Feeling Qinglong's sword qi[1], Rong Yi immediately closed her eyes and concentrated, allowing her breath to connect with it to determine its location.
Strange. Rong Yi opened her eyes and looked around but found no one else close to her but Qin Muzhi, who was lying on his back. But she clearly felt that the Qinglong was around her, very, very close to her.
Rong Yi looked at Qin Muzhi in confusion but found that his face had been as gentle as the lustre of jade all along. There wasn't even an inch of steel[2] on him. Not to mention Qinglong; he wasn't even holding a wooden sword.
Rong Yi closed her eyes again. She could still feel the strong sword qi[1], strong enough for her to summon it out immediately.
That's right! As long as she unsheathed Qinglong, she could find out who had stolen it, thus clearing Fu Chengfeng's name.
With a bit of joy in her heart, Rong Yi immediately concentrated on summoning Qinglong, but this time she found that its sword qi[1] was weakening and got even weaker over time.
Rong Yi immediately opened her eyes and found that Qin Muzhi had left at some point from beside her.
"Where is Qin Gongzi[3]?" Rong Yi asked a page boy.
"Qin Gongzi[3] is not feeling well and has returned to his room to rest."
What a convenient time to feel unwell! He left at a time when she was about to summon the Qinglong. Rong Yi suspected that Qin Muzhi was the one who had stolen Qinglong and abducted Yun Ni, but when she thought that he had no martial arts skills and had been injured by her during the tournament, she dismissed that thought.
Fine. Whoever stole Qinglong was only one of the crucial things at the moment. The most important thing now was to find a way to save Fu Chengfeng.
At this moment, Rong Yi could feel Qinglong's sword qi[1] had weakened, so she could not secretly summon it and had to do it openly. This move would expose her identity.
Whether exposing her identity or saving Fu Chengfeng, which was more important?
Rong Yi chose the latter with little thought.
*
Fu Chengfeng was already at a disadvantage against the crowd, but he still had to keep his hands to himself, unable to kill anyone, which gradually overwhelmed him. If he kept fighting, he would be like a fish on the chopping block[4] when he finally exhausted his strength. The only way out of this situation was to use the 36th plan, which was to flee[5].
After making up his mind, Fu Chengfeng backed away from his enemies by swinging his sword around and then flew towards Rong Yi with a tap of his foot, only to be stopped halfway by Yun Hendong.
Yun Hendong wielded his sword as he roared, "Fu Chengfeng, you have to walk over this old man's corpse if you ever think of leaving Moon Manor today!"
Fu Chengfeng's cold expression suddenly turned gentle after hearing what had been said. The corners of his mouth curled into a sneer as he nudged his sword to the ground and laughed, "I will still leave Moon Manor today even if I have to step over your corpse!"
Fu Chengfeng originally wanted to avoid stirring up unnecessary trouble. He planned to leave the place immediately and return here to explain to Yun Hendong only after finding out the truth. He just did not expect Yun Hendong to be completely unreasonable. This overboard reaction caused a nameless fire to rise in the heart of the ever-proud Fu Chengfeng. Now, he had lost interest in explaining, nor did he want to look into the cause of Yun Ni's death. If she was dead, she was dead, so what did it matter to him?
A decorated memorial archway gate (paifang) at the Summer Palace in Beijing.
Image Credit | Zhangzhe0101, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Image Credit | Zhangzhe0101, CC BY-SA 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
There were ten stances for breaking sword technique in total. From the fifth stance onwards, it would be killing sword stances. When Fu Chengfeng came down from the mountain to roam in the jianghu[6], he followed his Master's order not to commit any sins. And he had never used any stance beyond the fifth.
Fu Chengfeng's 'Ten Thousand Swords Penetrating the Heart' move wounded all those present without exception, and they all took three steps backwards, looking at the Breaking Sword in Fu Chengfeng's hand with fear and palpitations.
It was a sword that no one could avoid.
At this moment, the crowd suddenly understood that the word 'The End Of The World' in 'Breaking Sword That Reaches The End Of The World' did not refer to Fu Chengfeng's ability to find people but his ability to kill them. If he wanted to kill a person, even if the other party escaped to the ends of the earth, he would not be able to run from his Duantian[6] Sword Technique.
