Until We Meet Again in the Martial World

Tap, tap-

Hearing a sudden noise outside the alley, Heroine Luo, who was drunkenly pursuing the little scoundrel, and Ye Jingtang, who was circling the table, both looked startled.

Half of Luo Ning's drunkenness vanished in an instant. She wanted to hurry onto the bed and pretend to be a demure little wife.

But this visitor was far more formidable than the constables who had come before.

Almost the instant the two heard the noise, a figure descended from the sky and landed outside the main room.

!!

Luo Ning's heart sank. Thinking a powerful enemy had arrived, she was already preparing to go out and fight to the death to silence them, but then she heard the visitor speak:

"Jingtang, you... who is this?"

A powerful enemy would have been better!

How was she supposed to explain this?

Ye Jingtang had been playing "the shameless little scoundrel teases the heroine" with Luo Ning. Caught red-handed by Third Madam, he was just as stunned.

Fortunately, Ye Jingtang had nerves of steel. Afraid the two women would misunderstand and start fighting, he hastily said:

"Third Madam, what brings you here? This is Miss Ning'er, a friend I met on my way to the capital. She came to the capital two days ago especially to visit me. I haven't had a chance to introduce her to you yet..."

Ning'er... visit...

Pei Xiangjun blinked and looked at the young married woman with the beauty of a celestial maiden. She understood-this was Jingtang's former sweetheart.

For some reason, she felt as though someone else had rooted up her fine cabbage. She also felt inexplicably awkward.

"Oh, really? A pleasure to meet you..."

Having spoken, Ye Jingtang turned to the somewhat flustered Heroine Luo.

"Ning'er, this is Pei Xiangjun, the proprietor at Skywater Bridge. I work for her. You can just call her Third Madam."

Luo Ning had drunk a little and then been "caught cheating" on the spot. Her thoughts were tangled like hemp, and she had not even considered how exceptional the visitor's Lightness Skill was.

Hearing Ye Jingtang's introduction, Luo Ning quickly put away her sword. Flushing red, she lowered her head in greeting.

"Third Madam."

Then she slipped on her shoes and made for the door, looking ready to flee in utter defeat.

Pei Xiangjun had come to ask whether Ye Jingtang was interested in starting a family. Now that she had seen his sweetheart in person, that thought naturally dispersed like smoke.

She could hardly treat someone close to Ye Jingtang coldly. Embarrassed at accidentally interrupting their flirtation, she hurried forward to block the door when she saw the young woman about to hide her face and flee.

"I'm the one who intruded. Please don't mind me, Miss Ning'er. We're all family here."

With her escape blocked, Luo Ning wished she could stab Ye Jingtang, but she could hardly say anything. She could only reply with flushed cheeks:

"Mm... of course not. Just now, I was... drinking with Jingtang. I had a little too much, so..."

"It's fine, it's fine. You're at home, after all. When I drink too much, I'm even wilder than Jingtang."

Pei Xiangjun was warm and friendly, taking Luo Ning's wrist like an older sister. Then she noticed-Oh~ this woman has quite a chest. She's almost catching up to me. No wonder she managed to root Jingtang away...

Luo Ning had no attention to spare for such things, but she too felt that this enchanting proprietress's figure was truly excessive, utterly beyond reason.

With her arm held, she returned to sit at the table. Unable to sit still, she looked at Ye Jingtang, hoping he would rescue her.

Ye Jingtang was reluctant to part with Heroine Luo, but Third Madam was the female head of the Red Flower House, while Heroine Luo's identity remained uncertain. Put the two together for a few exchanges, and something was bound to go wrong. He smiled and said:

"Third Madam, she still has things to do and is about to leave the capital. She was just getting ready to go..."

"Really?"

Pei Xiangjun blinked. Seeing that Ye Jingtang did not seem to be lying, she warmly offered:

"My carriage happens to be outside. Why not have Jingtang take you part of the way?"

Luo Ning did her best to give a shy smile.

"There's no need. My family has arranged a carriage. I... I must go. If I stay here too long, it'll be difficult to explain. Please forgive me, Third Madam. Jingtang and I will visit you another time."

With that, Luo Ning rose and dipped in a graceful curtsy befitting a well-bred young lady, then hurried outside.

Ye Jingtang knew that once they parted, he would not see her again until next month. Reluctant to let her go, he rose and went to the doorway.

"Wait..."

Called to a halt, Luo Ning could only suppress her emotions as best she could and glance back.

"Is there something else?"

