Chapter 656: Chapter 196: Rescue Qiulong County! Entering the Great Yan Dynasty! (10,000-word Mega Chapter for Subscriptions)_1

"Taoist with the bull-nose... Have we been rescued?" the disheveled Abbot of Jinlong Temple asked, his face filled with bewilderment as he stood in a mine at the rear mountain of Qiulong County.

This was an iron mine.

The Abbot alongside the monks from his temple had been captured by the Blood Gu Sect and thrown here to mine.

And he, a cultivator who knew the Buddhist Law, had his mana sealed by the sect. Even with his strength, he couldn’t break the seal.

No mana.

How could he resist?

Helpless, he could only lead his fellow monks from the temple to toil in the mines under the coercion of the Blood Gu Sect, and had been doing so for over two months.

At that moment, the Abbot of Jinlong Temple was speaking to a white-bearded Taoist.

The white-bearded Taoist was none other than another cultivator from Qiulong County.

— Yang Yizi!

Just like the Abbot, Yang Yizi’s mana had also been sealed by the Blood Gu Sect, and he was thrown in this godforsaken place to mine.

Two months of mining had nearly shattered his old bones.

How suffocating!

But there was no other way; the sect’s cultists who practiced witchcraft were too powerful. Just the white-bearded Taoist, Yang Yizi, and the Abbot of Jinlong Temple alone were no match for the clutch of the Blood Gu Sect.

After all, they were just two cultivators from remote areas; the two of them together might only be able to handle one disciple of the Blood Gu Sect.

If there were two sect disciples, they would be defeated; if there were three, they would be like fish on a chopping board; and with more than three, there was no point in resisting at all.

Obviously.

When the Blood Gu Sect invaded Qiulong County, they came with over a dozen cultivators and several hundred ordinary sect disciples.

This left both Yang Yizi and the Abbot in utter despair.

They originally thought they might end up spending their entire lives like this.

Possibly condemned to a life of hard labor in the mines.

What they didn’t expect was...

In these perpetually dark days and nights, a man arrived, divine as if descended from the heavens.

He killed all the Blood Gu Sect disciples!

He rescued them all!

Facing a question from the Abbot of Jinlong Temple, the white-bearded Taoist, Yang Yizi, swallowed dryly and with a parched mouth replied, "It seems we’ve been rescued... And it seems we were rescued by a familiar face."

The figure standing in the sunset, tall and burly, seemed so familiar.

Although he appeared slightly taller than they remembered, the difference wasn’t significant.

Such a distinctive appearance immediately brought a name to their minds.

— Fan Wu!!!

They watched in disbelief as the tall man released one hand, the sect disciple he had been holding dropping to the ground like a limp noodle.

Then they saw the man turn his head towards them, that all-too-familiar face unforgettable to them both.

"Mother of Buddha..." the Abbot of Jinlong Temple exclaimed in shock, "I’m not seeing things, am I? Is that Daoist Priest Fan from Qiulong Temple?"

Yang Yizi also swallowed hard, "I, too, see him. This is no illusion, right? It must be Daoist Priest Fan from Qiulong Temple."

Shhh!!!

In this lightless mine, they had fantasized that their saviors might be the Imperial Court’s emmissaries. Or perhaps one day they would find a loophole in the Blood Gu Sect’s binding technique, allowing them to free themselves through their own power.

But they had never thought of Fan Wu.

And then.

This person they had never imagined would return to Qiulong County, and even rescued them.

The feeling was surreal to them.

Like a dream.

Yet not a dream.

The Abbot of Jinlong Temple and Yang Yizi exchanged glances, their dirt-streaked faces reflecting mutual disbelief, then they immediately dragged their weary bodies toward the direction of Fan Wu. When they finally got close to Fan Wu and saw his face more clearly, they were even more certain the person before them was the young Daoist Priest Fan!

It was no illusion!

Genuine and authentic!

At this moment, Fan Wu was also scrutinizing them. In his eyes, both the Abbot of Jinlong Temple and Yang Yizi appeared extremely ragged.

The clothes on their bodies were torn and tattered as if they had not bathed for a long time.

They looked much thinner, like they hadn’t had a full meal in ages.

Yang Yizi’s white beard was a matted mess, making him resemble the Golden Haired Lion King at first glance. The Daoist robe on his body was akin to a beggar’s rags.

The Abbot from Jinlong Temple, though originally quite rotund, was emaciated, though not as skinny as skin and bones, still thinner than an ordinary person.

Even more absurd was that after more than two months in the mine, the Big Monk’s head had grown a fair amount of hair.

If it weren’t for the torn kasaya he wore,

No one could tell he was once a monk.

"Daoist Priest Fan, I never expected you to return to Qiulong County," said Yang Yizi with much emotion, "And even less did I anticipate that we would be rescued by you once again."