Chapter 333: Chapter 333

Xiaoyao led the people from the small mountain village away, and at the same time, he also released all the imprisoned people. There was no reason not to do such good deeds when they came so easily—this was accumulating virtue and merit.

However, he wasn't responsible for taking all these people away. He just released them; everything else was their own business. Whether they wanted to take some things here or kill someone—none of that was his concern.

Xiaoyao directly led the people from the small mountain village toward the stables. If they were going to leave, they naturally needed transportation first. At the same time, these horses could serve as compensation for the mountain village people. Of course, Xiaoyao also conveniently took some silver and distributed it to these mountain village people—there was at least one hundred thousand taels of silver here.

However, Xiaoyao didn't take too much, because having too much of this stuff would actually be bad. Having enough for them to rebuild their homes and live comfortably for a lifetime was sufficient.

When Xiaoyao led the mountain village people out, they encountered obstruction. This was also something he had considered—some people hadn't been dealt with and might run into them.

However, Xiaoyao felt the current situation was completely beyond his expectations, because these people weren't from Black Wind Stronghold, but rather a group of external experts. Any one of these people could match all the people in Black Wind Stronghold combined.

At the front of this group, Xiaoyao recognized someone—a dazzlingly beautiful woman who couldn't have her brilliance concealed even in the dark night. She looked at Xiaoyao with eyes full of joy, along with a hint of helplessness.

This woman was someone Xiaoyao knew, though he had only met her a few times, and each meeting had been under inexplicable circumstances—never once normal.

"Hei Xue? Why are you here?" Xiaoyao stopped his horse and looked at the woman with great puzzlement. That's right, she was Hei Xue, that Hei Xue from the Demon Cult.

Xiaoyao couldn't have imagined he would encounter Hei Xue in this place at this time.

Xiaoyao was somewhat confused. How could Hei Xue appear here? Could it be that...

"Don't tell me this Black Wind Stronghold is one of your Demon Cult's forces?"

"No, we don't have such low-level forces," Hei Xue shook her head slightly, looking at Xiaoyao and speaking very gently. Her tone seemed a bit strange, or at least Xiaoyao thought it was strange.

"Then why did you bring these people here? Is it for something inside? Forget it, you don't need to tell me. Whatever you want to do has nothing to do with me. Clear the way."

"Haha, kid, you probably haven't figured out the situation yet.." Several people beside Hei Xue laughed heartily, mocking Xiaoyao.

"??" Xiaoyao had actually felt something was off from the beginning, but he hadn't thought much about it because he felt that whatever the other party was here to do shouldn't be related to him.

"Xiaoyao, I didn't bring these people here—they brought me," Hei Xue said, extending her hands to show Xiaoyao her bound hands.

Xiaoyao fell silent. This was even more unexpected than he had imagined. Hei Xue appearing here was already very strange, and now what was even stranger was that Hei Xue seemed to have been taken hostage.

This was somewhat unreasonable. Who was Hei Xue? She was the acting cult master of the Demon Cult. Who could take her hostage? Even if they had this ability, they would have to worry about whether this would offend the Demon Cult.

What Xiaoyao found strangest was that several people beside Hei Xue seemed to be from the Demon Cult—people Xiaoyao had seen before, Hei Xue's subordinates. This was also why he had previously thought Hei Xue was leading them, not simply out of habit of thinking Hei Xue was the leader.

"You continue, we're leaving." After being silent for a while, Xiaoyao made a decision that left people speechless and made Hei Xue's teeth itch—he decided to ignore this completely.

"Leave? Do you think you can leave? So many of us came here to find you, traveling thousands of mountains and rivers. Do you think we'd just let you walk away?"

Obviously, Xiaoyao couldn't leave, because these people's purpose was actually for Xiaoyao..

"What do you mean? You came here looking for me?" Xiaoyao was very puzzled. This was also something he had never imagined. He felt he had no entanglements with the Demon Cult, and even if he did, it shouldn't warrant dispatching so many people to find him, even capturing Hei Xue for it.

Although it seemed somewhat unreasonable, their purpose in capturing Hei Xue seemed to be to threaten him, which was really fucking ridiculous. What relationship did he have with Hei Xue anyway?

"That's right, we came here looking for you." The other party confirmed this answer.

"Fine, assuming you came looking for me, these villagers are unrelated people. Can you let them go first?" Xiaoyao pointed to the villagers behind him. He felt this matter seemed to be getting complicated, and since he had promised the mountain village people he would rescue them, getting them to safety was the first thing Xiaoyao thought of.

At this moment, Xiaoyao felt this idea might require some effort, but what he hadn't expected was that the other party agreed quite readily.

