Unfortunately, the best part of the show had yet to come. Tightly following their steps, a rustling noise appeared, followed by a strange voice that didn't sound human nor like a beast.
A military official exclaimed in alarm. "This...what is this?! What is this thing?!"
Nan Feng also began cursing. Xie Lian knew that something had quickly changed and thus wanted to stand up. He asked, "What happened now?"
However, Nan Feng immediately yelled, "Don't come out!"
Xie Lian raised his hand, when suddenly, the sedan chair began to shake. It seemed as if there was something leaning against the sedan door. Xie Lian hadn't been lowering his head that much. He directed his gaze downward, before seeing the back of a head of some kind of thing from the crack between his veil.
It actually climbed into the marriage sedan!
That thing had stuck its head into the marriage sedan, but was immediately dragged out by someone outside. Nan Feng stood in front of the sedan and cursed, "F*ck, it's a base slave!"
As soon as he heard it was a base slave, Xie Lian knew that things would now become troublesome.
According to Ling Wen Palace Hall's judgement, a base slave was something that couldn't even obtain the 'Fierce' rank.
It was said that originally, base slaves were human. However, if one looked at them now, even if they were people, one could only say they were deformed humans. It had a head and a face, but they looked vague and unclear. They had legs and arms, but they were too weak to walk on. They had a mouth and teeth, but it would take them forever to bite someone to death. However, if they let people choose, most people would rather meet the scarier 'Fierce' or 'Severe' ranked monsters than meet a base slave.
This was because, in most cases, base slaves appeared and coordinated with other ghosts and monsters. When their prey was fighting against their enemies, they would suddenly appear. Then, they would use their endlessly tangled arms and legs to stick to their prey. They also had countless companions that advanced dauntlessly, all winding around their prey like sticky candy.
Even though their combat strength was extremely low, they were very tenacious and hard to kill. Furthermore, they usually emerged in a large group. It was pretty hard to shake them off, and it was even more difficult to quickly kill them all. Gradually, one would waste too much strength fighting them, or they wo end up stumbling. As a result, there would inevitably be a short moment of carelessness, one that would let the enemy who had been waiting for an opportunity to succeed.
After the prey was killed by the other ghosts and monsters, the base slaves would collect the remains of the prey, those broken arms and legs, before eating them with relish. They would gnaw and nibble until they were full of holes.
Base slaves were truly a very disgusting existence. To a Heavenly Official from Upper Heaven, letting out divine light and pulling out their weapons were naturally enough to scare base slaves into retreating. However, to the small martial gods of Middle Heaven, these things were truly hard to deal with.
From what seemed to be a distant place, Fu Yao said in a tone full of revulsion, "I! Hate! These things the most! Did Ling Wen Palace Hall mention these things?"
Xie Lian responded, "They didn't."
Fu Yao immediately retorted, "What use do those guys have?!"
Ignoring him, Xie Lian asked, "How many of them came?"
This time it was Nan Feng who replied. "Around a hundred, probably a bit more! Don't come out!"
For things like base slaves, the more there were, the stronger they became. When there were more than ten of them, it would already be extremely hard to deal with. More than a hundred of them? There would be more than enough base slaves to drag them to death. Base slaves usually liked living in places where there were a lot of people. Thus, Xie Lian would never have expected that there would be this many living on the deserted Mount Yu Jun. Xie Lian thought for a moment before slightly raising his arm, revealing a wrist that was half-bandaged.
He said, "Go ahead."
The moment he said those words, those white bandages began automatically sliding off his arm. Like it was alive, it flew outside by passing the curtains of the sedan.
Xie Lian sat upright in the sedan before gently ordering, "Strangle them to death."
In the midst of the night, a white viper suddenly swam out.
When that white, thin silk was bandaged around Xie Lian's wrist, it seemed to only be a few chi in length. However, when it flew as quick as lightning into the fight, it seemed as if it was infinitely long. With a 'crack crack', 'crack crack', a succession of snapping sounds echoed in the air. In the blink of an eye, dozens of wild wolves and base slaves had their necks broken by the white silk!
