Chapter 107 "The fragrance of apples has already given way to the blooming of lotus flowers."...
The Prefect's Residence.
"No one but Jiang Ling'er would dare to appear at this time, in the heavily guarded prefectural mansion, to rescue someone!"
Wenshan Zhenjun grinned maliciously, put away the male insect in his palm, and heard Kong Wu say behind him:
"Keep them alive."
Even without Kong Wu's words, True Lord Wenshan would not let this little girl die so easily, but he would not let her off so easily either.
He belatedly realized that... Jiang Ling'er was quite attractive.
It is a beauty completely opposite to that of the warm spring month of March.
It is savage, vigorous, fiery...
A beauty that makes you want to destroy it.
Although she was dressed as a man, how could a seasoned veteran like him, who was used to frequenting brothels and entertainment venues, not recognize her?
Since you're a woman, you should be gentle, obedient, and virtuous, a good wife and mother. Why should you learn to wield swords and roam the martial world?
That's what men should do.
Recalling Jiang Ling'er's fierce temper when she knocked him unconscious and pushed him into the dry well, his interest, which had been interrupted in the brothel, was instantly rekindled.
Perhaps he had forgotten how Jiang Ling'er had knocked him unconscious and thrown him into a dry well last time, or perhaps he was relying on Kong Wu's presence behind him, but Wen Shan Zhenjun was not afraid of Jiang Ling'er at all. He even considered himself a reasonable and compassionate person who cherished flowers, and patiently guided her:
"After all, your father is dead, and I heard your husband has given up looking for you. There's no one to teach and raise you, and the world is in turmoil. It's truly pitiful. But it's alright, this old man is in need of a female disciple..."
As soon as he spoke, the slender figure seemed to pause like a startled lark. In the blink of an eye, Wenshan Zhenjun was impatient and stepped forward, making a move with the grappling technique, one of the "Thirteen Forms of Tongbei"!
With lightning speed, it grabbed the man's shoulder like an iron clamp, turned him around, and made it impossible for him to escape!
"Jiang Ling'er, where do you think you're going..." Wenshan Zhenjun paused, his voice almost changing tone, even sharper than the woman's voice before him, "Who are you?!"
The person turned around and revealed an unfamiliar face, with ginger-yellow hair and features more pronounced than those of a typical woman from Jiangnan, including a high nose, wide eyes, and most notably, a pair of near-grayish-blue pupils…
These are clearly golden men!
Wenshan Zhenjun exclaimed in surprise: "Who are you?! Where is Jiang Ling'er?!"
Kong Wu behind her realized she had fallen into a trap:
"Oh no, Prefect!"
Kong Wu vanished in the blink of an eye, using her lightness skill to rush towards the mansion!
Wenshan Zhenjun was furious. He grabbed the newcomer's shoulder with such force that he almost crushed it.
"Who are you? How could you... No, it's impossible! My Cochineal wouldn't make a mistake!"
"You...you said..." The girl's right shoulder ached from the yellow-robed Taoist's grip, her face almost deathly pale, yet a mocking smile lingered beneath. She slowly opened her right palm. "Is it this?"
In his palm was the first tiny insect, already lifeless.
After a pause, the veins on Wenshan Zhenjun's forehead bulged, and he raised his other hand high, about to slap the girl's head!
"You're asking for it!"
The girl closed her eyes in fright, but Wenshan Zhenjun's hand, which had been raised for a long time, ultimately did not fall.
Such a beautiful Jurchen woman was rare; she could only be the concubine of a high-ranking Jurchen official, someone one could never afford to offend.
Moreover, since he missed his target, Kong Wu would definitely not let him off the hook. His immediate priority was to escape!
The hand gripping the girl's right shoulder suddenly loosened. The girl paused, then cautiously opened her eyes—
But then we saw that Wenshan Zhenjun had left.
To be precise, they slipped away.
The girl grimaced and rubbed her shoulder, then chuckled.
"He didn't want to offend the Jin people, nor did he dare to, and he was even more afraid of being purged by Kong Wu, so he had no choice but to flee."
Pei Xuan glanced at Yuan Zao, Yuan Wenkang, Zongshan Zhenjun, the Seven Little Lingxiao, and the others, then stepped out from the shadows and walked to the girl's side. The girl was none other than Ma Qingmei.
Just as Pei Xuan had thought, Wenshan Zhenjun did not want to offend the Jin people, so he did nothing to Ma Qingmei.
"Thank you for your hard work... cough cough."
With each word the young man spoke, he let out a muffled cough. The large cloth covering his head and face could not conceal the sickly red stains that rose to his thin, high nose and were then hidden under the rough cloth.
