Chapter 26: An Unexpected Turn of Events
Fu Yunzhi told Qi Xiao that he had discovered numerous sea monster fish on Tongzi Mountain and had poisoned them, avoiding the pirates’ eyes. He spoke vaguely, but Qi Xiao knew it couldn’t have been easy for him to do so.
“The wound on your hand is from when you did this, isn’t it?” Qi Xiao said, grabbing his arm. “Tell me who did this to you.”
Fu Yunzhi pulled his hand away and said lightly, “I was running in a hurry and fell and cut myself.”
Seeing his empty palm, Qi Xiao said dejectedly, “Yunzhi, I have something to tell you when we get back to the capital.”
Fu Yunzhi frowned, having a rough idea of what it was.
“You can’t say it now?”
“I want it to be more formal.”
Although they were talking, they walked quickly and soon arrived at Tongzi Mountain. The guards were nowhere to be seen. After Fu Yunzhi led Qi Xiao through the stone gate, they heard voices from inside.
The two exchanged a look. Fu Yunzhi put away his fan, and they both crouched down, using the dense bushes to conceal themselves as they crawled forward. As they approached the pool, they saw about a dozen people gathered by the water, discussing something. One of them was one of the leaders they were pursuing, while the others were moving a large boulder by the pool.
Beside the pool was a huge stone cave. The cave walls were covered in loose stones and large boulders, with tangled vines and many hanging stalactites. But upon closer inspection, they could see that the large boulder the pirates were pushing was not connected to the mountain wall but stood independently in a corner of the pool.
After observing for a while, Fu Yunzhi came to a conclusion.
“The large boulder is acting as a sluice gate, blocking the water flow. Once it’s moved, this pool will be connected to the river, and all rivers eventually flow to the sea, creating a path for the sea monster fish to reach the coast. The river flows downwards, and the current is strong. If that boulder is moved, it will take less than half an incense stick’s time for these fish to reach the place where Langxuan’s ships are docked.”
He looked at the sea monster fish and continued, “These fish are poisoned and listless, but their combat power is still not to be underestimated.”
“You go and get help,” Qi Xiao said after a moment of thought. “I’ll stay here and hold them off.”
“Why do you always send me away!” Fu Yunzhi said, slightly angry. “Am I holding you back?”
“I’m just afraid you’ll get hurt…”
“Where’s the signal flare!” Fu Yunzhi said angrily.
Qi Xiao took a small bamboo tube from his robes…
Swoosh—
The two of them stared blankly as the signal flare in front of them inexplicably went off. It shot into the sky and exploded with a boom into a brilliant firework, illuminating their astonished faces…
Damn it!
Qi Xiao reacted quickly, grabbing Fu Yunzhi and rolling to the other side of the bushes, avoiding the rain of arrows from the pirates.
Lying on top of Qi Xiao, Fu Yunzhi looked at the arrows stuck in the ground beside him. “Should we go?”
Qi Xiao nodded. On the other hand, these pirates would have to split their forces to chase them, so in a way, they were delaying their efforts to move the boulder. And with Fu Yunzhi by his side, only a fool would charge into the line of fire.
Qi Xiao swept Fu Yunzhi up into his arms and leaped onto a high tree branch. As light as a swallow, he leaped from one tree to another, quickly leaving the jungle.
The pirate leader stomped his foot in anger. “After them! Get them!”
Qi Xiao’s martial arts were superb, but he had to protect another person. The pirates were familiar with this jungle, so the distance between them quickly closed.
Swish swish swish—
An arrow grazed Qi Xiao’s arm. He frowned slightly. These pirates knew the shortcuts in this jungle. Not only could they get ahead of him, but they also had bows and arrows. Escaping was not an option.
He placed Fu Yunzhi on a tree branch and leaped down to the ground, drawing his sword to confront the relentlessly pursuing pirates head-on.
Although he was outnumbered, Qi Xiao still had the upper hand. Looking down from above, Fu Yunzhi saw that Qi Xiao’s movements were agile, and the way he wielded his longsword was particularly beautiful. There was no flamboyance, but one could feel the power in it.
“General Qi!”
Reinforcements finally arrived. Fu Yunzhi was surprised to see that the one leading them was Mu Linglong. But on second thought, Shen Linye and Qi Shaoling were busy on the front lines and couldn’t get away. It seemed only Mu Linglong was suitable.
There were only about twenty reinforcements, but they were more than enough to deal with the pirates, and Mu Linglong was an excellent helper. His martial arts were naturally no match for Qi Xiao or Shen Linye, but his moves were light and agile, making them impossible to defend against. He used a fan, and his fighting style was more like a dance, his moves graceful and gentle. He would let his enemies relax their guard, and in the next second, they would be inexplicably killed by his soft moves, their throats slit.
Fu Yunzhi watched in amazement. Mu Linglong’s martial arts were truly special. His elegant moves, paired with his white robes, made him look like a refined young gentleman, gentle and scholarly. Who would have associated him with a demonic cult leader?
Of course, that was provided one ignored the pile of gruesome corpses around him…
Fu Yunzhi suddenly realized a very speechless contrast. Although Shen Linye tried his best to be gentle, he couldn’t hide his imposing aura, making him look like a true demonic cult leader. But Mu Linglong, with his gentlemanly appearance, looked more like a martial arts alliance chief from head to toe…
I guess that’s a special characteristic of this couple!
