ture had its head help up high, looking very proud and powerful, the exact same vulture was on his robe as well. He shook his head and sighed: “Girls actually having this on their robes rather than flowers or butterflies. Ay! Such demeanors.”

The girl shot him a look: “Are you mocking me!” Duan Yu immediately replied: “No, no, not at all, I wouldn’t dare!” The girl probed further: “So what’s your answer? ‘No’ or ‘Wouldn’t dare’?” Duan Yu replied: “I wouldn’t dare.” The girl nodded and did not ask any further.

Duan Yu turned around and asked her: “Are you hurt bad? Do you want to rest a bit?” The girl angrily replied: “Of course it hurts! Let me take a couple of swipes on you and you can see for yourself!” Duan Yu thought to himself: “Well, epitome of bitchness.” The girl continued: “Are you really worried that my wounds are hurting? There isn’t a man in the world that’s this nice. You just want me to go save Zhong Ling as quickly as possible, just that you can’t say it out loud. Heh, let’s go!” She walked to Black Rose’s side and hopped on. Pointing northwest, she asked: “Sword Lake Palace of No Measure Mountain is in that direction right?” Duan Yu replied: “I guess, seems like it.”

The 2 of them started to slowly walk in that direction. After a while, the girl suddenly asked: “Who’s birthdate was that inside of the golden box?” Duan Yu thought: “So you have opened it up already.” “I don’t know,” he replied. “It’s Zhong Ling’s,” the girl said. “Isn’t it?” Duan Yu answered: “I really don’t know.” The girl angrily demanded: “You are still lying. Madame Zhong has already matched Zhong Ling to you hasn’t she? Tell me the truth!” Duan Yu, in a panic, replied: “No, she really hasn’t. If I, Duan Yu, am lying, then I will die by your arrows this instant.”

“So your name is Duan Yu?” Duan Yu replied: “Yeah, ‘Yu’ as in ‘ming yu’, famed name.” The girl snorted: “Hmph, is your fame any good? I don’t think so.” Duan Yu replied with a laugh: “Well the ‘ming yu ting huai’, name is terrible, is this one also.” The girl replied: “That’s more like it!” Duan Yu naturally asked: “So what is Miss’s surname?” The girl rebuked: “Why should I tell you? You told me your name on your own, I didn’t ask you.”

After another long stretch of silent walking, the girl spoke up again: “Later on after we saved Zhong Ling, that little devil will surely tell me my name, you are not allowed to hear it!” Trying hard not to burst out laughing, Duan Yu replied: “Alright, I won’t hear it.” The girl seemed to have felt that this matter was a bit hard to accomplish, so she added: “Even if you did hear it, you are not allowed to remember it!” Duan Yu offered: “Alright, even if I do happen to remember, I would try my hardest to forget it.” The girl rebuked: “Pei! You are lying, think I can’t tell?”

Through all this talking, the sky slowly turned dark and soon the moon rose from the east. The 2 of them hurried along the path under the moonlight. Around 10, Duan Yu suddenly saw a bonfire in the mountainside facing them, at the base of the peak just north of the bonfire was several large buildings. Recognizing that’s the Sword Lake Palace, Duan Yu pointed at the bonfire and said: “Divine Farmer Clan is right over there. Let’s sneak up on them, grab Zhong Ling and run. How about that?”

Coldly, the girl asked: “And how exactly do we run away?” Duan Yu replied: “You and Zhong Ling would ride on Black Rose, there’s no way that Divine Farmer Clan can catch up to you.” The girl asked: “Then what about you?” Duan Yu replied: “I was forced to take the Intestine Fragmenter by the Divine Farmer Clan, SiKong Xuan told me that after 7 days the poison would break out and I would die. So I have to somehow get the cure first before I can run away.”

The girl observed: “So you were poisoned by them. Then you should be in a hurry to get the cure, why did you come back to deliver me a message?” Duan Yu replied: “I figured that with Black Rose’s speed, reporting that message wouldn’t take much time at all.” The girl was puzzled: “Are you really that nice? Or are you just an idiot?” Duan Yu laughed: “Mostly likely half and half.”

