Chapter 11

Chang'an only felt that this was a heaven-sized conspiracy, one aimed at him, meant to ruin his reputation and leave him utterly disgraced.

He said coldly, "Liu Bao'er, didn't you run off with another man? How did you end up at Crimson Blood Fortress, and why are you now spouting lies to slander me?"

A hawk-eyed man squeezed out from the crowd, clutching a wolf-toothed mace in his arms. In a booming voice, he said, "Madam Liu was abducted by someone with ill intentions and suffered great humiliation. But the day before yesterday, my brothers and I rescued her from Sanhe Commandery and sent her back to Crimson Blood Fortress. Every brother of our Wolf Fang Gang can testify to this." Several of his subordinates behind him cried out, "That's right, we can all testify!"

Chang'an looked coldly at the hawk-eyed man. "Sangmenlang, do you dare guarantee it with the head on your shoulders?"

With a clang, Sangmenlang planted his wolf-toothed mace into the ground and thumped his chest. "Absolutely!" He took a written note from his robes and unfolded it for everyone to see. "This is the receipt for the reward Fort Master Liu paid. It bears Fort Master Liu's own handwriting. If you don't believe it, verify it yourself."

Chang'an froze. He had never seen Liu Ye's handwriting. How could he recognize it?

Cao Jing said, "What else do you have to say?"

The smile had vanished from his face, and one hand rested on his sword hilt.

Suddenly, another group of people emerged from Crimson Blood Fortress, supporting one another as they came out. These people should have been poisoned to death by Guo Qingshui, yet now they were alive, wearing mourning clothes and looking grief-stricken as they helped one another forward.

At the very front was a dignified woman.

It was Guo Qingshui.

Chang'an could scarcely believe his eyes.

Guo Qingshui walked to Liu Ye's corpse, crouched down, and took out a white jade bottle, shaking it beneath Liu Ye's nose. Liu Ye, whose eyes had remained open even in death, actually came back to life and sprang madly up from the ground.

The first thing Liu Ye said after leaping up was, "Where is Ning Family's Chang'an? I'll fight you to the death!"

Everyone was greatly shocked.

Cao Jing suddenly smiled again and looked at Guo Qingshui. "Miss Guo truly deserves to be the final disciple of the Hundred Herbs Divine Doctor. Your healing hands can bring the dead back to life. Everyone in Crimson Blood Fortress has been saved."

Guo Qingshui said, "Had I arrived half a moment later, even immortals would have been powerless. Crimson Blood Fortress was not fated to perish."

Liu Ye had already staggered into the crowd. At a glance, he spotted Chang'an and shouted harshly, "He is Ning Family's Chang'an, the murderer who poisoned Crimson Blood Fortress, a bloodthirsty fiend! Everyone, attack together and kill him... Don't let him escape!"

The crowd erupted. No matter what, they could not believe that the huge fat man standing before them was Ning Family's Chang'an.

Liu Ye shouted, "Ning Family's Chang'an has cultivated poison arts to the point of Demonic Possession. Look at him—he has so many poisoned needles and hidden weapons stuck in him, yet he is unharmed. This shows that he is deeply versed in poisons and can regulate himself to suppress their toxicity. He... he is a great demon... Even Bao'er's poisoned hidden weapons could not do anything to him!"

Everyone knew that Liu Ye's wife, Liu Bao'er, excelled at poison and hidden weapons. She was a famed "poison" beauty of the martial world.

Liu Ye's words were highly convincing.

Chang'an's good name was utterly destroyed in an instant.

Cao Jing suddenly drew his sword. With a sweep of his blade, he shouted, "The evidence is conclusive! Everyone, kill this demon!" Heroes from all corners raised their weapons and surged forward, intending to besiege Chang'an.

An iron staff suddenly flew out over everyone's heads. It plunged into the stone paving with a sonorous crash.

A dark-skinned youth sprang out and stood before Chang'an.

"Whoever dares touch a single hair on Ning Family's Chang'an, I will never share the same sky with him!"

