Chapter 126: A Hair's Breadth from Disaster (Begging for Monthly Tickets)

In fact, Sheng Yuanyao had no intention of fishing.

Lu Xingzhou's performance in several matters at East River in Xiazhou had truly been dazzling beyond compare, giving Sheng Yuanyao a kind of blind faith in his judgment.

Since Lu Xingzhou had repeatedly stressed that if they wanted to hunt Ye Wufeng, they had to find him first and absolutely must not act rashly, Sheng Yuanyao would not set this plan in motion before contacting Lu Xingzhou.

Today's garden outing was a real outing; its true purpose was actually a matchmaking meeting.

The Wanhua Sword Sect was a renowned orthodox faction, and quite a few of its graduated disciples served in the Demon-Suppression Bureau. Sheng Qingfeng did not like forming marriage alliances with top aristocratic families, to avoid creating excessive political entanglements, so direct disciples from prestigious orthodox sects with close ties to the Demon-Suppression Bureau became an excellent choice.

After all, the Demon-Suppression Bureau dealt more with the jianghu.

Chu Qingchen was a direct disciple of the Wanhua Sword Sect, ranked seventh on the Newcomers List, and his age was suitable. By every measure, he would be a fairly appropriate match for a marriage alliance.

At first, Sheng Yuanyao hadn't thought about any of this. That Pei Yu's guest was Chu Qingchen had actually given her a bit of pleasure—after all, they were all young people, and she was quite interested in befriending outstanding young talents. Seventh on the Newcomers List, huh—not worth getting to know?

If she had known earlier that her father harbored thoughts of a marriage alliance, she might have gone to make trouble for Chu Qingchen that day. Pleasure, my foot.

But there was no need to make trouble anyway. That day, after Huo Jin stirred things up and Lu Xingzhou shone brilliantly, Sheng Yuanyao had already lost interest in befriending Chu Qingchen. After finishing the meal, she hadn't even noticed what Chu Qingchen looked like—her attention had all been on Lu Xingzhou.

She also felt somewhat dispirited... Compared to Lu Xingzhou, peers her age seemed to have nothing worth talking about except perhaps martial strength. Even in martial strength, Lu Xingzhou was catching up in great strides—when she met him, he was only seventh grade, and now, just three or four months later, he was already upper sixth grade. And that's not all—he could take down Huo Jin, a fifth-grade cultivator, in a single strike.

Sitting at the same table as Lu Xingzhou, it was truly hard to keep one's thoughts on anyone at another table.

However, because of the matter of dealing with Ye Wufeng, after the meal Sheng Yuanyao went to find Chu Qingchen to discuss it, and thus they became acquainted.

The annoying thing was that when she got back, her parents grabbed her and asked, "The Wanhua Sword Sect's Chu Qingchen has come to the capital—have you met him?" Then they egged her on about the matchmaking and even asked Pei Yu to play matchmaker and keep her company.

Sheng Yuanyao had been quiet these past two days because she was arguing with her parents, and didn't even have the mind to arrange the proper business of catching Ye Wufeng. Today she truly couldn't argue any longer, all because of one sentence from her father: "You'll be twenty after New Year! You don't want this and you don't want that—do you really want to end up with Lu Xingzhou!"

Sheng Yuanyao was dumbfounded: "What does Lu Xingzhou have to do with anything? We're just friends—his bit on the side is Shen..."

She stopped short halfway through. Sheng Qingfeng said through gritted teeth: "His relationship with the Princess—you must keep it absolutely secret. No more letting it slip."

"Understood..."

"Since you know his relationship with the Princess is unusual, what are you still trying to do?"

"I told you, we're not in that kind of relationship! What do you mean 'trying to do'!"

"Prove it to us."

Sheng Yuanyao: "..."

Forget it.

So she had no choice but to reluctantly come out and handle this matchmaking meeting, then go back and tell her parents it wasn't suitable, and that would be that.

