Those who left in the most panic were none other than the scions of sorcerer families dispatched by the imperial court. When they left by boat, it was as if they were fleeing. Once on the boat, they sat blankly in the cabin, their eyes vacant, as if they had just had a nightmare, and they were quite far apart from one another.
After all, even the current Minister of the Imperial Court could be skinned alive and replaced by demons; who can guarantee that these guys around us aren't demons in human skin?
The entire cabin was deathly silent. Everyone had countless things to say, but no one dared to get too close, and no one was the first to start a conversation.
Until a very cold voice came from outside the cabin.
"Gentlemen, we'll be arriving at Wangjiang soon. Your horses have been fed and are ready. It's getting late. Would you like us to send Fighter Army to escort you to the post station?"
These words immediately brought everyone back to their senses, and they all looked at the cold-faced scholar.
That person is said to be a sorcerer trained by the Liuzhou Academy. It seems that he was involved in the top-notch array in Nanming Prefecture. From the initial scorn to now, almost no one dares to underestimate him, especially his ability to casually control the array when entering and exiting the barrier and stop the icy and snowy weather along the way.
Since everyone here is a sorcerer, many of them could clearly see that the opponent's technique of stopping the weather was to insert a small magic circle into the large array of countless magic circles, which then produced this effect.
The group of people's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets!
Only sorcerers could understand how grand and complex this grand formation in Nanming Prefecture was. After staying here for three days, many disciples who thought they were good at formations failed to figure out even a single principle of how the formation worked. The complex structure made it impossible for them to understand even the simplest array connection after three days of studying it.
That is why no one dares to easily use their spiritual power to touch this magic array, for fear of being swept into the enormous energy and shattered to pieces.
But this young man looks to be only in his early twenties, doesn't he?
With a single, casually placed magic array, it could alter the structure of at least dozens of locations. Moreover, they could clearly see that the rune arrays cast by the opponent were different at each location, and they were all newly constructed magic arrays cast on the spot. They had never seen such an operation in the hands of many array masters!
Some people even asked why a magic array had to be temporarily constructed to change the structure.
His answer was: the formation is constantly changing. If you don't adapt to the situation and rush into the formation, it's easy to cause an energy backlash.
This statement stunned everyone. So the other party knew about the backlash from the formation?
Since then, no one has dared to look down on this aloof scholar, nor has anyone dared to look down on the sorcerers of Liuzhou as they had before!
"Um... will the Fighter Army escort us?" one of them suddenly couldn't help but ask, "Could we have them escort us back to the capital?"
Upon hearing this, everyone nodded in agreement.
Everyone is now on edge, fearing that the monster from the Lu Household might be lurking in the army escorted by the imperial court. These tall and strong Fighter Army, on the contrary, give them a greater sense of security, especially Di Yun, who leads the team. Judging from the energy emanating from him, he is at the First Rank level!
"Escort them back to the capital?" Shen Yuan looked at these direct descendants of aristocratic families, a complex emotion flashing in his eyes.
"I'll go ask for instructions. It shouldn't be a big problem, but I can only escort you to the post station outside the capital."
"Yes, yes, thank you for your trouble, sir." The first person to speak bowed repeatedly.
gentlemen?
Shen Yuan glanced at the other person, a smile playing on his lips. He actually recognized him: Fang Shiming, the second son of the Fang Family, a thousand-year-old lineage of sorcerers. He was the son of the Minister of Ministry of Punishments and possessed the best talent of the Fang Family's generation. Although born out of wedlock, he had already been designated as one of the successors due to his top-notch aptitude. At the age of twenty-nine, in three years at most, he would be demoted to the position of deputy to the provincial education commissioner. In five years at most, he would become the provincial education commissioner, a Third Rank- rank official. Before the age of forty, he would likely be either a junior minister or a vice minister.
I used to be someone who, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't catch up.
Now he calls himself "sir"?
The world changes so fast!
He nodded slightly and didn't say anything more. He walked out of the cabin, but there was one person in the group of sorcerers who had been watching Shen Yuan from the beginning. After the other party left, he hesitated for a long time before carefully following him to the deck.
Shen Yuan, who was standing on the deck enjoying the night breeze, quickly noticed the person approaching. He had someone protecting him, and the other person was stopped when he was still ten meters away.
"Brother."
"Oh, so you still recognize me, Shen Yang," Shen Yuan said without turning his head.
"Of course I recognize you," Shen Yang forced a smile. "I just can't quite believe it, after all, brother, you've changed so much."
"Really?" Shen Yuan touched his cheek. "I've only been in Jiangnan for two years, how could I have changed much? I haven't grown any taller either."
"My brother is still as witty as ever."
"I've never really been funny," Shen Yuan said, looking at the other person with a half-smile. "You all call me a bookworm, don't you?"