The girl humphed at that remark and asked: “So how are you going to get the cure?” Duan Yu thought out loud: “The original agreement was the cure of Lightning’s poison for the cure for the Intestine Fragmenter. They are not going to get the cure to Lightning’s poison, so it would be very difficult to trick them into giving me the cure for the Intestine Fragmenter. Miss, do you have any ideas?” The girl rebuked: “Only men knows how to trick people, I don’t know how to. I’m going to just ask them straightforward to hand over Zhong Ling and the cure or else!”

A wave of coldness shot through Duan Yu’s heart, knowing that she’s probably going to start killing big time again, he thought: “It’s best if… best if….” But exactly was the best outcome, he had no idea at all.

The 2 of them began walking towards the fire. When they got to about 20 meters away from it, 2 men suddenly jumped out of the darkness with a bag of drugs in hand, ready to throw. One of them demanded: “Who is it? What are you doing here?”

The girl demanded in return: “Where’s SiKong Xuan? Tell him to come here!”

In the moonlight, the 2 men noticed that the girl and Duan Yu were both wearing a green robe with a black vulture on their chest. The 2 of them were shocked and immediately kneeled down: “Yes, yes of course! We did not know that Holy Emissaries from the Nimble Vulture Palace would be arriving, so… so sorry for getting in your way, please forgive us.” His voice was shaking, as if he was scared to death.

Duan Yu was immensely puzzled: “What emissary from Nimble Vulture Peak?” Then he suddenly understood: “Oh! That’s right! They are thinking we are somebody else because we have this green robe on!” Then he remembered that several days ago back in the Sword Lake Palace Zhong Ling said that she overheard SiKong Xuan talking with his underlings, saying something about following orders from Kid Elder of Heaven Mountain of Nimble Vulture Palace to come and take over Sword Lake Palace of No Measure Mountain. “So it turns out that Divine Farmer Clan is a subsidiary of Nimble Vulture Palace, no wonder these 2 men are so scared.”

Of course, the girl did not understand what’s going on, so she asked: “What Nim….” Afraid that she might expose the 2 of them, Duan Yu raised the pitch of his voice and said: “Get SiKong Xuan here now!” The 2 men replied: “Yes, yes, right away!” They immediately stood up and took a couple of steps backwards before finally turning around and starting to run toward the fire.

Duan Yu whispered to the girl: “Nimble Vulture Palace are their superiors.” He put up the face mask of the hood and covered the bottom half of his face, leaving only his eyes visible.

The girl was about to ask something else but was cut off because SiKong Xuan had hurried arrived and said out loud: “Your humble servant SiKong Xuan welcome the Holy Emissaries. Please forgive us for not welcoming you earlier. How is the Kid Elder? May she live for 10,000 years!”

Duan Yu was thinking to himself: “Who’s Kid Elder? She isn’t the king or the mother of the king, so wishing her to live 10,000 years just doesn’t seem right does it?” So he just nodded and replied: “Get up.” SiKong Xuan kowtowed twice more before standing back up. By this time there was a huge crowd of people behind him, all of them in the Divine Farmer Clan.

{Note: in ancient China, it was custom to bless the Emperor and only the Emperor with a 10,000 year life-span and any other member of the royal family with a 1000 year life-span. To wish that upon anyone other than royalty or to wish a different life-span to royalty was almost treason.}

Duan Yu spoke up: “Where’s that girl from the Zhong family? Bring her here!” Two clan members didn’t even wait for their master to issue the orders before dashing towards the fire and carrying Zhong Ling over. Duan Yu ordered: “Untie her.” SiKong Xuan answered: “Yes, Miss.” He pulled out a dagger and cut loose the rope around Zhong Ling’s hands and legs. Seeing her still doing very well and unharmed, Duan Yu could barely contain himself as he had to force himself to maintain the high pitch of his voice when he said: “Zhong Ling, come here.” Zhong Ling replied: “Who are you?” SiKong Xuan shouted at her: “How dare you be so rude in front of the Holy Emissaries? She told you to go over there!” Zhong Ling figured: “Who cares who the hell you are, you told him to untie me and this old Goat Beard is so scared of you, so there shouldn’t be much harm in doing what you told me.” So she walked over to Duan Yu.

