Three miles away from Baiyue County, Xianzhou, on a trail leading to the south of the Yangtze River, a carriage is shuttling through the night, driving rapidly.

The dust brought up by the wheels spread through the air, the sound of horses' hooves was crisp and loud, Ai Xia sat in front of the car, her jade hand clutched the reins, looking at the green trees on both sides of the trail that kept falling backwards, her beautiful face was as pale as the flying snow of the winter solstice, with a strong color of worry.

Suddenly, Ai Xiadai's eyebrows were furrowed, her eyes showed some pain, I saw her hurriedly cover her heart with her hand, for some reason, a tingling sensation came from her heart, Ai Xia was in a trance, only to feel that there was an empty piece in her heart, as if something precious had left her.

"Ann Noon...... "Ai Xia muttered.

Pulling the reins, the carriage galloped, just as it was about to cross a fork in the road, Ai Xia's eyes inadvertently glanced at the road, immediately looked pale, and then quickly pulled the reins, the horse was pulled in pain, neighed, and slowly stopped the running hooves.

After the carriage stopped, Ai Xia hurriedly stepped off the carriage, walked quickly to the side of the fork, at a glance, a fork in the dense woods hidden in the night, this fork is connected to the official road, Ai Xia leaned down, only to see a dense horseshoe prints come into view, this horseshoe prints from the fork, has been extending to the distant path.

Ai Xia's family is to open a horse shop for a living, Ai Xia is not out of the cabinet, he likes to play in the horse farm, and knows a lot about the habits of horses, until he married into the local wealthy businessman's family, this left the horse farm where he grew up, and became the wife of Quan Anwu, although he has not dealt with horses for many years, but the eyesight cultivated since childhood has not faded.

Pinching up a handful of dirt and rubbing it slightly on her fingertips, Ai Xia carefully observed the horseshoe prints on the land, and said to herself:

"To be able to step on such a dense horseshoe print, roughly estimated, it will take ten horses, and then look at the horseshoe prints, all of them are deep in the ground, is it loaded with some heavy objects? If it is an ordinary caravan, it will definitely pull the cart forward, but there is no trace of the wheel here, besides, the convoy will generally go on the official road, and will never take this remote path. ”

"The bandits of the mountains and forests are all lightly armed, in order to be swift, and it will never be them, so that there is only one possibility left, and only the horses of officers and soldiers in heavy armor can step on such deep horseshoe prints. ”

Ai Xia got up slowly, her heart full of worry:

"This horseshoe print is very fresh, I think those officers and soldiers have just left, could it be that these officers and soldiers are with the enemy, and they can't rob and kill us?"

Ai Xia was anxious, she was by no means a stupid woman, from being captured to being robbed, everything showed that they wanted to snatch an extremely important item from her husband's hand, and this thing was quietly placed in her arms at this time.

He took out the key that Quan Anwu handed over from the placket, and the key was still stained with bloodstains, which were now dry and dark red.

After thinking for a while, Ai Xia walked quickly to the front of the carriage, opened the curtain, and hugged Quan Xiaoling out of the carriage.

Touching Quan Xiaoling's head, Ai Xiamei's eyes were full of reluctance, and then she handed the key in her hand to Xiaoling's little hand, and said in a trembling voice:

"Xiaoling, this key was exchanged for our family's lives, you must take it away, you know?"

Quan Xiaoling looked at her mother with a sad expression, and her big eyes full of aura gradually faded, covered with a layer of tears:

"Mother, Xiaoling knows. ”

Sighing, Ai Xia bit her lip lightly, looked at her daughter, there may be an ambush ahead, she must not bet on her daughter, I saw her speak softly:

"Xiaoling, we have to separate, there are bad people waiting for us in front, my mother needs to drive away those bad people, you go through the depths of the woods, walk about four miles from here, and you will arrive in Yeyuan County, you will wait for your mother there, if three days later, your mother has not returned, and your life in the future will depend on yourself. ”

Xiao Ling hurriedly hugged Ai Xia's arm, looked up at Ai Xia, and tears welled up in her eyes:

"Mother, mother, mother, is it the same as father, don't want Xiaoling......"

Ai Xiamei's eyes were full of reluctance, she hurriedly shook her head, held Xiaoling tightly in her arms, and choked up:

"How come, neither my father nor my mother have abandoned Xiaoling, you are our biological flesh and blood, they are all those bad people, who want to harm us, Xiaoling, now you must listen to your mother's words, you must be strong. ”

Quan Xiaoling slowly let go of the hands that were holding Ai Xia, lowered her little head deeply, and nodded with difficulty.

Ai Xia returned to the carriage and hung the soft package containing gold and silver on Xiao Ling's thin and petite shoulders, and then the jade hand trembled and touched Xiao Ling's cheek, the reluctance in her heart had drowned her like a flood, she kept struggling in the water, her hands were desperately scratching her throat, but the drowning suffocation still could not be relieved.