Mindful of the Ye Wufeng issue Lu Xingzhou had warned about, Sheng Yuanyao had brought along an old family servant for protection. Pei Yu and his retinue were no pushovers either, and with Chu Qingchen himself, plus a large group of young masters and young ladies following along on the outing, such a lineup didn't seem likely to leave any opening for an enemy. Sheng Yuanyao thus set her mind at ease and simply relaxed and enjoyed the garden for real.

February spring breeze, orioles flitting and grass growing, the air carrying the freshness after rain, the garden a riot of blossoms, the lake surface smooth as a mirror—the whole environment was truly very pleasant.

Sheng Yuanyao stood by the lakeside, feeling the gentle breeze off the water, briefly relaxing her troubled heart.

"Miss Sheng, may I ask the name of this lake?" Chu Qingchen's voice came from beside her.

This classic pickup line annoyed Sheng Yuanyao somewhat. She glanced over to see Pei Yu and a bunch of other young masters and young ladies who had claimed to be boating together with her, but they had all drifted far away, deliberately leaving the space beside her empty to give the two of them privacy.

Everyone knew what this implied, which made Sheng Yuanyao even more annoyed. Good going, Pei Yu—not an ounce of loyalty.

She forgot that Pei Yu and Chu Qingchen were the real friends, so of course his loyalty was directed toward Chu Qingchen.

But this also meant that Chu Qingchen had truly taken a liking to Sheng Yuanyao, which was why he had asked his brother to do him this favor.

It was perfectly normal for him to be taken with her—Gua Mei truly had nothing but merits: frank personality, strong sense of responsibility, excellent family background, and great beauty.

Sheng Yuanyao herself had no such self-awareness, always feeling that those who courted her were like flies, nowhere near as comfortable and at ease as being with Lu Xingzhou. So she coolly brushed him off: "The lake is called Yaochi. It's just a name tacked onto a legend, nothing worth mentioning."

Chu Qingchen, however, paid no heed to her coldness. After all, a beauty willing to respond was a good start. His spirits instead lifted, and he continued asking: "Then this garden is called Qingyao—the 'yao' is this lake, but what does the 'qing' mean?"

Sheng Yuanyao, as if still half asleep, lazily pointed at random: "That little hill over there is called Qingdai Mountain."

Her tone was so dismissive, she might as well have said outright: get lost, stop bothering me while I look at the lake.

But the colder and more rejecting a woman was, the more itchingly obsessed men tended to become. Chu Qingchen had originally only felt a mild fondness, but now he was almost feeling a deep, unshakable love. He racked his brains for a long time, then carefully smiled: "Your name contains 'yao,' and mine contains 'qing'—I feel this garden still has some fate with the two of us."

Sheng Yuanyao scoffed: "That 'qing' is not this 'qing.' Don't try to claim a connection."

Chu Qingchen was a bit embarrassed and was about to say something when Sheng Yuanyao cut him off: "Think of something proper, will you? With an attitude like this, you still want to challenge for first on the Newcomers List?"

Chu Qingchen said proudly: "If Ye Wufeng stood before me, Miss Sheng would know the outcome."

Sheng Yuanyao was truly annoyed. She turned to see Pei Yu and the others had walked far away, so she wanted to catch up with the main group to avoid awkwardness.

The moment she turned, the lake water rippled lightly, and a slender sword suddenly shot out from the water like a venomous snake flicking its tongue.

One of them was full of turmoil, the other full of chasing girls, and for a moment both forgot about the matter of Ye Wufeng. By the time a sharp premonition rose in their hearts, the sword had already reached them.

Chu Qingchen was horrified. His first reaction was to put distance between himself and Sheng Yuanyao so he could observe the sword's trajectory. After all, the sword had appeared suddenly and came from behind them both, making it very hard for either to judge the opponent's sword path. Instantly creating distance was a very instinctive choice.

But in anyone's eyes, his handling of the situation on the spot amounted to cowardice—not even the courage to step in front of the lady, yet he had the nerve to boast "if Ye Wufeng stood before me" and such...

A mocking laugh came from within the water mist: "That's it?"

That sword was actually not aimed at Chu Qingchen, but at Sheng Yuanyao!

In the span of a lightning flash, the old servant who had been following not far from Sheng Yuanyao's side drew his sword like lightning, leaping past her to thrust at the sword in the water.

