"Fight!" Xiao Yilan gritted his teeth and said in a low voice, picking up the short sword he carried with him for self-defense with Li Zheng and protecting Meng Lin behind him. Luo Yu nodded, and was about to jump forward, but found that the middle-aged man in the lead raised his head: "What is the way to tell me?"

Xiao Yilan was stunned for a moment, and said in his heart that there was still a turnaround. The situation is urgent, if you want to win the trust of the other party, you can only give the truth, thinking of this section, he looked beyond the bright sword in front of him, threw himself at the middle-aged man, and said: "I am the second son of King Chengji of Benhai City in Qingzhou, if you don't embarrass me today, Benhai City will be grateful in the future." ”

The middle-aged man let out an "oh", and there was no surprise on his face.

"Benhai City, thousands of miles away from here, if you are really a rich son, what are you doing in southern Xinjiang?"

Li Zheng and Meng Lin looked at Xiao Yilan nervously, Xiao Yilan hesitated for a moment, thousands of thoughts flashed through his heart, and said, "We found traces of tree spirits outside Benhai City. ”

The middle-aged man's expression finally changed, and at the same time, the people who gradually surrounded him also showed shocked expressions, and the eyes of everyone who looked at Xiao Yilan suddenly became complicated.

Xiao Yilan knew that he had successfully attracted the interest of the other party, so he continued: "My father was busy with the war with Yunzhou, so he selected some people for me to come to Yuanzhou and asked me to be responsible for investigating this matter. It's just that I was in a hurry, so I took my subordinates and entered southern Xinjiang, but a few of us were separated from the others, and then I met your brothers. He knew very well that these people were begging for a living on the tip of a knife, and if he talked nonsense, he would accidentally turn his head into a different place, so he confided some truths, but the most important content was still made up by him improvized.

The middle-aged man seemed to believe it, and after thinking for a while, he asked, "Where is the tree spirit you saw now?"

"We brought them to Wonju together, but we didn't bring them in because we were worried about the complicated situation in southern Xinjiang. Anyway, it is impossible for these people to go to Yuanzhou to verify at this time, so Xiao Yilan will deal with two sentences, and he must always let the other party have some hope before he can spare his life.

The middle-aged man frowned, as if he attached great importance to the tree spirit, and pondered for a moment before saying, "If we escort you out, what price can you charge?"

Xiao Yilan was stunned, he just wanted the other party to let him go, but he found that he ignored the most important point: people who beg for a life at the tip of the knife are often mercenary. If you don't see tangible benefits, you won't put down your sword.

"What do you want?" he didn't know how to answer, so he could only ask rhetorically.

"I want that dryad. The middle-aged man replied without hesitation, so decisive that Xiao Yilan was a little surprised, and he continued: "But I can help you find out the reason why the tree spirit appeared in Benhai City, you always need someone who is familiar with southern Xinjiang as a guide." After you've investigated it, you won't need it anyway, so how about handing me over the dryads?" he said, his eyes twinkling.

Looking at his confident appearance, Xiao Yilan remembered vigilantly that Song Wenzheng could find a hired hunter like Shangguan Xiang, and people in the employment market in Yuanzhou would also pay attention to the movements of big customers like Song Wenzheng. Xiao Yilan became more and more convinced that the tree spirits escorted by Liu Feng at that time were related to Song Wenzheng, and Song Wenzheng used these hired hunters to capture tree spirits in southern Xinjiang. This middle-aged man seems to know something.

"The habitat of the dryads is always in the depths of southern Xinjiang, and ordinary gathering teams will not go that deep, so how useful can you be?"

The middle-aged man smiled, and his hoarse voice was particularly weird: "The so-called wealth and danger are sought, there are always some teams that want money and don't want their lives, and they have gone deep into the depths of southern Xinjiang, and among them, some people have seen tree spirits. As he spoke, he gestured to the white-haired man not far away.

"He used to be part of these teams, and he only recently changed to my team. ”

Xiao Yilan looked at the person in his mouth. His face was wrinkled, he looked to be in his early sixties, and his eyes were deeply wrinkled, as if they were muddy, and he didn't look at anyone. His white hair may have been added to his tan after a long trek in southern Xinjiang, and he was tied back with a simple hair band. Xiao Yilan thought this person was strange before, but now after listening to the middle-aged man's words, he was even more curious.

Xiao Yilan was thinking about how to excuse himself, but there was a heavy footstep behind him, and the frequency was quite slow. He instantly understood, scolded secretly, and then said to Luo Yu and Li Zheng: "There's no need to talk, do it!"

Luo Yu also reacted quickly, jumped out lightly, and slashed at the waist of the nearest person. The man didn't expect Luo Yu to sneak attack at all, so he was immediately hit and fell to the ground. The bald man was the first to react, scolded, raised the steel knife, and smashed it towards Luo Yu.

Suddenly, Meng Lin, the youngest of the four, chuckled, "It's here." With that, the bushes behind Meng Lin suddenly parted, revealing a weird head shaped like a tree trunk.

The middle-aged man in the lead was the first to see the wood, his eyes lit up, and his voice trembled a little: "Yes...... It's a dryad!"

