Chapter 592: Entering the City

Because of the four men's mistake that let Cen Dachuan and Cen Yuan nearly succeed in escaping, their otherwise perfect escort mission became imperfect, and Pan Yun was frightened.

Pan Yun punished them by interrogating Dachuan and Cen Yuan, making them come up with ten escape methods and schemes used during the escort.

She even had Cen Dachuan and Cen Yuan demonstrate each one on the spot, while the four were responsible for the pursuit.

If Cen Dachuan and Cen Yuan could escape more than a li away, it counted as a successful escape, and Pan Yun would reward them with a medicinal ingredient to prevent catching cold, then fine Miao and the four men;

if they couldn't escape a li before being caught back, it counted as a failed escape, and failure meant no punishment, and Miao and the four men got no reward either…

That's what she said, but Cen Dachuan and Cen Yuan felt that demonstrating ten escape methods was already the greatest punishment of all.

But they didn't dare refuse.

The four men tasked with chasing the two didn't dare either, so the six of them put on ten rounds of you-flee-I-chase right under Pan Yun's nose.

The best escape methods Cen Dachuan and the others could come up with—four of them involved water.

Which meant that the moment they got the fire going, they'd have to keep jumping into the water, back and forth—four times!

By the time they'd finished demonstrating all ten methods, the two of them were pale-faced and shivering.

Pan Yun, whose sole job was watching the fire and cooking, had also finished dinner—porridge again.

But tonight's porridge was a little different.

Qu Le took one bite and hissed—spicy.

Seeing his mouth twitch as if it were dancing, Pan Yun couldn't help laughing. "Sorry, I think I put in too much pepper."

Everyone: …How are you supposed to eat porridge with pepper in it?

Pan Yun, however, ladled them each a full bowl and said, "Eat up, it drives out the cold."

Soaking wet, Cen Dachuan and Cen Yuan said nothing, just bowed their heads and ate ravenously.

After the porridge, Pan Yun had them hang their clothes on tree branches to dry by the fire, and took out several packs of medicinal ingredients and handed them to Tao Yanbai: "Mix them a dose of medicine. We're about to hand them over—we can't let anything happen to them."

Cen Dachuan's wringing paused: "Isn't Daoist Pan here for revenge? Who are you handing us over to?"

Pan Yun gave him a faint smile: "You'll know tomorrow."

Early the next morning, the group entered the city.

The gate guard glanced at their academy enrollment documents and waved them through: "Go ahead."

The moment they entered the city, Pan Yun was startled: "There seem to be more jianghu types carrying blades and swords than ordinary folk."

Qu Le dismissed it: "Commoners aren't stupid. With so many blade-and-sword folk flooding the city, naturally they'd go out less—doesn't that just make the jianghu types look more numerous?"

Pan Yun: "So jianghu types also hurt the economy?"

Qu Le choked. What kind of logic was that?

Unwilling to let her look down on jianghu folk, he said at once: "Who isn't part of the jianghu? The three teachings and the nine trades—Daoist priests, monks and nuns, even scholars—aren't they all jianghu folk, same as peddlers and porters?"

Pan Yun stroked her chin and nodded: "Fair point. So it's the blade-and-sword-carrying, martial-arts-practicing jianghu folk who hurt the economy."

Qu Le took another hit. He didn't dare argue further, only muttered: "Aren't you one too? Your martial arts aren't low either…"

Pan Yun pretended she hadn't heard, looked around, and asked: "Where are we meeting up with them?"

Qu Le said: "Just ask someone and we'll find out."

He casually stopped a blade-carrying, rather handsome-looking man, cupped his fist, and said: "Brother, you're with the Wu Lin Alliance?"

The man looked about twenty-three or twenty-four, with a handsome, sharply defined, resolute face, a horizontal saber at his waist—the picture of a jianghu man.

He glanced at Qu Le and said: "No, I haven't joined. I'm a country bumpkin. I heard the jianghu folk were mopping up bandits, so I came to help."

