The sudden upheaval on Liuli Mountain did not affect Wu Wei City in the slightest, it was just that most cultivators would choose to avoid that area.
Only the Changyuan Escort Agency that had been nearby at the time suffered heavy losses, Escort Head Zhao at Foundation Establishment perfection along with more than a dozen escort guards under him all disappeared.
The remaining escort guards did not even have anyone to take charge, inevitably beginning to seek other ways out, the escort agency had long since existed in name only.
The location of Changyuan Escort Agency in Wu Wei City was already remote, now it was even more unusually desolate.
Qingzhu squatted at the entrance sitting for a long time, passersby even thought she was some little beggar, their steps subconsciously distancing themselves from her.
She wiped the dirt from her face, stubbornly pressing her lips together.
Qingzhu waited continuously for several days and still did not see her father who worked as an escort guard return, before she could figure out the situation, she received bad news.
Creak...
The escort agency's main gate slowly opened, and a middle-aged burly man walked out, carrying a packed bundle in his hand as if preparing to move away.
Qingzhu's eyes lit up, hurriedly stepping forward with her short legs.
"Uncle Li, is there any news about my father, it's already been so long, is it that the immortals of the Restraint Officers' Hall have sent people to go..."
"A Nian, this matter is hard to say, you shouldn't wait here either."
Uncle Li let out a long sigh, if Escort Head Liu and the others truly died outside the city, there would probably be many more orphans and widows.
Qingzhu had just wanted to press further, but noticed that the decorations inside the escort agency had already become white cloth, clearly having the meaning of mourning.
She forcefully held back the urge to cry, turned around and ran out of the area of Changyuan Escort Agency.
Qingzhu had lived with her father Shen Qiuteng since childhood, because of the drastic changes in Jingzhou she came to Wu Wei City, originally thinking she could live a few stable days, but did not expect an accident to occur.
She jogged back to the desolate home, then began rummaging through boxes and cabinets.
Qingzhu carried all useful and useless things with her, also putting all the saved silver money into a bag, then headed outside.
She arrived at a remote inn, her small head constantly peering inside.
The shopkeeper clearly noticed Qingzhu's strange behavior and could not help asking, "Qingzhu, what did you come for?"
Qingzhu carefully replied, "Shopkeeper, you are a Restraint Officer immortal, right?"
The shopkeeper also guessed Qingzhu's meaning, smiling bitterly and nodding, "I am only a reserve, I can't access the secrets."
Qingzhu lowered her head and softly said, "I want to ask about the matter of Changyuan Escort Agency."
Seeing this, the shopkeeper softened and said, "There's no concrete news saying they died, it's said they lost contact near Liuli Mountain, don't worry..."
A bit of light returned to Qingzhu's eyes.
The shopkeeper helplessly continued, "I saw this task on the notice, it has already been taken by a senior Restraint Officer, they will presumably go to Liuli Mountain."
"So that's how it is..."
Qingzhu gritted her teeth, then took out all the Spirit Crystal on her body and said, "Then can I go and commission a Restraint Officer immortal?"
"Don't think too much, if there's any news I will immediately inform you."
The shopkeeper did not know whether to laugh or cry, he told Qingzhu to put away the Spirit Crystal, preparing to explain that the ghost market was not something ordinary mortals could enter or exit.
At this moment, Ren Qing walked from the second floor to the main hall.
Qingzhu's eyes lit up, but before she could ask, Ren Qing threw out a bag of Spirit Crystal from his chest, then turned and walked out of the inn, disappearing into the crowd.
The shopkeeper held the Spirit Crystal as if wanting to speak but stopping, always feeling Ren Qing had given too much.
But he did not know that his guest rooms had almost been burned through by high temperature, the Spirit Crystal was actually left by Ren Qing for repairing the inn.
Qingzhu let out a long sigh, took back the Spirit Crystal and also left the inn.
She walked with small steps to the city gate, here crowds surged, more than a dozen escort agencies of various sizes passed through, and there were dozens of giant beasts, the noise extremely chaotic.
Qingzhu had never come here before in daily life, and could not help feeling somewhat nervous.
The giant beasts were mainly lizards, their body length usually around three meters, it was said they fed on sand and stones, the cost of raising them was very low.
The lizards of Wu Wei City were far from being considered huge, occasionally one could see lizards coming from the marshes, at least over ten meters in size.
Qingzhu's father did not hold a high position in the escort agency, even among ordinary escort guards, he was considered a menial worker responsible for feeding.
Therefore Shen Qiuteng had always wanted to raise a strange beast, to do some small trading businesses.
Qingzhu bent over hiding in the shadows without making a sound, at the same time pricking up her ears to listen to the movements of the surrounding crowd, her expression extremely focused.
In this way several hours passed, until the sky slightly turned yellow she finally found her target.
Qingzhu vaguely heard some escort guards discussing Liuli Mountain, they deliberately lowered their voices, seemingly intending to go to that area.
A middle-aged man dressed as an escort head frowned, specifically finding a remote corner to ask the gaunt man beside him, "Are you sure?"
"It is said that a Great Demon is entrenched on Liuli Mountain, it has even attracted the attention of the Restraint Officers' Hall, the Restraint Officers will soon take action to exterminate it."
The gaunt man revealed greed in his eyes, impatiently continuing, "We only need to station on the periphery for a few days, once the Great Demon dies we can pick up what the Restraint Officers don't want."
His proposal was very tempting, even if the so-called Great Demon was only a rumor, it still caused hesitation to appear on the escort head's face.
