Chapter 144 Entering the Tiger's Den: A Deadly Trouble
Lu Bing was completely stunned. His tears hadn't stopped, and he stared at Zhou Yaren with red eyes, not understanding what she meant by entrusting him to these teenagers. Why? Wasn't he going with him?
"Ya Ren..."
Zhou Yaren turned around, walked to Lu Bing's side, and comforted him, "I still have some things to do. You go to Taihang with Liu Yun and the others first. After you have recovered from your injuries, it is not too late to go back to Bei Qu to kowtow to your father and grandmother."
Lu Bing found this arrangement hard to accept, but Zhou Yaren had already turned her back to him and said to the leading boy, "Let's go."
Li Liuyun: "But..."
There was no time to lose, and they could not hesitate. Zhou Yaren said, "Liuyun, we have arrived at Xu Zhangfang's house."
Everyone knows Xu Zhangfang's abilities; even if they were here, it would be of no use, especially since everyone had just gone through a major battle and was currently injured.
Li Liuyun knew the importance of the matter and the consequences. He couldn't let his fellow disciples lose their lives. Before leaving the mountain, he promised the sect leader and his master that he would look after his fellow disciples and return safely after finishing the business in Beiqu.
“Take Lu Bing away,” Ting Fengzhi said earnestly, “Your Highness, I, Zhou, am deeply grateful.”
"Okay." He knew in his heart that Tingfeng's purpose in coming here was to rescue people, and he couldn't let them all go down with them instead of being rescued.
Just as Li Liuyun was about to go and take Lu Bing away, the snake catcher stepped forward first: "You're injured, let me do it."
All the boys were injured, but the snake catcher, who was hiding in the shadows, was unharmed. These boys were nice; they had been searching for pregnant snakes together in the mountains and markets for the past few days, and they had developed a friendly and harmonious relationship. He would help them out if he could.
Lu Bing was forced to lie on the snake catcher's back. He had no choice but to do so and could not protest. He could only twist his neck and watch as Zhou Yaren's figure gradually became a miniature, and after turning a corner, he could no longer be seen.
They had only met briefly, and Lu Bing, who was sobbing uncontrollably, hadn't even had a chance to exchange a few words with him before they had to part ways again.
What could be so urgent?
Lu Bing felt as if there was something hard stuck in his throat. He turned his head and asked the boy walking beside him, "Is Ya Ren in trouble?"
Li Liuyun kept walking: "Hmm."
"What trouble?"
This is a deadly problem.
Li Liuyun recalled Ting Fengzhi's will but did not reply, because Ting Fengzhi had risked his life to expose himself for this person.
"To die for one's principles and friendship" – it turns out that even a whisper of the wind can lead to sacrificing oneself for one's closest friends.
Li Liuyun certainly admired him, but did not think he should be like him, dying for his principles, but that would also inevitably betray others.
In this vast world, whatever the reason for risking one's life, it is ultimately a personal choice.
Everyone has their own responsibilities and choices to make, and so does he. Tingfengzhi's choice at this moment is to risk everything for that one person and one friend.
Li Liuyun thought to himself that he might never be able to sacrifice himself for one person or one friend in his life, because he was burdened with heavy responsibilities. In other words, he had to consider the big picture. But... there was no but. All along, what he had to do was consider the big picture, and within the big picture, there were always some unavoidable choices he had to make.
At the beginning of a peaceful and prosperous era, there must be chaotic battles and bloodshed. Beneath the surface of peace and prosperity lies mountains of corpses and seas of blood.
The foundation of an empire, emperors, and heroes are all upheld by countless pairs of bloodied and mangled hands.
Born into an imperial family, his historical responsibility was to safeguard the empire. Only with a stable country and a unified world could the land be spared the ravages of war, allowing the people living on this land to live in peace and prosperity.
But he always knew in his heart that the universe has its own destiny, just as the seasons change and all things are born in order. The rise and fall of dynasties also follow a pattern, and the longest reign of any dynasty is only a few hundred years.
