Blood spilled onto the white snow. The white snow was tinted red.
It was still snowing heavily.
Snowflakes kept falling from the sky. But they melted into water because of the heat.
A bird with a soft silhouette and red fire plumes was flapping its wings in the air. Its sharp beak was like the sharpest knife in the world, sharp enough to smash anything without much effort.
The red fire phoenix with its soft silhouette brushed past the Black Dragon and left bloody claw marks on the latter. The Black Dragon’s scales fell to the ground with some clanking sounds.
This was a fire phoenix, a fire phoenix many times stronger than the previous young phoenix.
It was the second transformation of the Nine Phoenixes Transformation, Phoenix Plume.
Everyone in the Imperial Garden was shocked. Yuwen Xiu’s eyes widened and he clenched his fists tightly.
His Black Dragon was injured!
Lil Phoenix One, already having reached the Phoenix Plume Realm, grew fire plumes. As it flapped its wings, its burning fire became even more powerful, almost as if it could control the wind.
A loud and clear chime rang through the air.
Lil Phoenix One, like the burning sun, stared at the Black Dragon. It opened its beak and called in a sharp voice.
The Black Dragon did not growl or respond. It just continued staring at Lil Phoenix One. The Black Dragon and the fire phoenix were confronting each other in the Imperial Garden.
Shapeless energies seemed to be colliding.
The Nine Phoenixes Transformation was a mysterious method. Even Lu Fan could not identify its grade, which was enough to prove how powerful it was. And since the method was capable of causing Lil Phoenix One to transform, it was certainly a powerful method.
Lil Phoenix Two and Lil Phoenix Three had not transformed yet.
It wasn’t at the moment they could not transform. It was just Bai Qingniao was unable to make them transform yet.
Blood had oozed from her nose and mouth after she had coaxed Lil Phoenix One into its second transformation of Nine Phoenixes. If she really made Lil Phoenix Two and Lil Phoenix Three reached the second realm as well, she might lose her life there.
Jiang Li hit the ceiling. He rushed at Bai Qingniao as soon as she fell.
“Retreat!” Jiang Li shouted in a low voice while the Black Dragon Guard and the Black Dragon were confronting Lil Phoenix One.
He scooped Bai Qingniao up in his arms. Without Bai Qingniao’s control, Lil Phoenix Two and Lil Phoenix Three were a little confused, like two muddleheaded baby chickens.
Jiang Li looked at the girl. Blood was still flowing out of her mouth and her nose. His eyes turned red.
All of a sudden, he was eager to be strong.
Since he had not been strong enough, he failed to protect those he wanted to protect. Bai Qingniao even tried to protect him instead.
He jumped onto Lil Phoenix Two’s back.
Luo Cheng was fighting even while they were retreating. He jumped up to grasp Lil Phoenix Three’s paws. The two fire phoenixes flew into the sky, stirring the snow from the ground.
“Don’t let them go!” Yuwen Xiu yelled coldly with his eyes wide.
The Black Dragon Guard came to themselves. They charged again. The Thirteen Black Dragon Armored Men ran extremely fast and jumped up into the air.
On the ground, archers carrying bows on their backs pulled their bowstrings and shot arrows.
Densely-packed arrows shot at the fire phoenixes in the sky.
Jiang Li waved his knife to parry the arrows. The arrows broke. They were shot by ordinary people, so it was easy to parry them.
Luo Cheng stared at the archers and threw his knife over. All of the arrows fell.
“Useless things!”
One of the Thirteen Black Dragon Armored Men grabbed an archer’s bow. He took an arrow and pulled the bowstring.
He breathed out slowly.
The bowstring was taut.
He let go of the arrow. The bowstring trembled so violently that the bow in his hand exploded.
The arrow with feather fletching was shot into the air with a high-pitched sound. It flew out at high speed.
Towards Bai Qingniao, who was in a coma.
This man had discovered that it was Bai Qingniao who was controlling the three fire phoenixes. As long as the girl died, this fire phoenix that was strong enough to confront Black Dragon would absolutely panic.
Jiang Li, on Lil Phoenix Two’s back, was astonished.
The arrow flew at them in a blur.
Jiang Li’s pupils shrank.
He activated his Spirit Qi to stop this arrow. However, the enemy had injected Spirit Qi into it. It was almost impossible to resist arrows shot by cultivators.
And the arrow’s target was Bai Qingniao below.
Jiang Li could not stop it. So, he turned around to stop the arrow with his own body.
Splat!
The arrow pierced through Jiang Li’s body. Its cold arrowhead pierced through his body and showed up in front of Bai Qingniao’s pale face. Warm blood kept dripping on the girl’s long eyelashes.
Lil Phoenix Two and Lil Phoenix Three flew out.