Ye Jingtang opened his mouth. He wanted to say something but could not find a topic.

Pei Xiangjun misunderstood. Thinking she was in the way, she turned her back and teased with a smile:

"If you want to hug her, go ahead. I won't peek."

?!

When Ye Jingtang remained silent, Luo Ning also assumed the little scoundrel wanted to take advantage of her again before she left!

Half drunk and unbearably embarrassed, Luo Ning gritted her teeth to escape as soon as possible, spread her arms, and gave Ye Jingtang a "little watermelon tackle."

Ye Jingtang had not actually intended that, but now he did. He quickly raised his arms and embraced the lovely woman with her willow-slender waist, even lifting her and spinning once in the doorway.

Whoosh-

Her green skirt fluttered.

This made the already mortified Luo Ning's slender brows bristle, but she still said nothing. Once set down, she turned and ran, looking very much like a shy young heroine in love who could not bear to leave her sweetheart.

Tap, tap...

Hearing the commotion, Pei Xiangjun silently shook her head. Seeing Ye Jingtang standing in the doorway watching Luo Ning leave, she frowned.

"Go see her off! What are you standing there for?"

"Oh, right."

Seeing that Third Madam did not mind him leaving her alone, Ye Jingtang hurried outside after Luo Ning.

Tap, tap, tap...

In the deserted alley, a lovely green-clad figure hurried along at a trot. Upon reaching a place where no one would notice her, she leaped onto the buildings and sped away.

"Heroine Luo..."

She had barely gone any distance when a call came from behind. Looking back, she saw that the little scoundrel, who had just taken advantage of her, had actually chased after her again!

Annoyance flashed in Luo Ning's eyes, and she ran faster.

But with his newly learned Lightness Skill, Ye Jingtang actually managed to keep up.

One chasing and one fleeing, they covered half a li in the blink of an eye and were about to enter the busy streets.

Afraid of attracting attention, Luo Ning had no choice but to slow down. She landed in an alley, drew her sword, and turned back with an icy expression.

Ye Jingtang landed in the alley and saw Luo Ning charging toward him with murderous intent. He hastily raised his hands.

"All right, all right. If you're really angry, Heroine Luo, go ahead and stab me. Just don't aim below the belt."

Luo Ning strode up to him and raised her sword as if to stab him. But when Ye Jingtang did not dodge, how could she truly strike? She said coldly:

"How can you be so thick-skinned? Your employer was right there, and you still made me..."

Ye Jingtang looked solemn and earnest.

"Don't misunderstand, Heroine Luo. I was just thinking of something to say in farewell. You didn't even give me a chance to explain before you hugged me..."

?!

Seeing Ye Jingtang turn the accusation back on her again, Luo Ning's chest heaved. She raised her sword, truly ready to strike.

Ye Jingtang hurriedly said, "All right, all right, I'm shameless. It won't happen again."

Luo Ning glared at Ye Jingtang. She wanted to give him a scolding, but aside from "shameless," she could not find the right words. She sheathed her sword and said icily:

"I'll spare you today and settle the score another time. Go back and explain things properly. Don't let your employer suspect my identity. I'm leaving."

"Don't worry about that. Are you sure this trip won't be dangerous?"

The pride of the sect leader's wife appeared in Luo Ning's eyes.

"In the entire martial world, you're the only one who dares disrespect me! Do you really think I, Luo Ning, am some ordinary nobody whom anyone can bully when I'm away from home?"

"I just can't help worrying."

"I'm only delivering a gift. What's there to worry about?"

Luo Ning showed no sign of being touched. She gave a harrumph and turned to leave, then thought of something else.

"One more thing. You'd better think carefully about that princess. I've told you everything I should. If I return to the capital and discover you've become her consort..."

Ye Jingtang was rather amused. "If the princess really takes a fancy to me, I'll tell her I already have someone in my heart whom I can never abandon. If you won't let me repay you, Heroine Luo, I'll explain that you ran off with some other man. That should win the princess's sympathy..."

?!

Luo Ning could no longer stand this little scoundrel. She said coldly:

"Can't you just stay away from the princess?"

"Then how am I supposed to rescue Qiu Tianhe?"

"..."

At a loss for words, Luo Ning rubbed her forehead, turned, and left.

Ye Jingtang did not try to keep her any longer. He stood in the alley watching her go, only speaking when her retreating figure was about to disappear.

"Heroine Luo, until we meet again in the martial world. Say goodbye to Yunli for me. Oh, will Yunli come next time too?"

