Chapter 24: CH 24

“Kaboom!” The sound of a tree falling sounded deafeningly behind them, followed by anguished screams of pain from the Jinwu Guards.

Chen Ziqi was riding backwards on the horse, his arms wrapped tightly around Dan Yi’s waist. He could see two men clad in clothes the colour of withered leaves behind them. One was continuously letting fly the sharp brass leaves from earlier, whilst the other wielded a three-foot axe and cut down huge trees in just one stroke. The tree trunks of the trees he cut were about as wide as the circumference of a man’s arms.

Two Jinwu Guards were pinned under the tree. The other guards charged forward, and the Third Prince drew the sword at his waist.

“He’s a Prince – don’t kill him!” the one throwing brass leaves reminded his comrade. He then fixed his gaze on the two children fleeing on horseback.

Chen Ziqi locked eyes with the assassin. The assassin’s eyes were as cold as ice, and Chen Ziqi let out an involuntary gasp of fear. “Dan Yi, we’re on a pony – it can’t run very fast,” he said worriedly.

As he said this, the two assassins had already killed four Jinwu Guards. The one with the throwing leaf-knives left his comrade and sped forward, chasing after them.

Dan Yi didn’t reply, but pulled out the jade flute at his waist and twisted the joints apart. The jade flute was made like a bamboo flute, and when one unscrewed the top part from the bottom, the top part became a whistle that was about the size of a child’s palm.

“Blow hard!” Dan Yi said, thrusting the jade whistle at Chen Ziqi.

Chen Ziqi didn’t hesitate. He took the whistle and blew it with all his might. Blowing a whistle didn’t require any skill, just lungpower.

“Phweet!” A bright, high-pitched note sounded loudly, so loud that it seemed to reach the very heavens. Flocks of startled birds burst out of the trees around them, reacting to the shrill sound. 

“Continue!” Dan Yi held the pony’s reins as it forded a small stream. They soon galloped out of the forest at top speed, and Dan Yi pointed the horse in the direction of the camping ground. 

“Phweet! Phweet!” Thousands of birds were startled out of the trees, rising in clouds into the sky above them.

“Tweet tweet tweet!”

“Caw caw caw!”

“Screech!”

Chen Ziqi raised his head to look at the birds flying above them. There were so many birds that they had blotted out the sun, forming a dark moving mass in the sky above them. 

At the camping ground in the distance, everyone was looking up at the mass of birds in the sky.

“What’s going on?” the Zhenlong Emperor asked, perplexed. Even if a fierce beast had appeared in the forest, it should not have frightened such a large number of birds.

“Young Master!” Lingguan and Linghe exclaimed. They rushed into the tent, grabbed weapons, and sprang away at once, seeming to float lightly into the distance.

“Huh?! These Cloud Palace maids also mastered the Cyclone Step?” The guards stationed in the camp were stunned.

The birds in the sky circled for a few moments, then shot off in all directions.

“Do I keep blowing?” Chen Ziqi asked, staring blankly at the empty sky.

“Where do you think you’re running to?” A menacing voice cracked like thunder behind them, and two leaf-knives flew unerringly at them. One broke the pony’s hoof, and the other lodged itself deeply in the horse’s hind leg. The little horse whinnied frantically as it fell onto the ground. Dan Yi hugged Chen Ziqi tightly in his arms, then leapt off from the saddle, rolling over as he hit the ground. They rolled a few times in a tangle of arms and legs before they finally came to a halt.

They were at the edge of a small stream that had some large, uneven-looking rocks next to it. An insistent buzzing sound filled Chen Ziqi’s ears, mixed in with the gentle gurgling of the stream. Chen Ziqi shook his head to clear it, then raised his head, looking in the direction of the uneven rocks. In one of the larger recesses of the rock, he saw a huge hornet’s nest about the size of a water barrel.

Chen Ziqi pulled off his outer robes and threw one end of his robes to Dan Yi. “Quick, throw that hornet’s nest at him,” he said.

Dan Yi got the idea immediately. He caught Chen Ziqi’s robes, and the two worked together to scoop up the hornet’s nest with the robes before tossing it right at the assassin. 

The assassin instinctively threw leaf-knives at the nest, and the nest broke apart in mid-air. A horde of angry hornets exploded from it with a deafening buzzing sound.

Chen Ziqi pulled Dan Yi into the stream to take cover. The hornets swarmed around the assassin, stinging him without pause.

“Ahhhhh!” The assassin screamed wretchedly, rolling around in the grass. He realised belatedly that he could use his neili to kill the hornets.

