Chapter 179 Clash from the Pas (2/2)
Realizing that I was never going to allow them to go and understanding fully that they were strangers in a place alien to them, the ringleader of the thugs quickly came to a decision before any of his men indeed dies. ”What is it with these three young boys?! Do they know someone so powerful that even being accused of murder hardly appalls them?! No, this is not worth it for me! For all I know, I might be trying to bite off more than what I can chew!” He began to beg. ”Please, we surrender!”
Fortunately for him, his surrender came just before I lose patience. I leaped off his back and so did my companions. The mound of badly-bruised and groaning men collapsed with all of them panting for breath while those who were most below were already foaming at their mouth. Each and every one of them was injured one way or the other; some had even broken bones and twisted tendons. The ringleader clambered to us, his face swollen and battered that I could have burst out laughing. But I did my best to put on a friendly smile. ”Go back to your master with your tails between your legs, you bunch of worthless mongrels. Tell your master that I, Murong Shiyan, was merely trying to save her. But now she's repaying me by wishing ill upon me! Tell her that if she wishes more, I shall be expecting her!” My companions and I allowed them to pass and the thugs, seeing their chance to escape, immediately scrambled out of the alleyway, the pathetic and wretched things they were.
But that was hardly the end of my troubles. Gangsters and ruffians came to me almost every day in school, all trying to beat me up and teach me a lesson, although none of their attempts had triumphed. It continued for almost six months, when Huang Li suddenly tendered her request to leave school. She would then slowly ebb from my memory. Even until today, no one knew her reasons. She might have found out something about me and realized that she would never be able to punish me. But there were mixed reactions in school pertaining to her departure, that I at least I knew. Most of every one was rather pleased to see her leave, although Lu Shengnan, for one, was among the ones unhappy. Especially so, since she had lost her only friend in school.
Back in the Labyrinthian Canyon with Edelweiss, her face was brightened with thrill to listen to my story. ”So what happened between that tomboy Lu Shengnan and you later?” she asked with brimming interest. I shrugged. ”Why? You're also thinking that we were a couple? Come on!” Edelweiss chuckled and gave no answer. I grimaced quietly; despite her good looks, Lu Shengnan's temperament was hardly a fit with mine. ”She's a tomboy,” I said frankly to Edelweiss, ”Her attitude will never fit mine. Moreover, she's far from what you are capable of. Remember our meal with Zheng Shuang? When you wanted it as a meal to offer your apology for the fiasco in the police station? The one where I have to run between two tables because a few of my former classmates from university were here? There's a tall girl with short hair; that's Lu Shengnan.” ”Ah?!” Edelweiss exclaimed with mocked surprise, ”She's a girl?! I thought that's a boy all this while!” Our eyes met and held for seconds and we burst out laughing together.
Our pillow talk continued until it was almost twelve. Then the tumultuous noises of galloping horses pierced the silence around us, just like before! The fact that we were sleeping in sleeping bags on the ground made the experience no less comfortable, but we were not anxious and worried this time. A shadow of anxiety hung over us as the clamorous din of battle cries, clashing of weapons, and last but not least, the unmistakable and suffocating atmosphere of bloodlust and carnage lingered over the air, sweeping forth the breadth of the whole canyon like the radioactive plume of an atomic bomb! Edelweiss stole a glimpse at me, her face curdled with fear and angst and so was I. ”Something is different this time! But what?!” It was a feeling that we both felt, although we could hardly put it to words. I listened intently for seconds; the first time when we came, the bedlam of a raging battle came from nearby, but this time, it seemed as if the battle was being fought just outside the makeshift shed we were in!
”True! The sound of leather scuffing on dirt just outside!” Everything else was the same, but we heard no footsteps so close to us the last time we came! Edelweiss realized this too; she dove out of the sleeping bag and prepared to storm outside. Beside me on the ground, the Shiyan Blade trembled anxiously as if waiting to join in the battle! I leaped up, snatching the Shiyan Blade. With a quick look at Edelweiss and a curt nod, we rushed outside.
A blast of the infernal aura that reeked of blood and malice slammed into our faces as soon as we stepped outside. An apparition, a spectral warrior riding on a huge but scrawny wraith-like destrier charged at us! The ghostly warrior, despite its bulgy fur clothing, was only a bag of bones; but it was no less menacing with its crescent-shaped scimitar as the weapon hewed mercilessly down on us!
I instinctively parried with my sword and a loud clang rang out with sparks from the gnashing of iron and steel! A ghost wielding an actual weapon!? But it was a weapon long left to centuries neglect and disrepair as if snapped into splinters as soon as its blade met the indestructible edge of the Shiyan Blade.
I tossed the sheath of my sword to the ground and made a hand seal while muttering a spell, while my other hand flourished my blade. Then I raised my sword up to my shoulder, pointing it at the spectral warrior rounding his horse back for another assault. With a whoosh like the howl of wind, the Shiyan Blade tore through the ghost and his apparitional beast like a powerful spear and they faded into the darkness, leaving only the broken hilt of a rusted scimitar and a rotting piece of horsehide. Only now we heard: our horses were whinnying with fear! They would have long escaped the gorge if we had not kept their reins bound tightly to a very strong branch!
Another fresh series of horse gallops thundered through the darkness and Edelweiss and I quickly spun on our heels. Another ghostly warrior, his curved scimitar glinting in the moonlight as he swung it at his opponent, a cavalry rider clad in armor of full-black. The latter raised his shield to deflect the blow and we were stunned! “That jet-black armor?! Impossible! One of Li Shimin's Black Ironclads?!”