TGM Vol.2 Chapter 17 – The Truth About Qu Ru (4)

The two of them sat against the tree trunk for a while and gradually regained their strength.

Yu Sifeng tried to move his arm to put on his coat, saying, “You seem to have learned a lot in these four years. The fire magic technique just now was very beautiful.”

Xuanji was suddenly praised, and she couldn’t help but feel proud and smiled, “That… that is!”

She doesn’t have the nerve to ask what “fire magic” is, let alone tell him that she can only call out three or four fire dragons at most. Sifeng seldom compliments people, and she didn’t want to be laughed at by him anymore.

He smiled again, and suddenly raised his hand and scratched her nose, “Look at you.”

Xuanji helped him to tie up his clothes and bandage up his wound with medicine. When all was done, the night grew darker and the big silvery moon had already reached the center of the sky, like a jade plate clasped overhead.

Yu Sifeng suddenly said, “What time is it now?”

“Well, it’s probably… it’s almost past midnight.”

“Why isn’t Min Yan and the others back yet?”

Only after he said that, Xuanji suddenly remembered what Zhong Minyan had said before they left, and jumped up and said, “Oh my! No! They said if they don’t come back after midnight, they are in danger! How…how are we going to…”

“Don’t rush.” Yu Sifeng tried to stand up, only to feel that his arms and legs felt limp and weak, so he managed to stand up straight, but couldn’t use his sword. “Did he instruct anything?”

“Alright…It seems to say that if there is any danger, a signal will be set off, telling us to hurry back to Zhao’s manor when we see the signal…” Xuanji hesitantly said.

Yu Sifeng mused, “There’s no signal yet, so I guess…”.

In the midst of the conversation, a bright red firework explodes in the sky with a loud bang, and falls down like blood. They recognize this kind of signal firecracker as a warning shot in case of emergency.

Ling Long and the others are in danger on the front hill!

The two of them looked at each other in shock. They couldn’t care less about the pain in their arms and legs, and hurriedly flew towards the mountain in front of them with their swords.

※※※

The mountain in front of the Haiwan is not as gentle and tree-lined as the mountain behind it, but is full of strange rocks and caves. The four of them spent half a day circling the front of the mountain, but they couldn’t figure out which one they were looking for because of the strange dance that Yu Sifeng had just performed. In the end, they all flew around until they were a little tired, so they had to stop on a big rock to take a rest.

“There are more caves than there are in XiaoYang Peak, and if we keep looking like this, we won’t be able to find them in a year.” Ling Long punched her swollen calves, removed the water bag from her waist and took a sip.

After looking around, Zhong Min Yan said, “There is something unusual here. The back of the mountain was so noisy, but there was no sound from here at all, so it was oddly quiet. It seems that the mastermind behind the scenes is nearby, so we should keep looking.”

Ling Long bounced up at his words, took another gulp of water, patted the dust off her clothes, and said, “Let’s go! Let’s get on with it! I’m going to find him tonight!”

Lu Yanran leaned on the stone and sighed softly, “There are so many caves here, how can we find them? … Its better to go back and come back tomorrow evening.”

Before Zhong Min Yan had time to speak, he heard Ling Long sneer and said, “You are so physically weak, yet still cultivating to be an immortal.”

Lu Yanran snorted, and said leisurely, “Yes, I’m just a little girl, I’m no match for a wild woman’s vigor and vitality.”

“Who are you calling a wild woman?” Ling Long pointed at her nose and raised her eyebrows.

Lu Yanran smiled sweetly again, “Did I mean you? Why are you so sensitive?”

Ling Long jumps up again.

The two girls are playing tricks on each other, but Zhong Min Yan is impatient and asks Ruu Yu, “How did Sifeng find out who was behind all this?”

Rou Yu smiled and said, “That’s a type of Magic Technique ^[1]. Sifeng followed the Palace Master to learn it for a few days, but he didn’t learn well enough, and he was overdrawn.”