Little Brother always spoke fiercely, regardless of consequences. He had already gripped the iron staff, sweat beading across his dark skin.

No one cared about Little Brother's threat.

Someone even gave a savage snort. "A tiger's accomplice!" A flash of cold light swept toward Little Brother's neck.

Before Little Brother could move, that man had already flown away. His weapon slipped from his hand as he fell to the ground screaming incessantly. A poisoned needle had suddenly pierced his hand.

Cao Jing's pupils contracted. Only he had seen Chang'an make his move. He had only seen Chang'an swiftly pluck a poisoned needle from his body, flick his wrist, and send it shooting out—precise, vicious, and astonishingly powerful.

The others were all stunned as well.

Little Brother's iron staff suddenly began to whirl. His staff technique was hardly refined, wild and crude to the extreme, yet people were sent flying one after another, vomiting blood from the blows. The force behind Little Brother's staff was shockingly immense.

Cao Jing's face was full of astonishment, but Chang'an was even more surprised.

At the Youke Teahouse, Little Brother had not even been able to withstand Curly Bear's blade.

Little Brother shouted, "Ning Family's Chang'an, run!"

Cao Jing gave a cold laugh. "Where do you think you're going?!" His sword was already out. With a flick of his wrist, cold gleams flashed as he stabbed out nine times.

Little Brother was dead for certain.

The Cao family's Cao Gongyang Sword Scripture was famed for speed and ruthlessness, its transformations ever-changing. Wherever its cold glints passed, all would be torn to pieces.

Every hair on Little Brother's body stood on end. Suddenly, he awkwardly raised his iron staff crosswise to block Cao Jing's sword. Cao Jing sneered in disdain. Little Brother's body shrank, and he suddenly flew away. The iron staff flew from his hand, yet Little Brother remained completely unharmed. Cao Jing had never seen such a strange thing: Little Brother, whose martial arts were utterly ordinary, had somehow not died.

At that moment, not a single poisoned needle remained on Chang'an's body.

Cao Jing suddenly let out a strange cry and froze in place, his body already studded with poisoned needles.

All the poisoned needles from Chang'an's body had landed on him.

Chang'an had moved too quickly. When Cao Jing drew his sword, Chang'an had already fired the needles. Cao Jing had thought he could evade them, brimming with confidence, but the needles had been waiting precisely along his path of retreat. He had actually run straight into them himself.

That was experience and wisdom, something no technique could make up for.

Cao Jing's acupoints were sealed, as though he had been struck by a body-freezing spell.

Chang'an felt as though his entire body were a piece of charcoal burning red-hot, scorching beyond measure. The Three Pure Ones Nine Hells Wondrous Dharma Lotus Heart Sutra began circulating on its own, and the heat flowed through his entire body. A craving rose within him—a craving to kill. His whole body seemed about to ignite and spew flames.

He suddenly turned and threw a punch. The gaunt man who had been launching a sneak attack from behind him stared in horror. Before the dagger in his hand could strike, he was already sent flying, his chest caved in.

Chang'an forcibly suppressed the burning craving in his heart. Fear surged through him as he shouted, "Those who block me will die!" One arm held Yu Fu tightly, while his other fist hammered forward and blasted open a path to life. Cao Jing and Guo Qingshui could only watch helplessly as Chang'an mounted the carriage, whipped the horses onward, and fled.

Guo Qingshui gritted her teeth and said hatefully, "How could this happen?! Hmph, hmph. Ning Family's Chang'an has been utterly disgraced—so what if he escapes? You will still die by my hand in the end! Even Miao Yaowang will never be able to cure my poison!" Then Guo Qingshui casually pulled the poisoned needles from Cao Jing and gave him an antidote powder.

Cao Jing finally caught his breath and was able to move again. His face was exceedingly pale and ugly.

The heroes of the martial world were nothing more than a rabble. None dared pursue too deeply.

Chang'an had left, but Little Brother was captured.

Miao Suyi was in Myriad Flower Valley of Sanhe Commandery. Her grandfather was Miao Chengfeng, the Valley Master of Myriad Flower Valley and the Miao Yaowang. From Qingshan Prefecture to Sanhe Commandery, a carriage journey took a full day and night.

