-Thank you DCRangeRange, Dean Dexter and Cannedbread –
Almost at the very instant Cheng Lao’er threw the cup, Shi Laosan and the other bandits disguised as tea drinkers moved simultaneously. Each drew their weapon and hacked toward the red-clothed woman’s table, while Cheng Lao’er also drew his long saber and joined the battle.
The guards were unwilling to show weakness and drew their weapons one after another to meet the enemy.
At that moment, a blue throwing knife shot out from the rear courtyard, heading straight for the red-clothed woman’s face.
The red-clothed woman had long been prepared. She raised her long saber to block it, and the throwing knife lodged against the blade. Its remaining force was undiminished, pushing her backward and smashing through three wooden tables before she finally stopped. The red-clothed woman pulled back her saber and stood her ground, though the web between her thumb and forefinger was still trembling slightly.
A young man in purple walked out from the rear courtyard, a trace of regret seemingly on his face. He muttered to himself, “It seems a head-on battle is unavoidable after all.”
As he spoke, he reached into his sleeve and actually took out a talisman, then began chanting under his breath.
From the moment Chen Lin walked out, the red-clothed woman had placed her full attention on him.
She knew that among everyone here, this young man in purple was the only one capable of threatening her. Seeing him casting a spell and chanting an incantation, she immediately used her lightness skill without the slightest hesitation and flew toward him, her long saber cleaving straight at Chen Lin’s face.
Chen Lin remained calm and unhurried. He formed a spell seal with his right hand and cast a Fireball Technique. A blazing fireball emerged from his fingertip and shot toward the red-clothed woman. The Fireball Technique was merely an entry-level spell for immortal cultivators. It was adequate against ordinary mortals, but it didn’t possess much power against those trained in martial arts. Chen Lin hadn’t expected this move to injure his enemy or accomplish anything in the first place. He merely wanted to obstruct her for a moment or two.
Sure enough, the red-clothed woman twirled her saber into a flourish while in midair, checking the fireball’s momentum before guiding it elsewhere along its path.
However, she herself was also delayed by this. Almost within that same instant, Chen Lin had completed his spell. A gleaming golden bronze hammer flew out from the talisman and circled restlessly through the air, brimming with spiritual energy. Chen Lin formed another spell seal, and the bronze hammer instantly smashed toward the red-clothed woman.
Clang! Clang! Clang!
In the blink of an eye, the red-clothed woman had already exchanged more than a dozen moves with the bronze hammer. She felt that the angles of its attacks were strange and unfathomable, while its strength was boundless. It was no different from exchanging moves with a great expert who had roamed the martial world for many years. The slightest carelessness would result in sudden death on the spot.
Having no other choice, she could only concentrate fully on dealing with it. Chen Lin, meanwhile, was also forming spell seals with both hands to control the bronze hammer and didn’t dare to be careless in the slightest. For a time, neither side could overcome the other.
On the other side, the battle between the bandits and guards was gradually becoming white-hot. Although the bandits were fewer in number, every one of them had come through a life of licking blood from blade edges. They possessed powerful martial arts, and their attacks were ruthless.
Cheng Lao’er and Shi Laosan in particular were considerably more skilled than the others. There was also a skilled fighter among the guards who seemed to hold the position of commander. He was directing the guards in forming a battle formation to meet the enemy. Although the guards’ martial arts were inferior to the bandits’, their advantage lay in their seamless coordination and how they watched out for one another. Though dangers sprang up all around them, no one had yet been killed.
Seeing that the attack on that side still hadn’t succeeded, Chen Lin couldn’t help becoming anxious. He shouted loudly at Cheng Lao’er, “Useless fool! Don’t you understand the principle of ‘to capture the bandits, first capture their king’? Take that little girl first!”
The bandits immediately understood. They drove more inner force into their attacks, every move viciously aimed straight at the beautiful middle-aged woman and the little girl. The guards hurriedly responded, while the bandits threw all caution aside and fought as though they wanted to die. The weapons in their hands struck only toward those two targets.
The guards’ duty was to protect their masters, not to kill people. If anything happened to those two, killing every last bandit here would still be useless. For that reason, they didn’t dare to attack aggressively and could only defend. In attending to one thing, they often lost sight of another. Having gained the advantage, the bandits attacked with even less regard for their lives.
With a wet slicing sound, one bandit wounded a guard, immediately tearing open a gap. Seeing the bandit’s saber hacking toward the little girl, another guard had no choice but to block it with his body. Blood instantly gushed out like a spring.
