Chapter 198: Chaos in Xiaocheng (Thirty-Eight) [Requesting Monthly Tickets]
"Huh, they're still alive?"
The young man brought the torch closer to see the girl's face clearly, his expression slightly surprised—the girl's age and appearance perfectly matched Lin Feng's, who had jumped off the cliff; it was almost certainly him. However—
He looked up at the top of the cliff.
He looked thoughtful.
The dark shadows loomed over the cliff, which had a drop of more than ten zhang (approximately 33 meters), like a ferocious beast lurking there, preparing for hibernation, its mouth agape, greedily waiting for its prey to fall in. After observing carefully for a while, he roughly understood how Lin Feng had managed to escape with his life.
There are many sturdy vines growing near the cliff here.
Thanks to the cushioning effect of the vines, Lin Feng was spared from being smashed to pieces. He survived, but he couldn't escape the scratches, cuts, and fractures from the impact, which is why he was left exhausted and hanging from the tree. Without a second thought, the young man unleashed a dark green burst of martial energy.
As the vines were destroyed, the venomous snakes that were coiled around them, flicking their tongues and aiming at their prey, were also blown to pieces.
With the thorn no longer in her side from the venomous snakes, Lin Feng finally breathed a sigh of relief—she had been hanging in the tree for several hours, utterly helpless. Coupled with her lingering cold, her limbs were weak and her energy was depleted, making even self-rescue a struggle.
Unfortunately, misfortune never comes singly; out of nowhere crawled a venomous snake with a triangular head, as thick as a finger and as long as an arm, its entire body a vibrant green!
She had no choice but to brace herself and confront the venomous snake.
From dawn to dusk, and then into the dead of night.
The venomous snake relentlessly lurked beside her, ravaging Lin Feng's spirit. Coupled with her physical exhaustion, she was at her last gasp. Had the young man not arrived in time, she might have already succumbed to unconsciousness, and her fate would have been unimaginable.
He didn't die from the fall, but was bitten to death by a poisonous snake!
She was unwilling to accept it just by thinking about it!
"Thank you so much for saving me!"
With the crisis averted, Lin Feng's tense nerves relaxed instantly. He forced a weak smile and thanked his savior.
The young man asked her, "Your name is Lin Feng?"
Lin Feng was both hungry and thirsty, his throat so dry it felt like it was about to burst into flames. He endured the discomfort and answered in a hoarse voice, "It is indeed I, your humble servant."
"Looks like we didn't save the wrong person."
After speaking, the young man glanced meaningfully at the vibrant vines on the cliff—they were unique to this place and nowhere else; the trees, which should have shed their leaves long ago, were still lush and green—he knew there was something wrong, but now was not the right time to ask.
He added, "Shen Tang sent me to rescue you."
These words seemed to inject Lin Feng with a powerful boost. His eyes, which were about to close wearily, suddenly opened, their brightness reflecting the bright moon in the sky. The girl excitedly grabbed his arm guard: "You mean my lord? It was my lord who troubled the general to save me?"
The young man nodded: "Mm."
He wasn't exactly lying.
Mama did indeed entrust him with keeping an eye on her "relatives".
The young man said, "You go to sleep first, I'll take you upstairs."
Going up is much easier than coming down.
The young man activated the Martial Tiger Talisman, holding Lin Feng with one hand while using his other hand to condense a weapon. He then casually tossed it out, and it slammed into the cliff face. He repeated this several times, using the weapons embedded in the cliff to propel himself up the cliffside with ease.
The happiest person about Lin Feng's survival is Tu Rong.
The tears that had just stopped started flowing again.
"Junior Sister Lin Feng..."
Crystalline snot and tears smeared half of his face.
"Waaaaah... Junior sister, you're still alive... Waaaaah..." Having lost all his blood relatives overnight, with his only teacher missing and his fellow disciple escaping death, Tu Rong was overwhelmed with grief and sorrow, but also felt a surge of joy. He wished he could hug Lin Feng and cry his heart out.
And he did just that.
Lin Feng was also affected by his emotions.
She thought of her grandmother, mother, aunts, sisters, and the maids she had grown up with, all of whom had perished at the bottom of the icy cliff. Lin Feng had escaped that fateful time, but unexpectedly, he had encountered the same desperate situation.
Suddenly, I was overcome with grief.
One by one, glistening tears slid down her cheeks like pearls from a broken string. She couldn't hold back her sobs, which grew louder and louder.
Seeing the two teenagers crying so pitifully, the young man, as a member of the rebels and one of the accomplices who ignited this war, felt no embarrassment whatsoever. He simply stood to one side with his arms crossed, watching them cry, silently calculating the time in his mind, lost in his own thoughts.
This boy named Tu Rong, when his eyes were bloodshot and he was fierce, resembled a wolf cub that hadn't been weaned, but now he looked like a plump, harmless piglet. However, he was more interested in the little girl in front of him named Lin Feng. She wasn't an ordinary person; she looked somewhat like Mama.
