Chapter 641: Goodwill

Chapter 641: Kindness

"Why is it so hot?"

Just as Yang Xiaohai thought this, suddenly a familiar scent reached his nose—a smell he knew well from burning wood. As a cook, he had breathed this aroma countless times while cooking and preparing meals.

As the scent of firewood grew stronger, intermingling with the aroma of meat, his heart gave a sudden jolt.

He pressed his feet against his wife's, clinging to the wall with one hand, cautiously peering out from behind it.

The moment his head emerged, his face flushed hotly, and his pupils contracted sharply.

Yang Xiaohai saw that the inn and shops in the distance were on fire! The entire building collapsed with a thunderous crash under the flames, immediately igniting everything around it! They were using fire as a weapon!

Whether it was the enemy or not, for Yang Xiaohai trapped inside, it was almost a death sentence.

If he didn’t run, he would be burned alive; if he did run, he’d have to get caught up in their battle.

Yang Xiaohai, panic-stricken, writhed in desperation. "Senior Brother Li, what should we do? Senior Brother Li!"

Only then did he realize that that nearly omnipotent Senior Brother Li wasn't even here. This time, he had to rely on himself.

Looking back at the towering wall ahead, which seemed impossible to pass through, Yang Xiaohai’s wooden staff—his only weapon—tightened in his grip, then relaxed again.

From his chest, he pulled out some pills he had painstakingly refined, nodded carefully, and finally drew out several talismans.

These were all he could depend on now. If he met enemies, these were his only means of survival.

As the distant flames drew closer, Yang Xiaohai made up his mind. He turned to Zhao Xiumei beside him and said, "Let’s go. If I get surrounded later, you must run outside the county."

The original path was completely blocked by fire. They could only climb walls and open doors, taking a detour.

Fortunately, the three monkey children proved invaluable—they were small and could easily squeeze through narrow spaces, opening every garden they needed to enter.

They scrambled and climbed, covered in dust and soot, but when the smell of firewood began to fade, Yang Xiaohai exhaled in relief. It seemed they had moved away from the center of conflict.

"They’re probably fighting to the death, too busy to notice us. Let’s push harder!" Encouraging them, Yang Xiaohai continued climbing.

When they reached the third courtyard and came to the field, Yang Xiaohai suddenly felt darkness above him.

Turning his head, he saw a man with yellow hair like a bear’s, a fish-scale tattoo on his neck, holding a blood-stained Wu Hook, staring at him.

At that moment, Yang Xiaohai froze in place, his mind going blank, forgetting entirely to raise his weapon in defense.

The man glanced briefly at the white headscarf on the monkey child’s head, sneered slightly, and raised his Wu Hook.

"Another scion of the Daoist sect, you scum. Why do you always want to commit such crimes as murder and arson?"

Seeing the cold gleam of the Wu Hook in the firelight, Yang Xiaohai shuddered and snapped back to reality. "We're not with them!! My... my senior brother is the Emperor of Great Li!"

"Hahahaha, the emperor’s junior brother dressed so poorly? Then I’m the Jade Emperor himself!" The Wu Hook swung down hard toward Yang Xiaohai’s neck.

"My other senior brother is Li—" Before he could finish, he saw a flash of light slicing toward his throat.

Instinctively, Yang Xiaohai closed his eyes and curled up, expecting death. But no pain came.

When he opened his eyes again, he saw a hunched figure standing before him. The man who had just tried to kill him had been pushed back more than ten feet.

"Auntie!" The monkey children shouted excitedly at the silhouette.

The old woman remained unchanged from before, yet she gave Yang Xiaohai a different feeling now.

"Children, hurry and go. I’ll hold this guy off," she said calmly, her gaze fixed on the man.

Hearing this, Yang Xiaohai snapped out of his shock, looked at the old woman one last time, and quickly grabbed the others, running toward the nearby rice fields.

"Children, may Grandpa Shidu protect you. You must live well, don’t die!" came her final words from behind.

Yang Xiaohai and the others ran frantically, never daring to rest, afraid that their pursuers might follow.

They ran for an hour. When the moon rose high in the sky, they finally collapsed by the roadside, gasping for breath.

Just as Yang Xiaohai lay sprawled on the ground trying to collect his thoughts, he heard the sound of galloping hooves.

He raised his head to see where the sound came from—and there it was, his own carriage.

Two men drove it. One of them, a man with a Wu Hook on his back, was the one who had tried to kill him. The other, he recognized too—he was also from the Heavenly Surveillance Bureau. They had indeed caught up with him.

At that moment, Yang Xiaohai saw a fat man in his thirties or forties, wearing a dark purple robe and a black cloth headband, looking like a wealthy official, jump down from the carriage and walk toward him.

Yang Xiaohai summoned all his fury, pulled out his wooden staff, and pointed it at them, shouting loudly, "Xiumei! Run! Run as far as you can!"

"I won’t go! If you don’t go, I won’t either!" Zhao Xiumei cried with red eyes.

"Don’t be so sentimental! They’ll kill you! I’m a man now, I have to protect my wife!" Though he said this, Yang Xiaohai himself broke down first, tears streaming down his face.

As the man approached, Yang Xiaohai roared and flung his staff at him.

But the man dodged like paper, stepping forward in two quick strides, smiling, and gripping both of Yang Xiaohai’s hands tightly, shaking them.

"Heh heh heh, young friend, sorry about earlier. My dear brother is a brute. I heard your senior brother is the Emperor of Great Li? And I also heard you have another senior brother?"

The man’s reaction left Yang Xiaohai stunned, unsure how to respond.

"I also heard your other senior brother has the surname Li. May I ask which sect he belongs to? What does he look like?"

At this, Yang Xiaohai noticed the man’s smile slightly widened, revealing icy snake-like eyes beneath.

This motion made Yang Xiaohai tremble. Quickly nodding, he said, "Yes! My senior brother is the Emperor of Great Li. His name is Gao Zhijian. I have another senior brother named Li Huo Wang. He... he’s incredibly powerful! He usually wears a red Daoist robe and carries three swords on his back. Do you know him?"

The fat man paused slightly, his smile spreading wider, and the cold snake eyes disappeared back into the folds of his smiling eyes.

"Ahh, so you mean Brother Li? Hahahaha, of course I know him! When he was little, his father often brought him over to visit our family during festivals."

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Next chapter updates at 11:30 PM.

(End of Chapter)