Whenever Li Liuyun gazed at the stars, he would fall into a daze. Throughout history, so many delusional people who attempted to defy fate had met with bad ends, and perhaps he would be no exception. Since he couldn't stand idly by, he had to do his utmost, hoping that the choices and decisions he made in the future wouldn't lead him to utter ruin.
Li Liuyun couldn't help but envy Ting Fengzhi, who could be so sincere and willing to risk his life for a single person and friend.
He couldn't help but turn around, but the dangerous courtyard was already out of sight.
No sooner had Li Liuyun and his group left than Xu Zhangfang arrived.
Zhou Yaren stood under the eaves; before she was seen, her voice was heard.
"Tingfeng has been avoiding me these past few days, and I've had to search for him quite a bit. It seems that Master Gu still has a lot of influence."
As soon as the group stepped into the courtyard, they were hit by a stench of blood.
He knew Zhou Yaren would put on a grand show to "welcome" him, and it was exactly as he expected.
With everything under control, Xu Zhangfang reacted swiftly, pulling his black cloak out like swirling ink clouds, blocking the stench of blood and catching all the bloodworms that were being splashed at him.
Seeing the streaks of blood moving within the cloak, Xu Zhangfang even attempted to entwine them around his fingertips.
"What is this?" Xu Zhangfang clicked his tongue in disgust, thinking with utter contempt, "The Gu Master is really disgusting." With a flick of his wrist, his cloak billowed out, carrying the bloodworms, towards Zhou Yaren.
With a sharp tearing sound, the wind blade ripped open the cloak, and Zhou Yaren instantly burst out from the gap in the cloak, her swirling fan even sharper than a swift knife.
Xu Zhangfang finally shed his hypocritical smile and showed his true colors, but unfortunately, the blind man couldn't see it. He held the knife against the swirling fan ribs, and with a little skill, the hilt struck Zhou Yaren's wrist bone.
The latter felt a sharp pain and numbness in his wrist, and in the blink of an eye, he exchanged blows with Xu Zhangfang.
Two of the people who came with Xu Zhangfang could not escape the bloody storm; the bloodworms penetrated and took root in the flesh as soon as they touched the skin.
When Xu Zhangfang turned around and saw this, he remembered that the Gu master had mentioned it before, and he said, "It seems that this is a kind of Gu worm that breeds in blood. If you get it, you will die."
The two men, who had already been contaminated, froze, their eyes filled with terror. When asked what to do, they said they didn't know.
"Can't it be solved?"
"We need to find a Gu Master." As for the Gu Master, Xu Zhangfang glanced at the dissected giant python, "Could the Gu Master have already been killed by Ting Fengzhi?"
The two people who had been stained with bloodworms turned deathly pale.
Zhou Yaren remained silent.
When enemies meet, a battle is inevitable. The folding fan rustled past, and it even scraped against the scabbard of Qiu Jue's sword, producing a clanging sound.
The wind blades came one after another, forcing Xu Zhangfang to dodge left and right, the fierce winds they stirred up carrying the ruthlessness of each deadly move.
Xu Zhangfang slumped his shoulders and tilted his head, passing under the menacing fan, and spoke kindly: "Tingfengzhi, take it easy. Don't let this deadly pest spread to the yards of your neighbors."
Zhou Yaren, of course, would never splatter that blood: "Now you're pretending to be a good person."
"It seems you still don't quite understand. Actually, I have always been doing good deeds and striving to be a good person." Over the years, he has made many good connections and is highly respected and loved by people. That is not an act. Otherwise, why would Yin Shiru and many people in the court and the martial arts world admire him so much? No one is perfect.
"Whose good deeds you do is none of my business!" But the evil Xu Zhangfang did was against his own people, harming and burning the immortals, imprisoning and hunting down the innocent. And now he comes to the debt collectors and says how many good deeds he has done over the years. What does that have to do with him? Is it any of my business?
