Book 15: Chapter 89

“I’m amazed you’re Ming Feizhen’s disciple…”

Li Zizi not only had a likeable appearance, great manners, and spoke with grace as well as courtesy, but he also had a childish tone that made him easy to like. Having said that, it was the palm strike he performed to stop Ling Jialan before that impressed her the most as he surpa.s.sed what she was capable of at his age. She suddenly realised that she didn’t know Ming Feizhen very well besides his affiliation with Liu Shan Men and Mount Daluo. The hard thing to accept wasn’t that Ming Feizhen could teach well, but that he was always giving surprises.

It was one thing to have an Emei disciple specialise in swordplay and fight similarly to a Shaolin disciple, but it was nowhere as surprising because it was rare for someone not well-versed in martial arts to know so much about the pugilistic world, be indifferent to people, yet be extremely proficient as a doctor, and speak absolute tripe, yet predict things as if he had foresight. Just when she thought that was the extent of his abilities, out came a talented boy claiming to be his disciple. Plus, Ming Feizhen was still young, yet he had a disciple? All of a sudden, she started questioning if the depths of his abilities were just so deep that she couldn’t discern them. No matter how she scoured her memories, though, the only images Ming Feizhen built for himself was a jerk who abandon her in a fight, a glutton, a guy who was always sleeping, a jerk who swindled her for food. The only strength she could think of was his medical skills.

“My s.h.i.+fu is a great man,” Li Zizi confidently stated.

“His s.h.i.+fu is really skilled,” Bu added.

Honestly, Ling Jialan was expecting to hear, “It’d be a privilege to be his concubine,” after all the praise they piled on Ming Feizhen.

“I told you: I’m not his…”

“Who are you, then?”

“I’m his… friend?” After she introduced herself, Ling Jialan realised there was no need to introduce herself through Ming Feizhen, so she reintroduced herself without mentioning him.

Ling Jialan asked Bu, “And you are…?”

Cracking a grin, Bu pulled Zizi over to his side and hugged his head, placing his chin atop it. “Me? I’m whoever you think I am.”

Ling Jialan: Do kids these days… all bend that way?

“Bu, stop playing!”

Bu shouted, “You pushed me again! Push me again, and I’ll smash you!”

“s.h.!.+” Ling Jialan held her finger to her lips.

Not long after the trio took cover, a team of patrol guards closed in with orderly steps that were nigh inaudible.

“None of them deserve to be spared.” Ling Jialan asked, “I was thinking about calling for reinforcements, but I think the two of you will be enough. Would you two be willing to work with me to destroy this den of crooks?”

The boys raised their hands in support as they weren’t willing to miss a thrill.

“I’ll rescue the captives while you two cause a ruckus to draw their attention. Do not take risks. If you run into a dangerous foe, run away. I’ll be fine.”

“Why would we run?” Bu smirked.

Ling Jialan had only ever seen that sort of cold expression on her foes’ swords before; she never imagined a young boy could look so violent despite his attractive appearance.

“What dangers could there be? It’s just simple sabotage. We’ll come for you. Now that you’re on the team. I won’t let you suffer alone.”

Ling Jialan smiled. “Don’t feel like you’ve got the short end of the stick. You’re the main stars. I’d be able to rescue them faster than you, don’t you reckon?”

“How much time do you need?”

“There are over a hundred people here.”

“Couldn’t be easier.” Bu, wearing a grin, gazed towards the warehouse that was alight. “Nothing easier than arson, is there?”

Ling Jialan’s stiff smile reflected off the flames. As the members rushed to extinguish the fire, an escape route for the captives became available. Flames rose and spread, fusing together to become an ocean of flames. Even if the idea of arson flourished in her mind, she couldn’t have acted on it so quickly. After all, the consequences weren’t minor. Equally impressive was that there were no casualties as a consequence. Moreover, Bu knew where flammables were and the spots where n.o.body was at. It was self-evident that Bu had easily committed arson dozens of times, if not over a hundred times. If the aforementioned points weren’t convincing, then his relaxed att.i.tude and smile were undeniable evidence. Even though she was older, a sense of fear of Bu formed in Ling Jialan’s mind.

“Zi, take an inhale. There’s snow ginseng over there. If you inhale it, it’ll increase your internal energy potency by at least five years.”

“Really?!” Li Zizi immediately started inhaling with all his might.

Despite choking several times due to the smoke, Li Zizi didn’t give up. Meanwhile, his friend encouraged him to inhale more.