But Chang'an knew the road would not be easy. Someone wanted him dead. They would never simply let him escape like this.

Chang'an had already changed carriages twice, using fine, swift horses and light carriages. He had never driven in such frantic haste before, racing against every second. The carriage was fast, but rumors were faster than Chang'an's carriage.

As the sun sank toward the western hills, Chang'an was about to rush past the borders of Qingshan Prefecture and reach Sanhe Commandery.

Half the evening sky was like the rosy rouge a maiden had secretly applied, while the cooking smoke was like lightly drawn eyebrows.

Beneath the setting sun, a steep and straight uphill road lay ahead in the distance. Dense pine forests flanked the road, dark and oppressive at this hour. Chang'an lashed his whip down hard. The gentle horse let out a long neigh, and rather than slowing, it sped up and charged up the slope. He had no heart to admire any scenery. Even if the most magnificent sight in all the world appeared before him now, he would not spare it a second glance. Yu Fu was more important than anything, and more beautiful than anything.

Chang'an was about to turn around and check on Yu Fu in the carriage when the horse suddenly reared up. The carriage instantly spun out of control. Chang'an's face changed drastically. Afraid Yu Fu would be hurt again, he shouted and struck downward with one palm. One side of the carriage shattered at once. Chang'an leaped into the air, scooped Yu Fu up, and jumped from the carriage, landing by the roadside with a face full of alarm and suspicion.

Yu Fu's face was so pale that it held no trace of blood. Her lips had turned dark purple, and her mind was muddled. During that first jolt, black blood had already seeped from the corner of her mouth.

Chang'an glanced at the carriage, which had shot seven or eight zhang ahead. The horse was pinned beneath it, half-dead and unable to run any farther. Chang'an gritted his teeth, hoisted Yu Fu onto his back, and prepared to run forward.

Suddenly, a ragged beggar reeking of foul stench crawled out from beneath the carriage.

The beggar was already very old, with disheveled hair and a grimy face. Yet he forcibly tossed both the carriage and horse aside and rose to his feet. It turned out that he had been pinned beneath the horse and dragged seven or eight zhang by the carriage. But the old beggar seemed entirely unharmed. A faint smile sat on his swarthy face, revealing teeth startlingly white. He looked at Chang'an and chuckled. His smile was exceptionally honest, even somewhat foolish and dull-witted.

Chang'an narrowed his eyes.

The old beggar sighed. "This is a fine place!"

Chang'an nodded. "It is indeed a fine place."

The old beggar chuckled. "If I lie down in the middle of the road here, every horse coming down the slope has to die."

Chang'an said, "After all these years, you still haven't changed."

The old beggar sighed deeply. "A beggar has a beggar's livelihood. This is my skill. Others can't learn it, and they don't understand the pleasure in it. I was born lazy and fond of good food, yet I cherish life and fear death, so naturally I had to think of a way. Hehe, being a beggar isn't exactly getting something for nothing—it requires skill. When I'm hungry, I lie here. If a carriage suddenly crashes into me, even if I get no compensation, I can still snag myself a dead horse, enough to feed me for half a month. Today, I never expected you brat to become the unlucky one. Hahahaha..."

The old beggar laughed very happily.

Chang'an said, "I'm going to Myriad Flower Valley to save someone!"

The old beggar immediately stopped laughing. Staring at Yu Fu on Chang'an's back, he said, "Save the person on your back? The little lady is not bad-looking, but how could a great demon like you, Ning Family's Chang'an, be worthy of her?!"

Chang'an gave a bitter smile. "You heard about it too?! All right, stop making fun of me. This is an emergency—I have to go..."

He truly had not expected the news to spread so quickly. He was probably about to become a rat crossing the street, hated by all. But no matter what, he had to get Yu Fu to Myriad Flower Valley as quickly as possible. No one could stop him. Should anyone stand in his way, he feared he would truly become a bloodthirsty fiend.