"Are you sure the Restraint Officers will take action?"
"You can go inquire about this news yourself, but by then it will be too late."
The escort head heavily nodded, the two leaned against the corner discussing countermeasures, after all they were going to Liuli Mountain which was a forbidden land.
As for the other two forbidden lands.
The River of Forgotten Thoughts could reach a depth of over a hundred meters, and the river water surged endlessly, inside there were tens of thousands of demonic beasts, extremely terrifying.
The Bottomless Pit was somewhat similar, located in a certain mountain range, the underground caves extended for who knows how many kilometers, naturally there were countless demons.
Only Liuli Mountain was listed as a forbidden land because it emitted a strange Buddhist aura.
The three forbidden lands were far from representing the current situation of Jingzhou, they were only remembered by the Restraint Officers' Hall because they were located near Wu Wei City.
Qingzhu came to the convoy belonging to the escort agency and found that the scale was not large.
She quietly groped to the lizard storing supplies, gritting her teeth as she tried to climb into the wooden box tied to its back with reins.
However, after sensing a strange aura, the lizard immediately became restless.
Qingzhu was somewhat at a loss, the surrounding escort guards also came to check the situation in confusion, just as they were about to approach.
Bang...
Suddenly the ground slightly trembled, a huge demonic beast attacked the city again.
Similar events occurred once every ten days or half a month, but the city walls had never been breached, and the demonic beasts were quickly killed.
The attention of the escort guards was diverted to the direction of the city wall, seeing this Qingzhu hurriedly climbed onto the lizard and casually drilled into a wooden box.
She herself also knew it was impossible to rescue Shen Qiuteng, but after all her mind was not mature, Ghost Envoy made her decide to go together to Liuli Mountain.
Inside the box were spare clothes, soapberry grass mixed with the smell of sweat, making her frown.
Qingzhu had not rested well recently, and soon felt drowsiness surging up.
She closed her eyes and fell into a dream, unknowingly the escort guards had already arranged the supplies and were slowly heading toward the city gate.
When Qingzhu woke up in shock, she only felt the air filled with dense demonic aura.
She had only just entered the Qi Refining stage, feeling a suffocating sensation like a fish coming ashore, a burning sting arising in her mouth and nose as she breathed.
Qingzhu spent several days adapting to the demonic aura, her consciousness gradually recovering clarity.
She took out several Spirit Crystal from her bosom, enduring the pain as she absorbed the Nether Yuan inside, keeping her dantian in a constantly full state.
The escort agency's convoy gradually moved away from Wu Wei City, traveling along the outskirts of dense forests, this was the safest known mountain path.
There were also demonic beasts that came to sneak attack, but they were all blocked by the well-coordinated escort guards.
Under normal circumstances, the corpses would definitely be carefully handled, useful materials taken away, to be sold after returning to the city.
But this time the convoy had no intention of stopping at all, demonic beast corpses were casually discarded by the roadside, carrion birds pecking at the flesh.
Qingzhu silently calculated the time, presumably they were already nearing Liuli Mountain.
She originally thought they would smoothly arrive at the destination, but soon noticed something was wrong, communication within the convoy seemed to be getting less and less.
Not only were there no escort guards speaking, even the usual daily sounds were gone.
Moreover, this situation was becoming more and more serious, the escort guards headed toward Liuli Mountain without ripples, the silence seeming to foreshadow something.
Qingzhu could not help burying herself within the clothes in the wooden box, leaving only a gap to breathe.
Her consciousness became muddled and she fell asleep again, but was awakened by murmuring whispers, cold sweat emerging from her back.
It seemed someone was chanting some scripture with a strange tone.
The sound drilled into Qingzhu's ears, like worms feeding on brain marrow, she desperately covered her ears with both hands.
The chanting became deafening.
Qingzhu could tell it was unrelated to the Daoist sect, somewhat similar to when she lived in Jingzhou City before, where a shaman specializing in funerals would do such things.
Finally the convoy suddenly stopped, and the chanting gradually faded away.
She shook her head, forcefully opening the wooden box from inside, and could not help looking outside, only to find that the escort guards of the convoy had completely disappeared.
The lizards were abandoned by the roadside, eating gravel carefreely.
Seeing that the sky was still bright, Qingzhu carefully climbed out of the wooden box, using the height of standing on the lizard's back to look into the distance.
A mountain peak like a dream and illusion came into view.
The mountain rocks were as crystal clear as glazed glass, under the sunlight they shimmered with seven-colored brilliance, making the temple at the peak appear like an immortal realm.
Qingzhu also noticed the whereabouts of those escort guards.
They originally intended to stay away from Liuli Mountain, but now inexplicably headed toward the temple, and in a posture of three kneelings and nine kowtows.
The escort guards' behavior like ascetics appeared extremely strange.
But what frightened Qingzhu the most was that a fish tail had abruptly grown from the back of their heads, constantly swaying with unknown meaning.
Qingzhu could not help looking behind, only to find a fish line floating in midair, one end connected to the top of Liuli Mountain, the other a half flapping river fish tail.
Immediately after, the river fish tail grew flesh at a visible speed, piecing together into a fragmented, deformed creature that was half human half fish.
The creature had six eyes and four arms, but the arms were of uneven length, it spoke in Shen Qiuteng's tone, "A Nian, I..."
"What kind of thing is that?"
Ren Qing, wearing a Daoist robe, came to Qingzhu's side, sizing up the creature with his gaze.