Chapter 281: The Snowy Mountains in the North
Qiao Wan didn't finish reading and then turned and left.
She had to hurry and quickly rush to this garbage dump.
Without looking at the two people in the crowd anymore, Qiao Wan quietly slipped away from the crowd. Just as she turned around and hadn't gone far, she suddenly bumped into a young demonic general.
This young demonic general seemed to have just come down from the battlefield, with blood on his armor and tattered clothes. He carried the chilling Jidu Lance on his back.
Qiao Wan's heart skipped a beat, pretending not to have seen him, she continued walking with her head down, almost drenched in cold sweat.
"Wait."
But the young demonic general suddenly spoke, with a clear voice. He took a step towards her and calmly examined her from head to toe, then asked, "Who are you?"
This is bad.
Qiao Wan pretended to be calm and said, "Greetings, sir. I am a serving maid accompanying the group."
The young demonic general asked, "Why is a serving maid busy running at this time?"
Qiao Wan slowly tightened her grip on the short sword in her hand and continued to respond, "The witch forgot something and asked me to go back to get it."
The young man paused and said, "Look up."
Qiao Wan's breath caught, but she tried to appear calm as she raised her eyes.
In that moment of eye contact, a hint of surprise flashed across the young man's face.
He recognized her?
Qiao Wan's heart sank.
But the young man suddenly stepped back without a word.
"Let's go."
"Be more careful next time."
Honestly, Qiao Wan wasn't sure if the young sorcerer had really recognized her, but leaving this place was the top priority. She had to suppress her doubts, say a quiet thank you, and walked away quickly.
Just as she turned around, she heard the young man's clear voice from behind.
"After you go out, head south and don't look back."
South...
The south was the direction of Falling Abyss.
Qiao Wan was filled with fear.
Did he truly recognize her?!
She almost immediately wanted to stop and ask the boy, but she resisted the urge, walking without looking back. She quickly changed out of her servant attire as she made her way through the crowd.
Once she finally escaped the palace, Qiao Wan thought back to what the boy had said, hesitating for a moment.
It was clear that he had recognized her. Should she follow the direction the boy had mentioned? It was a difficult choice to make.
If the south was a trap, continuing to go south would undoubtedly undo all her previous efforts.
But what if going south would actually help her escape? If this boy wanted to capture her, he could have easily just grabbed her and called for help.
Qiao Wan struggled silently for a while in the same spot, but in the end, she gritted her teeth, made up her mind, and continued heading south.
If she didn't go south, where else could she go?
Luckily, she had made the right bet.
On the way, it was very lively. Even the demons had entertainment activities. Everyone crowded towards the direction of the Demon Palace to witness the grand ceremony of the Demon Lord and Demon Queen's union. No one noticed a little maid quietly slipping out of the ceremony and heading towards Falling Abyss.
Finally reaching Falling Abyss, Qiao Wan finally breathed a sigh of relief, barely noticeable. She couldn't afford to delay and continued walking without stopping, passing countless skeletons along the way. Finally, she arrived at the statue she had chosen three days ago.
These dilapidated statues were said to be discarded puppets from a man named Feng Zhao. Inside the statues, there was hollow space, convenient for stuffing lonely souls and wandering spirits.
Qiao Wan immediately rolled on the ground and directly rolled into the back of the statue, sitting inside. Surprisingly, the inside of the statue was quite spacious, with a hint of dust, decay, and candle scent surrounding her nose. Qiao Wan was astonished to find that the inside of the statue was surprisingly comfortable.
The working environment for lonely souls and wandering spirits was also very luxurious.
Because the Buddha statue was essentially a massive puppet, Qiao Wan tried something. She used her spiritual power to form threads of energy and tried sticking them onto the joints of the Bodhisattva.
With a raise of her hand, a loud rumble sounded as the huge over six-meter tall Bodhisattva statue slowly and clumsily lifted its hand.
The Buddha smiled.
Sitting inside the statue, Qiao Wan's thoughts immediately drifted off, like a wild dog running towards the unknown distance.
Does this... does this mean...? The young woman with a complicated expression, Qiao Wan wondered uncertainly, can she pilot a Gundam now?
Sitting cross-legged for a while, the sound of footsteps gradually filled the surroundings.
One, two, three, four.
Qiao Wan tensed up, but after hearing the voices, she gradually relaxed.
"Hurry... is this all?"
"Let's go... so annoying..."
"The North... "
Fragmented sentences entered her ears intermittently, followed by obvious sounds of dragging and cleaning.
"Wow! There are still some spirit stones here!"
A male cultivator kicked away the white skeleton next to him and muttered, "They make us do this every day."
"Come on," another person laughed, "Aren't we just hoping to profit from this? If someone else did it, would you be willing?"
"Where are we supposed to take this?"
"Where else? The North Border. That guy named Ma is willing to pay a high price for this junk."
Inside the Buddha statue, Qiao Wan was even more shocked.
The person named Ma?
And thinking about the North Border battlefield...
Isn't this the legendary spirit god, Ma Huaizhen from Kunshan?
