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Chapter 12 The Cang Feng (Hidden Brilliance)
Lou Chen’s heart was startled and she immediately got up and walked out to meet the young pharmacist apprentice, Xiao An . The young man looked anxious and shaken, breathing heavily and in trembling voice, “Lou Chen, it is really bad, the man that was poisoned woke up and he held my master hostage! “
“I ask you to let me go. ” Lou Chen heard a constrained male deep voice just in time upon reaching the small courtyard. Lou Chen looked and saw along the passage, the man was holding a sword pointed at Fang Ru Hui ‘s neck, his eyes were fully alert and nervously staring at Qu Ning Shuang . The two people were suspended, deadlock in confrontation along the hallway.
It was late, the patients and several attending doctors were already gone.  Outside the room was the apprentice and a pharmacist,  the two people were standing awkwardly and would not dare move, anxiously watching the two people that were in a confrontation in the hallway.
Lou Chen calmly stood at the end of the hallway secretly observing the man. This person should have drunk the medicine or otherwise, he cannot wake up and hold people hostage.
Though his blue-black complexion faded a little, it still remained like ash grey. Whether this man is good or bad it clearly displayed on his appearance. He had straight eyebrows like that of a scimitar , very prominent eyes, his features exhibit heroic tendencies and noticeably a handsome man. I any case, Lou Chen’s attention was not attracted because of the man’s appearance but that of the long sword in his hand.
At noon, Lou Chen when had seen the man wearing a sword around his waist, there was nothing special about it because the scabbard was ordinary and the sword hilt was rough. She has not thought that its sword blade unexpectedly so special. The long blade was jet black with the length of about two feet and seven inches with a width about two inches. The edge of the sword being wielded shows that it was not a common sword because even though it was barely touching  Fang Ru Hui’s neck, there was already a trail of blood flowing down. This tells that the blade was not blunt but surprisingly sharp.
Qu Ning Shuang’s eyes displayed fierce anger,  ” No one will let you leave unless you let loose Elder brother Fang Ru Hui first!”
The passageway was too narrow while  Xiao An followed Lou Chen behind, he does not dare to go further to add to the chaos, but after seeing his own young master being held against his will with a sword pointed to his neck, his heart became anxious which turned to rage. He reproached the man, “How can you be so ungrateful to my master when he was kind enough to save you. If not for him you would have been dead! How could hold a sword against someone who saved your life?”
The men heard Xiao An’s words, he tried to find some esteem. His vision fell on Lou Chen, stunned because he have only fuzzy remembrance when he was awaked, earlier in a very brief moment, he saw a touch of black clothing followed by a severe pain on his neck then fainted.
The sword on Fang Ru Hui’s neck approached closer, the man became more agitated and in a low husky voice said, “Stand back.”
Seeing the new stain of blood in Fang Ru Hui’s neck, Qu Ning Shuang quickly stepped back and announced, “Well, we will draw back, do not hurt elder brother Fang Ru Hui.”
The men grab Fang Ru Hui and prod him to walk outside. Though the Doctor Hui has no martial arts skill, he has been very calm and walked in the pace of the man’s steps to avoid hurting his neck further.
The men withdrew slowly out of the Thousand Grass Hospital. Qu Ning Shuang thought that Fang Ru Hui was at such disadvantage and would not let them walk away. She chased after them and overtook them several steps. “Now that you are out of Thousand Grass Hospital you have to let go elder brother Hui. “
The men look at the people that encircled them watching. He hesitated for a moment but finally  decided not to put aside the long sword from Fang Ru Hui’s neck, he pulled him back few steps and threatened, “You do not follow or I will kill him.”
Lou Chen did not see any killing instinct in the eyes of the men and he doesn’t seem like an evil person. Lou Chen could not hold it in anymore and rushes beside Qu Ning Shuang saying, “Your poison only he can cure but now that you seized him he cannot administer drugs to your body and you will die even before you can leave Lou Shui town.”
Her voice was soft like a whisper and cold but very clear making everyone who is sane consider that intelligence and wisdom that even the man holding Fang Ru Hui cannot resist but look at Lou Chen. His eyes fell on Lou Chen’s waist noticing the soft sword like a ribbon winding around her waist. The man’s eyes stared at her sternly, his heart quivered, hands shaking that he could not grip the sword properly and in a lowly excited voice shouted, “Cang Feng!”
The people surrounding them were bewildered. Lou Chen looked at the man’s eyes trying to read more to it. The people were baffled but they did not know that she knew what ‘Cang Feng’ meant, it was the soft sword that wa s around her waist.
The sword was acquired by her aunt when she was only 5 years old and kept the sword in the room and only a few people knew and used it. When she was a child, Aunt Su’s swordsmith cast a small similar soft sword for her to use and practice. After she grew up and was tall enough, his father gave her the sword and told her that it is called ‘Cang Feng’.
Her father did not elaborate on the story of the sword’s origin. She later only learned that this sword blade is special and it is for her and for the rest of the tale, she has no idea. She liked this sword since she was 13 years old and this sword never left her side since then. She did not imagine that today she will meet a person who can call the sword’s name at a glance. She now believed that the sword has hidden tale and she is very much interested to find out.
The man’s burning look finally left the ‘Cang Feng’ and turned his gaze at Lou Chen. After staring at her for some time, with a very complex look and in stammering voice asked her, “You, who really are you?”
Lou Chen’s side vision caught a glimpse of two figures running extremely fast towards her side. She quietly asked in return, “ You, who are you?”
The men frowned and couldn’t think of anything at the moment. While his attention was distracted by Lou Chen, swords suddenly came to his left and right to man’s great surprise, he swung his sword away. The sword that he was wielding was finally separated from Fang Rui Hui’s neck and he was now free from his grasp.
