Chapter 261: Empty Mountain Phantoms (2)
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
It was already late at night.
In the deep mountains and ancient forests, a group of three moved forward silently. Ye Jingtang carefully observed the traces on the ground to determine the direction Bai Siming had fled in.
However, when top experts fled, the footprints they left behind were barely visible. If they wanted to catch up to Bai Siming, they had to rely on the scouting bird. The three of them slowly walked in the mountains, mostly resting and recuperating, waiting for the bird to return and report the location of the target.
After traveling like this for half an hour, they didn’t see the bird turn back or send a signal. Ye Jingtang’s ears twitched slightly as he looked at the high mountains in front.
Pei Xiangjun suppressed her aura and looked at the deep mountains. “There’s a situation?”
Ye Jingtang stood up, jumped onto the top of a big tree, and looked into the depths of the wilderness. “There seems to be a fight in the mountains. There’s a lot of movement.”
“Bai Siming is fighting with someone?”
“Possibly.”
Now, Ye Jingtang wasn’t the only person from the Imperial Court who had come to pursue the Prince of Wu.
The Prince of Wu had plotted a rebellion and escaped. Being the first to discover and capture him was a great achievement that was enough to promote someone to a noble. Constables from all over the country and even government experts had been rushing to Wu Province in the past few days.
If the others searching for traces in the mountain bumped into Bai Siming and got into a conflict, the duck in his mouth might fly away.
Thinking of this, Ye Jingtang didn’t hesitate and began to move quickly toward the deep mountains. Luo Ning and Pei Xiangjun also stood up and followed behind…
The clouds covered the full moon, and the deep mountains and ancient forests darkened, leaving only dim starlight.
Deep in the mountains, in a pine forest…
The yellowish-brown pine needles had piled up on the ground in a thick layer. The ground was very slippery and would make a light sound when stepped on.
A woman in a snow-colored dress and a white veiled hat slowly walked in the dark pine forest. Her white shoes embroidered with plum blossom petals seemed to be weightless when she stepped on the pine needles, not causing any movement or sound.
The woman in white was holding a sword that was three feet and three inches long. The edges of the sword were as bright as mirrors, and the handguard was shaped like a yin-yang fish. The name was quite special. It was called ‘Joyful Union’, taken from the meaning of yin-yang joyful union. It was the Joyful Union Sword among the ten famous swords.
The high ranking didn’t mean that the material and craftsmanship of this sword were special.
Just like the Roaring Dragon Spear, the material and craftsmanship of the Roaring Dragon Spear was not inferior to the top ten famous spears, but its reputation in Jianghu might not even rank among the top 100.
After all, the status of famous weapons in Jianghu was never determined by quality but by the people who used the weapons and their past achievements.
This sword ranked in the top three because it had been the sword of the founder of Void Jade Mountain. Now, it was in the hands of the top three of the Eight Chiefs and the strongest woman in Jianghu.
The pine forest looked calm as usual, but if there were enough light and one looked closer, they would discover that many black needles as thin as hair were left on the pine trees, and some of the tree trunks even had sword marks.
The woman in white’s dress fluttered in the light night wind. After searching the forest for a long time, she stopped and said, “Come out. You’ve been hit by my palm. If you continue, you’ll die.”
Her mature voice was elegant, gentle, and unhurried, but there was a hint of playfulness. It sounded both righteous and demonic, making it difficult to distinguish if the speaker was good or evil.
As the woman in white spoke, a woman’s voice came from the depths of the forest. She was burning with anger. “Demoness, you’ve been hit by my Rotten Bone Needle. Even Divine Doctor Wang of Southern Wei can’t save you. Now, throw your sword away and beg for mercy. I’ll give you a way out. If you chase after me again, we’ll die together!”
The woman in white turned around and walked toward the source of the voice. She sighed softly and said, “You’ve said that seven or eight times. What Heart Burning Needle? Meridian Breaking Powder? Every time, you say there’s no cure…”
“I didn’t want to kill anyone, so I held back on you! Demoness, you’ve chased me from the Western Sea of Great Liang from last year to this year. Aren’t you annoyed? If you chase me again, I will drug you with an aphrodisiac and throw you into a brothel…”
Ding-
A hair-thin flying needle flew silently from the darkness without any warning. However, when it approached, it was swept away by the Joyful Union Sword.
The woman in white strolled in the pine forest and looked at a tree crown in the depths. “Oh~? You still have an aphrodisiac? I really want to try out how powerful it is. I hope it’s not like those cheap things on the market. They don’t even make me feel anything…”
“Ptui! Demoness, don’t force me. If you dare to take another step forward, I’ll break my killing rule!”
The woman in white didn’t stop walking. “You can’t hold on anymore. Hand over the Roaring Dragon Chart, and I’ll let you leave alive…”
“I don’t have the Roaring Dragon Chart. I’ve told you a hundred times! If you want to find the Roaring Dragon Chart, go find Jiang Zhahu. Why are you chasing me?”
“I was going to look for Jiang Zhahu, but 1 bumped into you first. You’re the ‘Thief Sage’ of Northern Liang. Over the years, you’ve visited countless wealthy families in the two countries. You should have more than one picture, right?”
There was a big difference between the Jianghus of Northern Liang and Great Wei. Great Wei was full of traditional martial artists, and the only people in Jianghu who were revered as ‘sages’ were the Two Sages on the mountain.
On the other hand, Northern Liang respected extraordinary people. Martial artists who didn’t take the ordinary path in Jianghu also had very high statuses. Poison, hidden weapons, and even monoculars, osmanthus soap, and other items that were popular in the world were all created by people of Northern Liang. They had many titles such as Poison Sage, Medical Sage, and Thief Sage.
But no matter how many people there were, there could only be one person in a profession who dared to bear the word ‘sage’..
