chapter 64

Chu Changge had long anticipated that for Fang Hongfei’s internal strength to be greatly improved was because he practiced the cosmic absorbing power skill. So, Chu Changge tried to avoid direct contact with him, so as not to be hit by Fang Hongfei’s new skill again. He was afraid of what would happen next if he did. Fang Hongfei’s sturdy palm had given a great impact to his five viscera and six bowels[+]Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) : 5 viscera/internal organs are liver, heart, spleen, lung & kidney, while 6 bowels are gallbladder, small intestine, stomach, large intestine, & bladder, and felt as if they were about to split open. The true qi[+]vital energy inside his body also had drained out because of Fang Hongfei’s cosmic absorbing power.

As if he had been possessed, Fang Hongfei’s eyes turned red as he laughed maniacally, “Hahahahahaha…”

Suddenly, after fierce wind started to blow and dust swirled in the air, everyone stopped fighting. Cosmic absorbing power was extremely damaging to one’s yin[+]internal part of the body, and it was a type of a skill that only demon-like people could practice. For such a person titled the Great Leader of the Martial Arts, Fang Hongfei, to actually practice this kind of skill, would surely damage his yin[+]internal part of the body. Although many martial artists had a lot of criticism over Fang Hongfei’s practice of the cosmic absorbing power skill, they could only be angry but they didn’t dare to speak out. Thus, they quietly backed away, for fear that their internal strength would also be absorbed away by him.

North Guardian snorted disdainfully and scoffed, “A bunch of hypocritical people!”

The three people South, East and West were also extremely angry with Fang Hongfei that they wished to kill him. The only thing that made them hating the situation much more was they still had their own internal strength. Once they got close to Fang Hongfei, they would not only unable to protect themselves, but they would also implicate their Leader. This was because they feared one characteristic of cosmic absorbing power, which was, the more people it absorbed, the faster the speed of its absorption would be.

“Feng Cheng, do you have any way?” asked North Guardian who had no strategy left to try [+]Chinese idiom : powerless.

Feng Cheng shook his head, with his face showing that he had no other alternative too, “All I can do is just wait for Fang Hongfei to heal his injuries after he has drained his own internal energy.”

North Guardian had nowhere to vent his anger. So he could only squeeze the spear so hard till his entire arm trembled with rage.

When he saw the blood on Chu Changge’s face getting less and less, all of a sudden, a thin figure in cerise coloured clothing rushed into the crowd. Without waiting for the crowd to react, the figure went as sudden as lightning bumped into Chu Changge and then knocked down Fang Hongfei.

“Leader!” North and South Guardians were busy helping the mortally wounded Chu Changge, while East and West were blocking the front, with ‘If you want to hurt our Leader, you have to step over our corpses’ kind of attitude.

Chu Changge couldn’t even manage to take a breather for a second, so he immediately sat cross-legged and adjusted the movement of his qi[+]vital energy.

Fang Hongfei had to stop himself from using the cosmic absorbing power, as he was also badly injured. Although his internal strength had greatly improved, the true qi[+]vital energy that he absorbed from Chu Changge was at odds with his own true qi[+]vital energy. The two true qi[+]vital energy were in disorder inside his body, causing him endless pain, as if his whole body wanted to explode.

As such a good thing had been ruined, Fang Hongfei felt so ashamed that it turned to anger[+]Chinese idiom : fly into a rage from shame. Without even caring whether he could or could not utilise his own qi[+]vital energy, he struck out with his palm, but missed his aim as his head started to become so painful.

“Ah!” Lu-er jumped to her feet as she shouted, “Killing a person is a crime!”

Chu Changge did not know whether to laugh or cry[+]Chinese idiom : baffled. Her servant was really like her master, and she even spoke just as strangely as Murong Yunshu was. “If you really fear death, why did you dare to bump into him just now?”

“Ah, what the heck did I just bump into?” A dreadful face Lu-er jumped behind Chu Changge to hide, as she said, “I was running too fast that I didn’t have time to stop my feet.” After saying that, she also touched her slightly swollen red nose and innocently complained, “I don’t know whose bones are this hard. They feel just like bricks. They hurt my nose so much.”

As it turned out, she really didn’t understand the current situation! Chu Changge really didn’t know what to say. He hesitated for a long time before asking, “Why are you running so fast then?”

