Although Second Young Master Zhu lacked experience in the Jianghu, he had actually read not quite a few Jianghu novels. Generally, when encountering such an inescapable maze in books, the next moment would bring numerous masked figures wielding longswords attacking from all directions, making it highly perilous. It would be bogus to say that he is not nervous, but perhaps due to witnessing Li Sui’s inexplicable martial skills, he wasn’t overly frightened in his heart. He even mustered the courage to glance around left and right.
The Snow-Kicking Black Roan carried the two of them, freely advancing along a narrow path. Before long, sure enough, they returned to the desolate forest for the third time.
Li Sui didn’t touch the reins, letting the steed find its own way. The fourth time, the fifth time, when the desolate forest appeared for the sixth time, Zhu Yanyin hesitated and said, “It seems like the time it takes each time is getting shorter.” However, the speed of the Snow-Kicking Black Roam had hardly changed, and it was impossible to cover a shorter distance on the same road. A light mist rose from the ground, silently enveloping the deep mountains and forests. Whether it was an illusion or not, it always felt like the sky darkened instantly. The sense of time and space became disoriented together, the more one tried to analyze, the more tangled it became. It formed a chaotic mess in the mind, and made the heart restless.
Li Sui sternly said, “Close your eyes!”
Zhu Yanyin followed his instructions and acted accordingly. Although he didn’t have to see the eerie white shadows, the oppressive feeling in his chest persisted.
Li Sui continued, “Without inner strength, you should look less at things you shouldn’t see.”
Zhu Yanyin: “…”
He had indeed been focusing wholeheartedly on memorizing the terrain, trying to see if he could discern the formation. However, it turned out that this approach wasn’t very effective. Not every time could he encounter a coincidence like the Heavenly Craft Knot. Instead, he almost got lost in his own thoughts.
Jianghu is indeed treacherous.
In the darkness, his sense of hearing became exceptionally acute. Zhu Yanyin listened attentively; the horse’s hooves initially trampled over dry twigs and fallen leaves, producing tiny, crisp sounds. Later, the sounds gradually became dull, as if treading on something soft like a cushion, and his legs were constantly brushed by twigs along the way. He opened his eyes a narrow slit, and as expected, they had left the path that could never be escaped and entered the desolate forest.
A thick layer of decomposed leaves covered the ground, but there was no unpleasant odor. Upon closer listening, there was the gentle sound of flowing water. The masked figures holding long knives had yet to appear. Disturbed by the sound of the horse’s hooves, numerous animals leaped out, each time accompanied by a series of “rustling” noises. In this silent and eerie forest, the fear factor was doubled—at least for Second Young Master Zhu, who didn’t even have the strength to bind a chicken, it was quite scary. He had already shivered about three or five times.
Li Sui couldn’t comprehend, “Do you want to vomit even when encountering rabbits?”
Zhu Yanyin immediately retorted, “I didn’t vomit.”
“You’re trembling.”
“……Trembling is not the same as vomiting.”
Li Sui made a mocking sound, and it wasn’t clear if he was scoffing at Zhu Yanyin’s stubbornness or mocking his timidity. Either way, it certainly wasn’t a positive remark. While they were talking, another snake ‘hissed’ and slithered past. The pampered young master from Jiangnan couldn’t handle this multiple-fold stimulation and weakly asked, “Why are we entering the dense forest? Are we going to break the formation?”
Li Sui replied: “Yes.”
“Do you know what formation it is?”
“I don’t know.”
Zhu Yanyin visibly hesitated, ‘Is that so?’
Li Sui glanced at the wanting-to-speak-but-hesitant and turning snowy white figure, and for some unknown reason, he seemed patient enough to explain a bit more, “I’m taking you to destroy this maze.”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
Zhu Yanyin was astonished; there is such an approach to solving the problem?
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Li Sui asked: “What are you thinking?”
Zhu Yanyin quickly wiped away the image of the black-clothed demon lord laughing maniacally while killing people from his mind, innocently lying, “Nothing, I’m not thinking about anything.”
Li Sui snorted, dissatisfied even after the snort. So, once again, he reached out and grabbed his face. Perhaps this had become a familiar routine; at least Zhu Yanyin had gotten used to it. He made symbolic protests with a series of “Mmm mmm mmm” and then allowed the demon lord to knead and flatten his face, like a snow-white southern rice cake.
After walking a few steps, Snow-Kicking Black Roan suddenly stopped, pacing anxiously.
Li Sui let go of his hand, encircling his waist again, and ordered, “Close your eyes.”
Zhu Yanyin quietly asked, “Formation gate?”
Li Sui replied, “Someone is here.”
Zhu Yanyin’s heart was back in his throat. Who can be in this mountain forest? Apart from killers, there can be only ghosts. Both were not pleasant or entertaining entities, and he didn’t want to leave with psychological trauma. He also recalled the scene of a single sword beheading ten people at the Tiger Roar Gorge… Okay, I’ll close my eyes right away!
Snow-Kicking Black Roan stood still in place.
The space here was relatively open, and the mist in the air had lightened up. Several beams of daylight penetrated the tree canopy, sweeping gently through the dry branches in the forest. Li Sui focused and listened for a while. His eyebrow moved imperceptibly, and he sheathed half-drawn Xiangjun Sword back into its scabbard.
Second Young Master Zhu heard the ‘swish’: So nervous. Assassins are coming!
Li Sui kicked the horse’s belly, prompting Snow-Kicking Black Roan to trot in the opposite direction.
The large horse lightly crossed a shallow stream, splashing sparkling water droplets along the way.
Under a nearby large tree stump, more than a dozen people lay in various postures, dressed in dirty silk garments. There were remnants of a campfire and scattered knives and swords nearby.
