A genius girl with her own space

Chapter 166 The Old Man’s Reluctance

The old man, leading Little Jia, appeared before a crowd of hunters in the blink of an eye. The hunters demanded that the old man hand over the pangolin, or they would kill him and Little Jia. Little Jia, having frequently consumed the old man's elixirs, understood the hunters' speech. It bared its teeth and squeaked in anger. The old man smiled at them.

Pangolins are also living things. Aren't you just after money? I'll pay you a lot of money, and you'll let the pangolins go.

"How much money do you have? Give it to us. If it suits you, we'll leave." The old man took out a purse and threw it to them. They looked at it, and the greed in their eyes was seen by the old man.

This little money isn't even enough to buy a pangolin leg. We want your money today, and we want to take the pangolin too. What do you think, old man, can stop us?

"You want to take my little Jia away? Who gave you the courage? I don't want to cause trouble, but I'm not afraid of it either. I gave you money, but you're still not satisfied. Then don't blame me, an old man."

Hahaha, "Old man, you want to stop us." "Let's go together and beat the old man down. We'll take the pangolin away."

They all ran towards the old man, some holding knives, some shooting arrows with bows, and some holding sticks, and they hit the old man.

The arrow quickly reached the old man. It stopped right in front of him. It couldn't hit him at all. Their knives and clubs also reached the old man. He didn't move. Their knives and clubs just couldn't cut through him. They didn't know what was going on.

The old man waved his hand, and the arrow turned back and shot towards the archer, piercing his shoulder with a "puff". The old man was kind-hearted. If he had not deflected slightly, the arrow would have hit his heart and he would be dead now.

The others swung their knives and clubs at him. The one holding the knife slashed his arm back, blood streaming down his arm. The one holding the club swung it back at his head, knocking him unconscious. He fell to the ground and lay motionless.

The others were stunned, confused as to what was happening. When they realized what was happening, those who could move wanted to run. The old man cast a spell, erasing their memories and making them unconscious. With a wave of his hand, he sent them all down the mountain.

The old man sighed and said, "I won't provoke you. You come to kill me. If you do something wrong, you must bear the consequences."

The old man took Xiaojia back to the cave. He told Xiaojia to stay away from hunters. He often went to find termites for Xiaojia and made elixirs for him to take that would aid his spiritual practice. Xiaojia stayed with the old man for over a decade. He also taught him some steps to help him run faster and avoid being caught by hunters.

The old man had a hidden injury and knew he didn't have many years left to live. So he wrote the letter Qiqi saw, asking the stranger to treat Xiaojia well and take him away to raise him.

The old man taught Xiaojia how to enter and exit the barrier. As long as the barrier lasted, Xiaojia would be very safe. The old man couldn't take the spiritual vein away. He himself was helpless.

In his final years, the old man often accompanied Xiaojia, picking wild fruits for them. He repeatedly taught Xiaojia which fruits he could eat and which he couldn't. After six months of instruction, he finally trained Xiaojia to pick fruits for him. Xiaojia often brought fruits to the old man, and the old man always praised him. This made Xiaojia work even harder to find wild fruits.

The old man also took it to look for termite nests. He placed many termite nests in the cave, piling up several large mounds of earth to raise termites.

In his final days, the old man was reluctant to leave Xiaojia behind. He sat on his futon, forcing himself to stay with Xiaojia for a few more days. Xiaojia didn't understand the old man's feelings. He continued to play around him as usual, bringing him some wild fruits and placing them next to him.

The old man propped himself up with his hands, preventing himself from falling. He looked at Xiaojia with reluctance, then closed his eyes and passed away.

Xiaojia didn't know and thought the old man was asleep, so he lay down next to him and fell asleep.

Daybreak. Xiaojia squeaked. He couldn't see the old man. Xiaowu quickly climbed up and hugged him to comfort him. "The old man has gone somewhere else. He's watching you. Let's wait for him, okay?"

Xiaojia stopped yelling. "Let's go pick some fruit. There are apples, peaches (the peaches from the space, not the ones from the spiritual vein planted by the old man), pears, and grapes. You've never tasted any of these."

Xiaojia, with Xiaowu and the others by his side, gradually came out of the grief of losing his old man. Although he still missed him sometimes, seeing so many animals every day made him forget his grief.

Qiqi and the others went to the palace. They met the emperor and Liu Junyang, hiding nothing and telling them everything. Qiqi had no way of giving them the spiritual vein. The spiritual vein was like a bombshell in the hands of the old emperor. He couldn't protect it at all. If anyone knew that the spiritual vein was in Qiqi's hands, she would likely be hunted down every day.

The old emperor didn't want it either, leaving it to Qiqi to deal with. Qiqi wanted to give Liu Junyang some spirit stones, but she was afraid that the spirit stones would bring Liu Junyang a fatal disaster, so she gave up the idea.

Many of the people near the lake were powerful. When they sensed the disappearance of the spiritual energy, they descended into the lake to investigate. None could find the cause. Many people camped outside the city also flocked to the lake to investigate. These martial arts masters spent days exploring the lake, but could not sense the spiritual energy. Finally, they speculated that perhaps an aura-bearing animal had descended to the lakebed and taken the energy with it.

There were also many large sects wandering around the city, looking for anyone carrying spiritual energy and arresting them for questioning, wondering if they had stolen the spiritual energy.

Qiqi was also thankful that she had a space where her spiritual energy wouldn't leak out. She was also thankful that she hadn't given Liu Junyang the spirit stone. If they knew the prince had the spirit stone, it would bring disaster to the palace.

The old emperor has ordered the city defense forces not to provoke martial arts masters these days. Stay away from them. They can't find spiritual energy and are looking for someone to vent their anger on. Don't rush into the muzzle of a gun.

Qiqi hadn't left the palace for the past few days. Liu Junyang had also sent someone to bring back the secret guards and their tents, and he settled them in a small courtyard within the city. The courtyard was fully equipped, and the housekeeper arranged for the meals. The secret guards also frequently went out to gather information, and the housekeeper would deliver the information to the palace.

Many of the smaller sects in the city had withdrawn, leaving only a few larger sects, who continued their search in the city unwillingly.

The secret guards were also cautious, fearing provoking the Martial Arts community. A group of martial artists were watching the palace. They knew the spiritual energy had vanished right under their noses, and it wasn't the work of one person. Either the Yongning Dynasty had hired a skilled individual to remove the spiritual object. Or perhaps a master had taken the item away. In another scenario, the spiritual animal simply vanished on its own.

Many martial artists gathered together to analyze why the spiritual energy disappeared?