Legend of Fu Yao

Feeling consoled, tears of comfort welled up in her eyes as Meng Fuyao patted Lord Yuan Bao’s head, “You are so caring, you know how to earn medical expenses for your boss…”

The troupe reached Mount Luo Feng, abandoned their horses at the foot of the mountain and moved on. Halfway through Mount Luo Feng, at a platform amongst the steep precipices and cliffs, Cloud Soul said with a satisfied expression, “The Fengshui ¹ here is not too bad, perfect for all of you to be buried.”

Zhan Beiye whispered into Meng Fuyao’s ear, “Fuyao, we must persevere till the moon rises.”

Meng Fuyao blinked and looked at the sky. ‘Crap!’ It was only dawn and to persist till moon rise? Even with combined force, Zhangsun Wuji and Zhan Beiye were no match against Gale in the past. Now, for them, who was already heavily injured, to fight against Cloud Soul and persist till nightfall? Cloud Soul that ranked sixth amongst the top ten, merely a rank below Gale?

Zhan Beiye said, “Focus on her Achilles heel… Fuyao, you must not risk your life, I will protect you.”

Meng Fuyao sealed an acupoint point on Zhan Nancheng, motioned for Little Seven to lead him away and guard over him, said slowly, “It’s just a day, no big deal.”

She smiled as she moved a step forward. Zhan Beiye followed suit and Yun Heng who had been keeping silence, suddenly moved a step forward as well.

Meng Fuyao pushed him away immediately and said, “Don’t try. Otherwise, I will kill you by pushing you down the cliff. ”

“Go ahead” Yun Heng replied undeterred, “I will climb up again.”

Meng Fuyao was annoyed, but Zhan Beiye commented with a smile, “Brother Yun, heard you had a fortuitous encounter whilst in Taiyuan, you have shown great progress indeed.”

Yun Heng responded with a smile, “Nothing compared to Ms. Meng, however, I should be qualified to fight alongside her.”

He looked towards Meng Fuyao and asked with a sparkle in his quiet eyes, “Worthy?”

Meng Fuyao rubbed her nose and felt she was really unlucky. She had always thought Yun Heng was an honest and guileless child and certainly did not expect him to be so eloquent.

She looked down and saw Lord Yuan Bao, who had been crouching on the floor took a step forward suddenly.

Meng Fuyao stared at the small round ball, speechless. The ball did not bother with her either, as it stood there, slowly taking at out a seed and hugging it in its paws.

Meng Fuyao looked at it blankly as she asked Zhan Beiye, confused, “… If I may just clarify… this is Lord Yuan Bao’s new weapon…?”

Zhan Beiye looked at that guinea pig with tears and laughter. “Stop fooling about, this is not a game.”

Lord Yuan Bao dismissed his comment. On the other hand, Cloud Soul looked curiously at Lord Yuan Bao and asked, “Where did this come from?”

Meng Fuyao casually waved her hand. “A friend’s.”

“What friend?” Cloud Soul was more interested in Lord Yuan Bao than to fight. Determined to find out, she prompted again “Who?”

Meng Fuyao replied with a smile, “Elder, you will have to kill me first for me to reveal anything.”

Cloud Soul thought for a moment and proposed, “If you give it to me, I will not fight with you all.”

Meng Fuyao gulped. ‘Seriously, Lord Yuan Bao is actually worth that much? Damn it, if I knew I should have auctioned him off.’

Lord Yuan Bao spat valiantly against Cloud Soul’s suggestion.

Cloud Soul pulled back her sleeves and asked lazily, “How about it? One rat, three lives. There is no better deal out there.”

She glanced at the three in front of her and declared in an unhurried manner, “The three of you are not weak, in fact, in your own category you are the stronger few. At your age, I might not even be as strong as the three of you. Regardless, if you all were to fight with me now, you all will definitely die.”

She might have said it calmly, but Meng Fuyao knew that every word was the truth. A world-renowned fighter, putting aside her solid inner energy, her mere experience in combat as well as control over her unique arts was not something they, amateurs, could win against.

Three lives.

One rat.

She squatted down and stared at Lord Yuan Bao.

Meng Fuyao stroke Lord Yuan Bao and said sadly, “I never knew you were worth this much…”

Then she stood up, going face to face with a confident smile plastered on Cloud Soul’s face. “Elder…”

Cloud Soul raised her eyebrow lazily and stretched out her hand to receive Lord Yuan Bao.

“You better kill me.”

Simple decisions to make, yet, tragic could be the only word to describe it when it comes to realizing those decisions.

For example, to fight for one’s life.

Whilst Cloud Soul was still stunned by Meng Fuyao’s words, the crafty Meng FuYao was already halfway in the air, ready bombarding Cloud Soul with kicks.

To any top-notched master, any feints or fanciful tactics were meaningless. Only speed faster than lightning, strength and continuous attacks would work.