Neither of the children paid any attention to him.
Bored, the young man went down the cliff a few more times. At the bottom were corpses, mangled beyond recognition—if not for the intact human skin covering them, shattered internal organs and bones would have been scattered everywhere. Tu Rong recognized his grandparents and mother among them. His tears, which had been slightly contained, broke down again. He hugged the corpses and wailed, his strength greatly depleted, and he nearly fainted during his wailing.
The young man waved for the soldiers to bury the other bodies on the spot.
Hearing Tu Rong sobbing uncontrollably, occasionally letting out a sob, the subordinate said with a sneer, "The young general treats them too well."
Young man: "Why bother arguing with two kids?"
The subordinate said, "These are not two ordinary children. Once the general finds out their identities, he will surely make things difficult for you again."
The young man didn't seem to care at all, and laughed nonchalantly: "Without these two kids, would my sworn brother stop making things difficult for me? If he wanted to make things difficult for me, he could make up ten or eight reasons even if there were none. Consider this a ready-made excuse for my sworn brother, saving him the trouble of racking his brains..."
After all, finding a reason takes some thought.
My sworn brother's brain...
Sigh, it's really putting him in a difficult position.
Upon hearing this, the subordinate official fell silent.
Meanwhile, Tu Rong and Lin Feng were also completely exhausted from crying, their faces pale and pitiful. However, the negative emotions that had been building up inside them were released through their sobs and tears, and their spirits were somewhat better than before. Lin Feng raised his sleeve to wipe away his tears.
He muttered, "I've made my benefactor a laughingstock."
"It's alright, it's only natural." Looking at Lin Feng's bloodied face, the young man reached into his waistband, pulled out a bottle, and tossed it over. "Here, it works well, so you won't have any scars."
Tears are salty, doesn't it hurt to cry like this?
He felt pain just looking at it.
Tu Rong's lips moved slightly, and he stammered a few times, unable to utter a word of thanks. This older brother had indeed saved him, helped him collect the bodies of his grandparents and mother, saving them from being left to rot in the wilderness as wandering ghosts, and even returned his father's remains to him…
but--
He looked stubborn and swallowed back what he wanted to say.
Kindness is kindness, and enmity is enmity. He wouldn't harbor hatred towards the young man, but he also couldn't bring himself to be grateful to a rebel leader! Fortunately, the young man didn't seem to care. Having dealt with the matter, the young man felt a bit better, mounted his horse, waved goodbye, and led his troops back to the camp.
Halfway there, the morning light began to appear.
The warm light fell on his face as the young man gazed toward the camp and the distant, indistinct outline of the Xiaocheng city wall.
A sigh.
Sun rises and sets, day and night alternate.
Even the darkest night will eventually give way to light.
But things are different here; darkness always shrouds people's hearts.
The young man gazed at the rising sun for a moment, sighed, chuckled, and whipped his horse to return home. Unsurprisingly, he ran into his strange, scheming sworn brother again at the camp gate. The young man, having gone out in the middle of the night without any success, didn't even bother to spare him a second glance.
Being ignored like this made the sworn brother extremely unhappy.
The young man said, "Since you're so interested in this matter, why don't you go and talk to Father and the messenger, and I'll entrust the task to you?"
The sworn brother's sinister gaze pierced through the crowd, landing on Lin Feng and Tu Rong, or more precisely, on Lin Feng alone. He smiled knowingly, as if he had just thought of something. This gaze made Lin Feng feel uneasy, like a venomous snake staring at her.
He couldn't help but shrink his neck.
The sworn brother said maliciously, "You led your troops out late at night and didn't return until dawn. It wasn't a fruitless return. I was wondering why you always refused the beautiful concubines that Father bestowed upon you. It turns out you prefer young and tender ones and don't like older ones."
The young man's face darkened: "Brother, watch your words!"
My sworn brother was not afraid at all.
I still think the young people are being hypocritical.
All that talk of "keeping oneself clean" is just an act.
On one occasion, the old man's subordinates, in an attempt to curry favor with him, presented him with a pair of exceptionally beautiful twin sisters at a banquet. The old man was getting on in years; he wasn't particularly enthusiastic about women, but he wasn't indifferent either. He generally wouldn't refuse if someone offered them to him.
What's more, they were two exceptionally beautiful women!
She is exceptional in every way – in terms of figure, appearance, and dancing talent!
Even if he doesn't accept the reward himself, he will still give it to his trusted confidants.
The old man was satisfied, and he liked it too.
Before he could even ask for them, the old man generously gave them both away because the barbarian had glanced at the two women. Of course, the barbarian refused, but in return he received a barrage of praise. If he didn't want the beauties, he would reward him with countless gold and silver treasures.
When it was his turn to ask for them, he was met with a barrage of insults and had to watch helplessly as the two women became the old man's concubines in his harem.
The sworn brother felt quite aggrieved.
How old is the old man?
At his advanced age, with half his body already in the grave, he can still manage to produce two or three younger siblings in a year!
