Chapter 197 - 124: A Monstrous Lie?
Jiang Ran ignored whatever was happening outside the door.
With a flick of his sleeve, he shut the door. His hand then shot out, the Thirteen Mad Demon Claws of Kun grabbing for Ruan Yuqing.
"Where do you think you’re going!?"
Ruan Yuqing paused. She whipped around, and with a flick of her sleeves, unleashed a volley of Sword Qi.
The attack flew wildly toward Jiang Ran.
But his figure blurred, and by the time Ruan Yuqing could react, he had vanished.
She spun around, only to see his five fingers bearing down on her face like a mountain peak.
With no time to think, she shot her hand out and grabbed Jiang Ran’s wrist.
Yet, his wrist felt like a raging dragon in her grasp. Not only could she not control it, but with a flick, he broke her grip and seized her wrist instead.
Amidst a howl of Gang Qi, Ruan Yuqing aimed her free hand straight for Jiang Ran’s temple.
Jiang Ran grinned and shot his hand out. SMACK!
He had caught her other hand as well.
With both her hands captured, Ruan Yuqing’s wild nature took over. She reared her head back and threw a vicious headbutt at Jiang Ran’s nose.
This brutish fighting style reminded Jiang Ran of brawls from his past life.
A thought crossed his mind, and he delivered a headbutt of his own.
His angle was better; the blow landed squarely on Ruan Yuqing’s nose.
Ruan Yuqing cried out in pain as blood streamed from both nostrils.
When she looked up, she was dazed and disoriented.
Jiang Ran had already crossed her left wrist over her right, clamping both of them in one of his large hands.
His freed right hand moved to strike one of her acupoints.
But before his finger could land, he felt a gust of Gang Qi assailing his lower body.
He instantly changed his footwork as a rapid series of sharp impacts rang out.
Even with her hands bound and her upper body immobilized, Ruan Yuqing managed to change her footwork seven times, trying to force Jiang Ran to release her.
Her legwork was exquisite and incredibly advanced. In terms of technique alone, Jiang Ran could barely keep up using his Celestial Nine Steps. He was completely on the defensive, unable to counterattack.
A minor injury wouldn’t matter, but one that ended his family line would be a serious problem.
At this thought, a flicker of anger rose in him.
So he just snorted. He didn’t even try to dodge the next kick Ruan Yuqing sent his way. Instead, he silently circulated the Sutra of Creation and Mind-Rectification, holding his Inner Strength in check.
The moment her kick landed on Jiang Ran’s leg, a powerful recoil surged back at her.
Ruan Yuqing let out another muffled grunt of pain.
Her stance faltered. Seizing the opportunity, Jiang Ran hooked her leg with his foot and slammed her to the ground.
Without a shred of courtesy, he plopped down on her stomach and pinned her hands above her head. No matter how much she thrashed her legs, she couldn’t land a single blow on him.
Finally, Jiang Ran’s Heart-Rectifying Finger Strike landed, just as he’d intended, on the spot between Ruan Yuqing’s brows.
WHOOSH!
Her hair and sleeves fluttered at the same time.
Clarity returned to Ruan Yuqing’s wide-open eyes at a visible rate.
Then, as she looked around, her expression shifted to one of immense shock.
"You... who are you?
"What are you doing?"
Jiang Ran was taken aback. ’Everyone else is unconscious for a while, but she woke up instantly?’ He could only reply, "I’m saving you."
"This is... how you save me?"
Ruan Yuqing glanced at her hands pinned above her head, then at her body trapped beneath his. The immense shock in her eyes was rapidly turning into fury.
"It was unavoidable."
Jiang Ran studied her for a moment, and seeing that she had indeed regained her senses, he relaxed his grip on her wrists.
Her hands free, Ruan Yuqing didn’t immediately shove Jiang Ran away. She looked down at her wrists, now a mess of red marks and blue-black bruises. He clearly hadn’t pulled any punches.
She then felt a strange, sticky wetness around her nose and instinctively wiped it with her hand.
Her hand came away covered in blood.
"And what’s this about?"
She looked up at Jiang Ran.
The only reason she hadn’t exploded in anger yet wasn’t because of her good temper.
It was because she knew what had happened to her earlier.
Although she didn’t know how Jiang Ran did it, she was clearly lucid now.
So, Jiang Ran’s claim that he’d saved her was probably true.
Therefore, despite his crude methods, she forced herself to rein in her temper.
She nudged Jiang Ran’s leg.
"How long do you plan to sit on me?"
The corner of Jiang Ran’s mouth twitched. He was about to roll off and stand up when he heard a grunt. Su Wanyi, who had been knocked out by Ruan Yuqing’s Gang Qi, was sitting up.
Her eyes swept around the room before landing on the two of them on the floor in their peculiar position.
"What... are you two doing?"
"Saving someone..."
Jiang Ran scrambled off Ruan Yuqing in a hurry.
Ruan Yuqing scrambled up as well. She tilted her head back to stop the bleeding while pulling a silk handkerchief from her robes. She wiped the blood from her face and pressed the handkerchief to her nose.
But her nose throbbed with a sharp pain. The injury was clearly a serious one.
She couldn’t help but glare at Jiang Ran.
"You... even if you were saving me, couldn’t you have been a little gentler?"
"Gentler?"
Jiang Ran rolled his eyes dramatically.
"A moment ago, you were on a rampage with killing intent pouring off you. You were harder to wrangle than a greased pig. How was I supposed to be ’gentler’?"
"You! How outrageous!"
Ruan Yuqing wasn’t very old, but her talent was immense, her comprehension profound, and as the junior sister to the current Sect Leader of the Shuiyue Sword Sect, she was a generation above her peers.
In the past, no matter where she went, others treated her with courtesy and respect.
’This was the first time she had ever been treated so contemptuously. He called me a pig?!’
’The audacity!’
Su Wanyi didn’t know whether to laugh or cry. Not wanting the two of them to argue, she interjected,