佳偶天成 (A Match Made in Heaven) by 十四郎
Chapter 4
Stealing Civilian Women
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Xin Mei suddenly closed her mouth, looking around her. She picked out an especially large tree and began to slowly hide behind it while mumbling, "But it"s still raining outside and I have to fly for two more hours before I can arrive to town…"
This person"s temper seemed poor. Who knows if he might hit her when provoked. It"s better if she hid herself behind a tree first.
The man fitted the wood sword at his waist. He looked up and saw her entire person behind a tree, with only her head sticking out. She looked like a little rabbit.
"If you"re not afraid of dying, then suit yourself."
He turned around and left. With a wave of his sleeve, a thick fog began to gather. In an instant, everything within three steps disappeared, covered from sight.
As expected of a demon! Shocked, Xin Mei realized he was a demon who could manipulate fog. No wonder last time she came across the dense fog while she was trying to find a place to camp in Huang Ling. He was the cause of the trouble!
She looked around her before deciding to walk in the opposite direction. After only a few steps, she suddenly felt her foot kick something rather heavy, hurting her toes. When she picked it up, she found a navy blue money purse filled with broken silver pieces and bank notes. It was rather heavy. The bank notes were wrapped in an impure jade plate that wasn"t particularly good-looking. The strange thing was that the jade plate had no pattern. There was a simple character "Lu" on the front of the plate while the back featured two words: "Qian Qiao."
Seeing the wet mud on the purse, Xin Mei guessed that it was probably something that belonged to the demon that just left. Was the name on the plate his name? Lu Qian Qiao. The demon apparently had a human name.
She held the purse in her hands and thought for a moment. Hesitatingly, she turned around and looked behind her. In the end, she decisively walked towards the direction the demon left. As she walked, the dense fog swallowed her figure.
The worst thing about rain in the forests of mountains is definitely the mud all over the ground.
Xin Mei propped a hand on a tree as she tried with all her might to pull her foot out a particularly difficult mud puddle. Her sheepskin boots were new. This morning they were still clean and neat, and now they have been covered in so much mud that one could not even tell their original color. She didn"t know when exactly it started, but thunder kept crackling and rumbling above her head. It also seemed with each time the thunder cracked, the lightning flashed closer to where she was.
She pulled her foot out and then walked forward. Suddenly, the view before her seemed to clear up. The abnormally dense fog of a second ago seemed to disappear in a flash, and she spotted a piece of white cloth at the foot of a tree in front of her. With a burst of joy and relief, she scurried over to grab the cloth to wipe the mud off her boots.
Nearby, there was a quiet groan. Stunned, Xin Mei looked over at the tree to see about ten people sprawled all over the ground, seemingly sleepy or dazed. She realized that the white cloth that she grabbed was actually the lower hem of someone"s clothes.
Feeling a bit embarra.s.sed, Xin Mei tucked away the cloth to hide the mud. Suddenly, the person whose clothing she grabbed seemed to waken. Lying on the ground, he groaned quietly.
Xin Mei scooted over to ask, "What are you guys doing, lying here? Are you camping out in the mud?"
With difficulty, person tremblingly turned to look in her direction. His expression seemed to be ready to spit blood in incredulity. "You … Can"t you see … across from you … that …"
Xin Mei turned around and saw a colossal piece of limestone. Sitting on top, with its paws crossed, was an exceedingly hideous tiger demon. Thunderous clouds gathered above his head. This was a demon undergoing the Heavenly Lightning Tribulation. If he pa.s.ses, he will become a Xian (immortal).
"You all came to watch a tiger demon become a Xian?" She asked gently.
The person fainted from anger.
As if following the dense gathering of thunderous clouds, the rain also increased in tempo. Seeing the people lying in the mud, with their bodies covered in mud, Xin Mei couldn"t help but bend over and try to drag them to a place that was at least a little more dry.
Footsteps suddenly sounded behind her. She looked back and saw the man carrying his wooden sword make his way over. When his gaze fell on her, his stony features finally emoted a subtle note of surprise.
"Why are you here?" He asked with unfriendly eyes.
Xin Mei looked around, found a st.u.r.dy-looking and big tree and hid behind it before she threw the money purse on the ground in front of him.
"…You dropped your wallet."
He was speechless for a moment before he bent over to pick up the money purse. As he was about to speak, the tiger demon suddenly roared with an earth-shattering volume. For a moment it seemed as if the roar caused the entire mountain to tremble. With each incoming lightning strike, it looked like he was growing less and less able to withstand them. He opened his bloodshot eyes and with a flash, jumped to a person lying on the ground. The tiger demon opened his jaws to eat the person alive.
Xin Mei suddenly realized that these people were captured by the tiger demon to fuel his way through his Heavenly Lightning Tribulation!
Lifting his foot, Lu Qian Qiao kicked a piece of rock that hit the tiger demon"s right shoulder. The person beneath its paws flew out from the force, dropping again in the mud puddles. The tiger demon flew into a rage and opened its b.l.o.o.d.y maw to release a dense pack of black needles that flew quickly in their direction.