Everyone was surprised and suspicious of the young man who had appeared so suddenly. Many recognized the masked mystery as the person who had stood shoulder to shoulder with Jiang Ling'er in the martial arts arena. To put it bluntly, he was an accomplice.
After all, Jiang Ling'er is still burdened with the infamy of being a traitor and a lackey of the Jurchens. Not long ago, she was even publicly identified by Zhao Xiao. Therefore, the scene of Jiang Ling'er confronting Kong Wu and Wen Shan Zhenjun to protect the little monk Lian Sheng is more like... an unfair division of spoils.
But seeing that Yuan Zao showed no surprise or suspicion towards the young man and instead went to greet him, especially since very few people in the entire martial arts world could appear beside them without being noticed, and they hadn't even noticed, Yuan Wenkang and Master Lu exchanged a glance and could only swallow their doubts for now.
Yuan Zao: "Pei..."
Yuan Zao only managed to utter one word before realizing that Pei Xuan's face was perfectly concealed, so she swallowed the rest of her words.
Pei Xuan cut to the chase: "Where is your senior sister?"
He and Ma Qingmei were only a quarter of an hour earlier than Yuan Zao and the others, and it was fortunate that they were a quarter of an hour earlier, which saved Yuan Zao and the others from being harmed by Kong Wu for no reason.
However, when he saw that it was Gan Zishi leading Prefect Song Shiliang out, he knew that he was too late.
When Song Shiliang saw that Yuan Zao, Yuan Wenkang and the others had indeed arrived as Jiang Ling'er had said, he breathed a heavy sigh of relief. Meanwhile, Pei Xuanfeng's eyes darkened, and his thin lips, hidden under his veil, were pressed into a tight line.
Gan Zishi's eyes lit up the moment he saw Yuan Zao, completely ignoring his fellow disciples and the other Seven Little Lingxiao disciples. He rushed over to Yuan Zao and began to speak rapidly, like a torrent of beans:
“Miss Yuan, Jiang Ling’er and I have already met, and I gave her the warrant as you instructed…”
Let's talk somewhere else.
Yuan Zao interrupted him, and the boy paused slightly before nodding, his joy fading considerably.
The group quickly escorted Prefect Song Shiliang to a secluded farmhouse, where Song Shiliang picked up where Gan Zishi left off:
"In order to save every second and reduce casualties, Miss Ling'er has already gone ahead to open the secret passage."
The young man from the foreign land remained silent for a long time, then suddenly said:
"She went alone?"
Gan Zishi nodded: "That's right."
Although the young man's face remained expressionless, revealing no emotion, and despite having only known him for half a day, Yuan Zao keenly sensed something amiss and quickly said:
“Sister Ling’er grew up in Jinling, and I’ve been to that secret passage before, so nothing will happen.”
Pei Xuan remained silent upon hearing this, their conversation interrupted by Chunyu Hun's arrival. Both men breathed a sigh of relief upon learning that the other was still alive, yet the young man's tightly furrowed brows remained furrowed.
Even the usually carefree Chunyu Hun noticed that something was wrong with Pei Xuan. Just as he was about to ask, a loud voice of doubt came from the other side. Pei Xuan, Chunyu Hun, Yuan Zao and the others looked in the direction of the voice.
Master Ma, with his hoarse voice, loudly questioned the True Lord of Zongshan in Danxia Cave. If it weren't for Master Lu stopping him, he would have grabbed the True Lord of Zongshan by the collar and given him a good talking-to.
"Didn't you say you were going to deal with that bastard yourself? How come that dog Wenshan Zhenjun is still alive?!"
"It's a misunderstanding! I originally intended to expel him from the sect, but he... but he wept bitterly and begged for mercy on his knees... After all, we've been fellow disciples for many years, and I simply couldn't bring myself to do it. He swore a solemn oath never to harm the innocent again, so I..."
Master Ma was always outspoken, and he immediately sneered:
"Who knows if it's protecting a fellow disciple or, in fact, protecting an accomplice!"
"You!" True Monarch Zongshan's face flushed red with shame. "This matter is indeed my fault, and further words are useless... I will take full responsibility!"
He immediately raised his whisk and struck his chest, but suddenly a soft yet powerful fist swept over. It was Yuan Wenkang who used the Lotus Hand to block the whisk, and invisibly neutralized the whisk's murderous aura with his palm force.
"With the Jin army besieging the city, we are in dire need of manpower. Since you feel guilty, why not kill one more Jin soldier and save one more citizen of Jinling to offset your sins?"