The crowd suddenly became noisy, and the middle-aged man's hoarse voice seemed very excited, shouting: "Quick, catch him......" His voice stopped abruptly. Everyone was suddenly surprised, Xiao Yilan looked in that direction, only to see that the old man beside him suddenly became bright, and pulled out the middle-aged man's sword with his backhand and slashed it across his throat.

The rest of the team was stunned, and after a short trance, they left Xiao Yilan and the others one after another, and met the old man, scolding and scolding in their mouths.

Unexpectedly, the old man waved the blade of the sword, and then unloaded the right arm of the nearest person, and then stretched out his left hand to snatch the sword in his hand. Luo Yu and Li Zheng watched from the sidelines, their eyes shining.

"Brother Luo, how do you compare to this old man?" asked Li Zheng.

Luo Yu smiled bitterly and shook his head: "I'm far from him, I haven't made more than two moves under him." Li Zheng hummed thoughtfully, staring at the figure.

After leaving more than a dozen corpses by the pond, the old man put his sword into the sheath and suddenly turned his head to look at the wood that was only exposed. Xiao Yilan and the four of them saw the old man's extraordinary skills, and they were all stunned for a while, not daring to move, for fear that his sword blade would fall on them. In front of the old man's gaze, he only felt that there were stones pressed against his chest, and it was a little difficult to breathe. What no one noticed was that Meng Lin showed a vigilant gaze and bowed slightly.

The old man was the first to ask, "Can this tree spirit listen to you?"

Xiao Yilan swallowed his saliva and said, "Sort of." I don't know what the seniors called? This ...... And why is that......" he said, looking around and laughing dryly.

The old man's sleeves were windless, and he said proudly: "It's okay to tell you, the old man's surname is Duan, and the heart is in the south!"

Xiao Yilan's eyes widened, and he asked in disbelief, "Duan Xinnan's senior...... Is it General Duan in the East China Sea Rebellion?"

Duan Xinnan had a calm expression on his face, and said indifferently: "That was many years ago, and now I am no longer an official in Zhongzhou, and the name of general does not need to be mentioned anymore." ”

"The people of the eastern border have all been grateful to General Duan, and the younger generation has thanked the senior Duan first. Xiao Yilan has heard about the catastrophe a few years ago since he was a child, and he has been fascinated by the "North and South Double Swords" for a long time, and after seeing Duan Xinnan's skills, he has no doubts, so he restrained his usual temperament in front of Duan Xinnan and was very respectful. Neither Li Zheng nor Meng Lin had heard of Duan Xinnan's name, but they still saluted with Xiao Yilan.

Xiao Yilan thought of something, and asked again: "I don't know if Senior Duan deliberately rescued him just now, or if he was ......?"

Duan Xinnan's eyes were always on the wood, and he replied with a calm expression: "I just take what I need from them, now I have a better opportunity, as long as I achieve my goal, I don't mind changing people to go with me." ”

His disregard for human life made Xiao Yilan feel a little chilly, but he still asked respectfully: "Senior Duan seems to have been wandering in Southern Xinjiang for a long time, and he is unparalleled, I don't know what is going on with the seniors, and the juniors can help?"

Duan Xinnan retracted his gaze, looked into the distance, and said softly: "I want to go south and find someone." Your dryads may be able to help me. ”

......

Li Xianru only felt that her whole body was sore, her back could barely stand up, she just wanted to find a place to rest, and even cried. But she knew she couldn't, at least not until she met him.

A soldier pushed open the door, stood sideways, and motioned for Li Xianru and the others to enter. Li Xianru and Xiao Ying'er were the first to enter, and they saw Xiao Mu pinching his beard and thinking about the terrain sand map. Li Xianru only felt that the whole person was relaxed, and smiled lightly, while Xiao Ying'er cried directly.

Xiao Mu was taken aback, looked up and saw Li Xianru and Xiao Ying'er, as well as Liu Binyuan and Liu Guanglei in the back, and said strangely: "Hey, why are you here......

Xiao Ying'er threw herself into Xiao Mu's arms and cried regardless of it, and Li Xianru briefly told Xiao Mu what happened in Benhai City. Xiao Mu looked solemn after hearing this: "Fang Hui has actually placed so many eyeliners in Benhai City in the past ten years, he is really deliberate. It's just that there is no news from Yizhan now, which is not good news. ”

Looking at the sad expression on her husband's face, Li Xianru sighed, knowing that it was useless to worry at this time, she forced herself to try not to think about Xiao Yizhan who was still in the tiger's den, so she asked, "Then Ye Hengqiu really besieged Zhongzhou with Ye Tian?"

Speaking of this, Xiao Mujian's face was a little dazed: "Yes, to be honest, I really don't want to turn against Ye, so I can only let him go." Alas, in fact, I should have thought that Ye Hengqiu was full of ambition and boldness whether he was marching or doing things, and it was not surprising that this kind of person would make such a disobedient act, so he asked him to swear before the coalition army. It's just that he didn't expect that he was finally put together by his father and son. I haven't seen him for so many years, and Ye Tian has become such a person. I'm afraid that the strength of the Longyuan Dynasty is going to run out. ”