The stream was quite shallow – it was only deep enough to hide the two children up to neck level when they squatted down. They waded over to the other side, then ran for their lives. A small number of hornets were following them, and Dan Yi dispatched these easily with a shockwave of neili. Dan Yi pulled Chen Ziqi in the direction of an area thick with tall grasses. 

The tall grasses came up to their waist. A dry, crackling sound came from beneath their feet as they stepped on the withered grass, and the icy water from the stream dripped off their clothes, making a soft “pitter patter” sound as it made contact with the ground. The birds and insects were all silent, and the only sound they could hear was their hearts beating in their chests like little drums.

“Ziqi,” Dan Yi said softly. He pulled Chen Ziqi into the grass thicket. They were crawling on their hands and knees to conceal themselves in the grass. This was the first time Dan Yi had ever called Chen Ziqi’s name so seriously.

“Hmm?” Chen Ziqi was trembling from head to toe in fright, but his brains were still working double time to ensure their survival. At this time, he was wondering if there was a way to clear out an area of grass for them to sit in safely and light the rest on fire. The withered grass in autumn caught fire easily and burned savagely, and this might be enough to stave off the assassins until help arrived.

“These assassins are after me. They won’t kill princes like you. If I get caught later, make sure you run away quickly,” Dan Yi said, pulling him to a halt.

“I can’t do that!” Chen Ziqi shook his head vehemently. That was too cowardly for words.

Dan Yi found that Chen Ziqi was shaking, and he gripped Chen Ziqi’s hand firmly in his. “Don’t worry. They won’t kill me. They probably have something they want from the Cloud Palace, that’s …”

Before he could finish, the metallic sound of clashing swords rang out from the direction of the stream. Chen Ziqi stood up to have a look, and nearly shouted in relief – Linghe and Lingguan had come to their rescue.

The Cyclone Step was truly incredible – the two had managed to get here in no time at all. They wielded a full moon scimitar each, working together to battle furiously with the assassin.

“You’re the Invincible Waverider, aren’t you?” Linghe said. She leapt lightly into the air, raising the scimitar high above her head, then slicing down with force as she descended.  

You are reading story Peach at novel35.com

There was a pair of brothers in the martial arts world known as the Invincible Duo. The one who specialised in throwing copper leaf-knives was called Xue Lang, and his nickname was the “Invincible Waverider”. The one wielding the axe was called Cheng Zhou, and his nickname was the “Invincible Cutter”. 

These two had a pretty good reputation in the martial arts world – they were known to be righteous and courageous, and people called them Daxia* wherever they went. For some reason, they had taken up this assassination job out of the blue today.

*T/N: Daxia means Great Hero. 

“The duo that everyone respectfully calls ‘Daxia’ would actually stoop so low as to try and kill two children? If word of this got out, you’d completely lose face,” Lingguan followed on seamlessly from her sister’s first blow, cutting off Xue Lang’s escape route.

In truth, the Ling sisters’ martial arts ability was one cut below Xue Lang’s. However, their teamwork in executing this sword technique was perfect, and he couldn’t find a way to break through. Moreover, the two were taunting him in clear, carrying tones, and he couldn’t keep his mind on the battle.

“Stop talking rubbish! If you want to fight, then fight,” Xue Lang said, intensely frustrated. Speed was key if he was to succeed in catching the Cloud Palace’s Young Master. If this continued to drag out, more of the Cloud Palace’s people might arrive, not to mention the Imperial family’s guards.

“Poke out his eyes! Cut off his dick!” Chen Ziqi cheered the Ling sisters on exuberantly. Suddenly, he felt a gust of wind behind him. He looked up blankly to find that a man with a massive axe was standing next to him, and that the axe was about to be brought down on his head!

“Ahhhh!” 

Dan Yi kicked at the flat of the axe, causing the axe to veer sideways, then grabbed Chen Ziqi in his arms and rolled out of the way. The axe slammed into the ground next to them with a whoosh, slicing off a corner of Chen Ziqi’s clothes cleanly.

Cheng Zhou seemed to realise that using his mighty axe on the two children was like using a sledgehammer on a walnut. He hefted the axe onto his back, then moved to grab the two children with his bare hands.

This man didn’t seem to be out to kill them. Chen Ziqi suddenly felt much less afraid. He groped for the dagger hidden in his waistband – the same one that Da Chen had given him back in Jiuru Town. They’d left Jiuru Town in too much of a hurry for him to return it to Da Chen. Chen Ziqi had specially brought it along with him on this Autumn Hunt.

