In the blink of an eye, divine beings and monsters had already slid to the airspace above the mountain road.
Seeing that she reached above the mountain road, Miss Jun let go and leaped down.
"Everyone, stop! I am Miss Jun, I'm alright." She shouted again at the same time.
Meanwhile, the voices of Eighteenth Jin and Lei Zhonglian also rose.
"Everyone, stop, it's Miss Jun!" They cried out urgently, one after another, rushing towards her.
Fearing that the government soldiers, still caught up in the chaos of the tripwires, would mistake her for a bandit or demon and shoot her with stray arrows, they were also worried that bandits lying in ambush around them would shoot her dead.
Eighteenth Jin and Lei Zhonglian wished they could immediately throw themselves over her to protect her with their bodies, dripping with urgent sweat, even more nervous than when they had not seen Miss Jun, this short distance seemingly as unbearable as a lifetime in their eyes.
After landing, Miss Jun did not run towards them but jumped up from the ground and rushed to the left side of the road, groping for something among the rocks and weeds. In a moment, there was a creak, and the still-spinning ropes came to a stop.
Eighteenth Jin and Lei Zhonglian also rushed to her side, immediately protecting her in their midst, front and back, while holding up shields and vigilantly watching their surroundings.
General Peng had finally come to his senses as well.
"Protect Miss Jun!" he commanded, raising his bow at the surroundings.
Watching the girl disappear from view, shielded and surrounded by people, Xia Yong sighed.
"He was right; the one who could come up with vaccination isn't human," he said.
Although she had been tied up and locked away, not to mention the place where people were detained, how could she have so easily broken free from the way she was bound?
Having broken free, how could she have run all the way here? How did none of the people along the way discover her?
And how did she find the Heavenly Net? Moreover, she knew how to use it and knew how to stop the Earth Net.
To do so many things all at once in such a short time, not many among them would dare guarantee they could accomplish this.
"Village chief," someone behind him asked quietly.
Xia Yong put away his bow.
"Withdraw," he said.
Withdraw?
The people behind him exchanged glances, though puzzled, they always obeyed orders; they quickly left their hiding places and disappeared into the woods.
.....................…
The several children lying on the ground clenched their scythes tightly, the grass fluttering against their faces in the wind, but the children remained motionless.
"Are you little brats scared?"
An old man behind them, almost toothless, chuckled quietly, holding a long spear in his hand with a dozen more laid out beside him.
"We're not scared," one of the children said quietly. "Just don't waste these long spears later, Old Cao."
The old man grinned, displaying a hint of pride.
"I, Old Cao, am known as a master spearman, my long spear piercing willow leaves from a hundred paces," he claimed. "It was with this skill that I repelled three hundred Jin thieves back in the day."
Talking about it, he couldn't help but become animated.
"Those days were splendid, that was real warfare. Moving among the Jin thieves with ease, strike with the spear like harvesting rice... It's a pity you youngsters never witnessed that spectacle."
"But you'll have your chance in the future, once the teacher returns, he will lead you to continue warring."
One of the children looked back at him.
"Will the teacher really come back?" he asked.
The old man's originally playful expression suddenly turned solemn.
"Of course. He definitely will come back, his word is his bond," he said, looking at the children and smiling again, "You will definitely have the chance to meet the teacher, he will lead you to better days, to kill the enemy and achieve merits."
The children all showed smiles, and the old man shushed them with a gesture, prompting them to refocus and tighten their grip on the scythes.
The elder lifted the long spear onto his shoulder, his gaze sweeping over the children with satisfaction, admiration, and a touch of sorrow.
They were all still young, with the chance to wait for the teacher; he probably wouldn't be able to.
"Couldn't hold them back?"
Seeing Xia Yong and the others returning, the people lying in the ravine showed surprise.
And seeing their astonishment, Xia Yong smiled bitterly again.
"Miss Jun has escaped," he said.
The people were shocked.
"How is that possible?"
"We didn't see her."
As they discussed, Xia Yong's wife ran over from behind.
"It's not good, it's not good, Miss Jun is missing," she yelled in panic.
Only now did Xia Yong exhale without speaking.
Seeing these people not panicking but looking at her with complex expressions, Xia Yong's wife grew even more unsettled.
"I, I don't know how she got away..." she said, almost crying out of desperation.
Xia Yong shook his head at her.
"We already know, it's not your fault," he said, then turned to the others, "Now everyone sees how capable Miss Jun is."
"So you mean to say our village is full of holes to her, she comes and goes as she pleases," Yang Jing's voice came from behind.
People hurriedly looked that way, seeing not only Yang Jing but also a woman, and immediately became flustered.
"How did you get here?"
"Why haven't you left yet?"
Everyone asked in a flurry, their expressions anxious.
"With her being so capable, do you think we could even escape?" the woman said softly, and then smiled at everyone, "Besides, what's the point of my leaving alone, when we all came here together, we should naturally leave together."
She laughed slightly as she spoke.
"If we can't leave, then we can't leave," she said.
This made everyone's expressions complicated, and a few women even wiped away their tears.
"Sister-in-law, this time it's all my..." Xia Yong began.
"Don't talk about that now, hasn't it not come down to the last yet?" the woman interrupted him.
Xia Yong nodded.
"Yes, that's true," he said, "it's not over yet."
Just as the people were about to accept their orders, the woman spoke again.
"Why not let me try first?" she suggested.
Everyone looked at her in astonishment.
"I think this Miss Jun should be easy to talk to," the woman said, "if we apologize to her..."
Her words were cut off by Xia Yong.
"And then what? Have us all thrown into prison?" he asked, his voice somewhat hoarse, "and then die trapped in a cell like a little leopard?"
His words brought a moment of silence, and a sorrowful expression appeared on the woman's face.
"Big sister, we won't go anywhere, big brother told us to wait here, we will die here if we must," Xia Yong continued, "lest he comes back and can't find us."
Having said that, he raised his bow.
"Prepare the second line of defense."
A chorus of responses followed, men, the elderly, and women with children, all dispersed like water as they gripped their weapons.
The entire mountain village fell into a quiet once more.
This silence was suffocating.
After an unknown amount of time, a bird call came from up ahead, a long spear emerged from between the trees at the sound, but the person holding it paused the next moment.
"No, this sound is wrong," he muttered to himself.
And at the back, more people heard it too, their expressions filled with shock and suspicion.
"They say she came in, but they also say it's strange, what does that mean?" they discussed amongst themselves.
A child ran up the path as fast as lightning and jumped into the ditch.
"Those government soldiers didn't bring any weapons," he said breathlessly in a childish voice.
No weapons? What does that mean?
......................
"What does this mean?"
Xia Yong got close to the top of the hill, cautiously peeking over, he saw people walking on the mountain path. In the lead was Miss Jun, and behind her was a column of government soldiers. Their formation was tightly organized, provoking anxiety, but their swords, guns, and bows were nowhere to be seen.
Not only were there no weapons, even their armor had been removed.
What are they trying to do?
As the thought crossed his mind, a man walking beside Miss Jun coughed loudly.
"Villagers, we are here to thank you," he called out, "Thank you all, for your help in eradicating bandits."
Xia Yong nearly tumbled down the hillside.
What the hell?