Chapter 1660 - 619: A Fateful Meeting (Part 1)
Old Ma spoke up again, ordering everyone to form ranks and protect the carriages.
They were already camping by the roadside in this wilderness, the carriages drawn up together, so everyone immediately sprang to their feet to guard the four directions.
They had barely steadied themselves when the sound of wind being torn shrieked out again in succession.
This time, what came was a group of people in red.
These folk moved within the night like streaks of blood ripping through the curtain of darkness.
With a single glance, everyone present could already see that this group was made up entirely of women.
And Fang Jie, standing amid the crowd, the moment he saw them, his pupils trembled violently:
"Blood Lotus Sect!!
"They’re here!!
"This is a stratagem to lure the tiger from the mountain!!"
Perhaps it was because he’d taken a drink of wine—at this instant Fang Jie’s mind was clearer than it had ever been.
They had used feathered arrows for their attack, with men hidden in the woods, in order to draw out Chen Dinghai, Zhen Xiaoxiao, Mu Shanshan and those other experts at Brother Wu’s side.
Now this group had charged in among them, clearly intent on a full-scale massacre!
Then... then what should I do?
For a time Fang Jie felt as if his head were stuffed full of rocks; no matter how he tried, he couldn’t think of a single solution.
All that filled his ears once more were the sounds from that night at Nong Yue Villa—the fire breaking out everywhere, the screams of disciples, servants and maids.
Though he didn’t want to, seeing them now only made his hands and feet tremble, his lips quiver. At last he gritted his teeth and barked out:
"The Young Master of Nong Yue Villa, Fang Jie, is here. They have nothing to do with this. If you’ve got the guts... come at me!!"
The Blood Lotus Sect had been able to track them down here naturally because of him.
Since that was the case, if he used his identity to draw their attention, would it give Brother Wu’s men some help?
Thinking of this, he drew the Short Blade from his waist.
Though his wit and cleverness could stir up storms, in the situation as it stood his brain was clearly of no use anymore.
The only thing that could give him a sense of security was this blade.
And just then, the women of the Blood Lotus Sect indeed heard Fang Jie’s shout.
One of the women immediately burst out laughing:
"I thought we’d have to search for a while, but you just went ahead and confessed.
"You’re really considerate. Now watch me..."
As she spoke to that point, she had already reached the outside of the convoy. Her Longsword quivered in her hand, about to thrust into a Guardsman’s chest.
But unexpectedly, when the sword edge arrived, it pierced only empty air.
Startled in her heart, she saw that Guardsman had already turned and bolted.
She gave a cold snort on the spot:
"Spineless rabble!"
Looking around, she discovered it wasn’t just him; the surrounding Guards, seeing them arrive, were all scattering in panic, collapsing without a fight.
The group of women glanced at one another, then burst out laughing.
They pressed straight into the center and charged at Fang Jie.
Fang Jie gripped his Short Blade, trembling with fear as he waited.
By now he had no time at all to worry about why Su Mo’s subordinates had turned tail and fled in the face of battle, collapsing without fighting.
All he could think about was how he could possibly fight the Blood Lotus Sect women to the death!
Unexpectedly, when he raised his head, the woman who had spoken just now was already before him.
Her Longsword pricked forward, aiming to take his life.
In that critical moment, Fang Jie squeezed his eyes shut, hacking wildly with the Short Blade in his hand.
This was courage fueled purely by wine and blood energy. He had thought it would surely be useless, but to his surprise, after his blade swept out—
A scream of utterly piercing misery rang out.
He froze:
"Did I actually hit her?"
He looked up, and a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life entered his eyes.
He saw a woman’s severed head slowly falling from mid-air.
On that exquisite face there was still an expression of pain and bewilderment.
Fang Jie was dumbstruck.
No matter how ignorant he was of martial arts, no matter how little he understood of danger, he still knew that with his blade alone he simply could not do such a thing.
And indeed, that was the case.
Just now this woman had aimed a sword stroke to take Fang Jie’s life.
She lifted her head, and the Guardsman who had just fled from the field had actually come back again.
She had assumed he meant to fight to the death and thereby realize his own value.
She even intended to fulfill that wish, planning to just finish him with a single thrust.
Yet before that sword stroke could earn its merit, she saw two flashes of silver light, then a spray of blood, and her two arms flew away from her body.
"Whose hands are those?"
As the thought arose, a wave of excruciating pain surged into her mind:
"They’re mine!!!"
A scream of agony tore out of her—that was the cry Fang Jie had heard.
But before she could finish that scream, another streak of silver flashed, and her head had already flown off.
The entire chain of events happened in a blink.
Only once this woman had lost her head did the other Blood Lotus Sect members realize what had happened.
For a moment they were consumed by fury.
"Kill him!!!"
Their hatred for this Guardsman instantly surpassed that for Fang Jie.
In truth, they didn’t have any particular grudge against Fang Jie.
Even if there was, it was Fang Jie who bore a grudge against them.
If Fang Jie didn’t know that "secret," even if he were allowed to live, they wouldn’t have cared much.
But to their shock, because of this, one of their own had died.
At once they all seemed to go mad, as if it hadn’t been they charging in murderously just now, but that Guardsman instead.
Yet they saw that Guardsman merely smile, then grab hold of Fang Jie.
His figure flickered, and he had already slipped out of the women’s circle of attack.
His foot tapped down and he landed off to the side.
Fang Jie was still dazed when a hand pressed down onto his shoulder.
He looked up, then hurriedly cried out:
"Lady."
Yang Xiaoyun gave a slight nod; at some point she had already stepped down from the carriage.
By her side stood Wei Ziyi, Little Situ and the others.