Chapter 46: Taken away

Xiao Chengqian stood behind me, naturally unwilling to go over, but he was no longer the domineering person he used to be. He was just silent, and if it had been in the past, he would have yelled at me.

Tao Bai stood behind Lu Shan, and in addition to his usual shyness, he also seemed a little scared. Lu Shan instinctively protected Tao Bai.

However, the old Taoist was very calm, just slightly closing his eyes and waving his hand, and the other Taoists on the carriage jumped off and walked straight over, seemingly intending to forcibly take Xiao Chengqian and Tao Bai away.

Are they going to start? I instinctively wanted to fight, but I was also confused. What kind of magic should I use? I didn’t know what kind of magic I should use to suppress these people. This was the first time I had fought magic without confidence.

However, I didn’t have to be confused at all. The old Taoist sitting in the carriage just waved his hand casually, and the sky where we were was surging with wind and clouds, and it looked like it was about to accumulate into a thick dark cloud…

Instantaneous thunder spell? I thought of my master, and I realized how insignificant my resistance was. But it was also impossible to let Xiao Chengqian and Tao Bai be taken away like this… I gritted my teeth and decided to use secret techniques to fight desperately… Just like last time, I used my soul to summon the power of heaven and earth!

“Xiao Chengqian, I won’t hurt you. As for him, he will soon join you, because he is just a more interesting sacrifice.” As I clenched my hands in a secret technique, the old Taoist said something again.

At this point, the dark clouds in the sky had already formed, and lightning flashed… I was very surprised that the old Taoist would explain to me why he had not used the thunder spell, but then he immediately dispelled my doubts: “I don’t want to hurt such a good sacrifice.

How could I wait with peace of mind? But the next sentence completely shattered my resolve.

“If you want to see your master again.”

Master! Master… I stopped the hand movements at once, and my eyes lost their focus in an instant. The words “meet” and “him” were like the heaviest hammer, pounding my chest, shattering all defenses and reaching the softest part of my heart… Then all kinds of emotions exploded, but my body was too stiff to move.

“I’ll go with him.” Xiao Chengqian suddenly stepped out from behind me and walked towards the Taoist priests.

I suddenly came to my senses and grabbed Xiao Chengqian’s arm. How could a brother who was willing to share life and death give up? Even meeting with the master was no reason to give up. I said, “No, no matter how difficult it is, even if I die, I will never betray you.”

Xiao Chengqian smiled back at me and said, “That’s not what I meant. I just have a feeling that he won’t hurt me. Besides… I have a feeling that I should go with him.”

I was silent, but I didn’t let go of his hand. No matter what, I couldn’t give up anyone around me, anyone!

“It’s true, Chengyi! If you really are doing this for me.” Xiao Chengqian was calm, but his eyes were sincere and determined.

I was confused at the moment, and my usual excellent intuition could not predict anything… Everything was like a chaos, and I could not see clearly in front of me. The old man in the carriage said slowly, “I have no need to deceive the sacrifice.”

Xiao Chengqian slightly forced my hand, patted my shoulder, took out his cherished cigar from his pocket, and handed it to me, saying, “There is no way to moisturize it, and the taste must not be as good as a cigar that has been carefully cared for, but I have seen Master Jiang, so give him one and let him evaluate whether it is better than cigarettes. Believe me, you will be able to see Master Jiang, and I will definitely be safe.”

I squeezed the cigar in my hand until my knuckles turned white, then let out a long breath and put the cigar in my pocket. Trust and commitment are all we can give each other at this time, and then I looked at Xiao Chengqian and nodded heavily.

Xiao Chengqian walked towards the old Taoist priest, shouting, “Shall I go? But, the child should not go.”

“Well, it’s just a sacrifice, so you don’t need to bring it.” The old Taoist seemed to take Xiao Chengqian’s words seriously, and inexplicably agreed to Xiao Chengqian’s request. I saw Lushan slightly relieved, and then walked over to me, as if he wanted to explain something to me.

Xiao Chengqian was pulled into the car by the Taoist priests. It looked like he really wanted to wave to me, but the pressure from the Taoist priest must have made him very uncomfortable. In the end, he just shook his hand very slightly, and he didn’t say a word of reassurance. He could only watch his mouth move.

“You are not as talented as him,” the old Taoist said to Xiao Chengqian inexplicably. Xiao Chengqian suddenly shrank, as if he was afraid of the pressure of the old Taoist’s words, but the next moment he relaxed again. It seemed that the old Taoist had deliberately withdrawn his aura… Xiao Chengqian suddenly said loudly, “Yes, I lost to him, and I’ve always wanted to win back.”

The old Taoist was indifferent and didn’t say anything. Maybe in his eyes, the sacrifices like us, the wins and losses are like the struggles of ants.

The carriage slowly turned and then slowly moved forward. Those people wearing straw hats began to walk towards us. I waited without feeling anything… just staring at the slowly receding carriage, my heart filled with all kinds of questions, worries and confusion.

“Aren’t you familiar with me? Haha…” The old man didn’t turn around, but inexplicably turned around and pointed at me with a finger, then smiled strangely, leaving me standing there. Why am I familiar with him?

Unfortunately, apart from this sentence, he never left a word. In the morning light, the group of people silently walked away, and Xiao Chengqian didn’t turn around to look at us. At this time, a few more glances would only increase our worries. This must be what he was thinking.

“Follow us.” The people in the straw hats had already silently walked up to us while we were in a daze. The cold and indifferent words “follow us” were spoken by the leader.

Ru Yue gently grabbed my arm. Perhaps she was instinctively scared by the inexplicable things that had just happened. After all, the pressure brought by the old Taoist was simply indescribable, and it would make people feel an invisible fear.

She grabbed my arm and seemed to have a little courage. She looked at the people in the straw hats and asked, “Where are you taking us?”

“Of course it’s where the sacrifice should go,” one of the people in the straw hat said lightly.

Behind the mountains that looked like they were in the south, there was actually a valley, sandwiched between two mountains. At first, it was like a slit in the sky, with only a narrow path between the two mountains.

We followed the men in the straw hats in silence, and the path that had originally been like a goat’s path became more and more open, and the distance between the two mountains gradually became farther and farther… At this time, it was no longer like a road, but like walking in a gradually opening plain.

I was very surprised that the old group of people had only left less than ten minutes before us, but we never saw them on the road. Where did they go?

Unfortunately, there was no answer to this question… And Lushan kept walking next to me, wanting to explain something to me, but because of the taboo about the cloaked people… he never did. It was my fellow students, Tao Bai and Hui Gen, who completely relaxed and chatted all the way, as if they were traveling to a new place.

It was only because Chengqing, who had been playing with the copper coins in his hands, said, “Xiao Chengqian, be safe.”

They were relieved. Sometimes, Chengqing’s divination was more reliable than my psychic powers. It was just a simple test of good and bad luck, and even if it was someone close to us, it wasn’t a big deal. After all, Xiao Chengqian was a step removed from us.

In this atmosphere, we walked all the way to a very open place surrounded by low hills. The group of people in straw hats finally stopped.

A village finally appeared before our eyes, a typical village in the Northwest. Except for a few brick houses that seemed a bit out of place, all the houses were built in caves under the low hills.

It looks very ordinary, but it has an indescribable flavor of time… The so-called holy village, we have finally arrived.