Peach Blossoms in Chang'an

Chapter 264 Stormy Waves, Life and Death

The black sphere drew a strange arc in the air, carrying a breath of destruction, and headed straight towards Wu Tao and Hu Bugui.

"Tao'er!" Hu Bugui's eyes were red with anger. Without thinking, he held Wu Tao tightly in his arms and used his body to block the fatal blow for her.

At the critical moment, a dazzling white light descended from the sky, like a sharp sword, splitting the black sphere in half. The sphere exploded in the air, turning into black powder and dissipating into nothingness.

Wu Tao and Hu Bugui were stunned by this sudden change. They looked up and saw a handsome man in white clothes but with a hint of coldness slowly descending from the sky.

"Who are you?" Hu Bugui asked vigilantly. Although this person had just saved them, he did not dare to trust anyone easily.

The man in white ignored Hu Bugui. His eyes fell on Wu Tao, and a complex emotion flashed in his deep eyes.

"Are you okay?" he asked softly, with a barely perceptible concern in his tone.

Wu Tao shook her head. She could feel that the man in front of her was emitting a powerful force that made her feel both strange and familiar.

"Thank you for your help. May I know who you are..." Hu Bugui asked again.

"It doesn't matter who I am," the man in white interrupted him, "What matters is that your enemies are no longer someone you can handle."

His tone was cold and emotionless, but it made Wu Tao and Hu Bugui's hearts sink at the same time.

"What do you mean?" Hu Bugui asked.

"You are facing a group of invaders from another time and space. Their goal is to change history and subvert this world," the man in white said slowly, "and I am the guardian of the order of time and space. My duty is to stop them."

"Guardian of Time and Space?" Wu Tao and Hu Bugui looked at each other in bewilderment. They had never heard of such a term.

"I know this is hard to believe, but it's the truth," the man in white said, "Now, I'm going to take you to a safe place. There, you will know everything."

As he spoke, he stretched out his hand, and an invisible force wrapped up Wu Tao and Hu Bugui, carrying them into the air and disappearing into the night sky.

The men in black looked at each other, their eyes filled with horror as they watched this scene.

"leader……"

"What do we do now?"

No one answered, because their leader had already collapsed to the ground, bleeding from all seven orifices, and had died.

The man in white who took Wu Tao and Hu Bugui away suddenly shook after bringing them to a safe place...

The man in white staggered and barely stood up by holding onto an old tree. Seeing this, Wu Tao hurried forward to support him, "What's wrong with you?"

The man in white waved his hands, indicating that he was fine, but his pale face could not hide his weakness at the moment. He took a deep breath, and his tone was a little tired, "I'm fine, just overexerted..."

Before he finished speaking, his eyes went dark and his body fell backwards. Wu Tao was quick to catch him and gently put him on the ground. Hu Bugui also rushed forward to check the situation, but found that the man in white had fallen into a coma.

"What's wrong with him?" Hu Bugui asked anxiously.

Wu Tao reached out and felt the man's breath, and found that he was still breathing, which made her feel relieved. She guessed, "It must be because he consumed too much energy just now, and he needs to rest."

Looking at the unconscious man in white, Wu Tao and Hu Bugui fell into deep thought. They realized that the guardian of time and space had paid a huge price to save them. And the strength of the leader of the remnant of the mysterious organization was far beyond their imagination.

"We can't just sit there and wait for death," Hu Bugui said, breaking the silence. "If we allow that organization to continue, the consequences will be disastrous."

Wu Tao nodded, agreeing deeply. She understood that now was not the time for them to retreat. Only by completely eliminating the remnants of the mysterious organization could they protect the magic weapon and the peace of the two worlds, and safeguard their hard-earned happiness.

"But what should we do now?" Wu Tao asked, with a hint of confusion in his tone.

Hu Bugui pondered for a moment, a look of determination flashed in his eyes, "We must take the initiative to attack, find their lair, and catch them all in one fell swoop!"

