After Shen Qing finished reading the notice, she was lowering her head, pondering her next move, when suddenly Hong Chaoyang tugged at her sleeve.
"Shen Qing... What should we do now? Should we just run for our lives?"
"What?"
Shen Qing looked up and scanned the surroundings. Only then did she realize that the commoners who had been keeping their distance and eyeing them warily were gradually closing in on them.
A big burly man was holding a thick wooden stick and sizing up the four of them carefully. When the four of them turned their gazes towards him, the man instinctively averted his head. The slight tremor of his hand betrayed his inner fear.
However, even so, the man didn't stop his steps as he walked towards them.
Shen Qing and the others stood back to back, on guard against any sudden attacks.
Although they could easily overpower these people, there was no need to harm the commoners for no reason and accumulate unnecessary grievances.
Seeing that they had alerted the four of them, the surrounding commoners stopped pretending. The big burly man mustered up his courage and shouted at the four of them menacingly, "Who are you? Are you the heinous criminals on the wanted notice?!"
Hearing the man's question, the hearts of the surrounding commoners skipped a beat. They all nervously stared at the four of them.
Shen Qing comforted Hong Chaoyang a bit, then bowed to the big burly man and the surrounding commoners and said, "Dear folks, we are not the people on the wanted notice. To be honest, our family used to be wealthy, but due to the invasion of demons, we had to flee here.
"We four siblings are just passing by. We've already bought what we needed and will leave immediately to join our relatives. We hope you folks won't misunderstand us."
Hearing Shen Qing's reasonable explanation of their background, most of the surrounding commoners believed her and let out a sigh of relief.
The big burly man still looked skeptical and asked, "You'll leave right away?"
Shen Qing nodded. "Right away!"
The big burly man secretly let out a sigh of relief. He put away his wooden stick and made a gesture of invitation. "In that case, you guests should leave quickly.
"The government has given the order. Our town will soon be sealed off. It's better for outsiders to leave as soon as possible."
Shen Qing and the others had no choice but to leave the town in a hurry. Hong Chaoyang looked back at the commoners who were watching them leave. She patted her chest in fear and said, "It's so scary. Did you see their looks? They wished they could strip us naked and throw us out."
Shen Qing remained silent. Her expression was hidden in the shadows, making it hard to tell what she was thinking.
No one responded. Hong Chaoyang looked around. Seeing that everyone looked worried, and recalling the information on the notice just now, she knew that everyone was worried about the Ling family.
After a moment of silence, Shen Qing said, "The notice said that the Ling family has been escorted to the imperial city. It's meaningless for us to go to Guangfu now. Let's change our route and go to the capital."
After the other three nodded in agreement, they headed towards the capital.
Fortunately, the capital was closer than Guangfu. They went to a squire near a remote village and spent a fortune to buy a carriage.
The horses that had taken spiritual pills ran vigorously. The journey that originally took five or six days was shortened to just three days because the horses ran at full speed.
After arriving at the imperial city, the horse didn't seem tired at all. Instead, it shook its head, indicating to Shen Qing that it could still run for two more days.
But Hong Chaoyang didn't want to ride in the carriage anymore. She had been vomiting for several days due to the bumpy ride. Now, at the sight of the carriage, she wished she could take a detour.
The capital wasn't like other towns that were about to be sealed off. One only needed a travel permit and documents to prove their identity to enter the city.
Naturally, Shen Qing and the others didn't have such things. But in order not to waste time, they used a few leaves to transform into travel permits and identity documents and handed them to the officials guarding the town.
However, after an official took a glance at them, he looked puzzled. Then he whispered a few words to the little soldier beside him.
The little soldier took a look at Shen Qing and the others, then turned around and ran towards the city.
Seeing that the official had seized their documents and didn't allow them to enter the city, Hong Chaoyang immediately asked, "Sir official, is there something wrong with our travel permits and documents? Why won't you let us enter the city?"
The official scanned the group and stared at Xue Ling as he said, "Your documents are in order... But the composition of your group... is a bit strange. Who would bring a monk around for no reason?"
This time, it was Hong Chaoyang's turn to be stunned. The group didn't expect that the reason they were seized for their documents was Xue Ling.
They turned their heads and all stared at Xue Ling's shiny bald head, which was particularly eye - catching in the sunlight.
They were used to seeing all kinds of strange outfits of cultivators on the Nine Desolate Continent. In their eyes, Xue Ling's bald head was nothing special.
However, in the eyes of the commoners, a bald person was a monk. A monk who didn't wear a monk's robe but instead ran around with a few people seemed suspicious.
Especially at this tense time, the officials would rather kill a thousand by mistake than let one go.
Xue Ling touched his bald head and then his nose, feeling quite helpless.
If he had known that it would attract so much attention, he would have worn a hat.
A moment later, the little soldier ran back and whispered a few words in the official's ear. Then the official said to the four of them, "Come with me. I'll take you to see the disciple of the national teacher. You can enter the city only if there's no problem."
The four of them exchanged glances. They were extremely curious about the disciple of the national teacher.
There was a simple tent beside the inspection passage. It looked ordinary from the outside, but once they stepped inside, they found that it was a whole new world.
The tent that looked small from the outside was actually very spacious inside. Luxurious animal skins were casually spread on the ground as carpets. All the tables, chairs, and benches here were made of golden nanmu. Even the fruits casually placed on the small tea table were rare treasures.
As soon as they entered, the four of them knew that the owner of this tent was extremely good at using space techniques and should be at the Golden Core stage.
The group quietly suppressed their cultivation and controlled it to be around the third level of Qi Refining.
After waiting for a while, the curtain of the tent was lifted from the outside. The little soldier bowed and scraped as he welcomed a man dressed as a Taoist priest into the tent.
The man had been a bit nervous at first, but his expression relaxed when he saw Shen Qing and the others.
He proudly raised his chin, walked past the four of them, and sat directly on the main seat. The little soldier beside him very obsequiously helped him tidy up his clothes.
"Master Li, please sit down quickly, please sit down quickly!" The little soldier had a flattering smile on his face. He even wished that the man called Master Li could sit on him.
Shen Qing quietly sized up Master Li. He had some cultivation, but it was much lower than theirs. He was only at about the seventh level of Qi Refining. This tent must not have been made by him.
Master Li very much enjoyed the flattery of the little soldier. After his vanity was satisfied, he finally turned his gaze to the four people standing there.
When his shifty eyes saw Shen Qing and Hong Chaoyang, they suddenly lit up. His sticky and disgusting gaze openly roamed over the two of them.