Wilderness, dense with forests.
From the dense branches and leaves that obscure the sky, a few rays of moonlight shone through, illuminating a long-neglected small path.
This small path extended from the main road into the forest, about two or three hundred meters long. At the end of this small path stood a dilapidated ruined temple.
At this time, there were three people in the temple, roasting by a fire.
One of them looked to be in his thirties, with a handsome face and a lazy demeanor. He was leaning against a tipped-over table, absentmindedly tossing peanuts into his mouth.
The other two, one was in his twenties, with a pretty face and a strong physique, was roasting a pancake over the fire.
One looked to be around a dozen years old, petite and delicate, was holding a long saber, and was carefully sharpening it on a whetstone.
These three were Li Miao, who had accepted the task from the Embroidered Uniform Guard Commander Zhu Zai to "Annihilate the Five Mountains Sword Sect", and was on his way to the Tai Mountain area, along with his trusted aides Wang Hai and his servant Little Four.
In the agricultural era, traveling far was a very troublesome thing. People ate and horses chewed, they ate in the wind and slept in the open, and there were different dialects every hundred li. Sometimes, even if they arrived at a village, no one would speak Mandarin Chinese, so they couldn't stay overnight and could only sleep in the wild.
The official road was also sometimes there and sometimes not. There were also bandits and wolves, tigers, and leopards. At that time, traveling more than fifty li could become a parting of life and death.
It had been more than a month since Li Miao accepted the mission in Yanjing, and he had just entered the Qi Lu area.
Now, with no village in front and no inn behind, they were resting in this ruined temple.
Li Miao's laziness acted up, and he didn't want to speak, so he just stared blankly at the fire.
Wang Hai and Little Four were a bit ambiguous, and they wanted to sit together and talk. However, with Li Miao, the head of the family and a light bulb, sitting there, they didn't dare to speak.
The only sounds in the entire ruined temple were the crackling of the fire and the sound of Little Four sharpening the knife.
In this awkward silence, the sound of several people talking came from the small path outside the door, getting closer and closer, obviously heading towards this small temple.
Wang Hai immediately stood up, flashed to the side of the door, and looked outside. Little Four's Martial Arts was slightly worse, and she ran to Li Miao's side, holding the knife.
Of course, they were just habitually on guard, and there was no trace of tension on their faces. With Li Miao, this great god, present, to pose a threat to them, it would at least take the high-level experts of a major sect like Emei to come out in full force.
Wang Hai carefully observed that there were nearly a dozen people coming this way, men and women, old and young. The group was protecting a cart of things in the middle, covered with cloth, with the banner of "Tiger Might" on it.
It was a group of Escorts on a journey, and they should also be coming to this ruined temple to rest.
There were no less than eight hundred Escort Agencies in the world called "Tiger Might", and he didn't know which one it was.
Wang Hai waited for this group of people to walk up close, opened the door, and greeted them: "Everyone, please."
The leader was Zhao Dehua, the Head Escort of the Tiger Might Escort Agency, and also an Old Jianghu. He stepped forward with a smile and also clasped his hands: "Young Sir, hello, are you also resting here? Is there any space for us to rest as well?"
Zhao Dehua politely returned the greeting, and the Escorts behind him also took their hands off their weapons.
Wang Hai came out alone to greet them, which was to release goodwill, and they couldn't show a look of being unwelcoming.
In fact, it was not surprising that they were cautious.
Since ancient times, the places where the most people died in the Jianghu were, first, ruined temples, second, inns, and third, arenas.
Especially those who robbed the escorts, their favorite place to act was the ruined temple, and he didn't know who made the rules.
Anyway, as long as the escorts entered the ruined temple, something was likely to happen. Now it had become a certain unspoken rule. Before the Escorts entered the ruined temple, they had to grip their weapons tightly and prepare to act.
Seeing that Wang Hai looked young, with a pretty face and Polite, not like a wicked person, they slightly relaxed their vigilance.
Wang Hai replied: "It's a place without an owner, so of course, it's fine. It's just that my family has occupied the middle of the room, so I'll have to trouble you to squeeze to the side."
"Polite, polite. First come, first served, we Escorts don't have so many rules." Zhao Dehua cupped his hands.
Wang Hai then let this group of people into the temple.
Several Escorts carried the things to the corner and put them down, and packed their luggage. Zhao Dehua walked over first and bowed to Li Miao: "Your Excellency, thank you for letting our group come in to rest."
Li Miao didn't raise his head, and casually cupped his hands, which was considered a return of the greeting.
Zhao Dehua bowed again seriously, turned around, and went to start a fire and cook.
After this group of Escorts started a fire and gathered around the fire to eat, one of the girls in her twenties quietly said to Zhao Dehua: "Father, the one lying on the ground didn't even look at you, why did you have to bow to him? Wouldn't that diminish the prestige of our Escort Agency?"
This girl was Zhao Dehua's daughter, Zhao Ying. Her Martial Arts was almost done, and she was following the Escorts for the first time.
In fact, she was a little angry when she saw that Li Miao didn't take her father seriously. But she also knew that when the Escorts went out, everything was done according to the Head Escort's instructions. Now that she was settled down, she quietly asked Zhao Dehua.
The ruined temple was actually not small, and they were not afraid of being heard by Li Miao and the other two when they spoke. Zhao Dehua smiled and said: "They have already given us enough face by letting us in."
“They are few, and we are many. Not only did they take the initiative to send someone to greet us, letting us feel at ease, but they also let us come in to rest, which is already a show of goodwill. We have taken the benefits, so we don't have to care whether their etiquette is comprehensive."
“What prestige or not, anyway, there is no one else here to see.”
Zhao Dehua paused, and then said to his daughter: "And, they are not easy to provoke."
He wanted to teach his daughter the knowledge of walking the Jianghu, so he guided Zhao Ying to observe Li Miao and the other two with her peripheral vision, without turning his head. When Zhao Ying had seen enough, he opened his mouth and asked: "What did you see?"
Zhao Ying shook her head and said: "These three people all have delicate skin and tender flesh, and their clothing is not bad either, they look like they come from a wealthy family."
Zhao Dehua frowned and said: "You still need to practice."
“Look at the young man who greeted us, his breathing is long, his steps are light, his Internal Energy Foundation must be good. His hands are long and strong, but there are no calluses, he doesn't play with weapons. The Martial Arts he practices must be high, not the external skills of enduring hardship and tempering skin and flesh."
“Look at the younger one, judging from her figure, she is clearly a Little Girl. Her steps are loose, her breathing is unstable, and she probably doesn't have much of an Internal Energy Foundation.”
Zhao Ying said strangely: "If they don't have Martial Arts, what's so difficult about provoking them?"
“It's easy to provoke people who don't have Martial Arts, but those who dare to bring a Little Girl who doesn't know Martial Arts to sleep in this desolate ruined temple are definitely not easy to provoke.”
“You have been practicing Martial Arts since you were a child, and you have achieved some success at the age of twenty, and only then did I dare to bring you to be an Escort.”
“This Little Girl's body, I'm afraid she can't even beat a big chicken. But they dare to let our dozen or so people rest with them, and they don't care at all, Eighty percent they have something to rely on.”