Chapter 29 Part 1

Cai Zhao was pulled along by Chang Ning, rushing straight toward the cliff's edge.

She couldn't help but ask, "Why are we going there?" When enemies attack, they either go where the crowds are to slaughter people or to critical locations to cause trouble. She didn't understand why they were going to Myriad Waters Thousand Mountains Cliff.

Chang Ning strode forward like a meteor, his sleeves fluttering. "You said it yourself, the Qingque Sect is as solid as a fortress. For two hundred years, no one has ever successfully attacked Myriad Waters Thousand Mountains Cliff—so may I ask how these external enemies got here?"

Cai Zhao said, "Sigh, I want to go save people."

Chang Ning's expression was indifferent. "Some people are bound to die. We need to figure out the reason quickly, or the consequences will be endless."

Hearing him casually say 'some people are bound to die,' Cai Zhao's heart skipped a beat. She couldn't help but mutter, "Can't we investigate after the fact?"

Chang Ning suddenly stopped in his tracks and glared at the girl. "I think Twilight Palace is more important—although Sect Master Qi and a host of experts are there, along with Third Young Master Song leading disciples to provide aid, to prevent little sister Zhaozhao's sweetheart from getting so much as a scrape or a bruise, or catching a cold from the mountain wind, I should probably accompany little sister Zhaozhao there right away. A beauty saving a hero, what a fine tale it will make. The Six Sects of Beichen are one big family anyway, so marrying a Zhou or a Song is more or less the same. We can just swap the engagement later, and then little sister Zhaozhao's wish will be granted..."

"What Brother Chang says is absolutely correct. Master's martial arts are formidable, and all the martial uncles have their own skills. Besides, Third Senior Brother's arrangements just now were excellent, so there probably won't be any major issues. If we don't find out how the external enemies invaded, the consequences will indeed be endless." Cai Zhao's denial was as smooth as flowing water.

Chang Ning shot her a sidelong glance and snorted coldly.

The two had just run from the Martial Arts Field and reached the middle gate when the thick stench of blood assailed their nostrils.

Over a dozen corpses lay scattered on the ground. Three or four of them were clearly not from the sect, dressed in gray tight-fitting clothes, their heads wrapped in long scarves, and their faces covered by grotesque, bizarrely painted masks.

Cai Zhao didn't understand, but Chang Ning immediately said, "They're from the Demonic Cult, that's for sure. Judging by their attire, they're from the Tiangang Disha Battalion, but I don't know which unit. Hmph, Nie Chu's worthless lot. I wonder what kind of trash is attacking now."

The two dared not stop. Along the way, they encountered several groups of sect disciples fighting with the gray-clothed men. Chang Ning stepped forward and took them down one by one with a single sword strike, his movements sharp, ruthless, and precise. At one point, three gray-clothed men lunged at him simultaneously, yet he swept his sword horizontally, slitting all three of their throats in an instant.

Cai Zhao raised her longsword, then returned it behind her arm, having had no opportunity to use it.

The leader of one group of gray-clothed men saw that Chang Ning's face was covered in poisonous sores, making his features unrecognizable, yet his internal energy was profound and his moves were fierce. He immediately asked, "The style you're using isn't from the Six Sects of Beichen. May I ask who you are!"

"What kind of thing are you to be worthy of asking my name!"

Chang Ning roared with laughter. With a flick of his hand, he drew a broken saber from the ground. Holding his sword in his left hand, he tossed the saber into the air with his right. As it fell, he flicked the flat of the blade, and the ghost-headed saber instantly shattered. With a wave of his long sleeve, dozens of blade fragments shot toward the gray-clothed men!

Seeing the sky full of sharp fragments flying toward him, the gray-clothed man swung the Thunder Duke's Shield in his hand so fast it was like an impenetrable wall, but he still couldn't block them all and was riddled like a sieve, dying in a torrent of blood.

This series of movements was clean and fluid, powerful and seasoned, drawing a chorus of cheers from the sect disciples.

The two continued forward. Passing a pavilion, they found corpses scattered both inside and out, seemingly all killed by surprise. A sect disciple covered in blood was slumped over a stone stool, letting out hoarse, gasping cries for help.

The sound was very strange, as if it came directly from his windpipe.

Without thinking, Cai Zhao leaped into the pavilion and found that the entire ground seemed to be soaked in blood. The pools of blood had already congealed. She pulled the disciple over to have a look and nearly screamed in terror!

The disciple looked to be only seventeen or eighteen, but his entire jaw from the lower lip down had been cleanly sheared off. The lower half of his face below his upper lip was gone, forming an arc-shaped cut, yet his throat and neck were intact, which was why he was making that hoarse sound.

Cai Zhao's gaze shifted downward, and she suppressed a full-body shiver—the disciple's hands and feet had all been chopped off. No wonder he couldn't crawl.

