As the voice faded, Zhao Shuning turned around.
Perhaps she had previously thought the outskirts were too desolate and the scenery was so beautiful that she had been a bit careless for a moment and hadn't carefully inspected if there were any suspicious people around. So when someone suddenly shouted like that, her mind immediately snapped back to reality.
However, the spell seal in her hand had already been formed.
At this moment, Zhao Shuning would never stop her action because of someone else's words.
Therefore, although Zhao Shuning did turn around and did see that there were quite a few people on the other side, her hand movements showed no sign of stopping.
"Bang!"
As a loud noise rang out, the spell seal formed in Zhao Shuning's hand landed solidly on the Clear Water River.
In an instant, the water in the Clear Water River churned. Most of the stones surged up from the bottom of the river and were neatly arranged in front of Zhao Shuning.
Just as Zhao Shuning was about to take a closer look, the person who had spoken earlier whispered something to the thugs behind him.
Those people then plunged into the Clear Water River one after another.
Zhao Shuning frowned slightly. She raised her hands gently and quickly swept over the stones.
At this moment, extremely dissatisfied voices came from behind Zhao Shuning.
"No one has ever dared to ignore our Wanggong family in this place. You must be tired of living. Come on, get her and keep her alive. Take her back to make the second young master of the Wanggong family happy."
As the voice faded, many people rushed towards Zhao Shuning.
Zhao Shuning smiled faintly. The Talking Beast, which had been staying not far away, immediately showed up. Its figure suddenly grew several feet taller and blocked in front of everyone.
"A bunch of rabble. Do you think you can lay a hand on the senior?"
As the Talking Beast spoke, everyone took a few steps back.
"Steward Yan, how come this woman has a contracted divine beast? Could she be a spiritual pharmacist?"
"This—"
The man called Steward Yan was stunned for a moment, then beamed with joy. He slapped the thug beside him.
"Good lad. Your reminder has given me an even better idea."
"Steward Yan, what is it?"
"This girl is good - looking and has a beast like the Talking Beast by her side. Presumably, her spiritual power is not low either. Maybe she's even rarer than that beauty in the Duke's Mansion. If we capture her, instead of sending her to the second young master of the Wanggong family, we can directly take her to the Duke's Mansion. I'm sure the young master of the Duke's Mansion will reward us handsomely."
The people of the Hailing Kingdom all knew that a few years ago, the young master of the Duke's Mansion had taken a fancy to beautiful women. Besides being beautiful and fair - skinned, there was one more important thing about these women: they had to be either alchemists or spiritual pharmacists. Over the years, countless women had been sent to the Duke's Mansion.
"But the young master has a strange temper. If we send this woman to the Duke's Mansion, we may not get any good rewards. And we are from the Wanggong family. If the second young master knows that we've sent such a stunning woman to the Duke's Mansion, we'll surely be in big trouble."
Another thug spoke up. It was obvious that his words carried some weight.
Because of his words, Steward Yan gave up his previous plan.
"In that case, let's send this woman to the second young master of the Wanggong family first."
The Talking Beast was being so ignored. Its huge wings suddenly flapped, and the dust on the ground formed a natural storm that surrounded the group of people.
Zhao Shuning didn't get distracted either. Those who had gone into the Clear Water River to cause trouble earlier felt even more strange. Because as soon as their bodies entered the water, they couldn't move at all. It wasn't until the stones around them fell that they could continue walking.
Zhao Shuning inspected carefully, her expression changing constantly. As the spell seal ended, she also turned around.
"Xiaoyu."
With just a gentle wave of her hand, the Talking Beast returned to Zhao Shuning's side and became small.
The people from before weren't seriously injured. Since they could make a living in the capital city, it meant that their martial arts skills weren't too bad.
The Talking Beast still wanted to avenge Zhao Shuning but was stopped by her.
Now, she had just arrived in the capital of the Hailing Kingdom and was unfamiliar with many things. There was too much information she needed to find out.
This Steward Yan was quite lucky. Zhao Shuning could just use him now.
"Are you from the Wanggong family?" Zhao Shuning asked.
The dizzy man quickly stood still and looked at Zhao Shuning warily.
"So what if I am? Our Wanggong family is a well - known and influential family in this capital. Let me tell you, if you hurt us today, you'll find it hard to move an inch in this capital in the future."
Just as the man was about to continue speaking, Zhao Shuning gently rubbed her forehead. She wasn't feeling well. Earlier, when she had retracted her power, she hadn't controlled the strength well. So as she covered her forehead, the space above the people opposite her also became a bit distorted.
The power of an eighth - rank alchemist. Even a tiny bit of leaked spiritual power was extremely terrifying.
The space distortion scared the other party back three steps, and they quickly fell silent.
Zhao Shuning raised her eyes. "Why don't you continue talking?"
Steward Yan stopped. Presumably, he already knew the seriousness of the situation by now. This woman in front of him was a million times more difficult to deal with than the Talking Beast.
He knelt down with a thud. One could say that the reason Steward Yan could become the steward of the Wanggong family was that he could read people's expressions and knew how to flatter. So he had an innate sense of when to act.
When Steward Yan knelt down, Zhao Shuning was even more puzzled. Why did he just kneel down out of the blue?
"Heroine, I just wanted to catch one or two spiritual pharmacists here to go to the Duke's Mansion and claim credit. I'm not targeting you, sir. Please be magnanimous and don't blame me."
"Stop your nonsense."
Steward Yan quickly fell silent and didn't dare to speak.
Zhao Shuning looked at the man beside him who had spoken quite rationally before and said, "You speak."
Although the man was nervous, he explained their purpose of coming here to Zhao Shuning one by one.
After listening to their explanations, Zhao Shuning finally found out that the Wanggong family was a prominent family in the capital of the Hailing Kingdom. Their strength was naturally not as strong as that of the Duke's Mansion, but their financial resources were rich.
What they had said before about sending Zhao Shuning to the second young master of the Wanggong family was because the second young master of the Wanggong family was fond of wine and women and was never short of beautiful women.
"Would it be okay if you take me back to the Wanggong Mansion now?" Zhao Shuning asked.
Everyone was shocked.
"Senior?" The Talking Beast quickly spoke up.
Zhao Shuning signaled with her eyes for the Talking Beast not to worry. Now that her identity was special, since she suspected the young master of the Duke's Mansion, she definitely couldn't go to the Duke's Mansion as soon as she arrived. She was afraid of alerting the enemy.
Moreover, perhaps out of her private feelings for Xia Qingyan, Zhao Shuning always felt that Xia Qingyan's descendants shouldn't be such a vicious person.
"Miss, if the people of the Wanggong family know that you're an alchemist, they probably won't dare to have any ulterior motives towards you."
"Take me to the Wanggong family first and then we'll talk."
"But—"
Zhao Shuning let out a soft hum, and no one dared to speak anymore. They knew that if they took this girl back, they still had a chance of survival. If they opposed, they might lose their lives by the Clear Water River.