Part 1 – Wind scatters from then on
In the deep mountain and water, a pa.s.senger ship was cruising upwards from Yu Nu* River, the bow of the ship swam against the current, breaking the existing peace.
*(T/N): 玉奴 (Yu Nu) - 玉 means Jade; 奴 means slave The ship was on the bigger side. It was divided into two stories. The deck was slightly wet from the incoming wind that carries some vapours. The long and magnificent waves are the special characteristics of northern rivers.
At the inconspicuous areas of the front and back of the ship, a few strong and burly man were standing guard. The ship was heavily guarded, but it was not obvious enough that it still looks like a normal pa.s.senger ship for normal onlookers.
Qingchen could only see darkness when she woke up. Her consciousness was still unclear. Her breath felt like they were stuck in her chest. She did not know where she was.
She tried to feel around the wall on her back, then use it to sit up. The wall will sway once in a while, sometimes it will re-stabilise. This is the feeling of being on a ship.
It seems that there was not only one person on the ship, she could seem to hear sounds of lows sobs once in a while, but she could not see clearly in the dark. After trying harder to see clearly, she could see that there was a girl next to her hugging a younger girl while wiping her own tears.
"Are you alright?" Qingchen asked seeing her sobbing sadly, only to be surprised by the hoa.r.s.eness of her own voice.
The girl looked up from her sobbing, said: "I don"t know what they gave us, Danqiong is going to die……"
Qingchen wanted to stand up, but her whole body felt soft and weak. She leaned right next to the girl, reached out to feel the younger girl"s pulse making sure the she was still alive. Then put her hand on Danqiong"s arm, then told the still sobbing girl after some time with a frown: "Don"t cry, let me check your hand."
Seeing that she could check pulse, the girl quickly grabbed her hand to ask: "How"s Danqiong?"
Qingchen replied: "Nothing serious." Then continued to feel her pulse, each breath and beat felt like floating cotton. The pulses at three areas at Cun, Guan, Chi* were weak. They were very subtle when gently touched, disappeared when a little strength were used. She felt angry and surprised. Based on their pulse, they all seemed to have been given some drugs.
*(T/N): These three are three pulse points use to feel someone"s pulse on the wrist. Looking around her, she could see more beautiful young girls. Some of them who were still unconscious were lying on the floor. Most of those who were awake, were leaning on the wall weeping. They looked pale and unkempt. Their sobs were mournful.
"Let her lie down, she will wake up soon." Qingchen said to the girl who was hugging Danqiong: "What is your name?"
The girl looked up with her eyes full of tear, "I am Biyao, you…… how about you?"
"Feng Qingchen."
Qingchen supported herself on the wall to get up slowly, then she went out to check on the other still unconscious girls. They all have the same symptoms. After asking a few more people, she found out that they were all captured here using different means.
So she was captured. She leaned on one corner of the ship breathing in the moist and stuffy air. There was a weak line of light coming from a small airhole that can be called a window if you insist. This light casted mottling shadows in front of her eyes with little dust waning under the light.
The corner was not really broad. In front of her was the locked cabin door. She looked around then walked towards the door. Her feet felt like floating because the effects of drugs have just dissipated slightly.
After trying to open the door without any success, she b.u.mped on the wooden door with her fist: "Is anybody there? Open the door!"
The oppresive sound of knocking door rang in the cabin, scaring the sobbing girls.
Biyao raised her head in the dark cabin, saw Qingchen standing in front of the door. Her white dress which was half hidden in the dark, was slightly messy, but they look like the cold white snow, so white they hurt her eyes. When Qingchen raised her eyes, there were sharp and clear glow from her eyes, as though a candle in the dark, lighting the clear determination from the face. For such glow to appear on a girl, it will undoubtedly create a wave in peope"s heart.
So she forced herself to get up and walked to the door: "What should we do?"
"Get someone to come first." Qingchen said, then continued to heavily knock on the door.
"Don"t waste your strength, what can you do even if someone come?" A cold voice suddenly came from a dark corner.
Following the little line of light, they look for the source of the voice. The person was leaning at the deep corner of the cabin. Her face was unclear due to the lack of light in the corner, but they could see that she was tied up with long ropes.
Qingchen felt around towards the person. In the dim light, the person looked slightly pale, with a pair of thin brows and thin lips. Her gaze was cold. Her long hair was tied up high behind her head. Her black clothes created an image of a cold hero, but she was also a girl.
She seems so weak that she could only be able to sit up with the help of the wall. Qingchen reached out to untie her, but the ropes were tied using a special method so she could not untie them.
She looked up to look for something sharp to cut the rope, the woman said: "There is a knife in my sleeve."
Qingchen found a soft but sharp knife from her sleeve. It was intricate and thin. The scarlet on the knife was light like the color of peach blossom. It was a good weapon for killing. The rope snap with just a little swipe: "Who are they, why would they keep you tied?" She asked.
The girl still did not move: "Chang Men* Sect."
*(T/N): 长门 (Chang Men) - 长 means (chang) long or (Zhang) growing; 门 means door. "Chang Men Sect?" Qingchen toss away the rope, then return the knife. Yet, the girl did not accept so Qingchen tried to help her up only to find that the girl could not move at all.
