The Arranged Marriage, The Attack

Chapter 18 The Arranged Marriage, The Attack

Lanzhou, Wild Wolf Ridge.

Wild Wolf Ridge is a mountain range more than 300 miles north of Biyun Mountain, named after the wolf pack that gathers there.

On this day, Zhou Chun, who was originally an assistant instructor at the Mu family in Biyun Mountain, rode the [Ink Scale Steed] with several Mu family cultivators, traversing mountains and rivers, and arrived at this mountain ridge.

Their purpose this time was quite simple: a Mu family cultivator had discovered a pair of demon wolves giving birth in the mountains and planned to snatch the wolf cubs and tame them as spirit pets.

The reason for asking Zhou Chun to accompany them was to prevent any abnormal reactions from occurring after the wolf cubs left the den, so that he could take timely action.

To put it bluntly, they hired him to be the babysitter for the wolf cubs.

For this purpose, ten spirit coins have been prepaid to him as a delivery fee.

At this moment, the group of five, riding three [Inkscale Steeds], stopped at the foot of a mountain. The middle-aged man from the Mu family, who was leading the group, spoke up:

"The wolf den is on the mountain ridge a dozen miles ahead. If the [Inkscale Steed] goes there, it will make too much noise and may alert those beasts. Fellow Daoist Zhou, you and Ziying stay here and watch over the [Inkscale Steed]. We will send a signal to notify you to come over after we have succeeded."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Chun was naturally pleased to be relieved and immediately replied, "Then I wish Fellow Daoist Mu a resounding victory."

Then the group dismounted and parted ways.

After the middle-aged man from the Mu family left with two fellow cultivators, Zhou Chun and Mu Ziying casually tossed some raw meat to the three [Inkscale Steeds] and then chatted idly.

As they chatted, Mu Ziying suddenly said, "Fellow Daoist Zhou, I've heard that several young cultivators from your Zhou family have recently entered into marriage alliances with several cultivation families in Lanzhou. Don't you have any thoughts on this?"

Upon hearing her words, Zhou Chun was stunned and looked at her with surprise, never expecting her to ask such a personal question.

Their relationship shouldn't have reached the point where they should be talking about such things.

Seeing that he was just staring at her in surprise without answering, Mu Ziying realized something and lowered her head slightly, saying in a low voice, "If Fellow Daoist Zhou feels uncomfortable answering, then just pretend Ziying didn't ask."

Upon seeing this, Zhou Chun immediately shook his head and said in a low voice, "I don't know why you would suddenly ask such a question, but I have never thought about finding a cultivation partner."

Heaven have mercy, after he transmigrated, he finally escaped the pressure to get married, so why is he still having these kinds of thoughts?

Isn't it better to be free and independent?

Even if we do get married in the future, we'll have to wait until he's had enough of being carefree and lonely before considering finding a partner.

After hearing his answer, Mu Ziying nodded and said, "Ziying understands. Thank you for your honesty, Fellow Daoist Zhou."

Then he lowered his head and fell silent, seemingly lost in thought.

Upon seeing this, Zhou Chun couldn't help but feel uneasy.

If Zhou Chun hadn't quite grasped the situation before, after Mu Ziying's explanation, she seemed to understand why Mu Ziying had suddenly pulled this stunt today.

This was because Zhou Chun had just remembered that among those who had recently married into other families, there were two cousins ​​who, like him, had been sent to other families as teaching assistants more than a year ago.

Considering that after he came to the Mu family, the Mu family had always arranged for the beautiful young girl Mu Ziying to be his contact person and attend his beast taming classes, everything seemed clear.

"So she's also being pressured by her family to get married, which is why she confronted me like this today?"

Thinking of this, Zhou Chun couldn't help but feel deep sympathy for Mu Ziying.

He understood the immense pressure his family was putting on him to get married. Even people like him in his previous life, who had received higher education, often couldn't withstand the pressure and compromised. This was even more true in this conservative and feudal world.

