The man was wearing a brown shirt, with an upright appearance, holding a black-tasseled gun, and stood on a tree trunk in the distance.
"Little brother, we don't mean any harm, we just want to invite you to join the team and tide over the difficulties together."
"Difficulties?"
Ji Ning frowned and looked at the crowd opposite, puzzled.
There are probably about twenty people in this team, and all of them are practitioners.
In the outer area of Xiushan, there should be unscrupulous existence. There will be no monsters threatening them, so why bother?
Seeing Ji Ning's puzzled expression, the man raised his eyebrows and asked in surprise:
"Little brother, don't you know what's happening outside?"
Ji Ning hesitated and said:
"It's been more than two months since I went into the mountains to hunt monsters, so I really don't know."
As soon as he said this, the leading middle-aged man had not yet spoken, but he saw a sloppy young man with a sunken eye behind him. He smiled and said:
"A mere willow bone dares to hunt monsters alone in the beautiful mountains. He has stayed there for two months, and he is not afraid of his tongue slipping when he talks big!"
"No rudeness!"
The leading middle-aged man frowned and scolded.
Ji Ning's expression remained unchanged and he said calmly:
"Believe it or not, I really don't know what's going on outside, and I have no desire to know."
"If you don't say anything, I'll leave."
"Wait!" The middle-aged man waved his hand violently to stop Ji Ning, and then said with a solemn expression:
"Little brother, Xiushan can't get out now!"
Ji Ning was startled when he heard this:
"What does this mean?"
"Alas." The man sighed and said helplessly:
"A while ago, Xuntian Mansion suddenly issued a reward for a murderer who escaped into Xiushan!"
"On the wanted order, it is clearly written that the wanted person is just a mortal, an acupuncture point was opened, he was seriously injured, and he could not escape far."
"But such a mortal actually caused the Xuantian Mansion to issue a sky-high price reward of one hundred high-grade spiritual stones!"
"What!?"
Ji Ning's eyes widened. One hundred high-grade spiritual stones?
In the Taoist temple, he could only receive five low-grade spiritual stones every month, and even these five low-grade spiritual stones were beyond the reach of ordinary handyman disciples, otherwise Li Hu would not betray him.
And high-grade spiritual stones are a hundred times rarer than low-grade spiritual stones!
One hundred high-grade spiritual stones are equivalent to ten thousand low-grade spiritual stones. Ordinary monks may not be able to save enough in their lifetime, but now Xantian Mansion has issued such a sky-high reward for him!
"It seems that those two things are indeed amazing!"
Ji Ning looked solemn and silently looked at the ring on his right index finger, where the gold paper and the mysterious bone token taken from under Jiang Chuan's chair were placed.
I just don’t know, what exactly does it do?
"Few people can resist such a sky-high reward, and besides, it's just to kill a young child."
Xue Zhongjing looked depressed and said with a wry smile:
"In the North County, countless Jiang Hu Cao Mang came to hear the news, and there were even some well-known cultivating forces, adventure groups, etc., all just for the reward from the Xantian Mansion, and I was one of them."
"But we never thought that as the number of people increased and the time passed day by day, we searched almost all the outer areas, but we were unable to find the person on the wanted notice."
"On the contrary, I don't know what happened. The monsters inside Xiushan inexplicably swarmed out to the outside. Many people were injured, and some practitioners even died!"
"Seeing that we can no longer gain anything from here, we wanted to retreat, but unexpectedly, the people from the Xuantian Mansion actually joined forces with the imperial court to set up countless checkpoints outside Xiushan. Within three months, only people are allowed to enter the mountain, and no one is allowed to leave the mountain!"
Ji Ning looked surprised and asked:
"Xiushan is so huge. If you want to leave, how can they stop you?"
"You can leave if you can. Someone has sneaked away long ago, but we didn't dare."
Xue Zhongjing looked helpless and smiled bitterly:
"Among the Jianghu forces, there are spies from the Xuntian Mansion and the imperial court everywhere."
"It is no secret who sneaks away or who obeys orders and stays in the mountains."
