"Bang!"
At the sudden dull thud, Lian Youming had already pulled his knees to his chest and tucked his head, hitting the ground curled up like a bouncing ball.
The instant he touched down, he thrust one hand against the dirt, flipped over to plant both feet, and skidded backward five or six meters along the ground with the momentum, crouching like a wild beast with arched spine and lowered back.
Almost simultaneously, the two figures from the truck followed right on his heels, diving down through the air.
Lian Youming narrowed his tiger-like eyes and quickly swept his gaze around, only then noticing that the truck had slipped into a mountain ravine at some point.
No, not two—a total of three had leaped down from the vehicle.
Count the driver, and that made four.
To his surprise, the truck driver did not stop at all, simply driving away.
"Rotten luck. Li Da never showed, but a bunch of deadly troublemakers did."
Watching the three figures that had jumped from the truck, Lian Youming's eyes hardened with ferocity. Instead of retreating, he pushed off with one foot, sending gravel flying, and scrambled forward on hands and feet like an arrow loosed from a bow, lunging toward the nearest, petite figure.
It was a woman wearing a fleece cap and a leather coat, with what looked like a soft whip wrapped around her waist. She brandished a pair of sabers, her eyes blazing with killing intent.
Lian Youming had no intention of letting her land safely. Opportunities were seized, not waited for. The enemy held the numbers and bore obvious ill will; if he ran, he would only be cornered sooner or later. When two fists had to fight four pairs of hands, he would inevitably be overwhelmed. Seizing the upper hand right now was far better.
Lian Youming sprinted bent low, charging like a starving tiger pouncing on a sheep. His right fist hammered forward like a mallet, striking right toward the mid-air woman's chest.
The woman possessed delicate features, yet an ominous ferocity hung between her brows. Far from panicking at the incoming blow, she showed a flicker of delight. Her twin blades whirled into a blossom of flashes, edges curling in toward Lian Youming's wrist.
Yet the corner of Lian Youming's mouth merely twitched. He snapped his hand open and flung a spray of dirt—gathered in his palm when he had touched down earlier.
Blinded by grit, the woman's pupils shrank sharply. Her blades grew even fiercer as she hacked and slashed in rapid succession along the path of her strike.
With her vision lost, however, neither saber landed a clean hit.
Feinting with his right hand, Lian Youming swept his left arm across like lightning, trapping the woman under his arm and locking her neck in a vice.
In the blink of an eye, she was thoroughly restrained, and the two tumbled and rolled several meters across the dirt.
By the time Lian Youming rose to his feet, he had hoisted the leather-clad woman into the air by her skull. Her legs kicked helplessly like an animal caught in a snare. Before she could swing either saber, he rammed a knee right into her abdomen.
"Oof!"
With a muffled groan of agonizing pain, her thrashing frame went limp instantly.
Only now did the remaining two land on the ground, their expressions changing in unison.
"Little Sister!"
Ignoring the woman glaring murder at him, Lian Youming looked past her at the other two. "'Little Sister'?"
The two stood flanking him, one on the left and one on the right. To the left was a burly middle-aged man with a thick, curly beard; to the right was a young man in an undershirt, with narrow eyes, thin lips, and a venomous stare like a viper flicking its tongue.
Lian Youming asked softly, "How should I address the two of you?"
These days, aside from working his shifts, he had done nothing but cultivate. He had lacked sparring partners, but he had seen plenty of wild beasts in the mountains. As that little girl had said, most internal martial arts in the world were created by imitating the forms and spirits of various animals. What did it matter if he had no master? Everything in the world started from nothing.
What was more, he had already mastered the first barrier of the Golden Bell Shield, and his Toad Fishing Skill was deepening day by day. That was not even mentioning his military lethal combat techniques. Empowered by internal force and bolstered by his current physique, he could hardly be completely helpless.
Seeing no answer from them, Lian Youming gave a faint smile and tightened his left grip.
"Ah!"
The woman cried out in pain.
Unexpectedly, the venomous young man rasped in a cold voice, "Cunning bastard. You almost fooled us. I knew it wasn't mere luck that kept him alive. Xie Laosan's map was most likely handed over by him."
Lian Youming frowned. "Map? I already gave the map to Li Da. If you've got the guts, go demand it from him! What's the point of giving me grief? You think I'm an easy target?"
The burly middle-aged man's eyes shifted slightly. "We can't beat him."
Lian Youming remained expressionless. "Well, aren't you honest."
Having scored an early victory, he was in no hurry to trade blows; instead, he backed away slowly.