Quan Xiaoling walked out of the arms of her closest mother, and walked towards the woods on both sides of the trail step by step, she is only nine years old this year, this is the first time she has left the arms of her parents, but it is this situation, so dangerous, Xiaoling stood by the woods, looking at her mother who was standing on the side of the carriage with a sad expression, her little face was full of confusion, and she muttered to herself:

"Daddy said that when the flowers bloom in Hantan, it will be the day of Daddy's return, when will Xiaoling be reunited with her mother......

Quan Xiaoling turned around and stepped into the dense woods, the woods at night are not as vibrant and energetic as during the day, only to see the gaps between the trees, pitch black, like the bloody mouths of evil beasts, and like the dark and cold hell abyss.

When Quan Xiaoling's petite body completely disappeared from sight, Ai Xia retracted her gaze with a sad look, at this time she was already in tears, her heart was like ashes, and the separation of her own flesh and blood made Ai Xia's heart like a knife, tears soaked in gorgeous makeup, covering her chest with one hand, Ai Xia whispered in her heart:

"Xiaoling, my daughter, my mother can't stand you, I can't leave with you, those thieves killed my husband and humiliated our mother and daughter, how can I swallow this breath, Xiaoling, this parting, I won't see you again, my mother owes you in this life, and I will pay it back in the next life. ”

Boarding the carriage, Ai Xia's face was resolute, her eyes were as calm as stagnant water, and she saw her pulling the reins and speeding all the way down the path.

Four miles away from Baiyue County, in the woods on both sides of the path, I saw five soldiers in red armor riding fine horses, ambushing in the dense jungle, and behind them was a young man riding a black horse and dressed as a Confucian in white.

The surroundings were very quiet, except for the traces of some nocturnal beasts from time to time, there was no other sound, shrouded in the thick of the night, and the woods in the dark night were full of oppression.

One of the generals, with gorgeous armor and a high rank, couldn't help but speak:

"Mr. Dongyuan, you say, will this person flee to other counties, after all, there are still many cities close to Baiyue County. ”

Dongyuan didn't open his eyes, and said slowly:

"Even if you flee to other places, it won't help, this official road leading to all parts of Baiyue County has been firmly sealed by us, Jiangnan is the base camp of the Daomen, and Xu Heng, the leader of the alliance with peerless martial arts, is in charge, in a sense, it is safer than the imperial city, so they will definitely choose to take refuge in Jiangnan. ”

When the general heard this, he immediately bowed his hand, and then complimented:

"Mr. Dongyuan's strategy is unparalleled, it is the shallow eyes of the lower officials, and it is a lifelong honor for us to follow Mr. Dongyuan!"

The other four soldiers also saluted, and their voices were low:

"It's our honor to follow Mr. Dongyuan!"

Nodding slightly, Dongyuan sat on the horse's back, a smile on the corner of his mouth, and secretly thought:

"This plan has cost me a lot of hands and feet, if I can successfully obtain the key to the ancient city, then all the efforts made in the past three months are worth it, to obtain the things of the ancient city, I Dongyuan can be proud of the martial arts, at that time, it will no longer be a humble chess piece on the chessboard, do not have to be a murder knife in the hands of others, fate, must be in their own hands. ”

The path at night was pitch black, and with the help of the faint light, she could barely see the road conditions ahead, and Ai Xia set up the carriage and galloped all the way forward.

After a while, Dongyuan, who was sitting on the horse's back, had his ears beating slightly, and then slowly opened his eyes and said in a deep voice:

"It's coming. ”

When the other five people heard this, their bodies tightened, and they slowly pulled out the long knife hanging from their waists, and waited for it.

Sure enough, the sound of wheels rolling and horse hooves sounded in their ears, and the six people rode horses, slowly walked to the edge of the woods, their eyes penetrated the woods, and the sound of the carriage was clear, only to see that on the dark path in the distance, a vague shadow slowly appeared, everyone was a warrior, and the strength was not bad, although the carriage was still far from the ambush circle, but for everyone's eyesight, through the thick night, they clearly saw Ai Xia who was sitting in front of the carriage and hurrying away.

Everyone clenched the long knives in their hands, waiting for the target to step into the ambush circle that had been prepared, time passed, and when the carriage stepped into the ambush circle, they saw the gorgeous armor of the general, flying up from the horse, suddenly rushing out of the woods, and then leaning towards the carriage at a very fast speed!

The general crossed a red afterimage in the air, and then came to the carriage, kicked the horse's head, the horse's head exploded like a ripe watermelon, the guillotine horse that was galloping at high speed ran a few steps along the inertia, and then fell to the ground, Ai Xia sat in front of the carriage, was hit by the falling carriage and hit the waist, only to see the carriage with the decapitated horse sliding on the ground, sliding out of dozens of zhang away, before it could stop, surrounded by dust, the land was plowed out of a deep ravine.