After killing a pirate with a bow and arrow, Qi Xiao turned to Mu Linglong and said concisely, “Don’t get bogged down in fighting! Our main task is to get to the pool and stop them from moving the large boulder that’s blocking the water flow. There are sea monster fish in that pool!”
Although Qi Xiao’s words were brief, Mu Linglong immediately understood his meaning.
He led his men, fending off the pirates’ attacks, and retreated towards the pool Qi Xiao had mentioned. Meanwhile, Qi Xiao went to the tree where Fu Yunzhi was and held out his arms. “Yunzhi!”
Fu Yunzhi jumped down and was caught in Qi Xiao’s embrace.
“I saw from the tree. They’ve almost moved the boulder. We have to hurry!”
Qi Xiao nodded and led Fu Yunzhi to catch up with the main group.
There were even fewer pirates left by the pool. Qi Xiao and his men subdued them all with ease.
Mu Linglong looked at the sea monster fish in the pool and asked Qi Xiao, “What do we do with these fish?”
“These fish are originally deep-sea creatures and have never harassed humans,” Qi Xiao said. “They were just used by these pirates for evil deeds. Let’s release them back into the sea before we leave.”
“If we kill them all,” Fu Yunzhi agreed, “the balance of life in the sea will also be destroyed.”
Mu Linglong nodded. Seeing the sea monster fish floating listlessly in the water, he asked curiously, “What’s wrong with these fish?”
After Qi Xiao explained, Mu Linglong crouched down with great interest to examine them.
He cupped his hands, scooped up some water, and brought it to his nose to smell.
Fu Yunzhi wanted to stop him. After all, this water contained the poison from his body. It would be bad if he accidentally ingested it. But then he remembered that Mu Linglong was a famous divine physician in the Jianghu, so he said nothing.
“Young Master Fu,” Mu Linglong frowned, “where did you get this poison?”
“That’s right,” Qi Xiao also said. “Yunzhi, weren’t you locked up? How did you get the poison?”
“I stole it from Qu Zheng,” Fu Yunzhi said, waving his fan.
Mu Linglong had been watching him and, seeing the wound on the hand that was holding the fan, he understood. Since Fu Yunzhi intended to hide it, he didn’t tactlessly bring it up.
“Stole it? Qu Zheng knows martial arts and is very alert. How did you get close to him?” Qi Xiao pressed.
“He wasn’t very alert when he was holding me. I stole it then.” Fu Yunzhi wasn’t exactly lying. He had indeed done so, but what he had stolen was a token, not poison.
“What! He held you?!”
“…”
Just as Fu Yunzhi was trying to figure out how to respond, one of the leaders being restrained by the Qi family army suddenly burst out laughing.
The leader had a look of ecstasy on his face and shouted towards a high place, “Hahahaha—King, you’ve come!”
Everyone immediately went on high alert, gripping their weapons and scanning their surroundings.
Looking up in the direction the leader was looking, Fu Yunzhi saw a woman in red standing on the cliff wall. She was only draped in a few pieces of thin gauze, which fluttered in the wind, revealing her perfectly curved body.
“That’s the king of the pirates,” Fu Yunzhi said to Qi Xiao.
Qi Xiao was stunned. The king of the pirates was a woman?
He looked at the woman again. The stone cave by the pool was huge, and the cliff wall extended very high up. He didn’t know how she had gotten to the top. Even he couldn’t guarantee that his lightness skill could take him that high. There must be some secret passage!
Qi Xiao waved his hand, and the archers took their positions.
The leader was still laughing wildly.
“King! I am willing to offer my life to you!”
The other pirates also began to clamor.
“King! I am willing to die for you!”
“King! Let me die for you, for the Sea God, for our tribe!”
“King! Take my life!”
Fu Yunzhi looked at Qi Xiao. Something was wrong.
Qi Xiao also knew something was wrong. He had thought the pirates were all cowards who feared death, and indeed they were. But in the face of their king, these men were as if they had been injected with chicken blood, not even wanting their own lives.
However, before they could figure out the situation, the woman smiled.
“The people who offer their lives for our tribe will surely return to the embrace of the Sea God. May the gods bless you.”
With that, she took a dagger from her waist and cut one of the vines.
…
The world fell silent.
Then, there was a faint rumble.
Rumble…
Rumble…
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!!!
The ground began to shake, and the cliff wall trembled. Many small stones began to fall.
Qi Xiao suddenly realized and shouted, “Run! Run!”
Everyone ran for their lives, away from the pool. They all knew what would happen next. The cliff wall was so close to them, and there were enough large boulders on top to fill the pool and crush them all!
Fu Yunzhi was being pulled along by Qi Xiao. He looked back and saw one large boulder after another rolling down from the cliff. Some even fell directly from a great height, crashing heavily onto the flat ground behind them, creating large pits.
“Watch out!”
Qi Xiao forcefully pushed Fu Yunzhi away.
With a loud boom, a large boulder, deeply embedded in the ground, now stood where they had been standing. Fu Yunzhi looked at the boulder that had just grazed past him, his heart still pounding. He even had to go around it to get to Qi Xiao, who had been swept away by the rockslide.
Qi Xiao grabbed his hand, but before he could take a step, a shadow suddenly fell over them.
Fu Yunzhi looked up sharply and saw that the space above them was dark. He couldn’t see the sun, only the rough bottom of a stone…
Qi Xiao reacted quickly. Before Fu Yunzhi could even react, he leaned over and pulled him into his arms, pressing him to the ground and exposing his own back to the menacing boulder…
BOOM————