"What's there to be careful about? We're brothers, what can't we say?" The young sworn brother laughed heartily. "Since you like this kind of guy, I'll keep an eye out for you. Look at this greenhorn you picked, his face is all scarred like that, wouldn't it be a shame to see him with those scars?"
The young man listened with a sullen face to his sworn brother's sarcastic remarks.
After the latter had finished babbling, the young man, with a stern face, led his troops away, passing by his sworn brother.
He vaguely sensed an uncomfortable gaze upon him.
Following my intuition, I looked over, but couldn't find the target.
The sworn brother snorted coldly, turned his sleeves, and left.
Back in the tent, the young man said to Tu Rong, "You've really impressed me. I thought you'd lose your temper and rush in to fight him. If that were the case, I'd have to give you a quick death. It'll just be difficult to explain to Mama if she investigates..."
Tu Rong swallowed the bloody taste that filled his mouth, suppressing his nausea.
Just now, to suppress the rage of his family's massacre, he bit his tongue, letting the pain suffocate the raging fire within him. He hissed through gritted teeth, his voice hoarse: "I will personally twist his head off!"
The young man simply smiled.
He commented, "This ambition... is not bad..."
He knew this was just empty talk.
How easy is it to twist off that sworn brother's head?
That godfather is still alive!
Once only she, Tu Rong, and their savior remained in the tent, Lin Feng couldn't help but ask, "Does my savior know where my husband is? If it's convenient, could you perhaps take us to meet him?"
The young man thought for a moment and said, "No."
Lin Feng's heart skipped a beat.
The young man said, "Mama is probably in Xiaocheng now, right? If I send troops there to make contact, and someone catches me red-handed, I could be charged with 'treason,' and that wouldn't be something that could be avoided with just a few dozen lashes. You should all stay here and wait patiently for now..."
Lin Feng moved his lips.
They couldn't bring themselves to say anything demanding or willful.
The soldiers in the camp were all dressed as rebels, so she knew that their rescuer was a rebel general. Trapped in the heart of a den of wolves and tigers, they could only take things one step at a time. As Lin Feng was lost in thought, a perfectly round longan pearl rolled to her feet.
Lin Feng was quite puzzled.
Young man: "Do you know how to play with beads?"
Lin Feng said, "Yes."
A look of delight appeared on the young man's face: "Perfect, play with me."
Lin Feng hesitated, "...I am still in mourning."
Upon hearing this, the young man seemed to realize something and was no longer troubled.
He turned around and went behind the screen to take out a box of things.
The box landed with a thud.
"Just to kill some time." After saying that, he looked at Tu Rong and said, "Go to the training ground. If you want revenge, don't waste this good talent."
It took Tu Rong a while to understand what the young man meant.
"Why...why are you helping me like this?"
How could such a good person collude with the rebels?
The young man thought for a long time: "Perhaps it's because we share the same plight?"
His situation back then was much better than this chubby boy's; he had the ability to protect himself. This chubby boy, on the other hand, had talent but no time. Once he left his protection, his premature death was inevitable.
"If you don't cause me any trouble, I don't mind saving your lives." He needed to be upfront about the consequences; he didn't want the two teenagers to mistake him for a kind and righteous philanthropist. "Otherwise, I can only guarantee you'll suffer less before you die..."
Around noon, the old general suddenly inquired about Tu Rong and Lin Feng, clearly aware of their plight. He worried that his adopted son was raising a tiger to cause future trouble. Lin Feng, a girl, was one thing; his adopted son could keep her as a pet out of pity, but Tu Rong was different.
A promising talent with a knack for martial arts.
They were already old enough to understand things.
Who knows when he might stab you in the back?
The young man scoffed nonchalantly, "What can a mere child do? Let's just keep him around for fun. It doesn't matter if he's disloyal or not, he can't hurt my son anyway. If he really had that kind of temper, my son would actually respect him more."
Upon hearing this, the old general stopped trying to persuade him.
They tacitly accepted this.
The young man was satisfied, but the one who tattled was very dissatisfied, and secretly he was brewing several vats of vinegar.
The atmosphere inside the rebel camp was tense, and a storm was brewing.
The outside world was also in an uproar.
Various forces, large and small, are eager to make their move.
Rumors that had previously lost their traction have resurfaced.
[The Purple Star emerges from the Northwest, ensuring the unity of the realm.]
Anyone with eyes can see clearly who deliberately spread this rumor to promote themselves and gain prestige; few people take it seriously.
But to everyone's surprise, the rumor actually came true!
Xiaocheng is located in the northwest. Last night, a huge dragon shadow appeared in the sky, causing strange phenomena in the heavens and earth, which perfectly coincided with the prophecy!
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It will be free for a limited time starting November 18th. Updates will continue as usual during the free period, and there will be extra updates after the free period ends (the editor notified me well in advance, sigh, where am I supposed to find a stockpile of drafts? I'm so worried I'm going bald).
(End of this chapter)
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