Chapter 12 Xiao He
It had been two years.
Jing Jiu had to eat a meal of hotpot whenever they came to a new city.
Zhao Layue didn’t ask, though it didn’t mean she hadn’t wondered about it.
Jing Jiu didn’t answered her questions.
It was because Jing Jiu still wasn’t sure his coming to the hotpot restaurant was to see that person or just a habit.
Suddenly, a piece of music rang out, sounding like the ding-dong sound of spring water falling into the ears and onto the heart, extraordinarily crisp and clean.
The music was incredibly beautiful. Yet this was a hotpot restaurant; such music wasn’t suitable for this place, not even for the private room where Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue were sitting.
Jing Jiu put on the conical hat.
Zhao Layue also took her conical hat and put it on.
After having passed Yizhou, they began traveling at a slower place, so the covers on their heads changed from gray cloths back into the conical hats.
All those who saw their faces later were dead, so the pictures drawn by the Pure Heaven Bureau still showed how they looked in the Precious-Tree House.
The door to their private room was pushed open, after which there was the sound of a faint gasp.
A young girl stood by the door holding a lute; her figure was small and slim, and the plain colored clothes on her looked baggy, and a white jasmine flower was inserted in the side of her hair, all looking austere.
Zhao Layue recalled the scene where she tried on the Senior Grandmaster Jing Yang’s robe when she was on Shenmo Peak, so she put down a few coins on the table.
The young girl hesitated, and walked over to the table to pick up the coins. "Some people are planning to harm you two, so please be careful," she said quickly in a low voice.
"Lift your head," Zhao Layue said.
The young girl was startled a bit, and raised her head as told, exposing a pretty small face with eyes of feeble expression; it was cute and adorable.
"A vixen demon," said Zhao Layue.
"Why do you curse me?" asked the young girl with tears in her eyes and a red face.
Jing Jiu said, "You are indeed a vixen demon."
Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue were not cursing her.
The young girl realized her true identity had been discovered.
"Where did two such immortal masters come from? How could you recognize my true identity?"
Her small face expressed slight fear, the jasmine flower trembling on her head, her eyes appearing even more delicate.
She had practiced according to a secret method; even the swordsmen of the State of Free Travel couldn’t recognize her true identity. She didn’t expect that Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue would be able to recognize her with but one glimpse.
What she didn’t know was that Zhao Layue practiced the Tempered Will of the Sword, so her eyesight was many times sharper than the practitioners in the same state, even more sore than Jing Jiu, whose eyesight was shaper than anybody else’s.
"I didn’t expect Xiao He of Ying City to be a demon practitioner," Zhao Layue said.
She and Jing Jiu had traveled for two years, so they learned some information about the Cultivation circle, even though they didn’t have many contacts with other people.
This young girl was named Xiao He, a famous female practitioner in Ying City, infamous for mercilessly attacking when required.
Two years ago, the young master of the Sect of Three humiliated her verbally, and she therefore poisoned him
Having heard use her real name, Xiao He didn’t try to hide herself anymore, kneeling down with her head touching the ground in front of Jing Jiu and Zhao Layue.
"If two immortal masters didn’t kill those thugs of the Sect of Three, they would still be chasing me down. I’m a demon practitioner who isn’t protected by any sect, so I had no way of defending myself should the Sect Master of the Sect of Three come in person, or if a disciple of Kunlun Sect came after me. I’ve come here to warn you in order to pay my gratitude to two immortal masters."
"Who?" asked Zhao Layue.
"It’s the Pure Heaven Bureau. Since the Four-Seas Banquet was to take place, many practitioners like the Elder of Kunlun, the swordsmen of the Great Marsh, the achieved monks of the Fruit Formation Temple, and the immortal masters of Green Mountain are here for the banquet and also involved in the plan of catching you two," said Xiao He.
"How do you know it’s us?" Zhao Layue asked.
Xiao He said nervously, "I can’t tell you. Please don’t ask more questions."
The room grew quiet.
The hotpot soup was boiling, and bubbling could be heard.
Xiao He was worried, saying, "Though you two immortal masters have strong magic powers, your enemies outnumber you, so you’d better not stay in Haizhou."
Zhao Layue looked at Jing Jiu, asking, "Kill them?"
"That is up to you," said Jing Jiu.
Xiao He looked innocent with her wide-open eyes.
She realized after a moment what they were talking about, beginning to panic as she became misty-eyed; she looked quite pitiable.
"She looks worthy of pity," said Zhao Layue. "What about bringing her to the peak guard as a partner?"
"He might be bitten to death," Jing Jiu said.
"Forget it then. You can go now," said Zhao Layue.
Xiao He had seen many kinds of people, but had never seen such strange beings as these; she dared not stay for one more second, leaving with her lute immediately.
