Free Web NovelCaptain Peng caught the favor token, frowned, and turned the jade badge over this way and that.
She seemed to be checking whether it was genuine.
She rubbed her chin for a long while, lost in thought, then widened her eyes as if she had realized something.
“Ah. Don’t tell me you’re that kid?”
“What?”
“The kid who got shocked when she saw Void-Grasp, right? The Poison King’s granddaughter. The Grand Clan Head said he found it strange that you were so softhearted for someone of Tang Clan blood.”
Her air had softened considerably, as if she had heard about me before.
The change in her attitude made me certain.
She would let me go.
I nodded frantically.
“Yes. Yes! That’s right. Elder Peng visited last spring.”
“The Grand Clan Head said you were a tiny little thing. You’re not, though? Well, in his eyes, everyone probably looks tiny.”
Muttering to herself, she scratched her head roughly and gestured behind her.
“Lower your swords.”
“What? Captain. But...”
“Lower your swords. I need to talk.”
Then she met my eyes.
The look in her eyes, which had seemed annoyed by everything in the world, had turned warm with goodwill.
At her order, the unit members exchanged glances and slowly lowered their swords.
“I’m Peng Jiyun.”
“I’m Sohae.”
After we exchanged names, she reached out as if to help me up, then glanced at Yeon Ryang and awkwardly drew her hand back.
Peng Jiyun looked at me with a troubled expression, then turned back as if she could not understand this at all.
“Hey. Third-generation disciple. Nobody told me the Tang martial artist we were chasing was this kid. The Poison King’s disciple colluded with the Demonic Sect? What kind of bullshit is that? You could search the entire Central Plains and still not find anyone who hates the Demonic Sect more than that man. Are you sure this information is right?”
“C-Captain. We only followed her because we received the portrait sketch...”
“Who ordered this? Zhuge Hyogang? These bastards aren’t doing their jobs properly.”
Peng Jiyun’s face turned fierce. She pressed at her forehead as if her head hurt.
“Kid. I’m sorry about injuring your companion. But now that things have come this far, wouldn’t it be better to go to the Alliance, get him treated properly, and clear up the misunderstanding? I’ll guarantee your safety.”
I shook my head.
“No. I can’t trust the Alliance. As I asked, please let me and my companion leave this place.”
“You should get the label of being involved with the Demonic Sect removed properly, young lady. If you don’t clear up the misunderstanding, you’ll keep being chased.”
“Please let us go.”
“Stubborn little kid. Well, if that’s what you want, there’s no helping it. Fine.”
Peng Jiyun shrugged, rummaged in her robes, and held out a red cord to me.
When I hesitated, wondering what it meant, Peng Jiyun said,
“For tying your hair. It’ll get in the way if you keep running around with it loose like that.”
“Thank you.”
She showed goodwill as if she had never attacked us at all.
My heart pounded wildly.
It worked.
It worked!
As I hurriedly fixed my hair, Peng Jiyun watched me and laughed under her breath.
“I’ll give the Grand Clan Head your regards. This doesn’t look like a situation where we can have a long conversation, so get going. Take good care of your companion.” freewёbnoνel.com
Then she drew her saber.
It looked as though she were shielding us.
Jinseong, flustered, furrowed his brow and cut in.
“Captain Peng. What is the meaning of this...!”
“You saw the favor token, didn’t you? Even if that kid were a demonic fiend, I would still have to help her. Taoist Jinseong. The Peng Clan’s honor is at stake here.”
“It may not be Young Lady Tang. It may be that man. Captain. Young Lady Tang may be deceived, so you must not let them go.”
“I know that too, but the benefactor’s request was, ‘Do not ask anything. Let the benefactor and the benefactor’s companion go.’ Taoist. Since that’s the case, I have to grant it.”
Peng Jiyun clicked her tongue regretfully.
It was the moment the enemy threatening me turned into an ally.
Taking advantage of the standoff between the two, I helped Yeon Ryang to his feet.
“Brother. Can you stand? Put your arm over my shoulder. Good. Try standing.”
“Our little sister has surprisingly wide connections, doesn’t she?”
“Don’t talk, you idiot. You’re bleeding.”
“Ow, ow, ow. Be gentle with me, sister. This brother of yours is a delicate man... Ngh!”
It seemed impossible for Yeon Ryang to walk on his own. I slung him over my shoulder.
As he leaned against me, he coughed with a pale face. Hot blood spilled over my shoulder.
“Cough! Sohae. Your brother’s legs are dragging. Lift me a little higher.”
The fact that he could joke in this situation was incredible mental strength. I bit my lip and scolded him.
“Be quiet before I abandon you. Cane. You come here too.”
“Kkurruk.”
Cane answered obediently and settled inside my sleeve.
When we tried to flee, the Alliance members aimed their swords again and tightened the encirclement.
Peng Jiyun smacked her lips and infused internal energy into her saber.
“Hey. Can’t you just do me a favor and let this kid go? I don’t want to become a captain who beat up her own unit members.”
“Say something that makes sense, Captain. This is insubordination.”
“Captain. Please reconsider. This is Alliance business. If the information is wrong, we can check once we get to the Alliance. We can’t just let them go.”
“That’s right. It is Alliance business. At the same time, it is Peng Clan business. If I ignore an Alliance order, I’ll probably just lose my captain position. But if I ignore the Peng Clan’s honor, my head will get cut off.”
Peng Jiyun waved the favor token, sighed, and tucked the jade badge into her robes.
The air sank heavily.
After reading the mood, I bowed to Peng Jiyun’s back.
“Then I’ll be going.”
“Go on, cute benefactor of the Peng Clan. All I can promise you is three days. After three days, I won’t be able to stop the pursuit. I wish you good fortune in battle.”
