Chapter 60: Homeward Journey

Under the command of Lingquanzi, the people of Tiangang Hall successfully blew up the Cimut Castle, and then returned to Wugo Mountain. They waited for Zhang Yuelu's injury to improve before heading to the Western Region Dao Mansion in the Great Snow Mountain. Then they would take a flying boat from Yaochi in the Great Snow Mountain back to Yujing.

After this battle, everyone's impression of Zhang Yuelu and Qi Xuansu changed greatly.

Zhang Yuelu led the troops and was clearly the highest position and the highest realm, but he was the most seriously injured. No one could say that he was not right.

Qi Xuansu also proved himself. Although he was only a seventh-grade Taoist priest in the Kunlun stage, he killed the leader of the demons with one sword. This was witnessed by the head of Lingquan, and Arthur from the Holy Court testified. After Shangguan Dun's translation and publicity, it was known to everyone.

For a time, Qi Xuansu's reputation reversed. He was no longer a pretty boy who relied on nepotism to get to the top in the eyes of everyone, but a strange man with real skills. As for how to "strange" the method, no one saw Qi Xuansu kill Diswen, so they could only imagine it.

Arthur completed his mission and was going to return to the Holy Court to report. Today, he came to say goodbye to the Taoists.

Although Qi Xuansu successfully killed Diswen, Arthur also made an indelible contribution. If he had not used himself as bait to make Diswen mistakenly take "high-grade black blood", the ending would have been unpredictable.

In fact, the killing of Diswen this time cannot be attributed entirely to a certain person, but the result of the concerted efforts of the entire team, including many Taoists. If they had not released the Yin Qi and blocked the earth Qi, making it impossible for the Revno family to perform illusions, it would have been difficult to successfully eliminate this group of criminals.

Because they had fought side by side, the Taoists had a good impression of the chief bishop of the Holy Court, and they all saw Arthur off.

Arthur finally said goodbye to Qi Xuansu alone. After all, during this period of time, apart from Ellie, Qi Xuansu had the most exchanges with him, and the two still had some common language.

"Qi, if you go to the West Continent in the future, remember to come find me." Arthur handed an address to Qi Xuansu.

Qi Xuansu kept it solemnly: "Definitely."

Arthur left Wugoshanli and set off on his way home.

Just three days after Arthur left, the Taoists also left Wugoshanli and went to the Snow Mountain Palace.

Before leaving, Zhang Yuelu left the fifth-grade Taoist birth certificate to Ellie as agreed, and took Shangguan Dun away.

Shangguan Dun got what he wanted and was promised the birth of a ninth-grade Taoist priest. He was overjoyed and didn't miss it at all.

At the same time, Zhang Yuelu also sent a message to Mu Jin, asking them not to come to Wugoshanli again, but to wait at the Snow Mountain Palace, waiting for them to meet up.

Compared with the solemn atmosphere when they came, the Taoists who set out on their way home were in a good mood. They galloped on the vast Gobi Desert. Even if the wind and snow still blocked the road, they could still have some leisurely feelings of walking in the snow.

Zhang Yuelu's injury has healed. She is wearing a cape and a hood, riding her horse in the front, looking very cool.

Qi Xuansu is a little behind her by half a horse's head, but she is not as free and easy as Zhang Yuelu. Zhang Yuelu, like Qi Niang, always keeps her word. Drinking is drinking, and errands are errands. The task of writing a summary after the event still falls on Qi Xuansu, which makes Qi Xuansu very distressed.

It is true that Wanxiang Dao Palace did teach how to write official documents, but so many years have passed. Qi Xuansu is still proficient in swords and muskets, but he rarely writes and has almost forgotten them. Now it is a bit worrying to pick them up again, so Qi Xuansu took advantage of the time on the road to start writing a draft early.

From Wugoshanli to Daxuan's Xizhou, they all belong to the scope of the Western Regions.

In the Western Regions, there are many Gobi deserts, oases and cities, forming a scene of many countries standing side by side. Take Wugoshanli for example. It can be called a city or a country. If the area of ​​the desert and Gobi is included, Wugoshanli is roughly equivalent to a prefecture in the Central Plains. But if the desert and the neighboring area are removed, it is equivalent to a county.

The only exception is the Great Snow Mountain in the north, which was called Baishan in ancient times. There is snow in winter and summer, so it is called the Great Snow Mountain. The Golden Tent people call it Zheluoman Mountain. It is 21,900 feet high, about 5,000 miles long and about 600 miles wide. The highest peak is Tomur Peak, and the Great Snow Mountain Palace is located under this peak.

It took more than a month for the group to cross the vast Gobi Desert, and a city finally appeared in sight. This was the former Dondu Kingdom, one of the 36 countries in the Western Regions.

Speaking of the countries in the Western Regions, it is more appropriate to describe them as fence-sitters. When the Central Plains Dynasty was at its peak, the Western Regions countries submitted to the Central Plains Dynasty. The Central Plains Dynasty also established the Western Regions Protectorate, Anxi Protectorate, and Beiting Protectorate in the Western Regions. When the Central Plains Dynasty weakened, the Western Regions countries submitted to the Golden Horde Court and respected the Golden Horde Khan.

In the second year of Shenjue, the Dondu Kingdom belonged to the Western Regions Protectorate. During the period of the Empress, it was divided into the jurisdiction of the Shule Governorate. Later, only half of the country was left in the Great Jin Dynasty, and the Western Regions were completely lost. It was ruled by the Golden Horde again.

