Chapter 1002: Mysterious Swordsman
Zu An kicked off lightly, silently flying through the air and landing atop a large tree off to the side. He looked into the distance through the dense treetop.
A group of people slowly walked over from the other end of the corridor. The one in the lead was precisely City Lord Pei Shao, whom Zu An had seen earlier. He was talking to a young man about something. Even though he wasn’t engaging in excessive flattery, he had a huge smile on his face and his words were polite. It was clear that he greatly respected the other party’s status.
Upon closer inspection, Zu An noticed that the young man’s clothing was extravagant, and his collar was embroidered with gold and jade designs. He had a handsome and confident appearance, but there was a kind of indescribable pride in his eyes.
“It’s fine; you all had to receive the imperial envoy. This young heir doesn’t wish to cause too much of a scene and let too many people know of my arrival.” The young man suddenly frowned in the middle of his sentence, subconsciously moving his legs a bit. His gait occasionally turned a bit awkward as he walked. Whenever that happened, a gloomy expression flickered through his eyes.
Pei Shao obviously noticed what was happening. He asked out of concern, “Was the young heir injured? We have many medicines that should be of help to the young heir’s injuries.”
“Do you think my King Qi Manor lacks medicines?” The young man rolled his eyes. “It’s just the residual effect of a small injury; it won’t hinder anything.” Even though that was what he said, he was gritting his teeth in anger. It was obvious that he wasn’t as calm as he was trying to appear.
You have successfully trolled Zhao Zhi for +444 +444 +444…
Zu An almost burst out laughing. It was, of course, King Qi’s heir Zhao Zhi! This guy really is my lucky star, haha! He’s donating so many Rage points right after we meet again.
As for the awkwardness in Zhao Zhi’s gait, it was because Zu An had broken his legs before. Even though they had already healed, there was still some pain whenever it was too windy or rainy. The weather in the northwest was quite chilly, so that feeling was even more pronounced than before.
Zu An’s eyes shifted off to the side. An elder was following several feet behind Zhao Zhi. His silver hair was combed neatly and tidily; his eyes were sharp as he scanned the surroundings, as if on guard against any hidden enemies.
He was also an old acquaintance: King Qi Manor’s protector, with cultivation at the peak of the ninth rank, Han Fengqiu.
Zu An thought to himself, Being a protector of King Qi Manor really is a bitter fate. The other famous attendants had all died in Westhound Tomb’s secret dungeon. Now, only Han Fengqiu alone was left. Zu An wondered if he was feeling any pressure deep down.
Pei Shao immediately realized that the injury was a sore spot King Qi’s heir wasn’t willing to talk about. He felt a bit of regret over his rudeness and naturally didn’t keep asking about it, but said, “With the king and young heir’s ability, even more severe injuries must not be a problem.”
Zhao Zhi gave a few absent-minded replies, then glanced over to the side. “By the way, I’ve been hearing about Miss Pei’s beauty for a long time. Why has she not made an appearance yet?”
Zu An’s eyes narrowed when he heard that. This fella actually came for Big Manman? Kid, you’re heading down a road you don’t want to take!
Pei Shao replied, “I’ve already sent someone for her.”
Suddenly, a maid rushed over and said, “Master, the miss is unwilling to come out. She said she was going into isolation and did not wish to meet anyone.”
Pei Shao’s smile froze. He exclaimed, “You useless thing… Tell her to come out again!”
“Understood!” The maid felt wronged. However, she didn’t dare to argue with the master when she saw him angry. She quickly turned around and left.
Pei Shao then explained to Zhao Zhi, “My clan’s daughter has been spoiled too much by her mother. The young heir has seen a poor side of us. I hope you do not take offense.”
Zhao Zhi waved his hand and said, “It’s fine. Either way, the main objective of this trip isn’t to meet her…”
…
Even though Zu An really wanted to continue listening in on their discussion, it wasn’t as important as Pei Mianman. When he saw the maid leave, he secretly followed along. Meanwhile, Han Fengqiu sensed something and turned around to look at the tree Zu An had been hiding in earlier.
“What is it?” Zhao Zhi asked out of curiosity when he sensed that Han Fengqiu was acting strange.
“It’s nothing.” Han Fengqiu felt a bit strange too. He seemed to have sensed a figure darting out, but when he looked closer, there was nothing. Am I starting to see things?
But he soon threw away those suspicions. He had been on guard the entire time. With his cultivation, the number of individuals who could escape his detection in all of Cloudcenter Commandery could be counted on one hand. Furthermore, all of them were important figures; why would they come to Pei Shao’s home to cause trouble? It must be because I’ve been too tense recently.
