Chapter 850 - Tragic and Miserable (1/2)
Chapter 850: Tragic and Miserable
Translator: Exodus Tales Editor: Exodus Tales
The mountain peaks in the surroundings of Qingcheng Mountain were evergreen in all seasons. The peaks stood straight in a ring-like shape, like city boulevards with verdant and green trees, deserving its resounding reputation of “Qingcheng, the serene and secluded land under heaven”.
Hiking up and down through the mountains on rough and bumpy pathways proved to be quite hard with everyone having to walk more slowly due to some people in the group being ordinary people, while the howls of wild animals came drifting in the air from time to time as night fell. Wang Tao had repeatedly trekked up the mountain to Qingcheng Monastery and had no worries about the situation in the mountains at night. Zhang Xinyue, on the other hand, had been living in a big city since her childhood and had never spent a night in an old forest of a deep mountain, so was fearful and restless.
“You… can you just stop following me all the time?”
Just as Tang Xiu exited the diagonally narrow mountain path, he found Zhang Xinyue following him closely as if she was afraid that Tang Xiu would leave her alone.
Zhang Xinyue picked up her pace faster and used the faint moonlight in the sky to reach out and grab Tang Xiu’s arm. She restlessly watched the surrounding and asked anxiously, “Where are you going? Don’t leave me.”
“Excuse me, Miss. Can I not take my time to relieve myself?” Tang Xiu forced a smile and said, “Just stay here with everyone. I’ll be back soon.”
“Uh…” Zhang Xinyue’s face blushed, but fortunately, it was night and no one else was present. After rushing back to Mo Awu’s group, she picked up a fist-sized stone from the ground and tightly gripped it.
After a while, Tang Xiu returned to the group as he looked at the dark road in front before saying in a deep voice, “Let’s go trekking up the road. We’ll try to hurry to our destination earlier.”
“Can’t we have some more rest, Big Brother Tang?” Wang Tao grinned albeit bitterly, and said, “We are kinda too tired to keep trekking up the mountain.”
Tang Xiu was silent for a while. Then he turned to look at Zhang Xinyue and said in a deep voice, “Promise me one thing.”
“What is it?” Zhang Xinyue was puzzled.
“We came to this mountain now, but you must forget whatever you see and hear after you leave Qingcheng Mountain; never mention anything that happened here to anyone,” said Tang Xiu.
“Do you need to keep it a secret?” Zhang Xinyue wondered. “Ah, that’s right. You said that you must go and handle some matters in Qingcheng Mountain’s Qingcheng Monastery. What exactly do you wanna do there? Also, is this Qingcheng Monastery the likes of those sects in ancient times?”
“There’s no need for you to know these matters for the time being,” said Tang Xiu. “If you promise to keep this a secret, I’ll take you there, but if you cannot, Jin Shi will send you back now.”
Zhang Xinyue looked hesitant but then helplessly replied, “Alright, I promise you.”
Tang Xiu nodded and quickly motioned to Mo Awu. The latter then reached out to grab Wang Tao’s shoulder and dashed toward the front, whereas Tang Xiu quickly caught Zhang Xinyue’s slender waist and flashed along the path to the front.
“Ah…”
Being embraced by Tang Xiu, the masculine scent emanating from him made Zhang Xinyue’s heart beat faster. She couldn’t help but exclaim when she saw the scenery on both sides retreating fast and blurring as they moved.
“Don’t make a fuss, just hold me tight.” Tang Xiu kept running and picked up his pace faster.
After a short time being flustered, Zhang Xinyue’s stunning face was full of disbelief as she was shocked to see the quickly retreating and blurring scenery on both sides of her vision, as well as the whistling sound of the wind in her ears.
‘Are they superhuman, or martial arts masters?’
Judging from her sight, Zhang Xinyue could tell that their journey’s speed was fast to the extreme. She could see that even sprinters at the national level wouldn’t be able to sprint as fast as Tang Xiu and Mo Awu.
Four hours later, when Tang Xiu and the rest stopped at a mountain peak, they could see a blazing flame in front soaring to the sky, while countless chirping, roars, and howls of various wild animals and birds came from the distance in the forested mountain.
“What could be happening in front, Wang Tao?” Tang Xiu frowned as his sharp eyes had seen some buildings being engulfed in the raging fire, and he even had a faintly bad premonition.
Wang Tao himself was utterly dizzy as Mo Awu put him down. He heaved a few times before slowly turning his vision upward. When he saw the fire in front, he shouted in alarm, “Heavens! That’s the outer hall of Qingcheng Monastery in front. Dammit, how did it catch fire in the dead of the night?”
“Who are you?”
Suddenly, Mo Awu shouted as his burly physique flashed toward the bushes on the left suddenly. The dagger in his hand reflected the shining moonlight that pierced through the slits between the branches and leaves as cold light flashed and pierced the left shoulder of a lurker.
“ENEMY ATTACK!” screamed the ambusher, followed by several silhouettes that flashed around the bushes. At the same time, Mo Awu’s big hand caught the lurker’s throat like a steel pincher.
Whoosh!
In that instant, Mo Awu flashed and returned to Tang Xiu’s side. Tang Xiu looked at the throat-gripped man dressed in black clothes and asked, “Who are you?”
“Cackle, cackle…”
A few strange noises came out of the man’s throat. In just a few seconds after the three other men in black attire appeared around him, blood seeped out of his mouth as his breath weakened and he finally died while being grabbed by the neck in Mo Awu’s hand.