Volume 3 Chapter 16 / Chapter 182: Junior Sister, Kissing Senior Brother
Ye Anping ordered a roasted chicken for Feng Yudie and let her eat by herself on the side while he meticulously explained their next plan of action to his junior sister. Not long after, the inn’s waiter brought two bedding sets, helped them move the tables and chairs, and made two floor beds. Given the long journey of several thousand miles, Ye Anping allowed Feng Yudie and Pei Lengxue to rest for a while.
Soon, the moon climbed high in the sky. Ye Anping opened the window to check the time, estimating it was around the hour of the rabbit (dawn). He woke the two of them, left a few spirit stones on the table as payment for the room, dressed up, packed their belongings, and jumped out of the window to prepare for their next steps.
…
During winter, the sun rises later, and it wasn’t until the hour of the snake (mid-morning) that the sky began to lighten. Ye Anping sent Feng Yudie to catch a beast while he took Pei Lengxue, traveling thirty miles along the road from Wangchuan Town towards Shadowmoon Sword Sect.
Due to the snow, he guessed that Yun Xi and Zhang Yihe would take a break here after flying on their swords, so he decided to set the ambush here. After landing in an open space, Ye Anping roughly measured the road with his footsteps and rehearsed in his mind what would happen next. He then said:
“Junior Sister, you hide behind that tree. When the beast Feng Yudie catches knocks Yun Xi away or injures her, you come out to save her and use your sword skills to deal with the beast. If she asks why you’re here, what will you say?”
Pei Lengxue thought for a moment and replied, “Senior Brother was summoned by the eldest young mistress of Shadowmoon Sword Sect to become a son-in-law, so I followed him.”
“Good, that’s fine. You can tell her anything except that you don’t know Feng Yudie, and I don’t know Feng Yudie, understand?”
“Got it!”
Ye Anping nodded and was about to find a higher spot to watch from. Seeing him about to leave, Pei Lengxue quickly grabbed his hand.
“Senior Brother…”
“Hmm? Any more questions?”
Pei Lengxue pointed to her lips as a hint: “We won’t see each other for the next seven days. Is the yang energy… okay?”
“No problem until we meet again.” Ye Anping looked at her, shook his head helplessly, and walked over. “Then, one last kiss now?”
“Yes…”
Pei Lengxue nodded with her lips pursed, then closed her eyes, put her hands behind her back, and lifted her face, waiting for the last kiss from her senior brother before the next seven days.
However, suddenly, two footsteps sounded from the woods on both sides of the road. Ye Anping’s ears twitched, and he stopped his kissing action, turning his head to look.
Five swordsmen in white cloaks emerged from behind the trees, holding weapons as they walked out from the woods on one side of the road. Ye Anping scanned them with his spiritual sense; among the five, two were at the peak of Qi Refining, and two were at the early stage of Foundation Establishment.
One of the swordsmen, with an exaggerated outward step, took two steps forward, raised his long sword, and shouted:
“If you want to live, hand over your storage—”
“Junior Sister, leave one alive!”
He and Ye Anping spoke almost simultaneously, but before the swordsman could finish his sentence, Ye Anping and Pei Lengxue’s figures vanished, leaving only a swirl of snow where they had stood.
The swordsman didn’t freeze up; he watched as the two disappeared into thin air and didn’t even react, still finishing his sentence.
“—bags.”
In response to his words were four sounds of swords cutting into flesh.
Shu shu shu shu—
As his voice trailed off, the surrounding swordsmen fell to the ground, leaving only him standing.
“—?”
The next moment.
Ding—
Two spirit swords extended from behind his shoulders, crossing in front of his neck with a light clash, then stopped.
Ye Anping frowned slightly, thinking there were probably more people in the woods, but he had no time to deal with them now, so he asked:
“If you want to live, be honest. How long have you been here?”
“… …”
Shu—
The two spirit swords crossed like scissors, closing an inch, scaring the swordsman into shouting:
“Two days!!!”
Ye Anping squinted his eyes slightly. If they’d been here for two days, it meant they were targeting a specific group:
“Who are you waiting for?”
“We…we’re not targeting anyone specifically, just…”
Ye Anping paused and gave a look to his junior sister.
The “scissors” at the man’s neck clashed together with a snip, and he fell to the ground, leaving a dark red mark on the snow-covered road.
Looking at the five corpses, Ye Anping pursed his lips, took out a few fire talismans to burn them, and used spells to cover the blood with snow. He had suspected it wasn’t a coincidence that Yun Xi encountered so much trouble along the way. This group confirmed that many of Yun Xi’s troubles were likely orchestrated by Yun Yiyi.
They couldn’t kill Yun Xi and Zhang Yihe; their goal was probably to delay Yun Xi’s return to Shadowmoon Sword Sect as much as possible.
Ye Anping stayed silent for a while, then stored his spirit sword back in his storage bag and said:
“Plan unchanged.”
“Okay…”
Boom—
Suddenly, an explosion sounded from the woods. A white-cloaked swordsman flew out, arcing through the air before landing in front of Ye Anping and Pei Lengxue.
“… …”
Ye Anping paused, turning to look in the direction the man had come from, seeing Feng Yudie walking out with her spirit sword, grinning:
“Young Master Ye, you missed one!”
“Is this the last one?”
“Yes!” Feng Yudie nodded, looking for praise. “I saw him sneaking around in the woods and gave him a good beating.”
The swordsman lying in front of Ye Anping raised his hand to beg for mercy:
“Senior… spare…spare…”
However, his plea only met Ye Anping’s cold gaze, a flash of a sword, and a fire talisman.
Feng Yudie shrank back, stunned for a moment, then asked:
“Shouldn’t we interrogate him?”
“We already interrogated the others.”
“Oh…”
Once the bodies were burned and the blood covered with snow, Ye Anping turned to Feng Yudie, seeing her empty-handed, and asked:
“Where’s the beast you caught?”
“Tied up in the woods. It’s a snow ox, pretty big and strong. It took a lot of effort.”
Ye Anping nodded and turned to Pei Lengxue:
“Junior Sister, you hide here. When Yun Xi arrives, we’ll drive the snow ox over. Use its bellow as the signal.”
“Got it!!”
Pei Lengxue nodded, remembering the kiss interrupted earlier. Seeing Ye Anping about to leave, she stepped forward, stood on tiptoe, and kissed Ye Anping on the lips.
Feng Yudie, who was about to walk back into the woods, heard the sound stop abruptly. She turned to look.
?
She retracted her neck, the spirit sword hilt slipping from her hand to the ground.
“… …”
Ye Anping was stunned but said nothing, patting his junior sister’s head before turning to leave.
“Let’s go.”
“Ah…”
“… …”
Feng Yudie looked around, then, seeing Ye Anping entering the woods, shook her head, relieved to see no cranes in the sky. Her master had told her that if cranes saw people kissing, they would bring a child to the couple.
She picked up her spirit sword and, while waving goodbye to Pei Lengxue, ran after Ye Anping:
“Junior Sister Pei, be careful. That snow ox is fierce!”