Everyone does their own good deeds and collects their own debts, and they have nothing to do with each other. Besides, Zhou Yaren lifted his fan, his sharp tongue concealed in the gust of wind: "Does doing good deeds and accumulating virtue really erase all the sins you've committed?!"
That's true, there's no way to offset it. It seems that when Tingfengzhi gets stubborn, he's not easy to talk to at all.
Stop the bird.
Xu Zhangfang dodged Zhou Yaren's palm strike by turning his head, glanced at the bloodworms splattered all over the yard, walls and house, and had another thought of doing a good deed: "I'll have them carry a few buckets of kerosene to burn these pests in the yard, so as not to accidentally hurt anyone else. I'm sure Tingfeng won't stop me, right?"
Zhou Yaren remained silent, her mind solely focused on killing Xu Zhangfang.
In this world, what he saw most was the suffering of the victims and the complacency of the perpetrators. How could one not hate them?
For example, the Gu Master, and Xu Zhangfang—just thinking about Lu Bing's limp state and the truth behind the Death Umbrella made his heart ache; he couldn't help but hate them.
Zhou Yaren was so angry that her blood rushed to her head, her throat felt bloody, she bit her tongue until it bled, and the fan ribs she gripped so tightly dug into her flesh, the blood overflowing from her palms staining the bamboo strips red.
His hatred was boundless; he would never die in peace.
He lived a mediocre life for a thousand years, experiencing countless births and deaths, never finding peace in his eyes, all for the sake of personally avenging his enemies.
Zhou Yaren said sternly, "Not only did you fabricate a wrongful conviction in Beiqu, but you also concocted a wrongful case in Ruicheng, harming so many innocent people, yet you speak so confidently about accumulating virtue and doing good deeds. Don't you feel guilty saying such things?"
Xu Zhangfang has been committing murder all along, so how can he be said to have accumulated virtue and done good deeds?
If he can't kill the Gu Master, does that mean he can't even kill Xu Zhangfang?
Two figures clashed like cold swords amidst the bloody storm, their icy blades intertwining like a net, dazzling the onlookers.
The man in black, who was on his way to find kerosene, weaved through the shimmering cold light. Dozens of sharp wind blades whistled past him, carving marks all over the bricks and stone slabs.
Swords and blades have no eyes. The men in black kept stopping, afraid that their flesh and blood would be pierced into a sieve. Fortunately, they passed through unharmed, which must have been because Tingfengzhi let them pass.
Xu Qian, the man in black, thought to himself, "How could a blind master, in his current state, still talk about martial ethics?"
Several men in black sneaked into the kitchen and searched the place thoroughly, but they couldn't find Yin Sui. So they took out a small amount of lamp oil and several large jars of wine, and, avoiding the two men who were fighting to the death, quickly splashed them all over the courtyard walls and houses.
Several tinderboxes were lit and thrown out at the same time, and flames suddenly burst up all around, illuminating everyone's faces.
Xu Zhangfang was a survivor of the fire, and the burns on his body still throbbed with pain. Who knew that his men would be so efficient, that bastard Xu Qian actually set the courtyard on fire without a word.
Xu Zhangfang nearly exploded: "Xu Qian!"
That damned bastard, that clueless scoundrel, doesn't he know he's been afraid of fire lately?
Xu Zhangfang even suspected that Xu Qian was doing it on purpose.
This was truly an injustice to Xu Qian. He considered himself fearless and invincible, never imagining that a single fire would unleash the burning pain and scars from Xu Zhangfang's past. Xu Qian was merely following orders and didn't believe there was anything wrong with his actions. Without batting an eye, he asked, "What are your orders, Mr. Fang?"
Mr. Fang was furious. While fending off Zhou Yaren, the flames nearly scorched his robes: "Get out!"
Xu Zhangfang spun around as if he had seen a ghost, as if he couldn't be touched by even a spark, showing the aftereffects of being bitten by a snake once and being afraid of a rope for ten years.
"Okay!" Xu Qian left with a clear conscience. Anyway, they were just there to make up the numbers, and it would be superfluous for them to trip him up, let alone interfere. Interfering would only result in more deaths.
