Swift Winds and Sudden Rain

The firelight of Dry Bone Town was flung far behind them.

Chen Qing's party did not stop for even a moment. After hastily stocking up on some food, they left that ill-omened place before dawn broke.

The donkey cart raced along the official road, much faster than usual.

The horse pulling the cart seemed to sense the tension as well. It snorted loudly and drove its four hooves forward with all its strength.

Chen Qing no longer sat on the driver's shaft. Instead, he walked at the very front of the party, his spiritual senses spreading outward like invisible feelers to their utmost limit, catching the slightest suspicious movement.

Even the rustling of grass twenty zhang away, or that faint, chilling Sha Qi in the air—now familiar after being tracked so many times—was clearly reflected in the lake of his mind.

Yan Yunxi rode her horse, closely following behind Chen Qing.

Much of the childishness had been worn from her face by days of flight and slaughter. There was now more toughness and vigilance between her brows. From time to time, she looked back at Liu Meng and the wounded men on the jolting donkey cart, whose faces had grown even paler, her eyes filled with worry.

Liu Meng's injuries had temporarily stabilized under Chen Qing's treatment and the support of his own deep inner strength, but he was still far from being able to fight. Leaning against the cart canopy, he watched Chen Qing's back ahead of them, as well as the giant wolf trotting along at an unhurried pace with A Ning on its back.

The Wolf King's steps remained steady, but the bloodthirsty ferocity in its ghostly green eyes had not faded. Instead, the repeated battles and tense atmosphere had sharpened it further. Its thick tail hung low, its muscles constantly poised to spring.

"Young Hero Chen..." Liu Meng spoke in a low voice. "Shadow Kill Tower has failed time and again. Next time... I fear it will come with the force of thunder and ten thousand bolts. Traveling like this makes us far too conspicuous."

Chen Qing did not look back. His calm voice drifted on the wind. "I know. But stopping is even more dangerous. Only by reaching Iron Wall City as soon as possible can we be considered safe."

In his perception, the sense of danger that clung to them like a shadow had not weakened in the slightest. Instead, it gathered thicker and thicker like storm clouds.

The names of the Third Prince Xuanyuan Yi and Shadow Kill Tower weighed heavily on the escorts' hearts. Imperial infighting, frontier military affairs—their tiny party had already been swept into the heart of an enormous whirlpool.

Sure enough, on the afternoon of the second day, the thing they feared most happened.

The party entered a perilous stretch where two mountains faced each other. The official road narrowed here, with a sheer cliff on one side and a rushing river of unfathomable depth on the other.

Just as the donkey cart was about to pass through the narrowest point, Chen Qing suddenly raised his head, starlight flashing in his eyes!

"Careful! Hidden crossbows!"

Before his words had even faded!

Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh—!

Shrill sounds tore through the air as bolts burst from the woods and rocks on both mountain walls! They were not scattered arrows, but a rain of dozens of powerful crossbow bolts! They blanketed the entire stretch of road, leaving nowhere to evade!

Their targets were not merely people. A great many fire arrows were aimed directly at the donkey cart and horse cart as well!

"Form up! Protect the carts!" Liu Meng roared hoarsely, his eyes nearly splitting apart as he struggled to raise his nine-ring saber.

The surviving escorts reacted quickly enough, immediately swinging their weapons to block the bolts. But the crossbow bolts came from above, carrying savage force at vicious angles. In an instant, two escorts whose wounds had not yet healed were shot full of holes like hedgehogs, screaming as they fell!

Yan Yunxi gave a sharp cry, her longsword dancing as sword light swirled around her. She barely managed to protect herself and the nearby Liu Meng, but the impacts numbed her arms, and danger surrounded her on all sides.

Chen Qing's face darkened like still water. Rather than retreating, he advanced! The Ancient Star Ruins Scripture circulated within him as both hands flashed out, striking or tapping with precision to knock away every crossbow bolt that reached him, sending out crisp clangs!

But the bolts were too numerous and too dense! Several flaming arrows struck the donkey cart's canopy and frame, and flames instantly leaped up!

