Chapter 67: Beauty Rescues The Hero
“It seems we’re being followed,” Lu Yun said in a deep voice. He could hear clearly—seven or eight riders trailing behind the carriage, neither fast nor slow, always keeping a distance of over two hundred steps.
“Who are they?” Lu Ying asked, somewhat nervously. Madam Lu also looked over.
Lu Yun shook his head with a bitter smile and reassured the two, “Mother and Elder Sister, stay calmly in the carriage. I’ve got everything under control.”
“Be very careful,” Lu Ying said. Although she knew her younger brother was unparalleled in martial arts, she couldn’t help but worry for him.
Lu Yun smiled at Lu Ying, then casually knocked on the carriage window and ordered, “Stop the carriage.”
The carriage slowly stopped by the roadside. Lu Yun jumped down, stretched lazily, and said, “It’s too stuffy inside the carriage. I’ll sit up front for a bit.” With that, he walked to the spot beside the coachman and sat down leisurely.
The carriage set off again, with Lu Yun chatting and laughing with the coachman as if everything was normal.
At this moment, one of the guards riding beside the carriage quietly approached Lu Yun and whispered, “Young Master, something seems off.”
Lu Yun smiled and glanced at him, gesturing for him to continue. The guard said softly, “Just now when we stopped, a group of riders behind us also stopped. When we started moving again, they followed.”
Lu Yun nodded slightly, signaling him to stay calm. In fact, ever since leaving the city, Lu Yun had sensed something amiss. By the time he got off the carriage earlier, he was certain those people were coming for him. But Lu Yun hadn’t acted rashly, because he worried the enemy might have experts among them. Taking them out wouldn’t be a problem for him, but this was a busy great road coming and going from south to north—how to avoid exposing his own strength was the real challenge.
The carriage continued on its way. After the time it takes to eat a meal, it left the great road and headed toward Yao Family Village where Cuihe Garden was located. The path to Yao Family Village was a small road lined with white poplars, with no pedestrians in sight at the moment.
Lu Yun knew that if the enemy made a move, this was the most suitable place. This was also the burial ground he had prepared for his enemies!
Sure enough, those people behind suddenly spurred their horses and charged fiercely toward Lu Yun!
Lu Yun’s guards hurriedly drew their weapons to protect the carriage. But Lu Yun remained completely still, staring intently at the enemies charging toward them. He wanted to see just how capable they were!
In the blink of an eye, the enemy riders howled in, all drawing their long sabers and slashing at the obstructing guards! Lu Yun’s guards fought back desperately, but the enemies’ martial arts were extremely strong. In just a few moves, they knocked all their weapons flying! Then, mercilessly, they swung their sabers down toward their heads!
No more waiting—Lu Yun was about to shoot out the several stones he had already palmed, to save his guards…
But at this critical moment, he suddenly halted, because he saw a flash of white shadow darting in like a startled swan. In the blink of an eye, it soared into the fray like a white crane, and with its sheathed long sword flowing like clouds and water, it struck several times, knocking all those long sabers flying.
Once the white figure had saved the several guards, only then did they see clearly that this interloper was actually a girl with delicate features, ethereal as an immortal.
The several knights who hadn’t yet attacked were both shocked and furious. With a roar, they all leaped down from their horses together, raising their weapons and charging fiercely at the woman!
The woman’s fine brows shot up, revealing a sharp heroic spirit. Her sheathed long sword thrust several times in succession, and those knights almost simultaneously cried out in agony, dropping their weapons and collapsing to the ground clutching their wounded wrists.
“In broad daylight, under the feet of the Son of Heaven, you dare commit open violence!” The girl coldly eyed the thugs, her vermilion lips parting lightly. Her voice was like water striking ice or wind over jade fragments, giving one the feeling of hearing immortal music. “Get lost now!”
Seeing that they were no match for the girl at all, the assassins didn’t dare linger and hurriedly mounted their horses, fleeing in panic.
From the moment the girl appeared and saved the several guards to when she drove off the thugs, it was all over in a mere dozen breaths. The guards stared in a daze, as if in a dream, not knowing what to do.
Seeing they were all unharmed, the girl sheathed her long sword and prepared to leave.