Ji Ning suddenly realized.
"You are afraid that if you run away now, the people of Xuntian Mansion will settle the score later."
"That's what I mean. I'm just a young monk in an ordinary adventure group. I make a living by selling demon pills on the black market. If I offend Xantian Mansion, I might not even know how I died."
Xue Zhongjing's mouth was bitter, he turned to look at the rest of the people behind him, and then said:
"There are not a few Jianghu monks who obey the orders of Xantian Mansion, and wherever there are people, there are Jianghu."
"Today's peripheral area is divided into two boundaries according to north and south."
"The north is a dangerous area with the most monsters, while the south is a relatively safe area."
"Those powerful and numerous practitioners gathered together, divided into camps, and set up camp in the south. They came to the north to plunder resources during the day, and then returned to the south to rest at night."
"And we, the small and weak cultivators, are not allowed to live in the south, otherwise we will be regarded as dangerous and we can only survive in the north. Not only do we have to worry about the monsters running out of the central area at all times, but we also have to guard against them. Attack by other practitioners."
"So far, from what I know, no less than fifty casual cultivators have died at the hands of those powerful forces, and all their money has been robbed."
"So in order to survive, I spontaneously gathered many casual cultivators like me. We all work together to resist the danger. If we survive carefully for three months, we should be able to survive."
After the man finished speaking, the room fell into silence.
Ji Ning's expression was solemn.
He had no idea that after he accidentally escaped into the depths of Xiushan, so many changes would happen to the outside world. The people of the Xuntian Mansion actually forced the Jianghu people to stay in the mountains to search, and the monsters in the middle of the mountain would actually come out. .
Under such a critical situation, they have not yet become a rope, but have once again separated into the north and the south. The strong squeezes the weak's value infinitely until the other party dies.
"Sure enough, not everyone is as kind as Miss Ye!"
Ji Ning sighed in his heart, and then continued to fall into deep thought.
The current situation is not dangerous.
According to Xue Zhongjing, those major forces have clearly divided the safer areas and do not allow casual cultivators to join. Naturally, he is no exception.
After all, if everyone runs to the outer south, who will resist the monsters running out from the depths?
"Logically speaking, I'm not afraid of being pursued by the Xuantian Mansion. They are also chasing me anyway. If I sneak out, there shouldn't be any problem?"
Ji Ning thought for a while, then shook his head.
no.
After so many days of searching, no one has been able to find any trace of him. Presumably, the Xantian Mansion has already assumed that he was eaten by a monster. After all, those people only thought that he was a child with only one eye, and he could not be in Xiushan. Live so long.
So now, he can't take any more risks.
If he sneaks out, there is a high chance that he will be taken as the leader and caught back to scare the monkeys. He might as well stay in the mountains and slowly survive for three months. Then he will go out with the Wuyang crowd and hide the truth.
And since he has decided to stay, joining the team of the man in front of him seems to be a good choice.
After all, it is really dangerous to stay alone in the mountains.
"I join you."
Ji Ning nodded and said calmly.
"good!"
"Little brother, please come with us back to the station. We have set up tents and towers there, as well as food and medicine supplies."
Xue Zhongjing greeted Ji Ning with a smile on his face, and the rest of the team lazily left in one direction.
Ji Ning nodded, but did not immediately let down his guard and join the team. Instead, he followed the others from a distance.
Seeing how cautious he was, the sloppy young man who had just started to mock him mocked him with disdain and said:
"Boss, I really don't understand why you recruited him."
"What use will a piece of useless willow do if it really encounters a monster? Besides, seeing as this guy doesn't trust us so much, I'm afraid he will run away if he encounters danger!"
Ji Ning frowned and was about to say something when the slovenly young man turned around and mocked him:
"Boy, if you don't want to follow me, get out of here!"
"If we wanted to attack you, you would have died a hundred times already with your Willow Bone Realm strength. Why wait until now to kill you?"
"In my opinion, even if you join our team, you are still a burden here, eating and drinking for free, so why not get out of here!"