Duan Yu reached out with her left hand, took her hand into his, and pulled her over to his side. He squeezed her hand and made a gesture to her, but figuring that she probably wouldn’t understand, he turned to SiKong Xuan: “Hand over the cure for Intestine Fragmenter!”

SiKong Xuan wasn’t quite sure what was going on, but he still ordered: “Bring my medicine box! Hurry, hurry!” With a little pause, he immediately understood: “Ai-yo! That bastard named Duan must have gone and begged these emissaries, that’s why they are asking for the cure.” When the medicine box arrived, he opened it up and took out a small bottle. Holding it up respectfully, he said: “This medicine needs to be taken for 3 straight days, once each day, and about a gram or so each time.” Happy beyond words, Duan Yu took it.

Zhong Ling suddenly spoke up: “Hey, Goat Beard, got any of the medicine left? Remember that you promised Big Brother Duan to cure him? If you give all you got to them, what would happen if my Big Brother Duan comes with my dad?”

The girl in black couldn’t stand this any longer and commanded: “Zhong Ling, be quiet! Your Big Brother Duan will be just fine!” Finding her voice very familiar, Zhong Ling turned towards her. When Zhong Ling laid her eyes on her mask, she immediately recognized her and uttered: “Ah, Mu….” But she realized soon enough that something was going on and put her hand over her mouth in time.

SiKong Xuan was quite worried as well as he kneeled and said: “Holy Emissaries, your servant had been bitten by this little girl’s poisonous marten, please show some mercy.” Duan Yu figured that if he did not somehow cure him then they would have a fight to the death on their hands. So he turned to the girl in black and said: “Sister, why don’t you give him some of Kid Elder’s Cure-All Elixir?” Hearing that there was a Cure-All Elixir here, SiKong Xuan could not believe his ears as he kowtowed loudly several times all the while saying: “Your humble servant will be forever grateful for the mercy and benevolence of the Kid Elder and the Holy Emissaries. There are a total of 19 of us that has been bitten.”

The girl thought: “What is he talking about? ‘Cure-All Elixir’? But since I’m wounded on my leg and arm, it would be quite troublesome to protect 2 people now. So I guess I’ll just go along with this Duan guy and play this Goat Beard for a bit.” So she reached into her shirt and took out a small bottle: “Put your hand out.” SiKong Xuan obeyed and lowered his head as well, not daring to look at the emissary directly. The girl poured a little bit of some green powder in his hand and instructed: “Take some orally and everything should be alright then.” All the while she was thinking: “This fragrance powder of mine didn’t come easily, can’t let you get too much of that.”

As soon as she opened the bottle, SiKong Xuan could smell a delicious and refreshing fragrance. He had spent his entire life around medicine and herbs, yet he could not make out what the powder was made of. By the time the powder was poured onto his hand, the smell had made him feel all warm and fuzzy all over. Figuring the Kid Elder must be amazing as this powder was, as expected, almost magical in its effects, he thanked them repeatedly, but with the powder in his hand, he could not kowtow.

Seeing that everything had been accomplished without a hitch, Duan Yu said: “Sister, let’s go!” Lost in the moment, he actually forgot to mask his voice, but luckily SiKong Xuan and his underlings did not notice.

SiKong Xuan reported: “Holy Emissaries, Zuo ZiMuo of No Measure Mountain actually dared to refuse our threats. Because of your servant’s wound and loss of arm, this matter was not resolved quickly and I am ashamed. I will order my men to attack right now and we will take over Sword Lake Palace. I humbly request that the Holy Emissaries to stay and observe the battle.”

Duan Yu replied: “No need. I think there really isn’t any need to attack this Sword Lake Palace anymore either, why don’t you guys go home?”