But the distances were different—the sword had already broken the surface before the old servant moved, clearly too late. Sheng Yuanyao would need to dodge this first strike on her own!

Sheng Yuanyao's whole body felt as if plunged into an ice cellar.

Ye Wufeng had not broken through to third grade as Lu Xingzhou feared, but was absolutely just one kick away from it, infinitely close to third grade. The speed of this sword strike—she, at fifth grade, simply could not dodge it!

If Chu Qingchen had not put distance between them just now but had instead decisively counter-thrust, this situation could have been resolved... Unfortunately, Chu Qingchen had made the wrong first choice.

Sheng Yuanyao exerted all her strength to leap aside, but the sword clung to her like a shadow and still easily pierced into her back.

"Miss Sheng!" Pei Yu and the others in the distance cried out in shock as they rushed over, but they were all a beat too late, watching helplessly as the sword struck Sheng Yuanyao, her eyes wide.

Time and space seemed to freeze in that instant.

Then the scene unfolded like slow motion—people watched helplessly as the sword, which had clearly pierced in, instead became a grazing slash across Sheng Yuanyao's back, sending up a spray of blood.

A wheelchair shot in from the side like a cannonball, swept past Sheng Yuanyao and scooped her up in one motion, continuing to hurtle onward.

The ashes from the burning talisman paper hadn't even finished falling.

Lu Xingzhou... from far away had directly applied a Mirror Light Talisman to Sheng Yuanyao's back, while simultaneously rocketing his wheelchair forward to carry her away.

At the same time, A Nuo's fist had already thundered toward Ye Wufeng's side of the face, the Sheng family's old servant's sword had already pierced Ye Wufeng's sword tip, Chu Qingchen reacted and thrust back with a sword, Pei Yu and others surrounded from four sides, and various attacks rained down wildly.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye, yet Ye Wufeng had already re-entered the water and vanished.

All the power struck the water and hit nothing but air. Ye Wufeng's voice already came from the other end of the lake, laughing as he departed: "Noble ladies of the capital, young masters of great families, direct disciples of sword sects... hahahaha... are all not even as good as a useless cripple."

"Thud!" Lu Xingzhou's wheelchair smashed onto the ground; the powerful inertia threw him forward, and he rolled several times on the lawn while holding Sheng Yuanyao before coming to a stop.

The bloodstains on Sheng Yuanyao's back dyed the grass a vivid red; the impact against the ground hurt as if she had fallen apart, yet her beautiful eyes did not blink once as she looked at Lu Xingzhou's face pressing down on her, as if lost in a dream.

She had never even imagined that it would be Lu Xingzhou, like a god descending from heaven, who saved her at this critical moment.

Talismans are faster than spells and can take effect at a distance no matter what, but they still require a small amount of time to work.

Judging by the timing, Lu Xingzhou must have seen her the very instant he arrived, before anything had happened, and cast the Mirror Light Talisman the moment he saw Sheng Yuanyao, allowing it to take effect in time. Immediately after, the wheelchair shot forward wildly, moving so fast it was beyond control, enabling him to snatch her away at the critical moment.

This awareness could explode ten Chu Qingchens.

Lu Xingzhou breathed heavily, his eyes filled with anger: "I told you to be careful, be careful! Did you treat it all as wind in your ears? Who told you to fish like that, deliberately scattering Pei Yu and the others? Are you tired of living?"

Sheng Yuanyao weakly said: "Misunderstanding, I wasn't fishing..."

"Not fishing? So you mean that knowing assassins were watching you, you actually went out for a spring outing and got ambushed? Was the pig you distributed at the city gate those days yourself!"

Sheng Yuanyao's face burned hot; the pain in her back didn't even feel like pain anymore. After a long while, she said: "Get off me first, my back hurts."

Lu Xingzhou turned his head and finally saw the Sheng family's old servant, Pei Yu, Chu Qingchen, A Nuo... a crowd gathered around him, looking down and watching, each with a different expression, as if saying, "You're awake?"

————

PS: Begging for monthly tickets, begging for monthly tickets~

(End of this chapter)