"Awooo!" The Wolf King let out a furious roar. Its massive body suddenly rose upright, using its thick back and shoulder blades to forcibly shield the rear of the donkey cart where A Ning was from more than ten crossbow bolts!

The Wolf King's hide was thick and its flesh tough, so the bolts only embedded themselves in its skin and meat without striking vital points, but blood still streamed down its body!

More sinister still, the bolt heads were coated in a ghostly blue poison! The Wolf King gave a muffled groan of pain, its movements instantly stalling. The ferocity in its eyes intensified, but several streaks of berserk crimson now stained them!

"Beast! You're courting death!" A vicious laugh rang out from the mountain wall as the second volley of crossbows was already being loaded!

A fierce cold gleam erupted in Chen Qing's eyes! He stomped hard on the ground, and an invisible shockwave spread along the earth, making several ambushed crossbowmen sway. At the same time, he snatched up several stones from the ground with lightning speed, infused them with Starforce, and flicked them out!

"Pff! Pff! Pff!" Several screams immediately rang out from the mountain wall. Bloody blossoms burst across the foreheads of three crossbowmen, and they tumbled down below!

But the enemy's preparations went far beyond this!

"Boom!" A tremendous crash rang out! A prearranged mechanism was triggered on the road ahead, and enormous logs and boulders came crashing down from the slope with the force of thunder and ten thousand bolts, completely blocking the way forward! Another huge crash sounded behind them, cutting off their retreat as well!

The flames spread across the donkey cart. The donkey pulling it was startled and reared up, braying wildly as it was about to drag the burning carriage over the nearby abyss!

"A Ning!" Chen Qing barked, shooting back like lightning. With one palm, he severed the harness ropes, while his other hand fiercely struck the burning carriage!

"Bang!" A supple yet powerful burst of Starforce erupted, shoving the flaming carriage and the donkey pulling it toward the inner side of the road. They smashed into the mountain wall, scattering sparks everywhere! Meanwhile, with a deft pull, he brought A Ning safely into his arms. Her little face had turned white with fright, but she bit down hard on her lip and did not cry out.

Amid the chaos, more men in black charged out of the mountain forest, launching an assault in coordination with the crossbow fire!

Chen Qing pushed A Ning toward Yan Yunxi. "Protect her!" Then he turned and met the enemy.

Anger rose within him, and he no longer merely evaded. A man in black rushed at him with a saber, its blade wind sharp and fierce. Chen Qing sidestepped, then casually snatched up an ordinary blue-steel longsword from beside a fallen escort.

The sword felt cold and rough in his hand. Seeing this, the man in black grinned viciously and slashed again!

Chen Qing flicked his wrist, instantly pouring a thread of pure Starforce into the blade!

Hummm—!

That ordinary blue-steel longsword actually gave a faint hum! A layer of exceedingly thin yet peerlessly sharp hazy starlight suddenly lit up along the blade!

"Break!" Chen Qing shouted softly, sweeping the sword through the air!

There was no ear-splitting clash of metal, only a faint "shhk"!

The hundred-forged steel saber in the black-clad man's hand, along with half his body, was effortlessly cut in two by that sword edge! Blood and entrails splashed across the ground!

Everyone was stunned by the horrifying sight!

Even Chen Qing himself froze slightly. He had merely been trying it out; he had not expected Starforce attached to common steel to possess such power! But then, a series of crisp cracks rang from the longsword in his hand. Cracks spread over its surface, and in the next instant it broke apart inch by inch, falling to the ground as scrap iron—the common steel could not withstand the infusion of Starforce after all.

Yet the might of that single strike was enough to awe them!

The black-clad men's offensive faltered, fear appearing in their eyes.

Chen Qing did not pause in the slightest. Like a tiger charging into a flock of sheep, he struck with fingers or palms, or seized weapons and briefly infused them with Starforce before they shattered. Wherever he passed, the black-clad men were either dead or wounded!

