Tome of Troubled Times

Chapter 22: Yue Hongling VS Luo Qi

Whatever the case, Instructor Sun truly recognized Zhao Changhe’s efforts and looked upon him with pride. Zhao Changhe was conflicted. For now, he set aside the matter regarding array arts and concentrated on learning the Vicious Blood Saber.

Anyway, I don’t dare to ask too much about the essentials of array arts. Otherwise, I may draw the suspicion of others.

The Vicious Blood Saber was one of the complementary martial arts of the Vicious Blood Art. Stimulating one’s qi and blood with the Vicious Blood Art while wielding the saber could allow one to display greater strength and unleash unparalleled ferocity. It included very few fancy saber techniques and was considered a free-form saber art. At the highest levels, the vicious qi emanating from the saber during a slash could cause plants to wither and weaker opponents to die on the spot. It was extremely powerful.

Of course, that was the ultimate form of the saber art. Currently, Zhao Changhe could not even begin to utilize its power. If he forced himself to use it, he would overexert himself and lose some of his fighting strength.

Now that he had both a cultivation method and martial techniques, Zhao Changhe could see that a complete cultivation system was gradually taking shape. This included the footwork of the Vicious Blood Saber. Since it required the practitioner to pay special attention to positioning, Zhao Changhe was naturally able to glean some knowledge on array arts.

Zhao Changhe trained intently.

Regardless of what I think... I’ll at least need to slowly gain strength.

He was particularly fond of this saber art which focused on charging up attacks. His only grievance was that his saber was too light and he did not know where to get a heavier one.

While resting, Zhao Changhe found himself putting his hand into his pocket and lightly held the Blood Settling Pill he did not use.

Instructor Sun definitely had no idea how much of a desire to revolt this matter could stir up within someone like Zhao Changhe.

*

When Zhao Changhe returned at night. Luo Qi was nowhere to be seen. Zhao Changhe furrowed his brow slightly.

The day of the Winter Solstice did not only merely mark the day of Zhao Changhe’s breakthrough or the discovery of the secret door. It was also a crucial point for Luo Qi.

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For the past month, no one had succeeded in robbing any traveling merchants and neither had anyone looted cities or villages. The bandits of this large stronghold were all out hunting instead. But how could there be so many animals in the middle of winter? After a month of efforts, animals had become harder and harder to find. In the past two days, more and more people had been returning from their hunts empty-handed.

Are these guys really mountain bandits? They’re clearly just competing with hunters for food and they’re losing. After all, none of these guys are professionals.

If it was not for the fact that the hunters were afraid of bandits and did not dare to go nearer to the mountain, they might not have even been able to come back with whatever scraps they managed to obtain.

Things ended up the way they were now mainly because Branch Master Fang and other deacons did not spare much thought for the stronghold. Instructor Sun’s role here was also simply to teach martial arts. None of them cared much for the situation here. With this in mind, the fact that the stronghold had accomplished nothing this past month was already causing Branch Master Fang to lose face. Thus, he gave out an order that the stronghold was to begin its work at any cost.

Luo Qi had begun looking around prior to this. She followed what Zhao Changhe had envisioned and went around the villages neighboring the mountain to see if there were any rich and ignoble old men upon whom they could...carry out the will of heaven, so to say.

She found an exceedingly vile government official living in one of the villages. She was already preparing to make a move a few days ago. Today appeared to be the day she finally set out.

Zhao Changhe felt a little warmth in his heart. Luo Qi may have called him na?ve, but she was now carrying out what he said he wanted to do. Regardless of whether this is what she herself wanted to do or whether she was just taking into consideration Zhao Changhe’s feelings, it warmed his heart all the same.

Over this long period of cohabitation along with the events of the previous night, Zhao Changhe knew that it did not matter if he pretended she was a guy; in his heart, she was already family.

To put it more bluntly, she was his wife.

“Boss Zhao! Boss Zhao! Things aren’t looking good!” A bandit who was on friendly terms with Zhao Changhe hurriedly rushed over. “Just now, a brother from one of the squads went to report to the Hall of Deacons that they bumped into—”

Zhao Changhe did not understand. “Why are you telling me this? You can’t be this excited over robbing someone...”

“We’re not excited, boss!” The bandit stamped his feet and said, “The person they bumped into is Yue Hongling! That’s someone not even the cult leader could beat. Who the fuck went to provoke her? Are they tired of living? When this was reported to Instructor Sun, he pulled back!”

Zhao Changhe was at a loss and did not fully take in the implications of all this. He listened as the bandit continued, “Yue Hongling is headed toward the Zhang Village. It looks like she wishes to find lodging there. Isn’t that Brother Luo who lives with you going to loot the Zhang Village today? That’s why I’ve come to report this to you. Why else would I tell you all this?”

Before the bandit had even finished speaking, Zhao Changhe was already running out of the stronghold at lightning speed, rushing down the mountain path.

*

Everything was going smoothly for Luo Qi today.

In some remote city outside the mountain surrounded by farmland, how could there be any experts keeping watch over the place? Luo Qi, in the meantime, had reached the first layer of the Profound Gate. Brazenly intruding upon the city with a few tens of fiendish bandits was as easy as chopping up rotten trees.