“Young Master, this one is named Cheng Zhou. I do not have any ill intent. My sworn brother and I just want to bring you to the Cloud Palace with us,” Cheng Zhou said. He looked to be in his thirties, and had a pleasant-looking face. His skin was very tanned and weather-beaten, likely because he spent many days in the great outdoors. Chen Ziqi found his features strangely familiar.

“The Cloud Palace’s doors are wide open. You can just head there yourself if you want,” Chen Ziqi said, his lips curling. What did this fellow mean when he said he wanted to “bring” Dan Yi to the Cloud Palace with them? This was something child kidnappers in Jiuru Town often liked to say!

Cheng Zhou sneered coldly, then reached out to grab hold of Dan Yi.

Dan Yi immediately countered with the Cloud Dispelling Fists. The two were soon engaged in a fierce fight.

Cheng Zhou got a real shock. He had not thought that a mere eight-year-old child could have such well-developed martial arts skills, and in a moment of panic, exerted more force than he should have.

Dan Yi folded his arms in an instant, made a simple motion with his hands in front of his chest to channel his qi, then raised his hands to block.

“BOOM!” A circle of withered grass flattened in the resulting shockwave. The two were standing with their palms out, with a space of two inches between their hands. They both could not advance another inch.

“Danyang Divine Martial Arts…” Cheng Zhou clenched his teeth and said this with difficulty. He would never have guessed that Dan Yi had such formidable neili. Given what he’d shown today, it was likely that he had already reached the first level of cultivation.

Dan Yi’s face looked calm and relaxed, but he was actually under a lot of strain. Even though he was powerful, he was still a young boy, and couldn’t store that much neili. He could match up with Cheng Zhou for a short period of time, but he would definitely be worse off in an extended fight. When his neili was exhausted, he would no longer be able to push back against Cheng Zhou, and when that happened, he would be seriously injured. Chen Ziqi would likely suffer some of the fallout as well.

Dan Yi wanted to tell Chen Ziqi to run away as fast as he could, but the words couldn’t come out of his mouth; such was the strain he was under.

Chen Ziqi was hiding behind Dan Yi. When he saw that the two were not moving any more, he was confused for a second, but reacted immediately thereafter. He pulled out the dagger from his waistband and used the Roving Dragon Follows the Moon, winding his way along their arms to stab the dagger right into Cheng Zhou’s arm.

Bright red blood spurted out of Cheng Zhou’s arm immediately. The two who were still exerting their neili were dumbfounded.

Cheng Zhou’s injured arm dropped down despite his best efforts, and the neili he exerted decreased as a result. Dan Yi took advantage of this and pushed out with his own neili. The two sets of neili slammed into Cheng Zhou’s body.

“Pff–” Cheng Zhou vomited out a mouthful of blood. His entire body flew backwards and fell into the grass thicket. He looked at his bleeding arm, which had been cut so deeply that the white of bone showed through. Cheng Zhou bit down on his bloodied silver tooth ferociously, as if he had just seen a sworn enemy who had murdered his father, directing that menacing glare at Chen Ziqi.

“A Bloodblade… As I thought, you’re in it together!” Cheng Zhou bit out.

“Huh?” Chen Ziqi had no idea what he was talking about.

Dan Yi looked at the slightly rusted old dagger in Chen Ziqi’s hand. There didn’t seem to be anything special about the dagger, but if one looked closely, there was a barely detectable joint on the blade. A thin line of blood flowed down this joint, making the joint more conspicuous.

“What are you staring at – run!” Chen Ziqi grabbed Dan Yi’s hand and ran. If they didn’t take advantage of their enemy’s temporary defeat to escape, when were they ever going to be able to flee? Was Dan Yi waiting for Cheng Zhou to get up and do battle again?

“Young Master, be careful!” Linghe screamed suddenly.

Chen Ziqi didn’t have time to react before Dan Yi gathered him protectively into his arms and hugged him so tightly that he couldn’t move. Chen Ziqi clearly saw two throwing knives glinting gold in the sun before they stabbed straight into Dan Yi’s back.

“DAN YI!!!”

Author’s note: Mini-theater

Cheng Zhou: Come, let’s have a neili competition

Qiqi: I’ll cut your bird off

Cheng Zhou: (blood rising) Low blows are not the way of the gentleman

Qiqi: Whilst you’re wasting your breath, I’ll cut you again

Blood: biubiu~ you’re freaking dum

You can find story with these keywords: Peach, Read Peach, Peach novel, Peach book, Peach story, Peach full, Peach Latest Chapter