The cold wind roared and heavy snow flew. The earth was covered with a layer of white snow.

The emperor of the Empire favored the Dao Sect and Taoist temples were everywhere in China, but for ordinary people, they were more looking forward to good weather. For them, the prestige of the Land Lord is much higher than that of those Taoists. Therefore, land temples have been built in many places in various parts of the Qin State, and the land temples are not very large. They are usually built by spontaneously raising funds by the people.

The smaller land temple is less than one person tall, but the tablet of the land god is placed. The larger land temple looks decent, just like a small temple.

Such land temples are generally built near the village and are not far from the village. Before the farming is started every year, many people will go to the land temple to burn incense and beg the land god to bless the land and the land to have a good weather.

On a cold winter night, heavy snow was flying, and a land temple stood alone on the ground, and its roofs were covered with snow.

The people in the village also rested early. In the late winter, no one would come to pay attention to a land temple. The sound of trampling on the snow was covered by the cold wind and no one could hear it.

"Prince, I can only take a rest here tonight." Faced with the heavy snow, Qiu Ruxue turned his head and said to King Qi behind him: "The snow is too heavy, so I can't leave anymore. You can warm up this land temple."

Behind Qiu Ruxue, in addition to King Qi, there were also Lu Haosheng and Ling Shuang, while Ma Zhongheng was walking at the end and was responsible for the task of cutting off the rear. Several of them were wearing thick cotton coats and leather felt hats, wrapping their bodies tightly. At first glance, there was no difference from ordinary people. It was hard to imagine that the prince of the empire would be among them.

The King of Qi looked tired and nodded. Several people pushed the door and entered the Land Temple. Ma Zhongheng finally went in and closed the door.

It was pitch black inside, Qiu Ruxue took the fire and lit up the fire. Only then did he see that the Land Temple was quite narrow and not spacious, but in terms of the size of the Land Temple, it was already quite large.

There was a land god in Nishuo, and there was nothing else. King Qi walked to the wall, sat down, then looked at Ling Shuang, and said, "Ling Shuang, are you tired? Come, sit here and take a break."

Ling Shuang sat down next to King Qi. The King of Qi then looked at Qiu Ruxue and asked, "Hero Qiu, where are we now? How far is it from Xigu Pass?"

"Prince, this is already in Tongzhou, Xishan Road, less than three days away from Xigu Pass." Qiu Ruxue said: "When I leave Xigu Pass, it is the northwest boundary. At that time, I will get a few horses and I can ride a horse to Shuoquan."

"Haven Qiu, we have been away for a few days, why can't we ride a horse?" King Qi frowned and said, "If we were riding a horse, we would probably have come out of seclusion long ago."

"Prince, if we really ride a horse, we are afraid we will not be able to go to Tongzhou." Qiu Ruxu sighed: "After we leave the capital, the prince will definitely send people to follow us. Even if we make arrangements in advance, we will set up a maze and divide several routes of people. However, as long as we ride a horse, the prince's people will definitely follow us. The prince's men have many powerful tracking masters, and they are completely likely to chase us through the traces of horses. On the contrary, when we walk on foot, our footprints will soon be obscured, and there are many people hiking. Even if there are footprints, they cannot recognize them at all...!"

King Qi looked at the coarse cotton shoes on his feet and sighed.

After leaving the capital, Qiu Ruxue had made arrangements in advance and arranged several groups of people outside the city. When the King of Qi arrived at the established position, the four groups of people walked separately in four directions. Chen Wansi and Bai Xiaozi also brought the same group of people as a means to lure the enemy.

Moreover, new clothes were prepared outside the city, all of which were worn by ordinary people, and even shoes were prepared. King Qi and his group took a carriage. After passing Qulong Mountain, they immediately took the carriage to walk and concealed their whereabouts.

As he walked along the way, he was really exhausted, but he was worried that the prince would catch up at any time and dared not stay. The King of Qi had never suffered such suffering, but he was helpless.

He mentioned looking for horses several times along the way, but Qiu Ruxue explained several times that Qin State had strict control over horses. If he wanted to buy horses, he needed to register with the local government. Although there was a black market to trade horses privately, such black markets were not available everywhere. The most important thing was that in order to conceal his identity, several people were wearing ordinary people's clothes. In their clothes, they could not have the financial resources to buy horses. Wearing a coarse cloth cotton jacket, but riding a fast horse, it was easier for people to be suspicious.

"Prince, it's very close to Xigu Pass. You can enter the Guanxi area if you last a few more days." Lu Haosheng also knew that the King of Qi was pampered and was in great pain after all the struggles. "Now we are in Xishan Road, which is the last journey, but at this time, we must be more careful."

"Why?" asked the King of Qi, "Changshi Lu, do you think the prince's people will keep chasing him here?"

"They will not give up, but the most important thing is that the prince has ever thought about who the governor of Xishan Road is?" Lu Haosheng said solemnly: "Prince, the governor of Xishan Road Qiao Mingtang, who is the prince's member!"

