Book 1: Winds Begin to Blow in Tai Yuan
Chapter 12 - Ambush in the Back Mountains
In the deep night, all the fresh blood was sunk into the darkness, and all the cries were drowned out amidst the howling rain.
When the "十" word was being etched into Pei Yuan's face, on the far away eaves of a building, a man's clothes danced in the wind and amidst the rain, yet was still dry. He clasped his hands behind his back as he slightly smiled while watching the movements below.
Behind him, a black-clothed man stood three steps away with his head bowed.
"Later, you go over there to Pei Yuan and do some tampering." Yuan Zhaoxu ordered the black-clothed person, "The Pei family is from Yanjing, and have a family feud with the Chancellor's house of Yun, in addition to being political opponents ... you should know what to do right?"
The black-clothed man only lowered his head, his figure flashing and disappearing into thin air.
Yuan Zhaoxu laughed a little, then looked downwards again, his tone of voice lasting and remote in the torrential downpour, "Drawing an X with such straightforwardness, this woman ..." ---------------
Hiding in some secluded wall corner and hastily wiping the blood traces off of her body, Meng Fuyao patted the Master Yuanbao sitting on her shoulder, smiling, "Thanks!"
Master Yuanbao gave her the cold-shoulder, his dark liquid eyes full of disdain, most likely thinking along the lines of "your claws are so dirty don't pollute my snow white fur".
"What a smelly fart of a meatball!" Meng Fuyao silently cursed while walking out with large steps.
She didn't know that after she left, a flash of lightning, like a celestial battleaxe cutting through the black haze from above the nine heavens, directly pierced across the Five Regions Continent.
Under that electric flash, the dazedly slumped Pei Yuan's inner courtyard was lit up; in the bright whiteness there seemed to be a trace of even brighter coldness, and then, fresh blood sprayed in the air. -------------------
It was destined to be a night of turbulent storms.
Lin Xuanyuan had just slept for not very long, before he was frantically shouted awake again. When he rushed over and saw Pei Yuan's situation, his facial expression was so ugly that it was hard to describe in words.
The comatose Pei Yuan's face had wounds that only in a short period of time, had already rotted to the point of seeing bone. The fresh blood and pale bone combined to form a dreadfully saddening sight - the unrivaled beauty of the past, was now never to be seen again.
Lin Xuanyuan stood shocked, already unable to think of what to do. Those disciples might not be clear about Pei Yuan's background, but he naturally knew - Pei Yuan's origins, he definitely could not afford to provoke. Now that a situation had occurred, how was he to explain to the power behind Pei Yuan?
He had already interrogated all of her servants and maids, yet most of these people all maintained that they only saw a black shadow leap out from their master's pavilion door, the remainder not seeing anything at all.
This sudden large rainstorm, had washed away too many traces.
Lin Xuanyuan's face wrinkles had deepened considerably in one night. He tilted his head upward to face the sky, his heart sighing.
"Could it be, that the heavens want to destroy my Profound Origin sect?"
His eyesight passed over the dark stillness of the guest buildings, and suddenly a thought flashed through his head, "Just when Infinite Empire's Grand Tutor came to visit, such a situation appeared, is it possible ..."
After rolling his eyes a little he discarded this notion. The esteemed Grand Tutor very rarely traveled outside, and had always been on good terms with the Profound Origin sword sect. There was basically no motivation for murder, not to mention that the doctor who had already examined Pei Yuan had discovered that Pei Yuan's right little finger had been half sliced off. This type of slanted cut, going from below to above in a rising diagonal slice, exactly matched the wound patterns caused by the "Stirring Wind Sword Technique" of the Yun family, the Pei family's mortal enemies. It looked like it should have been the Yun family who ordered someone to come up the mountain and assassinate Pei Yuan.
Only, Pei Yuan studied techniques at the Profound Origin sect while she was hiding her true background ... Lin Xuanyuan furrowed his brows. The Yun family was truly ruthless when acting, he had to explain this situation clearly to the Pei family.
"Nobody is sleeping tonight, all of you go and search for the intruder! I have already activated every mountain pass' trap arrays, with so much rain, the culprit definitely couldn't have already escaped down the mountain! You guys have to trap the person on the mountain!"
The disciples all sounded in agreement. Lin Xuanyuan stared at the still unceasing rain, and deeply emphasized, "Remember, this situation will determine the life and death of our Profound Origin sect! That person must be caught, if alive I want to see him, if dead I want to see his corpse!"
"Yes!" ------------------
A flitting dark shadow, like an arrow flying out of its string, pierced through the vast rain curtains. Because its speed was too fast, it left faint after-blurs wherever it passed by.
The human figure directly sprinted for the back mountains; the Profound Origin sect was built into the side of the mountain, and so the area behind the sect village would be where the security would be comparatively the weakest.
The back mountains were still and silent like usual. The figure didn't even stop, swiftly climbing up the mountain with her body like a brushstroke. She had already walked everywhere on the mountain in the past, and she knew that after this mountain peak would be a valley, after passing through the valley she would come across a tunnel, which she could use to pass out of the Profound Origin sect's encirclement of mountains.
The rhythm of her steps were extremely rapid. While sprinting, from underneath the fingertips that were pressed on the sword scabbard by her side, there could be seen a slight jade glow of sword qi.
The jade colored sword qi was the unique color of the fourth layer of the "Breaking Nine Heavens" technique, and signified the breakthrough of all yin and soft natured inner qi.
The borrowed foreign inner power from Yuan Zhaoxu not only helped Meng Fuyao recover to her original cultivation level, but even helped her to break through the third layer bottleneck that had always been stagnated without progress, letting her enter the fourth layer of the technique.
This let the speed of her attacks just then almost double, and it was only because of this that she could use her own power to slice a beautiful "X" on Pei Yuan's face, even when Pei Yuan was on alert.
It was a pity though that Pei Yuan turned into a berserk tiger that wanted to fight her to the death. Meng Fuyao didn't want to perish together with her, so she could only leave her mark then quickly escape. Even though she knew that leaving Pei Yuan alive might bring her future troubles, she didn't have the ability to care right now.
In front, the gray peak was in view. The thickly grown brushes and trees in the area were all soaked with rainwater, drooping and slanted heavily, showing the signs that nobody had passed through here before her.
Meng Fuyao lightly blew out a breath of air, revealing a relieved grin.
She strode forward to continue on.
"Clank."
A sudden strange feeling underfoot, like the feeling of stepping onto a small rock.
However Meng Fuyao didn't think it was really some piece of stone, and immediately shot backwards in withdrawal!
Those low concealed brushes and leaves instantly rose up like snakes - upon careful inspection, it was actually a huge web that flew upwards from behind the plants, carrying the trees and bushes along with the mud to lift up together! A rustling sounded from everywhere in front, and the deadly green light streaks hidden underneath the messy undergrowth, now bursted through the gaps in the mesh, covering the whole sky and shooting towards Meng Fuyao!
"Shit, this place has a trap array too!" Meng Fuyao darkly cursed that old fox Lin's fast movements, and was surprised at herself for not discovering that this place wasn't actually a gap in the defenses.
The massive web flipped backwards towards her, enveloping an area of almost ten zhang. Meng Fuyao's borrowed inner qi was already starting to vanish, and with her current strength, even if she was the Buddha she would still be unable to escape in the remaining time! Seeing the looming dark net that fell like thick fog, filled with barbed hooks that glittered ominously, Meng Fuyao hopelessly closed her eyes.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------