Wu Tao was shocked. She understood what Hu Bugui meant. He wanted to attack directly and have a head-on confrontation with the leader of the remnants of the mysterious organization!

"But, their strength..." Wu Tao was a little worried. After all, they had just witnessed the terrifying strength of that leader.

"I know," Hu Buyui held Wu Tao's hand, his tone firm, "but we can't be afraid, and we can't retreat. For ourselves, for the safety of both worlds, we must try our best!"

Wu Tao looked at Hu Bugui's determined eyes, and a surge of courage ignited in her heart. She nodded, "Okay, let's go together!"

At this moment, the unconscious man in white suddenly groaned, as if he was enduring great pain. Wu Tao and Hu Bugui hurriedly moved closer to check, only to see that the man in white had a frown on his face and his lips trembled slightly, as if he wanted to say something.

"What's wrong with you? What do you want to say?" Wu Tao asked anxiously.

The man in white tried hard to open his eyes, his gaze fell on Wu Tao and Hu Bugui, and with his last bit of strength, he uttered two words: "Be careful..."

Before he finished speaking, he fainted again. However, Wu Tao and Hu Bugui were filled with turmoil.

Be careful? Be careful about what? Could it be that their next move would be even more dangerous?

Without time to think, Wu Tao and Hu Bugui looked at each other with firm eyes. They were ready to meet the next challenge.

Under the cover of night, two figures sneaked quietly and disappeared into the vast night...

The night was as dark as ink. Wu Tao and Hu Bugui took advantage of the cover of darkness to sneak into the lair of the remnants of the mysterious organization. The lair was hidden deep in a dense forest. If the man in white had not used up his last bit of strength to reveal the location before he fainted, they would have found it difficult to find it.

"Be careful, there's something weird going on here." Hu Bugui warned in a low voice, tightening the hilt of the sword in his hand and vigilantly observing the movements around him.

Wu Tao nodded slightly and took out a dagger from her sleeve. This was the self-defense skill she learned in the Tang Dynasty, and it came in handy now. The two of them moved forward cautiously, passing through the deep path, and finally came to an ancient temple. The temple was dilapidated, with broken walls and ruins everywhere, exuding a gloomy and terrifying atmosphere.

"Is this the place?" Wu Tao asked in a low voice, his heart beating faster involuntarily.

"That should be right." Hu Bugui looked around with a sharp gaze, "Be careful of ambushes."

As soon as he finished speaking, the lights in the dilapidated temple suddenly lit up, and dozens of men in black rushed out from all directions and surrounded them. The leader was the black-clad leader who had fought with them that day. He stared at Wu Tao and Hu Buwei with a sinister look, and a sneer appeared on the corner of his mouth.

"You are quite courageous. You actually dare to come to my door!"

"Stop talking nonsense, today either you die or I die!" Hu Bugui shouted coldly, drew his sword from its sheath, and pointed the tip of the sword directly at the leader in black.

A fierce battle was about to break out. Men in black swarmed forward, swords flashing and sabers flying, full of murderous intent. Wu Tao and Hu Bugui stood back to back, cooperating tacitly, their swordsmanship was sharp and every move was deadly. They knew that today's battle was not only for themselves, but also for the safety of the two worlds.

At this moment, the sound of horse hooves came from afar, accompanied by deafening shouts of killing. A group of soldiers dressed in Tang army uniforms rushed out of the dense forest, led by General Li, Cheng Yaojin and others.

"Brother Hu, we are here to lend you a helping hand!" General Li shouted loudly, waving his spear and joining the battle.

It turned out that before Hu Bugui decided to go deep into the enemy camp, he had sent a message to General Li, asking for support. Now that the Tang army arrived in time, it was undoubtedly a shot in the arm for Wu Tao and Hu Bugui.

"Kill!"