SiKong Xuan was shocked, because he knew the Kid Elder’s temperament very well. The nicer the emissaries she sent are, the worse the punishment as the emissary would almost always talk sarcastically opposite of what they mean. Figuring that the emissary must be criticizing him for failing to accomplish his mission, he panicked: “I realize my fault, I realize my mistake, please forgive me! Could the Holy Emissary please say a couple of good things on my behalf to the Kid Elder? I beg of you!”

Afraid to say anything more, Duan Yu just waved his hand somewhat and, dragging Zhong Ling with him, began to walk away. SiKong Xuan kept on his knees and spoke loudly: “The Divine Farmer Clan is honored to send the Holy Emissaries on their way. May the Kid Elder live forever!” The clan members behind him repeated altogether: “The Divine Farmer Clan is honored to send the Holy Emissaries on their way. May the Kid Elder live forever!” Already several meters away, Duan Yu thought the sight of all these men on their knees together were quite humorous and shouted back: “May Mr. SiKong Xuan live forever as well!”

To SiKong Xuan, that sentence was filled with sarcasm and he almost fainted from the shock. The 2 men behind him noticed that their leader was shaking and immediately jumped up to support him fearing that he might drop some of the “Cure-All Elixir” in his hands.

Duan Yu and the 2 girls walked for several dozen meters until they couldn’t hear the Divine Farmer Clan anymore. Zhong Ling whistled repeatedly trying to get her marten back but to no avail. So she turned to the girl in black: “Sister Mu, thank you and this other sister so much, but I have to stay here.”

The girl asked: “What for? Waiting for that poisonous marten of yours?” Zhong Ling replied: “No, I’m waiting for my Big Brother Duan, he went to get my father here to cure those poisoned guys in the Divine Farmer Clan.” Turning to Duan Yu, she said: “Sister, can you give me some of the cure for Intestine Fragmenter?” The girl interrupted: “That Duan guy won’t be coming around here again.” In a panic, Zhong Ling replied: “No way, that can’t be. He said he would! Even if my father won’t come, Big Brother Duan would still come back!” The girl retorted: “Hmph! Men only know how to lie, you shouldn’t believe anything he said.” Zhong Ling began to sniff a little: “Big Brother Duan would nev… never lie to me.”

Duan Yu couldn’t control himself any longer and, with a laugh, took off his mask: “Miss Zhong, your Big Brother Duan really didn’t lie to you.”

Zhong Ling stared at him, rendered utterly speechless, for a long time before finally becoming overwhelmed with joy and jumped onto him with her arms around his neck while screaming: “You didn’t lie to me, I knew you wouldn’t!”

The girl suddenly grabbed her by the back of her collar, pulled her aside, and coldly commented: “Don’t do that!” Zhong Ling was quite surprised by that, but being as happy as she was, she didn’t care. So she asked: “Sister Mu, how did you 2 meet?” The girl just humphed and didn’t respond.

Worried about SiKong Xuan come chasing up after finding how ineffective the powder was, Duan Yu spoke up: “Why don’t we get going? We can talk about on the way.” The girl in black climbed onto her horse and was out in front while Duan Yu briefly told Zhong Ling what had happened, judiciously leaving out the part about how the girl tortured him and only saying that she saved his life. After listening to the whole story, Zhong Ling yelled out to the girl: “Sister Mu, thank you so much for saving Big Brother Duan, I don’t know if I can ever pay you back for that.” A bit peeved, the girl rebuked: “I saved him by my own accord, what does it have to do with you?” Zhong Ling stuck her tongue out at Duan Yu and made a face at that remark.

The girl continued: “Hey, Duan Yu, I know that little devil Zhong Ling is going to tell you my name, so I’m going to tell you now. My name is Mu WanQing.” Duan Yu replied: “Ah, ‘Firewood is pure and flowery, pity to the pure willows.’ (Huo Mu Qing Hua, Wan Xi Qing Yang) Such a good name and surname.” Mu WanQing replied: “Better than your ‘one piece of wood, terrible fame (Yi Duan Mu Tou, Ming Yu Ji Huai).'” Duan Yu burst out laughing at that comment.

