Tang Jian's eyes revealed surprise as he looked at Li Xiaoxiao, momentarily unsure of what to do.
"Whether you believe it or not, until today, I had no idea my father would do such a thing. But from today onwards, our betrothal is annulled. We will cut ties and have no further dealings in the future," Li Xiaoxiao said coldly, not waiting for him to ask.
Tang Jian was taken aback for a moment, but then his expression gradually converged. Without asking further questions, he bent down to pick up the long pole, stepped over Li Xiaoxiao, and boarded the blackwood boat in one stride.
He glanced at the middle-aged boatman lying inside the cabin, his face already dark and blue, long dead.
"Don't go to the capital anymore. My father seems to have arrangements there. Just head straight for the Yue country and... never come back," Li Xiaoxiao suddenly instructed as she jumped off the wooden boat, without turning around or revealing her facial expression.
Tang Jian didn't respond. He merely pushed the long pole expressionlessly and let the boat drift downstream with the current.
Li Xiaoxiao didn't leave immediately. After an unknown period, she suddenly turned around.
Looking at the blackwood boat gradually disappearing into the mist in the distance, her originally tense cheeks suddenly trembled, and her eyes instantly turned red.
"Why don't you want me to go with you..." she muttered with a hint of grievance, but her voice was so low that only she could hear it.
However, how could she understand that Tang Jian, who had encountered a tremendous change, felt that his future was bleak? How could he bear to let his beloved suffer through hardships with him?
In their youth, their feelings were genuine, but their words often did not match their hearts.
Li Xiaoxiao watched until the blackwood boat completely disappeared from her sight. Then, she turned around with a hint of sadness. She waved her hand, and a yellow talisman immediately flew lightly, landing on Lu Tai's floating corpse in the river.
A fierce flame surged and burned, quickly turning his body into ashes. The gleaming long sword lost its luster and sank into the riverbed, carried away by the current, drifting to an unknown place.
After ensuring that all traces were cleared, Li Xiaoxiao let out a light sigh and turned to walk towards the direction of Tanzhou City.
However, just after taking a few steps, she suddenly looked up into the sky, puzzled, and said, "What's that..."
She saw the full moon in the sky suddenly blur, and in a trance, a silver-white light mass separated from it, flickering like stars, coming towards her with alternating flashes of brightness and darkness.
It was only due to visual disparity that Li Xiaoxiao had the illusion that it was separating from the moon. In fact, it was not far from her. In just a few moments, it had arrived by the Luofu River.
As it approached, Li Xiaoxiao saw it more clearly. The edges of the silver light mass were blurred, as if countless tiny tentacles were violently trembling.
At this moment, a flash of silver light suddenly appeared on the light mass, revealing a blood-red eye. Silver threads abruptly extended from it, resembling a comet with a long, thin tail, shooting towards her.
Seeing this, Li Xiaoxiao's body emitted a white light. She tapped her toes on the ground and swiftly slid backward tens of zhang. After creating a series of ripples on the surface of the Luofu River, she stopped in the middle of the river.
But at this moment, a strange scene occurred.
The silver threads that seemed to be rushing straight towards her suddenly turned back in the air, converging together like a white python, instantly charging towards Li Xiaoxiao and enveloping her within.
With a "splash," a large sheet of white water waves spread out in all directions, centered on Li Xiaoxiao.
However, instead of being pushed into the riverbed by the silver threads, Li Xiaoxiao's feet suddenly left the ground, and her entire body levitated, rising above the river surface.
"Ugh..." she moaned in pain.
The silver threads wrapped around her like a cocoon, covering her entirely except for her head.
She felt as if her body was tightly bound by an invisible force, unable to move at all.
At this moment, the blood-red eye at the other end of the silver threads suddenly flashed with a blood-red light and rushed towards her.
Li Xiaoxiao's body was bound, and even if she wanted to struggle, she couldn't. She could only let the eye heavily strike her forehead.
"Ah..."
A heart-wrenching pain assailed her, making her unable to help but scream loudly.
But in just a short instant, her scream suddenly stopped.
She saw blood-red light surge like a spring at her forehead, and the blood-red eye slowly sank into it, gradually disappearing.
Immediately after, all the silver threads wrapped around her body also began to quickly contract, continuously converging towards that blood-red light and disappearing into it.
After the blood-red light merged with the last strand of silver thread, it suddenly flashed and completely disappeared.
Li Xiaoxiao, as if hit by a heavy object, stumbled backward, taking several steps before stabilizing her body.
All abnormalities at her forehead disappeared, leaving only a red mark like a floral ornament.
The original vitality in her eyes momentarily dimmed but soon brightened again, only that her gaze seemed to have gained some depth.
"Target located. Mark not yet activated..."
Li Xiaoxiao suddenly turned around, looking downstream of the Luofu River, and said in a very wooden tone.
After speaking, the corners of her mouth slowly curved up, her dimples slightly indented, revealing a slightly stiff smile.
What was eerie was that tears were streaming down her eyes, unable to stop.
...
Somewhere in an endless desert.
