Rules of Heaven - C63
Seeing him leave, Ding Hong’s heart brightened. In the end, he had to complete his mission.
As usual, Suo Bing was calm as she carried the painting onto the carriage.
“Didn’t he want to send me to Bashu? “Why are you leaving so quickly!” Ji Yuanmeng stuck her head out again and said unhappily.
Ding Hong ignored her. He was well aware that if he were to continue with a sentence, what awaited him would be an endless stream of questions. Sure enough, when Ding Hong ignored her, Ji Yuan lost his interest and glared at him. Then, he went to chat with Suo Bing. However, Suo Bing really only replied one sentence after a long time.
Ding Hong looked at the map and realized that there was still some distance between here and the Ba Shu region. He was afraid that it would be New Year if he walked there. He could not help but wonder again why he did not ride his sword to send Ji Yuanmeng to Bashu.
Without wasting any time, he swung the horsewhip and continued forward.
This trip lasted more than a month. However, during the looting session, he told him that he wouldn’t have many quests to do for the next few years, which made him a bit surprised. However, since that was the case, he was also happy to do so.
It was already December, and the sky was beginning to snow.
Ding Hong and his group also arrived at the nearest pass from Ba Shu, Yao Valley Pass. As long as they passed this barrier, they would be able to reach Shu City in half a month’s time by going southwest.
As a matter of fact, there are two in all of Bashu, one is “Shu” and the other is “Ba”. This way, there would be two kings of Shu. However, the king of Shu was from the main clan of the Sky Region, so most outsiders would only respect him. The Ba-Wang was the king of the region, and there were many people like Miao, Cang, and Hui Ran from the outer clans of the Sky Region. Thus, they were not welcomed by the other countries in the Sky Region.
It was snowing and the temperature was freezing. Even the side of the official road was covered with thick snow. The sound of breathing could be heard from the carriage as it pressed down on them. Over the past month, Ding Hong and Ji Yuanmeng had become a bit familiar with each other. However, Suo Bing was still the same as before. While they were talking, she quietly sat beside them with her hands tightly gripping the bone bracelet, afraid of losing it.
Ding Hong knew her mood and didn’t ask.
“Xiaofeng, how long do you think this snow will last? It has been going on for three or four days straight! ” Ji Yuanmeng sighed with emotion. She was at most sixteen years old. Although she had reached the age of marriage, she was still a girl. For the past month, Ding Hong had been paying attention to her conversations as he was afraid to open up this topic. Thus, she had changed her bad habit.
“How should I know?” Ding Hong, who was sitting in front of the carriage, rolled his eyes at her. Ding Hong was currently wearing a heavy fur cloak and his hair was covered in snow. However, looking at his current appearance, he had a different feeling.
Ji Yuanmeng snorted, but she was the first to stop talking to him. She withdrew her head and continued to chat with Suo Bing. Although Suo Bing didn’t say much, she would still say a few words to her.
As expected, not long after, Ding Hong heard Ji Yuanmeng’s words constantly coming out. Ye Zichen shook his head helplessly and continued to ride the horse.
The weather was cold, and when Ding Hong breathed, he could see a string of white eyes curling into mist.
Suddenly, the carriage was stopped and the entire carriage jumped up. Ding Hong frowned. “Pfft —” The sound stopped the horse.
“What’s wrong? What’s wrong?” Ji Yuanmeng hurriedly stuck her head out and looked around with her watery eyes.
“Go, what’s with the little child?” After Ding Hong hit her, he got off the carriage.
“Hmph.” Ji Yuanmeng was not convinced and could not be bothered to argue with him. She returned to the carriage and continued to chat with Suo Bing.
Just now, the force produced by the attack was very strong, and the object it came into contact with was as hard as stone. How could there be a stone on the public road? Curious, Ding Hong went to the back of the carriage to check. He crouched down and put his hand in the snow, trying to push it away to see what was inside. However, the moment he placed his hand inside, he suddenly took it out and stood up. He retreated a few meters back and frowned as he looked at the lump of snow.
How is that a stone? It’s clearly a frozen corpse!” Ding Hong’s heart stirred a little. Although he had experienced the incident at the Cao family, which could be considered as having seen the ghosts of a thousand ghosts, he had never encountered anything like touching a corpse. His heart was beating very fast, his breathing was a little faster, and he couldn’t help but feel a little hot.
He took a deep breath of the cold, snowy air and continued on his journey to the carriage.
“What is it?” Ji Yuanmeng stuck her head out again and asked.
Ding Hong did not want to disturb her mood, so he casually said, “Oh, it’s just a rock.”