With two guards gravely wounded in an instant, they could no longer maintain their formation. The bandits, however, became braver the longer they fought. One bandit had already charged past the guards and reached out to grab the little girl. The guard commander used all his strength to sweep aside Shi Laosan’s great hammer, seized the little girl with his left hand, and pushed her away with the momentum, allowing her to escape the bandit’s grasp by the narrowest of margins.
The little girl’s face was pale. By sheer coincidence, she was pushed directly in front of Liang Yan. At that moment, Liang Yan was also crouching in a corner with his arms wrapped around his legs, looking as though he were trembling all over.
Seeing that the little girl was alone without a single guard beside her and accompanied only by a mere young brat, Shi Laosan felt that this was a heaven-sent opportunity. He immediately used his lightness skill and rushed straight toward Liang Yan. The guard commander was certainly unwilling to let the matter rest. He chased after Shi Laosan and swung his saber at him.
Shi Laosan turned to block the attack, but his footsteps never stopped. He continued rushing toward the little girl and arrived before her in an instant. His left hand shot out and seized her arm.
“With this girl in hand, I can use her as a hostage and force that red-clothed woman to submit. Hehe, the foremost merit this time will belong to me!”
Shi Laosan’s heart burned with excitement, but he inexplicably felt a burst of twisting pain in his lower abdomen. Lowering his head, he saw a dagger embedded in it.
The hand holding the dagger had extended from behind the little girl, emerging beneath her armpit.
The person who had struck was Liang Yan!
The timid and weak expression on his face had long since vanished. In its place was complete calm.
“You…” Shi Laosan managed to utter only a single word before the guard commander, who had caught up from behind, split him in two with one stroke of his saber.
The little girl’s face was pale, her lips tightly clenched. One small hand was gripping the clothes of the person behind her with all its strength. Liang Yan gently patted her on the back, causing her complexion to ease slightly, but her small hand never loosened its grip.
When she had been pushed over just now, she had originally been at a complete loss from panic. However, a voice had spoken from behind her.
“If you trust me, then when a bad person comes to grab you later, pretend that you’re frightened. Don’t dodge. Let him grab you. I have my own plan”
She had originally been frightened to death, but after hearing the voice of the person behind her, she felt slightly more at ease for some unknown reason. She truly stood there without moving, merely waiting for Shi Laosan to come and grab her.
Liang Yan already possessed martial skill, but his training wasn’t refined. In a one-on-one fight, let alone Shi Laosan, he couldn’t even defeat an ordinary bandit inside the teahouse.
However, Liang Yan had concealed his abilities beforehand, and Shi Laosan’s first impression had ruled his judgment, making him believe that Liang Yan didn’t know martial arts. On top of that, Shi Laosan had to divide his attention to resist the guard commander, so he paid even less heed to this young brat.
Liang Yan waited until the exact moment Shi Laosan grabbed the little girl before striking. At that time, Shi Laosan was flushed with success and his vigilance had grown dull. This entire series of calculations took full advantage of the right time and place, unexpectedly causing this fierce bandit to meet his end here.
Chen Lin had been watching the battle on this side all along. When he saw that Shi Laosan was about to succeed, he couldn’t help letting out a sigh of relief. Who could have known that the situation would suddenly take a turn for the worse? In the blink of an eye, Shi Laosan had already died violently on the spot. By now, how could Chen Lin not realize that this young brat had played a trick on him?
His fury truly made his hair rise against his cap. He roared, “Your father is going to kill you!”
(TL Note: He’s calling himself the guys father. It’s a chinese thing)
As he spoke, he swept his left sleeve, sending a blue throwing knife shooting toward Liang Yan.
The red-clothed woman let out a cold snort and brushed her left hand toward Liang Yan. Her inner force burst from her body, and Liang Yan felt a gentle force push him and the little girl several inches to the left. Immediately afterward, the blue throwing knife whistled past only a few inches from the base of his ear and even smashed apart the wall behind him.
Seeing that his attack had failed, Chen Lin grew even more anxious.
With the red-clothed woman’s level of skill, she instantly saw the opening. She swept the bronze hammer aside, and her figure resembled a swallow flying through the open air as she arrived in an instant. Before she herself arrived, her saber arrived first!
Chen Lin saw only a flash of cold light before his left arm flew into the sky like a kite whose string had been cut!
“Ah!”
With a heart-rending scream, Chen Lin’s face twisted as he flew backward. His right hand desperately flung out several talismans. Some transformed into fireballs, while others became pillars of ice. The red-clothed woman had intended to pursue her victory, but these talismans obstructed her and forced her to stop.
“You’re nothing but a mortal, yet you dared to sever one of my arms! I’ll make you suffer ten thousand calamities and never recover!”
