114: Some people go against the flow while others retreat (please subscribe)

The Sword Pavilion Army building was ablaze with smoke and fire, and the night sky flickered with the flames.

A name echoed softly.

The Zhonglang General guarding the Fu Gate looked at the distant night and softly murmured the name.

"Chen Yuan."

Not long after, a subordinate rushed over.

"Sir, isn't that the adult from the Fa Shan Army?"

The subordinate couldn't help but ask in surprise, his gaze following the direction where the person had disappeared, his heart shaken.

In the time it takes to drink a cup of tea, one person had slain three Dao soldier demons, arriving like thunder and departing with a flick of his sleeve once the deed was done.

What an overbearing spirit, his Qi soaring to the heavens!

The Zhonglang General guarding the Fu Gate shook his head.

There was no such person in the Fa Shan Army.

Nor had he heard of anyone like that in the Jianghu of Shu Land.

"By the way, that passage?" At this moment, the Zhonglang General's eyes suddenly narrowed as he looked at the pillar of light outside the Fu Gate that pierced through the heavens, from which those demons had flown out.

When that passage appeared, they had immediately tried to destroy it, but they couldn't breach it, and then what happened next occurred.

Just then, a loud boom echoed from a distance.

The thick golden pillar of light suddenly flickered, then disappeared.

Baidi City was shrouded in deep night, yet the city was brightly lit.

In a common household, a woman dressed in a red silk skirt and with a numb-colored floral scarf tied around her head, hurriedly carried a blue bundle on her back, extinguished the lamp in the room, and led a young child out the door, closing it with a creak.

At this time, the young child by the woman's side, with his hair in bangs, innocently asked, "Mom, why are we leaving home?"

The woman sighed and patted his head, "Because bad people are coming to our house, and our family has to go hide."

The child innocently replied, "If there are bad people, Dad will protect us, Dad is very strong. Isn't that right, Dad?"

As he spoke, the child turned his head and looked at the Hunter at the door, who, in his eyes, was as tall as a mountain.

The woman also turned at this moment, looking at her troubled husband at the door, and softly said:

"Husband, let's go!"

The Hunter was dressed in short, practical clothes, with a knife at his waist, and at this moment, he stood with his back to his wife and child, looking at the scene outside the door, his eyes flickering.

At this time, in the alley in front of the door, people from every household were closing their doors, then dragging their families and carrying their belongings, forming a stream of people that merged into the main street.

Hearing his wife's call and his son's innocent voice, the Hunter's eyes flickered, finally turning into a single word,

"Let's go!"

Then, the Hunter led his wife and child, following the flow of people, out of the alley and onto the main street.

At this time, looking down from above Baidi City, one could see countless lights from the streets and alleys converging into a fiery stream, entering the main street, and then surging towards Baidi City's South Gate.

That was the direction out of the city, towards the interior of the Fu Gate!

Hundreds of thousands of people were evacuating following a retreat order issued by the Fu Gate.

However, among them, some were shouting and cursing, moving against the flow, heading towards the North Gate.

"They're all cowards, leaving just like that. It's right for the old, weak, women, and children to evacuate, but what about the Hunters of our Fu Gate? The demons from the Devil Sect attacking the city have scared you witless! The Fu Gate not only issued a retreat order, but also a conscription order! A good man should put on armor and fight those beasts to the death!"

Among the crowd, someone who heard these words found them jarring but lacked the courage to act, so he could only find an excuse and say to his companion indignantly,

"When the sky falls, the tall ones will hold it up. The powerful families in the city, and the Zhonglang General, should be fine. What can we common folk do about this? We should follow the order to evacuate, right?"

But just then, there was a commotion in the Team behind.

"Move aside!"

"Move aside!"

Horses galloped from behind, causing chaos in the crowded street.

Teams of people on horseback, dragging large numbers of carriages loaded with boxes, were heading out of the city through the South Gate.

The people disturbed along the way wanted to curse, but seeing the insignia on these people and carriages, they could only be angry but dared not speak.

Only after these people and horses had left did someone start cursing.

"The Four Seas Gang of ruffians, they're truly lawless."

"The Four Seas Gang, are they also preparing to leave, dragging so many carriages?" Someone asked in surprise.

And it wasn't over yet; soon, the people saw that one after another, forces from the Fu Gate were leaving.

Monks from Feilong Temple.

The Zhang family of Baidi City.

"What's going on? All these people are leaving. Who will guard the Fu Gate then? Can the Zhonglang General and his Black Armored Army handle it?"

Seeing this, the people whispered amongst themselves, and in an instant, the previously orderly flow of people became chaotic, surging out of the city gate.

Soon after, the Hunter, protecting his wife and child, exited the South Gate.

Suddenly, he stopped.

"What's wrong, husband?" his wife asked him. As his closest companion, she had felt his heavy heart all along the way.

The Hunter turned his head, looking at his usually gentle and homemaking wife, as if he had made a great decision.

"Lian Mei!"

"I'm going back for a bit. You take our youngest to Xia Guan County and wait for me. There are many people there, so you can look out for each other." The Hunter said softly.

"Are you going to answer the call to become a Councilor, husband?" The wife's voice quickened slightly.

"How do you know?"

"I know you've always had a chivalrous spirit. Two days ago, when that storybook came out, you read it with such excitement, saying you wanted to be just like the person in it."

Upon hearing this, the Hunter's eyes sparkled. He placed his rough, large hands on his wife's shoulders, "A true man should be like this. I have practiced martial arts for many years, and this is the moment to use it. Now everyone is fleeing the city, and it's precisely when people are needed, Lian Mei..."

The Hunter didn't know how to continue speaking.

But at this moment, the woman hugged the Hunter tightly, burying her head in his broad chest, and softly said, "You don't need to say more. When I married you, I knew my husband was a true Hunter. I know I can't stop you, but promise me you'll come back completely whole."

The Hunter held his wife, cherishing the moment, then released her. He wiped away the tears shimmering in her eyes with his hand and laughed:

"I'm tough, don't worry about me!"

As he spoke, he tilted his head to look at his bewildered son, then squatted down, and with his large, rough hand, he stroked the child's small face, saying with a laugh,

"Son, Dad is going to kill bad people. You listen to your mom, and wait for me to come back."

The young child's eyes lit up upon hearing this,

"Okay, Dad will kill bad people. Dad will protect Mom and me!"

"Haha!" The Hunter laughed heartily, lifted him up, hugged him, then stood up and looked at his wife.

"I'm leaving!"

With that, the Hunter turned, gripping his knife, no longer hesitating, and quickly rushed into the inverse-flowing crowd, re-entering the city.

He hurried along the street, moving from the noisy and bustling South City to the North City, where the atmosphere was completely different.

In the North City, the air was now filled with a chilling Kill aura. Teams of soldiers with gleaming armor galloped everywhere, as swift as raindrops.

And below the North Gate, at this moment, shouts echoed all around.

"Qinghua Alley, Yang Biao!"

"East Market Street, Zhu Qing!"

"South Gate, Fu Shan!"

"..."

The Hunter followed the sound and arrived below the North Gate, where various martial artists were reporting their names in front of a red roster.

Below the roster, armored soldiers were writing down their names.

The Hunter stepped forward, cupped his hands, and shouted.

"Ji Ming Alley, Yue Dao!"

The person recording the names wrote quickly, then looked up,

"Put on your armor!"