The King of Qi suddenly looked calm and he thought.

This time they went to the northwest, and did not pass through Yunshan, but took a detour and entered the Tongzhou area. Tongzhou is a must-pass place to get out of the customs and has always been a key military camp.

The King of Qi once visited Yunshan, but met Qiao Mingtang, the governor of Xishan Road, and really knew that Qiao Mingtang was a member of the princeling party.

"The prince leaves from the capital, and the prince will definitely guess where the prince will go." Lu Haosheng said: "The prince is just two ways, one is to Hexi, looking for the emperor, and the other is to go northwest, looking for Chu Huan. Of course, the prince is also aware of these two ways, so he will definitely send people to pursue these two ways, and he will definitely not relax the northwest road. Tongzhou is the only way to the northwest road in the pass, and Tongzhou belongs to Xishan Road, and the governor of Xishan Road is Qiao Mingtang. Bei Zhi even suspects that the prince has sent someone to say hello to Qiao Mingtang, so that he can find the whereabouts of the prince on the ground of Tongzhou...!"

King Qi frowned and asked, "Are you saying that Qiao Mingtang will send someone to intercept us in Tongzhou?"

"It's not impossible." Qiu Ruxue finally said: "Qiao Mingtang is very familiar with the situation in Tongzhou, and he is a member of the prince's party. If he really gets the prince's secret order, he will definitely send more people in Tongzhou to find the prince's traces. So when he gets here, he sees that it is only one step away from leaving the pass, but it is precisely the moment when we cannot relax. Only after leaving Xigu Pass can we be considered to be out of the prince's control. The prince's power in the northwest is very weak, and his tentacles have not yet reached the northwest."

The King of Qi had no choice but to lean on the hard and cold wall, "Then we can only be careful and get out of seclusion as soon as possible..." He clenched his fists and sneered: "The prince forced me to die. One day, I will make him live and die..." In his tone, there was already a deep-rooted and ruthless hatred for the prince.

The room was silent, and soon, the faint fire light was extinguished. The fire broker in Qiu Ruxue's hand couldn't last long. In the darkness, the air seemed to become very cold again.

"There is a leak here..." King Qi couldn't help but say, "Let's stay here all night, and wait until dawn, I'm afraid they will all freeze to death..."

Ma Zhongheng said: "Then we can only find some firewood that can be burned... When we came here, we passed by a small forest, where there were many dead trees. We went to cut down some trees. I wonder if we could make a fire?"

"There are no windows around this land temple. If you close the door, the fire cannot be shining out. There should be no problem." King Qi immediately said: "If there is no fire, you will be frozen to death until dawn..."

"Master Ma, if you can, go and chop some firewood..." Qiu Ruxue thought for a moment and said to Ma Zhongheng.

Ma Zhongheng said: "Hero Qiu, the prince's side..."

"Don't worry, I'll protect the prince, there's no problem."

"Okay, then there's a big deal of hero Qiu." Ma Zhongheng said happily, packed up, went forward and opened the door. A gust of cold wind came in from outside the door. Ma Zhongheng flashed out, and Qiu Ruxue stepped forward and closed it.

The room was pitch black, and it seemed that I was too tired to travel. No one spoke, and even the sound of breathing was covered by the howling cold wind outside.

Although the land temple was simple, the King of Qi was sleepy and leaned against the hard wall and had already closed his eyes. Qiu Ruxue still held the handle of the knife and kept his vigilance.

Time passed, but Ma Zhongheng was not back for a long time. Lu Haosheng finally asked: "Hero Qiu, Commander Ma has been there for so long and has not come back. Isn't something wrong?"

Qiu Ruxue was silent for a moment before saying, "Wait a minute, there should be no problem..."

After waiting for a while, there was no movement from Ma Zhongheng. Lu Hao stood up and said, "Hero Qiu, even if he cut down two big trees, it's time to come back..."

The King of Qi was obviously awakened, and asked, "Ma Zhongheng hasn't come back yet?"

"Prince, Commander Ma has been there for half an hour, but no one has been seen for a long time. I'm afraid something happened."

"What will happen in such a cold day?" King Qi suddenly became nervous, "Hero Qiu, what should we do? Or...why...why should we go and search together?"

Qiu Ruxue thought for a while before saying, "Prince, don't act rashly. Lu Changshi, you and Miss Ling Shuang are waiting here with the prince, holding your knife. Don't go out before I come back... and don't open the door." He got up, "I don't want that little woods from here. I'll go over and take a look and will come back soon..."

"Hiss Qiu, you have to be careful." Lu Haosheng immediately said that Qiu Ruxue is the backbone now. When he goes to Shuoquan, he depends entirely on Qiu Ruxue's leadership. Lu Haosheng really doesn't want Qiu Ruxue to have any problems.
Chapter completed!