The only way

Chen Guo, Jiangnan.

In the hot summer, the pond full of lotus flowers lowered their heads under the scorching sun, as if they wanted to hide under the dark green lotus leaves.

The water in the pool swayed in the breeze, flashing like gold.

Jiangnan was originally a prosperous and lively place, but now there are only a few pedestrians on the road.

A slender cyan figure suddenly appeared on the streets of the ancient city of Antang City. Only a few pedestrians passed by, but no one seemed to notice.

Lingchu glanced across the street and saw silent, old faces.

His consciousness swept through the entire city of Antang, but he could not see a few young faces, and there were almost no houses among them.

Looking at the tall building in front of me, the three-story pavilion with vermilion black tiles and red silk lanterns is supposed to be a festive and charming place, but now the door is closed, and there is a bit of desolation.

Lingchu recalled the distant memories and gradually compared the unfamiliar pavilion in front of him with the Fuchun Tower back then, and then he slowly found a sense of familiarity.

But when I looked up, on the carved plaque, the words "Red Silk Pavilion" came into view.

Sighing secretly, Lingchu turned around and left. After a hundred years, everything was neither human nor human.

Taoyuan City, Taoyuan Mountain.

The Taoyuan Temple, which was at its peak at that time, has fallen into disrepair, and there are only a handful of Taoist priests in the temple.

The Taoyuan Temple next to the Taoyuan Temple is still simple. The ivy on the wall is full of vitality, winding up and covering half of the wall.

There was a big brass lock on the door, and there were weeds growing in the cowshed behind the house.

A desolate scene.

But the house is still well preserved, as if someone maintains it regularly.

Lingchu did not enter the temple, but stood quietly in front of the door for a moment, then flew up, with light flowing from his sleeves flying, and landed everywhere on Taoyuan Mountain.

In an instant, the formation was completed, and the formation, invisible to the naked eye, enveloped the entire Taoyuan Mountain, including the small towns and villages at the foot of the mountain.

Lingchu stood in mid-air, looked at the village at the foot of the mountain, and then at Taoyuan Temple.

Finally disappeared.

At dusk, the twilight is dim, and the orange-red light shines on the jade-white stone tablet.

The two cemeteries are located next to each other.

A slender figure quietly emerged from the void. With a fingertip, a full-blooming lotus bloomed in front of his eyes.

The plain white fingers held the green lotus and placed it gently in front of the stone tablet.

He also picked up a jar of wine and a bag of pastries and placed them in front of another tombstone.

Stuffed pear blossoms, plum blossom cakes.

They are all specialties of Taoyuan City.

Lingchu still looked at the two tombstones quietly until dusk closed in and the last ray of sunset disappeared.

"I'm doing fine, you don't have to worry."

The sound was as light as a feather and finally dissipated in the air.

The breeze blew by, and the leaves on the side rustled, which seemed to be the wind's answer.

The white jade-like formation disk sank into the ground, and the surrounding void trembled slightly before finally returning to normal.

And that slender figure has disappeared.

It has been many years since we left, and we have not seen our old friends again. When we return to old places, we are still strangers.

From Sanqing Daozong to Chen State, Lingchu shrank directly into an inch. However, from Chen State to Jumang City, she did not directly tear up the space and rush. Instead, she sat on Qingkong's back and headed to Jumang City.

Since Jiu Ming Prefecture learned about the demons a few years ago, it has begun to build some very large cities that can accommodate tens of millions of mortals.

Three years ago, the various forces discussed the dispute for more than half a year, and finally issued an order to the mortal capitals within their respective spheres of influence.

Start migrating mortals.

In the past three years, mortal cities across the Eastern Continent have gradually become empty.

The first to leave were naturally the powerful mortals, followed by the mortals with connections and merits, then the young and strong laborers, young children and women, and finally those who were old, sick or in remote villages. Wild mortals.

But even so, after three years, there are still many mortals still in the same place.

Yes, it’s because there are no more places.

Some, it’s because it’s hard to leave your homeland.

Some of them are because they don’t trust the government.

There are many reasons, and there are many people left behind, but compared to before, the mortal cities everywhere are still much bleak. Take Antang City or Taoyuan City, for example. When Lingchu walked there, he saw only empty houses and few pedestrians.

Most of them were old people and people with illnesses, and only occasionally some young people were seen.

Some of these people were abandoned, and some were unwilling to leave.

Before the demons arrived, the East Continent had already begun to show signs of calmness.

