Chapter 135: Secret Deep inside the Mountain (80.1)
Translator: asa.s.sin
Two hours later, the rain stopped. In Nan Zhao rain came and went quickly. Shortly afterwards, the sun came out. A fresh smell of the earth after rain filled the air which would be better if there wasn"t that scent. Secret Guard No.3 came out of the bedroom as soon as the rain was over. Looking at the three people in the hall, two seated one standing, he didn"t seem surprised at all. Pointing at the food on the table, Ye Li said: “Eat. I don"t think anyone will send us breakfast today.”Secret Guard No.3 nodded and sat down to eat at leisure under their gazes. The Sick Scholar looked at him chew well before swallowing the food and smiled at Ye Li as he said: “Mr. Chu, with such a master-hand like Mr. Zhuo, no wonder you dare to come here. Brother Zhuo, have you just woken up? Didn"t you sleep last night?”
Looking up, Secret Guard No.3 glanced at him indifferently as he answered: “My Lord only has me with him so I have to be more careful about everything.”
The Sick Scholar"s eyes turned dark. It wasn"t easy to get a guard like Zhuo Jing. However, hearing what Zhuo Jing had said, he figured that Chu Jun Wei must have more guards around him normally while one guard was rare. Then... this Chu Jun Wei must be someone very important.Glancing distantly over Han Ming Xi who was standing by the side, he concluded that a friend of the younger brother of Tianyi Pavilion can"t be an average person.
Sensing the Sick Scholar"s inquisitive eyes, Han Ming Xi flashed an innocent smile at him. Don"t ask me. I don"t know who Jun Wei is either.
Having packed up, the four of them left the lodge. As the sun shined, the scent grew stronger. Fortunately, with the antidote the Sick Scholar gave them, it wasn"t a problem. Arriving at the lodge next to theirs, they couldn"t find Mr. Liang, the steward or that guard Zheng Kui as expected.
Han Ming Xi looked at the Sick Scholar as if he rejoiced in his misfortune and said: “Seems like they"ve left at least two hours ago. How are you going to find them now?” They would be able to cover a long distance with someone who knew this place well as a guide even if there was rain.
The Sick Scholar"s lips curved in a cold sneer as he said indifferently: “As long as he"s still in Nan Zhao, he can"t break away from me. Besides... why don"t you think they left us here? The place they went won"t be more than ten miles away from here.”
Unhurriedly, the Sick Scholar pulled out a small box and opened it. Out of the box flew a tiny dark blue moth. Beating its wings, the moth lingered over a little porcelain bottle in his hand for a while before it took off once again into the depth of the village.
“Let"s go.” Said the Sick Scholar in content as he put the small bottle away.
They followed the small moth and found the village empty. It was too dark last night for them to notice that except for the two lodges they were in, other lodges were extremely shabby, nothing near a village inhabited by people. Instead, it was more of a temporary station. The moth flew all the way into the mountain. Endless poisonous snakes and insects died from the Sick Scholar"s strong poison. Without orders from human, those snakes and insects knew to go after benefit and avoid damage so they didn"t attack them in groups. After about an hour, the moth stopped by a cliff, flying in a circle, unwilling to move anymore.
“My Lord, is your little moth showing us the correct way?” Han Ming Xi teased.
The Sick Scholar glanced at him indifferently, putting the moth back into the box and told Han Ming Xi: “Get down there.”
“Get down?” Han Ming Xi was stunned. However, he recovered from the shock soon enough and said in disbelief: “Did you ask me to get down? Do you even know what this place is? It Nan Zhao! Who knows how deep it goes and what poisonous snakes or beasts there are and you asked me to go down
?” The Sick Scholar said: “You have the best flying skills. Or how about Mr. Chu go down first?” With his handsome face grim, Han Ming Xi looked at the Sick Scholar as he rubbed his left fingers then he turned to Ye Li and Sick Scholar. Though Han Ming Xi hadn"t known
Jun Wei long, he knew he couldn"t fly very well. If something happened down there, Jun Wei wouldn"t be able to escape. Snorting grumpily, Han Ming Xi said: “Well, I"ll go down. Wait and see!” When you leave, I"m going to kill you!