Surviving several life-and-death crises had taught Lian Youming an invaluable lesson: never plunge yourself into danger unless absolutely necessary.
As for letting the tigers return to the mountain—once he achieved true mastery in his martial arts, why should he fear these cowards who skulked in the shadows?
He would settle them all one by one.
Yet the two across from him were clearly not going to let him retreat. One raised a hand, revealing a throwing knife gleaming in his palm.
Just as a fight to the death was about to break out, Lian Youming bared his teeth in a sudden grin. "Wait. I don't see why we need to tear each other to pieces. What's actually inside that underground fortress? Tell me, and I'll let her go. We go our separate ways, and we can pretend none of this ever happened. What do you say?"
The burly man and the youth exchanged a glance. Knowing they had underestimated Lian Youming's strength, they seemed even less eager for a desperate battle.
The middle-aged man said in a deep voice, "Brat, you must know that various kinds of aged medicine exist out there in the martial world, right? Rumor has it that a medicinal formula is hidden inside that underground fortress, and the aged medicine concocted from it can supposedly extend human life... Back then, the Qing dynasty searched the entire..."
He stopped abruptly mid-sentence, clearly held back by some caution.
Lian Youming's breath sank. He had known Li Da was hiding things from him—that bastard.
"If the map is that important, where did Xie Laosan get it?"
The middle-aged man snapped, "The details were kept under tight wraps; we don't know either... Let my sister go, now!"
Lian Youming looked thoughtful. From the sound of it, that damned aged medicine involved far-reaching stakes, tracing back all the way to the Qing dynasty.
"Hold on a bit. I need to get back to where there are people. Feel free to follow. Don't worry, I'm a man of my word. If I said I won't kill her, I won't." Lian Youming retreated step by step, clutching the woman. "Li Da got the map over two months ago. If you had any sense, you wouldn't be coming after me."
The youth sneered viciously, "Boy, don't look down on us. The map is just a side matter. We're here to settle an old score. Among the five people beaten to death by the Old Man Who Guards the Mountain, was there a swordsman?"
Lian Youming raised an eyebrow. "I see. You want revenge on the Old Man Who Guards the Mountain? Sigh, I suggest you not throw your lives away."
The burly man demanded, "Where is he?"
While talking, Lian Youming had already retreated to the main road leading into the mountains. Hearing the rumbling of passing trucks, he shook his head. "I don't know... and even if I did, I wouldn't tell you."
Without further nonsense, he flung the woman away, flashed into the twilight shadows, and swiftly scrambled aboard a truck heading up the mountain.
Watching the three figures rapidly recede from sight, he furrowed his brows.
Just now, Lian Youming had even toyed with the thought of claiming he would shoulder the Old Man Who Guards the Mountain's feud himself.
If only he had the strength.
It seemed the White Lotus Sect still had no intention of sparing the grandfather and granddaughter.
The Old Man Who Guards the Mountain was likely dead by now. What dire straits must Yang Shuang be in all on her own? Even hiding deep within the Greater Khingan Range, with the methods of these White Lotus Sect cultists, it was only a matter of time before she was tracked down.
As for the Old Man Who Guards the Mountain—that moody, eccentric elder—despite having had little interaction between them, he had imparted two genuine secret techniques. To this day, Lian Youming could not quite figure it out.
Had he realized his days were numbered and wanted to ensure his ultimate arts were not lost?
Or had it been to guide a promising junior?
Repay kindness with gratitude, repay enmity with vengeance.
Though the old man had dragged him into grave peril, Lian Youming remained grateful to him regardless.
Only as his martial arts deepened did he truly appreciate how precious those two signature techniques were.
If the chance arose, he had to repay that debt.
...
By the time he returned to the forest farm, night had fallen. The moment he stepped inside, he saw a motorcycle with a sidecar parked there.
The visitor was not Qin Yuhu, but Li Da.
The man appeared to have been waiting for quite a while. Wearing a white shirt and green army trousers, he squatted on a tree stump, holding a large bowl and eating the forest farm's food.
"Yo, you're back. Food's not bad around here."
Lian Youming curled his lip. With those three attackers having ambushed him earlier, he even suspected that Li Da was only bringing him along for fear that the map might be fake. At the same time, he sighed inwardly. It seemed no one who reached such heights in martial arts had simple motives; when all was said and done, he could only rely on himself.
"It's time?"
Li Da wiped his mouth. "We leave right now. I've already notified your platoon leader."
Chapter 39