After hearing this, True Lord Zongshan remained silent for a long time, then suddenly sighed, "So be it! I will do as Hall Master Yuan says, and one day I will surely kill that villain with my own hands!"
Master Ma despised these hypocritical people who claimed to be from prestigious and upright families, and spat fiercely at them.
"...Um, well."
Pei Xuan had been looking towards the argument between Master Ma, True Lord Zongshan, and others when he suddenly heard a familiar voice. He looked over and saw Gan Zishi.
The boy saw those dark phoenix eyes looking at him and, for some reason, felt an inexplicable familiarity. The young man simply looked over calmly, but under the gaze of those eyes, he couldn't help but straighten his back, his jaw slightly tense, and his voice was somewhat hoarse, carrying a tension and frustration that he himself didn't even realize.
Although the young man had fainted on horseback and probably didn't know about the promise Jiang Ling'er had made to him, he still apologized to the young man, his head bowed as if he wanted to bury it in the ground, his fists clenched tightly, and the veins on the back of his hands bulging faintly.
"...I'm sorry, I failed to protect the monk and even lost him..."
"You should tell her yourself."
Gan Zishi trembled very slightly, buried her head even deeper, and a blush of shame crept up her ears.
"But... it's not the worst time yet, is it?"
The boy paused, then suddenly looked up, only to find that the mysterious foreign youth had already walked away.
The young man didn't turn his head, but simply waved his hand casually:
"Let's find it the way we lost it."
After a moment of stunned silence, the boy's eyes lit up and he followed.
Meanwhile, Song Shiliang, the prefect of Jinling, wrote a letter earnestly requesting that the Seven Sons of Lingxiao deliver it to Lin'an and then to the imperial court, asking for their support.
The Seven Disciples of Lingxiao naturally felt obligated to do so, and Wen Cheng'an immediately arranged for the youngest of his fellow disciples, the sixth junior sister Lin Mengwan and the seventh junior brother Li Xia, to deliver the letter.
Sixth Junior Sister Lin Mengwan: "I'm not going! Senior Brother, I want to defend the city with you..."
"Now is not the time to be willful!"
Wen Cheng'an suddenly roared. The young man was always gentle and rarely got angry. He had never spoken so harshly to their only junior sister. The girl was shocked and her eyes instantly reddened.
Wen Cheng'an knew he had spoken out of turn, but the situation was tense and allowed no room for negligence. Whether they could get out alive was a question; even if only one of them survived, it would be a good outcome.
So even though Lin Mengwan was almost in tears, the young man kept his handsome face tense and refused to give in.
The atmosphere remained tense.
"Am I..."
Wen Chengan and Lin Mengwan paused upon hearing this and looked at the newcomer, the mysterious young man from the foreign land.
The young man glanced at the solemn faces of the boys before him, then scratched his head, holding the envelope in his hand.
"Did we come at the wrong time?"
The seven disciples of Xiaolingxiao were naturally grateful for the foreign youth's help in curing their poison. They all paused for a moment, and Wen Cheng'an, realizing what had happened, especially seeing how quickly the letter in the foreign youth's hand had appeared, immediately cupped his hands and said:
"What brings you here, brother? If there is anything we can do to help, we will do our utmost."
"I would like to ask you to help me deliver a letter to Zhang Liangxiang."
Upon hearing the name "Zhang Liangxiang," everyone was startled. Wen Cheng'an asked another question:
"But... is it the current Prime Minister Zhang Xu, Lord Zhang?"
The young man from the foreign land nodded: "Not bad."
Everyone was slightly surprised, not expecting that this foreign youth would not speak unless he was the prime minister of the current dynasty.
Seeing that he didn't seem to be joking, and considering that the Lingxiao Sect had a long-standing personal relationship with Zhang Liangxiang, delivering a message for him wouldn't be difficult, Wen Cheng'an, though still somewhat doubtful, extended his hand as instructed: "I will certainly not fail in my mission..."
Unexpectedly, the envelope was turned around and handed to Lin Mengwan and Li Xia just before it was handed to them:
"Then I'll have to trouble you two."
The pair of phoenix eyes, visible only above the face mask, crinkled with laughter. She glanced at Lin Mengwan, a mischievous glint flashing in her eyes:
"It's not worth shedding tears for a man. But the last one who shed tears for a man... made rapid progress in martial arts, so it's okay to cry a little."
Lin Mengwan was stunned, with tears still clinging to her long eyelashes.
After a long pause, junior brother Li Xia took the envelope, and the foreign youth nodded and turned to leave.
Wen Cheng'an gave a few more instructions, glanced at Lin Mengwan who was still in a daze, paused, and then became even angrier for no reason. He pursed his lips and left with the remaining seven Lingxiao disciples.
