Wang Ming and Li Mochou were each riding a donkey and traveling leisurely along the wide road, with two men ahead respectfully pulling the donkeys' lead ropes and seven or eight people following behind.
As for riding a donkey, Wang Ming had rejected the idea at first, feeling that a donkey's image completely clashed with his own handsome and scholarly demeanor and utterly ruined the aesthetic, so he had never considered using a donkey as a mount.
This trip to Jueqing Valley was not a short distance, so he had gone to a nearby place that sold horses to buy one as a means of transportation for the journey.
He had finished negotiating the price with the boss when Li Mochou on the side raised objections.
She actually did not know how to ride a horse and stubbornly insisted on buying a donkey.
Wang Ming thought about how she had grown up in the Ancient Tomb since childhood, so not knowing how to ride a horse was entirely normal, and thus he let her have her way.
Along the way, Wang Ming gradually began to regret it.
The advantage of a horse was that it looked good and was fast, providing a bonus to a person's demeanor and image.
Yet the disadvantage was suffering through the intense jolting.
Compared to traveling smoothly and leisurely on Li Mochou's donkey, riding a horse instantly lost its appeal.
Thus, upon reaching the second town, he traded the horse for a donkey; since Wang Ming was not in a rush to reach Jueqing Valley, why bother making himself suffer?
The ones pulling their donkeys and following behind were the surrendered disciples of Jueqing Valley.
Guided by this group of people, after half a month of long travel, they finally arrived at their destination for this trip—Jueqing Valley.
According to the information provided by the Jueqing Valley disciples, the entrance to Jueqing Valley was right here.
Before Wang Ming was a cliff covered entirely in Boston ivy, completely blanketed by green vegetation.
One of the surrendered Jueqing Valley disciples stepped forward, parted the hanging vines at the cliff face to reveal a cave entrance inside, and then respectfully invited Wang Ming to enter.
After confirming repeatedly that there was no danger, Wang Ming brought Li Mochou with him into the cave entrance.
Once inside, they walked straight for a few meters, then turned left for a few more meters, and light appeared ahead.
After exiting, the scenery before their eyes was a dense forest of banyan trees, giving a deep and serene feeling.
Continuing onward, traces of human habitation gradually appeared—paths paved flat with stones.
Walking along the path for a while, human architecture came into view; these were structures with stilted buildings as the main body, and upon walking closer, four large characters reading "Water Lily Villa" were inscribed on the gate plaque.
There were also some sporadic stone-built houses around, quite simple and unpretentious.
Whether it was the stilted houses or these stone dwellings, they all blended harmoniously with the natural environment within the valley, without giving any discordant or abrupt feeling.
This architectural designer is truly remarkable, perfectly combining artificial architecture with the natural environment, which completely aligns with the Taoist ideology of the unity of heaven and man, Wang Ming said to his young disciple Li Mochou beside him.
I don't feel anything special. What unity of heaven and man? Aren't these just a few old houses overgrown with weeds! What's so nice about them, Li Mochou said unhappily.
In fact, what she said was not wrong; the greenery on the houses of Jueqing Valley was quite insane, with all kinds of walls covered in green vegetation, and some banyan tree branches even extending into the rooms.
You could say it was perfectly integrated with nature, or you could say it was just an old house covered in weeds.
Just like describing a person's psychological ambitions: if you liked the person, you would say they had lofty ideals; if you didn't like them, you would say they were excessively ambitious; and if you looked down on them, you would say they had unrealistic high aspirations.
Wang Ming was leading Li Mochou to admire the unique scenery of Jueqing Valley and did not notice that the few Jueqing Valley captives beside him had already fallen more than ten meters behind.
He was still enjoying the scenery with Li Mochou because Wang Ming had already regarded all of this as his own, so he was exceptionally joyful.
For so many years, Wang Ming had always lived a life of drifting and depending on others, and today he could finally possess his own property, so naturally he was happy.
Suddenly, Wang Ming's ears twitched slightly.
Then he scanned his surroundings and instantly realized something was wrong: those captives had already put a very long distance between themselves and him.
At the same time, people were surrounding them from all sides, some holding sabers and weapons, and others holding specialized fishing nets.
Wang Ming said, "I remember your name is Chen Yongxiang, right? Who gave you the courage to set yourself against me?"
Chen Yongxiang: "Don't be so arrogant. If you hadn't suddenly launched a sneak attack from behind last time, you would never have broken the Fishing Net Formation."
Wang Ming also knew that what he said was actually correct; this Fishing Net Formation was very powerful, and Zhou Botong twenty years later could only kneel down under this formation, only breaking it later when he got those shears.
Chen Yongxiang shouted, "Charge! Avenge the Valley Master and wash away our humiliation!"