In an instant, anyone in the village who could put up any resistance had their pressure points hit by Luo Qi and was rendered unconscious. She waved with her delicate hand. “Begin searching. None of you are permitted to touch any of their women. Whoever does so, I’ll cut off your filthy paws!”

The bandits all had faces that looked like they just ate a load of shit. We’re already here looting the village and we can’t touch any of the women? Are we even bandits anymore? Do you really think you’re some kind of hero that steals from the rich to give to the poor!?

However, no one dared to disobey Luo Qi. Only these bandits that followed him knew that this thin and weak Luo Qi was actually more ruthless than Boss Zhao who was always in the spotlight.

A few days ago, there was an idiot who had too much to drink. He looked at Luo Qi’s delicate features and spoke rudely, saying that if he hadn’t been assigned to their group as a leader by the higher-ups, someone like him would only be fit to serve everyone and be their plaything. He wasn’t even satisfied with cursing out Luo Qi, and he even tried to reach out and grab her with his claws.

As a consequence, Luo Qi hit his pressure points and knocked him out before dragging him to a cliff. With a blank face, she released him and watched as the bandit turned into mincemeat. The coldness in her eyes was enough to let them shiver with fear.

Indeed, people who did not belong together, did not live together. Only someone ruthless like Luo Qi could live in the same house as Boss Zhao. The two were practically glued together.

When Luo Qi returned to the stronghold, she said that the bandit lost his footing and fell off the mountain. No one bothered to launch a serious investigation; they all took what Luo Qi said at face value. After all, in troubled times, people’s lives were worth as little as grass. It was no different in the stronghold.

Who would dare to disobey such a leader? The bandits obediently went to search the houses.

Not even Zhao Changhe knew of this incident, and even if someone told him, he would probably think that they were exaggerating. The Luo Qi in his heart was not such a ruthless person...

Luo Qi’s expression was cold as he stared at the official she had paralyzed. This was her first time doing this kind of thing and she did not know if she should kill him.

In theory, bandits, when they went looting, did not necessarily have to slaughter everyone. If they did not meet with vehement resistance, there was no need to. This was not because they were kind hearted. Rather, this was so they could raise some pigs.

It was difficult for villagers who lived near the mountain to pack up their bags and move somewhere else. After being robbed once, they would still remain in their villages, only that they would start hiding their riches better now and report it to the authorities. This way, there would still be things to steal next time... Then, mutual understanding would begin to form whereby villagers would view the bandits as foreign guards and think of what was taken away from them as a protection fee. Like this, they would have more leverage over the bandits when they came.

The bandits also knew this and would not just go down the mountain to completely weed the villagers out. If anything, they would even visit every now and then and take care of whatever problems that the village faced.

That was why it was difficult to eradicate mountain bandits. They had spies looking out for them everywhere.

However, Luo Qi felt strange... She first went to investigate the vile things this shady official had done before deciding to come here to carry out the will of heaven. She was not here to come to any understanding with him. So is killing him the right thing? Is there a guide I can refer to?

During this brief moment of hesitation, the sound of horse hooves appeared from far away.

Luo Qi furrowed her brow and went outside to take a look. She saw someone dressed in red riding over under the setting sun.

“For fuck’s sake, we’ve actually bumped into a chivalrous hero!” Luo Qi turned around and ran. “It’s Yue Hongling! Retreat, quickly!”

But how could they run away in time?

In the blink of an eye, Yue Hongling had blocked the road ahead.

Her beautiful eyes swept across Luo Qi before landing on the village in disarray. At this moment, there were a group of bandits rushing out of the village attempting to escape.

“Are they bandits from the Blood God Cult...” Yue Hongling sighed. “Something important came up a few days ago. I knew from the start that there was a mountain stronghold at Beimang. I should have gotten rid of it then...”

Luo Qi was clearly terrified of Yue Hongling and she did not know why anger flared up in her heart as she looked at Yue Hongling’s heroic mien. Luo Qi laughed coldly. “What do you think you’re doing pretending to be a chivalrous hero? You travel the jianghu everyday, so how do you earn your living? How do you get the money to pay off your daily expenses? You’re no different from us, who steal from the rich to give to the poor.”

Yue Hongling was at a loss for a moment, but then she chuckled. “Oh, I also engage in looting. But I loot people like you.”

Luo Qi: “...Fuck.”

Yue Hongling was different from what Luo Qi imagined a chivalrous hero preaching with a stern face would be like... She reminded her of Zhao Changhe. Luo Qi did not know how much of his personality was natural, and how much of it was him trying to be like Yue Hongling.

Yue Hongling laughed as she got off her horse. She unsheathed her blade and pointed it at Luo Qi. “There are few bandits who dare talk back to me like that. I would rather like to find out how your blade compares to your mouth.”

Luo Qi furiously unsheathed her sword and took a defensive stance. There was still room to talk things over, but she did not know why she was so unwilling to argue with Yue Hongling. Looking at Yue Hongling displeased her.

Then, a gale blew past them. From far away, they could feel a vicious and bloody hostile aura approaching.

Yue Hongling was slightly rattled and looked over. A big man was racing over like a speeding horse, striding through the snow.

Luo Qi was pleasantly surprised and suddenly thought this whole situation was quite amusing.

You’ve arrived at a good time.