Everyone, along with the Prefect of Jinling, assisted Yuan Wenkang, Yuan Zao, and others in reaching the secret passage to evacuate the people of Jinling. Once the crowd had dispersed, Junior Brother Li Xia hesitated and said:
"Senior sister, are you still angry with senior brother?"
"What?" Lin Mengwan was stunned for a moment, finally coming back to her senses. Fortunately, the appearance of the foreign youth interrupted her thoughts and her troubles. But she scratched her head and couldn't remember anything. "...No, don't you guys really think that foreigner...looks familiar? Who does he look like...Never mind, let's hurry up and get back to our aid!"
------------------------------------------------------
At the same time, Kong Wu's attempt to capture the governor failed, and she even had the governor taken away.
Kong Wu was furious and cleaved the stone lion in front of the prefect's mansion in two!
Suddenly remembering something, he sneered, used his lightness skill, and leaped into the mist, disappearing from sight.
Meanwhile, Wenshan Zhenjun had already slipped away. Upon learning that Jiang Ling'er and Liansheng were still trapped in the city, he narrowed his eyes for the sake of wealth and survival. He hardened his heart and wrote a letter to a lowly Jin soldier, pleading with him to deliver it before dawn!
------------------------------------------------------
The Imperial City.
When the Jin army besieged the city, Lin Mengwan and Li Xia hurried to Lin'an to inform the imperial court.
Fortunately, Jinling and Lin'an were not far apart, and after three horses died from exhaustion, the two finally arrived at the capital.
Lin Mengwan and Li Xia were originally martial arts practitioners and were not allowed to enter the palace. Fortunately, the Lingxiao Sect had a close relationship with Zhang Liangxiang and were able to meet him smoothly.
Upon learning of the Jin army's capture of Jinling and having personally seen a letter from Song Shiliang, the prefect of Jinling, Zhang Liangxiang was furious. He immediately rushed to the front hall without even changing out of his court robes.
However, the Emperor had been seriously ill for many days, and the Empress Dowager had ordered that no one was allowed to disturb him, even Zhang Liangxiang was turned away.
Thinking of the tens of thousands of people in Jinling suffering terribly, while the Emperor was bedridden with illness, and he was barred from seeing him, Zhang Liangxiang's chest heaved, his breathing became unsteady, and a vein bulged on his forehead.
Lin Mengwan suddenly remembered something and quickly handed the letter hidden in her sleeve to Zhang Liangxiang: "My lord, this is... um."
Lin Mengwan and Li Xia exchanged a glance, realizing something was wrong; they had actually forgotten to ask the foreign youth's name!
I had no choice but to continue:
"A rather strange young man has entrusted us with your..."
Zhang Liangxiang paused upon hearing this, took the letter, and unfolded it. It contained only a simple, elegantly written sentence:
“The fragrance of apples has already given way to the blooming of lotus flowers①.”
Lin Mengwan glanced at it, pondering the meaning of this seemingly nonsensical phrase, when she suddenly saw Zhang Liangxiang's previously gloomy face brighten, and he exclaimed "Good!" three times, clearly overjoyed.
"Okay, okay!"
-----------------------
The author's note: ① This is from Yan Jidao's "Yu Meiren: Sparse Plum Blossoms Under the Moon, Singing of Golden Threads".
Hi everyone! [Let me see!] I hesitated for quite a while, but finally decided to stick to the original plan and divide this volume, "The Siege of Jinling," into two parts: Part 1, "Why Are the Heroes of the Martial World Trembling with Fear?" and Part 2, "Why Are the Heroes of the Martial World Walking on Thin Ice?" "Walking on Thin Ice" is already in my column; I hope you'll all add it to your favorites—it's really important to me, sob sob!
After this series ends, there will be a side story about Xiao Duwu and Jiang Ling'er's separation, and perhaps other characters as well. The next series, "Walking on Thin Ice," is expected to be released after the New Year, where old and new friends will reunite. There will be a love triangle between Xiao Duwu, Ji Yunshu, and Pei Xuan, especially Jiang Ling'er's exploration of chivalry.
The unexpected decline in popularity of martial arts novels... has been a huge psychological challenge [crying][crying][crying][crying] I'm so sorry to have kept everyone waiting so long. Dividing it into two parts was also for better rest. The free 70,000 words in the second part are my apology, and I'll also add some bonus chapters to make up for it. Although not many people are responding to me in the comments anymore... I'm very grateful for the encouragement from both new and old friends. I will definitely finish this book within my capabilities! Thank you all for your support along the way!!! [cheering][cheering][cheering][crying][heart][heart][heart]
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com