{Duan Yu quoted a piece of poetry that I’m not too sure about the meaning of, so I just kind of went with the literal meanings of the word, sorry if it is off. If you know what it really means, please e-mail me. Thanks.}

Zhong Ling grabbed Duan Yu’s left hand and gently said: “Big Brother Duan, you are so good to me.” Duan Yu replied: “Only thing is that it’s a shame that you can’t find your marten.” Zhong Ling whistled a couple of more times before replying: “No big deal really, after those bad guys leave, I’ll come back here and look for him. Will you come and keep me company?” Duan Yu nodded and replied: “Of course!” Thinking about that jade statue in that cave, he added: “From now on I would come back here from time to time.” Furious, Mu WanQing cut in: “I don’t permit you to come back. If she want to look for her marten, then let her come herself.” Duan Yu stuck his tongue out at Zhong Ling and made a face. The 2 of them looked at each other and smiled.

The 3 of them did not talk for a long while and just walked. After several kilometers, Mu WanQing suddenly asked: “Zhong Ling, is your birthday the 5th of February?” She was still facing forward on her horse, not even turning around. Zhong Ling answered: “Yes it is! Sister Mu, how did you know?” Becoming furious, Mu WanQing shouted: “Still claiming that you aren’t lying Duan Yu?” With a jerk of the reins, she and Black Rose began to gallop away.

Suddenly, there came a low and faint whistle from the northwest that was followed by 4 claps from the northeast corner. A row of silhouettes came flying this way from directly in front of them and stopped about 50 or so meters away from the 3 of them. A slight paused followed before a hoarse voice shouted: “Little Whore! Where do you think you are running off to?” The voice belonged to none other than Grandma Rui. Before they could respond, someone started to snicker from behind them. Duan Yu whipped his head around in panic and saw the faint figure of Grandma Ping standing there with the daggers in her hands were almost glowing under the moonlight. There was a man to the left and right of her. The man to her left had a face of white beard and a huge shovel in his hand while the man to her right was a relatively young man that carried a sword. Duan Yu sort of remembered seeing these 2 men among those who were present in the hall where he first met Mu WanQing.

Mu WanQing sneered: “You ghosts still haven’t disappeared yet? Quite an accomplishment for you guys, chasing me all the way here.” Grandma Ping replied: “We’ll chase you to the end of the world if we have to, you Little Whore!” A small sound came from Mu WanQing as she shot out a small arrow. The swordsman’s eye-sight and coordination turned out to be excellent as he knocked the arrow down with his sword. Before anyone else could react, Mu WanQing had launched herself off of her horse and was flying towards the white-bearded old man.

For a man as old as him, his reaction was incredibly fast. With a flick of his right hand, he swung the shovel at Mu WanQing. Still off the ground, Mu WanQing pushed off the face of the shovel with her left foot and flew back towards Grandma Ping. Grandma Ping held up her dagger to block the strike. “Zeng!” The blade of her dagger had been sliced off by the sword, creating a bright flash in the darkness. Grandma Rui immediately attacked Mu WanQing’s back in hopes of rescuing Grandma Ping. Not in a hurry to kill Grandma Ping just yet, Mu WanQing rotated her sword sideways, pushed off of Grandma Ping’s shoulder with the flat side of the sword, and gently flew off like a feather. Had it not for Grandma Rui’s intervention, she would not have rotated the sword and Grandma Ping would have been sliced in two.