“Thank you.”
“Hah. There are quite a lot of people here. I’ll have to ask the Grand Clan Head for pocket money.”
Muttering, Peng Jiyun slammed her saber down violently.
BOOM!
The earth split in half, opening a path.
“Go that way!”
“Yes!”
The moment I ran toward the path Peng Jiyun had opened, the people who had been watching me warily quickly moved to follow.
Peng Jiyun shot forward like an arrow and blocked her comrades with ferocious force.
“Since we’re at it, shall I see what our Black Moon Unit can do? I should check how much our little chicks have grown.”
“Captain! Are you really going to do this?”
“Call me Captain, you brat.”
Annoyed, she raised her great saber as an explosive pressure poured from her.
Peng Jiyun’s expression froze so coldly it was hard to breathe.
“Come at me, chicks.”
*****
RUMBLE! BOOM!
An ear-splitting explosion rang out, and clouds of dust rose behind us.
I glanced back at Peng Jiyun’s back and clicked my tongue. Even from over three hundred yards away, her overwhelming power was enough to make goosebumps rise on my skin.
“No wonder your back ended up like this after taking that saber barehanded.”
As I swallowed a sigh and kept my feet moving, Yeon Ryang, who was panting, spoke in a playful voice.
“Cough, cough! Still, at this rate... I’m pretty sturdy, aren’t I?”
“Yes. You’re sturdy, so don’t lose consciousness. If you die, I won’t let you off.”
I answered curtly, sniffled, and held Yeon Ryang tightly.
Since he kept coughing up black blood, he must have suffered an internal injury when he blocked Jinseong’s sword without internal energy.
We could not keep moving like this.
He had lost too much blood. If I did not stop the bleeding right away, it would become dangerous.
“Cane, get me willow bark. As fast as you can!”
“Kii!”
Cane shot away and disappeared into the forest.
I scanned the rapidly shifting scenery, looking for somewhere we could hide.
It would have been nice if there had been a decent cave, but no such luck appeared.
I could feel Yeon Ryang’s body temperature against mine slowly growing colder.
I could not delay any longer. I spread my long robe over a flat patch of grass and laid Yeon Ryang facedown.
“Kkuu. Kkuuuuu.”
In the meantime, Cane returned with a mouthful of willow bark and dumped it onto the robe.
I broke the bark into small pieces and shoved it into Yeon Ryang’s mouth.
“Chew. Right now.”
“Mmph, sister...”
“Stop talking nonsense and chew. I have to dig into raw flesh, so chew.”
Yeon Ryang nodded and worked his jaw. More than half of it spilled out of his mouth, but he seemed to be trying to chew somehow.
I raised a dagger and tore away the cloth tangled with his flesh. The sight was so horrible that a groan escaped me on its own.
I took a deep breath and placed a hand on his back.
“Hold your breath.”
“Graaah!”
When I poured cleansing solution over the torn wound, Yeon Ryang’s face twisted in agony. As the blood washed away, I could see the wound properly.
I tried not to look at his face as I rinsed my hands with the remaining cleansing solution.
When I dug through the protruding bone and fitted it back into place, his huge body convulsed and lurched upward.
I pressed down hard on Yeon Ryang’s shoulder and wiped the wound clean. Sweat dripped from my own forehead as well.
“I can’t stitch this here. I’m going to sprinkle wound medicine on it first, so endure it. It’s something a Wudang Taoist carried around, so it should work well.”
Not knowing whether I was talking to Yeon Ryang or to myself, I muttered and poured the entire bottle of wound medicine Jinseong had given me over the injury.
The pale gray powder covering the wound turned red. Blood bubbles seemed to rise, and then the bleeding slowed.
I let out a breath of relief and wiped the sweat wetting the corners of my eyes. When I wrapped his back in clean cloth and tied it tight, Yeon Ryang’s breathing became noticeably easier.
We were past the worst of it.
I hurriedly cleaned up the area and gathered our things. As I helped Yeon Ryang up and put my long robe back on, the empty sword sheath tied at my waist dropped with a thud.
A clever idea came to me.
I looked at Cane.
“Cane. You can carry something about the size of this sheath, right?”
“Kkurruk. Kkururuk.”
“Then go make some drag marks with the sheath.”
“Kiiik?”
It looked utterly dumbfounded, but I had no time to indulge its complaints.
“You can find my scent, right? One day is enough. For one day, make it look as if we fled west. If you can scatter these torn pieces of clothing here and there along the way, do that too.”
“Kiiiiii!”
“Once a day passes, abandon the sheath and come back. Drop it in water, throw it off a cliff, whatever you want. I’m not accepting complaints. Think of all the meat Yeon Ryang fed you and earn your keep this time. Come here. I’ll tie the sheath to you.”
I rattled off the orders and tied the sheath to Cane’s body. I also tore Yeon Ryang’s clothing into small pieces, put them in a pouch, and hung it around Cane’s neck.
Perhaps because my voice was so serious, Cane tucked its tail and shot west without further complaint.
I pulled my eyes away from Cane as it disappeared and hoisted Yeon Ryang onto my back. On my back, Yeon Ryang chuckled weakly.
“Ahaha. This is actually... kind of nice.”
“Has this man lost his mind? What is nice when you’re half-dead?”
“Who else, cough, cough! would try so desperately... to save an unorthodox bastard, sister? I’m touched.”
“Stop talking nonsense and close your eyes. The bleeding stopped, so you can sleep.”
“...All right.”
Yeon Ryang answered in a whisper and slowly buried his head against my shoulder. It seemed he had released the thread of consciousness.
Three days.
Peng Jiyun had promised three days.
So we had to run as far as possible in the time we had been given.
I gritted my teeth and began running east.
