Chapter 197: The Standoff

　　Lei sighed in helplessness.

　　He did not want to get involved. It would only cause unnecessary trouble when one gets entangled in a conflict within the martial arts world.

　　But three young ladies were about to be slaughtered by those two men, and he could not stand doing nothing.

　　He dashed towards them, blocking in front of the three ladies. He unsheathed his long sword and drew a circle in the air using the tip of his sword.

　　The hidden weapons clanged onto the wall of the drawn circle and dropped to the ground. It was a skill most effective in blocking attacks by using concealed weapons.

　　“Who are you?” The Yao twins stared fiercely at Lei. His action was such an anti-climax to what they were about to execute. If not for the worry of Lei’s levitation and sword fighting skills, the twins would have already plunged onto him and destroy him.

　　Lei did not bother about the twins. He took out some pills from his sleeve and inserted them into the ladies’ mouths.

　　Suddenly, the ladies felt their bodies went limp. They panicked and held onto each other’s shoulder for support, so they would not fall. They had absolutely no resistance towards Lei’s pills.

　　With his palm, Lei struck the ladies’ backs respectively, helping to disperse the medicine in their bodies.

　　The ladies could feel the pills dissolving into vapor, which flowed into their bloodstream and circulated through their internal organs. They felt rejuvenated, and their strength slowly returned.

　　Lei swept a quick glance at the ladies and gave them a signal. In an instant, he took a huge leap backwards, jumping over the wall behind them and disappeared. His movements were as swift as Wong Fei-hung’s[1].

　　The three girls understood what he was trying to convey. As they continued to rely on each other’s support, they stared fiercely at the Yao twins and sneered, “You guys are mean!”

　　The Yao twins transfixed their gaze at the wall where Lei had escaped, wondering what their enemy was up to. He was literally just right in front of them a couple of minutes ago, but now he was gone. It seemed as if his sole purpose was to give the pills to the girls to cure them of the curse. However, they felt confident about their poison. They thought that no antidote other than their own would be able to reverse the curse.

　　When they saw that the girls were still weak, a devilish smile etched on their faces.

　　Boss Yao scoffed at them, “The sooner we get this done with, the better. Just kill them already!”

　　“Sigh, what a waste. Alright then.”

　　The twins gently leapt into the air, protruding their darkish green claws. They charged onto the girls from above, just like a goshawk.

　　The three girls shrieked in fear. They stumbled backwards in panic.

　　They could see the Yao twins grinning wickedly in mid-air.

　　On the thought that they were about to sink their claws into their prey, they felt thrilled. The soft texture of their bodies in their claws, would feel better than anything else in the world. The twins were immersed in ecstasy on the thought of that.

　　“Ah——!” The girls stared at them wide-eyed. They screamed, but they could not move or run.

　　“Heh heh…” The Yao twins broadened their sinister grin. Their daunting claws emitted a faint bluish glow under the moonlight, and were about to reach the chests of Holly He and Lily Sun.

　　“Ergh…” the Yao twins jolted to a sudden stop, a strange shriek of pain coming out from their throats. They looked down and saw the sword which penetrated their chest. They stared at the three ladies in utter disbelief.

　　The ladies twisted their bodies around, pulling out the sword cleanly. They then stepped backwards.

　　“Chi…” the twins spurted out three jets of blood.

　　The Yao twins lifted their arm with great difficulty, their bluish black fingers trembling. They pointed towards the ladies with hatred, then collapsed onto the ground.

　　“Pom! Pom!” The two landed with a loud thud, they stopped moving.

　　“Take that! Ha!” Lily smiled, sheathing the sword with her left hand. She looked fiercely at their fallen enemy, “Yao twins, huh? Now, you are Yao ghosts! Ha!”

　　She grinned with a great sense of achievement. She recalled the fear she had earlier and compared it with the pride she had now. It felt so good.

　　Holly searched around with her bright eyes. She made a fist salute at the direction where Lei had fled, saying, “Thank you for saving us, Master!”

　　There was only silence. Nobody replied her.

　　“Sister, wasn’t he the guy from the restaurant earlier?!” Lilly asked.

　　Holly nodded gently.

　　She could recognize Lei. But she wondered why he did not look like a martial artist.

　　The other girl, Fei Zhang said in a low voice, “Since he doesn’t want to show himself, we shouldn’t force him.”

　　“That’s true, let’s go.” Holly said, “We can’t stay here any longer, we must move, immediately!”

　　“Yes.” Lily agreed.

　　The three ladies picked up their stuff and left. They did not even look back at the Yao twins’ dead body.

　　When the girls had left, Lei reappeared at the scene, shaking his head. He swung his long sword across the dead bodies, cutting off their two heads.

　　Lei knew that the Yao twins were good at faking their own deaths. The girls were being too reckless. Just because of the Yao twins’ hideous looks and the poison on their bodies, the girls avoided them like the plague. They did not even look back and check if the monsters were really dead.

　　If they Yao twins were not dead yet, the girls would not be lucky enough to escape their second attack.