If Mu Ziying were to have exceptional talent, the Mu family would certainly not be in a hurry to marry off a female cultivator who might eventually reach the Foundation Establishment stage.

However, according to Zhou Chun, Mu Ziying's spiritual root aptitude is actually low-grade. At the age of nineteen, she is only at the fourth level of the Qi Refining stage.

This means she has very little chance of successfully establishing her foundation in the future.

In that case, the elders of the Mu family would definitely want to take advantage of her youth and beauty to find her a good marriage.

While there may be sympathy, Zhou Chun clearly lacked the noble sentiment of "sacrificing oneself to save others."

Therefore, after staring at the girl's slender figure for a few moments, he shook his head slightly and began counting ants.

Just as the two were lost in their own thoughts and remained silent, a fireball suddenly flew into the air and exploded.

This was a pre-arranged signal, but didn't it appear far too quickly?

Zhou Chun sensed something was wrong, so instead of rushing over to meet them, he first raised his hand and sent over the "Red-billed Sparrow" that he had been raising to check on the situation.

After a while, the "Red-billed Sparrow" flew back and chattered with Zhou Chun, exchanging reconnaissance intelligence.

Upon hearing the "Red-billed Sparrow's" reconnaissance report, Zhou Chun's expression immediately changed, and he blurted out, "Oh no! Fellow Daoist Mu and the others are in trouble! That's a distress signal!"

Upon hearing his words, Mu Ziying's expression changed drastically, and she said anxiously, "What should we do? Fellow Daoist Zhou, do you know who their enemy is?"

"The enemy is also a cultivator, most likely a rogue cultivator who went into the mountains for adventure, and there are as many as six or seven of them."

As Zhou Chun explained the situation, his brows furrowed, as if he was struggling to make a decision.

When Mu Ziying heard that the enemy were cultivators and that their numbers were twice that of the Mu family cultivators who had entered the mountain, her face turned deathly pale, and she didn't know what to do.

After a while, Zhou Chun suddenly made up his mind and looked up at Mu Ziying, saying, "How about this, Fellow Daoist Mu, you stay here and keep an eye on the [Ink Scale Steed] so it doesn't move around. I'll go check out the situation. If we can help Fellow Daoist Mu and the others escape, that would be best. If not, at least I can see who the enemy is!"

"Then I'll have to trouble Fellow Daoist Zhou. Please be careful as well."

Mu Ziying looked at Zhou Chun with worry in her eyes, knowing that this was the best solution.

She was only at the fourth level of the Qi Refining stage, so there was no way she could be of any help in this matter.

Zhou Chun is a distinguished guest of the Mu family, and the Mu family has a responsibility to protect him. How could they expect Zhou Chun to sacrifice himself to save people?

Now that Zhou Chun is willing to help, she and the Mu family should be grateful.

After giving Mu Ziying these instructions, Zhou Chun immediately hurried towards the battlefield.

Half an hour later, he climbed a big tree and got a clear view of the battlefield from above.

On the battlefield, the situation was extremely unfavorable for the three members of the Mu family.

The enemies they faced did not seem to be ordinary rogue cultivators. Not only were they all at the seventh or eighth level of the Qi Refining stage, but they also possessed exquisite magical artifacts, and some even had tamed spirit pets.

The three members of the Mu family were surrounded by enemies many times their number. Even though they fought with all their might, they were no match for them.

"Who exactly are you? Do you know that we are cultivators from the Mu family of Biyun Mountain? You have harmed me for no reason today. Aren't you afraid of the Mu family's revenge?"

The roar came from the middle-aged man from the Mu family. He glared angrily and resentfully at the enemy opposite him, completely bewildered by their actions.

The two sides had no enmity or grudge against each other, were strangers to each other, and had no conflict of interest. Why would they want to kill each other as soon as they met?

However, the enemies who heard his roar ignored him completely, not answering him at all. They either sneered or looked at him with disdain, as if he were a dead man.