“When I entered the city, I heard that Miss was in town, so I hurried over to find Miss. By the way, where is Miss?” Lu-er looked around.

He had received benefit from her (Murong Yunshu) once more. Chu Changge’s expression turned dark. He slowly stood up and said, “She’s not here.” After saying that, he spoke to Fang Hongfei on the other side, “Although you have sucked away two layers of my internal force, nevertheless, you are still not a match for me. Not to mention that those two layers of internal force are simply not something that the current you can manage. Forcing yourself to use your power will only make you become like fire running wild and being possessed by a demon[+]Chinese idiom : (Taoism, qigong, etc.) to experience serious negative physiological and psychological changes resulting from the “improper” practice of qigong or other self-cultivation techniques. If you want to live, get out of here before I change my mind!”

Fang Hongfei knew what Chu Changge just said was true. Thus he stared at him bitterly for a long time, before he left with a flick of his sleeve[+]Chinese idiom : storm off in a huff.

Once Fang Hongfei left, the other martial artists who had come with him to find faults also scattered like birds and beasts[+]Chinese idiom : head off in various directions. Shan Shaoyu took a look at North Guardian and hesitated for a moment. Suddenly, he pulled out a bottle of Jinchuang Medicine and tossed it to North Guardian. He then said, “Although this can’t cure his internal injuries, it can cure his external injuries.” After he had done saying that, he also turned around and left.

North Guardian caught the medicine and stared at Shan Shaoyu’s back. He wanted to say something, but in the end, nothing came out from his mouth. He knew that Shan Shaoyu was having a kind of feeling like how people of talent appreciate one another[+]Chinese idiom : sympathise with one another towards him, and so did he towards him. As a person who fought using a spear, Shan Shaoyu could be considered a rare expert. While as a general, for Shan Shaoyu to disregard worldly taboos to leave him behind a medicine for him, showed that he was also a man of character. But, this friendship was doomed to fail.

“Fang Hongfei has become so bad. Guye[+][term of address for a man used by members of his wife’s family] son-in-law, why on earth would you let him go?” Lu-er asked, feeling a bit puzzled.

Chu Changge replied, “Because I have more important things to do.”

*

On the deserted official road, a low-key dilapidated horse-drawn carriage drove slowly. It made creaking rollers rubbing sound from time to time, as if it might fall apart at any time.

Outside the carriage, there were two coachmen. One was grinning cheekily and the other was with a blank expression. These two were Wang Chao and Zhang Yu.

Inside the carriage, Murong Yunshu leaned against the wall and closed her eyes to rest. If she had known that she would still fall into their hands, she wouldn’t have planned to attract the Marquis of Jingbian’s attention. At any rate, there was still a book for her to read at least.

Also sitting in the carriage, there were Jin Yanzi and Yin Yanzi. They were currently staring coldly at the calm Murong Yunshu. They wanted to say something but hesitated.

“Just say what you want to say.” Murong Yunshu with closed eyes, spoke indifferently. It was oddly uncomfortable being so eagerly watched by two sets of eyes.

There was a look of surprise on Jin Yanzi and Yin Yanzi’s faces as they took a glance at each other. Yin Yanzi asked, “Chu Changge is so cruel to you. Why did you trick Feng Cheng to help him?”

“There are many things in this world that don’t need you to ask why.” Murong Yunshu said slowly with her eyes still closed, while her calm tone was without a trace of emotion. However, Yin Yanzi could hear affection from her voice that was firm and unshakable, as well as so deep that one could not see to the bottom[+]limitless.

However, Yin Yanzi didn’t understand. How could there be such a person in the world? Even if the other guy (Fang Hongfei) defeated him (Chu Changge), Murong Yunshu still acted like the clouds were pale and a light breeze was blowing[+]Chinese idiom : nothing does matter, while thinking that she was doing the right thing. “Do you really love him so much? Love him to the point where you rather be imprisoned, just to save his life?”

Murong Yunshu slowly opened her eyes at these words and responded, “You think too greatly of love. No one will selflessly sacrifice for anyone. Even if one leaves the chance of survival to the other person, it’s because the living one will suffer more, and I, don’t want to suffer.” After a pause, she added, “Moreover, Feng Cheng can’t save me. For him to stay, he wouldn’t also be able to help. So it’s better to let him help Chu Changge, as long as one of us can move on.”

