Lu Zhan looked at the invitation card in his hand and asked Lu Bufan: "Is this Sima Xingge, who sent out the invitation to the Secret Realm Heroes Association, the imperial court in charge of our entire territory in Hongzhou?"

"Yes. Lu Bufan nodded: "The Sima family is also the most powerful family in the entire Hongzhou, as far as the old man knows, that Sima Xingge is also the contemporary head of the Sima family, and his martial arts attainments have reached the middle stage of the transformation of strength. ”

"So, in Hongzhou City, this Sima Xingge Martial Arts is the most powerful?"

"Not necessarily. Lü Bufan said: "In Hongzhou City, there is also a commander-in-chief appointed by the imperial court, his name is Wu Ju, this person is in charge of 900,000 Hongzhou garrisons, and 100,000 Xuanjia elite soldiers, this million army is the main field force to defend the southeastern border of the Great Chu Empire. It is said that Wu Ju's martial arts attainments have also entered the realm of transforming strength. As for who is more powerful compared to Sima Xingge, there is no public opinion, even if Sima Xingge is higher in martial arts. However, Wu Ju has the military power of a million heroes in his hands, and his overall strength is only better than Sima Xingge. ”

Lu Zhan let out an "oh", tilted his head sideways and smiled evilly: "This is also very interesting, thinking that Hongzhou City and his party, even if they don't have any gains in the secret realm of the 'Black Evil Valley', at least they can see the demeanor of the two powerhouses of the Transformation Strength Realm, and it is not worth the trip." ”

"In this way," Lu Bufan stared at Lu Zhan, "Is the virtuous nephew ready to go to this appointment of the 'Secret Realm Heroes Meeting'?"

"Since it is the right time, of course the little nephew does not want to miss it. Lu Zhan put away the red invitation and stood up: "Uncle, now that it's the end of March, I have to prepare and go on the road as soon as possible." Hongzhou City is still thousands of miles away from Yunmeng City, and it will take more than ten days to travel miles on the way. ”

Two days later, Lu Zhan, who was at the peak of the Condensation Qi Realm, left the Lu Mansion. Riding a fast horse and rushing to Hongzhou City, this time he traveled lightly, carrying only a simple bag on the saddle, and the attendants accompanying him only brought Xi Liuzi alone.

The distance between Yunmeng City and Hongzhou City is three or four thousand miles, and if you go fast and starry night, it will only take about ten days. Lu Zhan and Xi Liuzi felt that there was still plenty of time, so the two of them let go and watched the scenery along the way.

Lu Zhan grew up in Yunmeng City since he was a child, and in the past seventeen years, the farthest place away from Yunmeng City was to go to the neighboring Lanshui City to exchange for pill coupons and exchange for second-level pills.

Now that I have to travel thousands of miles away all of a sudden, there will be some sorrow and parting in my heart, bit by bit, and the order is clear.

Of course, for this young man, it is like the day when the wings of the young eagle grow solid, they will leave the nest, spread their wings and soar, and never hang their wings.

It's just that this time it will fly, and it will surely crisscross the world and roar proudly beyond the nine heavens. I don't know when and how I can return to Yunmeng City, where he gave birth to him and raised him.

Therefore, when the horse under his seat galloped out of the realm of Yunmeng City, he grabbed the reins and looked back at the mountains of his hometown and the water of his homeland;

After looking at it for a long time, he believed in the reins of the horse, and urged him to ride away, and he still sang loudly in his mouth:

"A mountain of empty dreams urges the cold moon,

Thousands of levels under the clouds of rolling war.

Men have been so heroic since ancient times,

Look at the history of the dragon and tiger!"

The Great Chu Empire had ten states and eighty-eight counties, and Hongzhou was a large state closest to the southeastern border, with eleven counties under its jurisdiction and a population of about 70 million.

The state capital is Hongzhou City, which is the largest city in the southeast of Great Chu, with a resident population of more than 12 million, and the city area is five or six times that of Yunmeng City.

After Lu Zhan and Xi Liuzi left Yunmeng City, the two of them let go of the reins, watching the scenery along the way, but unfortunately what they saw along the way was a dilapidated scene of broken ruins, scattered white bones, and no rooster crowing for thousands of miles. When Lü Zhan was in Lü Mansion, he heard Lü Bufan and many other people who were familiar with the world say that the current Great Chu Empire is already in internal and external difficulties, and it is as dangerous as an egg, with bandits and bandits rampant inside, rebels everywhere, officials [***], and the people are not able to make a living;

At that time, he was obsessed with martial arts cultivation, and the young man Lu Zhan only had a general concept of the term "internal and external difficulties" in his mind, and did not form a very intuitive understanding.

Now walking on the official road of barren smoke and grass, I really know how terrible this so-called "internal and external difficulties" are. I saw that everywhere along the road were poor families fleeing the famine and begging for food, bandits were rampant, gunsmoke was everywhere, many villages had been turned into scorched earth, and unburied bones and corpses could be seen on the roadside at any time.

It turns out that the current Great Chu Empire has fallen like this, and even gives people a premonition that the end is coming.