Lil Phoenix One flew back after another collision with the Black Dragon. It flapped its wings and soared at a high speed like a flame.
It came under Lil Phoenix Two and Lil Phoenix Three in one second.
The two flew onto Lil Phoenix One’s back. After the second transformation, Lil Phoenix One’s body was much bigger. It was even big enough to carry Lil Phoenix Two and Lil Phoenix Three on its back.
Flapping its wings, Lil Phoenix One flew across the sky over the Imperial City like the burning sun, its call a loud and clear chime.
However, it fell as soon as it left the Imperial City because of exhaustion.
Lil Phoenix Two and Lil Phoenix Three, lying on the snow ground feebly, turned back into two furry baby chickens again.
Luo Cheng sprang to his feet from the ground. After all, as a cultivator, he was much stronger than before.
He helped Jiang Li, whose body had been pierced through by the arrow, to stand up right away.
“Go,” Jiang Li said with a calm face.
Luo Cheng narrowed his eyes. Then, he nodded. He picked the three baby chickens up and put them into his collar.
Carrying his knife, he ran fast to leave the capital city.
“Yuwen Xiu won’t let us leave the Imperial City. He will definitely send troops from the capital city to chase after us. But he should have just given the order. We should still have the time to leave if we act fast enough,” Jiang Li said.
Carrying Bai Qingniao in his arms, he was running with steady steps.
His shoulder was bleeding.
The sound of horse hooves came after them.
The horsemen from the capital city were sent as they had expected. On the long street of the capital city, civilians had been hiding in their own houses. There were few people on the street.
Luo Cheng was running away ahead of Jiang Li.
Great Zhou’s horsemen came.
Luo Cheng’s face flushed because of the cold air. He kept looking back. Great Zhou’s elite soldiers were closing in on them.
He turned pale.
This time, there was no way out.
Would he, Luo Cheng, die here this day?
His father had not seen him get married yet.
Gnashing his teeth, Luo Cheng was reluctant to die. At this point, the person that came to mind was not his father, Luo Yue, but the Daoist nun he saw walking away from the city tower.
Luo Cheng was spooked by his own thoughts. He slapped across his own face to clear his mind and stop daydreaming.
Jiang Li was a little pale because he had lost too much blood.
He did not have to think to know that the Great Zhou’s horsemen chasing after them were large in number and densely packed behind him. He, with plenty of experience in leading armies, could even tell these horsemen had begun the chase about twenty seconds later than in usual drills.
“Luo Cheng, let’s keep going!”
Jiang Li did not give up. Carrying Bai Qingniao in his arms, he kept trekking through the snow.
He had promised Bai Fengtian he would take good care of Bai Qingniao so that she could live a peaceful life. But right now, Bai Qingniao was so heavily injured… He would be too guilty to face Bai Fengtian even if he lost his life now.
Therefore, he could not die. He had to get Qingniao out of this chaotic capital city.
Luo Cheng looked back. At the sight of Jiang Li’s determined face, his lips, chapped by the wind and snow, trembled involuntarily.
“There is no way ahead…” Luo Cheng said.
“Since there is no way, we’ll make a way out,” Jiang Li said, panting.
“I regret not having cultivated earlier. If I had, maybe I wouldn’t be so helpless today.
“Overlord was right. Strength is fundamental in this world today. This is a world where even miracles can be cultivated.”
Taking a deep breath, Jiang Li continued trekking through the snow.
Blood spilled onto the white snow. The white snow was tinted red.
Luo Cheng gnashed his teeth. Grasping his knife, he ran ahead, exerting the power of the dragon’s blood to the full.
Well, since it was impossible to outrun the horsemen, he would just kill them.
Old Nie and Ning Zhao had killed thousands of troops before. So could Luo Cheng.
After all, the current Luo Cheng was no weaker than Nie Changqing and Ning Zhao had been in the past.
However, it took time to kill people. If he could not finish this quickly, it would be really impossible to leave when the Black Dragon Guard and the Thirteen Black Dragon Armored Men arrived.
Only cultivators could deal with cultivators. It made sense.
The power of the dragon’s blood had spread through his system.
Luo Cheng grasped his knife. The Knife Qi was vaguely oscillating behind him.
All of a sudden, just as Luo Cheng was ready to risk his life, a heavy creak came from behind him.
Luo Cheng looked back, feeling incredibly heady. He saw the city gate of the capital city suddenly open.
A startled look came over Jiang Li’s pale face. Carrying Bai Qingniao in his arms, he looked at the city tower in the distance in surprise.
Before the city gate, two senior armored soldiers of Great Zhou pushed the heavy vermillion city gate open.
They had removed their helmets and looked at Jiang Li calmly.
They were just looking at him silently. However, an unspeakable air was lingering between the city towers somehow.
Luo Cheng was dumbstruck.
Jiang Li had an emotional look on his face.
