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Chapter 74 - 74: Set Off!
Chapter 74 - 74: Set Off!
Chapter 74: Set Off!
Translator: Atlas Studios
Editor: Atlas Studios
As midsummer approached, the weather gradually became hotter. Not long after the morning bell rang, the scorching sun climbed up the window, and the cry of cicadas sounded in the silent courtyard.
Zing-zing…
“Chirp-”
There were two books on the windowsill and a small wooden donkey that had been casually bought as a toy.
The chubby bird held the wooden donkey with its claws in boredom and shook it back and forth, imitating the cry of the summer cicadas.
Ye Jingtang was standing beside the wardrobe. In front of him was the bronze mirror that Luo Ning had used. He was carefully dressing himself in his black aristocratic robe.
Today, he would take a boat to West King Town with Third Lady to participate in the mid-year meeting of the halls of the Red Flower Pavilion. Afterward, he would go to Ze Province’s Water Cloud Sword Pool. The soonest he could come back was late May?.
Since he would be gone for a long time, to prevent the courtyard from being abandoned again, yesterday, he had specially asked the old escort Yang Chao to come over every few days to water the plants and tidy the house up.
Otherwise, when Heroine Luo returned next month and found that he had raised the flowers and plants to death, she would definitely blame him for not being responsible even if she didn’t say anything.
After tidying up the courtyard, Ye Jingtang led his horse out of Double Osmanthus Alley and arrived at Heavenly Water Bridge a few streets away.
It had already been twenty days since he entered the capital. The twelve escorts brought over from Liang Province had already settled down. The wives and children they brought with them had even started side jobs with the help of the Pei family. The youngest, Little Six, had even become the future son-in-law of the shopkeeper of a grain store with Chen Biao’s help.
Ye Jingtang was quite worried about this trivial matter. He specially stopped outside the Zhenyuan Escort Agency, pulled Little Six out, and reminded him with concern. “A man can only be called a man if he can hold his own on the outside and support his family on the inside. If you don’t improve in the future and delay the girl, I’ll cut off your three legs…”
“Young Master, don’t worry. Once Old Yang leaves, I’ll definitely be the escort head…”
“Hey! You son of a bitch!”
Before Little Six could finish speaking, the old escort Yang Chao walked out with his saber, scaring Little Six so much that he turned around and ran away.
Ye Jingtang shook his head and smiled. He caught the bird, who wanted to fly over to watch the show, and quickly walked into the alley.
In a bedroom of the Pei family residence…
Cicadas were chirping in the courtyard. Pei Xiangjun was sitting in front of her dressing table. She had just taken a bath and was only wearing a light yellow undergarment. She held a slender lip pencil and carefully adorned her cherry-red lips.
Pei Xiangjun’s comprehension of martial arts was actually extremely good. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have been accepted as Pei Gang’s last disciple and become the Red Flower Pavilion Lord.
Until now, she was still at the tail-end of the Grandmaster ranks. She had not been able to achieve a famous battle record in Jianghu mainly because her physical condition had met a ceiling.
This didn’t mean that Pei Xiangjun’s health wasn’t good, but the Pei family’s Overlord Spear was a top external martial arts. It was bold and powerful, and it was not suitable for women to practice.
A tall beauty like Dongfang Liren, who was not inferior to men in terms of height and figure, might still have some achievements in this spear technique.
But Pei Xiangjun couldn’t. Her mother was a lady from a wealthy family in Jiang Province who was famous for her elegance. Pei Xiangjun inherited this, so her figure wasn’t very tall. She had been well nourished since she was a baby and practiced martial arts, causing her figure to become very ‘good for fertility’.
To put it simply, her buttocks were full and plump, and her front was magnificent and tall.
Such a figure was natural beauty on a woman, but it was really awkward to use a spear. It was much more difficult to practice to the pinnacle than ordinary people.
