This is right at dinner time so both the guards and the students are all eating in the front courtyard. Gu Nan Yi’s room is right next to hers. She had seen someone delivering a tub of water to his room so she figures that he is in the middle of bathing and knocked on to window to say “Master Gu, please come find me along the path we came from.”
There was no reply from within the room but Zhi Wei didn’t have time to wonder and quickly jumped on the fastest horse she can find. Her heart sinking when she spots a few dark shadows flipping over the courtyard wall, Zhi Wei could hardly contain her shock that Cheng Clan would send out two teams of assassins to go after herself and Ning Yi.
Her hand tightening on the rein–two groups of assassins at two different places at the same time. Ning Yi is behind them while her guards are split between two places, which means both places are in extreme danger!
Her group is under attack, how can she just leave?
However, Ning Yi is being attacked at his most vulnerable time…and she was the cause of it, so how can she just ignore him?
Hesitating for only a second, Zhi Wei promptly yells out towards the sky “The academy’s students who inside all have very important background. Please keep them safe or I will have a lot to answer to. Please!”
Giving the horse a kick, Zhi Wei rides off into the night, leaving sounds of fighting behind her.
Zhi Wei knows that there is a group of guards protecting her out of sight. Exactly where they are, she never thought too deeply about but at this moment, she has no choice but to drag them out for her own use.
As for herself, Gu Nan Yi will find her.
What Zhi Wei doesn’t know is that after she disappeared into the night for a bit, Gu Nan Yi slowly returned back to the motel. Gu Nan Yi had the runs tonight so he spent quite a bit of time squatting in the outhouse…which meant he wasn’t taking a bath in his room either when Zhi Wei stopped by.
The moment Gu Nan Yi returned, two grey figures flew down and kneels with one leg in front of him “She left after leaving words for you to find her along the path you guys came from. She also left word for us to protect the team here.”
Frowning, Gu Nan Yi mutters “The same path…”
“We already sent two people to protect her along the way but the horse she took is the world’s fastest horse…so we might lose her after a bit.” The man in the grey outfit with his face hidden behind a mask asks “But the people over here are too weak and the attackers are too strong. If we want to make sure this side is fully protected, then we can’t spare anymore people… Master, can you find your own way back?”
Gu Nan Yi thought for a bit and nodded “It’s alright. She can protect herself.”
The man in grey lets out a sigh of relief but still took the time to explain to Gu Nan Yi in detail how to get to where Zhi Wei is going.
After much explaining and Gu Nan Yi correctly repeated back the instructions, the man in grey stares after his Master’s retreating back with unease. Letting out a sigh, the man in grey really wished their group leader is around right now to help out. Unfortunately, the group leader has to stay at the Capital to deal with the traitor hiding by Xin Zi Yan and the imperial guards. Sigh…who knows if the world’s biggest direction challenged Master could really find Feng Zhi Wei… Unfortunately, in this world, wishes are always lovely but realities are often cruel.
Bracing herself against the bone chilling cold as the horse race through the night, Zhi Wei pulls out a black bendable sword. (So these kind swords are not stiff but can bend when they are not in use. Zhi Wei wore her sword around her waist to keep it out of sight.)
Zhi Wei had the sword specially made for her. Both sides of the sword is sharp with one side jagged. The sword is pure black and does not reflect light– a weapon made for killing…a weapon that is a good match for her.
She had yet to use the sword yet, perhaps today it will be able to drink its first blood.
The rest stop is right after a grove of trees. Under the moonlight, the grove looks peaceful and completely normal. Keeping her eyes on the ground, Zhi Wei suddenly thrust her sword downward.
The path looked completely clear to the eye so the sword should not have encountered anything…
“Plop!”
The sound of something snapping accompanied by shadows shooting up towards either side. Zhi Wei sneers coldly when she hears a faint yelp of surprise. Slashing her sword across, a tree by the side of the road promptly falls revealing the shadow of a person jumping up. Like a poison snake focused on its prey, Zhi Wei’s sword is already waiting for the person.
The shadow stumbles but Zhi Wei is already flying past him on her horse.
Sword out, tree fall, man down, racing past the grove on her fast horse- it all happened in an instant.
The shadow is still twitching on the ground but Zhi Wei is already riding past the grove, a small ball of steel wire caught on her blood stained sword.
A cold smile lingers on Zhi Wei’s lips. She was alerted that something must be amiss when from far off she could tell there was not a single light coming from the rest stop– the palace guards have been trained to always leave a light on through the night.
If the rest stop has been attacked, then there is a real possibility of assassins waiting on the road to cut off any rescuers that might be coming.
However, they are not expecting large rescue armies so they would not have left behind many people.