Ling Jialan found her prior concerns to be laughable, but she needed to make her move, too. Besides agreeing to arson to punish the evildoers, she wanted to use it as a means of forcing Lian Hua and Fu Dalong to show themselves. It was normal to flee if there was a fire; however, an elite martial artist would’ve gone to the scene of the fire to find out what exactly happened if they suspected it was a trap.

Ling Jialan’s a.s.sumption was partially correct. Her target did inspect the scene, but he was far faster than she imagined. While she was leading the innocent girls towards the main path, Bu was enjoying Li Zizi’s suffering as a result of his prank. After burning for about fifteen minutes, the fire was no longer safe to stay within its range, forcing Bu to drag Li Zizi out of range. Since Li Zizi had no sweat and was instead steaming from his skull and looked lifeless, he had to instantly sit down and focus on controlling his qi flow for a breakthrough.

Bu was aware that Li Zizi’s method of mobilising qi was considerably faster than the average method, but he didn’t expect his friend to just sit down in the dangerous zone of a fire to circulate qi. His only option, then, was to stand guard for his friend. Just a short while later, Li Zizi exhaled a breath, releasing the smell of smoke from his mouth. When he opened his eyes, Li Zizi felt as refreshed as if he just had a great night of sleep.

As Pure Yang One Qi used qi deviation as its foundation, everything about replenishment for it was atypical. For example, he recovered using Ming Feizhen’s unknown pills. As another example, he inhaled herbs. While he didn’t gain five years’ worth of progress overnight as Bu claimed he would, he did ascend to the next level. Bu didn’t expect his prank to actually have a positive outcome, so he regretted not inhaling, too.

“Glad to see you’re back. We have company.”

Li Zizi jumped to his feet and checked around. “Who?”

“Who cares? I’m not in the best mood. Whoever it is, let’s just smash him.”

As much as Li Zizi liked martial arts, he didn’t like picking fights. In this case, he saw combat as the only option because Qinghe Warehouse was a group of criminals.

The two who arrived were similar to the two boys waiting, except they pointed at Bu straight away and thundered, “It’s you!”

Bu yawned. “You two are here, too, lapdog one and lapdog two? How you been?”

The older two scoffed.

“Now I know where the sudden fire came from. Qinghe Warehouse will settle this score with you. This old one has a different score to settle with you. Where is it?” Fu Dalong questioned.

“What? Something missing? Better search carefully, then, especially if it’s valuable. Don’t be careless, old man.”

“There is no need to show him courtesy. Elder, let me put him in his place!” voiced Lian Hua, raising his hands to generate gales.

As soon as the boys vaulted up, the ground beneath them cracked as the wind whistled. Due to the distance between the two teams, Lian Hua was still a threat without needing to aim precisely. Despite pulling a puking expression, Bu took out a cotton bag from his s.h.i.+rt and shook out the valuable herbs within. Whilst shoving the herbs into Li Zizi’s arms, he used his other hand to s.h.i.+eld them from the flying stones using the cloth.

Following Ling Hua’s next big punch, the two boys felt the oxygen available to them was sucked away. Right after, a qi blast akin to an iron pillar flew towards them. The qi blast took form before the loud boom was heard from its launch. The incoherent sequence often made it difficult for Lian Hua’s opponents to know what they were supposed to block first, making an avoidable attack unavoidable due to the hesitation incited.

Li Zizi might not have been able to dodge the attack even if he ran at full Pure Yang One Qi at his full capacity, and he had no idea how to dodge the attack. Suddenly, a hard kick to his shoulder from Bu sent him rolling across the ground, saving him from the blast. Bu used Li Zizi’s shoulder as a launch pad to ascend higher into the air, saving himself.

Lian Hua planned to continue advancing until he felt a chill at the back of his neck. He didn’t know how Bu managed to launch himself behind him when he was already airborne, but the weapon clanged against his neck, and that was the end of the a.s.sa.s.sination attempt.

Bu clicked his tongue.

“You came knocking, so don’t expect to leave in one piece.”

Lian Hua uncorked a punch at Bu’s cheek. Before Bu’s hair could drop back down as the punch pa.s.sed by his face, Lian Hua had thrown a kick. Bu twisted at his hips, turning away from the kick. The sound of another boom rang out where Bu was a moment ago.

Conditioning the body didn’t just grant superior resistance to damage, but it also paid dividends in an offensive capacity. After all, even if one’s technique was shabby, just the threat of being able to do more damage put extra pressure on the opponent. Lian Hua didn’t use any sophisticated strikes or feints, yet Li Zizi saw Bu do nothing besides defend and retreat. Hence, Li Zizi got up to go to Bu’s aid, but a chill down his spine prompted him to roll out of the way.