Cloud Soul understood this even better than Meng Fuyao. As Meng Fuyao rushed up, she too had already flown over.

One move was as intense as a bolt of lightning that struck across the land, the other move was akin to a typhoon as it stirred up everything in its way. The tyrannic wind rattled the stones on the ground as they retreated back to the cliffs, falling off. One could only hear the sound of the stones hitting the ground after what seemed like an eternity.

In that lonesome mountain, the sound of the two forces colliding resounded throughout. The impact had dispersed the morning fog, and it seemed as though the first ray of light was too almost dispersed by the impact.

The magnificent display of power, was, unfortunately, still below Cloud Soul.

Cloud Soul only smiled lazily as she waved her sleeve calmly, blocking the three attacks with ease. Her inner energy flowed like the wind as she disappeared like an illusion. Without a single sound, presence, or even trace, her energy could appear anywhere in any possible direction. Her strong and crystal-like shield was able to block all forms of attacks.

Pong—

The quickest attacker, Meng Fuyao was bounced away.

Kacha—

Zhan Beiye had managed to get close to Cloud Soul and cut through her sleeves. Yet, in that very last inch, he was forced back by that mysterious inner energy. His shoes dragged along the floor, producing sparks, as he tried to stop the impact to no avail. Only when he hit a rock did he manage to come to a hail.

Chi—

Yun Heng’s fast sword was usually faster than Meng Fuyao. Yet this time, his eyes could not even keep up with her figure, much less his sword. All he could was spot the remnants of her movements, and in his attempt to land a strike on her with his fastest move, Cloud Soul lifted her finger. All that was left in front of him was no Cloud Soul, but a bundle of clouds.

Between the fog, a gentle yet strong pair of hands pushed Cloud Soul. Though unstable, Yun Heng’s sword followed her and managed to catch her sleeve. As Zhan Beiye rushed towards Yun Heng, the latter had already teleported to Meng Fuyao’s side and pushed her towards his sword.

Yun Heng panicked as he tried to keep his sword. In the midst of the thick fog, Meng Fuyao and Yun Heng lost track of each other. Afraid of affecting Yun Heng’s attack, she tried to evade the sword. Suddenly, she felt nothing under her feet.

Unknowingly, she was at the corner of the cliff.

Meng Fuyao fell straight.

Yun Heng immediately pounced over, grabbing onto Meng Fuyao with all his might. This pounce caused the sharp edges of the rock to cut into the arms of Yun Heng. Blood flowed down along the patterns of the stones, dripping onto Meng Fuyao’s face.

“Hold on to me—”

The young man with an anxious gaze crouched at the corner of the cliff holding onto her so desperately that his fingers turned cold. She lifted her head up and smiled at him. She wiped off the blood on her face and leaped high up back onto the cliff.

As the fog dispersed, Cloud Soul could no longer hide herself. She lifted up her head and watched as a blade headed straight for her.

“Very well!”

Cloud Soul had to avoid this attack. With a flash, Lord Yuan Bao snatched the opportunity as Cloud Soul was avoiding the blade and attacked her throat.

Cloud Soul chuckled. “Even a little thing like you dares to bully me!”

She flicked her finger and flung Lord Yuan Bao away. Meng Fuyao caught it as Zhan Beiye, and Yun Heng attacked once again.

“Great chemistry!” Cloud Soul praised. She had experienced the trio’s ability and dared not treat them as lightly. Those continuous current flows became stronger.

Cloud Soul was smart. She could tell that the two males cared for Meng Fuyao and focused her attacks on her, forcing Zhan Beiye and Yun Heng to give up their teamwork. However, Meng Fuyao’s courage and bravery made her apprehensive. A woman with wounds all over, yet, Fuyao was still so determined and resolute. Regardless of how many times she was flung out, she would always stand back up.

Lord Yuan Bao weaved between the people. This guinea pig was really sly and sharp, with a frightening ability to decipher the moves. With every attack it made, it was accurate and helpful to the trio. At the same time, Cloud Soul had expressed her obvious interest in this guinea pig so regardless of what this guinea pig did, she would not bear to kill it.

The battle that consisted of four humans and one guinea pig lasted for over two hours. After two hours, Lord Yuan Bao raised the white flag and surrendered. The wounded trio looked at each other — everyone was pale and breathless. Even if Cloud Soul did not kill them, they would probably die of exhaustion if they continued fighting. After contemplating, Meng Fuyao raised her hand.

This act caught Cloud Soul by surprise, and she stopped her attack. “What now?”

“Lord Yuan Bao needs to change his diapers,” said Meng Fuyao with a straight face, “If not, it will have hemorrhoids.”

The ‘for sale rat’ rolled his eyes. ‘Brat, seriously? Can’t you use a more sophisticated reason to stall for time? For example, the well rounded and elegant Lord Yuan Bao needs to practice its dance, it needs to practice its singing. Can’t you?’