The six base slaves bothering Nan Feng instantly met a violent death and fell to the ground. He thrust out his palm and sent the last wolf flying. However, though Nan Feng had escaped the danger, he didn't relax even the slightest bit. Instead, he rushed toward the sedan and yelled in disbelief, "What is that thing?! Aren't you without any spiritual power, and thus can't activate magical artefacts?!"
Xie Lian responded, "There would inevitably be exceptions to everything..."
Nan Feng was furious. He slapped one side of the sedan carriage and roared, "Xie Lian! Say it clearly, what is that thing?! Is it..."
That slap of his almost made the whole sedan fall apart. Thus, Xie Lian had no other choice but to raise his hand and support the door. But for once, he was slightly startled. When Nan Feng said those words, his tone unexpectedly made him recall Feng Xin's appearance when he got mad in the past.
Nan Feng was still waiting for an answer when suddenly, the distant screams of the military officials echoed through the air. Fu Yao coldly said, "If you want to talk, beat back this wave of enemies before doing it!"
Nan Feng had no other choice but to go back and save the show. However, Xie Lian quickly snapped out of his daze and said, "Nan Feng, Fu Yao, you guys leave first."
Nan Feng looked back, "What?"
Xie Lian explained, "If you guys stay around the sedan chair, more things will come. You won't be able to finish fighting. In that case, take the other people and leave. I'll stay behind and meet that ghost bridegroom."
Nan Feng wanted to start cursing again. "Just you..."
However, on the other side, Fu Yao coldly spoke up. "Since he can use that silk cloth, for a short while nothing will happen. If you have time to argue with him, wouldn't it be better spent settling that group before returning to help? I'm leaving."
Fu Yao was rather confident and at ease. He was also straightforward as well; when he said he was leaving, he immediately left, not even slowing down for a moment. Nan Feng clenched his teeth, knowing in his heart that the other small martial god wasn't wrong. Thus, he turned to face the remained military officials and said, "Follow me!"
Sure enough, when they were farther away from the sedan, though the previous base slaves and wolves were still there, no more new ones joined the fight. The two small martial gods protected four military officials. As they fought, Fu Yao began speaking with a tone of hatred, "Ridiculous. If it were not for me..."
He stopped talking. The two of them glanced at each other, their gazes both completely strange. Fu Yao swallowed the rest of his words before turning his head. For the time being, the two of them put away this topic and didn't mention it again. Instead, they only continued hurrying.
All around the marriage sedan, corpses covered the ground.
The silk Ruoye1 had already strangled all the leftover base slaves and wolves that had tried pouncing onto the sedan. It flew back and began automatically and gently wrapping itself on Xie Lian's wrist once more. Xie Lian calmly and quietly sat in the marriage sedan, surrounded by the complete darkness and the rustling sounds of the trees.
Suddenly, everything became completely silent.
The sound of the wind, the sound of the rustling trees, the shouts of the monsters. In a split second, all of that became deathly silent, as if they were afraid of something.
After that, he heard two light laughs.
It sounded like a young man's voice, but it also sounded like the voice of a teenager.
Xie Lian sat there and didn't speak.
The silk Ruoye wrapped around his wrist, ready to act. As long as the person who came had even the smallest trace of killing intent, it would immediately and frantically strike back with ten times the power.
Unpredictably, Xie Lian didn't meet an abrupt attack or a blast of killing intent, but something completely different.
The curtain of the marriage sedan was slightly lifted. Looking through the crack of the red veil, Xie Lian saw the person extend a hand toward him.
The fingers and joints of that hand were well-defined. Red thread was tied around the third finger. On that slender and pale-white hand, it looked as if it was a colourful and bright knot of fate.
1. [若邪] pronounced as Ruoxie, but the author has made a note that we should refer to it as Ruoye. This is the name of the silk. It means, ruo = as if, like, xie = demonic, evil.