"Fine, let them go. We are orthodox sects and won't kill innocent people indiscriminately." A very righteous-looking person appeared—a middle-aged man with considerable strength, possessing late Emperor Level strength close to the peak, seemingly the highest among these people.

Why were all these Emperor Level martial artists coming here for him, such a small figure? It seemed somewhat inappropriate, but at this moment, what Xiaoyao found strangest wasn't this, but rather what he meant by "orthodox sects."

"Orthodox sects? Aren't you people from the Demon Cult?" Xiaoyao was very puzzled.

"Of course not. How could we be from the Demon Cult? We are orthodox sects. I am the sect master of Ten Thousand Swords Sect, Fan Gao," the middle-aged man, Ten Thousand Swords Sect Master Fan Gao, said.

"Ten Thousand Swords Sect? What's going on here? I don't think I've had any dealings with Ten Thousand Swords Sect," Xiaoyao asked directly, very puzzled. He knew what kind of sect Ten Thousand Swords Sect was—one of the ten great sects, and now it had also united many sects to form an alliance against the Demon Cult. In the previous martial arts assembly, Azure Dragon Society had aligned itself with Ten Thousand Swords Sect.

If we were talking about entanglements, this would be it, but this wouldn't be enough to make these people appear here with such a powerful formation—it wasn't worth it.

At the same time, how had they captured Hei Xue? This was also a very strange point.

"How could there be none? You colluded with the Demon Cult and eliminated orthodox sects like Azure Dragon Society. You are now a public enemy of all martial arts sects," Fan Gao indeed brought this up, because this was the only reason that could be put on the table.

"Hei Xue, what's going on here?" Xiaoyao frowned and asked Hei Xue directly. This wasn't because he preferred hearing Hei Xue's answers, but because he knew Hei Xue would tell the truth, un orthodox sect master Fan Gao, who had to say a bunch of diplomatic words.

Even if Azure Dragon Society was eliminated because of Xiaoyao, it was the Demon Cult who acted, and it had nothing to do with Xiaoyao.

As for why Ten Thousand Swords Sect knew about this, when Hei Xue had handled it perfectly at the time, leaving no trace and making everyone think it wasn't the Demon Cult's doing—Xiaoyao wasn't puzzled about this, because there were obviously Demon Cult traitors in Ten Thousand Swords Sect, or their spies in the Demon Cult.

At the very least, Xiaoyao could confirm that two people originally belonged to the Demon Cult. There might be others, but Xiaoyao didn't recognize them.

"There were some traitors around me—they're from Ten Thousand Swords Sect. They ambushed me this time. I should have brought Sister Hong along, then this wouldn't have happened," Hei Xue said very calmly. Although she didn't say much, Xiaoyao already understood some things.

Hei Xue wasn't captured within the Demon Cult this time, but was caught while she was out by people who took advantage of the opportunity. Although she had the Heavenly Demon Sound, when specifically targeted, she was quite easy to deal with, because her own martial prowess wasn't very high. She could handle ordinary people, but it was difficult against these Emperor Level martial artists.

How to describe Hei Xue? Perhaps using Western magical civilization's mage could explain it—she possessed powerful sonic attack abilities, but she herself was a weak point. If she had Sister Hong and others protecting her, she would be an absolutely dangerous existence, but without others protecting her, she was vulnerable.

Only Xiaoyao was somewhat unclear and quite puzzled.

"Why did you come out? Wasn't it good staying there?"

"Wasn't it to see you? I missed you," Hei Xue looked at Xiaoyao and said very affectionately.

"..." Xiaoyao fell silent. "Speak seriously. Even if you like me, you prioritize the Demon Cult and wouldn't come out without reason." Dıscover more novels at ɴovelfire.net

"Hehe, you really understand me. We truly are destined to be a perfect match," Hei Xue said with a giggle. She was just this kind of person—although she cared very much about Xiaoyao, Demon Cult matters were more important to her.

To put it in those words: in front of career and sect, personal romantic feelings must be set aside.

"Speak up," Xiaoyao reminded again.

"Actually, I came to find you because there's something that might need you to open it. After learning you appeared here, I came over. Originally I thought this was a small matter, so I didn't have Sister Hong follow me. I didn't expect this matter would leak, and someone would set their sights on this thing. Sigh..."

Hei Xue sighed and said, "Perhaps I trusted my own people too much and didn't expect there would still be other people's agents around me."

"What thing?" Xiaoyao asked puzzledly.

At this moment, no one seemed to stop Xiaoyao and Hei Xue's conversation, because Ten Thousand Swords Sect originally intended to explain this matter, and having Hei Xue explain it now was the same.

What Ten Thousand Swords Sect needed to do now was completely clear this nearby area and prevent people from approaching here. The bandits of Black Wind Stronghold had been completely killed by people they sent—this was also something these orthodox sects should do.