Chapter 142: Li Mochou Hires Escorts to Bury Future Trouble
Li Mochou had considered sparring with Zhou Yan and winning, then traveling to Zhongdu.
She had also thought that if she failed, she would make an agreement with Zhou Yan for another year or half a year, and then compare again.
In fact, her thoughts were somewhat akin to Lin Chaoying’s towards Wang Chongyang.
But she had never imagined that the next time she saw Zhou Yan, he would be in such a state.
Seeing Zhou Yan’s body fall, her green shadow flickered, elegant and swift beyond compare, crossing a distance of ten feet in an instant to support Zhou Yan.
Among the Ancient Tomb martial arts, lightness skill was second to none. Li Mochou had diligently cultivated for a year, and her agility, honed through the “Heaven and Earth Net Stance,” was quite impressive.
“Hey, how are you?”
Zhou Yan was unconscious and unable to speak. Li Mochou saw his eyes were closed, his teeth clenched, his face as pale as paper, and his body covered in bloodstains, his life hanging by a thread.
She felt as if her heart was about to leap out of her mouth. Lacking any Jianghu experience, she fumbled to find Zhou Yan’s injuries, intending to use silver needles to prick acupoints to stop the bleeding, but she couldn’t find any external wounds.
He had sustained internal injuries. Li Mochou righted Zhou Yan and tried to heal him with her internal force. However, her internal force entered Zhou Yan’s back at the “Mingmen acupoint” and vanished like a clay ox entering the sea, showing no effect whatsoever.
Zhou Yan’s body was instead jolted, and stagnant blood seeped from the corner of his mouth.
“Elder, save him!” Li Mochou was in a great hurry. She carefully laid Zhou Yan on the ground, used her agility to dart back and forth along the forest path, and used her internal force to project her voice.
Her voice carried for over two or three li, startling the forest birds, but there was no sign of Hong Qigong.
Unable to find Qigong, Li Mochou’s figure landed beside Zhou Yan again. She took his pulse with her fingers and felt the pulse was chaotic, a sign of great danger.
“What should I do?”
Suddenly, Li Mochou thought of her Master.
“Master will surely be able to save him!” At this moment, Li Mochou didn’t care about the thousand li distance between Datong Prefecture and Zhongnan Mountain. She muttered to herself, “The Elder went to buy wine and happened to be looking for someone, so he must have entered the city. If I can’t find the Elder, I’ll hire an escort to Zhongnan Mountain.”
She was actually decisive and acted as soon as she decided.
Zhou Yan could not endure being jostled, so she couldn’t take him into the city. Li Mochou carefully carried him to the Mountain God Temple, placed him gently on the ground, then left the temple and, with a few leaps, reached the Qingcong horse. She mounted it and headed straight for Datong Prefecture.
…
The morning light was just beginning to show, and a thin mist floated in the air.
When the noisy sounds arrived, Helian Zhantai, the Boss of Changfeng Escort Agency, rubbed his temples with a troubled expression.
The Jin Dynasty’s Little Prince and the renowned Western Venom visiting together was naturally a glorious occasion. Changfeng Escort Agency often escorted goods to the Western Regions and Beyond the Pass, and the name Western Venom was like thunder to Helian Zhantai’s ears.
He was not like Helian Chuncheng, who believed that by clinging to Zhao Wang Manor, he would attain wealth and status, and could leverage Azure Clouds’ influence.
Compared to Fu’an, Zhenwei, and Dragon Gate Escort Agency, Changfeng Escort Agency had been escorting goods to various northern regions for years. The Helian family’s ancestors were also from a General’s Family of Western Xia. Helian Zhantai could glimpse the general trend of the world today: the Mongol forces were strong, the Jin Dynasty was losing territory, and without a wise ruler or a general like Jin Wuzhu, it was highly likely they would follow the path of Liao Dynasty’s downfall.
Therefore, he treated Yang Kang with great hospitality, aiming for a long-term strategy of fostering relations between Changfeng and White Camel Mountain.
With this plan in mind, after Ouyang Feng left Changfeng Escort Agency, Helian Zhantai arranged for some of the agency’s sharp personnel to follow him. Their original intention was to observe which trading companies Ouyang Feng visited in the city and purchase all the items he had looked at.
