on our own."

"You want to be safe?" Lu Ning asked back, "Didn't you say you came out to gain experience?"

"There is a difference between training and seeking death. Um...you really don't plan to go with me? I think this is a rare good idea!" Chen Yusheng sipped his noodles and said happily, "The world is not peaceful nowadays. There is no safe place within a hundred miles outside Fengzhen. If only one or two people go on the road and encounter bandits who cut off the way, I'm afraid they will suffer."

"Oh."

"Are you really not going to join us? I heard that this escort mission of Hongwei Escort Agency is led by Escort Leader Tang. He is an old escort leader and is well-known in the martial arts world for his unique skills in throwing gold coin darts."

"No." Lu Ning had finished her noodles, stuffed the remaining piece of cake into her arms, stood up and threw down a few copper coins, "Goodbye."

Chen Yusheng looked at her with some disappointment, then lowered his head and began to deal with the hard cake.

Lu Ning bought some things she would need on the road along the street. Dried food that was easy to store was of course indispensable, but all she could buy was dried chicken and pork that had been dried after being dried in the sun. She also prepared some medicinal herbs. As for water, she could just find a well and fill up her water bag.

As for food, Lu Ning only bought some coarse grains for cooking porridge at the grain store.

After a walk around, she could see that business in Feng Town was still relatively normal. There was no shortage of fresh fish due to its proximity to the river, and the convenient transportation attracted merchants from all over to do business here. However, there were no high-end restaurants, and only a few eateries were still open, which could attract some dock workers and the like with their cheap food.

She didn't buy any wine. Since Lu Qingxu wanted to drink, he could just find a way himself.

She was still somewhat interested in taking a look at the Hongwei Escort Agency that Chen Yusheng mentioned, but she would rather follow the escort agency on the road than follow Lu Qingxu's plan on how to go. She asked a few people and easily found the entrance of the Hongwei Escort Agency. At this time, the sun was already setting in the west. She walked to the entrance of the escort agency and looked around, and saw some wanted posters nailed to a wooden board at the entrance.

There were many bandits, and the imperial court did not have the energy to arrest them one by one, so they issued these wanted orders, which were posted not only in escort agencies but also in places like gangs. Basically, if you captured them alive, you would get more money, and the price would be halved.

However, it was not as much as what I heard in the teahouse before, and these rewards of a hundred taels of silver were really looked down upon by capable people, and people without ability dared not accept them.

For example, if Lu Ning were asked to kill these bandits now, she could definitely defeat them, but it would take too much time to find them, so she could only take her chances.

“It’s not easy to make money…”

"A Ning, what are you doing standing at the door?"

When Lu Ning looked up, she saw an escort accompanying Lu Qingxu out of the escort agency.

"you……"

"This is my old friend, Tang Qian, head of the Tang Escort Team." Lu Qingxu introduced him, "You should call him Uncle Tang."

"Hello, Uncle Tang." Lu Ning immediately bowed.

"Is this the daughter you adopted?" Tang Qian looked at Lu Ning with a smile and nodded. "She has bright eyes, restrained energy, and is both internal and external. Old Lu, are you letting your daughter learn martial arts?"

"Who told her that she is not a good student?" Lu Qingxu sighed, but still couldn't hide the pride in his tone, "She has been studying classics since she was a child, and she can't sit still for half an hour. On the contrary, she can do horse stance in the yard from early morning to noon. I don't expect her to bring honor to the Lu family. Let her learn whatever she likes."

"After working hard for a year or two, she may be able to make a name for herself in the martial arts world. As long as you don't mind her going out to explore the world." Tang Qian reached into his arms and took out a specially made gold coin dart. He waved at Lu Ning, "Niece, come here. This gold coin dart is a gift for meeting you."

"Keep it, An Ning. The special gold coin darts made by Escort Leader Tang are also a symbol of the underworld. They can be used in many places in both the black and white worlds."

"Thank you, Uncle Tang." Lu Ning took the gold coin and took a look at it. The edge of the dart was sharpened, and the characters in the center were not the common Tongbao characters, but "Tang Qian" and "Hongwei" interlaced.

"A Ning, I have talked to Escort Leader Tang. We should follow the escort team all the way to Daonan Prefecture. This will be more convenient."

Lu Qingxu said with a smile.

"Won't it bother Captain Tang?" Lu Ning asked.

"Old Lu has helped me a lot. This little thing is nothing." Tang Qian waved his hand. "You guys stay in Fengzhen today. Take a walk here tomorrow. We will set off together in the morning the day after tomorrow."

"Then I'm sorry to bother you, Captain Tang." "You're welcome."

The two men bowed to each other, and Tang Qian turned around and went back.

"Let's go, An Ning, let's find an inn to stay. I still need to find the boatman and tell him what to do next."

"Who is that old boatman? He should be a martial artist, right? At least he should have some kung fu skills," said Lu Ning.

"When we encircled and suppressed the evil leader Qiu Weishuang, although it was a vigorous and fierce battle, countless heroes were killed and wounded in this battle. That gentleman was one of them. His ears and throat were damaged by the poison sword Li Hongshu under Qiu Weishuang's command." Lu Qingxu said.

"No wonder..."

"I asked you to escort us for a while. Now that we have another choice, I will reassure you."

After Lu Qingxu finished speaking, he took Lu Ning to an inn in Feng Town and booked two rooms. Then he handed a small package to Lu Ning, who opened it and found a stack of banknotes and a few pieces of silver.

"You sold the jade pendant?"