“If Wang Chao and Zhang Yu didn’t appear in time and Feng Cheng could rescue you from our hands, would you still let him help Chu Changge?” Yin Yanzi asked.

“No.” Murong Yunshu replied without thinking. Her face was still as calm as before.

Yin Yanzi looked contemptuous at her as she said somewhat angrily, “How selfish are you!”

Seeing this situation, Murong Yunshu suddenly curved her lips as she smiled, while saying, “I just made a selfish decision instead of him. Why are you the one who being so angry?”

Yin Yanzi frowned, “And how did you know that he would make such a decision?”

Murong Yunshu smiled, “I just know.”

“There’s always a reason.”

“If you have to pursue the reason, then it’s probably because, he and I are the same kind of person.” When it came to the four words ‘same kind of person’, Murong Yunshu seemed like she suddenly remembered something very happy. Her eyebrows were lightly curved and her light smile filled to her eyes.

Yin Yanzi didn’t understand why Murong Yunshu was so happy. If it was her and she was captured, she would definitely fight to the death. Even if she couldn’t win, she would never give her enemy a good look, let alone a smile. Really such a weirdo!

Yin Yanzi looked at Murong Yunshu oddly and asked, “You’re really not afraid of death?”

“You dare to kill me?” Murong Yunshu used the word ‘dare’ instead of the word ‘will’, because she knew that King Liang Jr. would never want her corpse.

Yin Yanzi snorted coldly and said, “Although His Highness didn’t say he would kill you, he won’t give you any good results either! Let’s see if you’ll still be laughing when you get to the state of Shu!”

Murong Yunshu raised her dark eyebrows and taunted, “Then we have to see if you have the ability to take me to the state of Shu first.”

Yin Yanzi was startled and her face started to become vigilant, “What does that mean?”

“Literally,” replied Murong Yunshu.

Jin Yanzi, who had been silent and was waiting to see what would happen, suddenly drew her sword at Murong Yunshu and asked coldly, “Quickly say, what are you planning!”

Murong Yunshu’s face didn’t change its colour[+]Chinese idiom : remain calm. She just chuckled lightly, “I’m just right under your nose. What kind of plan do you think can I do?”

“It’s best if you can think this way!” Jin Yanzi put away her sword and stopped talking.

Yin Yanzi, however, couldn’t take her eyes off Murong Yunshu’s expression. The more she looked, the more she felt that there was something fishy. “Did you set up any tricks again?”

Murong Yunshu asked rhetorically, “What trick can I set?”

“You look like you are confident that we won’t reach to the state of Shu.”

Murong Yunshu smiled without saying anything, declining to comment on it. This made Yin Yanzi even more uneasy.

After thinking for a moment, Yin Yanzi inquired, “Are you counting on Chu Changge to save you?”

Murong Yunshu remained silent, while the smile on her lips grew wider.

“Two fists can’t beat four limbs[+]Chinese proverb : one person cannot fight two people. After today’s battle, even if Chu Changge doesn’t die, he’ll be barely alive. He’ll never have the energy to save you, so you shouldn’t stubbornly hope for that to happen!”

“Such being the case, why won’t you people let the horse stop moving[+]Chinese idiom : without stopping to rest then? Could it be that you’re afraid that Chu Changge will catch up?” Murong Yunshu asked as if she knew what was on their minds. Yin Yanzi’s face showed an embarrassed look, but her mouth insisted on telling Murong Yunshu, “Chu Changge may have died.”

Murong Yunshu countered, “If that’s the case, why are you worried then? If he dies, no one else will come to save me. Of course, if he isn’t dead, then he will surely come, and he will not come alone. He will also bring the Mojiao followers with him. You are a member of the jianghu[+]lit. rivers and lakes—people wandering from place to place and living by their wits, e.g. fortune-tellers, quack doctors, itinerant entertainers, etc. , considered as a social group, so you should know the power of the Mojiao Sect, right?”

“You, you should stop trying to scare me! I, Yin Yanzi, are not scared of him!”

Murong Yunshu no longer argued with her and closed her eyes to fake a sleep. After a long time, Yin Yanzi suddenly seemed to hear her said, “If I were you, I would send someone back to confirm the life or death of Chu Changge just to save myself from being unable to rest or eat in peace[+]Chinese idiom : extremely worried and troubled.”

