Chapter 422 - Tracking (1)
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
Nanli Mountain.
Nanli City, at the foot of the mountain, was a famous tourist spot in the Four Lives Province. It was especially populated by Buddhists, and contained several tens of temples that constantly had worshippers visiting them and giving donations.
The entire Nanli City didn’t have much protection from the government, and relied entirely on the main Xinli Sect to protect everything within 50 kilometers.
To be accurate, the Xinli Sect was an enormous Buddhist sect formed by an alliance between several tens of Buddhist temples.
In the Four Lives Province, the Xinli Sect was the strongest power aside from the three major sects.
At this time, on the first floor of the Hundred Fragrance Restaurant of Nanli City, two street performers were juggling burning wheels and diving through them.
“Bravo!”
“Encore!”
“Bravo!”
Wave after wave of cheers came from the audience, simply because the performers weren’t some rough-looking men, but two girls with delicate skin that looked like white jade. Both wore white skin-tight cloth, which highlighted the curves of their bodies that just finished developing as well as certain private parts.
Most cheers weren’t for their acrobatic skills, but for their occasional exposing poses.
The restaurant was well lit, and filled with the fragrance of wine. Constant cheers as well as the sound of silver hitting the ground could be heard.
In a corner of the first floor hall, a man and a woman were casually watching the performance of the two pretty girls.
The man had a muscular and balanced body. His face was proper and handsome, though the unbound and wild long hair that fell onto his shoulders gave him a savage and untamed quality.
The woman had a charming quality about her. She had waist-length hair, big eyes, a slim nose, and a small mouth. Her chest rose high, while her legs were long and round. She wore only a moon white skirt, and everything she did had an alluring charm to it. “If Master is interested in the two girls, it shouldn’t cost much. These street performers can usually be taken care of with money.”
“That won’t be necessary. During chaotic times like this, no one could survive in the Jianghu and still be innocent.” Lu Sheng shook his head. He brought Duanmu Wan along during his chase. Unwilling to let go of a Divine Intellect grade Divine Weapon, he tracked it all the way to the neighboring Four Lives Province.
Since Jing Hong had the residue of his powerful Yang Essence on his body, Lu Sheng and Duanmu Wan were able to track him easily with its strong aura.
“Master is right. Judging by my experience, these two girls are 17 at most, but have probably slept with many men already. Not at all as innocent as they might appear,” Duanmu Wan said casually. “Ordinary daughters of a proper family wouldn’t dare perform in public wearing clothing like that.”
Lu Sheng was a little amazed. He didn’t reply, and continued to drink his tea.
“That aside, have we made contact with the local Thousand Sun Sect yet?” he asked after a moment of silence.
Duanmu Wan shook her head, and explained, “We’ve made contact already. But, this is the capital of the Four Lives Province, quite a distance from our home province. Not many might respond during these turbulent times.”
“We will take what we get. Doesn’t matter if we don’t get anything.” Lu Sheng smiled. “Speaking of which, the Turquoise Conch Agency here must have been eliminated completely. Someone should have greeted me after all these days.”
Just as he finished speaking, a commotion came from the two pretty acrobats’ vicinity.
After a wave of shouts, two muscular men with blades on their backs pushed through the crowd, escorting a weak-looking man toward the two girls.
“Never expected to find surviving bitches of the Soundless Sect here.” The weak-looking man was dressed like a typical son of a rich family. He placed a short sword in his hand, and a faint blue light came from the fine sheath engraved with black patterns. It clearly wasn’t an ordinary sword.
“Young Master, I don’t know what you are talking about. What Soundless Sect? We just arrived in a foreign place, and only wanted to earn a basic living through our performance…” The older of the two girls stepped up. Her brows were locked tightly, and she clearly knew that trouble was coming.
“Upholder Qinghun of the Fazheng Temple had personally ordered the elimination of the traitorous Soundless Sect that colluded with the Devil World, yet two spies of the Soundless Sect dare perform in broad daylight? Hahahaha!” The weak man’s eyes moved all over the two girls’ bodies.
“Mercy, Young Master! Me and my sister truly are not spies of some Soundless Sect!” The older girl was scared at the mention of ‘Devil World Spies’, and immediately kneeled in front of the man on two knees, her eyes red.
“That will be up for me to decide. Men! Bring these two back for investigation! I will judge in detail whether they are spies or not!” Obviously, he was just using the excuse of the Soundless Sect spies to kidnap girls he wanted.
“Please, Young Master! Mercy, Young Master!” Both girls knelt on the ground, and kowtowed to the man.
But it was all useless. The two muscular men dressed in black grabbed the two girls, and were prepared to drag them out.
At this point, most of the people present knew how it would end.
But this weak-looking man didn’t seem to be satisfied, and swept his lustful gaze across several pretty girls in the restaurant again.
He didn’t want the situation to escalate too much, though; otherwise, his uncle who worked for the provincial government would have a hard time.