The two walked for two days, passing through Lanshui City, another large city in Hongzhou, until the next evening, they walked into a valley. Look at the craggy rocks and dense thorny bushes that stand on either side. Xi Liuzi muttered worriedly: "Boss, this place always makes me feel weird, as if I don't know what fierce beasts and monsters are hidden in the shadows. Seeing that it is getting late now, if we can't find a village or a small town, we may have to sleep in the wilderness. ”

Lu Zhanzi was not as nervous as him, he looked ahead calmly: "Is there any difference between sleeping and not sleeping? Since he has already come out, he will be covered with a bed every day, and he will not be afraid of this night dew." ”

"You can't say that. Xi Liuzi retorted: "People, after all, I still like to join in the fun." Whenever there are many people, there is always a sense of security in my heart. In this kind of wilderness, there may be some fierce beasts. In fact, this ferocious beast is not the most terrifying. The most terrifying thing must be human beings, such as the people who block the road and rob people, the robbers who kill people like hemp, and the anti-thieves and rebels like the Ghost Face Cliff, anyway, this world is really not peaceful, and you have to be careful when you see people. ”

Lu Zhan was coaxed by his words and laughed: "I said, Liuzi, what you said sounds quite reasonable. But you just said that it is good to have more people, and you said that people should be wary of each other. We have to get together, but we also have to watch out for each other, so are you tired?"

"Not tired, not tired. Xi Liuzi pointed to the shadows of the surrounding peaks and trees and said: "But now I can't even see a ghost shadow, that's the most tiring, I'd rather join in the fun and walk with people, and at the same time watch out for some other parties." But he didn't want to face this lonely and cold feeling. ”

Lu Zhan sat on the horse, turned his ears and listened to the movement on the road ahead, and said to Xi Liuzi: "Then Liuzi, don't worry, go a little further ahead, we will be able to meet people, and there are really a lot of people." ”

"Really?" Xi Liuzi also followed Lu Zhan's example, and listened intently for a while, "Why can't I hear anything?"

He let out a long sigh and said, "Chief, when you first came to our nursing hall a year and a half ago, the martial arts attainments between us were still at the same level. But in just over a year, you have already advanced to the peak stage of the Qi Condensation Realm by leaps and bounds, and I, I am still hovering in the late stage of the Bone Forging Realm, and I have not even stabilized the realm. You are also a handsome young man, how can your cultivation speed increase so fast! It seems that as the old saying goes, people are better than people, but it really makes people angry. ”

Lu Zhan smiled and didn't answer his words.

The two of them walked forward for about 300 steps, and suddenly heard someone on the side of the road shouting: "Stop!"

Xi Liuzi glanced at Lu Zhan and said with sincere admiration: "Boss, there are living people in front of you, your old man's prediction is really accurate." ”

I saw two strong men jumping out from behind the trees on the side of the road, both of them holding fifth-level ghost head broadswords in their hands, Xi Liuzi muttered quietly: "It shouldn't have been a robbery." ”

However, he was very determined, because the two who jumped out knew at a glance that the martial arts attainments were still in the realm of refining the body. Mo said that Lu Zhan made a move, even if he Xi Liuzi could simply deal with ten or twenty such waste firewood in the Body Refining Realm.

The two strong men with big swords saw that there were only two people in Lu Zhan and Xi Liuzi, and except for the two mounts under their crotches, they were also dressed normally.

And except for Xi Liuzi carrying a sixth-level steel knife in his waist, he didn't see any other eye-catching blades, and his originally nervous expression relaxed.

They greeted Lu Zhan and the others very politely and said, "Dare to ask the two friends, where are you coming from, and where are you going?"

Lu Zhan felt that these two people had no malicious intent, and said calmly: "I'm waiting for me to come from Yunmeng City, and I'm going to Hongzhou City." ”

"It turns out that the two of you are from Yunmeng City," one of the strong men said with a hint of a smile: "We are the 'Great Wind Dart Bureau' of Hongzhou City, we have just turned back from Lanshui City, and we are now resting in the valley clearing in front of us, I wonder if the two of you are going to fight from here and rush overnight?"

Xi Liuzi asked: "This eldest brother is invited, but I don't know how far it will take to get from here to the nearest town?"

The strong man replied, "I'm afraid that I will have to walk more than a hundred miles to reach a town where I can rest, but seeing that the two of you are traveling lightly, if you hurry up, you should be able to arrive in two hours." ”

"I'll take a look," Lu Zhan waved his hand and said, "It's not a good idea to rush to the night in this deep mountain in the dark light, since the Guidart Bureau is here to rest and sleep, we also want to be a companion for one night." ”

The two strong men looked at each other, and one of them said, "I don't think you two look like bad people." However, the world has been really bad lately, and the master of our dart game should be more closely defended. Then let's do it, you come with me, and I'll take you to see the darthead, and let him decide whether or not to let you ask for a convenient place to stay together. ”

Xi Liuzi was a little unhappy and said nonsense: "Seeing that you are just a dart game, why don't you let us sleep with you? Is it because we are afraid that we have a habit of breaking our sleeves and peach, and we will get up in the middle of the night and insult you? Please! After all, our Lu Mansion is also from the most powerful family in Yunmeng City, and we have never seen anything in the world." ”

(In the second chapter of the update, Piggy overcomes all difficulties and persists in gritting his teeth, and there will be a third update to fulfill the promise he made.) ）;