Immediately, the people on all four sides holding fishing nets constantly began to shift and adjust their positions around them.
Li Mochou had suffered because of this fishing net, and the moment she saw them forming up, she panicked, extremely afraid of being trapped inside it again, so she immediately wanted to use her lightness skill to fly out.
The result?
Barely two meters off the ground, a team of people jumped out from behind the Fishing Net Formation carrying a fishing net and descended from the sky, directly netting Li Mochou tightly and trapping her securely.
Hmph!
It squeezed out her body curves hidden beneath her wide robes, and she fell to the ground wearing an expression of social death.
Wang Ming didn't pay much attention to Li Mochou's current situation; she was just a teenage girl, what was there to look at.
Catching Li Mochou right at the start also boosted the confidence of this group of people. Initially, when they heard that Valley Master Gongsun had been killed by this person, they had felt somewhat uneasy and apprehensive.
The few among these people who had witnessed Wang Ming in action remained far behind the Fishing Net Formation, hiding far away, while those in the front were ignorant and fearless.
They had only heard Chen Yongxiang and the others say that the Valley Master was ambushed and killed by thieves, and were told to come and kill the thieves to avenge the Valley Master.
Now, even Li Mochou, who carried weapons within the formation, had been captured, making the empty-handed, scholarly-looking man in the formation seem even simpler.
The fishing nets were twisted from gold and steel wire, each net a zhang square, studded with golden sabers and sharp swords to stab and attack enemies. The intersecting points of the net openings were embedded with lodestones, which could absorb the enemy's metal hidden weapons.
When engaging the enemy, a formation was composed of sixteen people, with every four people holding a section of the fishing net, directed by the formation leader—whether horizontally, vertically, diagonally, or flatly, constantly shifting and shrinking the encirclement to force the enemy to surrender without a fight.
Chen Yongxiang and the others were not particularly loyal to Gongsun Zhi; rather, because both the Valley Master and the Senior Apprentice-Brother had been killed by Wang Ming, he was currently the person most qualified to inherit Jueqing Valley.
Coupled with the Fishing Net Formation—a formation he had learned how to set up since childhood—he was supremely confident in it; as long as it wasn't a sneak attack from behind, no one could escape.
Chen Yongxiang said ferociously, "Charge!"
He could practically picture himself wearing brocade robes and being addressed as Valley Master Chen in the future; as long as he solved this person, everything would be settled.
Chen Yongxiang: "Haha! You thief who only knows how to sneak attack, surrender! Otherwise, I'll kill your apprentice."
Wang Ming looked at him coldly.
A lascivious look suddenly surfaced on Chen Yongxiang's face: "I've changed my mind. Your female apprentice is so delicate and pretty, killing her just like that is too much of a waste. If you don't surrender right now, I'll invite you to watch a live erotic show starring your female apprentice, haha!!!"
With that, he wanted to go and pull the fallen Li Mochou up to put his words into action.
Sky Full of Flowers Scattering Gold Coins
Wang Ming leaped upward.
Instantly, a massive amount of copper coins shot out at extreme speed in all directions from his body.
Each copper coin was imbued with dense Innate True Qi, granting them the penetrating power to split rocks and pierce metal.
In the blink of an eye, the space around Wang Ming was cleared, with a single copper coin planted right between the brows of each person.
"Your hidden weapon—how can you still use it within the Fishing Net Formation?" Chen Yongxiang was extremely panicked by this sudden reversal of the situation.
"Lack of culture is truly terrifying. Lodestones attract iron; what does that have to do with copper?"
"Big Boss! I was wrong. You are magnanimous, and I am not worth your hands getting dirty." Chen Yongxiang was extremely perceptive of current affairs; seeing that the situation was bad, he immediately knelt down, kowtowed, and begged for mercy.
Wang Ming ignored him, walked over first, and untied the bindings on Li Mochou, whose eyes were filled with murderous intent.
"Big Boss, please forgive little Chen for your disrespect. I can be your running dog; I will be your dog, Big Boss."
After saying that, he immediately transitioned from kowtowing to crawling on the ground with all four limbs.
"Woof woof!!!!!"
Watching this operation unfold before him, the corners of Wang Ming's mouth twitched slightly.
"Sigh! Rest assured, I'm not that petty. I forgive you."
After saying that, wearing a benevolent smile,
he said to Li Mochou beside him, "He's yours to handle. Do as you please."
With that, he patted her shoulder and walked straight away from this battlefield.
Then...
A miserable scream echoed from behind.
Thanks to everyone who gave me collection votes, recommendation votes, moon tickets, and tips. Your support is the driving force for my updates.
I won't list the specific names one by one; there are simply too many.
Thank you all for your support.
Before you continue