He seemed content, and was ready to go back and ‘teach’ the two girls a lesson when his eyes suddenly brightened as he saw a table of guests.
A girl sat at the table. Though her smile and looks were nothing compared to the other two girls’ as they were lovely and alluring, she had a dangerous feel to her.
“Good! Very good! I haven’t played with someone like that for a long time!” He strode toward the table.
Everyone around sighed in sympathy. They knew he had found a new prey.
In Nanli City, no one dared to go against him. Kidnapping women was the least of it. Things like breaking up families and married couples were also among the misdeeds he enjoyed. One time, he even slaughtered someone who angered him along with his entire extended family.
Everyone saw the light in his eyes, and instantly knew he found a new target.
The diners all felt relieved, but also lamented for the woman who was chosen.
“My lady, I am Mu Quening. I am very much impressed by lady’s voice and appearance as they are truly equal to the Heaven. Please excuse my insolence.” The feeble man walked in front of Duanmu Wan. His eyes were staring at Duanmu Wan’s chest as he licked his lips.
Duanmu Wan couldn’t hold back her laughter. Her body shook along with her chest, which made Mu Quening stare even harder.
“My lady, your body is truly—”
Duanmu Wan was about to teach this person a lesson or two since she served Lu Sheng, who clearly instructed that she could strike any time she deemed fit unless he ordered not to directly.
But before she could do it personally, the restaurant’s door was kicked open.
Two muscular men dressed in red charged in, followed by a pretty girl with bright eyes and white teeth. Her waist-length hair was bound in a ponytail.
The girl was dressed for horse riding, and she charged in angrily with a coil of a black horse whip in hand.
“Second Brother, did everything I said this morning go in one ear and leave through the other?”
Mu Quening’s lust-filled body trembled the moment he heard the girl’s voice. He immediately turned, and tried to escape.
“Stop! I swear I will kill you if you dare run!” The girl jumped up lightly, and easily flashed in front of Mu Quening, blocking his way.
“Third Sister, please! Spare me this one time! I just came out of the Iron Room, I really don’t want to go back!” Mu Quening begged with a sad face. It was obvious he was actually afraid of her. “Didn’t Dad say he was going to find a master for you? If you let me go, I guarantee I will find a literature teacher that you will be happy with!”
“You?” The girl glanced at him. None of the dozens of people on the first floor dared to look at her face. They were even more afraid of her than Mu Quening.
But her eyes obviously brightened as she saw Duanmu Wan, then looked at Lu Sheng on the opposite side.
Her delicate face lit up as her bright eyes stared straight at Lu Sheng, her normally pale face showing a sign of pink.
“Third Sister? Third Sister?” Mu Quening was about to beg for mercy again, but suddenly noticed that his third sister had stopped moving. He stretched out his hand, and shook it in front of her face.
“How… How dare you!!”
“Bam!!”
The girl abruptly slapped Mu Quening’s face violently. She hit so hard he flipped over and pushed over several tables, scaring everyone in the way.
“How dare you touch this gentleman’s companion! Seems you have gotten worse after only a few days without a beating! Stay there! Stop right now!”
She quickly grabbed Mu Quening and beat him up nicely, then instructed the muscular men dressed in red to throw him out. Finally, she straightened her clothes, and walked in front of Lu Sheng and Duanmu Wan.
“Hey hand— I mean, Mister…. I didn’t scare you, did I?” She nearly said ‘handsome’. Mu Jueqing’s heart was beating fast. If there really was love at first sight, then she was sure this was it.
That strange cold, tough, and ruthless air about him captured her heart the moment she saw him.
Lu Sheng stared strangely at this girl in front of him. He could sense her body hid an enormous power, like a slumbering dragon. Even he couldn’t describe what it was or how powerful it might be.
“What… did you just call me?” he asked after finally processing the situation while holding back his laughter.
“I called you ‘mister’? You don’t look like a local, are you traveling? Would you like a guide to show you around? I could even arrange a hotel. The petal bath here is quite nice, I even made arrangements already,” the girl said very forcefully, leaving Duanmu Wan no space to refuse.
Several other men dressed in red suddenly appeared and surrounded Lu Sheng and Duanmu Wan. Clearly, they weren’t going to let him walk out even if he said no.
Lu Sheng didn’t know whether to laugh or to cry. Kidnapping random civilian girls was one thing, but now there was somehow someone else interested in HIM.
He was confident that he wasn’t handsome, at most above average. Who knew what the girl saw in him?
Lu Sheng looked toward the door again, and saw that 10 or more guards dressed in red had locked the door. They all stared at him threateningly, which was quite amusing.
But he wasn’t here to play games with little girls.
“Little one, go home and do what you are supposed to do. Aren’t you supposed to train in the martial arts or practice writing with your parents? You shouldn’t be playing in the public like this.” Lu Sheng ignored everything, and rubbed her hair.