"There's a gambling house next to the escort agency." Lu Qingxu chuckled, "When I was young and a local official, I had to deal with these people a lot."

"I've never heard you talk about your youth." Lu Ning replied.

"When I was young, I played everything from cockfighting to insect fighting and dice and card game." Lu Qingxu touched Lu Ning's head, "It's good that you don't understand these. Learning these will only make you lose your ambition."

"At least it's useful now." Lu Ning smiled and put the package away. "I'll go buy some more things. Since we're going to travel by land, I need to prepare some other things."

"Buy a donkey cart. We will follow the escort team. It would be bad to ask for anything else."

"Know!"

Lu Ning ran out. Lu Qingxu laughed, shook his head, and walked quickly towards the pier before the sun set.

After leaving the inn, Lu Ning put away the smile on her face.

She needed to play the role of the character in this scene a little bit, but only in front of Lu Qingxu.

As soon as Chen Yusheng told her about the Hongwei Escort Agency, she immediately linked it to the matter. This might be a coincidence, but Lu Ning would not ignore any coincidence.

Chen Yusheng saw her mission objective, but what about Chen Yusheng's mission? Lu Ning could actually see some clues from the simple exchange.

This guy was a half-truthful guy, and although his style was somewhat similar to Zhou Weiyuan, Zhou Weiyuan usually wouldn't be so proactive in asking questions - even though he was much more proactive now. Facing a strange tourist, using a seemingly clumsy method to play the role of a fledgling young man, if he was not a real fool, then he was hiding his purpose.

Why did he invite her? Lu Ning thought about the necessity of this action.

Since the waiter had already warned tourists that their camps might be different, rashly inviting them was a very risky act. Lu Ning's idea was to avoid all tourists and seek personal development as much as possible. She had discovered that the cold breath attached to her "Giant Knuckles" could accelerate her practice of the Senluo Nine Transformations Heart Technique, and this heart technique, when practiced to a high level, would definitely give her enough force to survive in this world.

As for the arrangement of the distribution center, since she can bring "Giant Knuckles" and "Blight", which can really cause plague or parricide, then this scene must have something that can fight back against her. In some casual conversations with Yan Rong, Yan Rong also mentioned that although the martial arts scene seems to have a lower upper limit of force than many other scenes, the degree of danger is not low at all.

Because the upper limit of the tourists' own bodies is also limited to the same level.

In other scenes, the alien bodies, immortality, magic, superpowers, etc. that can help tourists save their lives are all gone in this scene. No matter how capable the tourists are, they may be killed by a dose of Hedinghong. This is the most dangerous part of this scene.

Therefore, Lu Ning was very cautious now. In addition to trying her best to integrate into this scene and complete the task according to the clues of the distribution center while exploring the situation of the scene, she was also thinking about the possible traps hidden in this scene.

She found the carriage and horse market, booked a donkey cart there, and then hurried to the market. Most of the shops were closing at this time, so she could take the opportunity to buy some cheap things.

But even if she acted quickly, it was already dark by the time she finished shopping and returned to the inn.

Fengzhen had no curfew, and there were ships entering and fishing boats leaving the dock even at night. But there were few people on the streets in the town. The bustle of the day had disappeared, and the only sounds on the quiet streets were the occasional crying of children, in addition to the barking of dogs and the crowing of chickens.

Seeing that there was only one street left to the street where the inn was located, Lu Ning suddenly heard some slight noises. The sound of clothes fluttering in the wind came into her ears, and she could vaguely hear some slight collisions - the sound of footsteps stepping on tiles.

She looked over following the sound, and saw a figure disappearing on the beam, probably jumping down. She made a mental note of the location, but didn't say anything. She took her things back to the inn, repacked them, and sat on the bed to meditate, starting to practice her mind skills.

The "cold breath" of the giant's knuckles provided her with affinity, resistance and use for the cold attribute. Lu Ning used it to operate the Nine Transformations of Senluo, and successfully broke through the first air gate at the end of the first half of the night. The Heart Technique also officially entered the first level. After she exhaled a breath of icy turbid air, a cloud of white mist actually rose in front of her.

"Martial arts..."

Just by seeing this breath, Lu Ning knew that the martial arts in this world might also have some magical skills. This group of white mist is different from the white mist usually seen in winter. It is the cold air generated in her body when she practiced and liquefied the water vapor outside, but she did not feel any change in her body temperature. The ability to cool down out of thin air alone can be compared to superpowers in certain scenes.

Lu Ning was quite satisfied with the progress, so she lay down and slept until dawn.

In the early morning, there was a bustling crowd outside. Like yesterday, many fishmongers who had picked up their catch from the dock would rush to the market to sell their catch, and this road would pass by the inn.

Lu Ning's hearing ability also greatly improved after her internal strength improved. She listened carefully and knew what had happened. She got up, went out and knocked on the door next door.

Lu Qingxu opened the door, rubbed his eyes, and asked: "A Ning, today is not the day to leave, you can do whatever you want..."

"There's something going on outside. Please don't go out for now. I'll go see what's going on." Lu Ning said to Lu Qingxu, "It might be a murder case."

Lu Qingxu was no longer sleepy: "If that's the case, you need to be careful. If there is anything, or if you want me to come and see you, let me know as soon as possible."

She knew that he was a man who could solve cases, but Lu Ning didn't want him to get involved in the affairs of the underworld. From what she heard from those people, it seemed that the assassin who assassinated the gang leader had appeared again, and this time it was the leader of the Salt Gang branch who was killed inside the branch.