"Oh no, the situation is hopeless."
Seeing the smug smile on Wutugu's face, Magistrate Liu felt as if all his strength had been drained away. He lowered his hands, ready to surrender and agree to Wutugu's demands.
Wutugu sheathed his scimitar and ordered the cavalrymen beside him to go and discuss how to compensate him. He had just realized that the compensation he had asked for earlier seemed a bit too little.
Seeing Wutugu becoming increasingly greedy, Magistrate Liu was furious, but helpless, he could only agree to these demands, ignoring the angry glares of the three aristocratic family heads.
After about half a day, all the items were brought over. Wutugu ordered his men to collect the items and retreat about ten meters, but the executioners did not retreat.
"Let's do it!"
Wutugu got the item but then went back on his word and tried to kill him again.
As the knife slowly fell, everyone closed their eyes in despair, their tears soaking the ground.
"The Ninefold Realm Beyond Thought"
Immortals and demons alike drink the jade nectar.
The twelve supernatural powers protect the path to enlightenment.
"The mystery of Buzhou Mountain, a celestial being in the mortal world."
(A lighthearted poem, please don't take offense.)
A folk song rang out from the east, its sound loud and far-reaching.
The voice seemed to have a magical power, and everyone unconsciously looked towards the east.
To the east, rising flames scorched the clouds, and from within the flames, a Taoist priest rode a white tiger.
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Chapter Thirty-Four: The Mysterious Taoist
Xu Le sat atop the white tiger, his Taoist robe, emblazoned with a Tai Chi symbol, fluttering in the wind. Crimson flames surrounded him.
The flames surged and danced, as if a giant dragon were proclaiming its power to the humble humans.
With each step the White Tiger took, a golden bolt of lightning flashed in the sky, accompanied by a deafening roar. It was as if he were the god who controlled the thunder in the heavens.
Xu Le closed his eyes and softly sang a folk song. His voice was not loud, but it clearly reached everyone's ears. Xu Le walked slowly towards the crowd, like a fairy from a myth.
Wutugu felt a tightness in his heart, an ominous premonition enveloping him. He saw Xu Le's eyes, that indifference to everything, as if he were an ant trying to stop an elephant, his life not in his own hands. This feeling tormented him to the point of despair.
But when he came to his senses, his fur coat was soaked with sweat, and he looked as if he had just been pulled out of the water.
He nervously looked around, but there was nothing unusual. Everyone around him was standing there perfectly fine, and only he felt that terror and despair.
As Tuogugu watched the white tiger slowly approaching, his ominous premonition grew stronger. He shouted to the cavalrymen beside him, "Everyone, fire all the remaining arrows at that monster!"
The men obeyed, took out the few remaining arrows from their quiver, drew their bows, and fired. A dense rain of arrows covered a small area.
Sky.
"Be careful, immortal!" Magistrate Liu warned, seeing that the group of people dared to attack the immortal directly. He was worried that his savior might be in danger.
roar!
The white tiger beneath him saw that these humans were attacking him with bows and arrows, a flash of anger crossed its eyes, and it exhaled a puff of white breath from its nostrils and roared.
"These barbarians from beyond the borders truly do not understand etiquette, do not respect education, do not revere heaven and earth, and do not respect immortals. How are they any different from beasts?" Xu Le said, looking at the arrow flying towards him from the sky, its sharp, cold light flashing.
As soon as he finished speaking, the flames surrounding him became violent, like water being poured into a pot of hot oil, instantly turning volatile, as if a giant beast had bared its fangs.
The flames transformed into a fire dragon, winding its way into the sky before exploding into a massive wall of fire. The immense light and heat allowed people hundreds of meters away to feel its powerful force.
The arrows pierced through the wall of fire, instantly ignited by flames of hundreds of degrees, and then turned into black ash that drifted into the air. In an instant, the entire world was covered in black snow.
As they watched countless arrows turn to ashes, everyone on Magistrate Liu's side knelt down and cried out, "Welcome, immortal! Please, immortal, help us kill these barbarians!"
Wutugu's hands and feet were ice-cold. Hearing the cheers growing louder and louder, he drew his scimitar, trying to give himself some sense of security, but his trembling hands betrayed him. As for the others, they were already terrified. They had never seen such terrifying power before, and their horses neighed in fear.
Thus, Wutugu dared not make a move, fearing that this strange Taoist priest who had suddenly arrived would control the flames and burn him to ashes.
And so, Xu Le rode the white tiger step by step across the ashes, each step kicking up tiny specks of dust that seemed to dance freely in the air like little sprites.
About ten meters away from Wutugu, Xu Le patted the white tiger's head, signaling it to stop. Then, looking down at Wutugu with an expression that revealed neither joy nor anger, he asked, "Why have you barbarians come to my Central Plains?"
This was something Xu Le had carefully considered, since he was still relatively unfamiliar with this world. Therefore, Xu Le called himself a person from the Central Plains, disguising himself as a native immortal of this world, to increase the sense of closeness among the people of the Shang Kingdom and make it easier for him to integrate into this large group.
When Wutugu heard the question, his heart tightened. Did he have to admit that he came here to burn, kill, and loot? If he really said that, he would be a fool.
“Respected immortal, our tribe does not have enough food to survive the winter, so we had no choice but to come here to borrow some food. However, these Shang people attempted to attack us, and we had no choice but to fight back.” Wutugu suddenly said sincerely to Xu Le, portraying himself as a weakling who had no choice but to fight back. He emphasized the strength of “borrowing” and “fighting back” when he spoke.
"Shameless!" Magistrate Liu couldn't help but spit. These grassland people were cunning and unpredictable.
Curses also rose from the crowd.
"Truly shameless!"
"You're the ones who disturbed us and killed so many of our people. How can you say such a thing?"
Wutugu listened to the insults without changing his expression. He didn't care about these guys' insults at all. As long as Xu Le could let him go, he would be willing to kneel down. On the grassland, the strong are respected. Even if he was asked to offer up his wife and daughters, he could only obediently obey.
The reason why the grassland tribes and the Shang Kingdom have had so many conflicts but have not broken off relations is that the grassland tribes would obediently submit once they provoked the Shang Kingdom to its bottom line.
Moreover, Wutugu had met many Shang people before. As long as he offered a few flattering words and portrayed himself as the weak, these self-important Shang people would magnanimously let things slide, since they valued magnanimity above all else. He now regarded Xu Le as this type of person, except that Xu Le possessed a power that frightened him.