He looked up and saw one after another, armored elite soldiers of Great Zhou on the city towers. They had all been trained by him.
The archers who had pulled their bowstrings taut also lowered their bows.
Gazing at Jiang Li from above, they took off their helmets out of respect.
Jiang Li was really touched.
Behind him, the horses’ hoofbeats also fell away.
Jiang Li looked back and saw Great Zhou’s armored horsemen standing in the distance of the long street of the capital city.
Their unsheathed knives and swords were all pierced into the snow ground.
All the soldiers were staring at Jiang Li in the heavy snow. Their breaths were visible and their faces went rosy in the cold.
Jiang Li, carrying Bai Qingniao in his arms, was covered with blood. His face was extremely pale from blood loss. However, despite the paleness, he was obviously touched. He seemed to guess these soldiers’ intentions. He felt as though his heart had been struck by a heavy hammer.
A warm current was flowing through his blood vessels. He could not help the tears that ran down his face as if his tear ducts were reacting to the cold.
He recalled the days he and Great Zhou’s elite soldiers had guarded Yuanchi City. They ate meat and drank alcohol like crazy in those days. Despite the crisis then, Jiang Li had never given up. He inspired every soldier under his command.
Who said these soldiers were heartless?
Jiang Li gnashed his teeth. He did not waste any time. Lifting Bai Qingniao in his arms, he turned his back on Great Zhou’s elite soldiers and the armored horsemen. Then, Spirit Qi gushed out from his soles. The snow on the ground suddenly exploded.
Pushed by such a power, he ran out of the city gate quickly.
Gradually, he was farther and farther from the army.
He was so far away, it was impossible to go back again.
Luo Cheng sheathed his knife. Carrying the knife in the snow, he charged out of the capital city.
While passing by the two senior soldiers who opened the city gate for him, Jiang Li could hear them speak in a hoarse voice with an accent of the capital city, “General, stay alive.
“We would like to be your soldiers again in the next life.”
Bang!
The snow under their feet exploded. Jiang Li and Luo Cheng had finally left this ancient city.
Outside, everything was covered with snow.
Twenty Black Dragon Guards rode their horses through Great Zhou’s elite army to chase after Jiang Li.
“Who told you to open the city gate? Are you courting death?!” a Black Dragon Guard snarled with his eyes wide.
He brandished his knife on the horse. The two senior soldiers’ heads flew into the air.
The snow before the city tower was stained with blood.
The Black Dragon Guards were chasing Jiang Li on their horses. Great Zhou’s elite soldiers exchanged a look. They pulled their weapons out of the snow unhurriedly and then jogged out of the city.
However, they were not very motivated.
Gazing at the white snow before him, Jiang Li felt a little dizzy.
Luo Cheng followed him, gnashing his teeth, gripping his knife tight.
Behind him, the horses’ hoofbeats approached. Twenty Black Dragon Guards charged at them on horses.
Although they were already out of the capital city, it was still very dangerous.
All of a sudden, in the snow, a blurry figure stumbled over, murmuring something that sounded like poetry.
It was an unkempt scholar holding a wine jar. He would drink from the jar after taking every two steps.
The unkempt scholar was followed by a teenager carrying a spear on his back. The teenager was also wearing a Confucius robe, but he was holding two sealed wine jars in his arms.
In this way, the unkempt scholar and the teenager with the spear showed up on this dangerous battlefield in snow, like two square pegs in a round hole.
Luo Cheng’s eyes narrowed. The sight of the unkempt scholar standing in their way gave him goosebumps.
He felt extremely spooked.
Jiang Li, carrying Bai Qingniao in his arms, was dumbstruck.
Behind him, the twenty Black Dragon Guards pulled on their reins. Their horses lifted their front legs, stirring the snow from the ground.
“Who are you? The Black Dragon Guard of the capital city is capturing important criminals. Irrelevant people, get out of here!” the Black Dragon Guard leader demanded.
The unkempt scholar took another swig from his wine jar.
Suddenly, he threw the wine jar down on the ground, hard.
He lifted his hands to push the shaggy hair on his forehead aside, and a face familiar to the people showed up.
“Haoran Sect, Kong Nanfei… Nanfei who can’t fly away, hic.”
“I’m here to pick up an old friend. Whoever stops me—hic—will die.”
The teenager carrying the spear behind the unkempt scholar thought for a second.
Then, he said, “Meng Haoran, Haoran Sect…”
The unkempt scholar turned his head to give the teenager a squint as soon as the latter finished speaking.
The teenager was speechless right away. He hurried to hand over another wine jar to the unkempt scholar.
The air turned extremely cold in a second.
There was only the sound of wind and snow.
Looking at that unkempt man, Jiang Li could hardly believe what he was seeing.
Was that really Kong Nanfei?