220 – Escape
“Although Older Sister Xia looks travel-worn, but you’re still in the mood to joke around. It looks like there is no need for rest?”
“That’s an interesting theory.” Xia Xue said with a sneer, “If you are interested in learning whether I am tired or not, you can try it yourself.”
“Well, if there’s a chance, then why not.”
Shui Yun’er dismissed Xia Xue’s sarcastic remark, prompting the latter to raise her eyebrows, displeased.
“Older Sister Xia, what about that thing?”
“Ah, you’re asking about that extremely heavy sluggard? Xia Xue turned around and said, “It’s sleeping.”
There is a cat head sticking out from a parcel on her back.
It is a black cat.
It has a rather human-like expression. It is snoring loudly in its sleep. Furthermore, not only is there a string of saliva hanging from its mouth, but there’s even a bubble, that expands and shrinks along with its breathing, on its nostrils.
“The world is really unfair. Some have to work hard all their life, some can enjoy the fruits of other people’s labor and get to their destination by sleeping, and some send a letter saying ‘Something important came up. Bring Phecda to the imperial capital and meet up with me’, making people run more than one thousand li.”
“It’s well known that with Older Sister Xia’s movement style, it is not a problem to cross one thousand li in a day. Therefore, this Younger Sister Shui was forced to trouble Older Sister Xia.”
“That’s some nice flattery. Is this something that lazy-ass Young Ancestor taught you?”
“It’s self-taught.”
Shui Yun’er replied with a smile, then put on a serious expression and said solemnly, “Older Sister Xia, this matter should not be delayed. Young Teacher is at a manor in the outskirts west of the imperial capital. Please deliver Phecda to her without delay. I have a bad premonition that if we’re late, Young Teacher will be in trouble.”
Xia Xue frowned and asked, a serious expression on her face, “What’s going on?”
“It’s hard to explain…”
Shui Yun’er sighed.
Xia Xue raised her eyebrows and chuckled.
“You want to dismiss me with ‘it’s hard to explain’… you think you’re clever — anyway, tell me where I have to go.”
“Thank Older Sister Xue for the understanding.”
Shui Yun’er apologized with a wry smile, and then got close to Xia Xue’s ear and told her the location.
When she heard the location, Xia Xue’s eyes flashed with surprise.
“You guys have to to give me explanation once everything is over.”
Xia Xue left this sentence, then operated her agility technique, jumped onto the roof of a nearby building, and headed towards the west without looking back. She disappeared from Shui Yun’er’s field of vision within a few moments.
“I hope everything goes well.”
Shui Yun’er sighed gently and prayed to the Heavens for everyone’s safety.
＊
In the lavish room, a lass on a soft bed opened her eyes.
Particularly bright candle light gently swayed and basked the room in intertwining light and shade, making it momentarily hard for her to adapt.
She released a long breath of turbid air. After a day of meditation, her weak body has mostly recovered and her true qi, that has become almost stagnant due to a drug, started to circulate at high speed once more.
It’s time — the lass thought to herself.
Since she was abducted, the lass has been taking Bone Weakening Drug under the supervision of another every day, making her unable to resist and escape here.
However, people are prone to indolence.
Despite the order to make sure that the lass takes the drug every day, but since she displayed a submissive and obedient attitude over the past few days, the supervisor finally let their guard down and didn’t realize that today she just hid the drug in her mouth, that she didn’t really consume it.
After all, since she is still young and has no way to resist, it is easy to let your guard down around her.
The lass — Gong Tianqing took advantage of this opportunity in this quiet night.
“I have to go back.”
Gong Tianqing spat out the black pill that she hid in her mouth and murmured her determination.
Until now, she assumed the image of an obedient child. But, that doesn’t mean that she doesn’t have perseverance, that she will resign to her fate in the face of difficulties.
There are still people who need her, so she can’t give up.
Gong Tianqing quietly looked out of the slightly opened window and soon saw several flames far away. The source of the flames are torches held by patrolling guards and their location indicates that they have passed by this place already and are heading for the next patrol point.
In other words, for the next period of time, the defense around here will be weak.
Now is the time to act! Gong Tianqing realized.
Despite struggling for a while, the hemp ropes tying her hands and feet still haven’t budged. It is an insurance measure specially added to take the lass’s freedom away and is not something that ordinary children could easily break away from.
However, she is a martial practitioner.
Can I do it? Gong Tianqing remembered the skill Xue Qilin taught her.
She took a deep breath and changed the route that true qi flowed in her right hand’s meridians.
Shining with white light, true qi slowly flowed out of her right hand, condensed, elongated, and finally depicted the shape of a sword.
— condense swords with qi.
It is a high-level qi school skill of the Merak Temple that only Earth Realm practitioners can perform.
One thing to note is that in the Merak Temple’s lost qi school technique, there is a high-level move called “Heavenly Meteorites” that can form tens of qi swords using to true qi to bombard the opponent. Using this move to condense three hundred plus qi swords, the former Temple Master Qi Yixin was nearly invincible.
Qi Qiqi, who learned from Qi Guiyuan and followed the sword school path, isn’t proficient at condensing swords with qi. But, her apprentice Gong Tianqing, a Human Realm practitioner, is able to successfully condense a qi sword. This is probably thanks to Xue Qilin’s teaching.
Be that as it may, one qi sword is Gong Tianqing’s limit. But, a qi sword is already enough to cut the ropes.
Gong Tianqing turned her right hand and cut the rope tying her hands by the wrists, and the rope fell on the bed. Next, she cut the rope tying her feet.
After finally regaining her freedom, Gong Tianqing, with the qi sword in had, held her breath and approached the door quietly.
As far as she knows, there are still two guards outside the door. But, their cultivation base should not be high. She reckons that they may not even be in the Human Realm. So, it shouldn’t be difficult to subdue them.
However, the lass knows that if she can’t end the fight quickly, or even if she succeeds, but lets them yell and attract the guards nearby, things will become troublesome.
She has only in the Human Realm. Even though she has almost recovered, it is still hard for two fists to match four hands.
What’s more, the opponent are well-equipped. If they use long-range weapons such as crossbows, several people below the Human Realm can hold her here. By then, once a large team arrives, she can only wait to be captured. More importantly, after this, the other party will certainly strengthen their vigilance and won’t easily make another mistake for her to take advantage of.
There’s only one chance. You must seize it — Gong Tianqing told this to herself, and then placed her left hand on the door, ready to push it open at any time.
Gong Tianqing punctured the paper of the door’s upper panel, got close to the hole, and observed the position of the guards outside.
Two strong men, standing on each side of the door respectively, dressed in jinzhuang [1], with a blade hanging from their waist, are looking alertly in front of them. However, they failed to discover the gaze behind them.
Gong Tianqing spent a few seconds rehearsing the next course of action in her mind, and then promptly opened the door.
[1] – jinzhuang
