Chapter 873: Jiang Xiaohua

The heavy stone tablet smashed into the earth, shattering Xiao Jian’s snowman;

The snowman holding the prayer beads fell helplessly from the sky, only to be slashed open by an Emperor’s sword;

Four emperors circled an empty space, watching the snowman in the opera robe drift away into the air... They were stunned. Even without seeing their faces, one could feel their bewilderment and shock at this moment.

The imperial army that filled the entire snowfield seemed to have lost its target simultaneously, and the air was quiet, save for the wailing wind.

The aura of the [Opera Emperor]... had disappeared.

Not just the Opera Emperor, but the attached Soldier God Path and Opera God Path had also vanished together.

Several emperors looked around, brows furrowed, and immediately ordered the army to search the area inch by inch. They felt that Chen Ling and the others definitely couldn't have left the Imperial Dao Ancient Treasury instantly; they must have used some method to hide nearby!

The imperial cavalry galloped across the snowfield, as if trying to dig three feet into the ground, while not far from them...

Four figures were huddled together in a bizarre posture.

Most of the bandages on Jiang Xiaohua had fallen off, his snow-white long hair dancing silently in the wind and snow. A few remaining bandages covered half his face, but the exposed skin and features were perfect, like jade carvings... But what was most profound was the faint, world-weary aura emanating from his eyes.

He was shirtless, and a mysterious aura radiated from beneath his skin, like an invisible barrier, wrapping him and the three others inside. A team of imperial vanguards flew past them, almost brushing against them, without noticing anything unusual.

Chen Ling and the others were all stunned, especially Xiao Jian, who was sitting in the middle and almost pressed against Jiang Xiaohua’s face. He had a bizarre expression and silently tried to dodge backward... But strangely, even being this close, he didn't feel the other’s breathing.

"...Can you move the gun away a bit?" Jiang Xiaohua said muffledly. "It’s digging into me, it hurts."

At some point, a black gun barrel had been pressed against Jiang Xiaohua’s heart.

As Jiang Xiaohua pounced, Chen Ling’s gun was already pressed against his chest. After all, the other had just been buried alive by him, and Chen Ling doing this was an instinctive reaction... He had intended to shoot Jiang Xiaohua through, but he found that the other seemed to have no hostility at all, so he just kept the gun pressed against him. If the other made any move, he would pull the trigger of the [Tribunal].

Chen Ling glanced at the galloping imperial army and roughly guessed the situation. After hesitating for a moment, he put the gun away.

That he had suddenly appeared here and avoided the emperors’ tracking must have been this mummy’s doing... In this light, he had no hostility toward them and could even be considered to have saved them.

"...So." Sun Bumian’s expression was also a bit strange. "Do... do we have to keep hugging like this?"

"My concealment range is limited. They are too close. If I let go even a little, I’m afraid we’ll be detected." Jiang Xiaohua was silent for a long time before speaking.

"But it’s so small here, what if they kick us in a moment?"

"Don't move."

Chen Ling paused for a moment. "Maintain the current state... in a moment, it might be a bit bumpy."

As he spoke, Chen Ling once again used his Imperial destiny to mobilize a portion of the Imperial Dao Ancient Treasury’s power. The four figures tore through the barrier of "Hidden Dragon in the Abyss" and ascended to the layer above!

Disordered light and shadow flashed past them. About seven or eight seconds later, they returned to "Or Leap in the Abyss," where armies from different dynasties overlapped, like a chaotic, eternal battlefield.

Under Chen Ling’s deliberate control, the three fell to the very edge of this layer, finally appearing around an empty military tent.

"Phew..."

When his feet touched solid ground, Jiang Xiaohua finally breathed a sigh of relief, released the three, and took a step back.

"There’s no one here, you can loosen up a bit... but you still can't be too far from me, otherwise, if your auras are sensed by those emperors, they will still hunt us down."

The three looked at each other.

Just as they were about to speak, Jiang Xiaohua seemed to have exhausted all his social energy, walking silently into the military tent and starting to rummage for something.

Seeing this, Chen Ling and the others were puzzled and followed him in... They saw Jiang Xiaohua search for a long time without finding a suitable container, so he took off a soldier’s helmet, wore it backward, let the back of the helmet cover his face, and then groped his way to the corner of the tent, hugging his knees and squatting down, like a neglected little flower.

“……”

The air suddenly fell into a deathly silence.

I don't know how long it had been before Sun Bumian leaned into their ears with a strange expression and whispered: "What... what is he doing?"

"I don't know." Chen Ling paused. "His mental state doesn't seem very normal... It’s very much like a book I read before, where a mental patient liked to pretend to be a plant alone on a rainy day."

"Then if we ask him questions now, will he answer?"

"...Hard to say."

"Leave it to me." Jian Changsheng thought for a moment and patted his chest. "I’m familiar with this!"

Under the puzzled gazes of Chen Ling and Sun Bumian, Jian Changsheng walked straight to Jiang Xiaohua, who was wearing the helmet backward, and followed his example, hugging his knees and squatting down, staring eagerly at the ground.

Chen Ling: ...

One minute, two minutes, three minutes...

Just as Chen Ling and Sun Bumian were about to lose patience, Jiang Xiaohua finally spoke.

"What... are you doing?"

"I’m a mushroom."

“……”

Although Jiang Xiaohua’s face couldn't be seen, for some reason, Chen Ling and the others could feel that he was showing a look of disgust. He stood up silently, moved away from Jian Changsheng, and found another corner to squat in,

Then he said muffledly:

"Crazy..."

Jian Changsheng: ???

Not cool, buddy...

"Who exactly are you?" Chen Ling couldn't watch anymore and asked directly. "Why help us?"

Jiang Xiaohua squatted in the corner, silent.

Chen Ling saw that the other didn't respond and thought he was too lazy to bother with him. Just as his brows began to furrow, Jiang Xiaohua’s muffled voice finally sounded from the helmet:

"...Helping you is to make the world quiet."

Chen Ling was startled.

He never expected Jiang Xiaohua to give such an unbelievable answer... And he had skipped the first question and answered the second directly.

"Then who are you?"

"..." Jiang Xiaohua was silent.

"Can't even say this? We at least need to know your name, right?"

“……”

"Fine, since you don't want to say, then forget..."

"Jiang Xiaohua." Jiang Xiaohua hugged his legs tightly, making himself shrink even smaller, and answered in a low voice,

"...My name is Jiang Xiaohua."