Yin Yanzi frowned, while feeling that Murong Yunshu’s words were quite reasonable. But on a second thought, she said to herself, “This is definitely another one of her tricks. She knows that I’m on guard against her every word, so she deliberately said something like asking me to confirm Chu Changge’s life or death, while actually wanting me to refrain from going because I will be concerned about her scheming so that she can continue to play tricks on us. Hmph! Thankfully, I was smart enough to see through her ruse. The more she doesn’t want me to go, the more I’ll go. As long as I make sure that Chu Changge is finally dead, I won’t be afraid of any more tricks she plays!”[T/N]Girl, you just jumped into a hole that she dug, and then covered yourself with soil while still standing inside the hole.

As she thought of this, Yin Yanzi said to Jin Yanzi, “You guys will escort and protect her on the journey, while leaving marks along the way. I will go back to Jingbian City and I will join you back after scouting the real situation there.”

This was exactly what Jin Yanzi wanted, “I’m going with you.”

Yin Yanzi replied, “No, I don’t feel comfortable leaving this person with those two losers.”

“Hey, damn Yanzi, who are you calling a loser?” Wang Chao yelled resentfully from outside.

“I was talking about you!” Yin Yanzi snorted and jumped out of the carriage.

No one noticed that the moment Yin Yanzi jumped off the carriage, a faint smile crept onto Murong Yunshu’s lips. Those who were familiar with her would know that it was the kind of smile that only came after her wicked plan ended up successful.

*

Chu Changge chased along the path behind the private bank until ten li[+]ancient measure of length, approx. 500 m outside the city, but there was no trace of Murong Yunshu. He finally returned to the inn where he was staying, with a gloomy look on his face as he had to take his time in making a decision[+]Chinese idiom : give the matter further thought and discussion.

Compared with Murong Yunshu’s whereabouts, Feng Cheng was more concerned about another matter, “You said Xiyue is still alive? What is going on?”

Chu Changge had no intention of explaining too much about it to him. He just said, “I have sent someone to take her back to Black Wind Mountain. You should just go and find her. For other things on her matter, you can ask her directly.”

Although Feng Cheng had a thousand questions in his heart, he was also very clear that with Chu Changge’s current state, even if someone held a knife to his neck, he would not think about anything other than Murong Yunshu. “Have you found the antidote for the Soul Snatcher?”

When he mentioned this matter, Chu Changge, who was sitting on the chair with his head down, suddenly raised his head and told him, “Huberg said that judging from the amount of medicine in her body, the effect of the Soul Snatcher can be hidden up to seven months. Now it’s only one month away from the deadline…” He suddenly stopped, then changed the conversation, and sharply said, “South, East, North and West, you four immediately look for these four things, ‘rhinoceros horns’, ‘dragon’s blood palm’, ‘cuttlebone’ and ‘lingzhi root’.”

“Yes!” The Four Great Guardians knew that these four items must be related to the cure for the Soul Snatcher poison in Murong Yunshu’s body, hence they didn’t dare to be lazy for a moment, as they immediately left after receiving the order.

As soon as the Four Great Guardians left, a black-clothed man in a bamboo hat came in to report, “Leader, someone is inquiring about you in the city.”

Chu Changge’s black eyes turned cold at the news. For that person to inquire about him at a time like this, it was either because that person wanted to kill him or the inquirer was afraid that he wasn’t dead yet. He was more inclined to the latter, because there were quite many people who wanted to kill him in the current jianghu[+]lit. rivers and lakes—people wandering from place to place and living by their wits, e.g. fortune-tellers, quack doctors, itinerant entertainers, etc. , considered as a social group, but not many who dared to openly ask for news about him.

“From which sect?” asked Chu Changge.

“This person is not from any sects, but looking at her young figure and aging face, she resembles Jin Yanzi and Yin Yanzi from the ‘Pair of Swallows Flying With Gold And Silver Swords[+]Chinese idiom : two birds fly together’.”

The ‘Pair of Swallows Flying With Gold And Silver Swords[+]Chinese idiom : two birds fly together’ had mediocre martial arts, but they were well-known in the jianghu for the beautiful younger sister and the senile looking older sister. Although Chu Changge wouldn’t keep a nobody in his mind, nevertheless, as it happened, he had caught sight of them a few months ago——in the state of Shu.

In an instant, Chu Changge’s dark bottomless eyes were filled with a piercingly cold, murderous aura. However, a smile appeared on his handsome face, which could raise the hair of those who looked.