A plate of mussels and a plate of snails were added into the hotpot, bringing calm to the boiling broth.
Zhao Layue gazed through the window outside.
The sunset grew redder. Suddenly, a huge shadow glided over from the ocean.
The huge shadow in the sky was a flying whale shuttling among the clouds.
Along with a deep and dazzling shriek, the flying whale spewed out a large quantity of ocean water that fell down like the raindrops.
At the end of winter, Haizhou City received a spring rain.
A rainbow emerged by the edge of the sunset, looking spectacular.
Cheers resonated in Haizhou City.
This was part of the grandiose ceremony held by Western Ocean to welcome the practitioners from faraway places to participate in the Four-Seas Banquet.
Looking at the rainy sky, Zhao Layue asked, "Do we identify ourselves?"
It took two years to get here; so she knew Jing Jiu wouldn’t leave here before seeing that person.
It was time to reveal their identities! Since the Inherited Sword Competition would take place soon, they had to return to the Green Mountain.
"Wait a little bit," said Jing Jiu.
Zhao Layue returned her gaze from outside to Jing Jiu, and asked with a serious tone, "How are we going to fight?"
They had been purging demons and killing evildoers along the way, but their seemingly aggressive acts were actually quite measured.
The demons and opponents Zhao Layue encountered, or chosen by Jing Jiu for her, to be precise, were usually lower than her in the Cultivation state.
In other words, they had chosen those they were capable of killing.
Zhao Layue had wondered, "Would it make me stronger and better if I challenged a stronger opponent?"
Jing Jiu’s answer was: "One really can’t get stronger if they die in the first sword fight."
Haizhou City nowadays gathered a great number of Cultivation swordsmen because of the Four-Seas Banquet.
No matter how talented they were, since their Cultivation time was short in comparison, it was apparent that they couldn’t win the fight. What should they do then?
"Have you heard of a sword trick called Coming from the Sky?" asked Jing Jiu while looking at her.
"No," said Zhao Layue after some thought.
What should you do when you know a lot of people are looking for you?
Jing Jiu’s method was always straightforward, just like he was when cutting vegetables.
He went directly and knocked on their doors.
But knocking on the doors of the same sect.
The Four-Seas Banquet was to take place soon. The practitioners from many sects were arriving. Though the Immortal House was filled up, the immortal masters of Green Mountain should always have a place there.
Since the Green Mountain Sect was on good terms with the Great Marsh and the Fruit Formation Temple, their practitioners lived in the same courtyard.
The small courtyard was quiet enough, but wasn’t absolutely tranquil.
Because of the event anticipated by the Pure Heaven Bureau, the seemingly cheerful Haizhou City was under a lot of pressure, feeling like a big storm coming soon.
In fact, Yao Songshan and Zuo Yushi of the Great Marsh were not interested in ambushing those two so-called magic demons.
From their perspective, the demons and humans they had killed all deserved their deaths. In addition, the Cultivation practitioners were the followers of nature who thought life and death as unimportant, so killing was a common activity for them. If the Head Master of Black Dragon Temple killed by those two were not related to a royal empress, how could the Pure Heaven Bureau take it so serious?
At this moment, the courtyard door was suddenly pushed open, and two people with the conical hats on their heads walked in.
Zuo Yushi squinted and asked, "Who are you?"
He was ready to mount a quick attack as he spoke.
The conical hats were not gray cloths, but they could cover the heads and faces.
Yao Songshan raised his eyebrows slightly, as if pulling out a sword, ready to fly at any moment.
Sensing the vibrating Will of Sword from his Senior Master, Lin Yinglang became alert. Seeing these two walking into the courtyard, he was a bit surprised, though not panicked or fearful, gripping the hilt of his sword with his right hand and ready to pull it out as he thought of what gall these two magic demons had to come here; they must have a death wish.
One man and one woman? One tall and one short? Looking at these two with the conical hats on, the strange feeling inside Yao Songshan grew stronger and stronger.
He didn’t pull out his sword, but asked while staring at them, "Who are you, really?"
The woman with a shorter figure stretched her hand out and made two up and down gestures without taking off her conical hat.
Yao Songshan’s expression instantly became a strange one.
The old monk of the Fruit Formation Temple recognized them. He knew there was nothing to worry about now, nodding with a smile as salutation, then dragging the excited young monk back to their own room.
Though Zuo Yushi didn’t know the specifics, he understood what was going on as we his hand with a smile and returned to his own room as well.
Yao Songshan brought them into his own room. Lin Yinglang followed them into the room with a baffled expression on his face, wondering what was going on.
Closing the door behind him and looking at two of them, Yao Songshan said with a bow, "Greetings, two Senior Masters."
Lin Yinglang recovered his senses after the initial confusion, almost yelling out.