Kidnapping

After making the purchase, Xue Fuyao suddenly felt the Broken Jade inside her body move as though sensing something while passing a stall.

She turned her head to look in the direction of the sensation, and saw a stall piled with all kinds of herbal medicine.

"Senior Sister, I want to go have a look over there." Xue Fuyao pointed at the herbal-medicine-piled stall.

Gu Nian glanced at it, and said, "Those are all the most common herbs, not even counting as spirit medicine."

"Just let's go look."

"All right, all right, I really have no way with you."

Coming before the stall, Xue Fuyao squatted down and asked, "Boss, how much for these herbs of yours?"

Asking thus, she sized up the herbs on the stall while failing to find any trace of the Broken Jade, whereas that previous strange movement had originated from the roots of these herbs.

Xue Fuyao carefully observed the roots of these herbs, and found that the mud clinging to the roots of these herbs seemed to be stained with some glittering things.

Could these be fragments of the Broken Jade?

This was breaking a bit too finely, wasn't it?

Though she thought so, when the other party quoted a price of one tael of silver, she still bought all the herbs without the slightest hesitation.

To avoid missing any fragments, she also bought the cloth placed under the herbs, as well as the basket the small vendor had previously used to hold the herbs.

Before leaving, Xue Fuyao did not forget to ask, "Boss, where did you dig these herbs of yours?"

She had previously seen that though the fragments clinging to the soil were small, their quantity was quite large; if she could know the place, perhaps she would be able to repair the Broken Jade.

Hearing this, the boss said casually, "These are all the most common herbs. I just dug them in the Forest Outside the City, but the herbs in that patch have already been completely dug up by me. If you want to go, you'll probably have to wait a while."

"No, I just asked casually. The quality of your herbs is very good."

"Even if they're good, they're not spirit medicine, and they can't fetch a high price." The boss curled his lips and said.

Gu Nian watched Xue Fuyao carefully put all the things into the Storage Bag, a silly smile still on her face, and could not help poking her forehead with a finger.

"You, oh you. Some broken herbs aren't even valuable, yet you treat them like a treasure."

Xue Fuyao was still smiling cheerfully. "Senior Sister, these herbs aren't completely useless. After drying, they can be soaked in water to drink; they're refreshing and quench thirst."

Gu Nian said nothing more, merely thinking in her heart that this Junior Sister looked a bit naive, and it seemed she would need to take more care of her in the future.

At that moment, a clamorous sound suddenly came from ahead, closely followed by a wave of shrieks on one side: "There's a thief, catch the thief, quickly catch the thief!!"

Instantly, the already somewhat crowded street instantly became even more crowded, and almost everyone subconsciously looked around with vigilance.

Right then, Xue Fuyao felt as though something was approaching behind her, so she subconsciously dodged toward Gu Nian's side.

Seeing this, Gu Nian did not refuse either, instead reaching out to shield her in her embrace, just like an old hen guarding against the people around her.

Yet even so, Gu Nian's body was still heavily bumped by someone or other.

The next second, Xue Fuyao felt a spell of dizziness, and by the time she recovered her wits, she found that she had already changed into another embrace.

That person was dressed in black, carrying a strange fragrance on his body.

"What person are you! Senior Sister, save me!"

Feeling that she was moving rapidly and getting further and further away from the crowd, Xue Fuyao began to struggle violently.

The next second, a damp handkerchief covered Xue Fuyao's mouth and nose.

Almost instantly, she realized this was a numbing drug, but because of her constitution, the numbing drug was useless on Xue Fuyao; however, she still pretended to be knocked unconscious.

Because she was clear that unless she used the Heavenly Eye, there might still be a chance she could escape at present, but once she did this, the Heavenly Eye would be exposed, and she would also be in greater danger; it was better to wait and see what happened, and she believed Senior Sister Gu Nian would definitely come find her.

Not knowing how long had passed, Xue Fuyao felt the speed of the person who had abducted her slow down, followed by the sound of a door being pushed open, and the next second she was heavily thrown onto the ground, with the crying sounds of other children around.

It seemed she had run into child traffickers this time.

Until the sound of the door closing rang out once more, Xue Fuyao slowly opened her eyes and began to size up the surrounding environment.

At this moment, she was locked inside a cage, and inside this cage, several other children of about her age were also following.

There were still several cages like this throughout the entire room.

Xue Fuyao looked at the few people locked in the same cage with her, and could not help widening her eyes, solely because she had seen all of these people when testing spiritual roots a few days ago, and all of them were disciples of the Four Great Clans of Cloud City.

These people clearly also recognized Xue Fuyao, and one of the little girls asked in a low voice, "How were you captured?"

"I was buying things at the Market with Senior Sister, and suddenly heard someone shouting to catch a thief. Senior Sister was bumped by someone while protecting me, and then I was captured."

After listening to Xue Fuyao's description, these people did not show much surprise. "These are just the old routines of those child traffickers."

"You all don't look like you're afraid at all." Xue Fuyao asked curiously, looking at the few people who appeared quite calm compared to the children in the other cages.

"What is there to be afraid of? Those people at most want some Spirit Stones, and once they get the Spirit Stones they'll send us back."

Later on from the mouths of these people, Xue Fuyao learned that they had experienced kidnappings like this not once or twice, and were already used to it.

For a moment Xue Fuyao did not know what to say either.

However, these people were prepared to wait here for their families to come redeem them, but she was not prepared to sit and wait for death.

Moreover, apart from these people here, there were also several cages, and many children were locked inside those cages.

Judging by the clothing of these children, it did not look like their families could produce money to redeem them.

Hearing that Xue Fuyao was preparing to save herself, the others inside the cage wore looks of complete disapproval.

Xue Fuyao did not care whether these people approved or not. For her who had struggled on in the Cultivation Realm for many years in her previous life, the cage before her could not trap her yet.

Pulling a hairpin from her head, she poked it into the keyhole and stirred it back and forth twice, and then following a crisp snap sound, the lock was opened.

Everyone else inside the cage looked in astonishment at this scene.

"Please open our locks too, I beg you, save us."

Seeing Xue Fuyao break free of her predicament, people inside the other cages also hurriedly opened their mouths to cry for help.