Chen Lin stared at the woman opposite him, his face twisted. With his right hand, he took out a black pellet from inside his clothes. He flicked it with a bent finger, sending it shooting toward her.
The red-clothed woman had already become vigilant when he first reached into his clothes. Seeing that the pellet was approaching too quickly, she hurriedly raised her saber to block it. However, before the saber could touch the pellet, it exploded ahead of time. A cloud of red mist scattered outward and instantly burrowed into her mouth and nose.
“This is bad!”
The red-clothed woman was startled and hurriedly drove her inner force to dissolve it. However, the moment the mist entered her body, her entire body became listless, and she couldn’t muster even the slightest bit of strength. Even the inner force inside her body rapidly dissipated. In only a short while, not the slightest trace of inner force remained.
“Hehe, how does this Drunken Immortal feel? Never mind you, even an immortal cultivator would have to lie down before me!”
This Drunken Immortal was originally a secret treasure of Chen Lin’s clan. Back then, knowing that he could no longer remain in the clan to cultivate immortality, he had spent more than half his fortune and used his connections within the clan to beg for this single pellet. It was meant to save his life when he roamed the martial world in the future.
The thought that his greatest trump card would be gone from this day onward, combined with his hatred over his severed arm, made Chen Lin feel as though his heart were about to spit fire.
“Hehe, don’t worry. I won’t let you have an easy time. Do you think death will be enough to free you?”
“No. Before your very eyes, I’ll kill every one of these people around you! Then I’ll award you to my brothers and let them violate and torment you. Once they’re tired of playing with you, I’ll execute you by slow slicing, one cut at a time. After you die, I’ll draw out your soul, strip your body naked, and hang it at the entrance of Yun City for everyone to look at. Then I’ll suppress your soul inside my spiritual artifact and make you suffer every kind of torment, never to be reborn for all eternity! Hehe, little lass, you can’t even imagine the methods of an immortal!”
These words were vicious beyond anything heard before. Even the red-clothed woman, proud and unyielding to the bone, couldn’t avoid being frightened. Her body began trembling beyond her control.
At that moment, an angry roar suddenly erupted out of nowhere from the teahouse’s rear courtyard. Beneath that roar, everyone felt as though their livers and gallbladders were about to split. It resembled the sound of ghosts and gods coming to claim their lives.
Everyone looked toward the rear courtyard. The door to one of the inner guest rooms stood wide open, yet there wasn’t a single person inside.
While they were still bewildered, they turned and discovered that, at some unknown time, another person had appeared inside the main hall.
This person wore a grey cloth monk’s robe and had a face the color of a dark red jujube. His eyes were each as large as a child’s clenched fist, and his mouthful of yellow teeth was webbed with streaks of blood. His hands and arms were covered in strange runes, which emitted wave after wave of an aura that made the heart and gall tremble.
At that moment, his left hand was clutching Chen Lin’s lapel, while his right fist was drawn back. Chen Lin was completely overwhelmed by his gaze. His body felt as though it had been pinned beneath Mount Tai, and he couldn’t move in the slightest. He wanted to say even a single word, but even taking one breath seemed impossible. His face had long since turned the dark purple color of pig liver.
Liang Yan drew in a cold breath. He was completely certain that this person was the old monk who had saved him, yet the monk’s appearance had changed drastically. If not for the monk’s robe on his body, Liang Yan would have believed it even if someone told him this was a malicious ghost from hell.
Gurgling noises came from Chen Lin’s throat. He seemed to be trying to utter the smallest scrap of a plea for mercy. However, the old monk didn’t give him that opportunity. His right fist struck out, and with a loud bang, Chen Lin’s entire body transformed into a cloud of blood mist and dispersed between heaven and earth.
After the old monk threw that punch, it was as though all his anger had been vented. His aura rapidly declined, and in an instant, he returned to being that withered old monk who looked ready to be laid into his coffin. Pressing his palms together, he softly intoned the Buddha’s name.
Only then did everyone inside the main hall regain the ability to move. After witnessing the monk’s divine might, the bandits had long since felt as though their livers and gallbladders were about to split. They threw down their weapons and kowtowed like they were pounding garlic. Only after making more than ten resounding kowtows did the bandits support one another and flee outside for their lives.
The teahouse’s main hall, which had been in complete chaos only moments earlier, now contained only the red-clothed woman’s party, Liang Yan, and the others.
When the old monk first appeared, the red-clothed woman had felt the true qi inside her body surge. It instantly scattered the Drunken Immortal’s drug, allowing her body to regain its freedom.
