Chapter 696: Wushang Village II (1/2)
Chapter 696: Wushang Village (II)
Translated by: Hypersheep325
Edited by: Michyrr
The white fog was thick and deep. Occasionally, someone's foot would knock a stone over a cliff. The long pause until the sound of its impact could be heard left all the members of the party shocked. Only Wang Chong remained unperturbed, confidently leading the way as though this was his own home.
Gao Feng and Nie Yan closely followed behind Wang Chong, growing increasingly astonished all the while. This fog was so thick that it was impossible to see which direction was which or make out any kind of object. Yet Wang Chong was not panicked in the slightest.
It was like he always knew where he was going, without even needing to see his feet.
After some time, the fog around them began to fade. Gao Feng and Nie Yan inwardly rejoiced, as they knew that they were about to leave the bounds of the fog.
”Hmph, none of them are working, and yet they send me to dig. Are they not afraid that I'll get captured?”
The grumbling voice of a girl came out of the dispersing fog, coupled with the sound of someone kicking stones.
”Lord Marquis, this is?”
The party members turned to Wang Chong.
”Don't say anything, just follow.”
At the sound of this familiar voice, the smile on Wang Chong's face only widened. Stepping on the fine and sharp mountain rocks, he walked toward the sound. The grumbling voice of the girl grew louder and louder, clearer and clearer.
”Digging every day, digging when the sun is up, digging when the moon is up!
”Stupid hoe! Stupid hoe!
”Oh no! This a problem—the hoe handle broke.
”Uh-oh, I can't let Grandpa or the others know. Stupid, stupid Grandpa…”
……
The prattling girl's voice grew closer and closer, and by now, even the ten-some subordinates Wang Chong had brought with him for this excursion could hear it. Their expressions were odd, both suspicious and curious.
Wang Chong paid no attention to the looks on the faces of his subordinates. By following that voice, it took only a few moments for Wang Chong to see a girl of eight or nine years old, her hair tied into two braids, a bamboo herb basket larger than her body on her back. She was sitting on a large and barren stone, next to which a massive pine tree grew.
The girl had her back to Wang Chong, so Wang Chong couldn't see what she looked like, but he could hear loud and clear that her mutterings were brimming with discontent.
Crack!
As he watched, the sound of a breaking stone came from behind him. The girl, who had been just kicking her legs out as she sat under the pine tree, jumped up in fright at the sound. She immediately slid down the rock and looked behind her.
At this moment, Wang Chong finally caught sight of her face. This little girl who seemed to be carved from jade was rather different from the girl in his memories, though there was still some of that girl's likeness present.
The girl was carrying that big basket on her back, one of her hands holding a broken wooden handle while the other hand gripped half of an herb hoe. While she had been complaining, she probably broke it in her carelessness.
”Ah!”
The girl's face was filled with fear as she saw Wang Chong and that group of strangers behind him. She ran off, hollering as she went.
”Uncle Qi, Uncle Jiu, it's bad! Bad people have come in!”
The girl's age belied her agility and speed as she screamed. The moment her two feet hit the ground, she immediately lunged off the rock, her body flying over the ground. With a single leap, she had covered six or seven zhang, and then she was off through the mountains like a civet cat.
When she next appeared, she was already twenty or thirty zhang away.
And all this had happened in the blink of an eye.
”This… is this girl a human or a ghost?”
”She looks to be only eight or nine. How can she be so fast?”
……
Gao Feng, Nie Yan, and the other elite soldiers behind Wang Chong were dumbfounded. The speed and dexterity this girl displayed were at least at the True Martial realm, and yet she was not even in her teens!
The girl and her large basket were on the verge of vanishing. But Wang Chong was in no rush, not heading off in pursuit. He only asked a question.
”Xiaoyan, why are you running?”
Buzz!
At these words, the dexterous form of the girl rapidly fading into the distance suddenly trembled as if it had been struck by lightning. Her body seemed to almost impossibly come to a sudden stop.
”Are you calling me?”
The girl peeked out from behind a rock, looking in disbelief at Wang Chong.
Wang Chong nodded and smiled.
”What did you call me just now?”
The girl's face was filled with surprise.
”Are you not called Xiaoyan?” Wang Chong said.
”How did you know my name?”