A journey through ancient times, a journey of exquisite divine skills

Chapter 338 Another one, a stranger blocks the way

As she spoke, she turned to the old man and shouted at him, "Old man, give me ten more!"

Upon hearing this, Xiaoman quickly stopped her, saying, "No, no, no, old lady, don't listen to her. Just give me four more!"

He knew it was Li Meng's first time trying it, but this kind of thing gets cloying if you eat too much of it, so he just bought a small amount to let her have a taste, there was no need to buy so much.

The old man smiled and replied, "Alright!" Then he took four sticks from the wooden stick and handed them to Xiaoman.

Shi Zi then took out a small piece of silver from his pocket and placed it in the old man's hand.

When the old man saw that the candied hawthorns only cost ten or so coins, Shi Zi actually gave him at least an ounce.

He quickly waved his hand and refused, saying, "Sir, these five candied hawthorns only cost ten coins."

"You're paying so much, this old man doesn't have the change!"

Shi Zi waved his hand and said generously, "No need to look for it, consider the extra one a gift to you."

The old man quickly bowed and thanked him, saying, "Thank you, sir!"

The three people took the candied hawthorns and left the old man's stall.

Li Meng held one in each hand and kept chewing.

It was her first time eating candied hawthorn berries. Her face was full of a satisfied smile, and her steps became lighter.

The three of them rode their horses slowly to the courtyard where the villagers of Sujia Village lived.

But the courtyard gate was tightly closed, and a thin layer of dust had accumulated on the door knocker.

Even a few thin weeds have grown on the stone platform at the entrance.

It shows that this place has been neglected for a long time.

Shi Zi reined in his horse and looked at the scene before him, his brows furrowing immediately: "Strange!"

With half a candied hawthorn skewer still dangling from her mouth, Li Meng asked indistinctly, "Little tongue, what's so strange?"

Xiaoman dismounted and pushed the courtyard gate. The wooden door creaked and remained unmoved.

He brushed the dust off the door panel with his fingertips and said in a deep voice, "Something's not right. It looks like no one has lived here for a long time."

Shi Zi and Xiao Man exchanged a glance, both seeing confusion in each other's eyes.

Without further hesitation, the two simultaneously used their lightness skills to leap onto the courtyard wall.

The two looked inside and found the courtyard empty and unusually quiet.

Xiaoman frowned even more: "What happened? Where have all the villagers gone?"

Shi Zi flipped over and leaped off the wall: "Let's go!"

After Xiaoman jumped down, she asked, "Where are we going?"

The pebble replied, "The Royal Palace!"

The two returned, and seeing their serious expressions, Li Meng couldn't help but ask, "What happened?"

Xiaoman nodded, mounted her horse, and said, "Let's go to the palace and ask about the situation."

The three of them set off again towards the palace.

Li Meng sat on horseback, still eating her candied hawthorns without a care in the world.

But I still asked, "Hey, what happened to you two? Why do you look so pale all of a sudden?"

Shi Zi said in a deep voice, "The people from Su Family Village have all disappeared. We plan to go to the palace to ask what's going on."

Xiaoman frowned slightly, which puzzled him greatly.

"Logically speaking, with Brother Shanzi and Yuan'er at home, and this being within the heavily guarded Huanling City, there shouldn't be any danger here."

Shi Zi also found it strange: "Yes, if something really happened, the guards at the city gate wouldn't have kept quiet about it when we entered the city."

Xiaoman suddenly sighed and murmured, "I wonder if Sister Daya and the others have come back yet."

He recalled that two months before leaving, he and Shizi had secretly run away from Huanling City without telling anyone.

He never expected that when he returned, no one would be there to see him.

"We left without saying goodbye to Shui'er, Xiaohe, and the other three. Now that I think about it, Sister Daya is probably still angry."

Shi Zi touched his nose, feeling a little guilty: "Anyway, we haven't been idle along the way. We've cured quite a few sick people, so we've done something worthwhile."

"Sister Da Ya shouldn't still be that angry, right?"

"It's hard to say." Xiaoman couldn't help but shrink back when she thought of her older sister Daya's posture of lecturing people with her hands on her hips.

Suddenly, Shi Zi said, "Anyway, Shui'er and Xiao He also secretly ran away."

If Sister Daya catches us, we'll all be in for a world of hurt!

No sooner had he finished speaking than a figure suddenly darted out from behind them, standing in front of the three men and blocking their path.

The newcomer was dressed in a moon-white brocade robe, with a jade belt around his waist and a golden crown in his hair; he was handsome.

However, there was a hint of arrogance in his eyes, which made it clear that he came from an extraordinary background.

Shi Zi and Xiao Man both frowned slightly when they saw him blocking their way.

Shi Zi reined in his horse and asked in a deep voice, "Who are you? Why are you blocking our way?"

The glamorous man's gaze swept across the three faces, finally settling on Shi Zi, his tone carrying a hint of scrutiny.

"Did you just mention the names of two girls, Shui'er and Xiao He?"

Shi Zi and Xiao Man were taken aback when they heard this, then looked at each other and saw surprise in each other's eyes.

This person actually knows Shui'er and Xiao He?

But neither of them had ever seen this person before.

Xiaoman cupped her hands and asked, "Do you know Shui'er and the others? May I ask who you are? Do you know where the villagers have gone?"

This dashing man was none other than Chen Junxuan, who had been secretly investigating the whereabouts of Shui'er and Xiao He throughout Huanling City for the past half month.

To everyone's surprise, after a month of undercover investigation in the city, the news they received was that the people said they hadn't seen the two girls for a long time, and no one even knew where they had gone.

Later, he learned the original address of the Su family village from an old man and went there excitedly.

In the end, they only saw an empty courtyard, exactly the same as what Shi Zi and the other two had seen at this moment.

Upon returning home that day, he asked his master, Song Jiuxian, to accompany him to the hospital to investigate, but naturally, they found nothing.

Although he couldn't hear what Shizi said very clearly, he did hear Shizi mention the words "Shui'er", "Xiaohe", and "peel off a layer of skin".

Chen Junxuan was immediately enraged, assuming that the two had kidnapped Shui'er and Xiao He, and his tone instantly turned cold.

"You don't need to know who I am. I'm only asking you, did you really mean it when you said you were going to skin Xiaohe and the others alive?"

Shi Zi was taken aback by his question, turned to look at Xiao Man, and looked completely bewildered.

"Is this person... mentally ill?"

Xiaoman responded in a low voice, "You did say something like 'being skinned alive' just now."

Upon hearing this, Shi Zi retorted, "I was just using a metaphor! I meant that Sister Daya would lecture us and tell us what it means to skin them alive!"

“But they obviously don’t understand it that way.” Xiaoman spread her hands helplessly. “That’s why they came to our door to question us.”

Shi Zi sighed, about to explain, "Never mind, let's ask him first..."