Chapter 192: Teasing

Such a young woman has a hint of exotic beauty; Bai Lang twitches his nose slightly and realizes she also has a noticeable fox-like odor. Anyway, we just crossed paths; perhaps we'll meet again someday. The caravan and Bai Lang soon separated, but only a few minutes later the caravan turned again and a young man on horseback charged toward Bai Lang. 'Sir, coming this way, have you seen who robbed the escort?'

Could they not come ask? The blood hasn't even dried, and even the blood on the corpses is still puffing out, indicating they died not long ago—perhaps less than the time it takes to burn an incense stick. This is the escort team they've been tracking, yet after searching the wagons and the bodies of the dead escorts, they found no scriptures—only the red wrapping on the ground, and the box that should have held the scriptures.

Then it's simple: whoever did it, they could only have fled in one of two directions; and based on timing, the person they just met is absolutely the prime suspect—he must have been at the scene. Bai Lang looks at this young man; the tone of his question is odd, immediately revealing he's not a Han Chinese. Bai Lang glances behind him, not seeing the young woman, but seeing the middle-aged man accompanied by over a dozen young and strong men, all staring at Bai Lang.

'Oh, you mean that? Yeah, I robbed the road; I originally just wanted to borrow some money I wouldn't have to repay. Since we couldn't agree, I just killed them.' Bai Lang said nonchalantly. Now those people looked at him with eagerness, of course also with great vigilance—no matter what, anyone daring to rob the road is a fierce person, and especially since he killed all the escorts and robbed them, this counts as extremely vicious, and his martial arts are undoubtedly high.

Bai Lang now sits on a mule, his whole person appearing quite grown, and the face beneath his bamboo hat is visible to all—a heroic, fierce, unmatched face that these people also consider handsome. The middle-aged man drives his camel forward, his voice slightly trembling as he asks, 'Sir, have you seen that box inside the red wrapping?' Bai Lang looks at him, chuckles, and says, 'I saw it; I thought it was some valuable hidden dart, but it turned out to be a book I can't read.'

Upon hearing this, those among them who could understand Chinese became extremely agitated; the middle-aged man struggled to control himself, and just as he was about to ask about the whereabouts, the sound of hooves rang out as another half of the group arrived, led by the young woman. Bai Lang heard them speaking in a language he couldn't understand, muttering a few syllables, and so the young woman flashed her eyes and stepped closer a few paces, 'May I ask, sir, what happened to that book? If it's in your hands, we are willing to pay a hefty sum to buy it.'

For now, they probably can't afford to worry about Bai Lang this kind of vicious person; retrieving the scriptures is urgent. Bai Lang scratches his cheek beard, twiddles it. 'Oh, I thought this thing was useless, so I burned it.' As soon as he said that, it was like a thunderbolt from a clear sky; the opposite side instantly turned into a gaping-mouthed toad, and Bai Lang even saw the young woman's little tongue. 'How? Is this a very important treasure?' Bai Lang feigned ignorance deliberately.

After they came to their senses, their eyes seemed to spit fire, and some even burst into loud wails, yet there rose a spirit of desperate troops: 'How could your treasure be in the escort's hands? And I don't know either—let's just pretend we don't know—you can go slaughter those escorts to vent your anger.' Bai Lang continued with his indifferent tone. Those people wanted to rush over and hack Bai Lang to death, but the young woman stopped them.

The young woman looks very beautiful, but unexpectedly she bears an aura that can directly shout down those burly men. 'After all, she's in emerald-feather yellow robes... a woman capable of commanding troops in battle.' Bai Lang thought to himself, though he's not accustomed to these people. 'By the way, do you sell armor here? I'd like to buy suitable armor—do you have seven-layer interlocking ring mountain-pattern mail?' Bai Lang simply pretended destroying their scriptures never happened, and instead asked these people, 'You're merchants, aren't you? It's fine for me to ask as well.'

The young woman in emerald-feather yellow robes truly doesn't know what to do with this man before her—he's not the one who stole their scriptures, nor the road bandit who took them from the escort; he simply doesn't know what scripture it is, so he burned it, and how to assign responsibility? Moreover, the reason she stopped her clansmen isn't about who bears responsibility—it's simply because this man's martial arts are at least extraordinary, and she doesn't want her people to die needlessly.

The escort people are certainly not useless; everyone knows this—otherwise they wouldn't have tracked them all the way here without resorting to robbery. Yet these escorts were all killed outright by this man before them, and he seems rather relaxed about it—'borrow some money, if not obtained then just kill...' isn't that the act of a great villain? Moreover, after openly admitting he burned their scriptures and acting as if nothing happened, if this person also asked them for a loan...

'Looks like there's none.' Bai Lang sighed a little disappointedly, 'I've borrowed enough money; then you all may part ways. Wishing you prosperous fortunes.' Bai Lang turned the mule, preparing to leave. But indeed someone couldn't hold back—a young man leveled his lance and spurred his horse to thrust forward. 'Brother, don't!' the young woman shouted, and at the same time she had to use Lightness Skill to rush forward, thrusting her sword to protect her brother.

'Courting death.' Bai Lang gave a low shout, and with a casual grab he seized the spear shaft behind the spearhead; this eyesight and technique immediately let the young woman realize the trouble was great. Her brother was naturally strong, and besides he'd added the horse's momentum to his thrust, yet this man with one hand seized the spear shaft, and the shaft bent, making it impossible for the spearhead to advance even an inch. Then the shaft suddenly straightened, her brother grunted and dropped it, the skin on his palm already worn away by the spear butt.

The horse also stopped; if not for his superb horsemanship, the young woman's brother would likely have been unhorsed outright. But Bai Lang didn't let him off easy—he merely exerted a slight force with his hand, and instantly the spearhead and shaft were crushed apart. Bai Lang casually tossed aside the trash in his hand, and the next moment a tiger's claw descended, aiming to kill this man on the spot. At that moment the young woman's sword thrust out, executing the Three-Fraction Sword Technique to its fullest—before this man, the might of his tiger claw was something Huo Qingtong had scarcely seen in his lifetime, perhaps even his master and grandmaster lacked such claw power; of course he was exerting his martial arts fully, merely hoping to block just enough to allow his brother to escape in time.

The Three-Fraction Sword Technique changes moves extremely quickly; each move is merely a display of three parts. If one has never encountered this sword style, ordinary martial arts masters would likely flounder in dealing with it. However, Bai Lang is an Innate Expert; his martial arts inherently far surpass those of this world, and to him the Three-Fraction Sword Technique lacks even a sword aura—perhaps only fit to be a thug at a dental shop. Whether it's Ma Rulong or Murong Hua, a casual sword from either would vastly surpass this sword style.

Bai Lang saw the woman's beauty and didn't want to spoil the scene; he flicked his finger slightly, and Huo Qingtong could no longer grip the sword hilt—the Three-Fraction Sword Technique was shattered cleanly, the sword backbone snapped after being flicked, and the sword broke and flew from her hand.