Volume 4: The Winds and Clouds of the Western Blue Sky Chapter 4: Witch Hunting (I)
"If you go west, you generally have to pass through Frye City, but I don't recommend you go there. The best way is to take a detour. Frye City has been uneasy recently..." After hearing what Melina said to Qi Ji, Ek glanced at Melina and gave a meaningful warning.
Melina immediately asked, "Minister Ek, can you tell me the reason? If we take a detour, we might not be able to reach the city we're staying in at night. You should also be aware of the risks of sleeping outdoors at night in the Western Cang Continent."
Ek shook his head and said in a deep voice, "I heard that the mayor of Frye City has gone crazy recently. He started to launch a heresy inquisition campaign of "witch hunting" in the name of fully supporting the "Holy See". Many innocent women have suffered and lost their lives because of this."
"If there is room for maneuver, I advise you to take a detour..." After giving the advice, Old Eck slowly left.
The advice has been given. If these young people insist on getting involved in that muddy water, just make sure they can afford the consequences.
…
Not long after, a carriage that was not luxurious in appearance but showed that its owner was elegant and noble drove out from the outermost ring of the Kaituo Society and moved quickly towards the west.
The two coachmen were Lancelot and Gawain, who were sitting side by side in the front driving seat, and had changed into knight combat attire similar to Terrence's, which consisted of an inner shirt and outer armor.
The interior of the carriage is spacious and simply decorated. The innermost part is filled with dry food and water replenished from the Development Society, and on both sides are long, padded, comfortable leather benches.
Qi Ji and Melina sat facing each other on one side of the carriage.
Qi Ji's attire has been changed into leather armor with partial plate armor that is more suitable for movement and combat. On both sides are a wolf greatsword, wolf greatshield and a scabbarded single sword made of star iron.
Melina was wearing a light green dress with a black belt around her waist, which highlighted her beautiful figure. She also wore a dark green hooded cape over the dress, and a bent wooden staff stood at her side.
Her left eye was closed and only her right eye was open to show others. According to what she explained to Qi Ji, having two pupils of different colors would increase others' suspicion that she was a witch, so she simply closed one eye - she was already very used to doing this.
The two are chatting at the moment.
Qi Ji looked at Melina and asked, "So, in the end, you decided to take us the fastest way? No detour?"
Melina nodded with a determined look on her face. “If we don’t take this fastest route, we won’t be able to reach the town before dark today, and we will face the danger of spending the night in the wild.”
Then she immediately added: "The Western Cang Continent is not the Eastern China Continent. Because we did not react in time to the invasion of demons at the border in the early days, a large number of demons were allowed to enter the continent. Although the emperors later organized a large number of masters and legions to stabilize the situation on the front line, the demons that invaded the continent will not disappear out of thin air. Night is the time when most demons come out to hunt. If you don't have strong strength, it is a hundred times more dangerous to spend the night in the wild than in a town."
Qi Ji nodded slightly, and then suggested: "Maybe, we can consider leaving a day later, early tomorrow morning?"
Melina shook her head. "Time is too tight. We need to cherish every day. We need to prepare for the possibility that the teachers of the Witch Association can't solve your curse and we need to find other ways to solve A little buffer time will make things easier. So a plan of tightening up first and loosening up later is necessary."
She smiled slightly and said, "Think positively. Generally speaking, judging from the shape of the carriage we are riding in, people with good sense would not consider causing trouble for us, because this might cause them to attract unnecessary forces and pay unnecessary costs."
Qi Ji nodded. Since Melina had made up her mind and it was essentially to solve the curse problem on him, it was not easy for him to refute other people's wishes.
Then the guest should follow the host's wishes.
The two of them spent more than two hours chatting about random things.
During this time, Qi Ji asked Melina why she didn't consider taking an airship. In the Donghua Continent, the popularity of airships is quite high. Although the flying speed is not as fast as that of airplanes on Earth, it is much faster than a horse-drawn carriage.
Melina told him that the Xicang Continent did not have the conditions for airships to fly.
Because there are a large number of "flying dragons" living in the mountains and rivers of the Xicang Continent. These monsters are similar to the dragons in the Nordic fantasy stories on Earth. They are powerful, can fly, and can breathe high-temperature dragon breath. They are terrifying monsters of at least level three.
Flying dragons are the overlords of the sky. They patrol the sky of Xicang Continent all year round. If humans are active on the ground, they will generally not be attacked as long as they are not unlucky enough to be targeted.
But if you move in the air, it means you are invading the territory of these flying dragons and will face their endless and furious attacks.
Under such circumstances, it is likely that flying vehicles will never take off.