"Jiang Hailiu, shut up!"
Xue Zhongjing snorted coldly, the spiritual energy in his body surged, and his whole body exuded an inexplicable majesty.
“In times of crisis, everyone should work together!”
"The more help we have, the more hope we have of surviving. Besides, don't forget what you and your brother promised me when you first joined here. You must obey my orders in everything!"
"Now, I want him to join our team. Do you have any objections?"
The man's tone was serious, there was no expression on his regular facial features, and his aura was terrifying.
When the sloppy young man heard this, he shrank his neck angrily and did not dare to refute again.
"It's such a strong aura. What I sensed before is correct. It's from the upper realm of Qi Condensation. No wonder he can be the leader of this group of people."
Ji Ning raised his eyebrows and was secretly shocked.
At this moment, Xue Zhongjing, who had finished getting angry, turned his head and looked at Ji Ning and said calmly:
"Little brother, I don't know whether to say something or not."
"Although what Jiang Hailiu said is offensive to you, there is still some truth in it. If you join us, we will be like grasshoppers on the same rope, helping each other in life and death. There is no need for us to harm you in this critical moment. So please trust us."
"If you can't trust us, then I think there is no need for you to join our team. After all, I don't want to be abandoned by my own people and stabbed in the back at a critical moment."
Ji Ning looked at the man quietly for a moment across a forest, then smiled slightly, nodded and said:
"good."
Then, his speed increased and he came directly behind everyone.
Seeing this, Xue Zhongjing's frown relaxed slightly. He smiled and patted Ji Ning's shoulder without saying anything more.
The sloppy young man didn't say anything, but he rolled his eyes and gave Ji Ning a disdainful look.
Obviously, he didn't like this young boy with only a willow bone cultivation level at all.
Ji Ning's expression was calm. He only glanced at the sloppy young man and didn't pay much attention to him.
In the Bronze Bone Realm, the breath is empty.
With such strength, he might be able to kill without even using his spiritual energy.
The scene changed, and Ji Ning followed everyone to the team's camp. It was built behind a flat hillside. A simple wall was built around it with wood. There was also a faint sentry in the woods a hundred meters away from the wall. tower.
"The sentry tower must be guarded every night to prevent enemy invasion."
"As soon as you join, I won't let you keep vigil alone. You will first get familiar with the two brothers."
Xue Zhongjing pointed at the sloppy young man in front of him.
The latter was sitting in front of the tent with a sleepy look on his face, chatting with another young man who was obviously a few years older than him, with similar eyebrows but obviously different temperament.
"The more stable one is called Jiang Liuhai. He is Jiang Hailiu's older brother. He is very powerful and has hunted monsters in the Silver Bone Stage alone."
Xue Zhongjing said, scratching his head in embarrassment:
"I know he just offended you, but I'm sorry. The team is short of manpower. Everyone has to go out to explore the ruins during the day and hunt monsters to earn resources."
"Only Jiang Hailiu is relatively free, because his brother has done all his work, so it is best for him to teach you about keeping vigil. I hope you don't take the previous conflict to heart."
"Have you ever hunted a silver-bone monster alone with your iron bones?" Ji Jing stared at the steady young man quietly, his eyes a little solemn.
He could feel that this person was completely different from that sloppy young man, exuding a dangerous aura that could only be found in people who have been through life and death all year round.
Following his gaze, Jiang Liuhai in the distance suddenly raised his head and looked over with sharp eyes.
The two looked at each other from afar.
"I have no opinion."
After a moment, Ji Ning shrugged and agreed.
Anyway, he has no plans to go out to hunt monsters or explore ruins. In such a dangerous time, it is better not to expose his strength easily.
As for keeping vigil with Jiang Hailiu, as long as the other party no longer provokes him, he can pretend that the previous matter never happened.
But if the other party kicks his nose in the face...
Ji Ning walked to the tent, looked down from a high position, smiled at the sloppy young man sitting on the ground and said:
"Hello."
"Brother Xue said that we should stay vigil together tonight."