“He knows how to do Magic?” Zhong Minyan was surprised and admiring. Although this brother is a year younger than himself, he still knows a lot. He thought he would finally surpass him after four years of diligent training, but he was still beaten by him.

“Can Ruo Yu do it too? Why don’t we try to find out where the cave is?”

Ruo Yu shook his head and said, “I am ashamed…. I won’t be able to do this. Sifeng is gifted and talented, and I can only catch up to ordinary disciples from Li Ze Palace.”

Ling Long was tired of fighting with Lu Yanran, she smiled at his modesty and said, “Ruo Yu is too modest. Your iron slingshot is very powerful. By the way, Si Feng used to use a slingshot before, he learned it from you, right?”

She remembered the ridiculous things of her childhood, that would be because Si Feng gave her a slingshot, she was greatly moved, but he actually had a bad temper, and angered her half to death, the sudden emergence of good feelings, but also disappeared without a trace. When she was young, things were really messy.

Rou Yu nodded and said, “Yes, Sifeng has always been a good learner. He saw that I made a beautiful slingshot and he asked me to play with it. But after a few days of playing with it, he knew how to make his own. It is not for no reason that the Palace Master and Vice Palace Master are so fond of Si Feng,”

The crowd couldn’t help but sigh with emotion at his words. Lu Yanran is even more delighted. She was already very fond of the mysterious and eccentric Yu Sifeng, but now she hears about his amazing deeds, she is so delighted that she can’t wait to see him and talk to him.

Ling Long couldn’t bear to see her with such a spring-hearted appearance, and immediately sneers, “I don’t know what Si Feng and sister are doing right now… Oh, they haven’t seen each other in four years. There must be a lot to talk about. Some people don’t need to think about it anymore.”

“It’s none of your business!” Lu Yanran was furious.
“What are you excited about, it’s not about you!”

“You…”

Zhong Minyan was about to tell them to stop, when he heard the sound of wings flapping in the southeast, as if a flock of birds were flying. They all hid behind the boulders and looked around. They saw dozens of Qu Ru birds that had fled the area and were now gathered together under a strange rock. It seemed that they wanted to go in, but didn’t dare. Just bustling around, flying everywhere.

“I remember there was a cave over there!” Ling Long suddenly remembered that there was a small cave hidden under the sharp rocks, but it was so narrow that ordinary people had to bend down and suck in their stomachs to get in, so they gave up. “The bad guy must be hiding in that hole!”

Zhong Min Yan looked up and down and said in a deep voice, “Ling Long, you and I will go to the front of the cave to provoke him. Rou Yu, take Miss Lu around to the back to see if there are other caves connected, don’t let him escape!”

They all agreed to split up and take action.

Ling Long, unable to endure any longer, rushes ahead of Zhong Min Yan and flies away like electricity. Unexpectedly, those Qu Ru who were lingering at the entrance of the cave were disoriented by the sudden appearance of people, and were attacked in threes and twos by the golden sword, causing many casualties among them.

Zhong Minyan followed her closely, cutting the remaining dozen Qu Ru who were about to flee into the cave with his sword. The two of them change directions at the same time, stopping at the mouth of the cave. Zhong Minyan stopped at the entrance of the cave, took out a string of fire crackers from his sleeve, ignited them, and threw then into the hole.

Hearing only a sound of earth-shattering explosion, the blue smoke filled the cave. Suddenly a black shadow rushes out of the cave entrance with lightning-fast movements, and in the blink of an eye, it is about to burrow into a nearby cave.

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[1]: 巫術 / Wūshù can be translated as ‘巫 / Wū’ = Witch or Shaman ‘術 / Shù’ = Technique or The Art (of). So, 巫術 / Wūshù can be Witchcraft or Shaman Technique, but neither fit the tone of the conversation, so the neutral term ‘Magic Technique’ was substituted instead.