Shen Yang:"."
"Since you're willing to escort us back to the capital, brother, would you like to go home and visit your mother? She misses you very much."
"Mother." Shen Yuan scoffed and turned around. "Mother misses me? How can you say something like that?"
Shen Yuan is a direct descendant, born to the matriarch of the Shen Family's eldest branch, and his status is actually noble, but unfortunately, his talent as a sorcerer is lacking.
When I studied hard all year and became the second-highest scorer in the imperial examination, my family didn't even bother to hold a small banquet, and my mother didn't even offer a word of congratulations.
He still remembers the time he nervously approached his mother to report his ranking on the exam results, only to be met with her impatient expression.
"Alright, go back and rest early. Having an official position isn't bad; at least you don't have to deal with the trivial matters for your half-siblings. It's somewhat respectable. Go take up your post as soon as possible. Don't let the gossip around you affect your brother's mood; he has to take the Warlock Academy's exam tomorrow."
The second-place ranking he achieved after ten years of hard study was, in his mother's eyes, less important than a minor exam his younger brother took at the Warlock Academy.
I've been in Jiangnan for two years, but I haven't received a single letter from home. Now that Jiangnan has suffered such a calamity, my mother hasn't even sent anyone to look for me.
If he hadn't participated in the array's debugging and been recognized by his half-brother, he would have suspected that the family believed he was already dead.
Ha. Mother misses him? That's a funny joke.
"Brother, don't speak such hurtful words," the man said with a smile. "Mother is your closest relative; how could she not miss you?"
Shen Yuan looked at the other person and smiled slightly; the other person's abacus beads had slapped him in the face.
If I go to the capital, will I be able to come back?
The family won't let me out until they've completely devoured what little they have left.
"In a few more days," Shen Yuan said with a smile. "I'll go back at the end of the year. After all, I haven't been home for two years, and I have to go back this year to wish all the elders a belated Happy New Year."
"The end of the year?" The other party frowned, but after glancing at the tall and burly Fighter Army around him, he still didn't dare to act rashly and smiled, "Then I look forward to my elder brother's return."
"Yes, I'm looking forward to it too," Shen Yuan nodded.
I just don't know if Mother is looking forward to it?
--
"Mother."
On the other side, the little girl who had been brought to the courtyard where Yun Yu'e was imprisoned was as stiff as a wooden statue, staring blankly at the woman in the courtyard whose body was covered in bluish-black and whose face was twisted and ferocious like a demon. She could hardly believe that this was her mother, who was so gentle and beautiful in her memory.
But she knew that it was her mother.
" Yu'e."
Lu Ming approached, his expression also complex. This wasn't the first time he'd seen his woman tortured like this; he'd seen her tortured even more severely. But for the sake of the Lu Household, he could only endure it time and time again.
Now, although everything is gone, the pressure in my heart is also gone.
He suddenly realized that perhaps staying in Yunzhou back then wouldn't have been a bad thing. Those days were actually quite nice. If he had known it would be such a barrier, why bother with all the trouble?
Lu Ming shook his head and slowly approached, while Yun Yu'e Lu Ming mad the moment she saw him.
It roared wildly, the ropes binding its body constricting it to the point of near deformity, like a ravenous beast that had spotted a piece of raw meat!
She was filled with a frenzied desire to attack, but Lu Ming could clearly see that deep in Yu'e's eyes, there was also a trace of resentment.
She recognized me.
That's understandable, though. When she was first being tortured, that woman invited her to come and see. When she passed by, Yu'e begged her for help, but she chose to stand by and watch coldly so that the vicious woman wouldn't think she cared too much about that woman. She must have been desperate at that time, right?
You must hate yourself a lot, right?
But he had no choice. If he had shown even the slightest reluctance at that moment, that wicked woman would have intensified her torment a hundredfold or a thousandfold.
He just didn't expect that even if he did that, that poisonous woman would still inflict the ten-needle torture on Yu'e!
"I'm sorry, I told you not to come." Lu Ming approached, his face full of pity.
Hearing this, the woman went even more frenzied, breaking free of the ropes and lunging at him as if she wanted to tear him to pieces!
However, Lu Ming was a ghost. Although he revealed his form with Chen Qing's help, Yu'e could see him but could not touch him. She missed her target and then began to howl wildly on the ground.
In an instant, the little girl burst into tears!
She wanted to cry ever since the attack yesterday, but she held back. She hid with her mother and watched as her fighter brothers who protected them were brutally murdered. She endured it all, and even after her mother was captured, she still held back.
Because her mother taught her from a young age that crying is useless when something happens.
So she endured it all and did her best to help.
But how did her mother become like this?
I finally couldn't hold it in any longer!
The girl's cries instantly drew the attention of the frantic Yun Yu'e, who stopped screaming and stared intently at her daughter!