Yun Hendong suddenly had a hunch that once Fu Chengfeng broke his killing restriction, he would become the second Chu Changge, a divine and inviolable being above the entire martial world, who would kill the Buddha and the Gods that obstructed his way.
He could not allow a second Chu Changge to appear in the martial world. Absolutely not!
The sense of mission for the martial arts alliance made Yun Hendong put aside his personal grudges for a while as he said to Fu Chengfeng, "You can go."
Slightly startled, Fu Chengfeng asked, "Doesn't Manor Master want to make this Fu pay back with his blood?"
"Killing you will not bring back Ni-er's life. I don't want to kill you anymore." Yun Hendong said.
Fu Chengfeng naturally did not believe Yun Hendong's words, but being able to leave the place without killing anyone, he had no reason to refuse. As for why Yun Hendong suddenly changed his mind, this was not something he needed to care about.
Fu Chengfeng jumped down from the memorial archway gate, swept Rong Yi into his arms with a hook of his long arm, and rode off with a tap of his foot.
"Hey, wait, wait...... I can't leave Moon Manor right now." Rong Yi was screaming in Fu Chengfeng's arms.
Fu Chengfeng just ignored her and directed his strength to speed up. In the blink of an eye, he brought her to a hill outside Moon Manor.
"They have decided that you are my accomplice. If you don't follow me, do you think Qin Muzhi can protect you?" Fu Chengfeng said with displeasure as he put down Rong Yi.
"I certainly won't count on that old fox[8] Qin Muzhi. I couldn't leave Moon Manor because I felt my sword there just now." Rong Yi became even more unhappy. It was challenging to find Qinglong's whereabouts, and now Fu Chengfeng had just cut off the trail.
When Fu Chengfeng heard what she said, his response was: "Why didn't you say so earlier?"
A noob translator, きつね, translated this noob translation. Please read this chapter at xin-shou.site. If you read this in another location other than the site stated, it has been taken without the translator's permission. Please don't support this kind of act.
"I didn't know you jianghu[7] people were so fickle! One moment you have a deep-seated hatred, and the next second, you guys wipe it away with a smile. I was caught off guard." Rong Yi had an innocent look on her face. She was just about to summon Qinglong, but when she heard him say that he was going to go on a killing spree, she was curious about how he would start it, so she stopped to watch the battle. Unexpectedly, Yun Hendong stopped the fight before any of them died.
Fu Chengfeng felt helpless at Rong Yi's overbearing words with a distorted reason[9]. He could only sigh and say, "Tell me who has the sword, and I will fetch it for you."
"I don't know whose hands hold it either, but I can feel that it is in Moon Manor." After a pause, Rong Yi added, "I suspect it was Qin Muzhi because he was the only one by my side when I felt the sword qi[1]. After he left, the sword aura also weakened."
"Impossible. Qin Muzhi doesn't know martial arts."
"That's what I thought too." Rong Yi sighed in frustration. "We can only make one more trip to Moon Manor."
"You stay here, and I'll go there for you."
"But you don't know where the sword is."
"This......" Fu Chengfeng hesitated for a moment before suggesting, "Let's go to the inn first and stay there until after dark."
"Why do you want to wait until dark? Are you afraid of dying?" Rong Yi blinked. She remembered that someone had arrogantly said he would start killing someone just now, but why did he suddenly become scared again?
Fu Feng flicked her head. "What are you talking about? Of course, I'm not afraid of dying. I am just afraid that you will be the one in danger. Even though Yun Hendong has let us go, I haven't figured out his intentions yet. I'm afraid he'll accidentally hurt you if he suddenly changes his mind again."
Rong Yi's heart warmed at his words. She pursed her lips as she decided, "Then we'll wait until after dark."
Rong Yi worried Qinglong would not be at the Moon Manor after dark. However, right now, their safety came first. Since Fu Chengfeng was looking out for her, she should do the same for him. She herself was not well versed in martial arts. In case she could not find Qinglong to protect her by then, she would only drag Fu Chengfeng down with her.
*
It was a moonless, windy night, a perfect time to commit murder and arson.