Li Sui: “…”
Zhu Yanyin was still rapidly imagining fierce battles in the Jianghu, winding himself up to the point of breathing difficulty.
Li Sui had to give him a couple of pats on the shoulder, saying, “Open your eyes.”
Zhu Yanyin didn’t respond for a moment.
Li Sui: “Open your eyes.”
Zhu Yanyin, still in a daze. It was over already? Was it that he was too nervous to notice, or had the great devil… no, had Palace Master Li become so formidable that he could kill silently and invisibly?
“Help… help us, ah!…” Suddenly, a half-dead voice reached his ears, “Save us!”
Zhu Yanyin: “?”
Those people under the tree weren’t dead; they were alive. Hearing the commotion, they opened their eyes one after another, staggered to their feet, sobbing and crying bitterly. They stumbled toward the two of them, hands outstretched straight ahead, like zombies.
Zhu Yanyin was deeply startled, “What is this?”
Li Sui also felt disdainful. With a backhand sweep of his internal energy, he forcefully pushed the group of people back two steps, and they crawled back under the tree.
The leader of the group struggled to prop himself up, tears streaming down his face, “Help!”
Zhu Yanyin, who initially didn’t dare to look directly at these jungle monsters, strangely felt a familiar sensation through the dirt on their faces. He widened his eyes and carefully observed. Suddenly, he gasped, “Tan Shuqiu?!”
Tan Shuqiu, who once arrogantly snatched the sword inscribed with “Floating Sky, Blue Sea, Distant Mountains, Empty Rain, Dreamwalking“ and was humiliated on the Phoenix Terrace by numerous young masters without daring to resist, Tan Shuqiu, the less-than-dignified young master of the Canglang Gang, whose ancestors started with selling duck blood and vermicelli soup – why would he appear so wretchedly like a ghost in this maze forest?
Tan Shuqiu was barely holding on: “Palace Master Li, Young Master Zhu, sa…save…”
Li Sui dismounted with Zhu Yanyin.
The people from the Canglang Gang seemed to have been trapped here for at least half a month. There were makeshift pockets hanging on the trees, made from robes, containing wild sour fruits and a few mountain pheasants. They were all filthy, emaciated, and their voices were hoarse, making incoherent sounds. Zhu Yanyin nervously asked, “Is it because of the miasma of the forest?”
Li Sui glanced at them and replied, “There’s no miasma in the forest; they’re just hungry and probably ate some poisonous fruits.”
Zhu Yanyin reached into the saddlebag of Snow-Kicking Black Roan and pulled out a large piece of sesame peanut candy.
Li Sui: “?”
Zhu Yanyin, forcing tried not to feel guilty, ‘Well, I put it there. There’s a groove meant for snacks for the horse. Didn’t you notice?’
Upon seeing the familiar peanut candy, Snow-Kicking Black Roan immediately approached affectionately. Zhu Yanyin patted its head reassuringly, “Be obedient, I’ll give you more when we get out.”
The black horse: “…”
All the horse fodder was used to feed the members of the Canglang Gang. Tan Shuqiu swallowed a large piece of food voraciously, then sat under the tree for a long time to regain some strength. Tears washed his face, revealing a chaotic pattern of dirt. “Thank you, thank you both. I thought I was doomed this time.”
Zhu Yanyin squatted in front of him, asking, “Why were you trapped here, and what about the others from the Wulin Alliance?”
“They… they all left,” Tan Shuqiu, confused due to hunger, replied. He vaguely recalled that he had accompanied the members of the Wulin Alliance to Northeastern Xuecheng. While passing through this mountainous forest, a few people suddenly said they wanted to take him to visit Grandmaster Chanji nearby.
Grandmaster Chanji was a highly respected monk, always wandering around. He had a significant position in the Jianghu. The number of people who wanted to befriend him were like a group of carps crossing the river. Those who accompanied Tan Shuqiu were all well-known young masters, and he was flattered to be included. However, he never expected to be brought to this deep mountain and abandoned, completely losing contact with the outside world.
Zhu Yanyin sympathetically handed him a piece of candy.
As for these so-called “young heroes of the Jianghu,” how arrogant and unreasonable they could be, he had witnessed it once in the Phoenix Terrace in Jincheng. At that time, he only considered them as arrogant bullies who didn’t know manners. Unexpectedly, their hearts were so malicious, and they were willing to casually lead someone to their death?
Zhu Yanyin asked again, “Did you try to find a way out nearby?”
“No, we only searched the surroundings once,” Tan Shuqiu replied. “Later, we discovered it was a maze, so we didn’t move again.”
Zhu Yanyin didn’t understand what “didn’t move again” meant in this context. When trapped, why didn’t they look for a way out?
Tan Shuqiu sorrowfully said, “Anyway, we definitely couldn’t get out.”
Zhu Yanyin: “…”
Li Sui added a mocking tone, “If he had run around aimlessly, he might have already disturbed his mind and fallen into madness.”
This formation was extremely dangerous, and it was only by pure chance that it encountered Young Master Tan, who is the type of person to give up and lie down wherever he falls. This is why the formation has barely been triggered for over ten days, until the two of them barged in again today.
Zhu Yanyin consoled Tan Shuqiu: “Hear that? You’re quite amazing. Stop crying.”
Translator’s Rant
“Second Young Master shouldn’t have done Tan Shuqiu like that. 🤣🤣🤣”
Palace Master Li throws a glare.
Translator has run away for her life.
All thing aside, I really want to eat duck blood and vermicelli soup.
Zhu Yanyin may not be a martial arts master, as he originally hoped, but he certainly is a master of words, able to even turn Li Sui’s snide remarks into compliments😆
Yep, our young master has a very glib tongue..thank you for the update🌺
Thanks for the chapter