“Pretty good reflexes,” remarked Fu Dalong. “Why don’t you play with me?”

There seemed to be no counter to Fu Dalong’s sticky style, and the difficulty was doubled since Li Zizi couldn’t take his mind off his friend in the distance. Unlike Lian Hua, Fu Dalong appeared to be going through superfluous movements, but every movement was actually aimed at robbing the opponent’s offensive abilities. The greater the sense of urgency that he created, the more he could lead his opponent by the nose.

“Get lost!”

The blade left a trail of blood as it sliced Fu Dalong and flew towards Lian Hua. Fu Dalong didn’t nearly lose his arm because he was careless but because he never expected Li Zizi to throw a weapon so fast and thus wasn’t ready. Even more surprising was that the knife was able to continue flying towards Lian Hua after cutting him.

“Who is this boy’s teacher?”

Lian Hua caught a glimpse of Bu smiling despite being on the back foot, making Lian Hua believe that Bu was crazy if not idiotic. “Hand it over,” demanded Lian Hua, still keeping up the same pressure.

“How do you know if I have it?“ casually responded Bu.

“You never let valuables pa.s.s you by, and you never let valuables leave you possession. How do you expect people to not know.”

“You know me pretty well, except it’s pointless knowledge. Why did it take you so long to find me.” Bu front flipped, his back barely clearing Lian Hua’s muscular arm.

“All you’re doing is dodging. If you keep this up, you’re going to die.”

“How do you know if I’m just dodging? Have I really not countered?”

“You’re annoying me!”

Lian Hua knew Bu was playing mind games with him, so he made his move. When he raised his right arm again, nonetheless, it was so numb that he couldn’t circulate qi through it. He had spent over two decades conditioning his body. He had encountered opponents superior to him, but it was the first time he was disabled without have ever been struck. Immediately after feeling a light tap on his arm, he absorbed seven kicks flush on his face.

Body conditioning and Iron Body weren’t the same thing. The latter relied on qi, while the former was conditioning the body. Despite not feeling any pain, it was humiliating to let someone climb up your arm and land seven kicks, yet not be able to defend a single one.

“You’re not going to get away with that!”

“Watch your back.”

“You watch out for yourself!”

Lian Hua spun around when he felt a cold breeze on his neck, using his raised arm meant for attack to s.h.i.+eld himself. The sound of Li Zizi’s knife bouncing off Lian Hua’s arm and reeling upwards made Lian Hua’s ears ring. After stumbling five steps, Lian Hua discovered he had a small graze on his arm.

Li Zizi’s knife was just an ordinary one, which meant that it was sheer power that opened the wound. Li Zizi looked as if he had all of his energy zapped from his body, but another two kicks to the face from Bu sent Lian Hua stumbling back a few steps again.

“Run!” Bu grabbed Li Zizi and bolted for it.

“Wh-what did I just do?” Li Zizi melancholically questioned as he followed Bu.

“You did some slicing, but you didn’t kill anyone. Relax. We need to get out first.”

Lian Hua and Fu Dalong reacted too slow, so there was a gap they couldn’t close. After chasing the two boys for a little longer, they spotted Ling Jialan.

“Miss Lan, run!” cried Li Zizi.

Ling Jialan joined the boys on the run. “Who’s chasing you?”

Bu grinned. “Lapdogs. Miss Lan, have you finished evacuating the captives?”

“Yes, but…”

“Are you searching for someone?” inquired Li Zizi.

“Yes, but it’s unlikely I’ll be able to find them in these circ.u.mstances.”

Bu responded, “You’ll have an opportunity to find them soon enough. Let’s find somewhere to rest and catch our breath first.”

The trio vaulted up to the trees and start leaping from one to the next to avoid pursuers. Li Zizi was particularly thrilled since it was his first time experiencing it. They stopped once they were certain that n.o.body was on their tails.

“Okay, can you two tell me who was pursuing you yet?”

Bu just maintained a smile, while Li Zizi described them as best as he could. Ling Jialan heard a thunder clap in her head after she figured out it was the two who she p.a.w.ned her sword for. Now that they likely escaped, she had no way of getting her sword back.

“Miss Lan, don’t be so depressed now. We lost one, but there’s still one more way.”

“What?”

“Do you know where we are?”

“Where?” Ling Jialan looked up to find that there were lots of people entering and leaving.

“This is Panshan Valley, the territory of a family of hunters.”

“Oh… That was…” Ling Jialan only caught the back view of someone, but she instantly recognised who it was for they had spent a lot of time together in the pugilistic world. “Sister Yumo?”

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