Vast stretches of yellow sand were lifted into the sky by towering sandstorms, resembling countless fierce dragons roaming around. From a distance, the flying sand and rolling stones obscured the sky and sun, resembling the tumultuous surge of river tides.
At this moment, only the rumbling sound of the swirling sandstorm could be heard in this realm of heaven and earth. It was dark and gloomy, completely blinding, presenting a terrifying scene as if the doom had arrived.
After an unknown period, the fierce wind gradually subsided, and the sea of sand returned to tranquility.
The scorching sun hung in the sky, baking the vast expanse of yellow sand.
Heat waves rose from the ground, hot and windless, as if the frightening sandstorm had never occurred.
Beneath a boulder eroded by wind and sand, there was a rare patch of shade.
Two sand lizards lay prone in the shade, with their umbrella-shaped skin membranes on their necks raised, and their cheeks puffing, as if enjoying the post-calamity silence.
Suddenly, the lizards sprang out swiftly, as if startled. The fine sand flowed where they had just taken shelter, and an arm suddenly emerged.
The palm was half-open and facing upwards, with a layer of calluses forming at the purlicue and the center of the palm.
Ripples appeared on the quicksand, and with the support of his arm, a head finally emerged from the sand.
It was unknown how many years this boulder had stood in this desert. Its surface had been eroded into small holes, resembling a piece of extremely decayed dead wood. However, it tenaciously sheltered the person beneath it from much of the wind and sand, preventing him from being buried too deep and avoiding being grilled into jerky by the scorching sand.
This person's eyelids were closed, and some fine, dried scars were faintly visible on his sand-covered face. His tightly pursed lips appeared somewhat dry and pale.
He first tried to open his eyes with a slit, shading them with one hand. After adjusting to the light, he used his hand to support himself and sat up straight, exhaling a long breath.
As the yellow sand fell from his body, revealing a ragged brown cloth garment, with a two-chi-long sword attached to his belt.
This was the face of a young man who still retained a youthful appearance, about seventeen or eighteen years old, but the contours of an adult man were also slightly visible. His long hair, stained with sand and gravel, was scattered behind him like ink, only slightly tied up with a red belt. His skin was slightly dark, and the muscle lines on his arms and waist were very prominent, making him look quite robust.
This person was none other than Tang Jian.
Tang Jian stood up, squinted, and looked around. His gaze finally settled on the west, and his fists, which were hanging at his sides, couldn't help but clench for a moment, but then relaxed again.
As if suddenly remembering something, his expression became extremely tense. He quickly reached into his chest, rummaged for a moment, and then pulled out a sword-shaped sachet.
His clothes were already in tatters, but the sachet in his hand was intact, even without much dirt on it.
Tang Jian's expression eased, and he felt slightly relieved.
After tightening his belt, he took a step and began to walk step by step in the opposite direction.
The sky was clear and cloudless, with sand dunes rolling. Between the sky and the earth, the young man's small and lonely figure gradually disappeared into the distance.
After walking for an unknown period, Tang Jian only felt a fiery pain in his throat, and his feet were getting heavier, as if someone was pulling his legs, wanting him to stay forever in this desert.
And the originally calm desert was agitated again. The gusts of wind that occasionally rose up carried waves of yellow sand, roaring and coming and going, making the road ahead even more complicated.
However, Tang Jian had no intention of stopping to rest. He still gritted his teeth and walked step by step forward.
However, after a while, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, stood in place, and stared straight ahead, which was obscured by a curtain of sand.
He saw that tens of zhangs ahead, the wind gradually subsided, and the dust settled. A sand dune, several zhangs high, gradually came into view. And on top of this sand dune, there stood a middle-aged giant.
This person was about thirty years old, nearly a zhang tall, with a long face and bald eyebrows. His dusty and somewhat tattered clothes made his bulging muscles faintly visible. Behind him, he also carried a sheathless giant sword as tall as a person.
What was creepy was that the giant was staring at the young man with a cold gaze.
"Tang Jian!"
Suddenly, the giant's face twisted. He drew the giant sword behind him with his other hand, and somehow a blue talisman appeared in his other hand. He slapped it onto the giant sword with a "pu," and a blob of blue light flashed into the sword, making the surface of the giant sword emit a blue glow.
Immediately afterward, the giant stomped on the ground with one foot, and his entire body turned into a gust of wind and rushed straight towards the young man.
"The eighteenth one."
Tang Jian muttered to himself with a dry and cracked mouth, then similarly drew the long sword from his waist. He opened his mouth and sprayed a mouthful of refined blood onto it, causing the surface of the sword to immediately emit a faint blood-red glow.
Almost at the same moment, his other hand quickly gestured in the void. Instantly, two fireballs, about the size of fists, appeared. Then, his palm waved quite skillfully.
With two "pu" sounds,
the two fireballs immediately rushed towards the giant with a horse-like face.
A trace of surprise flashed in the giant's eyes. Obviously, he didn't expect that the young man, who looked so weak that he could barely stand, could react so quickly and even seemed to have a stronger aura than himself.