This was why, after Zhou Yan and Ouyang Feng clashed at Huayan Temple, the escorts from Changfeng Escort Agency rushed to donate incense money. Given Western Venom’s temperament, he would never mention such a humiliating incident as being sprinkled with lime and having his clothes burned.
When Ouyang Feng arrived at Changfeng, he had already washed his eyes with sesame oil and changed his clothes. Helian Zhantai was unaware of the details and hadn’t paid much attention to the incident at Huayan Temple. He never expected that Hong Qigong would storm the escort agency in the middle of the night.
The Northern Beggar and Western Venom fought fiercely and then disappeared without a trace.
Helian Zhantai speculated that the person who fought Western Venom at Huayan Temple was either a disciple of Hong Qigong or an important figure from the Beggars’ Sect.
His trouble lay in Changfeng’s current expansion into the Central Plains and Jiangnan, opening branch offices.
The Beggars’ Sect was the foremost sect in the world.
Offending the Beggars’ Sect was an extremely troublesome matter.
“Good things rarely come in pairs,” sighed the seasoned and prudent Helian Zhantai.
The sound of hurried footsteps approached from a distance.
An escort passed through the courtyard and entered the hall.
“Boss, a young lady wishes to hire a personal safety escort to transport someone by carved carriage, needing to reach Zhongnan Mountain in five to six days.”
In normal times, arranging such a personal safety escort with several escorts would not be a problem. However, Helian Zhantai was currently unsure of how the Huayan Temple incident would unfold and had no inclination for it.
“Tell the merchant that we cannot accept the escort.”
“Understood.”
The escort turned and left.
…
Outside the gatehouse of Changfeng Escort Agency, Li Mochou was burning with anxiety. She had ridden along the road from the Mountain God Temple to the city without seeing the Elder. Her only recourse was to hire a personal safety escort to transport Zhou Yan to Zhongnan Mountain for her Master to treat.
After a brief inquiry, she learned that Changfeng Escort Agency was the most powerful in Datong Prefecture. She went directly to them and told the escorts about the carved carriage transport to Zhongnan Mountain within five to six days.
The escort said he needed to ask the Boss.
The waiting time was not long, only about a hundred breaths, before the escort who had received her returned from the escort agency.
“How was it?” Li Mochou asked urgently.
“I apologize, young lady, we cannot accept this escort.”
At this time, Li Mochou was a novice, not the Red Practicing Fairy from the Divine Condor world, nor was she like Yin Susu from the Legend of the Condor Heroes trilogy, born into a powerful clan and acting without restraint.
Otherwise, she would have glared and scoffed, asking why they would open an escort agency if they couldn’t accept escorts.
“Why?”
“The escort agency is undertaking long-distance escorts, and we lack capable escorts. We fear delaying your important business. Perhaps you could try another agency to see if they can reach Zhongnan Mountain.”
The escort spoke tactfully, his words sounding sincere and full of apology. Li Mochou was helpless.
“May I ask where I can find a carved carriage?” She didn’t want to waste any more time.
“There are cart shops in the city, many of them in the western Copper Gong Market.”
“Thank you.”
Li Mochou turned, and suddenly a figure loomed into her sight. She saw a man in white, about thirty-five or thirty-six years old, dressed in luxurious attire, with a smile on his face, saying, “Young lady, long time no see.”
“It’s you, you despicable person!” Li Mochou exclaimed, inwardly lamenting her misfortune.
She had just encountered Ouyang Ke.
Ouyang Ke looked at Li Mochou’s face, her eyes like flowing autumn water, her cheeks flushed, and his soul had long since drifted away. His thoughts suddenly flew back to a year ago.
It was around this time, when he was traveling south to Zhao Wang Manor, that he encountered a peerlessly beautiful woman. Her demeanor was charming, and with every smile and gesture, she exuded an innate grace. Compared to her, his many concubines seemed like dirt.
He was captivated at the time and wanted to strike up a conversation and have her willingly throw herself into his arms. However, the woman was cunning and managed to escape. The Yellow River Four Ghosts pursued her, but they ended up losing their heads. He didn’t know where the beauty had gone.
A year had passed, and he still couldn’t forget her. He never expected to meet her again in Datong Prefecture. This was fate.
Ouyang Ke opened his folding fan with a swish and said with a smile:
“Young lady, you live on Zhongnan Mountain, are you a disciple of the Quanzhen Sect?”
