No. 60 Baima Temple 10

  I inserted my hand into my sleeve and touched the dagger of Young Master Yu Ye, gritting my teeth as I said, "Fine, I'll go with you."

  I admit, I'm not a very smart person, nor am I a calm one. No matter how much I've studied and practiced, no matter what kind of experience and judgment I've gained, as soon as something related to Nie Qiuyuan comes up, my IQ instantly drops to zero.

  I followed Yu Ruoyan closely behind her back and quickly walked towards the rear hall, asking her along the way: "Tell me, what's going on?"

  "Hurry up, no time to explain!"

  "But I don't know how to use lightness kung fu..."

  If Yu Juan suddenly stopped, I hadn't even had time to be frightened, she was already leaning in front of me, saying quickly: "Then, how about I help you!"

  Before she finished speaking, I felt a numbness in my ribs and my body went limp to one side, and she caught me with one hand.

  "What are you doing!" I took a deep breath, ready to shout for help, but my chest suddenly went numb again, and when I opened my mouth, not a single sound could come out.

  "Damn it!!" I shouted loudly in my heart, but this shout was at most converted into a twist of my facial expressions on the surface. Although Ruo Yu's figure was slender, she had great strength, and she carried me onto her shoulder with one swing, and jumped onto the roof ridge in the blink of an eye, carrying me as if I weighed nothing.

  There was a whooshing sound in my ear, and I don't know how long it took, but all of a sudden there was a "thud" and I felt a sharp pain all over my body, with stars flashing before my eyes. It turned out that Yu Ruoyan had let go of me and thrown me to the ground.

  This fall seemed to have shaken open my acupoints. I gritted my teeth in pain and struggled to get up, but suddenly felt a chill on the back of my neck. When I looked closely, a gleaming long sword was placed at my throat.

  Dead woman! Dead cheat! How could I have been taken in by her?

  Judging from the scenery around us, it seems that we have entered a forest in a remote and desolate area, with no one else in sight, eerily deserted.

  "You brought me here, what's the point?" I asked hoarsely.

  My heart began to feel tense, but I still told myself to try to calm down. From the current situation, my situation is likely to be quite bad, Nie Qiuyuan and others don't know that I left, so don't expect anyone to come and rescue me.

  When it comes to martial arts, I'm not even a match for her little finger; when it comes to schemes, she's obviously an old hand; and when it comes to experience, this woman has eaten several more years of rice than me - no matter how I think about it, I'm just not her opponent!

  "What did you bring me here for?" Yu Wan's beautiful face hung with a cold smile, "What were you doing under that plum tree? What do you know?"

  I was taken aback. How is that possible? How could she have noticed me picking up the flower petals? Even if she had, she shouldn't have understood what I associated with them. Unless...

  If Yu Juan's sword tip lightly lifted, it lifted the hat on my head, and my long hair that reached my waist fell down in disarray. She stretched out her hand to pinch my chin, lifting up my face, and carefully looked at me for a few moments.

  "Yehu niang, I knew that county magistrate long before you did. Perhaps he doesn't know who I am, but your existence is really too annoying! I truly don't understand, what makes a useless little maid like you worthy of him keeping by his side every step of the way?" Ruoyan Juan released her grip on my jaw, "Let's put the task aside for now. Even if it means getting rid of just you, that would be good enough. You can take your discovered secret to hell with you!"

  I took a deep breath and suppressed the trembling inside me, starting to chuckle coldly.

  "What are you laughing at?" Yu Wan's slender eyebrows rose in reverse.

  "Hmph, so you wanted to kill me for this!" I stared straight into the woman's eyes, sneering, "Are you stupid? He doesn't even recognize you, what's the use of looking at him? Do you know why he brought me along? Do you know where he stayed last night? Just last night, he still..."

  "Shut up!" Yu Ruojuan cut me off in a rage, "You stinky bitch, go die!"

  I took advantage of her being enraged and distracted, and viciously stomped on her foot.