Lu Qian Qiao waved the wooden sword and the black needles stopped against an invisible wall three feet in front of him before dropping to the ground. If someone pa.s.sed by, they might have thought that Lu Qian Qiao was brandishing some sort of legendary weapon, except Xin Mei had watched him carve it out of wood with her own eyes.
The wooden sword hovered above his palm, bouncing lightly from his finger and then burst with dazzling light and loudly humming. As if alive, it flew towards the tiger demon, piercing its hide over and over with fluttering movements. Suddenly, the sword trembled in mid-air and with a "BAM," shattered into fine powder.
In the end, the sword made out of normal wood was unable to bear such overwhelming purposes.
He is strong… Xin Mei"s jaw dropped, her eyes unable to leave the shredded remains of the tiger demon that, just a few moments ago, was about to become Xian. Without a peep, he died. Just like that.
Lu Qian Qiao walked over the ground covered in blood and pieces of flesh, and from the shredded remains of the tiger demon"s corpse, he lifted a spherical object the size of a fist. It was the tiger demon"s neidan (inner essence).
Even though he was a demon himself, he still murdered his own kind for their neidan! At his level of power, it is likely that even Qiuyue would just get KO’d in an instant. If he intended to kill all witnesses… then wouldn"t it just be the worst?
Xin Mei looked around her and decided that she better take the chance to get the h.e.l.l out of there.
Suddenly, he appeared in front of her in a flash. A shadow fell over Xin Mei"s head and Lu Qian Qiao grabbed her wrist in a death grip.
"You"ve broken the Mist Formation twice. I can"t let you out of here. You"re coming with me."
What mist formation?! You mean the fog that he manipulates?
With her other arm, Xin Mei wrapped herself around the tree trunk, wishing she could throw herself up the tree. "It"s just mist! If you have a good sense of direction, you can walk out of it!"
It just so happened that her sense of direction was always really good. She"s never been lost in her life.
"You"re lying."
He increased the strength in his grip. If the Mist Formation was that easily broken, then it wouldn"t be known as one of the top three inescapable formations.
Xin Mei thought her wrist was about to break.
She turned her head around suddenly to look at him, "I only came to give you back your wallet!"
If she had known earlier that all this would happen, she would have quietly kept the wallet instead! In this world, must it really be so difficult to be a good person?
Lu Qian Qiao saw tears glitter in her gaze, which reflected both tenacity and anger. It is true that she just gave him back his wallet. She had walked the lengths of the muddy path, and the yellow clay on her feet was still wet.
Slowly loosening his grip though still not letting her go, he spoke, "No matter what, you will come with me."
"Why do I have to come with you?" She tried to free her hand with all her might, but his fingers were as immovable as iron pliers.
"The entirety of Huang Ling is under my Mist Formation. Other than myself, no one can exit, and no one can enter. Being that you are able to break the Mist Formation, if you leave, it will lead to inconvenience for me. I am going to take you back to Huang Ling.”
Startled, Xin Mei said, "You… you"re stealing civilian women…"
Lu Qian Qiao didn"t continue to waste his words. He lifted her by the waist and turned around to walk in large strides.
Still stunned, Xin Mei raised her head to look at his face, suddenly thinking of something. With a note of alarm, she said, "Are you taking me back to be your mistress of the fort?!"
This was approximately how it went in the plays. After stealing a woman, the bandit lord would make her the mistress of his fort. If it went well, they happily became husband and wife… if it went badly, then they would just fight and scream all day. She wouldn"t end up in a similarly tragic scenario, would she?
Lu Qian Qiao"s brow twitched twice, but he didn"t speak.
Xin Mei racked her brains before speaking with difficulty, "I… I won"t marry you! … I don"t like demons! I also don"t like people whose faces look paralyzed!"
He stopped in his tracks, lowering his head to look at his hand. He thought to himself, should he knock her out or should he knock her out?
Suddenly above their heads came the sound of a cow mooing. A rickety ox-cart descended beside a tree. Lord Mei Shan dug himself out of the ox cart with effort, "Didn"t they say a tiger demon was going through the Heavenly Lightning Tribulations, how is he suddenly dead now…"
As if hitting treasure, Xin Mei yelled, "Lord Mei Shan!!"
Stunned, Mei Shan raised his head to see Xin Mei. He looked at her, and then saw Lu Qian Qiao. His pallor suddenly changed to green as he said beneath his breath, "Berserker…!"
He scurried back into the ox cart, and instantly flew back out of the forest.
Lu Qian Qiao raised his head to look at the ox cart, which was disappearing into the distance and becoming a small black dot. He asked, "You know that Xian person?"
Xin Mei was still struck dumb by the speed with which Lord Mei Shan left the premises, and she dazedly nodded.
"You called him Mei Shan. Does he happen to be the Lord Mei Shan who is always looking to steal people"s hidden secrets to collect? The Lord Mei Shan of the House of Meishan?"
Xin Mei turned her head away with silent tears in her eyes. She didn’t know that Lord Mei Shan was such a gossipy, good-for-nothing Xian person. No wonder he just ran away from them with a speed faster than that of a rabbit.
"Is that him?"
"…I"m not telling to you."
Lu Qian Qiao didn"t respond.