The maidservant Xiuhe was standing behind Pei Xiangjun and helping her comb her hair. Xiuhe tilted her head and glanced at her chest, which was much bigger than hers. There was a hint of envy in her eyes. She thought for a moment and asked, “Pavilion Lord, have you thought about what Madam said?”
“What is it?”
“It’s just that we shouldn’t let our fertile water flow to outsiders. The young master is dignified, and you are naturally beautiful. You’re simply a match made in heaven…”
What fertile water? Am I fat?”
“Hehe~ Pavilion Lord, you are thin where you should be thin and fat where you should be fat. If you take off your clothes, the young master’s eyes will fall out…”
Pei Xiangjun harrumphed. Soon, a maidservant ran in and said that Ye Jingtang was here. She restrained her thoughts, got up, put on a thin spring dress, and left the Pei residence.
Seeing Ye Jingtang waiting at the door, Pei Xiangjun smiled. “Jingtang, let’s go.”
Ye Jingtang took a look at Third Lady. Although he felt that her makeup was beautiful, he didn’t show any strange expressions. He raised his hand to lift the curtain of the carriage. After sending Third Lady and Xiuhe in, he sat outside the carriage and lightly flicked the horsewhip in his hand.
“Giddyup!
Clomp clomp!
The carriage rolled toward the river dock…
On the east side of Yun’an City, in a junction town more than ten kilometers away…
In the courtyard of the town’s horse and carriage shop, the Blood Bodhi, who had been pursued by the government for many days, was dressed like an ordinary old man. He was holding a purple clay pot in his hand and leaning on a recliner to bask in the sun, his eyes closed in concentration.
Tread, tread…
As a breeze blew past, two figures landed in the courtyard. They were both dressed as people of Jianghu and had bamboo hats on their heads. One held a spear, and the other was empty-handed.
The person with the spear walked over to the Blood Bodhi and cupped his hands. “1 am Lu Ruan. Young Master Yan asked us to come here and listen to your orders.”
“I am Chen Ming.”
The Blood Bodhi raised his eyes and thought for a moment before asking, “‘Heart Eviscerator’ Chen Ming and ‘Seven-Foot Spear’ Lu Ruan?”
The tall and thin Lu Ruan said in admiration, “Senior, you haven’t been in Great
Wei for many years. I didn’t expect you to know my name.”
“It’s not surprising that I’ve heard of the outstanding juniors of Jianghu.”
The Blood Bodhi stood up with his cane, a smile on his face. But this smile was not appreciation for the rising stars.
After fighting with Ye Jingtang last time, the Blood Bodhi had discovered a clue about the Roaring Dragon Chart, and his goal had changed. He was no longer planning to help the Green Bandits and take on the risk of assassinating the Prince of Jing. Instead, he was thinking of a way to get the page of the Roaring Dragon Chart from Ye Jingtang. After all, Ye Jingtang was much easier to deal with than the Prince of Jing.
As a top assassin, the Blood Bodhi naturally had full authority on how to assassinate the Prince of Jing. The employer was responsible for providing him with information and manpower.
Through this convenience, the Blood Bodhi had recently found out Ye Jingtang’s identity: a foster son of the Pei family of Heavenly Water Bridge in the capital. He might have learned martial arts in the Black Office and had an ambiguous relationship with the Prince of Jing. The Pei family had arranged for a boat to go to West King Town to discuss business, and Ye Jingtang would follow.
The son of a merchant went out alone without the experts of the Black Office accompanying him. This was undoubtedly the best opportunity to strike.
But he was no match for Ye Jingtang alone. In order not to lose his life in vain, the Blood Bodhi has asked his employer to get him two helpers in the name of assassinating the Prince of Jing.
Chen Ming and Lu Ruan were both notorious bandits in Jianghu. They relied on killing and plundering to make money. Their martial arts were top-notch, and any one of them could exchange a few moves with Ye Jingtang.
With the three of them working together, he was confident in defeating Ye Jingtang’s extraordinary saber technique. After that, if he wanted to monopolize the page of the Roaring Dragon Chart, it would be easy for him to kill his two teammates to silence them.