That entire exchange, with all the sudden changes and reverses, took only a couple of seconds. Even though she had just barely escaped death, Grandma Ping was not the least bit scared as she immediately swung her dagger at Mu WanQing 3 more times, making Mu WanQing dodge and lose the initiative. At the same time, Grandma Rui and 2 other men charged up and attacked as well. The sword in Mu WanQing’s hand flashed repeatedly as she weaved her way among those 4 attackers. Standing several meters away was Zhong Ling, waving at Duan Yu incessantly: “Big Brother Duan, come here!” Duan Yu asked after he made his way over: “What?” Zhong Ling suggested: “Let’s get out of here!” Duan Yu replied: “They are ganging up on Miss Mu, how could we leave just like that?” Zhong Ling replied: “Sister Mu’s kungfu is really very good, she could get out of this by herself with no problem at all.” Duan Yu shook his head: “She came here to save your life, how could you just leave her like this?” Zhong Ling stumped her foot and replied: “You idiot! Like you can help her out by staying here! Ay! If only Lightning is here!”

At this time, Mu WanQing was fending off the 4 attackers with all her might. Because Grandma Rui’s iron staff and the old man’s iron shovel were very noisy because of their length, Mu WanQing was paying very close attention to all the sounds around her and heard this entire exchange between Zhong Ling and Duan Yu.

Duan Yu continued: “Miss Zhong, why don’t you leave first? I can’t bear to wrong Miss Mu in any way. In the unlikely event that she’s overwhelmed, I could try and talk us out it.” Zhong Ling replied: “Other than just giving that life of yours away, you really aren’t good for anything here. Go! Sister Mu won’t be angry at your for it.” Duan Yu replied: “If Miss Mu hadn’t saved me, I would have died a long time ago. There’s really not much difference in dying half a day earlier or later.” Frustrated, Zhong Ling grabbed his arm and started to walk away: “You idiot! I can’t win arguing with you like this!”

Duan Yu shouted: “I don’t want to leave! I don’t want to leave!” But he wasn’t strong enough and was being dragged away.

Mu WanQing suddenly shouted: “Zhong Ling, you get yourself out of here! Leave him here!” Zhong Ling began to pull him even harder. “Shoo!” A small arrow suddenly shot into Zhong Ling’s hair and got stuck into one of the hair buns in her hair. Mu WanQing threatened: “If you don’t let go, the next one is going straight for your eye!” Zhong Ling knew that she was the type that would go through with whatever she says; and although the 2 of them had been good friends, they still haven’t been together long enough to establish any real deep friendship. So she let go, knowing that she was really about to shoot at her eye.

Mu WanQing commanded further: “Zhong Ling, go to your parent’s place now! Go! If you wait for your Big Brother Duan at all, then I’m going to shoot 3 more arrows at you!” She parried away several more attacks as she said this.

Not daring to disobey her, Zhong Ling turned to Duan Yu: “Big Brother Duan, please be careful!” She then covered her face, turned, and disappeared into darkness.

After ordering Zhong Ling away, Mu WanQing went back to concentrating on fending off the attackers. Feeling a faint pain on her leg where she had been hooked, she suddenly changed her fighting style. This time the sword flashed through the darkness over and over again like a meteor shower, ever-changing and unpredictable. Suddenly, the old man screamed in pain for he had been hit in his chest. Mu WanQing followed that with 3 more thrusts, forcing Grandma Rui and that swordsman to jump out of the fighting circle. Then, spinning the blade of her sword around, she turned towards Grandma Ping. In a blink of an eye, Grandma Ping had already been hit 3 times. Ignoring the wounds, Grandma Ping continued to attack like a wild tiger. By now, the other 3 attackers had rejoined the fight. Grandma Ping rolled to a stop at Mu WanQing’s foot and swung at her calf with the dagger in her right hand. Mu WanQing gave her a nice kick, sending her rolling off. At this precise moment, Grandma Rui’s iron staff came flying in towards her forehead. Mu WanQing hurriedly brought her sword back, parried the staff away, and moved right into a thrust towards the center of her foes.

Grandma Rui turned her body sideways and brought her staff back to protect herself. Mu WanQing let out a little sigh of relief and was just about start another attack when a huge amount of pain shot through her. Turned out that the old man, unable to lift his shovel after being injured, pulled out an iron spike, charged in, and was able to stab it into her shoulder. Mu WanQing smacked him over her shoulders and pretty much flattened his entire face, killing him in an instant. But Grandma Rui had charged forth and began attacking again. Grandma Ping screamed: “The Little Whore is hurt, don’t worry about catching her life, just kill her!”

