"Fire! There's a fire!" On Wutong Long Street, the common people cried out in alarm. Their faces filled with terror, they watched as the golden statue of Xing Tian, which represented the very foundation of the ancestors of Lixia, burst into flames. The entire top of the Three Saints Mountain was now ablaze, indicating that the Golden Summit Temple was likely to be destroyed.
The people all took to the streets and looked towards the nearby Three Saints Mountain. Some knelt on the ground, crying and praying to the heavens. Others were furious, pessimistically roaring that the Lixia regime was on the verge of collapse.
"What a sin..." An old man walked onto the street, looked at the fire, and sighed softly.
Yu Shuang, who was buying supplies for the Shen Mansion, was in the middle of paying when he heard the commotion on the street. The old man had gone out to look up for a while and then returned with a sigh.
Yu Shuang had just wanted to stretch his muscles, so he had asked A Man for an errand to buy some cloth. As he was packing the cloth, he asked, "Shopkeeper, what's going on outside?"
The old man stroked his beard and sighed deeply. "I'm afraid the national fortune of Lixia is about to decline..."
This statement was rather cryptic. Yu Shuang frowned and said, "Everything seems fine. Why are you saying this all of a sudden?"
The old man shook his head, walked back to the counter with his hands behind his back, and said, "Lixia has always attached great importance to sacrifices to pray for the national fortune. This has almost become the spiritual sustenance of everyone. Once this golden statue is burned, without that sustenance, I don't know how chaotic things will become..."
Yu Shuang was taken aback. "Golden statue?"
The old man looked at him and said, "The statue of Lord Xing Tian on the Golden Summit of the Three Saints Mountain has burned."
Yu Shuang almost dropped everything and started running. He didn't even care about the packed cloth. Ignoring the old man's shouts, he rushed out of the store. In the distance, the Golden Summit Temple on the snow - covered Three Saints Mountain was ablaze, like a natural torch lighting up the sky.
"My God!" someone exclaimed.
"Mother! Lord Xing Tian is gone. What will happen to Lixia?"
"Lord Xing Tian, have you abandoned your people? Will you no longer protect us?"
Yu Shuang was extremely shocked. Without a second thought, he rushed towards the direction of the Three Saints Mountain.
In his haste, he suddenly bumped into someone while running. Both of them cried out in pain and fell to the ground.
"Damn it! Which blind guy!" the man cursed, rubbed his arm, and glared at Yu Shuang. It was Xu Ruhui, who had just rushed out of the Dingbei Marquis Mansion.
Yu Shuang didn't recognize him, and he didn't have time to entangle with this man. He bounced up and continued to rush towards the Three Saints Mountain.
Xu Ruhui was stunned for a moment. Seeing that the man was going in the same direction as him, he quickly chased after.
Both of them were good at light - footed skills. Although Yu Shuang was better, Xu Ruhui gritted his teeth and managed to keep up.
Xu Ruhui was out of breath. He followed behind Yu Shuang, but the latter clearly knew he was there and didn't seem to care.
"Little brother, are you also going to the Three Saints Mountain?" Xu Ruhui took a deep breath and spoke first.
Yu Shuang ignored him and just focused on running.
Xu Ruhui cursed under his breath, used more energy to catch up, and gasped even more heavily. "Little brother! Hey... I said little brother, are you... going... huff... going to that Golden Summit Temple?"
Yu Shuang had no time to waste on him and continued to ignore him.
Xu Ruhui clicked his tongue and cursed, "Damn it! Are you deaf? I'm doing you a favor! If you're going to the Golden Summit Temple, don't take the main road. Today the wind is blowing from the west, and the fire is tilting towards the east. There might be an avalanche on the main road in the east - "
As soon as Xu Ruhui finished speaking, as if to prove his words, a white line of snow and smoke began to appear on the eastern part of the Three Saints Mountain. A large area of snow - covered part began to slowly move down. Then, accompanied by a "rumbling" roar, the entire eastern part of the Three Saints Mountain started to have a large - scale avalanche due to the melting snow.
Both of them were stunned. Xu Ruhui cursed under his breath and didn't want to bother with this silent guy anymore. He immediately turned around and took another path up the mountain. But seeing this, Yu Shuang also turned around and followed behind him. He quickly overtook Xu Ruhui and rushed up the mountain in a flash.
"What kind of person is this!" Xu Ruhui shouted angrily. Then he took a few deep breaths. The rapid movement had made him a bit exhausted, but he didn't dare to slack off. He forced himself to hold his breath and increased his speed.
Elder brother! Sister - in - law! Please be okay!
When the avalanche on the Three Saints Mountain started, Shen Qingfeng and the others had just retreated to the outside of the Golden Summit Temple. As soon as they stepped out of the temple, they saw white smoke rising behind the burning half of the golden statue that had broken at the waist. Then, the rumbling sound came from afar like a call from the abyss. Someone shouted "Avalanche!" and everyone started to run.
Normally, people can't outrun an avalanche, but this time it was different. Shen Qingfeng ran while looking back. He saw the white snow like sudden waves, layer upon layer. Starting from the falling snow on the top, it gradually accumulated into a roaring mass, pouring down from above like a death - seeking force.
Fortunately, due to the west wind, the temperature on the eastern part of the Three Saints Mountain was high and the snow melted quickly. The avalanche went straight down along the eastern mountain slope. The Golden Summit Temple was built facing south, so the roaring avalanche only covered half of the temple, and the rest was still exposed.
Because of the snowfall, the burning golden statue was covered by the snow and was immediately extinguished. The fire burned through the snow, making strange hissing sounds.
Shen Qingfeng was out of breath. He stood beside Lu Yan. For some reason, after barely escaping death, he suddenly wanted to look at Lu Yan's face. Since it was noisy all around and no one noticed them, Shen Qingfeng got bold and reached out to grab Lu Yan's little finger.
Unexpectedly, Lu Yan was out of breath but didn't respond to Shen Qingfeng the moment his finger was grabbed.
Shen Qingfeng was a bit confused. He gently tugged at Lu Yan's little finger and said in a voice only the two of them could hear, "... A Yan? What's wrong with you?"
Lu Yan paused, turned his head to look at Shen Qingfeng, and said, "I'm fine."
Although Lu Yan said so, his mind was filled with the scenes of Shen Qingfeng turning his back on him to save Xia Chuli and standing up for Xia Chuli in front of King Xia Jie.
A sad thought emerged in his heart. He pursed his lips. He didn't want to, nor did he want to believe it. So, he kept his face calm, but his heart sank deeper and deeper.
Shen Qingfeng blinked in confusion. He could sense that Lu Yan's state was a bit off, but this wasn't the time to think about it. Shen Qingfeng gently let go of his hand and adjusted his thoughts.
It seemed that King Xia Jie had finally made up his mind to get rid of Xia Chuli. If, as Shen Qingfeng guessed, King Xia Jie had known about Xia Yonglin and Queen Qi's plan from the beginning, and since he had allowed Xia Yonglin to burn the statue of Xing Tian, it meant that he definitely wouldn't follow the so - called rule of legitimate succession. This was King Xia Jie's way of showing that he wouldn't make Xia Chuli the crown prince.
Some smart ministers might have understood the key point as soon as the fire started. Maybe there would be a large number of people defecting during the morning court tomorrow.