Slowpokes Get Turned into Barbecue Pork

Qin Yueyao lightly touched her face. After her fury and shock, she became strangely calm.

She nodded, said nothing more, and lay down to sleep.

Lin Xiaotian found it astonishing. This woman truly defied common sense. He had no idea what she was thinking.

A great master from his previous life had been right: The prettier a woman is, the more dangerous she is.

Better have less to do with this woman from now on.

Two mornings later, a figure suddenly leaped out of the courtyard.

Tap! Tap! In the blink of an eye, she was gone.

The man keeping watch nearby jolted and looked in that direction. All he caught was a fleeting glimpse of an extraordinarily beautiful figure.

He frowned slightly, then his eyes flew wide with panic.

"How is that possible? How? That woman isn't injured... The household head and another Internal Force expert clearly wounded her badly. How could this be?"

"Was she pretending that day...? Ah! I remember now. She's probably an Internal Force expert too. How else could she be completely recovered?"

"I have to tell the household head... Everyone outside needs to withdraw."

A short while later, in the inner hall of the Ouyang Household.

Bang! The door was shoved open.

"What are you panicking for?" a stern voice snapped from inside.

"Household head!" Ignoring the reprimand, the man stumbled into the room, all his usual composure gone.

Ouyang Nianci frowned as well. He had never behaved like this before.

Before anyone could ask, the man blurted out:

"Household head, a woman leaped out of that young man's courtyard. She had a striking figure and moved incredibly fast. One look told me she was no ordinary External Force practitioner. It had to be Qin Yueyao."

The pupils of everyone present contracted.

"She came out of that young man's house, moving nimbly and showing no sign of injury. I badly wounded the Qin daughter that day. How could she run so fast?"

"Who else could it be? Who in the entire town has her Martial Dao cultivation and would just happen to be in that young man's house?"

"To set aside her pride like that... Could we all have underestimated Qin Yueyao? At death's door, she cast aside her dignity and practiced some kind of dual-cultivation Martial Dao art with that young man. That must be how she recovered from her wounds and regained her strength!"

Ouyang Nianci suddenly spoke up:

"Father, a woman like Yueyao would rather die than surrender her dignity. I'm a woman too. I can sense how Yueyao thinks."

Ouyang Zhentian glanced at his daughter. "Oh?"

"I think it's entirely possible Qin Yueyao has had feelings for that young man for a long time."

"Impossible!" Ouyang Zhentian dismissed it outright. "Do you know who Qin Yueyao is? Why would she take a liking to that boy? Besides the one possible encounter, the two of them have had no dealings at all..."

He suddenly stopped, his expression shifting.

"He has an elder sister. Qin Yueyao may have been influenced by her..."

"Enough of that. If Qin Yueyao has reached Internal Force, send word at once. Tell your second uncle, who went to hunt down the Qin Household, to hurry back before she catches him off guard."

Over a dozen li from Long River Town, Master Qin and Young Master Qin ran, panting so hard they could almost breathe fire.

"Father, I can't run anymore. Go on without me."

"You wretch! I can stop, but you can't. Even if I die, you must live. The Qin Household bloodline depends on you!"

"Father! I really can't run anymore. I'll die of exhaustion before our pursuer kills me. Father, I can't go on. I'm stopping. Better he cuts me down with one stroke than I run myself to death."

With that, Young Master Qin gave up and sprawled on the ground. He stopped moving and let out a long-overdue sigh of relief.

"This feels so much better. If I die, I die."

Master Qin looked ready to breathe smoke through his nose. He cursed:

"You unfilial son! How did the Qin Household end up with the likes of you?"

Young Master Qin was past being afraid of him. He could not even be bothered to open his eyes as he mumbled:

"Father, don't I have an elder sister? Let her carry on the family line."

"You wretch!" Master Qin was so furious that he, too, dropped onto his backside, gasping for breath.

"Oh, come on! It's no fun if you two lie down to rest here." A man's voice came abruptly from behind them.

Their hearts, which had just begun to settle, gave a sudden jolt. They hurriedly looked back, eyes round with terror.