"What do you mean?"

"With Yunli around, you feel more at ease, Heroine Luo. Otherwise, you'll definitely keep a hundred and eight thousand li away from me."

"The next time we meet, I'll really teach you a lesson..."

Before her muttering ended, her figure had already vanished around the alley's corner.

Ye Jingtang sighed softly, feeling empty inside. After gazing after her for a long time, he shook his head and headed back alone.

Tap, tap, tap...

The footsteps gradually receded.

At the corner at the end of the alley, a green-clad woman leaned against the wall, her head tilted as she listened to the departing footsteps, then looked up at the clouds rolling and unfurling across the sky.

Countless turns of feeling flickered in her eyes, concealing who knew how many emotions. Her lingering drunkenness tinted her cheeks with the rosy blush of peach blossoms in the second month.

That wretched boy...

Luo Ning raised a hand to rub her brow. Only once the footsteps had vanished completely did she do her best to suppress her thoughts and assume her usual cool, captivating air, ethereal as an immortal.

But she maintained it for only a short while before she could not help kicking a small stone beside her foot with her embroidered shoe, as if that stone were the little scoundrel who had thrown her heart into turmoil.

Walking and stopping like this for who knew how long, she eventually reached a side street near Capital City's eastern gate.

A carriage stood in the street, with four figures waiting outside.

At their head was an old man holding a fortune-telling banner, his free hand behind his back and his eyes half closed. He kept studying the imposing Imperial City at the far end of his view-having grown up outside it as a child, he was probably recalling the past.

Zhe Yunli wore a bamboo hat and carried a saber at her waist. She sat at the edge of the carriage in a daze, her lower legs dangling and swinging. In her hands was a little cloth doll she had just bought on the street. Although it was also a bird, it looked nothing like Niao Niao, no matter how she examined it, leaving her downcast.

Beside Zhe Yunli stood two women dressed as ordinary wives. They were Incense Masters of the Sky-Pacifying Sect and also maids to the sect leader's wife.

When Luo Ning approached wearing her veiled hat, the two women respectfully dipped in greeting.

"Madam."

Zhe Yunli jumped down from the carriage and asked:

"Master's wife, what did Brother Jingtang say?"

"Everything has been arranged. Let's go. He asked me to say goodbye to you for him and tell you not to misbehave on the road."

Her voice was as ethereal and clear as when she first arrived, like a celestial maiden from the heavenly palace who had never been touched by earthly dust.

Zhe Yunli sighed listlessly, took her master's wife's hand, and glanced back.

Immediately, her master's wife turned her face forward again.

"What are you looking at? Can't bear to leave Brother Jingtang?"

"Master's wife, what are you saying~ Grandpa Zhang is right here... I'm worried something might happen to Hero Qiu."

"..."

Luo Ning felt that she had drunk too much today. Her words and actions had become rather outrageous.

It's all that wretched boy's fault...

Doing her best to suppress her tangled thoughts, Luo Ning led Zhe Yunli, who looked back three times with every step, toward the carriage. Just before boarding, she could not resist looking back herself.

A breeze lifted the thin gauze of her veiled hat, revealing peach-blossom eyes beautiful enough to stun the world, their meaning impossible to decipher.

"Hyah-"

Rumble, rumble...

The carriage rolled down the side street toward the city gate.

Zhang Henggu, known as "Southern Mountain Iron Divination," walked slowly beside the carriage, using his fortune-telling banner as a staff. He glanced back at the towering Imperial City and sighed softly:

"Great Wei's fortunes look like the sun at its zenith."

Zhe Yunli leaned at the window, gazing longingly at the streets growing ever more distant, and asked curiously:

"Grandpa Zhang, how can you tell? By divination?"

"The hearts of the people. Yun'an today is far more prosperous than when I was a little Daoist novice in Capital City. I've carried Great Yan in my heart for sixty years and spent half my life plotting its restoration, yet in my old age, it's in Great Wei's capital that I've seen the glorious prosperity a great Yun'an ought to possess. Ah..."

Knowing these words dealt a blow to their confidence in rebellion, Zhe Yunli declared confidently:

"Only Capital City in Great Wei is peaceful. Everywhere else is still a complete mess. If Master became emperor, he'd definitely do a better job than that empress in the palace..."

"Heh heh..."

Inside the carriage, Luo Ning said nothing, but she too was filled with emotion-even a heaven-favored prodigy like Ye Jingtang inclined toward the court. How could Great Wei's fortunes not blaze like the sun at its zenith...