Seeing that Mu WanQing was wounded, Duan Yu began to panic. So he, as he did last time, wanted to run over and grabbed the old man’s corpse. But with the 4 fighters in the way, he could not reach the corpse. In desperation, he ripped off the robe he had on and, wildly waving it, charged into the melee and was able to cover up Grandma Ping’s head. Shocked that she suddenly lost her sight, she immediately reached with her hand and tried to tear the cloth away. However, in a panic, she had forgot that she was holding a dagger and was cut face, causing her to squeal like a pig. Unable to find enough time to pull out the spike that’s imbedded in her left shoulder, Mu WanQing, fighting off the pain as much as she could, hurriedly swung at Grandma Rui twice, then turned and thrusted at the swordsman. These 3 moves were incredible as Grandma Rui’s right cheek had been slashed as was the swordsman’s forehead. Although the wounds were harmless, the parts that were hit were vital. And so, in shock, both of them jumped back and felt their wounds with their hands to check on it.

Mu WanQing cursed to herself: “Damn it! Should have killed them!” She took a deep breath and whistled. Black Rose arrived almost instantaneously. She hopped onto the saddle, grabbed Duan Yu by his collar, and lifted him up as well. Black Rose began to gallop west as fast as she could.

They hadn’t even gone 100 meters when there suddenly came a huge amount of shouting behind the woods as several men came charging out, blocking their way. The tall man in the middle yelled: “Little Whore! Your old man here’s been waiting for you for a long time now!” He reached up in an attempt to grab a hold of Black Rose’s manes. Mu WanQing slightly flicked her right hand and 3 arrows shot out, hitting 3 men in the crowd. Taking advantage of the old man’s momentary surprise, she pulled on the reins and Black Rose leapt over the head of the men. The men came chasing after her, but, fearing her poisonous arrows, they held their weapons out in front of them and kept getting further and further back. But they were still cursing like crazy: “Whore! She ran away again!” “No matter where you ran off to, we’ll still find you and gut you!” “Come on everyone! After her!”

Mu WanQing let Black Rose to run as she pleased through the mountain and arrived hill lock. Seeing that there was a cliff in front of her, she had no choice but to stop to try and find another way. No Measure Mountain’s paths twists and weaves their way up and down the mountain, making it very difficult to navigate through them.

Suddenly, there came shouting from ahead: “That horse is coming back around!” “This way!” “The Little Whore is back!” Because of her wound, Mu WanQing was in no condition to fight. So she immediately stopped Black Rose and began to run to the right. This time she no longer had time to pick a path and Black Rose was running through the wilderness. Luckily, Black Rose was amazingly strong and agile and was able to traverse through the rocky hillside with no problem whatsoever. After galloping for a long time, Black Rose suddenly mis-stepped with her front legs and bumped her right-front knee on a rock, causing her to limp and slow down.

Worried, Duan Yu suggested: “Miss Mu, let me off. That way you can get away easier and faster with just you riding. They have no enmities or quarrels with me, so it wouldn’t be much of a problem if they caught me.” Mu WanQing replied: “Hmph! What do you know? You are from DaLi, they would kill you as soon as they catch you.” Duan Yu replied: “That’s strange, are they planning to kill everyone in DaLi? Miss, please listen to me and escape by yourself.”

With her left shoulder just throbbing in pain, Mu WanQing had no patience to listen to Duan Yu ramble. So she shouted: “Shut up! Don’t say another word!” Duan Yu replied: “Alright, then could you let me sit behind you instead?” Mu WanQing asked: “Why?” Duan Yu replied: “I left my robe over that fat grandma’s head.” Mu WanQing wondered: “So?” Duan Yu answered: “There’s several holes on the back of my pants, sitting in front of miss with this bare… bare… towards miss… hehe. That’s… just too inappropriate.”

Barely able to bear the pain on her shoulder, Mu WanQing grab