Return

On this side, Li Zhanying and his group had already returned to the territory of the Pusi Kingdom, one step ahead of Lin Xiao.

At this time, they were planning to first escort the kidnapped mountain villagers on the ship back to their respective strongholds one by one.

Returning them stronghold by stronghold, those mountain villagers who had been tortured to the point of barely looking human were stunned to see they had returned to their homeland. It wasn't until the old, weak, sick, and disabled who hadn't been captured heard the commotion and came out that they sobbed, disembarked from the spirit ship, and hugged the people of their stronghold, weeping bitterly.

Their cries held the grounding sense of returning to reality and the joy of surviving a catastrophe.

There was also the heartbreak of learning that not even the bones of their children remained.

Fortunately, Xue Chengfeng had left manpower in each stronghold. Tong Shuzheng led these runners, busying themselves back and forth, barely managing to control the scene and settle the rescued villagers.

The villagers of the stronghold where Han Weishu and Tong Jialiang had previously stayed watched the villagers of other strongholds being sent back first. Feeling sorrowful, they continuously prayed in their hearts for the safety of their own family members.

But having survived in the deep mountains all year round, they also knew how difficult it was for their prayers to come true under such circumstances.

Unexpectedly, however, when they returned to their own stronghold, they found that several elders, the disabled, and the stronghold leader's child were all safe and sound.

After listening to their accounts, they realized that this was arranged by the young girl they had taken in earlier.

Thus, the stronghold leader led the villagers to thank Han Weishu one after another.

But seeing Han Weishu suppressing her emotions while accompanying the still-dazed Tong Jialiang, they consciously refrained from disturbing them. Instead, they only let the stronghold leader go over alone to express their gratitude.

This stronghold was very poor.

With no fields or land, they could only rely on the mountains to survive.

They had nothing to offer in thanks, so they could only bring out the treasured furs from their homes as a token of gratitude.

After bidding farewell to the last stronghold, only Li Zhanying, Han Weishu, and Tong Jialiang remained on the spirit ship.

As well as those cultivators they had captured and brought back.

At this time, those people were imprisoned inside the ship by Li Zhanying, who sealed off their surroundings, making them unable to perceive the outside world.

These people were to be taken back to the capital by Li Zhanying to be dealt with.

Meanwhile, Tong Shuzheng stayed in this area to handle the aftermath together with Xue Chengfeng.

Steering the spirit ship back into the sky, Li Zhanying looked at the dull-eyed Tong Jialiang. Ever since he was rescued, he had been like this. Apart from slightly opening his mouth when Han Weishu fed him medicine, he had just leaned against the wall of the ship without moving.

So Li Zhanying asked Han Weishu:

"Where do you two plan to go?"

Han Weishu glanced at Tong Jialiang beside her. Seeing that he still had no reaction, she lowered her head to think for a moment and said:

"Senior, could you send us to Songyang County?"

After all, Ah Liang had previously said they were going to Songyang County to wait for his older cousin.

Given his current state, it wasn't a good idea to go anywhere else. Therefore, it was better to follow the original plan first.

Perhaps he would get better after seeing his cousin.

Hearing this, Li Zhanying nodded slightly and steered the spirit ship to speed towards Songyang County.

Upon arriving at Songyang County, he dropped the two off not far outside the city gates. Li Zhanying then took the cultivators from the Golden Crow Sect of the Huanyou Kingdom on the ship and headed to Xiushui Village.

After watching the spirit ship leave, Han Weishu firmly held Tong Jialiang's hand and led him into the city.

Although Tong Jialiang now looked as if he had lost his soul, fortunately, he could still perform some simple subconscious actions. For example, if something was placed against his lips, he would open his mouth; if pulled to stand up and walk forward, he would lift his legs and step.

He just had lifeless eyes and remained completely silent.

Han Weishu patiently led him into Songyang County, asked a few people for directions, and after wandering around, found the Lingxiao Escort Agency that Tong Jialiang had mentioned to her before.

Standing not far from the entrance, she looked at the bustling escort agency across the street with some hesitation.

Because according to what Tong Jialiang had said before, his cousin had told him to wait for him at this escort agency, which meant that his cousin himself was not inside this escort agency.

But Tong Jialiang had never told her how he was supposed to get in once he arrived at this escort agency.

Nor had she heard him mention any token or the like.

She couldn't just walk in and directly ask them if they knew Tong Jialiang's cousin, could she?

After hesitating for a moment, Han Weishu saw two women smiling and linking arms as they walked to the side door of the Lingxiao Escort Agency and knocked gently.

Then someone came to answer the door, opened the side door for them, and the two women walked in chatting and laughing.

Subsequently, the side door closed.

Seeing that it was getting late, if she didn't find a place to stay soon, she would have to sleep on the streets with Ah Liang tonight.

Han Weishu touched her storage bag.

When they left the stronghold earlier, she had conveniently brought Tong Jialiang's bundle along.

Now his bundle was lying in her storage bag.

Although they could temporarily stay in an inn—she still had money, after all.

But given Tong Jialiang's current situation, she preferred to settle down in one place stably, allowing him to recover slowly, and it would be more appropriate to have acquaintances looking after him.

Staying in a noisy place with people coming and going like an inn was obviously not suitable.

Furthermore, what if his cousin came and didn't see him, thinking he didn't want to seek refuge here?

After thinking for a moment, she decided to take out the bundle and take a look.

She took Tong Jialiang's bundle out of the storage bag and opened it. Inside, apart from a few changes of clothes and some loose copper coins, there were just two straw ropes used for tying the legs when traveling.

And inside the clothes, a letter was carefully wrapped.

Other than this, there was nothing else.

So Han Weishu opened the letter and read it carefully.

Then she restored the things she had messed up, and led Tong Jialiang into the Lingxiao Escort Agency.

"Is Chief Escort Qin here?"

The escorts inside the agency were somewhat surprised to see a dirty lad leading another even filthier lad who clearly didn't look right in the head, and asking for Boss Qin right off the bat.

To the side, Master Gao, the most senior middle-aged burly man in the escort agency who had just accepted a job and was preparing, turned his head and asked:

"Young man, what business do you have with Boss Qin?"

Hearing this, Han Weishu looked at him and said:

"Please inform Boss Qin that Young Master Mo's servant requests an audience."

Hearing her say this, Master Gao naturally wouldn't pry further. He nodded to Han Weishu and said:

"Wait here for a moment."

Saying that, he turned his head and asked a young errand boy in the agency to go to the backyard and inform Boss Qin.

In the backyard, Qin Jianghe was stunned when he received the message.

Young Master Mo? The first person he thought of when it came to someone surnamed Mo who could be called a young master was Mo Yuanjiao.

But what was his servant doing here?

Unable to figure it out, he stopped thinking about it. He would know once he asked, so he directly took out the positioning sound transmission talisman imbued with Mo Yuanjiao's spiritual energy.