“The stone is so loud? How big was that stone? What was the matter with the soldiers here? They did not even clean up a single stone on the public road! He really gave them a free salary! “Say …”
It was starting again, Ding Hong wailed in his heart. Usually, as long as Ji Yuanmeng started like this, there would be no end to the rest of his words. Ding Hong wished he could block his ears.
Suddenly, the horse carriage is forcefully nudged once more. Then, it is nailed down again. Then, it is nailed down again …
Ding Hong’s heart sank before the horse carriage even jumped. In the end, he didn’t even know if his heart was still in his chest. After a dozen or so times, the carriage finally ran past and saw the Yao Valley Pass.
Ji Yuanmeng’s words were naturally cut off by the stir from before. She kept asking Ding Hong what was going on, but Ding Hong remained silent with a dark expression. Suo Bing seemed to have guessed something and pulled Ji Yuanmeng back.
Yao Mountain Pass was located in two large canyons. It was nearly six hundred zhang in length and two thousand zhang in width. It was one of the most important borders of the country of Zhou.
It was still early, but there was no one on the road. At this moment, the main gate of Yao Valley was open, and there were only a few scattered few soldiers guarding it.
Just now, the reason why the carriage had stopped moving was likely because of some frozen corpses. The guard’s expression was lazy, perhaps cold, and he said nothing when he saw them.
Ding Hong brought the horse carriage to Yao Valley Pass and found an inn to stay in. Because she was worried, she put Ji Yuanmeng and Suo Bing in the same room. Suo Bing naturally would not retort, but Ji Yuanmeng shouted that she was unwilling and wanted to live alone. But when Ding Hong found out about the corpses on the way, how could he dare let her live alone? Ignore her opinion.
After packing up, because he had enough money, Ding Hong prepared to order some good dishes. He had been waiting downstairs for an hour, before Ji Yuanmeng dragged Ninny’s He Sou Bing down. Seeing her wet hair, Ding Hong was speechless after taking a bath.
At least tell me about it when you take a bath!
However, thinking that he was a princess after all, he decided not to pursue the matter.
After the two of them sat down, he shouted, “Manager, come and order some dishes!”
The shopkeeper, who was doing an abacus on the counter at the door, heard about the dishes and immediately became energetic. He hurriedly came in front of them and smiled: “What dishes would you like to order?”
“If there’s anything good, tell me.” Ding Hong also hadn’t eaten for a long time, so he was prepared to have a meal.
The storekeeper’s eyes narrowed into slits as he smiled. “The best dish, of course, is braised beef.”
Hearing that, Ji Yuanmeng exclaimed, “The Pink Jade Bead Compass and the Blue Lotus Seed Soup don’t have any of these? Just beef? ”
How could the shopkeeper have heard of these dishes? However, they had nothing to do with him. He explained, “To be honest, this stewed beef is usually only a little expensive. It’s impossible for it to be the best dish. However, recently… Sigh … “He suddenly let out a heavy sigh, adjusted his mood and said,” However, the recent battles have been too fierce! “Besides, there’s nothing to be done under the snow. If the people in this pass can leave, they’ll either die or die. How are we supposed to make good food without any ingredients?”
To be honest, the shopkeeper felt a bit helpless. Originally, Yao Gu’s business was already hard to do, especially in this period of time. He was even thinking if he should leave this place after a period of time.
Seeing that his days were not going well, Ding Hong did not insist, but thinking that the two of them were after all, girls, he did not know whether to eat or not, he asked, “Do you two want to eat?”
Suo Bing’s face remained expressionless as she nodded. Ji Yuanmeng frowned and pondered, as if she had made a big decision. Just as she was about to say something, Ding Hong turned his head and said, “Give me some beef stewed with brine and make some soup.”
Seeing that he had ignored her opinion, Ji Yuanmeng said unhappily, “You!”
“What about me? By the time you make up your mind, people will starve to death. ” Ding Hong unhurriedly answered him.
Ji Yuanmeng was extremely angry. She pouted her lips and sat there, tilting her head to vent her anger.
At this time, the sky was still covered with snow, and the multi-colored snow was gently drifting about. It was unknown whether it was to send joy to the rich families or to the poor people that they brought calamity.
Ding Hong suddenly thought of “Yin Yang Yi” he had seen in Penglai. According to the theory of “Yi”, was the happiness brought upon it a Yang, or was the disaster brought upon it a Yin? As he thought about it, his thoughts drifted further away. He held his head up as he looked out the window at the snow falling. Unknowingly, he felt a little dazed.
“Customer, your dishes and soup.” The waiter suddenly spoke, interrupting his thoughts. The boy set down a few plates of beef and a few bowls of hot, sticky soup mixed with many other things.