Before they knew it, Melina, who was sitting opposite Qi Ji, had fallen asleep, leaning against the cushion at the back with her head slightly tilted, due to the fatigue from the long journey.
Qi Ji looked at the girl's peaceful sleeping face, stopped talking, closed his eyes and began to practice.
Nourish your spirit with the meditation method of Yangmai Fa.
Using the "Changzhong" effect of Kagura, the God of Fire, he continued to temper his body through breathing techniques to achieve a continuous strengthening effect.
After arriving in the outer realm, the supernatural factors floating between heaven and earth were able to participate in his cultivation again, and because he had reached the supernatural level, he could truly absorb the supernatural factors and store them in his body, so his cultivation speed was undoubtedly increased again.
But there was one very distressing thing—he lacked the method for the next step of cultivation.
The total amount of extraordinary factors in his body has now reached saturation. He continues to gather extraordinary factors. For every point gathered, another point will dissipate from his body.
Originally, if he had proceeded step by step, he should have been able to obtain the "Jiang Ge Secret Book" in the Jian Ge in the outer domain after he became a transcendent. This contained a complete set of methods for using the transcendent factors to practice and become stronger after becoming a transcendent.
But now due to unexpected events, he came to Xicang Continent without having the time to go there.
"Maybe, I can try to find Lancelot or Gawain and ask them to learn the cultivation method they have developed. Of course, I don't need to have too much hope..." He continued to practice with all his heart. Although the extraordinary factors could no longer be increased, Qi Ji's body and spirit had been greatly expanded after reaching the extraordinary limit, and the effect of practice was still gratifying.
I don’t know how much time passed.
A faint cry came into Qi Ji's ears.
Qi Ji opened his eyes, moved to the front of the carriage, opened the curtain, and asked Lancelot and Gawain, "Did you hear it?"
"What did you hear?" Gao Wen was slightly surprised when he saw Qi Ji suddenly appear.
Lancelot tilted his ear and listened carefully for a while, then said calmly, "It seems that there are faint cries for help and crying, but they are not very clear. If you hadn't told me, I wouldn't have heard them at all."
Qi Ji listened carefully again and said with certainty: "Go forward three kilometers along this road at a faster speed. The crying sound came from over there. Maybe we can help if we are on the way."
The two men responded by waving their whips, and the speed of the carriage immediately increased.
Melina retreated back into the tent and was awakened by the noise of several people. She rubbed her eyes and looked at Qi Ji sleepily: "Mr. Qi Ji, what happened?"
Qi Ji smiled at her and said, "It seems someone is calling for help a few kilometers ahead. I asked Lancelot and Gawain to speed up and see if they can help."
Melina nodded slightly after understanding: "Well, it depends on the situation. I'll help if I can."
As the carriage accelerated, the sound that reached Qi Ji's ears became clearer and clearer.
“Help!”
"Save me, I am innocent!"
"I'm just an ordinary village woman, not a witch at all!"
"Wuwuwu, save me..."
This is a cry for help.
"Bitch! Shut up!"
"If you don't want to die now, you'd better shut your mouth!"
"It is an honor for you, lowly serfs, to be caught on this car and become a merit for me to please the city lord!"
“Hahahahahaha!”
"Captain Sander, you will surely be promoted to the chief of the city defense army now. Remember to help your brothers!"
"Don't worry, as long as I, Sander, have something to eat, you won't be short of food. Hahahaha!"
Qi Ji listened to these words silently, his expression gradually became solemn, and then turned cold.
I'm afraid there will be another killing spree today!
…
"drive!"
Not long after, an angry shout was heard from the front, and the carriage's speed suddenly increased a bit.
The reason was naturally that Lancelot and Gawain could hear the sounds coming from the front more and more clearly, and in their anxiety, they could not help but speed up again.
With the carriage moving at high speed, they soon caught up with their target.
The moment they saw the target, Lancelot and Gawain's blood rushed to their heads, and they immediately reached out and grasped the long swords at their sides.
The target is a convoy.
Two huge wooden prison carts were being slowly pulled in the middle, escorted by more than twenty armored knights in front and behind.
Dozens of women in ragged clothes were crowded together inside.
They were half-naked, covered with wounds, and emitting a fishy and sour smell. They were crying loudly, trying desperately to emphasize that they were not so-called "witches" but just ordinary peasant women from a nearby village.
The knights who escorted them stared at the women who shouted the loudest as if they were animals, and drew the scabbards from their waists and beat them fiercely.
Their cries became more mournful.
Qi Ji and Melina gently pushed aside a corner of the curtain and looked out, and saw exactly the same view as Lancelot and Gawain outside.
Melina covered her mouth tightly, and then her eyes turned into anger.
There was only coldness in Qi Ji's eyes.