That grove of trees was the best place to lay a trap.
Anyone who is rushing over on a rescue mission must be hurrying with all their might so what better way to lay a trap than to set up steel wire to trip the person’s horse?
The assassin was waiting for her with a black steel wire.
She was waiting for him with her black sword.
Both were prepared, the winner is whoever is more ruthless.
Not sparing one single glance towards her sword’s first prize, Zhi Wei knows that since someone is waiting here that means Ning Yi is indeed at the rest stop…in danger!
Her wrist is pulsing in pain but she ignores it. She has been working hard on learning to fight but she is after all lacking in actual experience of fighting. Her angle was wrong when she slashed toward the tree and her wrist is paying for it now.
The strange thing is that despite being a newbie when it comes to learning to fight but her inner energy is growing extremely fast. Even a child would know that it doesn’t make any sense that after a year of learning she would be able to break a tree in half with a single swipe. But she doesn’t have time to dwell on those questions now…
Abruptly flipping her body to the underbelly of the horse, Zhi Wei dodges an arrow that narrowly misses her seat.
Leaping towards the direction where the arrow came from, Zhi Wei jumps into someone’s lap and promptly elbows the person’s throat.
- Skipping over the long fighting sequence here. I’ll just summarize that including the man whose throat she just shattered, our heroine will kill three men in a few minutes. The last one is especially bloody since the man had tried to shoot off a warning firecracker but failed when our heroine simply cut his head off.
- Zhi Wei arrives at the rest stop to find dead bodies everywhere and the assassins mentioning something strange about the “king” is missing. Zhi Wei fights the leader of the assassin and tricks the man into believing she is calling for backup and has some scary weapon up her sleeve. Seeing their leader has retreated, the rest of assassins also leave the rest stop giving Zhi Wei the chance to search through the dead bodies for Ning Yi.
Walking through the dead bodies that are scattered everywhere, Zhi Wei continues to use her sword to flip over the dead bodies while calling in a low voice “Your Highness….”
“Your Highness….”
The smoke from the fire makes her cough unceasingly. With every call, a sense of hopeless begins to fill her– if Ning Yi is not dead then why would the assassins be willing to leave? If Ning Yi is still alive, then why wouldn’t he respond to her call?
212 bodies, by her calculations, other than Ning Yi and Chun Yu Meng there should still be a few guards that are not accounted for. (Chun Yu Meng is a minor character whose father is the empire’s best general, he is also a devoted fan of Ning Yi. I would usually leave his name out but he will be showing up in the next few posts so I figure we might as well get to know him a bit.)
There is only one last house she has not checked. The last house was also the very first house the assassins set on fire so it is completely engulfed in fire by now. Hesitation flashes across Zhi Wei’s eyes–in this big of a fire, even if someone was alive in there before there is no chance they are now. She could very well be committing suicide if she goes in there.
However, the next moment Zhi Wei has already jumped into the courtyard’s water basin. Climbing out of the basin completely soaked, Zhi Wei rips out a piece of the outer robe to tie it around her nose and mouth. Coughing all the while, Zhi Wei charges into the burning fire.
All text copyright @ www.Ninja-Reflection.com
Wow! What a dynamic chapter!
I looked through the mail and then came the message about the translation of the new chapter. I immediately rushed to read!
Waiting for the continuation! Thank!
This chapter kept me on edge. You have really good story telling skills.
Thanks for being so disciplined while posting every chapter punctually.
I really wish I could have read about the bloody scenes. I know you’re trying to stick to only the plot line, but I’m a bit blood thirsty and love these details. Thanks again for an exciting chapter. Hope you are enjoying your holidays
Looking forward to reading about Ning Yi and Zhiwei’s reunion. Thank you for the continuous updates.
Thank you so much for translating. So different than the TV drama but I love it!
Love the novel’s ZW! And I want that black sword :). Thanks for scheduling these posts while your traveling. Hope you’re enjoying your time away!!
ZhiWei is truly fearless, chopping off heads and splitting trees, total badass. Excitedly waiting for next Mondays reunion. Is Gu Yanyi pretending to be a man of few words when he’s around ZhiWei and company? Cause he seems pretty vocal(somewhat normal) even authoritative in this post. Thanks for sharing and keeping us going while you’re away.
Gu Nan Yi IS a man of few words. He can of course communicate when he needs to but he is someone who tends to use the fewest words to express himself. Gu Nan Yi is regarded as the next leader of the Bloody Pagoda (he was also raised as such) so he will naturally speak with authority when he is talking to his subordinates.
Wow, ZW is fighting her through!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. I can’t wait to see what happens next. Just love the book translation, looking forward to Monday!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!