…
Meanwhile, Zu An followed the maid into the inner courtyard. His brows gradually furrowed. Big Manman is an important member of the clan, so why is the place she lived in so remote? No wonder he couldn't find it earlier.
The maid quickly arrived at a small, tattered courtyard. Compared to how splendid the other courtyards in the City Lord Manor were, the place could indeed be considered tattered. However, it was rather quiet and peaceful, giving off a bit of a transcendent feeling.
“Young miss, young miss!” The maid began to knock on the door, calling out, “The master says that your respected self has to go out at least once!”
“I’m not going!” A familiar voice replied from inside. It was still as lovable as Zu An remembered, but the voice now carried a hint of fatigue.
“Big Manman!” Zu An could no longer hold back his emotions when he heard the familiar voice. He walked over with large steps.
“Which scoundrel dares to enter the young lady’s residence?!” a voice called out from off to the side just then, accompanied by a cold snort.
Zu An immediately became alert. He quickly moved several zhang to the side. A vicious longsword instantly stabbed into the spot he had just been standing in.
He wiped off a handful of cold sweat. If he had been even a moment slower, there might already be a huge hole in his body. He had been able to stop Yi Commandery City Lord’s grand ki sword with just two fingers, but he wouldn’t dare to try the same thing with this sword. His first reaction was to evade.
“Huh?” The other party clearly hadn’t expected Zu An to evade so quickly. However, his sword didn’t stop at all, instead continuing to thrust out precisely and accurately.
Zu An was immediately on high alert when he saw the sword that shot out like shooting stars. He had met his fair share of swordsmen, but the person before him was definitely the best out of all of the sword users he had ever encountered before. He used Grandgale to evade several dozen zhang away while summoning Hundredwarble to carry out a mental attack, disturbing the other party’s next action.
Hundredwarble’s phantom charged at the person, who laughed out loud and said, “We should live every day as if it were our last; tomorrow’s worries can wait until tomorrow!” He rushed straight through Hundredwarble’s phantom, which exploded into bits of light.
Zu An’s expression became overcast. This person was a master rank cultivator at the very least, and his soul was far more concentrated than Zu An’s own. That was why Hundredwarble’s mental attack didn’t work at all. Most importantly, the other person’s sword technique was just too brilliant. It always seized the best gaps between his attacks.
With his current cultivation, his use of Grandgale was pretty much limitless. However, there was a few seconds of cooldown between each use. An ordinary person wouldn’t notice, and together with how fast the instantaneous movement was, even if they did notice, they wouldn't be able to seize that fleeting opportunity.
But this person was completely different. Even though his body was still lagging behind, his sword was faster than his body. It instantly arrived in front of Zu An.
Is he controlling a flying sword? Zu An didn’t have time to think to himself. He took out the Tai’e Sword and traded more than ten blows with the flying sword. No matter how complex and intricate the flying sword’s attacks were, he blocked every single strike.
“Hm?” It was the other party’s turn to be shocked. Even though he hadn’t gone all out, it was the first time all of his sword attacks had been blocked.
Zu An got a good look at the other person too. He was a middle-aged man with a long beard, with a few strands of curled hair on his forehead. He had a somewhat sleepy-eyed expression. On his back was a giant green gourd. Zu An could smell the strong smell of alcohol from his body even from far away.
This place was bitterly cold, yet the man still only wore a single layer. His clothes had dark blotches that could have been leftover alcohol or oil. His pants were wide and loose, and a pair of worn-out sandals was on his feet.
The person’s appearance was as sloppy as sloppy could be. If it were a normal person who looked like that, other people’s first reaction would be to assume he was a dirty and smelly beggar. However, this person was different. Zu An could still see signs that the man had a handsome and heroic past when he was younger. The feeling the man gave off was one of endless loneliness and bleakness.
While Zu An was examining the man, the other party was also sizing him up. Zu An had had an opening cut in his clothes by sword ki because he was caught unprepared. Even though he wasn’t injured, it still exposed the skin underneath. The sloppy-looking middle-aged man suddenly noticed the flame-shaped pendant around Zu An’s neck. His eyes couldn't help but narrow.
Just then, a loud voice called out from the distance, “There’s an assassin!”
Their battle had caused such a huge disturbance that the City Lord Manor’s guards would have to be blind to not notice anything. Countless guards stormed over. There were a few who were extremely fast, clearly the elites from the city lord manor. Even the auras of other cultivators from farther out were approaching quickly.
The sloppy middle-aged man gave Zu An a deep look. Then, he kicked off the ground and disappeared into the distance.
Zu An frowned slightly. From the looks of things, he clearly couldn't meet with Big Manman now. With his status, he didn’t want to get into any conflict with the City Lord and the guards either. He decided to leave in another direction.