The Wolf King had gone utterly berserk as well. Ignoring the black blood flowing from its wounds and the numbness brought by the poison, it pounced and bit madly. Every swipe and tear of its claws sent severed limbs flying!

Yan Yunxi protected A Ning, and under the pressure of life and death, her swordsmanship unexpectedly improved as well, becoming simpler and fiercer. Liu Meng watched with surging excitement and could not help calling out instructions. "Miss! Attack his lower body! Returning Wind Sweeps Willow! Good!"

The slaughter lasted roughly the time it took an incense stick to burn. The ambushing black-clad men were nearly all dead or injured. Seeing Chen Qing was unstoppable and that the giant wolf only grew fiercer with battle, the survivors finally lost their nerve. With a shout, they fled miserably into the mountain forest.

The scene was a complete mess. Corpses, blood, burning cart wreckage, scattered crossbow bolts, huge rocks and logs blocking the road...

The escorts had lost another two men, and everyone was wounded. The Wolf King lay on the ground, panting heavily. The blood flowing from its wounds had begun to turn black. It stretched out its tongue to lick them, its gaze weary but still ferocious.

Chen Qing's breathing had grown somewhat heavier as well. Repeatedly using Starforce, especially to empower weapons and execute movement techniques, consumed no small amount of strength for one who had only recently entered this path. He went to the Wolf King's side and examined its wounds, his brows tightly furrowed. Quickly, he took out the antidote Uncle Po had given him, applying it internally and externally, then used his own Starforce to force some of the poison from its body.

"We must leave this place as quickly as possible," Chen Qing said in a deep voice, glancing at the blocked road. "We can't keep the carts. Take turns carrying and supporting the wounded. Clear a path!"

He walked to the pile of boulders, drew a deep breath, and stirred the Starforce in his body. Both palms pressed against a massive rock weighing nearly a thousand jin!

"Move!" With that low shout, he actually forced the enormous boulder aside and sent it rolling away!

The others stared in stunned disbelief. This had already entered the realm of divine strength!

Led by Chen Qing, the surviving party painstakingly cleared the road, every heart weighed down with heaviness.

Night fell once more. At last, they left that stretch of Death Canyon and temporarily rested in a sheltered mountain hollow.

The bonfire flickered, illuminating their exhausted and frightened faces.

Liu Meng leaned against the mountain wall, watching Chen Qing redress the Wolf King's wounds. His voice was dry as he spoke. "Young Hero Chen, if not for you today... we would all have died without even whole corpses left. Your martial arts... this old man has roamed the martial world for half a lifetime, yet I have never heard of anything like them."

Chen Qing remained silent, only carefully bandaging the Wolf King.

Liu Meng sighed and continued, "Shadow Kill Tower is merely a pack of running dogs under the Third Prince, yet it is already so difficult to deal with. The martial world is vast, with extraordinary people emerging one after another. The major sects are intertwined like tangled roots, and the relationship between the imperial court and the martial world is even more subtle. Zhenyuan Escort Agency... before such colossal powers, it truly counts for nothing."

Perhaps hoping to distract everyone from their fear, he began telling tales from the martial world as well: Shaolin Temple's Seventy-two Ultimate Skills, Wudang Sect's Tai Chi Swordplay, the strange poison arts of the Western Regions Demonic Cult, as well as the Grandmaster Rankings and the Heavenly Mystery Pavilion...

Yan Yunxi hugged her knees and listened quietly, but her gaze never left Chen Qing. The flickering firelight illuminated his calm, focused profile. Dependence, admiration, and a faint affection that had quietly begun to grow—one she herself had yet to recognize—mingled together in her heart.

She knew deeply that this seemingly ordinary young man possessed power far beyond her imagination, and far beyond the martial world she knew.

Chen Qing listened without much stirring in his heart. The disputes of the martial world and the rankings of sects mattered far less to him than the trajectories of the stars within his body. His path did not lie here.

He raised his head and looked toward the black night sky in the north. That was the direction of Iron Wall City—and the direction of even more unknown dangers.

Ahead, there was only swift wind and sudden rain.