Chapter 146: Dongnuo Imprisoned

"Baozi!" Seeing Baozi get shot, Zhou Yi shouted out in alarm, casting all caution aside as he lunged straight toward him.

Before Zhou Yi could reach him, Baozi lifted his head, looked at Zhou Yi, and grinned.

*Bang!* Another gunshot rang out. The instant the shot echoed, Baozi leaped directly up from the ground and lunged at Zhou Yi. Zhou Yi was knocked down by Baozi, and the two of them rolled together along the ground.

Only then did Zhou Yi start looking Baozi up and down.

"Brother Yi, I'm fine! That blood belongs to the Miao tribesman, not me. Run, hurry!" With that, the two men sprang back to their feet and bolted into the distance.

It turned out that the moment the gunshot went off, Baozi had dropped flat to the ground. As he hit the deck, his hand happened to land right on the Miao tribesman's chest cavity. Zhou Yi had already slashed the tribesman's throat, and when Baozi pressed down on his chest, a gush of blood sprayed directly onto Baozi's face, creating the terrifying scene from moments before.

The two of them were first-rate when it came to fleeing for their lives. Knowing the Miao pursuers had firearms, they zigzagged instead of running in a straight line. The Miao man fired two shots from behind, but both missed, allowing the two men to escape unscathed.

The Miao pursuers did not chase any further. The two men sat down by the path, panting heavily.

The more Zhou Yi thought about it, the more wrong it felt. What was the status of that Miao tribesman, daring to block the two of them from finding Dongnuo? "No, Dongnuo might be in danger!"

"What? Brother Yi, don't scare me!" Baozi was still wiping the blood off his face. Hearing Zhou Yi say that Dongnuo was in danger, he instantly lost his composure.

"What are you panicking for? I didn't say she's definitely in danger!"

"Then how do you know she's in danger?" Baozi rubbed the blood smeared across his nose fiercely and looked at Zhou Yi.

"Think about Dongnuo's status. Even when we said we were looking for Dongnuo, that Miao tribesman dared to stop us. You must remember, Dongnuo's status is even higher than that old hag's!" Zhou Yi said with a frown.

"Then what are we waiting for? Let's go save her right now, let's move!" Hearing Zhou Yi finish, Baozi stood up as if to head back immediately. Zhou Yi quickly grabbed him; once this kid's head went hot, there was nothing he wouldn't do.

"Wait until it gets dark. We just ran away from there, and the Miao people are bound to be on high alert!"

Baozi lowered his head, let out an "oh," and then turned around to say, "Brother Yi, you rest here. I'm going to walk around and check things out!"

"Don't go too far!" Zhou Yi instructed.

"Got it!" Baozi tossed back a perfunctory reply and darted off into the distance at full speed. Watching Baozi's receding figure, Zhou Yi shook his head and sighed. He could tell that Baozi had truly given his heart to Dongnuo.

This kind of matter was something others couldn't help with; one had to fight for it oneself.

After dark, Baozi returned carrying some food for the two of them. After finishing their evening meal, Zhou Yi checked his watch—it was already past nine o'clock. "Brother Yi, can we go now?"

The Miao tribesmen rotated in guard shifts, meaning even if they went in the second half of the night, someone would still be on watch. Instead of waiting, they might as well go right now and see what was really happening. Zhou Yi nodded and said, "Be careful, don't let your guard down later!"

Baozi chuckled and casually replied, "Don't you worry, it's not our first time doing this!"

Without another word, the two of them crept stealthily into the woods behind the tents. "Wait, let these Miao men pass first!" Zhou Yi pulled Baozi back, hiding behind a tree and waiting for the group of Miao tribesmen in front to walk past before stepping out from behind the trunk.

"Looks like they're changing shifts," Baozi whispered as he watched two living Miao tribesmen complete their handover.

After the shift change, the Miao men did not immediately return to their tents to rest; instead, a few of them gathered together to chat. Baozi glanced at Zhou Yi and whispered, "There are six of them in total. Three each, how about that?"

Zhou Yi took a careful look. None of these six patrolling Miao tribesmen possessed any notable cultivation; they were all hovering around the peak of Yellow Qi. If they struck by surprise, they could pull this off silently.

