Nothing was as reliable as the transmission arrays she made herself! This was Dugu Qianye’s assessnt of the tunnel this ti.
After ensuring their safety, Dugu Qianye rembered to check who had co along. Aside from Zi Xiao, not a single person was there! If Zi Xiao hadn’t held onto her before they entered, she believed they wouldn’t be together now either.
"Are you okay?" Zi Xiao asked.
He hadn’t expected her to react so strongly to these things. Seeing her pale face, he wondered whether he should dismantle all the inter-realm channels and reinstall them? In the future, she would travel between realms often, would she have to suffer like this every ti?
Alas, it was mainly because the world was becoming increasingly unstable now, and the channels were also affected.
Dugu Qianye nodded and said, "I’m fine. It’s just that I don’t know where we are now. Xiaohuo, fly in any direction, and when we see soone, we can ask them."
"Okay," Xiaohuo replied, then flew straight ahead.
They had thought they would quickly encounter signs of human habitation and that a few days at most would suffice, but they had been flying for more than ten days with no sight of a human shadow, not even a beast!
"Where have we ended up?" Dugu Qianye couldn’t help asking.
Zi Xiao shrugged his shoulders; he didn’t know either!
"Maybe we’ve ended up in another secret realm?"
After thinking it over, Dugu Qianye said, "I don’t know of any other secret realms, do you? I’ve never heard my master and the others ntion any. If there were any, they would’ve told ."
"Let’s keep looking, maybe we’ll see soone soon," Zi Xiao suggested.
"Okay."
Xiaohuo kept flying, but that "soon" never ca, and by the ti they set up camp in a forest at night, they still hadn’t seen a shadow, whether from a beast or a person!
The two of them weren’t particularly anxious. Their main concern was that they couldn’t contact their master, fearing he might worry.
Dugu Qianye took out the communication stone, infused it with spiritual power, and the stone flashed once before dimming again.
"We still can’t get through," Dugu Qianye put away the communication stone and said.
From the first day they arrived, Dugu Qianye had tried to inform her master and senior brothers of her situation as a sign of safety, but after several attempts, she found that the communication stone couldn’t be used here at all! Could it be that this place, like the modern world of communication, required a signal?!
"Maybe there’s so kind of restriction here," Zi Xiao guessed.
"Perhaps," Dugu Qianye agreed, reaching out to stir the fire in front of her.
Suddenly, both Dugu Qianye and Zi Xiao leaped away from the fire.
"Bang!"
An unidentified flying object crashed next to the fire pit, rolled on the ground for a couple of turns, and then lay still.
Dugu Qianye and Zi Xiao looked at each other before approaching together. Zi Xiao crouched down and probed the body.
"How is it?" Dugu Qianye asked.
"He’s still breathing," Zi Xiao answered.
Dugu Qianye took out an elixir and passed it to Zi Xiao, saying, "Let’s revive him first. Right now, he’s the only living thing we’ve co across!"
Zi Xiao nodded lightly and, after taking the Elixir, fed it to him. Just as she was about to help him up, a good number of people suddenly erged from the woods, completely encircling them. Each one was clad in black, their faces wrapped in black cloth, leaving only their eyes exposed.
The man on the ground was dressed similarly to them, but the cloth on his head must have been lost along the way, revealing his entire head with features that were actually quite handso, though now sared with dirt.
"Who are you? How did you co to be here?" The person in charge stepped out and asked Dugu Qianye and the others.
No one had co out at first, but once they did, they ca out in droves!
"We are rely passing by. We set up camp here, and then he fell from the sky," Dugu Qianye said.
"Lies!"
Dugu Qianye, seeing the number of people, thought it best to avoid conflict if possible and, in the spirit of seeking peace, reluctantly offered an explanation, only to be t with such a strong reaction.
"They must be sent by the others, Commander, shall we capture them?" one of the people beside the man suggested.
The so-called Commander looked at Dugu Qianye and the others and said, "We do not have outsiders here; you must be sent by him to rendezvous with this deserter. n, capture them along with the Little Prince, uh, this deserter, and take them back."
"Yes, Commander!" a shadowy figure responded.
The black-clothed figures surrounding them drew closer step by step; Zi Xiao thought to act, but Dugu Qianye stopped her. It was the first ti Dugu Qianye had taken the initiative to grasp his hand; the soft, boneless feeling sent Zi Xiao’s heart soaring, no longer caring about her reason for restraining him.
"There’s no need to act; we will go with you," Dugu Qianye said.
"Wise of you!" said soone beside the Commander, "Take them away! And that traitor on the ground— he’s no longer our Little Prince, and none of you may show rcy and let him go!"
"Yes, Vice Commander."
The black figures answered in unison before two of them approached the so-called Little Prince, one grabbing each shoulder and dragging him off the ground.
Dugu Qianye watched their rough handling, then turned her gaze to the others. Their faces were covered, making it hard to read their expressions, but so could not conceal a look of reluctance in their eyes.
"Those two must bear a grudge against him," Dugu Qianye said with certainty.
Had they not given him the Elixir earlier, with his injuries and the abuse now, he might have already breathed his last.
Soon, they erged from the trees to find a group that looked like official soldiers standing outside. Unlike their black attire, these people were dressed in military uniforms but still wrapped their faces in scarves.
Behind them was a prison cart. Identifiable as such because it closely resembled the ancient kind of prison carts, Dugu Qianye imdiately recognized its purpose. It was wrapped tightly all around, with only a small bowl-sized hole at the top that allowed one to see the sky.
That must be to hold the so-called Little Prince, right? Wait, are there still officials and soldiers around here? Dugu Qianye wondered. Then, recalling they referred to him as Commander, she assud there must be.
"Take them away," ordered the Commander.
"Yes, Commander."
Previously there had been only the Little Prince, so there was just one prison cart prepared. Now with three prisoners, they had no choice but to squeeze in together. Fortunately, the cart was large enough for them to sit, although the man laid down.
Dugu Qianye tapped the cart’s surface and found it was actually made of copper, certainly very durable.
"Why did you think of going with them?" Zi Xiao finally asked the question.
Dugu Qianye looked at the man lying across from them and said, "Have you not noticed how peculiar their attire is? This place is odd too; we’ve flown for so many days without seeing a single person or Spiritual Beast. Leaving wouldn’t be an issue for us, but then we wouldn’t know when we might encounter anyone else. It seed wiser to follow and see. Besides, they are many, and breaking out would waste a lot of energy."
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