In the last years of the previous Wei Dynasty, the court was too busy to take care of itself. Even Liangzhou, which led to the Western Regions, had been lost, not to mention the Western Regions countries, so the Western Regions countries all submitted to the Golden Horde Court. However, because of the internal strife in the royal court, the Golden Horde's control over the Western Regions countries was greatly weakened. The Western Regions countries acted on their own, and many Golden Horde nobles fled to the Western Regions to avoid the war, making the Western Regions more and more mixed and chaotic.

It was not until the Daxuan court recovered Xizhou that the Dondu Kingdom returned to the jurisdiction of the Central Plains court and was renamed Dondu County.

The Great Snow Mountain and Kunlun meet in Dondu Country, Kunlun is dark blue and the Great Snow Mountain is red. There is a poem that says: The yellow sand is endless for thousands of miles, and the Gobi Desert is vast and cold. The red and dark blue are clearly strong, and the two mountains meet in two different worlds.

When everyone left Yujing, it was late August. After fifty days of traveling and more than ten thousand miles, it was early October when they arrived in Dondu County, and winter officially began.

Everyone was exhausted. The wind and snow were severe and cold, and people with congenital diseases were not harmed by diseases and epidemics, so they could still bear it. The key was that many people almost vomited after eating "Xingjun Pills". If they had not replenished some supplies in Wugo Mountain, they would have no "Xingjun Pills" to eat. After the "Xingjun Pills" were exhausted, they could only eat some dry food as cold and hard as stones, which was really a pity.

So Zhang Yuelu decided to rest for a few days in Dondu County before setting off for the Daxue Mountain Palace.

The group entered the county town, but did not attract much attention. After all, this place is not far from the Snow Mountain Palace, which is considered the core sphere of influence of the Western Region Daofu. Because people from the Taoist sect often pass by here, there is also a Taoist temple in the city that serves as a post station.

The master of the Taoist temple is named Xu Huiqian, a seventh-rank Taoist priest, who is sipping a cup of hot tea. After the winter, the weather is cold and the ground is frozen, but the temple is directly under the Snow Mountain Palace, and charcoal, firewood, and silver are abundant, so the room is very warm.

Just then, a young ninth-rank Taoist priest pushed the door in and reported: "Master, someone is coming, dozens of people."

"Dozens of people? Could it be that the Tiangang Hall has sent people again? What's going on this year? The Shaman group is not done with the big god dance?" Xu Huiqian hurriedly put down the tea bowl in his hand and got up to go out to greet them.

When Xu Huiqian came out of the gate of the Taoist temple, he saw dozens of people and horses, all wearing uniform cloaks and riding horses with the logo of the Kunlun Daofu. Who else could it be if not the people from the Tiangang Hall?

Xu Huiqian took a quick look and was just wondering who was the person in charge when he heard a young man say, "Master, we are Taoist priests from Tiangang Hall and we are going to the Daxue Mountain Palace. Please arrange a place for us to stay and prepare some food."

Hearing the words "Tiangang Hall", Xu Huiqian thought that he had guessed it right and hurriedly said, "It's my job."

The young man said, "These are our Deputy Master Zhang and Lingquan, both of whom are fourth-grade Taoist priests. Master, please don't neglect them."

Xu Huiqian was shocked. Deputy Master of Tiangang Hall? Two deputy masters of Tiangang Hall have already gone to the Western Regions Taoist Palace, and now there is another one? Could it be that they are going to go to war with Shamanism?

Thinking about this, Xu Huiqian looked in the direction pointed by the young man. One was a middle-aged Taoist priest and the other was a young woman. He took it for granted that the middle-aged Taoist priest was the deputy hall master and the young woman was probably a beauty. He saluted Lingquanzi and said, "Meet Deputy Hall Master Zhang." He also saluted Zhang Yuelu and said, "Meet Lingquan Master."

At this moment, everyone laughed out loud, even Lingquanzi had a smile on his face.

Zhang Yuelu had no intention of correcting him, but just ordered, "Deacon Qi, please help arrange it."

In front of outsiders, the two still called each other by their titles. And Zhang Yuelu didn't know why he had to give all the big and small things to Qi Xuansu, as if he was used to it and was not used to using others. In the eyes of others, they only felt that the relationship between the deputy hall master and Deacon Qi was very unusual.

Qi Xuansu was used to being ordered around by Qi Niang, so he didn't think anything of it and agreed casually.

After that, Zhang Yuelu and others entered the Taoist temple. Qi Xuansu stayed and explained to Xu Huiqian: "Master, the girl just now is Deputy Hall Master Zhang. You recognized the wrong person."

Xu Huiqian exclaimed: "Ah!" "There is such a young Deputy Hall Master."

Qi Xuansu said: "Our Deputy Hall Master is from the Zhang family of Shangqing Prefecture. He is a fourth-rank Taoist priest. He was just appointed as the Deputy Hall Master of Tiangang Hall by the rotating Great Immortal not long ago."

Xu Huiqian's heart trembled when he heard it. Zhang from Shangqing Prefecture was appointed by the rotating Great Immortal. At such a young age, he really has a promising future. I am afraid that he will have a place in Jinque in the future.

He suddenly felt uneasy and wondered if he had offended the Deputy Hall Master just now.

Qi Xuansu saw what Xu Huiqian was thinking and comforted him, "Deputy Hall Master Zhang is not a stingy person and won't care about this. The temple master should arrange accommodation as soon as possible. In addition to two fourth-rank priests, we also have a sixth-rank priest, and the rest are seventh-rank priests. It's best to follow the specifications."

Xu Huiqian quickly perked up and took notes carefully, fearing that there would be any mistakes.

After Qi Xuansu finished his instructions, Xu Huiqian called on the staff in the Taoist temple to arrange accommodation for everyone.