Cai Zhao had never seen such a horrific scene up close. She staggered back two steps, her heel bumping into something. She turned her head and saw it was a pink-clothed maid who had died a bizarrely tragic death. The lower half of her delicate face had also been sliced off, the wound in the same arc shape.

She was startled. "Isn't this Sister Lingbo's..." This maid was the one she had sought out to spread rumors for Qi Lingbo. She had probably heard the warning horn while chasing after Qi Lingbo and was killed before she could hide.

Chang Ning also saw the corpses, but he remained standing motionlessly outside the pavilion, secretly clutching a broken blade fragment in his hand.

Besides the young disciple and the pink-clothed maid, Cai Zhao found two more corpses with their jaws sliced off in the same manner. A cold wind blew past, and she felt the hairs on her body stand on end.

Before she could turn to call for Chang Ning, four gray-clothed men with painted masks suddenly shot out from behind the rockery next to the pavilion.

These four were clearly more skilled than the previous groups of gray-clothed men. Not only were they incredibly fast, but they were also highly experienced. Seeing only a young girl in the pavilion, one rushed toward it while the other three pounced on Chang Ning.

The three men attacked fiercely, but Chang Ning was unafraid. He wielded his sword with his left hand and struck out with his right palm, exchanging blows with them in an instant.

The man rushing toward the pavilion was burly, and the pair of eyes visible outside his mask exuded a turbid air of cruel excitement. He held a pair of Sun and Moon Twin Wheels, their blades still dripping with blood. "What a beautiful little lady. You've come at the perfect time. This one's useless now. Let me fix your face for you, hahaha..."

Chang Ning was alarmed and wanted to rush to the pavilion to save her, but he was tied down by the other three men.

Cai Zhao stared at the fine bits of flesh and bone stuck to the pair of bladed wheels. She finally understood what kind of weapon had inflicted such injuries on the young disciple and the maid.

At the same time, she also understood that these four were specifically here to ambush and kill sect disciples—leaving one victim alive, maimed and unable to speak, to lure the sect's experts to come to the rescue.

The large, gray-clothed man cackled strangely and lunged at her.

Cai Zhao met him with her sword. With a piercing clang of weapons colliding, the large gray-clothed man's left hand was struck with excruciating pain, and the moon wheel flew from his grasp. He staggered back several steps, clutching his right arm, blood gushing from between his fingers.

The large gray-clothed man was aghast. "You, who are you!"

Cai Zhao's sword was extremely fast. In an instant, the tip of her sword slanted upward, pierced through the handle of the sun wheel, and then slashed down in an arc.

The large gray-clothed man felt a sharp pain as his right arm was severed by the sword, blood spraying from the wound.

"Falling Blossoms Valley, Cai Zhao." The girl's face was as placid as still water.

The gray-clothed man's voice trembled, "What are you to Cai Pingshu!"

"A despicable scoundrel is unworthy of even mentioning her name." Cai Zhao advanced with her sword, flicking it left and right four times as fast as a butterfly's fluttering wings to knock the sun wheel away. With a final horizontal swing, the gray-clothed man's head flew straight off.

The headless corpse convulsed on the ground a few times before finally going still.

When she was young, Cai Zhao had asked her aunt if she was afraid the first time she killed someone.

Cai Pingshu, as was her custom, told a story from the past.

The first person she killed was an obscure, common bandit. In terms of skill, the man wasn't even fit to carry the Demonic Cult's shoes, but he was even more brutal.

That year, Cai Pingshu was not yet fourteen. She was traveling with the Zhou Family disciples to the Six Sects' new talent competition hosted by Yin Dai. When they passed a farmhouse in the mountain forest, they saw an old couple weeping over the corpse of their young granddaughter.

Upon asking, they learned that a bandit, feeling hungry on his way back to his lair the previous night, had broken into the farmhouse demanding food and drink. That area was infested with bandit lairs, so the old couple dared not refuse. They spent all their savings to treat the bandit to a good meal.

Who would have thought that after eating and drinking his fill, the bandit would set his sights on their thirteen-year-old granddaughter? Because the little girl had scratched his skin in her agony, he had raped her and then stabbed her to death.

Cai Pingshu was speechless with rage. Her accompanying martial brothers all advised her to just leave some silver for the old couple. The forest was dense and full of bandit lairs; heaven knew where that scoundrel was hiding. Seeking revenge for the old couple was like finding a needle in a haystack. It was more important to answer Old Sect Master Yin's call and resist the Demonic Cult together.

Cai Pingshu couldn't understand. Was it only evil when the Demonic Cult killed people? Did it not count when ordinary bandits harmed the innocent? So, a few days after the main group had moved on, she left a note and slipped back alone.

At that time, she was still young and slightly directionally challenged. She didn't know how many wrong paths she took or how much hardship she endured. She practically flattened half the mountain forest, turning the dozen or so bandit lairs upside down and causing endless complaints, before she finally found that bandit.

