Half-Dead Qiao Duanhong

Li Yunxin's expression changed. He stared at the thing for a while, then sighed softly.

He found it far easier to accept this sort of thing than anyone else in this world. There had been oceans of similar scenes in films and novels—immortals teasing mortals, bestowing an object that would always return to one's robes or person no matter how it was thrown away. Now he had truly seen such divine powers for himself.

He rested his fingers on the hilt at his waist, rubbing it for a moment before sighing again. "Let's go. We're still going to Weicheng."

Since he could not get rid of the thing with his current abilities, he could only carry it with him. But if he ran off with it and Bai Yunxin found him again... she might get angry.

Maybe she would tear him apart the moment they met. Demons like that were moody and unpredictable, utterly beyond the grasp of ordinary human reasoning.

So he pulled the sword from his belt, gripped it in his hand, and said quietly, "Move."

The sky was still dark, but the moon had not been swallowed by the layered clouds. A breeze swept across the meadow, making the wild grass ripple like an ocean of ink-green and black. Li Yunxin drew another two paper talismans and held them in his hand as he and the cat demon cautiously headed toward the road.

Perhaps Bai Yunxin had killed the Six Ghosts of Hezhong when she came. Or perhaps they had not...

After taking three steps, Li Yunxin stepped on a stiff body. Looking down, he saw a headless corpse.

Mm... so she had indeed killed them all. The dead man wore a blue-cloth Daoist robe, and his head had been bitten off—it looked like the little maid had done it.

There were also two corpses beside the swordsman's body. They belonged to men from the escort agency.

Probably... everyone was dead.

Still, they had to go to Weicheng. They needed somewhere to settle down. Li Yunxin glanced at "Qiao Jiaxin" beside him and frowned slightly. This little girl could actually still be useful...

Just then, rustling came from the grass beside them. Li Yunxin swung his sword backward in a slash.

The incomparably sharp blade sheared through the wild grass as easily as cutting silk, sweeping deep into the thicket before stopping just short of someone's neck. Only then, by the moonlight, did he see clearly that it was... Liu Laodao.

It seemed the old Daoist had not known whether the approaching person was friend or foe. He had been preparing to sneak away through the grass with his back bent, but Li Yunxin had heard him. Now a gleaming blade rested against his throat, its edge having already sliced through his skin. He was so frightened that he could not make a sound for quite a while, his legs trembling like chaff in a sieve.

When Liu Laodao, eyes rolling white, finally recognized the figure under the moon as the young Li Yunxin, his throat bobbed several times. Then he threw himself forward and hugged Li Yunxin's leg. "Great master!! Save me!! There are demons!!"

Li Yunxin hurriedly covered his mouth. "Don't shout! Tell me, are all those swordsmen dead?"

"Dead... dead, every last one..." Liu Laodao wiped his eyes. "After all these years, this old man has truly had his eyes opened today... ah, but who would want to have their eyes opened like this? I mean, meeting an expert like you is a good thing, but first I saw ghosts and demons... They really were demons, Great Master! One bite, one head! If it hadn't been for this old man..."

"Fine, it's over. I've seen the demons; they've already left." Li Yunxin sheathed his sword, pried Liu Laodao's hands off his leg, then pulled away the cat demon, who had been trying to poke at Liu Laodao's loosened topknot. "Let me ask you again. How many people from the escort agency are still alive?"

Hearing Li Yunxin's words, the old Daoist blinked and stared at him fixedly. "Great Master, you exchanged blows with those demons!? Did you drive them away!?"

Then he gaped at Li Yunxin for a while before suddenly bowing down, forehead to the ground. "This little Daoist has muddled along for so many years, and today I have finally seen a true god! I beg Great Master to take me as your disciple, so that in my remaining years, I may glimpse the great Dao of painting. This little Daoist, I—"

Li Yunxin sighed. "Are you insane? Can you answer my question first before bringing up anything else?"

"Her father is still alive. Only her father is left." Liu Laodao quickly raised his head from the ground and wiped his face, only then taking a careful look at Qiao Jiaxin. "Eh? This child... has... lost her wits?"

The cat demon blinked. "Eh? Hah! How dare you! Mm... This Empress... huh? How dare you!"

Li Yunxin sighed.

He pulled the cat demon behind him. "She saw the demons and was scared witless. Qiao Duanhong is still alive? That's good. Where is he?"

Liu Laodao scratched his messy topknot, shuffled two steps to the side, and pushed aside a clump of wild grass. "...Here."

Li Yunxin saw Qiao Duanhong, barely clinging to life. As the chief of an escort agency who had nearly reached the threshold of a Second-Class Expert, he seemed to have fought desperately before this. His body was covered in sword wounds, especially his legs. His trapped-beast struggle had probably enraged the swordsman, who had then deliberately tortured him to death bit by bit.

But when villains played such games, they sometimes got overturned—the little maid had rushed over and bitten his head off in one mouthful.

Qiao Duanhong's legs, however, seemed to have been ruined. Splintered knee bones jutted out, blood pouring like a flood. It was impossible to tell whether they could be saved—though Liu Laodao probably thought they could not.

Li Yunxin walked over and pressed several major acupoints on his body. The bleeding from the wounds gradually slowed. The skill of stopping blood through acupoint pressure was something both cultivators and martial artists had to learn, but it was not truly so miraculous. It was only an emergency measure, temporarily halting the flow of blood. If left too long, some part of the body might well be crippled.

Still, Li Yunxin felt Qiao Duanhong's condition would not get any worse. Under the current state of medicine, there was no chance of saving those legs. If he could keep his life, the Qiao Household's ancestral graves would be smoking straight into the heavens.

Liu Laodao did not seem very reliable, and Qiao Jiaxin was even less to be counted on. After thinking it over, Li Yunxin tore strips of cloth from Liu Laodao's clothes and roughly bandaged Qiao Duanhong.

Then... the situation became rather complicated.

At that moment, Li Yunxin realized just how convenient "cutting scenes" really was. For example, in one scene, one side won a miserable victory amid a heap of grievously wounded but contentedly grinning casualties; in the next, they were wrapped in bandages and lying in comfortable, dry hospital beds.

But now, Liu Laodao looked as though a gust of wind could blow him over, and Qiao Jiaxin was still an undergrown girl... Li Yunxin himself could not carry this burly man very far.

The situation was annoying.

"Let's wait for a cart," Li Yunxin said. "By my reckoning, dawn will come in another one or two shichen—well, two or three hours. If we meet someone willing to take us along, then this fellow's life is big. If not, then he has finished his life of wind and rain."

After saying that, he tried to carry Qiao Duanhong on his back while Liu Laodao, his legs weak and feet limp, supported him from the side. They stumbled along for more than ten minutes before reaching the crossroads from before, where they laid Qiao Duanhong down on a patch of grass.

Then they began to wait.

Liu Laodao shivered as he leaned beside him. After pondering for a long while, he asked, "Say, Great Master, you are..."

Li Yunxin raised one finger. "Listen to me. Don't ask about my origins, and don't mention tonight's events to anyone. I don't want anyone to know my identity. I am out undergoing tribulation. If you want to learn something, I can teach you, but if anyone asks about what happened today, you can play the hero for once. This girl was frightened. When her family asks after she returns, you know what to say. In short, I don't want to be disturbed, and I also intend to stay at your place for a while. Behave yourself, and I'll first teach you The Night Journey in Splendid Robes, all right?"