If Xu Qian felt he had any merit, it was that he was very clear about his position. His current position was to be an observer, simply enjoying the spectacle while letting those two arch-enemies fight each other to the death.
Xu Qian commented thoughtfully: "Truly brilliant!"
When masters clash, the results are truly extraordinary.
The nematodes in the yard twisted and turned into clumps, boiling and emitting blue smoke in the fire.
Xu Zhangfang recalled the experience of almost dying in the fire and became extremely agitated, kicking the culprit in a fit of rage.
Zhou Yaren slammed into the fire, spun around, stepped on the wall, and used the force to leap into the air. The long gust of wind he created swept up the fireballs and crashed down on Xu Zhangfang.
Xu Zhangfang leaped up and slashed down with Qiu Jue's sword.
Zhou Yaren couldn't withstand the heavy blows and was sent flying. Her leg injury hadn't healed, and her knee started to ache. Unable to support herself, Zhou Yaren staggered and knelt on one knee.
Xu Zhangfang stepped forward, sword in hand: "No need for such a grand gesture!"
Zhou Yaren slammed his hand on the ground to prop himself up, the force so great that it left a cracked, bloody handprint on the stone slab. He swiftly twisted his fan wrist, unleashing a slashing wind blade.
Xu Zhangfang met the attack head-on, unleashing a fierce strike with his Autumn Strike Blade. The impact, accompanied by the cracking of beams and pillars, created a powerful force that forced both sides back.
Zhou Yaren lay on the ground with blood dripping from his hands, and without hesitation, he swung his fan to strangle her.
The fire raged fiercely, the crimson flames coiling and slithering around the pillar like a giant python. The two figures leaped and twirled in the flames. As Tingfengzhi charged towards Huo, Xu Zhangfang aimed for his injured knee and delivered a horizontal kick.
Zhou Yaren spun around and dodged quickly, creating a vortex of rolling crimson flames that nearly engulfed Xu Zhangfang's face.
Having suffered greatly in the wildfire, Xu Zhangfang cleaved through the flames with his sword, and the roof beams collapsed under the force of the impact.
The scorching heat distorted Xu Zhangfang's vision, and he could faintly hear the shouts of villagers in the distance.
"Fire! Fire!"
Xu Qian, who was watching the fire from across the river, turned around upon hearing the sound and saw people carrying buckets and basins of water rushing towards the scene.
The place chosen by the Gu master was quite far from the neighbors, and Xu Qian fell into deep thought: Should he stop him or not?
Thick smoke filled his nostrils, and the raging fire completely consumed Xu Zhangfang's patience. Qiu Jue's blade cleaved through the wind and fire. Zhou Yaren received several blows in succession, the sharp sound of blades ringing in her ears. It was too late to defend herself; her shoulder was ripped open, and the blade was embedded in the bone.
Zhou Yaren grabbed the blade by the spine and tried to break free, but Xu Zhangfang struck him squarely in the chest, sending him flying into the scorching flames. His palm landed on a piece of burning coal. With a sizzle, his skin and flesh rapidly burned and his hand became a bloody mess.
Xu Zhangfang finally asked, "Where's the death umbrella?"
That was the purpose of his trip.
Alas, he should have known that this sheep, about to fall into the tiger's den, would not possibly have brought the death umbrella with it.
Xu Zhangfang said, "Even when death is imminent, you still refuse to hand over the death-reporting umbrella?"
Seeing his stubborn refusal to talk, Xu Zhangfang was truly at a loss. But thinking about it, it made sense; last time, when Zhou Ya was in Ruicheng, she also refused to hand him over even at the cost of her life.
Even interrogation was useless; this blind man had made the umbrella his lifeline.
Xu Zhangfang was too lazy to waste his energy: "Fine, then you can die under my blade first, and I'll go find that umbrella."
Having said that, Xu Zhangfang swung his Autumn Strike Blade and slashed down fiercely at Zhou Yaren!
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