Chapter 98: The dusty world is like a prison; all living things suffer

Half an hour later.

The combination of one master and two disciples now had an extra woman named Susu. She was the village girl from before, originally the personal maid of Zhai Jiao, the only daughter of Zhai Rang, the Great Dragon Head of Wagang Stronghold.

Because she was separated from her young mistress on the way, she had stayed in the village for a while, not expecting to encounter the lawless righteous army.

Kou Zhong said, bored:

"How strange. Li Jing, this hero who looks so heroic, kept saying he had matters to attend to and was unwilling to travel with us. Instead, it is Sister Susu, a weak girl, who has courage in her heart and actually intends to follow us to find someone."

Xu Ziling shook his head and sighed:

"It seems it perfectly matches the saying: 'It is easy to draw a tiger's skin but hard to draw its bones; it is easy to know a person's face but hard to know their heart.'"

"This little maid cannot be the young heroes' sister." Susu, who was riding a horse beside the two, spoke up.

"Sister Susu, don't be so polite. Neither Ziling nor I are young masters of any aristocratic clan." Kou Zhong said with a smile.

"The two young heroes are not yet adults, yet you have such courage and skill, beating back a whole cavalry troop. In the future, you will surely be extraordinary figures. This little maid truly cannot bear the title of sister."

Kou and Xu had always been looked down upon and despised by others, and coupled with the life of walking on thin ice during this period, they felt moved in their hearts if someone treated them even a little bit well.

Now that there was an extra pretty sister who viewed them as heroes, their mood couldn't be better.

"Sister Susu, you are a few years older than Xiao Zhong and me, so why can't you be our sister? You must not be overly modest." Xu Ziling said with a face full of smiles:

"Besides, we can have today's martial arts all thanks to Master's cultivation. We are still far from being extraordinary figures!"

Kou Zhong looked at the back of the blue-robed youth in front and shivered:

"That's right, and if it weren't for Master's permission, we wouldn't dare to bring you along on the journey."

A strange look appeared on Susu's pretty face, and she whispered:

"Sect Master Qing looks lazy and casual, and has a peerless appearance. Why do I always feel that you both respect and fear him?"

Kou and Xu were silent for a long time, then replied in unison:

"Because we respect our teacher and the Dao."

"In a few days, you will be in danger. Although the world is in chaos, with eighteen rebel kings and sixty-four paths of dust, Yang Guang still controls the capital Daxing, the Eastern Capital Luoyang, and Jiangdu by the sea."

The blue-robed youth said leisurely:

"And we are heading to the capital. It won't be as relaxed as it is now, allowing you to chat and laugh. If you are not careful, I fear you will fall into an ambush and have to face who knows how many strong bows and crossbows."

"Master, Sister Susu is only traveling with us to find someone. She shouldn't have to go to the capital with us, right?" Kou Zhong hurriedly rode his horse to catch up.

"That depends on her own wishes." The blue-robed youth said indifferently:

"However, in my view, whether she follows or not, the outcome is about the same. If she doesn't follow, she will definitely be abducted by others on the way to find people, and perhaps become a bandit's wife."

"Or she might encounter someone with a human face but a beast's heart, ending up dying of worry and illness."

"Is it impossible for her to meet a good person?" Xu Ziling followed and asked.

"In a chaotic world where human hearts are corrupted, the difficulty of meeting a so-called good person is no less than Shi Long being able to break through the essence of the 'Longevity Secret'."

This sentence from the blue-robed youth made Kou and Xu show a bitter smile. In a time of war, bandits rising everywhere, and righteous armies causing chaos, wanting a weak woman to meet a good person was indeed as difficult as ascending to heaven.

"If she follows, it will be nothing more than dying with you in a web of swords, a forest of spears, a mountain of blades, and a rain of arrows."

The blue-robed youth's tone was light and slow:

"Of course, there is also a great possibility that you will bring her out of a bloody path. Comparing the two, I always feel that following along will result in a better situation."

Kou Zhong said: "With Master's methods, protecting one person's life shouldn't be difficult, right?"

"Not to mention that I have no relation to her, having you deal with the cavalry troop—calculating it like that, it wasn't helping once. If I have to help again and again, it would be going too far, clearly exceeding my understanding of righteous acts."

The blue-robed youth had a face full of laziness:

"The dusty world is like a prison; all living things suffer. If someone needs me to help with everything, I will help to the end once, send them to the grave, and let myself help this person endure the suffering of the dusty world."

Kou and Xu had nothing to say, with only one sentence in their hearts:

"He is still him, without the slightest change."

"Two young heroes, don't worry for me." Susu hurriedly rode her horse forward:

"Sect Master Qing, you are right. In a chaotic world, people are not as good as dogs, especially for us women. But I am not some young lady of a great family who has no power to truss a chicken."

"My young mistress treated me extremely well, which led me to understand some horsemanship and archery, and I have the power to protect myself."

"Oh, is that so?" The blue-robed youth said peacefully:

"Since you have the power to protect yourself, how did you almost get abducted home by the cavalry leader?"

Susu's pretty face flushed, and she argued forcefully:

"Actually, at that time, I had already decided to take advantage of his lack of preparation, bite him, and grab a horse to escape."

"Whether you follow or not, I don't care at all. There is no need to say so much. Saying this just now was just to let you prepare yourself mentally." Zhuang Buran said coldly:

"On this journey, quite a few people will die, not just the so-called enemies, but there might also be your corpses."

After saying this, he charged out first on his horse.

"Sister Susu, now you have discovered why we both respect and fear Master, right?" Xu Ziling's mouth tasted bitter.

"Master's temperament, I imagine you have also come to understand." Kou Zhong said tactfully: "Sometimes he is just very heartless."

He paused, then added:

"But having said that, weighing two benefits, choose the greater; weighing two harms, choose the lesser. I think it's better for Sister Susu to follow us."

"Why?" Susu was puzzled: "Aren't you afraid I'll drag you down?"

Xu Ziling shook his head:

"What kind of burden are you? We have a burden on us that is a thousand times heavier than you!"

A smile appeared on Kou Zhong's face:

"Yes, thinking of this burden, I instantly feel that a pretty girl like Sister Susu is not a burden at all. It is clearly bringing a ray of dawn to our dark days and giving us even stronger motivation."

"What are the two young heroes talking about? This little maid doesn't understand." Susu looked blank.

"Sister Susu, I already said there's no need to be so polite." Xu Ziling said with a smile:

"If we really have to say it, we should thank you instead."

Kou Zhong nodded heavily:

"So, from now on, let's just call each other brother and sister. You can just call us Xiao Zhong and Xiao Ling."

Susu showed a moved expression. Although her own young mistress viewed her as a sister, she was ultimately a servant, and her understanding of so-called family affection was as blurred as could be.

In the next month or so, ever since they arrived in the territory controlled by Yang Guang, the group suffered many dangerous ambushes.

Yuwen Huaji's death, and the fact that the Song Clan was afraid of offending an existence at the Grandmaster level, meant they didn't tell everything, which caused a misunderstanding.

It made the Yuwen Clan believe that the person who killed him was just a few low-class fellows.

Now, they were actually bold enough to head toward the capital. If they didn't pinch these little thieves to death, wouldn't everyone under heaven dare to pull the whiskers of the Yuwen Clan's tiger? This led to increasingly crazy pursuits.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 99 =====