In the frigid lands, after my exile, I began to slay demons and monsters.

Chapter 283 The Wilderness

Ning Xiaoxi stopped in her tracks, holding her breath as she looked weakly at the person in front of her. Her fingers swiftly pulled a handkerchief from her spatial storage, covered her nose, and tied it behind her head to block out the pungent smell that had filled her nostrils.

He asked in a high-pitched voice, "My lord, aren't you in the royal city?"

Tianji laughed heartlessly, without covering his mouth or nose, completely oblivious to the pungent smell. His voice remained as gentle as ever, "You've caused me such a huge mess, how could I not come? It only took me two days and two nights to get here from the capital, I almost died from exhaustion."

Ning Xiaoxi pointed to her nose, "Me? I've been very well-behaved lately, I haven't caused any trouble, have I?"

"Where is the Gu King?" Tianji looked down into Ning Xiaoxi's eyes.

Ning Xiaoxi was stunned. "What Gu King?" His eyes and brows were so close, just like when he scared her the first time they met.

"The Gu King of the Li tribe." Tianji could almost see the hairs on Ning Xiaoxi's face twitching.

"I don't know!" Ning Xiaoxi waved her hands like a windmill. "My original plan was to train along this southern route all the way back to the capital and then wait for your orders. Who knew that as soon as I entered Jingzhou, I saw the Imperial Guards on duty? I didn't dare to ask them anything, so I thought I'd take a detour to the South China Sea to observe. I didn't know when I'd have another chance to come here, but the South China Sea was so dark and murky that it was impossible to see anything. Then I saw this scorched land, and I was thinking of hurrying back to the capital via Qingzhou when I saw you, my lord."

With his handsome phoenix eyes and a warm smile, Tianji said, "Do you think I would believe that?"

Ning Xiaoxi avoided the knot in her handkerchief and scratched her head. "Why don't you believe me?"

"Tianxian searched the Ten Thousand Mountains thoroughly, killing countless Gu Kings of all kinds and eradicating all fully formed Gu worms, yet he still couldn't find the true Gu King of the Li tribe. And yet you just happened to come to the depths of the Ten Thousand Mountains, to the unknown Shuanghui City. Do you think your story is believable?"

Ning Xiaoxi's heart skipped a beat. She'd been careless; she shouldn't have appeared before Tianji. Little did she know, the thousand-year-old lightning-struck wood was on Tianji! A miscalculation. Wait, no, this isn't Tianxian, it's Tianji! The Tianji who's in cahoots with her! What is she afraid of!

"My lord, I'm truly innocent!" The only thing to do is deny it to the death and keep Tianxian from finding out. "I haven't even gotten close to Lord Tianxian, how would I know anything about this Gu King?"

Tianji stared intently at Ning Xiaoxi. He didn't believe the nonsense she was spouting. Ever since their reunion with the Kuafu tribe, this girl had been like his enemy, never telling the truth. "Girl, you'd better be sure that no one will discover the flaws in the Gu King's knowledge, or we'll all die together."

Ning Xiaoxi shook her head rapidly, then realized that the handkerchief tied under her nose was about to fall off. She quickly covered the handkerchief with both hands, stopped shaking her head, and said in a muffled voice, "No, no, I really don't know what this Gu King you're talking about is! And where is it!"

Tianji straightened his body, his eyes sweeping over the surroundings. "What are you doing here in this hellish place?"

This is the top of a small hill about ten miles from Shuanghui City. Standing here, you can see the towering city walls of Shuanghui City that reach into the clouds and obscure the entire mountain forest. It was a city wall that was once covered by green vines so that its original color was no longer visible. Now, the green vines have turned black, and the withered black covers the towering city wall.

From here to the foot of the city wall, a thick layer of black, viscous substance of indistinguishable composition lay. After several days of wind and rain, it had begun to reek. The surrounding trees were all dead; though their trunks remained standing, they were devoid of life.

There is not a single living creature left within at least ten miles of the city.

"Hah!"

Ning Xiaoxi finally couldn't help but gag, grabbed Tianji's sleeve, and dragged him away without caring whether he wanted to or not.

After running at least a hundred miles, Ning Xiaoxi finally felt her breathing become fresher, and the lingering burnt smell in her nasal cavity slowly dissipated.

"No, sir, why don't you stay in the royal city and come here to see the scenery?" Ning Xiaoxi tried to exhale a few breaths to dissipate the unpleasant smell as quickly as possible.

Tianji seemed completely unaffected. "Tianxian transferred me here to take over his cleanup duties."

"Oh, the scapegoat!"

Tianji smiled and said, "I'll take the blame for him, and he'll take the blame for me. Reputation is the most useless thing for us now."

Ning Xiaoxi frowned, looking at Tianji with some worry, "I've only met Lord Tianxian once, how come he seems much more powerful than you? What happened to all the merits you accumulated before?" She secretly opened the map, and sure enough, the thousand-year-old lightning-struck wood was on Tianji.

Tianji ignored her question and instead asked with a mischievous grin, "I'm going to stay here for another half month. Do you want to keep me company?"

Ning Xiaoxi shook her head so hard it almost fell off. "Don't get me into trouble. This place is already dead; I don't want to be implicated." Ning Xiaoxi stopped shaking her head and turned to stare at Tianji. "My lord, judging from the current state of the land and its development trend, in less than ten days, this area within a thousand miles will be a true wasteland. Calling you here at this time isn't just about taking the blame, is it?"

Tianji said nonchalantly, "I want to turn this place into a dead zone."

Ning Xiaoxi gasped, "So ruthless?"

Tianji gazed in the direction of Shuanghui City, "From now on, this place will be a barren wasteland. As for how many years it will take to recover, and what it will mutate into, who cares?"

"My lord!" Ning Xiaoxi's eyes were filled with sorrow.

Tianji glanced at her indifferently, pointed with his finger, and said, "Look at the state he has created here. Even if I intervene now, what can I do? There's no point in going to a place where life has already been extinguished."

Yes, the royal family's massacre of nearly a million people from the Li and Wu tribes is a tragedy that could be described as a tragedy for heaven and earth!

Ning Xiaoxi suddenly remembered something and asked, "Does Your Excellency know about the physical bodies of divine beasts?"

Tianji frowned slightly. "I've heard some things, but I haven't seen them with my own eyes." That patch of black, scorched earth was indistinguishable from the corpses of the Li and Wu tribes, the Spirit Guards, or divine beasts and demonic beasts. They had all been mixed together and turned into filthy mud.

Ning Xiaoxi lowered her eyes and said in a low voice, "I saw it."

Tianji stood there quietly, his eyes fixed on nothingness.

"I never imagined I'd one day see Lu Wu's true form," Ning Xiaoxi murmured softly. "And the true forms of Xuanwu and Baihu, and..."

"Enough!" Tianji hissed.

Ning Xiaoxi opened and closed her lips a few times, but did not continue speaking.