Qu Le: "Then, brother, do you know where the Wu Lin Alliance people are gathering?"

The man frowned and looked Qu Le up and down: "You're with the Wu Lin Alliance? Can't you read the markings?" He pointed to a corner of a wall: "Such a big marking… oh, it's gone. Probably some mischievous dog lifted its leg and washed it away."

Pan Yun snorted with laughter.

Anger flashed in Qu Le's eyes; the man watched with curiosity. Both turned to look at Pan Yun.

Pan Yun immediately suppressed her smile, but couldn't help asking: "How does brother recognize Wu Lin Alliance markings?"

The man: "They haven't changed their markings in decades—hard not to know. The only ones who scrawl random nonsense on walls, trees, and stones are kids and every kind of dim-witted jianghu organization, and the Wu Lin Alliance is the worst of the lot."

Qu Le couldn't stand it anymore. His hand went to his sword hilt, but he'd only drawn it an inch when Pan Yun pressed his hand and shoved it back.

Pan Yun asked with a sweet smile: "Then does brother know where the address on the marking points?"

The man's gaze swept over Qu Le's sword and Pan Yun's hand. He gave a faint smile, pointed ahead, and said: "Straight ahead, Ping'an Inn."

Then he walked off.

The smile fell from Pan Yun's face.

!

Qu Le had already stormed off ahead. After three or four steps he realized Pan Yun hadn't moved, frowned, and looked back: "You're not coming?"

Pan Yun glanced back at Cen Dachuan and Cen Yuan, who were surrounded by Miao Zhen and the others, and said in a low voice: "We'll find a place to stay near Ping'an Inn. You go in and find them."

Qu Le was slightly surprised: "Why? You don't trust Ping'an Inn, or you don't trust our Wu Lin Alliance?"

Pan Yun: "Almost every city has an inn called Ping'an, but Quanzhou's Ping'an Inn is different—the owner behind it has the surname Pu."

Qu Le: "So what?"

Behind Pan Yun, Cen Dachuan's brow twitched. He lowered his eyes, hiding his expression.

Pan Yun smiled sweetly: "Nothing. I just don't like Quanzhou's Ping'an Inn."

They found an inn diagonally across from Ping'an Inn and checked in—seven people, one room.

The shopkeeper looked at them strangely, wanting to say something but holding back.

Qu Le flushed, pulled out a silver ingot, and was about to insist on one room per person, when Pan Yun reached out and stopped him, giving him a look that said she thought he was an idiot: "You go find them first. We're just resting our feet for now—we may not even stay."

Mainly, she didn't trust him and Tao Yanbai to keep an eye on Cen Dachuan and Cen Yuan.

Pan Yun glanced at Tao Yanbai, then finally settled on Miao Zhen, and after a moment's thought said simply: "The three of you go with Junior Brother Qu and have a look."

Qu Le looked dazed: "Junior brother?"

Pan Yun shot him a sideways glare: "What else? First-year student!"

Qu Le resigned himself on the spot. They'd always called him Young Master Qu, Young Master Qu, until he was almost starting to forget — he really was their junior fellow disciple.

Pan Yun deliberately meant to put Seeing Miao Zhen and the other two through their paces, so she had them follow Qu Le to the Peace Inn to find the person. She herself tipped her chin toward Cen Dachuan and Cen Yuan: "Need me to invite you?"

The two of them immediately fell in obediently behind her.

The Shopkeeper swallowed all the words in his belly, not daring to speak, not daring to let any odd look show in his eyes again. He took out a key and personally led the three of them upstairs, opened the door, and let them in.

Pan Yun didn't shortchange herself. She took out a piece of silver and handed it to him: "Please prepare some food — whatever your inn is best at. Meat, vegetables, and rice will do. No beef, anything else is fine."

The Shopkeeper took the silver, weighed it in his mind, estimated it at seven or eight parts, and grew even more respectful: "The heroine need only wait a moment. I'll have someone prepare it right away."

(End of chapter)