Stepping lightly on the ground, Han Ming Xi tripped and fell off the cliff like a big crimson b.u.t.terfly. The Sick Scholar praised in a light voice: “The second lord of Han Family does fly better than Master Ming Yue.” However, he was only better in terms of flying skills.
The Sick Scholar didn"t care much about him in comparison to Master Ming Yue who changed his mind every second. All he needed to do was to keep Han Ming Xi alive for the sake of Master Ming Yue so that Grand Master could account for what he did to that man.
“Zhuo Jing.” With a frown, Ye Li stood by the edge of the cliff as she looked down. However, there was nothing except heavy cloud. She was afraid that this cliff was twice as deep as that under the Hidden Could Mountain which meant it was possible to reach its bottom with flying skills. Secret Guard No.3 walked forward and extended his hand
over the cliff. A silver thread with something to its one end dropped rapidly. After a good while, he pulled it back and turned to Ye Li as he said: “My Lord, it"s at 100 Zhangs, besides, its side is very sleek.” Ye Li
pondered. 100 Zhangs is nearly 300 meters. A cliff as high and sleek as this one can"t have many gra.s.s or branches on it. It seemed that the Sick Scholar"s moth took them to the right place.
The Sick Scholar turned curious looking at what Sick Scholar did. As he was about to speak, a figure rose up from the cliff and landed on the ground in a sorry state. Before he had time to take a breath, Han Ming Xi started to curse as soon as he landed on the ground: “Sick Scholar! Wait and see! If I die because of your fault,
I promise Tianyi Pavilion will haunt you down and kill you!” The Sick Scholar didn"t bat an eyelid as if he didn"t care about Han Ming Xi"s threat at all and asked in a cold tone: “What"s down there?”
Han Ming Xi sneered coldly: “What"s down there? There"s not a d.a.m.n thing. If there is something, you won"t be able to go down with your sorry flying skills. Don"t count on me to take you down there unless you want to fall and smash into pieces with me!” Seeing the Sick Scholar"s frown, Han Ming Xi scorned with malice.
It seemed he did run into danger down the cliff which made him forget about his fear of the Sick Scholar for the moment. He was left with biting sarcasm to get rid of his anger and shock.
“Brother Han.” Ye Li called in a low voice. It wasn"t a good time to irritate the Sick Scholar.
Han Ming Xi wasn"t an impulsive person so he suppressed his anger soon after Ye Li"s reminder and said: “There are countless flowers down there. But I guess those are poisonous flowers. Many poisonous snakes among the flowers. A few skeletons too. I don"t know if they were thrown down there or they just fell by accident. There was a quite big cave 70 Zhangs up from the bottom. It looks like an entrance. But...” Looking at the Sick Scholar with a smile yet not a smile, he said: “The side of the cliff was taken special care of and there"s nowhere one can land temporarily. I wasn"t joking. With my flying skills, I won"t be able to land taking someone with me and avoid the poisonous snakes at the same time. You three... will be delusional if you want to go down with your flying skills.” Talking about his flying skills, Han Ming Xi was quite proud of himself.
“No wonder there"s no guard all the way here. They were sure we can"t reach this place.” Said the Sick Scholar pensively. If it wasn"t Han Ming Xi who had the best flying skills that went down, anyone of the three would have met their death down there. “There must be another way. I don"t think they are all masters of flying skills.” Han Ming Xi said proudly: “Sure. Do you think it"s easy to have the best flying skills? Well... if there is another way, how will you manage to find it now?” None of them were masters of mechanism besides they were total strangers of Nan Zhao. Most importantly, men of Nan Zhao weren"t fools either. They wouldn"t be sitting there waiting for them to find their way in.
“You...” The Sick Scholar looked at Han Ming Xi with a frown who hurriedly hid behind Zhuo Jing, not even sticking his head out as he spoke: “Not me. It"ll be useless even if I manage to get inside. I"m no good with martial arts. Besides, even if the cave is an entrance, there won"t be enough s.p.a.ce for me to use my flying skills. If I do go, it will be nothing more than a rash act to alert the enemy.”
“What"s so important inside?” Frowning, Ye Li asked.
“Do you have a solution?” The Sick Scholar looked back at her with a frown.
She didn"t answer but repeated her question: “What it is that you are looking for?”