The Blood Bodhi secretly deliberated. After confirming that there were no mistakes in his preparations, he felt ready to move. He flipped over, stood up, held his iron cane, and walked out of the carriage shop.
“Let’s go.”
On another side, downstream of the Clear River…
A passenger ship was sailing along the winding river path, its deck full of business people and traveling merchants from all over the world.
In a guest room on the second floor of the ship, the wife of the cult master of the Pacifying Heaven Cult, the overlord of Jianghu, was standing in front of a window facing the river. She was dressed in blue and hugging her small watermelons. Her beautiful peach blossom eyes were looking at the gloomy sky in a daze.
The source of the Clear River was Heavenly Carnelian Lake in Northern Liang. It crossed Great Wei’s territory from the north to the south until it entered the sea in Fengguan City in the south.
Luo Ning had set off from the capital and traveled down the Clear River to the Heavenly South. She had already left for four to five days.
It had only been a few days, but there was a world of difference between returning home by boat and living in Double Osmanthus Alley.
If the few days in Double Osmanthus Alley were her most memorable days, then the period on the ship was her most difficult days.
Standing by the window, Luo Ning stared blankly at the riverbank. The naturally beautiful girl beside her was lying listlessly on a couch and sighed. “I’m about to die without the bird… Martial Mistress, why don’t 1 return to the capital? You can go to the birthday banquet alone…”
Luo Ning retracted her thoughts and looked at Zhe Yunli. “How can I be at ease if you stay in the capital alone?”
“Isn’t there Brother Jingtang?”
It’s because of him that 1 can’t be at ease… Luo Ning couldn’t handle that shameless little thief at all. She didn’t want Ye Jingtang to take one in each hand or stack them together one day…
She didn’t even dare to think about these thoughts. How could she say them out loud? She only comforted, “It’s only about a month. After we go to the Zhou family to celebrate the birthday, we will return to the capital. By then, Ye Jingtang should have already saved Hero Qiu…”
Zhe Yunli turned over on the couch and supported her face with her hands. Her fair feet swayed in the air. “When we return to the capital and save Hero Qiu, we will still have to return to the South Firmament Mountains.”
We’re from the South Firmament Mountains to begin with. Do you still want to stay in the capital for the rest of your life?”
Zhe Yunli didn’t have such plans. She looked at her martial mistress. “I just think it’s a pity. Brother Jingtang is so powerful. If he works for the Imperial Court, what if he becomes successful in the future and turns around to beat us up? We have to think of a way to bring Brother Jingtang up the mountain.”
Luo Ning sighed. “Great Wei is like the sun in the midday sky. It’s easier said than done to restore the country. Ye Jingtang is determined to be in the Imperial Court. How can he rebel with us? How can you bring him back?”
Zhe Yunli thought about it seriously and blinked her big eyes. She suddenly thought of something. “Brother Jingtang isn’t married yet. Why don’t we try a honey trap?”
?!
Luo Ning’s fairy-like face turned cold as she scolded angrily, “What nonsense are you saying? I’m your master’s wife!”
Zhe Yunli was baffled. “Eh-! Martial Mistress, what are you thinking about? There are many young and beautiful girls in the Pacifying Heaven Cult. How can you do such a thing personally? Besides, even though you’re the number one beauty in Jianghu, you’re older than Brother Jingtang. How could he fall for your honey trap…”
??
Luo Ning took a deep breath, and the small watermelons turned into big watermelons. She looked around and found a ruler.
Zhe Yunli, who had spouted nonsense, stood up and ran away when she saw this. “I was wrong! 1 just said it casually. Martial Mistress, don’t take it seriously…”
Luo Ning gritted her teeth. It wasn’t until Zhe Yunli ran out of the door that she slowly restrained the anger in her eyes. She turned to look in the direction of Yun’an City with thousands of thoughts in her eyes…