Volume 1, Chapter 35: A New Beginning

"Bing'er! Eldest Senior Brother, Second Senior Brother, Third Senior Brother."

From afar, Xie Liangyu spotted the familiar figures at a glance. He hurried over, greeting them one by one.

Seeing the bag full of spiritual herbs Xie Liangyu had just purchased, Fu Ming crossed his arms over his chest and spoke with a sour tone.

"Xie Liangyu, you are certainly living the high life now that you are following the Mistress."

They had been working themselves to the bone in the sect to earn money, yet Xie Liangyu was throwing it around so lavishly.

Li Yanqing had engaged with the Western Xia army before and knew that their most formidable force was the Iron Sparrowhawks. Based on Yeli Yuanli's description, this elite heavy cavalry unit was likely half-constituted as Iron Sparrowhawks—meaning while the warhorses lacked iron barding, the riders' armor was identical to that of the true Iron Sparrowhawks.

Years ago, Li Yanqing had urged Aunt Gu to move south, but she had flatly refused. Yet now, everything had changed; the environment had shifted, and the hearts of men had changed as well.

Sun Li grew anxious and, driven to desperation, fought fiercely for another two or three rounds. After launching a violent spear strike, he reined in his horse to flee. Shan Shiqi, whose mission was to pin down Sun Li to buy time for Luan Tingyu, was unwilling to let him go; he kicked his horse's flanks and gave chase without hesitation.

When people argued that he shouldn't rebel, labeling him as unfilial and disloyal, Lin Chong would counter by bringing up the founding emperor—how he had returned kindness with ingratitude, faked reports to seize military power, launched a mutiny, and bullied orphans and widows to usurp the throne. He also cited the second emperor, who had murdered his sovereign and poisoned his own brother to seize the crown.

Seeing the looks on their faces, Lin Chong smiled. He knew this matter could not be explained clearly, so he simply chose not to explain at all.

"If you are all so eager to die, I will see you on your way. It is just a pity that the Thunder Sand Demon Emperor will not be here to witness it," Yitian said.

This chaos had reached such a point that when a key official in an important deputy-ministerial position collapsed, the situation could only be handled in such a slipshod manner.

Regarding this, although China had the intention to obstruct it, tangled by various factors, they ultimately had no choice but to compromise.

If he did not cling tightly to Li Yanqing, the business of the Baoyan Studio would likely no longer be his to manage.

Some people had already begun to curry favor, and while doing so, they were also probing to discover the true purpose of Professor Su Wen's visit.

The newly built village concrete road was packed with vehicles, stretching for nearly a kilometer. There were police cruisers, SWAT armored vehicles, large buses with local plates, and even eight trucks brought in specifically to transport confiscated stolen cars.

"For this migration, I have prepared twenty million silver dollars. If that is not enough, I can invest another ten million," Zhu Youxiao stated.

Before he could finish his sentence, the gunfire from the guerrillas and the firepower of the Norman tanks erupted simultaneously, like the roars of beasts raising their spirits and igniting their battle intent before a clash, echoing through the snow-covered forest thick with the scent of gunpowder and scorched air.

However, there were still too few reinforcements. Even when everyone gathered together, including Gao Hongyi's men, there were only fifty thousand in total.

Ellie, however, seemed to have sensed something. After calling out to Yumi from a distance, she picked up her pace and headed forward.

Lieutenant Nott was left speechless by the retort. After ordering his accompanying soldiers to forcibly separate them and keep them under strict guard, he left with a gloomy expression.

The theory of relativity of time took effect once again; those few short seconds felt like more than a decade, perhaps even longer.

"Why are you still bothering with him? When something like this happens, he doesn't bother to get the facts straight and instead runs off to settle scores with others—is his brain not working right?" Wei Chennian said, clearly very dissatisfied with Ji Ling.

The person in charge here was named Ken, also a terrifyingly powerful fighter. Although no one knew exactly how strong he was, he could refer to that Celestial being with a tone of contempt, and he even labeled Zhao Ying's actions as reckless.

As long as they could keep their word and not let the children leave their parents, it would be enough. After all, he was not a professional, so he didn't need to stay for that long; simply being able to accompany the children was sufficient.