She looked deeply at the old monk and slowly said, “I have long known that even a Buddha feels anger. Having seen it today, it truly is the wrathful glare of a Vajra, making ghosts and gods quake in fear!”
Seeing that the old monk remained standing where he was with his palms pressed together and his eyes lowered, with no intention of answering her, she gave a bitter smile. Cupping her fist, she said, “This humble woman is Lin Ziqing. Many thanks for saving us today, Master.”
After speaking, she gritted her teeth and walked toward the little girl. Once she had carefully examined her and discovered that the girl had merely been frightened and wasn’t seriously harmed, she finally relaxed and lovingly stroked her head.
She then turned her gaze toward Liang Yan and asked, “Little brother, what’s your name?”
“Liang Yan.”
“Mm. Thank you for saving us twice today. If you don’t mind, you may also call me Aunt Qing.” As she spoke, she took out a jade pendant and handed it to him. “If you ever come to the capital, you can use this to find me. If there’s anything I can help you with, just speak.”
Liang Yan shook his head and pushed the jade pendant back to her.
“Helping you was the same as helping myself. If I’d stood by with my sleeves folded, only death would’ve awaited me in the end.”
Seeing that he was unwilling to claim credit, Lin Ziqing’s eyes showed even greater appreciation.
When the little girl beside them saw that Liang Yan refused to accept the jade pendant, she became even more anxious. She snatched the jade pendant out of Lin Ziqing’s hand and directly stuffed it into Liang Yan’s hand.
“Just let him accept it, Aunt Qing! He saved my life. Just now, I almost thought I was going to die here.”
She then turned toward Liang Yan and said, “Big Brother Liang, please accept it. You absolutely must come to the capital and play with me in the future. Oh, right, my name is Liu Wanrou. You can call me Wan’er. Oh, right, my dad is very rich. Whatever you want to eat, he can buy it for you. There are also lots of fun places in the capital. When you come, I’ll take you to play. If you get tired, you can rest at my house too…”
It was as though she had never spoken so many words in a single breath before, and also as though she had poured out everything she knew all at once. By the end, her face was flushed red, and she was panting slightly.
Lin Ziqing lovingly patted Wan’er’s back, then gave Liang Yan a look and said, “Just accept it. This is a gift Wan’er is giving you. You two can be considered friends now, can’t you? It’s perfectly normal for friends to give each other gifts.”
Liang Yan scratched his scalp before giving a free-spirited smile.
“That’s true!”
“It’s a pity that I’ve accepted your gift but don’t have anything to give you right now. If we’re able to meet again in the future, I’ll definitely give you a gift in return.”
Wan’er nodded heavily after hearing this.
Lin Ziqing, however, suddenly remembered something. With a peculiar expression, she asked, “How did you notice?”
The question came without a head or tail, causing Wan’er to ask curiously from beside her, “Notice what?”
Lin Ziqing seemed to possess endless patience toward Wan’er. Holding her hand, she said, “If he hadn’t warned us that the tea was poisoned today, we probably would’ve suffered a terrible calamity long ago.”
Wan’er’s large eyes opened wide as she curiously asked, “Big Brother Liang warned us? But how come Wan’er didn’t hear it?”
Lin Ziqing smiled slightly. “You didn’t understand the hint he gave. When he brought over the tea set, there were three teacups, but one of them was turned upside down. This perfectly matched a proverb from my hometown of Bianzhou: ‘A teacup overturned, secret intentions passed in the dark.’ It meant that there was a hidden trick in the tea.”
Lin Ziqing turned toward Liang Yan and asked, “Am I right?”
Liang Yan silently nodded.
“But what I find strange is, how did you discover that I was from Bianzhou?” Lin Ziqing continued asking.
Liang Yan glanced at her and replied, “Because of the red cord around your ankle.”
“Just from that?”
“When I was little, my dad once took me to Bianzhou on business. The customs there are conservative. After a woman comes of age, she ties a red cord in her hair to show that she can be married. I saw that you possessed profound martial arts and weren’t like an ordinary woman, so I guessed that you tied the red cord around your ankle to show your contempt for rites and conventions. Alas, I truly had no other choice at the time. I could only take the risk and gamble.”
Lin Ziqing looked deeply at him. She felt that this child was truly strange beyond measure and couldn’t be judged according to ordinary reason. She was about to ask him a few more questions when the sound of a Buddhist invocation suddenly came from behind her.
“Amitabha. Liang Yan, come with me.”
Starting tomorrow, there will be two updates a day.
-Thank you DCRangeRange, Dean Dexter and Cannedbread –