The girl said emotionlessly: "They blocked my meridians."
Qingchen checked her pulse from her wrist, slowly moving up, "Tianjing, Nuoyu, Quze, Tianquan, Yutang, Zhongting**, these meridians points block the flow of blood and energy. For them to block your meridians and have you tied, they must be very cautious of you."
**(T/N): They are names of a couple acupuncture points on the body so I don"t know how to translate them The girl ‘hmph" coldly, Qingchen thought and said: "If I have gold needles, I can unblock them using acupuncture, but we can only slowly unblock them by moving your limbs to a.s.sist blood flow. What does Chang Men Sect do? Where are they taking us?"
"Tiandu Yige." The girl replied: "Chang Men Sect is an evil group of people that specialise at selling girls. They are shameless. The girls on this ship are captured to be sold to brothels."
Qingchen half kneeled next to her, her long brows slightly knitted: "To be sold to brothels? Then we have to find a way to escape."
The girl said indifferently: "How are you going to leave with only you girls? There are guards at all areas of this ship."
Qingchen stopped her movement: "Do you have an idea?"
The girl closed her eyes: "No, I need to get back my strength first."
Qingchen thought for a while, then nodded in agreement: "We have to find an opportunity." She couldn"t help but thought of Yetian Ling and Shiyi. The sudden changes cut off the possibility of their reunion just like that. Everything seemed to happen before she was able to think. She looked at the unfamiliar surrounding with a feeling of unreality. Under the dim light, she felt that the way back home is getting further and further, and she is currently trapped in this situation.
While they were talking, the sound of footsteps came from outside. After a few sounds, the low door suddenly opened, followed by a sudden flush of light, making people unable to see clearly the view in front of them.
While her view was covered in white, Qingchen felt her arm was suddenly pulled by someone. A rough voice roared: "Smelly girl, it was you!"
She struggled to see the person clearly, then lose all color in surprise.
She will never forget this face. The face full of beards, the cruel eyes. It was the man who wanted to capture her, the man who was hurt by Shiyi and escaped.
"Let me go!" She said in anger while struggling to get away from the dirty hand. The strong smell of alcohol coming from the man caused her to feel nauseous. the girls around them was so scared, they huddled together with piercing screams.
"This arm of mine was almost crippled in your hand. It would be weird if I don"t torture you a little today!" The big man roughly pulled her out.
Qingchen was so angry, she slapped him in the face. A ‘pa" sound rang following her strong slap. The big man was burned with furiousity: "How dare you slap me!"
He quickly pushed Qingchen towards the wall, both hands reached to her collar and pulled outwards. Her outer clothes were torn in half revealing some snow white shoulder.
"Let go!" Qingchen tried her best to protect her clothings. The big man was under the effect of alcohol causing him to act on animal instinct. He stopped her with force while smiling wickedly, then continued to tear her clothes, yet stopped while screaming in pain.
A thin flying knife was stabbed into the wooden floor. The big man"s shoulder were filled with blood. The girl in black clothes stood up with the help of the cabin wall. Her eyes were filled with hatred and disgust. It was the same knife as the one used to cut-off the rope, but because it was lacking strength, the knife only slightly cut through the big man"s shoulder.
Qingchen was filled with both anger and shock. Taking the opportunity before the big man stabilised himself, she grabbed a long wooden rod next to her and hit him.
The black-clothed girl yelled: "Attack the back of his neck!"
Qingchen gritted her teeth then raised her arms and hit him, only to have the rod cut in half mid-air. Losing her balance, she tripped back a few steps.
A man and a woman appeared at the cabin door. The man who was wearing a similar style as the big man, said in a weird tone: "Fifth old Qian, are you not ashamed of yourself to lose so badly from a woman?"
The woman was in a dark red flowing dress. They do not seem to be a normal clothing of the people from the central plain. She has slim waist and long legs. A real georgeous woman with long lashes, a deep set of smiling eyes that looked so alive. She was every bit an alluring woman. She was holding a short knife decorated with mandarin ducks. This was the knife that halfed the wooden rod. At this time, she said emotionlessly: "Fifth old Qian, are you not afraid that Boss will cripple you if you touch this girl?"
Fifth old Qian still filled with burning anger, said: "Old granny Hu Sanniang, stop using the Boss to scare me. I grew up with people scaring me all the time, I"m not afraid of anyone!"
Hu Sanniang uncaringly said with a smile: "I"m too lazy to care about you. This girl was especially chosen by Boss to be sent to Tiandu. Why don"t you try? If Boss doesn"t castrate you, my last name is not Hu!"
Fifth old Qian who obviously had too much to drink, still moved drunkenly towards Qingchen. The man was becoming impatient, so he grabbed the big man and threw him out of the cabin: "Not knowing who one is after only drinking a few cups of kitten pee. Really useless!"
Hu Sanniang did not spare them a glance, turned towards the black-clothed girl said: "Ming Yan, I seemed to have underestimated you. You can actually unblock your own meridians."
Ming Yan looked at her coldly: "Chang Men Sect has decided to come against us?"
Hu Sanniang lazily leaned on the cabin door: "Originally, we are from different types of business where we mind our own business, but you keep ruining our plans causing us to lose a few premium grade girls. How can you hate us for this?"
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