A night-clad Rong Yi was carried in the arms of Fu Chengfeng, who was also wearing night-coloured clothes, as they leapt onto roofs and vaulted over walls. Their bodies were so close together that their breaths mingled, making Rong Yi's heart flutter with a sudden and absurd idea—abduct Fu Chengfeng back to the palace to be her husband. Although he had no second-to-none skills except for his flirtatiousness and good looks...... she could still settle this matter through discussion. Her parents didn't specify their criteria for the best husband in the world. Besides, being the best flirt could also be considered the best in the world.
"Can you feel your sword?" Fu Chengfeng asked in a low voice.
His warm breath stirred Rong Yi's heart, causing it to thump rapidly. "No, no." Rong Yi answered sheepishly. She had forgotten to look out for the sword.
"Could it be that the person who stole the sword has already left Moon Manor?" Fu Chengfeng wondered.
"It's possible."
Fu Chengfeng frowned. He looked down at Rong Yi in his arms and said, "You're distracted."
Rong Yi jerked her head up, then blushed and lowered her head again, saying, "There is no such thing. It's because I genuinely can't feel it."
How could one not be distracted when holding a beautiful woman in one's arms? Earlier, Fu Chengfeng had tried his best to restrain his inner desire by using his ability to keep himself calm. But now, seeing Rong Yi's bashful manner, a particular impulse inside his body began to stir.
"Ahem." Fu Chengfeng coughed lightly and said, "If you really can't feel it, then we should go back. It's so dark already. You shouldn't have spent your night squatting on the roof."
Why did his words sound like, 'A moment of spring night is worth a thousand pieces of gold. It's a shame that we couldn't do anything about it'...... "What should I be doing then?" Rong Yi asked blushingly.
'A moment of spring night is worth a thousand pieces of gold' is actually from Su Shi's poem called 'Night Spring (春宵 chūnxiāo)'. It's actually a very innocent poem, but over time, the sentence mentioned in this chapter became a sentence that refers to a wedding night. Another meaning for 'spring night' is 'wedding night'. Obviously, this meaning was in Rong Yi's mind. 😏
"Sleeping." Fu Chengfeng replied.
"......"
Rong Yi put aside the thought she shouldn't have in her mind, closed her eyes and focused on feeling Qinglong's aura.
Rong Yi still couldn't feel anything even after a quarter of an hour had passed.
"It's not here anymore." Rong Yi sighed and said, "Let's just go back to sleep."
*
Back at the inn, Rong Yi tossed and turned, unable to sleep. Her mind was filled with Qinglong one moment, Fu Chengfeng the next, and Yun Ni the next second.
Fu Chengfeng said that the person who kidnapped Yun Ni was his senior brother, and the weapon that person used was the Qinglong. That was to say, the person who stole the Qinglong should have been Fu Chengfeng's senior brother.
If that person was indeed Fu Chengfeng's senior brother, it was impossible that Fu Chengfeng failed to recognise him when he appeared at Moon Manor with Qinglong during the day.
Why would Yun Ni lie about Fu Chengfeng's love for her when he had not done anything to her? She even made up a rumour that he had ruined her innocence.
Yun Ni had always been acting noble and virtuously. She wouldn't have changed her usual attitude unless......Fu Chengfeng did promise her.
Rong Yi shook her head repeatedly. She adamantly believed in Fu Chengfeng's character.
What the hell is going on here?
Rong Yi kept connecting the three in her head, Qinglong, Fu Chengfeng's senior brother and Yun Ni, trying to find a breakthrough point.
Suddenly, a thought flashed in her mind, causing Rong Yi to sit up abruptly as she cried, "Transfiguration!"
At the same time, a lazy voice came from the beam of her room, "You're not a stupid one."
"Who?!" Rong Yi looked up and saw an evil-looking man sitting on the beam, looking at her with a sneer. In his hand, he was holding Qinglong!
Footnotes Full List
- vital energy
- Chinese idiom: unarmed and defenceless
- a son of nobility
- (fig.) bullied
- Chinese idiom: in a dire situation, running away is the best strategy
- lit. Heaven Breaking
- lit. rivers and lakes—people wandering from place to place and living by their wits, e.g. fortune-tellers, quack doctors, itinerant entertainers, etc., considered as a social group
- fig. cunning person
- Chinese idiom: shoving false arguments down people's throats
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