  Ruoyan didn't expect me to use such an unrefined method and couldn't help but let out a shrill cry, her long sword also withdrawing backward. I took advantage of the opportunity to duck down, pulling out the dagger given by Young Master Yu Ye, and stabbed it into her left thigh in one swift motion.

  Don't look at my poor martial arts skills, but when it comes to swift and accurate movements, I'm not bad either. Back then, I practiced Qinna and Wing Chun with great effort, and Ye Liu Xue was a body well-suited for martial arts training, with good muscles and reflexes, so this unexpected attack still packs quite a punch.

  Yu Wanjuan let out a mournful cry. I pulled the dagger out with force and turned around to run away. I wasn't skilled in lightness kung fu, so I could only use the strength I had since childhood, desperately running along an S-shaped path towards the depths of the woods. My mind didn't have time to think or be afraid, there was only one thought: Run! Escape!

  I hadn't run many steps when I heard a woman's shrill cry behind me: "Bastard! Go die!" Then I heard a crisp sound from the back of my heart, and it seemed like I had crashed into a soft wall, dazing me with a wave of blackness before my eyes.

  A soft and fluffy wall stretched out a hand, embracing my back. I shook my head, dispelling the golden stars in front of me, and only then did I gradually feel that the thing I had bumped into was wrapped in dark-colored fabric, emitting waves of warmth and a faintly familiar scent.

  He is a tall and handsome man.

  I looked up and saw a man in a dark blue long shirt, wrapped in a large black hooded cloak, with a black mask under the hat, only revealing a pair of eyes. He held me with his left hand, and in his right hand was a strangely shaped curved knife.

  The man's curved knife blocked the long sword that was stabbed by the red-clothed woman behind him, which just pointed to my back.

  My heart, suspended in this silent moment where life hangs by a thread, began to beat wildly and uncontrollably. My body started to tremble beyond control. The faint scent of incense wafted up my nostrils, but it didn't bring relaxation - instead, it twisted and tensed my bones and flesh. Beneath the faint incense, the smell of blood naturally spread, and the icy chill that seeped in through the 37-degree warmth was a feeling that belonged to only one person - another man who wanted to take my life.

  The Azure Dragon Envoy of the Heavenly Mirror Gate is Ren Pingsheng.

  But why did he want to save me at this time?

  "Why?" Yu Wan's icy voice asked on my behalf. She inserted her long sword into her waist, raised her hand and tore off a bright red skirt, neatly tying up the upper part of her injured thigh to prevent massive bleeding. She probably understood that her kung fu was no match for Ren Ping Sheng's as soon as she made her move, so she didn't plan on continuing the fight.

  The question of "why" is quite strange. Generally, the first question should be "who are you", not "why", unless the two people have known each other for a long time.

  "This woman is useful to me, don't touch her." The man in green clothes said coldly.

  A faint smile played on Ruo Yu's lips as she sneered: "Just a stinky woman from a small county yamen, annoying me is all she can do, what use could she possibly be?"

  My heart skipped a beat. Why did she say that? Doesn't she want Ren Ping to know that her target is Nie Qiuyuan? What does this mean? Does she know Nie Qiuyuan's identity and intentionally hiding it from Ren Ping?

  She really intends to protect him?

  "White Tiger," Ren Pingsheng's voice was devoid of any emotional fluctuations, "Don't try to be clever in front of me, and don't think I'm unaware of the Xuanwu's affairs. You're still too inexperienced to play mind games with me."

  White Tiger! This title was far beyond my expectations, and I was shocked to the core. The Azure Dragon, White Tiger, Vermilion Bird, and Black Tortoise, the four great disciples of the Heavenly Mirror Gate! And yet, when the White Tiger appeared, Nie Qingyun didn't recognize her. Could it be that even among the four great disciples, their true appearances were originally unknown to each other?

  What a terrible organization.

  Yu Wan's eyes widened in surprise for a moment, then she suddenly threw her head back and burst out laughing.

  "Green Dragon, I didn't expect you to recognize my true form! But Green Dragon, what are you doing now?!"