Seeing this from a distance, Zhou Chun's heart sank, knowing that there was no hope of rescuing the three members of the Mu family.

He suspected that those people were not ordinary rogue cultivators, but were likely members of a rogue cultivator group or a cultivation family, possessing strength that did not fear the Mu family.

Moreover, the fact that they attacked the Mu family members without any apparent reason suggests either that the members had a grudge against the Mu family, or that there was some treasure in Wild Wolf Ridge that they were worried about leaking and wanted to silence them.

Regardless of the reason, Zhou Chun's attempt to save people will inevitably attract their relentless pursuit.

Therefore, he quickly climbed down from the treetop, preparing to go back and tell Mu Ziying to leave quickly.

But just as Zhou Chun was climbing down the tree, a hawk circling in the sky suddenly fixed its gaze on him and then opened its beak to let out a sharp, menacing screech.

"Damn it, they have accomplices outside!"

On the battlefield, a cultivator who heard the eagle's cry immediately changed his expression, looking at the eagle in the sky with shock and anger. Then, following the eagle's direction, he looked in the direction of Zhou Chun and shouted.

At the same time, Zhou Chun's expression also changed drastically.

He glanced at the eagle in the sky with a grim expression. He never expected that he, a cultivator from a beast-taming family, would be pecked in the eye by an eagle today.

"There are indeed many talented and extraordinary people in the world. We must learn from today's incident and take it as a warning!"

With these thoughts in mind, Zhou Chunren rushed to Mu Ziying's location as quickly as possible.

Upon arriving at their destination, without waiting for Mu Ziying to inquire about the situation, he leaped onto the back of the [Inkscale Steed] and shouted, "Run! The enemy is coming!"

After saying that, he spurred his horse and charged off.

Seeing this, Mu Ziying, despite having many doubts, could only mount her horse and flee together.

Two people and three horses galloped along the way, not daring to stop for even a moment.

To further accelerate the horse, Zhou Chun and his companion even used the "Lightness Technique" on the [Inkscale Steed].

If it weren't for the fact that the "Wind Control Technique" couldn't be used to bless others, they probably would have had to use that too.

The enemies who had been chasing Zhou Chun turned pale upon seeing the departing figures on the [Inkscale Steed].

He stared at their retreating figures with a grim expression for a moment, then suddenly gritted his teeth and shouted, "You won't get away!"

Before he finished speaking, he reached out and patted the storage bag at his waist, took out a magical artifact shaped like a bamboo leaf, and tossed it in front of him.

Driven by magical power, the artifact instantly grew to the size of a skateboard, emitting a hazy white light.

Then he leaped onto the enlarged bamboo leaf artifact and used it to fly towards Zhou Chun and the other person.

Flying artifact!

It's a flying artifact!

On the back of the [Inkscale Steed], Zhou Chun was also shocked and extremely surprised when he saw the enemy flying and chasing after him using a magical artifact.

Among Qi Refining stage cultivators, those who possess flying magical artifacts are quite rare.

Firstly, flying magical artifacts are difficult to forge, requiring high standards for both materials and crafting skills; secondly, such artifacts consume too much mana for Qi Refining stage cultivators, making them not very practical.

After all, cultivators in the Qi Refining stage would save as much mana as possible when traveling, so why would they be willing to use flying artifacts to travel?

Now, in order to hunt them down and silence them, the enemy has even brought out flying magical artifacts, which makes Zhou Chun feel extremely distressed.

Although the speed of the [Inkscale Steed] is fast, it is obviously not enough compared to flying magical artifacts.

His face was grim as he repeatedly turned to look at the approaching enemy. Finally, he made up his mind and shouted to Mu Ziying, "Fellow Daoist Mu, the bandits are coming in a fierce attack! Let's split up and run, and leave our fates to fate!"

After saying that, he took the initiative to turn his horse around and fled in two separate ways with Mu Ziying.

(End of this chapter)