Passing through one mortal capital after another along the way, Lingchu even encountered an empty city, and even encountered a mortal city that happened to be migrating.

The floating ships refined by the major immortal sects abandoned the splendor and various comfortable rooms and only pursued large-capacity flying magic weapons.

The floating ship was very large, suspended above the city, and its shadow area covered most of the city. Countless iron chains hung on both sides of the ship's hull, deeply rooted in all directions of the city.

If you look carefully, you can see that mortals as small as ants are climbing up the floating ship step by step along the chain-like steps.

If you look carefully, you can see that there are monks on every iron chain. The so-called movement is actually that these monks are controlling the chains under their feet, while the mortals are holding the chains one by one, and they do not need to move on their own. Climb up.

Otherwise, given the height of the floating ship, it would be a waste of time for mortals to climb up. Moreover, mortals' physical strength may not be enough to support them to climb onto the ship.

Lingchu scanned it with his spiritual consciousness and discovered that the floating ship was controlled by Jindan monks, and there were many Foundation-building Qi-refining monks on board.

Most of them are mortals who hold all their wealth, are frightened and unable to hide their curiosity.

The consciousness of the Nascent Soul cultivator could not be detected by the Golden Core cultivator at all. Until Lingchu left, no one noticed that she had been there.

Continuing towards Jumang City, Lingchu stopped when he passed a mortal capital.

This is, leaving the country.

With a sweep of his consciousness, Lingchu discovered Li Xianxian who was in King Li's palace at the moment.

As soon as she came out of seclusion, the transmission notes she received were from her own disciples.

He said that he planned to return to Liguo, and then receive the sect's mission to prepare for the invasion of the demon clan.

The transmission talisman came from this Lingchu one month before he left seclusion. If nothing unexpected happened, with Li Xianxian's foundation-building cultivation, he probably had only left the country not long ago.

As expected, Lingchu found the traces of his disciples easily.

He patted Qingkong's head gently and flew up. Qingkong shrunk his figure and landed comfortably on Lingchu's shoulders. One person and one beast fell towards Li Wang's Palace.

At this time, Li Xianxian, who was studying formations in King Li's Palace, looked serious.

Among the four arts of cultivating immortals, he was the least talented in formations and the best in alchemy. He actually bought a set of formations before leaving the sect.

It's just that this formation is a bit advanced, and he still has to study it carefully on how to set up the formation.

Qian Shang, Li Xia, Kan Ba, Dui Qi...

Li Xianxian carefully followed the formation diagram of the formation and explored the palace of King Li step by step.

When encountering a problem, his brows furrowed slightly and his steps stopped unconsciously.

"Go east a hundred and twenty steps."

A familiar voice with a gentle smile sounded behind him.

Li Xianxian was wary at first, then stunned, and finally his eyes lit up and he turned his head in surprise, "Master!"

Lingchu smiled slightly and did not help Li Xianxian set up the formation. Instead, he gave instructions. Li Xianxian also suppressed his joy and quickly set up the formation under the guidance of his master.

The two masters and disciples didn't waste any time. After setting up the formations in King Li's palace, Lingchu set up another formation for the entire King Li's palace.

Just like Antang City, Taoyuan City and other places.

Lingchu was a Nascent Soul cultivator and a high-level formation master. Even the formation he set up casually was not simple.

Li Xianxian followed Lingchu and stood on the city wall away from the King's Capital, looking at the formation closing in the sky and the people going down below.

Li Xianxian never showed up, and neither did Lingchu. Therefore, no one noticed that there was an extra formation in Liwang Capital, and no one noticed that there were two more figures on the city wall.

His eyes were fixed for a few breaths deep away from the King's Palace. The look of memories on Li Xianxian's face slowly dissipated, leaving only calm.

Turning his head, Li Xianxian looked at his master and asked a series of questions.

"Master, are you out of seclusion? Why are you here in Liguo? Are you going somewhere? Can my disciple accompany you?"

Although he became a disciple, he rarely saw his master. Now that he saw him, Li Xianxian's usual calmness and restraint were gone. He rarely showed his youthful air, and his tone was full of joy.

"Well, I got out of quarantine and revisited my old place. It just so happened that you were here too."

"I am going to Jumang City this time. Your master is also there. Jumang City needs a lot of disciples. You can stay with me to help..."

Lingchu wrapped his disciple in his spiritual power and answered patiently while heading towards Jumang City.

The clouds rolled and relaxed in the sky, the figures on the city wall disappeared, and the voices of the master and the apprentice's questions and answers gradually disappeared in the wind.