Ji Yuanmeng smelled the soup and felt that it was pretty good. However, when she saw what was in the soup, she couldn’t help but frown. “What kind of soup is this?”
The waiter smiled and said: “This is a spicy soup, passed down from the north. It has good nutrition and is very warm even in winter.”
Ding Hong drank a few mouthfuls. His mouth was lubricated, and from time to time, there was something hard in it. The overall taste was slightly spicy, and it tasted very good. He praised, “Not bad.”
When Ji Yuanmeng heard him say that, she could not help but salivate. She also took a sip and said, “It tastes good.”
Suo Bing’s attitude was indifferent as she ate in an elegant manner. She didn’t say anything, nor did she say anything bad. After everyone had finished eating, it seemed that the snow outside was getting heavier. The shopkeepers in front of the door were all hiding under the counters and grilling at the stove. They were trembling non-stop as their mouths trembled, “This damned heaven, how can it let people live?”
Suddenly, a group of riders rode through the snow and stopped in front of the tavern. It was noisy, and most of the discussions were about ‘the sky is cold’ or ‘there are no women’. After a commotion, they seemed to have settled the horses and entered the inn.
Below the number of people, there were a total of nine people. Looking at their armor and swords, they were probably not simple people.
The leader of the group was a burly man with a full beard. His face was covered with a pile of meat. After entering the restaurant, he shouted, “Shopkeeper, the old rules apply to meat!” His voice was very loud, and the moment he shouted, the entire inn seemed to shake.
The shopkeeper trembled in fear and hurriedly stood up. When he saw it was him, his expression changed but he did not dare to go against him. He hurriedly said respectfully, “So it’s General Zhang. This lowly one will go right now.” He hurried back to give orders.
Nodding his head in satisfaction, he turned around and suddenly saw Ding Hong and the others. When he saw Suo Bing and Ji Yuanmeng, his eyes suddenly lit up and he laughed as he brought a group of people over. After arriving at their place, he sat down on the stage and ignored Ding Hong. He smiled at Suo Bing and said, “What’s the name of this beauty? Come and smile for me? ”
His hand was long, and he reached for the ice.
Ding Hong did not move because he wanted to know what kind of ability Suo Bing possessed ever since she was remodelled by the Sky Wood. However, when her hands were about to touch her face, she still didn’t move. Ding Hong frowned as he took out his jade flute and injected a tiny bit of sword Qi towards General Zhang.
His speed was extremely fast. It seemed complicated, but in the blink of an eye, he had arrived.
With a ripping sound, the sound of something being scraped was extremely unpleasant to hear. It caused the surrounding people to feel a wave of discomfort in their hearts and ears. Ding Hong’s jade xiao struck the armor on General Zhang’s arm and pierced a hole through it, forcefully blocking the forward movement of his arm.
General Zhang obviously did not expect such a thing to happen. He was immediately enraged. He flicked his wrist, intending to break Ding Hong’s hand that was holding the jade flute. But soon after, he was stunned because he discovered that his arm had been completely stopped by a huge force.
The eight people who had followed him seemed to have noticed that he had suffered a loss. Their eyes were all flashing with a fierce light and were about to step forward to help.
“Hey, hey, hey. Look at what this is?” Ji Yuanmeng suddenly took out a golden identity card out of boredom and weakly shook it.
The eight people behind couldn’t understand what it was, but when General Zhang looked at it closely, his expression changed drastically. He suddenly moved his body, knocking away the chair he was sitting on and was about to kneel down and kowtow. However, he suddenly realized that his arm was still tied up by Ding Hong’s jade flute and couldn’t help but feel a little embarrassed. Ding Hong glanced at him and took out his Heavenly Jade Flute. Only then did General Zhang kneel and said, “Princess Jiu Meng.”
It turned out that Ji Yuanmeng’s identity plate had the words “Nine Dreams” engraved on it, and in the lower right corner, there was another line of words: “Deep Emperor’s Inscription”. Far Emperor was naturally Ji Yuanhang.
The eight people behind looked at each other in dismay before they all knelt down together with General Zhang, bowing as they said, “Princess Jiu Meng.”
“Heh heh.” Ji Yuanmeng proudly waved her identity card and said, “Hurry up and leave. I’m annoyed to see all of you.”
General Zhang’s expression changed, but he did not refute, “This official will take his leave.” After that, he hurriedly got up and led a few people out of the inn.
Ding Hong rolled his eyes and said, “If you have that thing, why didn’t you take it out earlier?”
“Hmph, what if I don’t bring it out?” Ji Yuanmeng started to lose her temper again.
Seeing this, Ding Hong knew that this was not the time to respond. He changed the topic and asked Suo Bing, “Why didn’t you retaliate just now?”