Oh no! Don't let Xiao Yixuan notice us!
Jiang Mian quickly hugged the yellow dog, pressed its head down, covered its mouth with her arm, and whispered in its ear, "Dahuang, don't bark. Don't make any sound. Don't startle them, or we'll all be in great danger!"
Naturally, Xiao Jingcheng wouldn't make any noise to attract the attention of Xiao Tianye and Xiao Yixuan at this moment, but the hatred in his eyes was hard to hide. He wished he could -
rush forward and tear Xiao Tianye and Xiao Yixuan to pieces!
As if sensing something, Xiao Yixuan, who was riding at the front, looked in their direction. Jiang Mian lowered her head deeply, trying her best to make herself less noticeable.
His gaze swept across the direction where Jiang Mian and the others were. There was nothing but the eaves in sight, so Xiao Yixuan quickly shifted his gaze away.
On both sides of the road, pedestrians and peddlers all knelt on the ground at this moment, submitting to them.
This feeling made Xiao Yixuan squint his eyes contentedly. With his usual polite smile on his face, he told Meng Zhao beside him, "Don't make things too difficult for the common people here. Let them resume their business later. They also need to make a living."
Meng Zhao replied, "Yes, Your Highness."
The advancing procession encountered no obstacles. Emperor Nansheng and his entourage slowly entered the city under the kneeling of the people in Guangdu County and headed towards the city center.
The once bustling city became extremely quiet because of Emperor Nansheng's arrival. It was so quiet that one could almost hear the heartbeat of the person beside them. After an unknown amount of time, someone announced loudly, "His Royal Highness the Crown Prince is considerate of the people in Guangdu County. You don't have to feel burdened. During the time His Majesty and His Royal Highness are in the city, you may go about your normal business as usual."
Only then did the surroundings become lively again.
Li Zhao helped Jiang Zhiqing stand up. Taoist Yuanzheng and Mo Zhizhang also got up one after another.
Stroking his goatee, Taoist Yuanzheng said meaningfully, "My senior brother is here too."
Jiang Mian was shocked and looked at Taoist Yuanzheng with the yellow dog.
His senior brother was none other than that evil Taoist they had met in Dongli Town - Taoist Yuanqi!
After the funeral service for the fake corpse in Dongli Town, Taoist Yuanqi had disappeared without a trace. Now that Emperor Nansheng and Xiao Yixuan had entered the city, did it mean...
Taoist Yuanqi was brought here by them?!
Taoist Yuanqi was on their side?!
A chill ran through Jiang Mian's fingertips and quickly spread to her back and the back of her head. She felt all the hairs on her body stand on end.
"This place is not suitable for us to stay for long. We should leave as soon as possible," Li Zhao said, looking at Taoist Yuanzheng. After a moment of thought, he asked, "Please, Taoist, do another divination. If we leave now, which direction should we go?"
Taoist Yuanzheng nodded slightly, closed his eyes, and began to calculate with his fingers.
After a while, he opened his eyes and said, "Going east is auspicious, while going west is inauspicious. It seems we have to take a detour again."
Without delay, everyone immediately got into the carriage and headed towards the city gate.
With the arrival of Xiao Tianye and Xiao Yixuan, the guards at the city gate were doubled. It was relatively easy to leave the city, but the inspection for entering the city was several times stricter than before. Presumably, it was to protect the safety of Xiao Tianye and Xiao Yixuan.
Jiang Mian and the others had no problems with their identity documents, and since they were leaving the city, the guards quickly let them pass.
However, they originally planned to take the western road, but now they had to go east, which meant they had to make a big detour.
Fortunately, they had replenished their dry rations and water in Guangdu County and were already prepared to camp outdoors, so it wasn't a big deal.
The carriage galloped on the road. When dusk fell, they found an abandoned tea shed to stay in. The carriage was parked not far away. They set up a stove on the ground to roast the rabbits they had hunted in the forest. Then, they sat around and discussed what had happened in Guangdu County that day.
"Why did Emperor Nansheng suddenly come to Guangdu County? What's so special about this place that they had to come here?" Jiang Mian frowned and said.
The arrival of Emperor Nansheng and Xiao Yixuan had disrupted their travel route. But what Jiang Mian was most concerned about was finding out why they had come.
Li Zhao tapped his fingers lightly on the table and said, "It should be for the black iron ore."
Black iron ore?
Jiang Mian looked at Li Zhao.
He continued, "There is a mountain range west of Guangdu County. That mountain range is rich in black iron ore, which can be used to make weapons. Now Emperor Nansheng is expanding his army. While increasing the number of soldiers, he also needs to increase the number of weapons. Otherwise, it will be difficult to resist the elite troops under Emperor Beisheng's control with bare hands."
Xiao Jingcheng, lying beside Jiang Mian, looked at Li Zhao upon hearing this.
Sure enough, as the Secretary of the Central Secretariat of the State of Chu, he had quickly analyzed Emperor Xiao Tianye's intention.
"West of Guangdu County," Jiang Mian murmured. "No wonder the Taoist said it was extremely inauspicious to go west. If we continue going west, we might run into Emperor Nansheng's carriage on the way again."
However, what worried her more now was that she had just spread the deeds of Emperor Nansheng and Xiao Yixuan yesterday, and today she was starting to see a little effect. But then Xiao Tianye and Xiao Yixuan came today. Her luck was really bad.
If the gossips in the town reached the ears of Emperor Nansheng and Xiao Yixuan, would they order a thorough investigation?
Of course, she wasn't afraid of being exposed by those people. After all, with Taoist Yuanzheng's yellow talismans, those people didn't even know what she looked like.
She was just worried...
She looked at the carriage not far away. In the night, the curtain of the carriage fluttered gently in the wind, and the figure lying inside was faintly visible.
She was just worried that it would delay Xiao Jingcheng's recovery. Only with the nourishment of the Purple Qi could he return to his own body as soon as possible.
But it didn't matter. Every time they reached a new place, she would spread the rumors again. Even if Xiao Yixuan got the news and sent people to arrest her, she could take the initiative and surely help Xiao Jingcheng.
What she didn't know was that the yellow dog beside her stood up in surprise.
In the sky, purple threads drifted over like clouds and rushed into his body in the carriage.
Is this... Purple Qi?
...
Xiao Yixuan and Xiao Tianye had indeed come for the black iron ore mountain near Guangdu County.
Recently, due to their large - scale recruitment of soldiers, the Nansheng Army had expanded a lot. But the shortage of weapons and armor was really a headache. In fact, the place with the most abundant black iron ore was north of the Xijiang River, which was under Xiao Tianchi's control. They couldn't cross the Xijiang River to mine, so they pinned their hopes on this mountain near Guangdu County.
Xiao Tianye's carriage finally stopped outside the Guangdu County Government Office. All the officials in Guangdu County had already rushed here after hearing the news and were waiting outside.
After the carriage stopped steadily, everyone immediately knelt down to pay their respects and shouted, "May Your Majesty live in peace."
Xiao Yixuan jumped off his horse and quickly walked to the carriage. He said to the inside, "Father, we're here."
Two guards stepped forward to lift the carriage curtain. Xiao Tianye got out of the carriage, and Taoist Yuanqi also stepped forward from behind. They walked towards the county government office under the crowd's escort.