Qu Ning Shuang rushed forward immediately and pulled Fang Ru Hui towards a wall and asked anxiously, “ Elder brother Hui, are you alright?”
Fang Ru Hui touched his neck. It has only scratches and there was some skin that was deeply cut making that bloody stain but nothing was serious. After seeing the man was being held by Jin Yan Hen and Mu Yan, the man started spitting blood, he hastily shouted, “ You guys already caught him  don’t make him use his internal force, otherwise the poison will break into his heart’s vein, if that happen even gods will not be able to save him.”
Qu Ning Shuang drags Fang Ru Hui to sit, took out a scarf from her bosom, snappily said, “He tried to hurt you, you still thinking about his poison, that person is not worth saving. Do not move heedlessly, let me help you cover your wound.”
Qu Ning Shuang eyes were slightly tearful, although her tone of voice was not good, her movement was actually very gentle while wrapping him up. Fang Ru Hui took the scarf and hastily his wound, awkwardly, “I am all right, many thanks , Miss Qu, I’ll do it myself.”
Qu Ning Shuang stared at him with raw hate in her eyes, snatched back the scarf and carefully bandage him. Fang Ru Hui did not dare to move afterward .
The man was poisoned and his body suffered internal injuries. Although he has a sharp sword in his hand, cannot defend against Jin Yan Hen and Mu Yuan’s hands. Before long, the long sword was knocked to the ground and the man was also pressed down.
While the man was lying on the ground, he vomited a black blood and gasping for breath. Fang Ru Hui hurriedly commanded the two, “You  carry him inside room him quickly.”
Mu Yuan and Jin Yan Hen were holding the man on each side of the arm to bring him to the Thousand Grass Hall, suddenly two shadows sharply flushed from the opposite eaves going down with the long sword directed to the man.
“Be careful.”Lou Chen shouted to warn them.
Jin Yan Hen responded quickly with his left hand made an effort to push the man to the ground to evade the oncoming sword.
The two assassins upon seeing what happened looked ruthlessly at Jin Yan Hen and Mu Yuan, pointing the swords to their throat completely disregarding their constabulary uniforms with the intent of killing them.
Jin Yan Hen took two steps back anxiously and evaded the assassins front surface sword, but Mu Yan actually blocks the sword with his sword and did not notice the hidden dagger and swing the dagger to stabbed his chest.
Jin Yan Hen quickly raised his sword to stop the sword and dagger from hitting his friend. Another assassin seizes the chance to sneak an attack on him and Jin Yan Hen can only move sideways to avoid his attack and although he evaded the crucial attack, he was scratched at his arm by the sword.
At this moment, Lou Chen also rushed towards them to help. She kicked the assassin’s hand which pushed him two steps back.
“Ah Hen!” Now, a dark red figure also rushed forward and simultaneously kicked the assassins’ shoulder. Her kicked was very strong and it almost knocked the men to the ground.
Lou Chen recognized this woman, she met her at the hospital in the afternoon and so she actually knew Jin Yan Hen … …
Jin Yan Hen raised his sword to prepare to move forward to attack the assassin once more, but Lou Chen suddenly held his arm, narrowed her eyes and checked the wound. The wound was not deep but surprisingly the blood was very dark red, “ The sword was poisoned”.
The faces of the people around suddenly changed, especially that of Jin Ru, her face turned very grim. She  grabbed the sword from Jin Yan Hen and pushed him back  while the assassins dressed in black rushed past, calling out to Fang Ru Hui, “ Brother Hui, you look after Ah Hen.”
Jin Yan Hen looks that under the moonlight her swordsmanship is sharp, Jin Ru was unstoppable, though he does not agree, he could only shake his head in reluctance. Who said his swordsmanship is bad, by not teaching him swordsmanship, he found himself a crude master dabbler and brave as they are now, how can he pretend to know nothing?
Lou Chen was pleasantly surprised. The woman’s swordsmanship was very exquisite, every gestures and motion were very smooth and quiet . Her offense and defense were heart stopping that an ordinary longsword of government authorities given to the officers was like passing clouds and flowing water that can only be caused by her, with that she was slightly dominating against the black assassins. Lou Chen does not dare to claim that if she was able to read all martial arts fighting spectrum, but she is sure that the martial arts style of this woman was of that noble descent.
Jin Ru was vaguely gaining the upper hand but on the other side, Mu Yuan was actually miserable beyond description and after hearing that the sword has poison , he not dared not to be touched by it. On the other hand, since he was a constabulary he cannot just kill ruthlessly. The assassins, on the other hand, fought with no conscience and all his moves were very deadly. Mu Yuan was sweating profusely and gradually losing his energy and was not able to overpower his opponent.
Jin Yan Hen who was watching with the corners of his eyebrow wrinkling stooped down to pick up the man that was knocked to the ground. He did show interest to the black sword that was on the ground lying beside the man. Lou Chen held him back and said, “ This poison is unusual and there is a limited ginseng snow.”
Lou Chen’s finger on the back of his hand was slightly cold and her strength actually appeared somewhat overbearing.  Jin Yan Hen gawked at her. He was stunned for a moment and thought that she also wanted him to stay aside so he will not waste the material for medicine?
On the other hand , Mu Yuan had another thrilling escape from the long sword of black assassins.  Lou Chen finally moved. Her right hand rested on her waist for a brief moment and turned her wrist. When her hand raised the soft sword left its sheath with the humming sound. The sword that looked like a soft white silk instantaneously after stimulation using her internal strength turned into a shining three feet long sword…