The terrified fortress leader quickly pushed out his troublemaking subordinate. Cai Pingshu ended the scoundrel's miserable life without hesitation and, while she was at it, toppled the entire bandit fortress—why didn't they hand him over earlier?

Of course, she also missed that Beichen New Talent Grand Competition.

Cai Pingshu had thought she would be scared the first time she killed someone. Who knew that when she cut the man who had raped and murdered a helpless girl in two at the waist, she felt not the slightest fear, but rather a great sense of satisfaction.

Chang Ning killed the remaining three men and rushed over to the pavilion in a few steps.

Seeing Cai Zhao staring blankly, he thought she was frightened after her first kill and quickly said, "Don't be afraid, don't be afraid. The outer sect's kitchen is nearby. How about I accompany you for a bowl of calming soup?"

Cai Zhao looked at the gray-clothed man's corpse on the ground, blood still spurting from the severed neck.

She shook her head. "I'm not afraid."

—"Auntie, the man who came to seek refuge with Father died. His body was all torn up, and there was blood all over the floor. Mother couldn't save him. I'm so scared. Auntie, were you really not scared the first time you killed someone?"

"I wasn't scared." Cai Pingshu stroked the little girl's hair. "Uphold the weak against the strong, rectify heavenly principles, what is there to fear?"

Cai Zhao silently recited these twelve words in her heart.

At this moment, she too felt that sense of satisfaction that came after eliminating a villain.

Three years had passed, and only now did she realize that her aunt had never truly left; she had left her martial arts and courage to her.

The young disciple who had been crying for help succumbed to his grievous injuries and finally breathed his last.

Chang Ning checked the breathing of the other corpses and shook his head.

He looked up and saw Cai Zhao's gloomy expression. He started a conversation, smiling, "Now that you've shown your skills, I've just realized that what you're using isn't actually a sword technique, but a saber technique. Hehe, you've hidden it well."

"Likewise." Cai Zhao wiped her longsword on the dead man's clothes. "I used to think Senior Brother Chang was accustomed to using his left hand when fighting, but today I discovered that you're actually used to using your right hand, aren't you?"

Chang Ning's expression didn't change, and his smile grew even gentler. "What does Zhaozhao mean by that?"

"Nothing." Cai Zhao looked up and smiled. "We've only known each other for a little over ten days. There are naturally many things we don't know about each other. It's not a matter of hiding anything."

Seeing her relaxed and casual expression, Chang Ning also smiled. "Zhaozhao is right."

Having finished their verbal jousting, the two delayed no longer and continued forward.

The Qingque Sect occupied a vast area, sparsely populated. With Twilight Palace as the boundary, the Martial Arts Field was to the far north of the palace, and Myriad Waters Thousand Mountains Cliff was to the far south. The two walked with their backs to the palace and its buildings. The further they went, the fewer people they saw. Aside from the occasional corpse along the path, even the gray-clothed men were nowhere to be seen.

As they hurried along, treading on fallen leaves, Chang Ning noticed a faint smile playing on Cai Zhao's lips and couldn't help asking, "Why are you so happy?" Killing a villain shouldn't make one this cheerful.

Cai Zhao asked in return, "Did you know that over twenty years ago, Old Sect Master Yin Dai once held a Beichen new talent martial arts tournament?"

Where was this topic going? Chang Ning, who prided himself on his unconventional thinking, couldn't fathom the girl's meaning at this moment.

"In that tournament, Uncle Zhou and Wu Yuanying stood out. They were evenly matched." Cai Zhao didn't know what she was thinking of, but her smile was particularly happy. "But Aunt Zhixian said that Uncle Zhou should have been the champion. He held back when he fought Wu Yuanying."

"Why was that?"

Cai Zhao's cheeks were rosy, her smile bright. "Because he could see that Old Sect Master Yin wanted his beloved disciple and future son-in-law to make a good showing in front of everyone. Uncle Zhou is a modest gentleman, how could he steal someone's thunder? Sigh, unfortunately, Qiu Renjie was defeated too quickly. He hadn't even figured out how to yield a move before the match was over. So, Uncle Zhou had to cleverly yield half a move when he fought Wu Yuanying."

Chang Ning chuckled, then asked, "And your aunt? Had she not yet mastered her martial arts at that time?"

Cai Zhao: "She was delayed by something that time, so she didn't go."

"And this makes you smile like that?" She was smiling even more sweetly than when she ate chicken soup wontons that night.

The girl's dimples deepened as she patiently explained, "I'm not happy because of this matter, I'm happy because I'm thinking of my aunt."

Chang Ning reluctantly expressed his understanding.

Cai Zhao paused, then added, "A year later, when it was Grand Beginning Abbey's turn to host the Beichen new talent martial arts tournament, my aunt went."

Chang Ning hummed in acknowledgment. "Was that the time your aunt broke their treasured abbey sword?"

"...That's right."

This was something she had only learned from her mother a dozen days ago.