Chapitre 16: The Masked Men

Wang Jingyuan was fortunate to not run into any Qingsha sect pupils, but she was still on high alert any time she spotted another martial artist. With only a month left until the Hero Assembly, she had to make haste and arrive at the Capital in time. When she asked for directions at a village, a helpful cowherd told her that although the main road will lead her to the next town, there was a shortcut that would take her to the town after the first one in the same time it would take her to arrive to the first on the main road. The only problem was that it went into the mountains, where usually only woodsmen and hunters went. Wanting to cut down on time, Wang Jingyuan decided to take the shortcut.

She followed the path into the mountains. It winded and curved, but was luckily worn down by use so it wasn't too hard to navigate. It entered a patch of forest, and Wang Jingyuan could see the stumps of trees that had been cut down. Birds chirped and fluttered among the leafy tops of the trees. Several times, rabbits scampered across her path and away into the underbrush.

The path exited the forest and continued to follow the side of the mountain. With the sheer rocky mountainside to her left and a forest to her right, Wang Jingyuan walked the path alone. She would sometimes run into other people on the main road, but here, there was no one. It felt as if she was the last person on earth, and although the sun was shining, Wang Jingyuan felt a little uneasy. The only thing that made her feel better was the continuous birdsong in the air.

As she approached a bend in the path, the sound of shouting and metal clanging reached her ears. Wang Jingyuan ran up and carefully peeked around the bend. The path sloped downwards to a wider clearing, and a group of masked men dressed in all black were engaged in combat with four people dressed as servants. A young man dressed in a light blue hanfu and also wielding a sword was in the middle. The four servants were clearly trying to protect the young man, but they were outnumbered. Several dead bodies already littered the ground, containing both servants and masked men.

Wang Jingyuan was in a dilemma again. Should she help? In her knowledge, masked men dressed in black were never the good guys. As a martial artist, she had a duty to uphold justice and protect the weak. But on the other hand, Luo Qingye told her to not get involved with unknown feuds. She doesn't know what is going on. She could turn around and go back the direction she came in, but she already spent more than an hour walking. She could also just wait until the assassins were finished, but then there was the risk of them discovering her as well, and then she would have to engage in combat anyway. God, what to do, what to do…

"Young Master, run!" One of the servants shouted. "We'll hold them off!"

Wang Jingyuan peeked around the bend again, and to her dismay, the young man in blue was now running in her direction with several masked men hot on his trail. Behind him, his servants were getting killed one by one. It looked like waiting it out and going back were no longer viable options. Wang Jingyuan unsheathed Feng Ming Sword. She had yet to test her abilities in the real world; this would be a great chance to see just how powerful Xuanyan Sword Skills and Song of the Phoenix were.

Not far from her hiding spot, the young man tripped and fell. He scrambled to his feet, but in those few seconds, the masked men were already there. He raised his sword and blocked an attack, but when all five attacked at the same time, he was clearly disadvantaged and couldn't hold them off.

Just as two large knives and three swords came down on him and he thought he was going to be dead for sure, a ripple of power blasted them back. A girl in a light green hanfu rippling in the wind, holding a gleaming sword in one hand and a wrapped sheath in the other, landed in front of him.

The masked men looked at each other in confusion. "Who are you?" One of them demanded in a gruff voice.

"Who are you?" Wang Jingyuan cast a quick glance at the young man behind her before responding to the masked men in front of her. She tried to not give away her nervousness and hoped her hands weren't trembling. "Why are you after this young man?"

The young man reacted quickly. "Miss Hero, they're trying to kill me! Help me, please!"

"Girlie, don't meddle in issues that don't involve you," one of the masked men warned.

"What if I want to meddle?" Wang Jingyuan replied. It wasn't like the masked men were going to let her walk away after she witnessed everything anyway.

"Then don't blame us when we kill you." The masked men glanced at each other and attacked again.

Wang Jingyuan ducked under the first slice and leapt over the second. She turned around and cut her sword in a complicated criss-cross pattern, successfully blocking subsequent attacks and even slicing two of the masked men on their chests. They fell to the ground with thuds and stopped moving.

Wang Jingyuan looked at her sword, then at the dead bodies on the ground. She didn't mean to kill them, but it just happened. The masked men were going to kill her without hesitation, and in her haste to protect herself, she killed them. It was the first time she ever killed someone, and she was not too sure how to react.

There was no time to think. The rest of the masked men finished off the servants and headed this way to aid their teammates. Wang Jingyuan blocked the young man behind her. She counted about ten masked men in total who were now approaching her cautiously. She could take down ten. In that mini battle, she had discovered that they were not very well-trained in martial arts. Their moves were all over the place, and their defenses had gaping holes. Most importantly, they were intent on killing her and the young man. In this world, it was to kill or be killed, and Wang Jingyuan had every intent of living. Readying her sword, she attacked first.

Feng Ming Sword was a graceful killer in her hand. As Wang Jingyuan jumped, twisted, kicked, and spun, her sword flashed in the sunlight and danced as it cut down masked man after masked man. She didn't even have to use Song of the Phoenix; the forms from Xuanyan Sword Skills were more than enough. Whenever a masked man's weapon hit hers, they were blasted back by the sheer amount of power she had. Luo Qingye's internal forces and powers were far stronger and better cultivated than theirs. Most of the masked men barely got two attacks in before being slain.

At the end, the two remaining masked men looked at each other and tried to run. The young man in blue was waiting for them with his sword. With several sharp cuts, he slew one assassin as Wang Jingyuan stabbed the other one. The last two masked men fell to the ground, blood pooling around them. The clearing quieted.