　　Lei used his sword to open the Yao twins’ clothes. From there, several bottles dropped off. He also pried open their leather pouch. Lei took a piece of fabric and wrapped the items together. He planned to bring them back to the Thousand Herb Garden and have them checked out.

　　The Yao twins’ poison was very deadly. Hence, there must be a high research value.

　　The next morning, Lei continued his journey. His horse galloped on rapidly. He wanted to return to the public house as soon as possible to look for something.

　　He had read all the books in the Wisdom Tower, but there were no records of that technique the Yao twins had used. But he knew, that there was another hidden chamber deep inside the public house. It was a secret library that was never mentioned to anyone else outside the public house.

　　The speed of his horse was as swift as wind.

　　Lei’s horse surpassed all the other horses on the road with ease. Before you could see them closely, they had already disappeared out of sight. With that kind of speed, Lei figured that he would reach Chong Ming town by afternoon the next day.

　　It was noon. The sun scorched down mercilessly. Lei allowed his horse to slow down for a bit. It had already travelled a long distance, so Lei felt it could use some rest. They went inside the woods beside the road to take a respite.

　　As soon as they entered the woods, Lei was shocked. What a coincidence!

　　Under the kiosk sat three graceful ladies donning a white veil over their faces. They were dressed in pure white gowns. It was the Tai Hua Valley ladies.

　　When they heard his horse, the ladies turned their heads around. They then saw who was riding on the horse.

　　The ladies were caught by surprise. They immediately gave Lei a fist salute.

　　“What are the chances?” Lei thought. He smiled at them and returned a fist salute, then hopped down from his horse. He loosened the horse lead, allowing his travel companion into the forest to find some grass to graze on. Meanwhile, he walked towards the kiosk.

　　“Master, may we humbly ask what your name is?” Holly stood up and saluted Lei. “We owe you one, for your kind actions last night!”

　　Lei shook his head and smiled, “My name is Lei Chu. It was only a small matter, no need to thank me.”

　　Fei glanced at Lei, smiling sweetly, “Master Chu, you are young but extremely skilled. I reckon that you are a disciple from a renowned faction, am I right?”

　　Lei smiled, “I’m a scribe from the Yi public house.”

　　“The Yi public house?” their expressions changed. They looked at each other in disbelief.

　　Lei had expected that kind of reaction from them. He smiled and sat down at the other side of the kiosk.

　　The martial arts world and the public house were archrivals. It was the public house’s duty to oppress the factions in the martial arts world, to prevent them from using martial arts to commit crimes, thus ensuring peace in the empire.

　　In the eyes of someone from the martial art world, the people from the public house were like hawks, a constant pain in the ass.

　　After Lei had sat down, he did not even turn to look at the ladies. He instead opted to admire the scenery around him. He kept his cool, because he knew that he must maintain a certain distance from the ladies.

　　Holly regained her senses and said, “No matter what your identity is, you still saved our lives.”

　　Lei waved his hand and smiled, “It’s really nothing worth thanking. I think it’s best if we keep a distance from each other. I’ve only helped you last night because I couldn’t stand the wicked actions of those two monsters. So, I seized an opportunity to jump into the scene and save you all. There is no need to feel in debt to me, just pretend that nothing had happened.”

　　Holly shook her head and replied, “Master, you’re just too humble.”

　　Lily scoffed at him, “Master Chu, are you not heeding us because we’re from a lesser known faction?”

　　Lei turned his head around and looked at her. He smiled and shook his head.

　　Lily her red lips, “I know you look down on us!”

　　Lei sighed, “If you let your master know that you befriended someone from the public house, she would banish you out of the valley.”

　　“Our master is a reasonable person! She won’t!” Lily scoffed.

　　Lei smiled as he looked at Holly.

　　Lily turned her glance to Holly and saw her gloomy face. Holly shut her red lips tightly, refraining from speaking further.

　　“Sister He?” Lily looked at her curiously.

　　Holly sighed, “Sister Sun, what Master Chu said was right.”

　　“The public house may be evil, but it’s not like there are no good people in it, right?” Lily asked, looking puzzled. “Just take for example the prestigious Green Hill faction, aren’t there bad people inside too?”

　　Holly said, “I’ll explain more to you later… Master Chu, we will repay your good deed. If you have any requests at all, so long as it doesn’t go against the rules of the martial arts world, we will try our best to assist you.”

　　Lei smiled, “Don’t worry, I do not expect anything in return. Just pretend that we don’t know each other.”

　　The ladies felt embarrassed. Lily looked confusingly at Holly, but Holly showed no interest to explain anything to her.

　　Lei felt that the situation was getting awkward, so he stood up and gave them a fist salute, “If fate allows us, we will meet again.”

　　He squeezed his lips together and whistled. His horse emerged from within the woods and galloped towards him. Lei hopped onto his horse and gave another fist salute to the girls as farewell. He then rode on and did not turn back.

　　Translator’s note:

　　[1] Wong Fei-hung or Huang Feihong was a Cantonese martial artist, physician, and folk hero, who has become the subject of numerous martial arts films and television series. He was considered an expert in the Hung Ga style of Chinese martial arts.