187.2 – Qing [1]
–the fight didn’t start.
Although weapons were drawn, but the two sides just confront each other silently, without igniting the fuse of the fight.
Both sides are waiting for the signal that symbolizes the start of the fight. In other words, as long as Guan Qi’s doesn’t wave his hand, the standstill won’t devolve into a fight.
Time seems like it has been elongated.
This quiet, where you can hear a needle drop, is really nerve-wrecking.
Then, a quarter of an hour passed, but the two sides are still at a standstill.
Will we fight or what? Isn’t he tired after holding up his hand for so long? A little fed up with being on alert for the fight, Xue Qilin began to suspect that nothing will happen.
At the moment when she thought this–
The sound of horseshoes — the sound of horseshoes rapidly approaching rang.
In this quiet place, the sound is particularly resounding.
Although it was only for a blink of an eye, but Xue Qilin coincidentally saw Chen Yong smack his lips when the sound rang.
What the hell… that’s a bit weird! Xue Qilin narrowed her eyes.
Before long, a horse finally barged into everyone’s view. Riding the horse is a travel-worn, lightly-equipped soldier. There is a small triangular flag with the word “order” erected behind him. He should be an orderly.
Everyone watched from their peripheral vision as the orderly intruded between the two sides.
“Emergency order!”
The orderly reined in his horse and turned towards Guan Qi. The cloud of dust stirred by the horse blurred their figures.
“Great General Gong’s emergency order!”
The orderly shouted loudly, and then dismounted his horse. While walking rapidly towards Guan Qi, he fished out a letter with an official document from a cloth bag behind him.
“The great general’s emergency order?”
Guan Qi took the document and asked the orderly in a tone of uncertainty.
“Yes, it’s a 600 li [2] urgency.”
Xue Qilin exchanged a look with Qi Qiqi, wondering what to do.
Generally speaking, urgent documents are “300 li urgency”, which means that the person responsible for the delivery of the document must travel 300 li a day. 600 li urgency is considered to be an extremely urgent and serious level.
What sort of order requires a 600 li urgency? Xue Qilin mused.
Guan Qi comforted the orderly by saying “thank you for your hard work, have some water”, and then took off the waterskin tied around his waist and threw it to the other party. After the orderly expressed his gratitude, he took his horse and the waterskin and retreated to rest.
“Temple Master Qi, you don’t mind?”
Guan Qi turned to Qi Qiqi and asked this out of politeness. Qi Qiqi nodded lightly and made a “go ahead” gesture.
“Don’t mind me.”
“I’m deeply grateful.”
Guan Qi quickly opened the document and read it. During this time, everyone present remained motionless and silent as if frozen.
The content of the document seems to be very brief. Before long, Guan Qi finished reading the document and put it back in the envelope.
He released a long sigh and assumed an expression of relief.
“Temple Master Qi, sorry to have bothered you.”
Before Qi Qiqi could ask what happened, Guan Qi turned around without hesitation, and then mounted his horse. With the rains in hand, he prompted the horse to turn around. As he turned with his horse around, he glanced apologetically at the people of the Merak Temple.
Then–
“Retreat!”
He shouted loudly and issued a strange command.
They will retreat just like that? Is there something wrong? Xue Qilin was stunned at once.
That’s probably what they call so much said, yet so little done.
It was such a large spectacle, yet they did nothing in the end and just left. Xue Qilin even suspects that it’s a figment of her imagination.
However, the other side’s actions proved that everything is real.
As soon as they heard Guan Qi’s order, the soldiers retreated in an orderly manner like a tide, and soon disappeared from Xue Qilin’s field of vision, as if they have never appeared to begin with. Only the marks left on the ground testify to the things that took place here.
“… what the hell?”
After finally snapping out of it, Xue Qilin uttered thusly, in a daze.
Is this a new kind of prank? She couldn’t help but have this suspicion.
＊
After the patrol disciples ascertained that the 1,000 uninvited guests have completely withdrawn from the Merak Mountain, Qi Qiqi ordered the people to disband and asked them to keep this matter a secret for now.
Additionally, she asked Xue Qilin, Ye Zhen, and all the present Elders to stay behind, saying that she has something important to discuss.
Needless to say, this “something important” is related to what happened just now.
Since it is inconvenient to have a meeting at the main gate, under Qi Qiqi’s lead, the group moved to a side chamber of the main hall.
After arriving at the side chamber, Qi Qiqi sat in the seat of honor.
One thing to note it that according to seniority, Xue Qilin should be the one to sit in the seat of honor. After all, she is the person with the highest seniority in the entire Merak Temple.
However, due to her personality, Xue Qilin is not used to being the focus of attention. Instead, she prefers to hide in an inconspicuous place. Therefore, during the first meeting, after sitting in the seat of honor for a while, she surrendered her seat to Qi Qiqi and withdrew to the least prominent seat.
Of course Qi Qiqi thinks that Xue Qilin has no awareness and lacks manners, but she can’t do anything about it. After several attempts at persuading the other party, she had to let her be.
But this time, Xue Qilin choose to sit on the arhat bed by a window. She stretched her legs, threw off her shoes, and lay down on the bed, and then covered herself with a thin quilt she got from somewhere. She looks like she intends to take a nap.
However, everyone he is no longer surprised by her antics. Anyway, since there are no outsiders here, they didn’t say a thing.
“Things are a bit strange.”
Qi Qiqi frowned deeply and started with this remark. Ye Zhen, who is sitting on her left, muttered to himself.
“… strange indeed.”
“Yeah…” Sitting next to Ye Zhen, the amiable Yang Yuening smiled bitterly, “They come in a hurry, then go in a flurry! The mountain road twists around each new peak, making each turn a new beginning!”
Upon hearing Yang Yuening’s erudite speech, Xue Qilin uttered lightly.
“Little Ning, talk like a person.”
Yang Yuening smiled bitterly and cupped his hands in Xue Qilin’s direction, apologetic.
“It’s m–”
Qi Qiqi raised her hand to signal Yang Yuening to stop talking, and then glared at Xue Qilin, irritated.
“Really, can’t you read the room? I’m not going to say anything about you lazing about and shirking your responsibility, but don’t make trouble, okay?”
Xue Qilin shrank back like a frightened rabbit, pursed her lips, and muttered, “What… wasn’t it hard to understand?”
“Anyway, stay there and don’t make trouble!”
With that, she put away the ferocious expression on her face, and then carried on in a tone reminiscent of talking to a child.
“If you behave, I will give you extra allowance!”
Extra pocket money! Xue Qilin’s eyes lit up. At the same time, she placed her thumb and index finger together and swept them across her lips horizontally, making the gesture of zipping the mouth shut.
Upon seeing this, Qi Qiqi sighed. The helpless expression in her eyes clearly conveys: “this gal is basically a child!”
[1] – Qing (青) is Luo Qing’s name, not to confuse with Gong Tianqing’s Qing (晴). Luo Qing’s name Qing means “green”, while Gong Tianqing’s name Tianqing means “clear sky”. Luo Qing is the girl who effectively committed suicide in Vol.1
[2] – 1 li = 500 meters or 1,640 feet
