On a late-autumn night, outside Luoyang, moonlight spilled like water over the shimmering river.
By the Yellow River, a lavish boat was quietly leaving the dock, sailing downstream along the bank. In the moonlight, its hull gleamed with a faint red sheen, matching the two lanterns at its bow.
At that moment, Yue Lingshan and Annie stood at the bow, eating and admiring the night view, letting the chilly late-autumn breeze brush past and stir their hair.
Naturally, Annie was the one eating, while Yue Lingshan leaned on the railing and pretended to admire the scenery.
The two of them had reached Luoyang before dusk the day after leaving Mount Hua. They had found a boat like this one and, after paying the fare, asked it to head east that very night, then take the Grand Canal down to Hangzhou.
At first, the boatman hadn't planned to sail at night.
Sailing after dark was simply too dangerous. The bandits along the remote waterways, the mountain brigands, the river gangs, even the notorious outlaws on the rivers and lakes loved targeting lavish, isolated boats like theirs. People were often killed and dumped in the river. It was no joke!
But after Yue Lingshan showed them her Mount Hua Sect token and introduced herself as the Mount Hua Sect's "Twin Swords, Startling Swan," Heroine Yue, she put on a demonstration. Armed with nothing but a wooden stick, she easily beat more than a dozen of the boat captain's best boatmen until they couldn't fight back. They immediately believed her and promised to follow her lead all the way.
After all, they weren't people of the martial world, but they had heard a thing or two about it. They'd certainly heard of the renowned young champion, Heroine Yue, the "Twin Swords, Startling Swan,"