And this Ma Huaizhen is willing to pay a high price for these things?
Qiao Wan, of course, didn't naively believe that Ma Huaizhen was doing this for charity. The only explanation was that he wanted to unravel the secrets of Mei Kangping's biological experiments.
So...
Qiao Wan thought blankly: So, it's not just traitors among humans, but also among cultivators...
These people quickly started moving. When they got closer to the statue, Qiao Wan remained silent and didn't even move inside the statue.
She felt like the statue was being lifted by some flying device, and she could hear the sound of air breaking around her.
Qiao Wan slowly clenched her clothes and felt a heavy stone in her heart finally fall.
She closed her eyes and couldn't help but cover her trembling heart. Then, she felt a wave of fear.
You see... she had never skipped a class in college.
She didn't know how long the flying boat had been flying. Hiding inside the statue, Qiao Wan took a glance outside through her eyes.
All around her was white snow, with towering snow-capped mountains passing by. The air was also becoming much colder.
It seemed that this was the great snowy mountain in the North.
Qiao Wan pondered, hoping to land in front of Ma Huaizhen, the senior. Then, she wouldn't need to seek refuge with Venerable One Miaofa.
She just hoped that nothing would go wrong in between.
To be honest, this journey has been too smooth, so smooth that even Qiao Wan, who usually has bad luck, felt a bit uneasy.
As it turns out, Murphy's Law is indeed mysterious.
Her suspicions were confirmed.
As the flying boat shook, Qiao Wan clearly heard the angry shouts of the "evil" brothers from earlier.
"Oh no!"
"There's a detour ahead!"
Qiao Wan couldn't help but crack a smile on her poker face.
She couldn't help but think to herself: Does the world of cultivation really have epic spaceship battles?!!!
The sounds of various magical tools and flying swords colliding filled the air as the overloaded flying boat capsized!
Qiao Wan furrowed her brow and grabbed onto the protruding Buddha statue tightly, feeling like she was about to vomit from the turbulence.
In the midst of the vast sea of clouds, the massive flying boat transformed into a dazzling light, crashing into the clouds and then flipping back down!
Qiao Wan gently touched the raised part inside the Buddha statue, but then she fell and bumped her head on the other side. She bumped into the inner wall of the statue and didn't have time to cry out in pain. Qiao Wan clenched her teeth, and like an octopus, she used her hands and feet to cling to the inside of the statue.
As the flying boat made a loud noise and descended rapidly, Qiao Wan closed her eyes tightly.
It's over.
My life is over!
Suddenly, a strong impact hit her!
Qiao Wan spat out blood and everything turned black before her eyes.
She didn't know how long it had been until she slowly regained consciousness.
Her whole body was cold and stiff, and it felt like something liquid was flowing down her forehead.
Qiao Wan struggled to lift her hand and wiped it, feeling the smell of rust.
Her heart sank as she realized it was blood.
She had hit her head.
The sound of howling wind and snow filled her ears, indicating that she had probably arrived in the northern realm.
Before Qiao Wan could think any further, a bright light suddenly appeared above her head.
It was the reflection of snow from a distant mountain.
"Boss!" A male cultivator's eyes widened in surprise when he saw her. "There's actually a person here!"
As soon as his gaze fell on her, it turned into delight. "It's a woman!"
"A woman?" Another voice chuckled. "Damn, are you still dreaming? There isn't even a female here, let alone a woman!"
Then another head approached, and another male cultivator's gaze landed on Qiao Wan's face, then moved down to her chest with a slight startle. "She really is a woman..."
Turning his head, he stretched his neck and shouted excitedly, "Boss! There's really a woman here!"
Immediately, the sound of hurried footsteps followed.
A deeper voice asked, "A woman?"
"Where?"
Not long after, a scruffy man with a beard, wrapped in a fur coat and dressed like a bear, suddenly approached. This man had one blind eye, but the other eye emitted a fierce and intimidating light.
"Ha!" the man who seemed to be the leader laughed.
Qiu Ergou boldly stared at Qiao Wan and said with a smile, "Well, look at that, a woman."
At this moment, Qiao Wan's heart sank completely.
She had reached the northern border, but it seemed that she had been intercepted by this group of vicious bandits along the way. Of course, she understood what these male warriors meant by "woman".
On the battlefield of the north, after years of fighting, women were surely a rare species.
The greed in the eyes of those male warriors in front of her was evident, with no attempt to conceal it.
The second man who noticed her suddenly slapped his companion and laughed, "Why the rush? Let the boss come first."
As he spoke, he reached out to grab her.
Qiao Wan looked up and said, "You can give it a try."
With great effort, she kicked and instantly kicked the male cultivator out. Before these people could react, her divine consciousness and spiritual threads immediately connected to the massive Buddha statue!
These male cultivators had expressions of surprise, followed by anger, shock, and panic on their faces.
"Damn it!!"
They looked at the huge Buddha who had slowly risen from the towering snowy mountains, raising his left hand with a smile on his face, and chaos ensued among the group.
"Damn it!!"
"What is this thing?!"
"Retreat quickly!!"
