The Rise of Phoenixes- Novel Translation #46

The leader finally waves his hand and signals to the others to put away their swords.

Zhi Wei secretly lets out a sigh of relief. Even if they end up in a fight later, it would be better than the situation they were in just now.

“Your group is resting at the old temple for the night then where are you going after?” The twelve men spread out to start fires and find a place to rest but they are still purposefully forming a sort of circle around Zhi Wei and Ning Yi.

Seemingly unaware they are trapped, Zhi Wei continues to chatter on “Go into the mountain?”

The leader acts like he has no interest in chatting. A burly man walks by and shoves Ning Yi away as he shouts “An obedient dog doesn’t get in the way, get lost!” Zhi Wei quickly goes over to steady Ning Yi who had stumbled forward. In the dim light of the fire, there is not a single trace of anger on Ning Yi’s face as a smile slowly appears on his face. The smile was dazzling in the shifting shadow of the fire, like a demon flower that quietly blooms in the dark night. None of the men saw Ning Yi’s smile. The burly man is busily pulling out food that has been wrapped in paper.

The leader suddenly frowns and yells in a low voice “Isn’t this the letter our sect leader received but then couldn’t find later? Niu Qi, you are crazy! If he finds out that you used this to wrap food he will for sure punish you severely!”

“What letter? What’s so precious about it?” The burly man named Niu Qi laughs as he shakes the oily paper in his hand “We were in a rush and I couldn’t find anything to wrap the beef so I just grabbed some paper off sect leader’s table. Is not like he didn’t read it already.”

Zhi Wei’s glanced over at the last page of the papers and her heart skipped a beat. Peaking out in between the burly man’s fingers, there is a bright red seal…made by the private stamp of the governor. Governor Shen is in the pocket of Cheng Clan so judging by the fact that he had sent a letter to these men’s sect leader that means Governor Shen was afraid the two of them would escape and had hired these men to ensure that they would die by the hand of those that are part of Jianghu. If she and Ning Yi were really killed by people from Jianghu that that would make it even harder to investigate their death. (The affairs of Jianghu is really difficult for the government to track especially since those who count themselves as part of Jianghu usually pays little heed to government authority. But money, as always will go a long way everywhere so that’s why the governor was able to hire these men.)

Niu Qi set the papers aside and begin to cut up the beef with his sword. Zhi Wei stealthily flipped through the papers and discovered that there seem to be some drawings within it as well. What drawings? Could it be drawings of Ning Yi and herself?

Then why didn’t these people recognize them? After thinking for a moment, it finally dawns on Zhi Wei that the drawing in the letter was for these men all along but Niu Qi ended up using them to wrap his beef. These men’s sect leader couldn’t find the letter and ended up having to describe the drawings to his men verbally as best as he could. Which is why this group’s leader was a bit suspicious of them in the beginning but had no way of confirming their identity since they didn’t have the drawings. These men probably can’t read either, so they lost any interest in flipping through the letter the moment the saw the first page that was filled to the brim with words and missed the chance of discovering those drawings…but they will discover soon enough because Niu Qi is presently passing out the beef with the paper and will get to the drawings in just a bit.

Their time clearly running out, Zhi Wei suddenly hugs her stomach and let out a grunt of pain.

Zhi Wei’s moan promptly catches everyone’s attention, causing them to stop eating. Niu Qi stopped what he was doing as well, and asks “Your stomach is hurting? Did you eat something bad?”

Those who spent their lives in Jianghu is always extra sensitive when it comes to poisons. The men all put down the beef in their hand and looked at each other. Niu Qi chides the men “He didn’t even eat our beef, what are you guy so afraid of?!” Despite his words, Niu Qi himself also used the remaining paper to wrap up what’s left of the beef. 

Zhi Wei continues to yelp in pain as she stands up “I can’t hold it, I have to go to the outhouse.” Making her way out, Zhi Wei suddenly stumbles and knocked the fire over, sending fire sparks all over, causing everyone to scramble out of the way. Zhi Wei was happy at first when some of the fire sparks landed on the paper wrapped beef but her hope was soon dashed by Niu Qi who promptly jumped over to smack out the fire while muttering “This can’t catch on fire, or how am I suppose to carry this oily thing around in my backpack.” There was nothing Zhi Wei could do but watch with disappointment as Niu Qi carefully puts away the beef.

Without warning, Ning Yi stands up and grabs her arm “Be careful, perhaps you are not feeling well from getting rained on. Let me help you to the outhouse.”

The men were silent as they watch them leave but the leader of the group motions with a tip of his head for Niu Qi to follow. Zhi Wei leads Ning Yi forward while keeping a close eye on the movement behind them. Seeing Niu Qi, disappointment flashes across Zhi Wei’s eyes– those men are still suspicious of them, plus Niu Qi didn’t bring his backpack containing the letter wrapped beef along with him either. Through writing on Ning Yi’s palm, Zhi Wei quickly explained their situation and her discovery to him. After thinking for a moment, Ning Yi whispers into her ear “We take them out separately.”

Zhi Wei thought Ning Yi’s idea seems too risky but is not like they have any other options either. They can’t get away and there is not an opportunity to destroy the drawings. They will be exposed if Niu Qi takes the beef package out again so no matter what, they can’t let him go back to the group. Once they kill Niu Qi, they won’t be able to hide his death for very long. There is no chance they can win if the rest of the men attack them at the same time, so to kill one means they have to kill all. Their only chance of survival is to attack first. The key is how to kill in the most efficient manner. Of course, the task at hand is to kill Niu Qi first.

They’ve barely stepped into the outhouse when Niu Qi barreled inside ahead of them and jumped on a toilet hole. Pulling down his pants, Niu Qi laughs as a foul stench soon filled the room and points at his black hairy stomach “Dang! This feels #$%! awesome!” Ning Yi frowns in disgust while the tip of Zhi Wei’s ears turned slightly pink as she averts her eyes. Still grunting in pain, Zhi Wei slowly makes her way over to the other toilet hole and begins to fumble with her pants. Giving Zhi Wei a side glance, Niu Qi jeers “You are acting like a girl! Why would it take so long to pull down your pants….” Niu Qi suddenly sees the tip of a black sword coming out of his own mouth. His eyes bugged wide open, unable to comprehend how and why a sword would appear there…that kid is obviously still fumbling with his pants… As a searing pain ripped through his throat, Niu Qi uses the last of his strength to look down and sees the beautiful tall blind man slowly pulling out the blood-stained sword. Niu Qi suddenly feels his body is sent flying through the air into the outhouse pit. The last words Niu Qi heard in this life was “An obedient dog doesn’t get in the way, get lost.”

 

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