The shouts of killing shook the earth, the Tang army was unstoppable, and the men in black were defeated step by step. The leader in black saw that the situation was not good, and he was furious, but he could do nothing.

"withdraw!"

He gave an order and fled with the remaining men. Hu Bugui was about to chase him, but was stopped by Wu Tao.

"Don't chase after a desperate enemy, beware of traps!"

Hu Bugui calmed down and nodded, "You are right."

However, they didn't know that the real danger had just begun. The leader in black was unwilling to accept defeat, so he hid in the dark and pressed a mechanism in his hand...

The black-clad leader's sinister laughter echoed in the dilapidated temple for a long time. As the mechanism was activated, the ground began to shake violently, and the originally shaky temple seemed to be about to collapse completely in the next moment. Wu Tao and Hu Bugui noticed something strange and their faces changed suddenly.

"Oh no! He wants to destroy this place and die with us!" Hu Bugui exclaimed, pulling Wu Tao and rushing out.

However, it was too late.

An invisible force enveloped the entire temple, forming an airtight barrier that trapped everyone inside. General Li led the Tang army to attack the barrier with all their might, but it was like an ant trying to shake a tree, and it was useless.

"Hahahahaha! None of you can leave here alive!" The leader in black looked crazy, laughing wildly and releasing the last bit of strength in his body and injecting it into the mechanism.

The mechanism emitted a blinding red light, and the powerful energy fluctuations caused the space to begin to distort. Wu Tao felt an unprecedented sense of crisis, as if the god of death was standing in front of her, extending his cold hands to her.

"What should we do? Are we all going to die here?" A feeling of despair spread, and the Tang army soldiers clenched their weapons, their faces full of fear.

At this critical moment, Wu Tao suddenly remembered the mysterious brocade bag she got when she traveled through time. She had kept the brocade bag close to her but had never opened it, because there were eight words written on it: Only open in critical moments.

"Let's fight!" A trace of determination flashed in Wu Tao's eyes. He took out a brocade bag from his arms and opened it without hesitation.

In the brocade bag, there lay a crystal clear jade pendant quietly. The jade pendant was warm to the touch, emitting a faint light, as if it contained infinite power.

"What is this?" Hu Bugui asked puzzledly, looking at the jade pendant in Wu Tao's hand.

Wu Tao did not answer, because she did not know what the jade pendant was. But she could feel that the jade pendant had some kind of strange connection with her, as if it was specially prepared for her.

"Om-"

The jade pendant suddenly vibrated violently, making a crisp sound. At the same time, a message appeared in Wu Tao's mind, telling her how to use the power of the jade pendant.

"So that's how it is..." Wu Tao murmured to himself, with a glimmer of enlightenment in his eyes.

She took a deep breath and injected all the energy in her body into the jade pendant. The jade pendant glowed brightly, turning into a beam of light that shot up into the sky and collided with the red light released by the mechanism.

"Rumble--"

The entire temple shook violently, as if it would collapse at any time. Wu Tao and Hu Bugui hugged each other tightly, feeling each other's body temperature, waiting for the final judgment of fate.

"what--"

The black-clothed leader let out a shrill scream, and his body quickly shrank, eventually turning into ashes and disappearing between heaven and earth. The red light released by the mechanism was also completely swallowed up by the light of the jade pendant and disappeared completely.

The barrier was broken, and the invisible force that trapped everyone dissipated.

"Did we... survive?" General Li looked around, his tone filled with gratitude for surviving the disaster.

However, before everyone could breathe a sigh of relief, something strange happened.

The originally clear sky suddenly became overcast with thunder and lightning. A more powerful energy wave surged from all directions, surrounding Wu Tao and Hu Bugui.

"What's going on?" Hu Bugui's face changed drastically, and an ominous premonition arose in his heart.

Wu Tao tightly grasped the jade pendant in his hand, feeling the distortion of time and space around him, and muttered to himself: "Could it be... the guardian of time and space..."