Heavenly Curse

The battle had had the desired consequences. What had happened there quickly spread around. And until Mu Yi and Big Slave arrived in Kaifeng, n.o.body pestered them on the way.

Outside of the city, at the city gate, there were Mu Yi and Big Slave"s portraits everywhere, however, when Mu Yi and Big Slave arrived, the city guards, who were firmly holding their weapons, remained motionless and let them enter the city.

Ordinary people were astonished when they saw Big Slave because he was a giant, and those who were familiar with the world of travelers looked at them with awe and veneration.

The Octagon Organization had collapsed because of Mu Yi. Even though saying that n.o.body would ever dare offend Mu Yi anymore would have been an exaggeration, at least, in Kaifeng, it was the case. n.o.body dared offend him.

Even the members of the yamen forbade to talk about it, they pretended they didn"t know anything.

When Mu Yi entered Kaifeng, many people rushed over to Western Ji Hill to see what the place looked like after the battle.

When they saw all the corpses and the craters caused by the lightnings, they gasped with astonishment. They even felt lucky.

The key of the Yellow River"s ancient road was a good thing indeed, everybody wanted it, but they had to be strong enough to get it.

The Octagon Organization was strong though, right? The Octagon Organization hadn"t thought they"d suffer such a crus.h.i.+ng defeat, and in the end… The Octagon Organization didn"t exist anymore. Only one leader was still alive, but he had escaped and disappeared.

Many people didn"t feel like stealing the key from Mu Yi anymore.

There were six keys, and Mu Yi had only obtained one.

Many people tried to cheer them up by thinking that way, but they seemingly forgot who had the five others. They couldn"t afford to offend those people either.

Actually, the world of travelers was simple, people talked with their fists. Strength was the only rule.

When Mu Yi arrived in Kaifeng, he felt something had changed. It was precisely what he wanted. If he hadn"t killed all those people, more greedy and pathetic people would have come and pestered him.

At least, since he had taught the Octagon Organization a good lesson, n.o.body pestered him, even if a few weaklings came to offend him, it didn"t matter, they were of no importance.

On the first day, he rested. On the day after, Mu Yi and Big Slave went to the harbor. His goal was to find a boat and travel down the Yellow River, go to Shandong, and then go to Cangzhou.

After a low-flow period, the Yellow River"s bank was becoming lively again. After the winter, goods were s.h.i.+pped again towards the east.

At that moment, the current of the Yellow River was strong but it didn"t matter, it was no problem for the boats, at least, Mu Yi could arrive in Shandong easily.

When Mu Yi arrived at the harbor, he realized that most boats were for goods. Boats which were used to carry people were rare, but it was normal, who traveled by boat over such long distances? Only high officials used big boats to travel maybe.

Therefore, if Mu Yi wanted to travel by boat, he had two options, the first one was to take a cargo s.h.i.+p but it would be terribly uncomfortable and dirty, and the second one was to take a governmental boat.

In Kaifeng, there were governmental boats, but could Mu Yi use them with his social status? Would a high-official of the yamen allow him to take a governmental boat? Mu Yi quickly gave up the idea. He wasn"t stupid.

Mu Yi had destroyed the Octagon Organization, after having weighed the advantages and disadvantages, the yamen had decided they could ignore that. But if he went to the yamen, intimidated them to take a governmental boat, they wouldn"t react like that. That would be stupid.

Mu Yi was strong but he wasn"t powerful enough to intimate and provoke the Qing Dynasty. Even if the Qing Dynasty was on the verge of collapse, they still had some extremely strong people. Unless Mu Yi decided to go globe-trotting, he wouldn"t take such a risk.

He didn"t want trouble. Doing such a thing was completely different from killing a prince from a small city.

Mu Yi was confident but not arrogant. On the contrary, he wanted to remain discreet and gather even more experience.

So in the end, Mu Yi came to the conclusion that he had no choice but take a cargo s.h.i.+p. At that moment, he noticed a beautiful boat with two storeys, it looked beautiful, there were small pavilions on it and someone was playing the zither. It probably belonged to a rich prince?

But when Mu Yi saw that s.h.i.+p get closer, he had a strange feeling.

“Master, you need a boat?” asked a middle-aged man respectfully when he saw Mu Yi. He even looked a bit scared. He clearly knew Mu Yi.

Since he knew and still dared get close, he probably had something in mind.