“Miss, please wait.” At this point, Lu Yun spoke up. He walked past the several guards to the girl, cupped his hands, and said, “May I ask the young lady’s noble name? So that Lu Yun may remember this life-saving grace.”
“A trivial effort, not worth mentioning.” The girl shook her head with a slight smile and said softly, “I still need to hurry on my way, so let’s part here.”
Lu Yun looked at the girl—she did have the look of someone travel-worn, yet it didn’t diminish her delicate and spirited beauty. But that gentle, approachable smile seemed to carry a sense of keeping people at a distance, making one afraid to get close.
“In that case, I won’t disturb you further, miss.” Lu Yun also smiled and said, “I am Lu Yun, son of Grand Court’s Right Censor Lu Xin. If you have any requests in the capital city, just send word to Congshan Ward, and I will go through fire and water without hesitation.”
“I’ll remember that.” The girl nodded slightly, then turned and walked toward the great road.
Watching her receding back, Lu Yun shook his head helplessly, figuring she probably hadn’t taken his words to heart at all.
When Lu Yun turned back, the several guards were kneeling on the ground in shame. “We are unskilled in our arts. Please punish us, Young Master.”
Lu Yun looked at them with a bitter smile. The people he had brought with him were indeed mediocre in martial arts. But there was no helping it—as a minor collateral lineage disciple, if he surrounded himself with experts, he’d definitely be put under stakeout. “Alright, get up. Three black rank, four yellow rank—you surviving is already fortunate.”
“Ah!” The several guards turned pale with shock, not expecting the enemies to be so formidable! Then, thinking further, such a powerful group of enemies had been utterly helpless before that girl!
“Could it be that the young lady’s kung fu can match the Young Master’s?” one guard blurted out.
“That would only be known after a fight.” Just now, Lu Yun had naturally carefully assessed the girl’s kung fu. With the skills she displayed, she should be able to fight a grandmaster. If he went all out, taking her down shouldn’t be an issue. But who could say whether she was also hiding her true strength?
In any case, this righteous and brave girl had shocked Lu Yun greatly. She looked no more than sixteen or seventeen, yet possessed such strength. Where on earth had this freak come from? Or had he underestimated the heroes under heaven…
At this moment, Lu Ying poked her head out from the carriage and asked softly, “Are we still going?”
“Yes, pretend nothing happened.” Lu Yun smiled slightly and signaled the coachman to continue.
Soon after the carriage proceeded, a manor nestled amid a cluster of green willows appeared before them—Cuihe Garden had arrived.
In a distant small forest, two pairs of eyes watched intently as the carriage followed the bluestone path outside the manor and slowly entered the garden.
They were two of the thugs from earlier. It turned out the group of thugs hadn’t fled far but had hidden in a concealed spot, watching the girl leave the carriage and disappear along the great road toward the capital city.
Only then did the thugs realize they hadn’t checked the almanac before heading out and had run into a meddlesome passerby. But in their line of work, who checked the almanac? Good day or bad, they had to kill!
The three leading black rank experts were about to lead the group back to attack, but they suddenly felt their true qi completely unresponsive throughout their bodies. Realizing the girl had sealed their true qi, fearing long-term effects on their bodies, they hurriedly returned to the capital city to find the shopkeeper for a solution, leaving these two yellow rank underlings here on stakeout.
Watching the carriage enter the manor, knowing it wouldn’t come out for a while, the two sat down and started chatting idly.
“Brother Hou, what do you think that little miss’s background is? How is she so formidable at such a young age!” a round-faced man asked the other pointed-faced man.
“Who knows!” The pointed-faced man said with lingering fear, “Three black rank couldn’t last even one move against her—probably has the strength of a grandmaster!”
“How is that possible?” The round-faced man didn’t believe it. “All the grandmasters under heaven are famous and renowned. How could there be one this young?”
“You saw her make her move with your own eyes—could it be fake?” The pointed-faced man snorted. “I’ve thought of someone it might be.”
“Who?” The round-faced man widened his eyes.
“I heard that last month, an extremely formidable woman appeared in the Jiangnan region, single-handedly taking down eight or nine Taiping Dao branch altars,” the pointed-faced man said with admiration. “They say even Taiping Dao’s grandmaster couldn’t stop her. Could it be we’ve run into that one?”
