Chapter 1188: Chapter 1188
“Cut the crap, the boss said, even if we have to dig three feet deep, we must find it.”
“The Sect Leader’s words can’t be false,” another person sternly reprimanded.
Zhang Yang looked around but didn’t see any trace of Jin Tuantuan.
Could it be that Jin Tuantuan isn’t here? Or is someone else watching her?
At this moment, Xia Xue tugged at Zhang Yang’s sleeve, her eyes full of worry, mouthing “What do we do?”
Zhang Yang took a deep breath, his gaze sweeping the surroundings.
These people seemed clumsy, but their positioning was cautious, showing they were skilled.
Although Zhang Yang was confident he could take these people down, he wasn’t sure how many more accomplices they had.
Zhang Yang pointed to a more dilapidated woodshed beside them, signaling to hide there first and plan later.
The two crouched and slipped into the woodshed, the decayed wood smell almost made Xia Xue cough, but Zhang Yang quickly covered her mouth.
The gap in the woodshed’s wall allowed them to see outside. The bearded man cursed as he collected an iron hook, telling the other two, “Damn, one last try, if we don’t get anything, we’ll retreat.”
“The Sect Leader said if this clue from Fuqiang Village breaks, we won’t get away unscathed.”
Suddenly, one of them exclaimed, “Brothers, I think I caught something.”
Zhang Yang squinted slightly; this well was from the village’s earlier days.
Before the village had running water, half of the villagers relied on this well for water.
Who could hide something here? Or was it another one of his grandfather’s tricks?
But the “Green Bag Secret Record” had already been found; could there be something else?
As he pondered, he suddenly heard faint footsteps behind him. Zhang Yang quickly turned around to see a shadow darting out from the corner of the woodshed, a dagger flashing in hand!
“Don’t move!” a low, murderous voice said, the dagger’s tip almost touching Zhang Yang’s back. Xia Xue almost screamed, but Zhang Yang pulled her tightly into his arms.
“Jin Tuantuan?” Zhang Yang murmured in surprise, recognizing in the dim light that it was indeed Jin Tuantuan, with dirt on her face and blood on the corner of her mouth, clearly fresh from a fight.
Jin Tuantuan hushed him, mouthing to signal outside.
The three huddled in the darkest corner of the woodshed, listening to the Qingyi Sect people still fussing at the well.
“Qingyi Sect has come in large numbers, we’ve been surrounded, and that Uncle Long is no good; he must have sold us out.”
“By the way, although they don’t know about the Green Bag Secret Record, they did mention the Soul Resurrection Grass.”
“Soul Resurrection Grass?” Zhang Yang frowned.
“The Green Bag Secret Record mentions it, says it grows in places of extreme yin, rare in a hundred years. Could it really be in this well?”
“Hard to say!” Jin Tuantuan’s eyes were grave.
“But since Qingyi Sect is here, it means they also believed Uncle Long. I fought with them earlier, there were at least ten of them, I was outnumbered and hid here.”
The commotion outside suddenly stopped; the bearded man cursed, “Damn it,” seemingly not having caught anything, and started to pack up to leave.
Zhang Yang signaled Jin Tuantuan to stay quiet, only daring to peek out when the three men’s footsteps faded away.
“We need to leave here quickly.” Jin Tuantuan wiped the blood from her mouth.
“Since Qingyi Sect knows we are here, if we wait for their people to encircle us, it’ll be hard to escape.”
“Should we check the well?” Xia Xue looked at the dry well and asked.
Zhang Yang pondered for a moment, then shook his head, “Too dangerous. Since Qingyi Sect didn’t find anything, it means either it’s not here or they didn’t search the right place. Our top priority now is to leave Fuqiang Village and find a place with signal to contact Xu Mengyan and the others.”
The three carefully bypassed their original path, sneaking through the woods on the other side of the village.
The mountain road was muddy and slippery, with Xia Xue almost falling several times, only to be caught by Zhang Yang in time.
Jin Tuantuan was leading, suddenly stopping and pointing at a crooked old locust tree ahead, “Look, this tree looks a lot like the pomegranate tree in the old courtyard.”
Zhang Yang looked in the direction she pointed and saw a deep scar on the tree trunk, eerily similar to the one on the pomegranate tree in the old courtyard.
Feeling a surge of realization, he quickly walked over, touching the scar on the trunk, suddenly finding some loose bark beneath it.
“There’s something here!” Zhang Yang pried it open, peeling the bark away to reveal a fist-sized hollow stuffed with a small oilcloth-wrapped bottle.
Unwrapping the oilcloth, he found an ancient-looking porcelain bottle with intricate carvings on its surface. Opening the cap, a strange fragrance wafted out, revealing a half bottle of dark green ointment inside.
“This is…” Jin Tuantuan came closer to sniff, her face changing slightly.
“It seems like the ‘Muscle Revitalizing Ointment’ recorded in the Green Bag Secret Record, which can regenerate muscle and stop bleeding, said to even heal broken bones.”
Zhang Yang felt a shock in his heart; his grandfather really had hidden something here. He carefully put away the porcelain bottle, suddenly hearing the sound of a car engine approaching from afar.
“It’s the Qingyi Sect people!” Jin Tuantuan’s face paled. Chapters fırst released on 𝕟𝕠𝕧𝕖𝕝※𝕗𝕚𝕣𝕖※𝕟𝕖𝕥
“They must be coming back; we might’ve been exposed.”
The three immediately turned and delved deeper into the dense woods, as the engine sounds got closer, faint shouts declaring, “Search thoroughly, those people can’t have gone far!”
Zhang Yang grabbed Xia Xue’s hand, sprinting through the muddy woods. Xia Xue’s stamina was gradually failing, her breathing growing more labored.
Suddenly, Jin Tuantuan stopped, pulling out two smoke bombs from her waist, “You go on ahead, I’ll cover the rear!”
“No!” Zhang Yang grabbed her.
“No arguments!” Jin Tuantuan pressed the smoke bombs into Zhang Yang’s hand.
“I’ll divert them, you take Xia Xue to the village entrance and wait for me, remember, no matter what happens, don’t look back!”
With that, Jin Tuantuan hurled the smoke bomb to one side, thick smoke billowing up instantly.
Taking advantage of the chaos, she ran in the opposite direction, making noise as she went.
“Chase that way!” Qingyi Sect was indeed drawn away.
Zhang Yang gritted his teeth, knowing it was their only option, pulling Xia Xue towards the village entrance in a mad dash.
Gunfire sounded faintly in the background, and Xia Xue shook with fear, but gritted her teeth and followed Zhang Yang forward.
Not sure how long they ran, but they finally saw the village entrance and the old locust tree there, where Zhang Yang paused, panting against the tree trunk.
“What about Tuantuan…” Xia Xue’s eyes reddened.
“She’ll be fine,” Zhang Yang reassured, having some confidence in Jin Tuantuan, especially since she was quick-witted and likely managed to shake them off.
Zhang Yang pulled Xia Xue towards the parking area, only to find the car tires slashed.
“Damn it!” he cursed softly, scanning the area, spotting a broken-down tricycle down the slope, seemingly used by an old villager for carrying goods.
“We’ll have to ride this.” Zhang Yang decided without further thought, pushing the tricycle along.
Zhang Yang pedaled the tricycle with Xia Xue on board, looking quite comical. But just as they reached the road, they saw Jin Tuantuan limping out of the roadside woods, her face marked with a fresh cut and her clothes torn in several places.