He either wanted to steal the key or attack him. Of course, Mu Yi didn"t think that man wanted to do it, but the leader of the powerful group who owned the boat.

“Indeed.” said Mu Yi nodding. He didn"t care about their reasons for coming. Mu Yi didn"t need to hide. On the contrary, if he could take such a beautiful boat, it"d be perfect.

Of course, he"d know if the owner was a friend or an enemy once on the boat only.

“If you wish, you can come on our boat, Master.” said the man to Mu Yi straightforwardly.

“Alright.” said Mu Yi. When the boat goat close and dropped anchor, Mu Yi and Big Slave walked up the footbridge to the boat.

When Mu Yi arrived on the boat, the man in charge took him to the second floor. A twenty year old young man was there waiting at the top of the stairs. When Mu Yi saw him, he had a strange expression because he had the impression he knew that young man.

“My name is Xu Le. Greetings, Master. It"s an honor to meet you. Sorry that I was able to come and pick you up myself.” said the young man.

Mu Yi hadn"t forgotten that night when he had run away from the Qu Mortuary, the young man there had brought people to surrounded Qu Yang back then. Even though they had failed even though they were so close to success and had almost died, Mu Yi perfectly rememebred them.

Even though Xu Le could seem a bit immature, he was very young and he was already quite mature for his age actually. What Mu Yi didn"t understand though now that he had recovered in his clan, what was he doing in Kaifeng? And why had he looked for him?

“Thank you for your kindness, Prince Xu.” said Mu Yi. He didn"t know whether Xu Le had really recovered or not, but he had to remain vigilant, especially that he didn"t know what his plan was.

“You"re welcome.” siad Xu Le s.h.i.+vering. He had the impression Mu Yi could see through him. He tried to control himself. Mu Yi was no ordinary person. He had killed a hundred members of the Octagon Organization, he was incredible.

After Mu Yi arrived on the boat, it continued sailing and moved away from Kaifeng.

As the boat left the bank of Kaifeng, people took deep breaths. “He finally left.”

For people who belonged to small influential groups in Kaifeng, the fact that Mu Yi had left was a relief. What had happened around him those days was astonis.h.i.+ng. People felt under pressure to know that someone like that was around in their region.

Initially, small influential groups from Kaifeng initially intended to watch and wait. They hadn"t expected that Mu Yi would leave so quickly on the day after. It was great news for the whole town.

And even if they hadn"t been able to obtain the key, at least, they could share the great resources which were directly available to them and easy to obtain.

“Master, please have a seat!”

said Xu Le to Mu Yi on the boat. He glanced at Big Slave which made him feel nervous.

Even though the boat was big, it had been built by and for ordinary people. For Big Slave, it was a bit small and narrow. And in the rooms, Big Slave could stand straight up. He couldn"t even sit on the chairs.

But it didn"t matter, he sat down on the floor. He looked indifferent as usual. He looked a living statue.

When Mu Yi sat down, Xu Le said to Mu Yi respectfully, “Master, thank you for saving my life. I am infinitely grateful.”

“Prince Xu, you must be mistaken? I"ve never saved your life.” said Mu Yi. He was amused, back then he had been hiding in the dark, he hadn"t shown up, how could Xu Le know he was there?

And even if Xu Le had seen him, Mu Yi hadn"t saved him, Xu Le had just been lucky to be in the same place as Mu Yi on that day.

And on the contrary, Mu Yi had to thank him, if they hadn"t drawn Qu Yang"s attention back on that day, Mu Yi wouldn"t have been that lucky with s.h.i.+ Gu.

When he was being controlled, if Qu Yang hadn"t needed so much time to come back, Mu Yi would have had no chance to survive.

Therefore, Mu Yi didn"t think being thanked by Xu Le was right.

At the same time, Mu Yi was curious to know where Xu Le had obtained information about him. Even Qu Yang hadn"t seen him while he was hiding in the darkness, so how could Xu Le and his group have seen him?

But Mu Yi then recalled the old Jiao Hua he had b.u.mped into in the forest. Only Jiao Hua knew what had happened on that night, but considering his social status, how could he have personally told Xu Le about it? So there was only one option, the Earth Walker who represented Shangqing School, Master Dragon of Righteousness.

Thinking about that, Mu Yi smiled, but to Xu Le, that smile was deep and meaningful.