"H-how did you catch up to us?" Young Master Qin stammered.

The man laughed.

"Think about it. If I'd really wanted to catch you, how could you have escaped Long River Town? I kept my distance so you wouldn't sense me closing in. I wanted you to leave town."

"If we leave Long River Town, you won't kill us?" Master Qin caught the implication.

"I've hidden some silver back in town. I can give it all to you. We'll leave here as soon as possible and head for the county seat."

"Hahaha!" The man roared with laughter, as though he had heard the funniest joke of his life.

"Still playing dumb? That's Master Qin for you. What a pity... Your greatest support is gone. Otherwise, the Qin Household could have gone on living the good life in town."

"W-what are you going to do?" Young Master Qin lost his composure. His legs shook as he backed away, desperate to put more and more distance between them.

"We could kill you in town, but that would cause trouble for our lineages. After all, we still have to divide up the resources you leave behind. Even with that prize in hand, we'd rather avoid the bother."

"The farther from town, the better. Once we kill you out here, we won't have to worry about your descendants seeking revenge someday."

A thought suddenly clicked in Young Master Qin's head. He cried out excitedly:

"So if we don't leave—if we don't head for the county seat—you won't kill us!"

"Hahaha! Father, we're not going anywhere. We're only a dozen li from town. Someone might find us. They wouldn't dare kill us here."

Master Qin was not nearly so optimistic. He gave a bitter smile.

"My foolish son... Ah!"

"Heh. Master Qin didn't hold his position for nothing. You see things clearly."

As the man spoke, he stepped forward and drew a broad saber with a shing.

A cold gleam ran along its blade.

Young Master Qin shuddered, his face turning white. "Y-you're not really going to kill us, are you? Aren't you afraid of what'll happen back in town..."

Slash!

The blade flashed.

Young Master Qin screamed:

"Ah! My shoulder! My shoulder! It hurts! It hurts!"

The man ignored his cries. He merely watched blood well from the wound on Young Master Qin's shoulder.

"You can stay here if you like. I'll carve the flesh off your bodies one slice at a time."

"Run another twenty li, and I'll give you a quick death. Slow down, and don't blame me when I start cutting."

Terror seized them both. They did not even spare a breath to call him a beast. They simply ran.

Young Master Qin did not stop again. Exhausted though he was, the fear of being carved up one slice at a time overwhelmed his desire to rest.

Master Qin ran, gasping, with his son's hand gripped in his own. Even if they were both doomed, he did not want his son to suffer a moment more than necessary.

"Heh, such devotion between father and son. Now, don't run too slowly."

Devil! they cursed in their hearts at the same time. Neither dared say it aloud.

If he heard them and struck again, the pain would be unbearable!

"Oh dear, you're much too slow. How about I cut off an ear and let the nearby beasts have a fresh treat?"

The words nearly made the hair on both their heads stand on end.

Clenching their teeth, they ran with everything they had. Even if they ran themselves to death, they would not mind. Death would be a release.

Young Master Qin had never wanted so badly to drop dead from running. He wished for it with all his heart.

Rustle, rustle. Footsteps followed close behind them, drawing nearer.

The man's footsteps.

Their approach was more terrifying than the threat of death.

The man's voice suddenly sounded beside their ears:

"You're running too slowly. Let me help. If I catch up, one of you loses an ear."

Mother of mercy! This man is crueler than a devil.

Yet those footsteps kept drawing steadily closer behind them.

Young Master Qin did not know how long it went on. Every second felt like a year. At last, the footsteps reached their backs.

Sweat soaked both their backs. Despair washed over them.

"All right. One ear."

The man's voice rang out.

Whoosh!

A sharp blade cut through the air. Young Master Qin felt something warm splash against his back. Then something flew past him from behind.

Young Master Qin and Master Qin stared blankly for a moment. Then they jolted and shouted:

"That's the man's head! How did he die?"

"All right, stop running. I'm back." It was a beautiful woman's voice.

At the sound, the Qin father and son froze. Then joy surged through them. They turned around, weeping with relief:

"Sister! (Yueyao!)"