"Let's do it!" Zhou Yi muttered, charging forward immediately with Baozi close behind.

Both of them used light-body techniques, pushing off tree trunks to glide forward without making a sound. Seeing they were still over ten meters away from the six Miao men, one of the tribesmen facing the woods suddenly stood up. The moment he opened his mouth to speak, he felt a pill tossed straight into his mouth. The pill was thrown with pinpoint accuracy, landing right in the back of his throat. The tribesman coughed a couple of times but failed to spit it out.

The remaining Miao men hurriedly rushed over to pat his back, speaking in the Miao language, presumably showing concern for their companion.

Once the bow is drawn, there is no turning back. Zhou Yi drove his Lihuo blade straight into the back of one Miao man's heart. Pulling the blade free, he slashed another man's throat. Just as Zhou Yi moved to kill the remaining men, one of them managed to scream out at the top of his lungs, "Intruders—!"

Before the word could fully leave his mouth, the Lihuo blade had already pierced his throat, choking the rest of the cry back down into his windpipe.

At that moment, Baozi struck down two more men with his twin iron maces. Only one Miao man was left—the very one who had swallowed the pill just moments before. As Baozi raised a single mace to finish him off, Zhou Yi quickly stopped him.

"Don't kill him!" Even as he spoke, Zhou Yi delivered a sharp chop with the edge of his hand to the back of the Miao man's neck. Knocked unconscious by the blow, the tribesman was quickly dragged back into the shadows of the woods and hidden away by the two of them.

Their actions were extremely slick and precise. Aside from half a shout from a single tribesman, there had been no other noise, and they likely hadn't alerted anyone else.

Zhou Yi had measured the force of his hand-chop carefully; that Miao man wouldn't be waking up for at least another hour!

Light was spilling out from inside the tent, indicating someone was inside. Peering through the window, Zhou Yi saw the old Miao matriarch sitting at a table, leisurely sipping tea.

Dongnuo was bound to the bed, clearly being kept as a prisoner.

"Dongnuo, don't blame your grandmother. Grandmother is only doing this for your own good. If the Great Shaman were here, I'm afraid you would already have been executed by now. Listen to Grandmother's advice: if you still don't understand, I will send two men to escort you back to our Sava Miao Village. If you finally see reason, help Grandmother resurrect our Jiuli ancestors together. From then on, you will be the Great Shaman of our Sava Miao Village, and Grandmother will do everything in her power to assist you!"

The old Miao matriarch tried her utmost to persuade Dongnuo inside the room, but Dongnuo, tied to the bed, refused to utter a single word.

"Resurrecting our Jiuli ancestors is the lifelong mission of us Sava Miao people. Anyone who stands in our way is an enemy of the Sava Miao Village. Why are you such a stubborn girl? What does it matter if it's a hundred or so infants? Besides, dying for the resurrection of our ancestors is their fortune."

"Grandmother, for the sake of some illusory belief, to sacrifice so many infants—I cannot do it! They haven't even had a proper look at this world yet, and we are going to use their flesh and blood to feed that stinking corpse? I can't do this, I just can't!" Dongnuo shook her head and said.

"Enough! If you remain stubbornly deluded, don't blame Grandmother for casting aside all affection!"

"Grandmother, send me back to Sava Miao Village. No matter how the Great Shaman deals with Dongnuo, Dongnuo will have no further complaints!" Knowing she could never persuade these people who had lost their human nature, Dongnuo saw no other way out and sought only to escape.

"Fine. Tomorrow morning, Grandmother will have people send you back to the Miao village. Come, eat first!" With that, the old matriarch stepped forward and untied the ropes binding Dongnuo, confident that with herself present, Dongnuo couldn't possibly run away!

Freed from her bonds, Dongnuo remained lying on the bed without touching the food on the table. With no other choice, the old matriarch tied her back up and turned to leave the room.

Seeing Dongnuo suffering inside, Baozi was already burning with anxiety. If Zhou Yi hadn't held him back, Baozi would have already rushed into the room to fight the old hag to the death.

"Let's get out of here first, we'll save her tomorrow!"