Chapter 13: Encounter

The three led their horses forward, but after walking some distance, they found that Li Musheng and Cang Cang Yin Yue no longer appeared on the mountain path ahead.

"That shouldn't be. Did they speed up their journey?"

Mengshan looked puzzled, while Yuan Mei, standing beside him, placed her hand back on the sword hilt and warned:

"It's also possible they are hiding ahead to set an ambush, intending to attack us."

Mengshan's gaze swept across the dense, dark forest ahead, a cold glint flashing in his eyes as he said:

"What you say is not impossible. Be careful from now on!"

Yuan Mei nodded slightly, and together with the scholar, they gradually slowed their pace, proceeding cautiously along the mountain path.

After the burning of one incense stick, Mengshan's ears twitched; he suddenly stopped and waved to halt Yuan Mei and the other.

He stared ahead at the shrubbery and trees, then suddenly shouted in a deep voice:

"Come out!"

Soon, a rustling sound came from the woods, and then a group of burly men wielding knives and spears leaped out from behind the trees.

These burly men had red cloths wrapped around their heads; each was large and burly, fierce and menacing, blocking their path exactly.

Seeing this, Mengshan and Yuan Mei were both stunned.

They had thought Li Musheng and Cang Cang Yin Yue were ambushing them here, but they never expected these fellows to jump out.

The two instinctively exchanged glances; their first thought at that moment was, where had Li Musheng and the other gone?

Or perhaps, were these people already in league with the ones before them?

However, before they could think further, their thoughts were interrupted by a burst of laughter like thunder.

Another burly figure emerged from the woods; his feet stepped on flying leaves, leaping lightly and swiftly in midair as if crossing the void, arriving before them in the blink of an eye.

"We've been guarding this bird-dropping place for nearly ten days, not even a hair seen, but today we finally caught a fish."

The burly man had a bald head, thick black hair on his exposed chest, and held a fish rod made of iron, as thick as a baby's arm, horizontally in his hand.

He laughed as he looked at Mengshan and the other three:

"Very surprised? This Hall Master has been waiting for you in this broken place for many days!"

Mengshan's face turned gloomy; he cautiously scanned the surroundings and said in a deep voice:

"Where are those two hiding?"

Hearing this, the bald burly man grinned and said:

"Yo, quite alert. But with this Hall Master personally acting, the rest are unnecessary; they are in the fortress lighting fires and roasting meat, preparing to celebrate victory for all the brothers!"

Upon hearing this, the group of burly men around burst into loud laughter, their glances toward Mengshan and the other three like those looking at lambs to be slaughtered.

At that moment, the bald burly man slammed the iron fish rod in his hand heavily onto the ground.

With a muffled sound accompanied by sparks, the fish rod pierced the rock beneath his feet nearly a foot deep, as if stabbing tofu.

"Tell me, are you spies of the Yinshan Gate, or scouts from Yanjiu City?"

Hearing this, Mengshan and Yuan Mei both frowned.

They came from Shangyang City and were naturally unfamiliar with this region of Chuzhou.

The reason they knew of this hidden path was thanks to connections that brought them news from Yanjiu City.

But this certainly did not prove they were scouts from Yanjiu City; under the current circumstances, it was likely the other party had mistaken them for someone else.

Yet what they still could not confirm was the relationship between Li Musheng and the other, and these people led by the bald burly man.

Therefore, besides dealing with the bald burly man, who was obviously a master of the Innate realm, they also had to guard against a sneak attack from Li Musheng and Cang Cang Yin Yue.

Thus, Mengshan and Yuan Mei were under great pressure at that moment.

So, Mengshan voluntarily lowered his stance, bowed his hands toward the bald burly man, and said:

"Hero, we three are from Jingzhou and have no relation to the two factions you mentioned. Please show mercy and let us pass."

"Nonsense! Do you take me for a three-year-old child?"

The bald burly man spat, utterly disbelieving Mengshan's lies.

"You don't take the water route or the official road? A stranger insists on taking this desolate mountain path, a bird-dropping little trail; if you're not a spy, then there's something wrong!"

He said fiercely:

"I advise you to be sensible and confess clearly to this Hall Master, so as to avoid suffering flesh-and-blood pain."

At this moment, several fierce burly men around slowly approached, holding knives and spears with cold smiles.

"Looks like there's nothing to talk about."

Mengshan's face instantly turned cold; he silently signaled Yuan Mei with a glance to guard against a sneak attack from the shadows, while he suddenly stepped on the ground and charged forward.

With a piercing sound of a long sword being drawn, his martial arts true qi boiled throughout his body, and he struck without warning.

Shh! Shh!

A flash of snow-white sword light swept by, and two fierce heads rolled to the ground with a thud, blood splashing more than three feet high.

"What boldness!"

The bald burly man's teeth gritted until they nearly cracked; scorching true qi instantly gathered in his hand, and he yanked out the fish rod, flinging it fiercely at Mengshan.

Sharp whistling sounds arose in the air; threads of silver light at the tip of the fish rod sliced through like blades, as if intending to tear Mengshan into four pieces.

At the critical moment, Mengshan turned and punched out; the perfected Mountain-Shaking Fist force, like a giant hammer, shook apart the sharp threads in midair.

Those threads fell beside him, slicing straight through the hard mountain rocks on the ground; explosions erupted everywhere, and countless loose stones flew.

In the next instant, Mengshan's eyes flashed with fierce light; meeting attack with attack, he thrust the sword tip directly at the bald burly man, leaving a afterimage behind as he charged forward!

On the other side, while guarding against the shadows, Yuan Mei had also acted.

Her sword technique was extremely fast; the burly men around were no match for her, and within a single breath, several heads fell.

In the dense forest not far away, Li Musheng and Cang Cang Yin Yue stood atop a large tree, quietly watching this scene.

"These roadblockers aren't any good either; they're like a ragtag mob. So many are dead after just one clash."

Li Musheng, not fond of bloody scenes, shook his head and clicked his tongue.

Cang Cang Yin Yue glanced at him and said:

"This is fine. With them clearing the way ahead, we can avoid much trouble, and I can save myself a lot of worry."

"Is that so? I feel this situation seems a bit unreliable," Li Musheng expressed doubt.

And just then, the battle over there had already taken on a lopsided trend.

The bald giant obviously hadn't expected Mengshan and Yuan Mei to be so formidable; both were innate masters no weaker than him.

It had only been a short while, and his own subordinates had been slaughtered to the last man.

And he himself was now pinned down by Mengshan, unable to gain the upper hand over the other for the time being; neither could harm the other.

"Those two are with you, right? They haven't acted until now; they must have abandoned you and fled long ago."

Mengshan swung his blade down, clashing with the fishing rod in the opponent's hand; the powerful surge of residual true qi from the impact directly shattered a bowl-thick tree several zhang away.

"What are you barking about? You killed so many of my brothers; I will cut you into ten thousand pieces!"

The bald giant ground his teeth, but suddenly pulled a bamboo tube from his chest, ignited it with true qi, and shot a blinding red firework into the sky!

(End of this chapter)