My Gentle and Pure Sect Leader Husband - Chapter 41

When Yu Luocha and Yan Hongyin had dug the secret passage and chamber beneath the house, they hadn’t considered the issue of soundproofing—in fact, sometimes when they were in the secret chamber, the soundproofing being too good to hear movements above was the real danger.

Now Ximen Chuixue, Hua Manlou, and Lu Xiaofeng, the three children, had been stuffed by Yu Luocha into the secret chamber filled with Buddhist scriptures. From above the chamber came occasional sounds of heavy objects falling and various things collapsing.

Lu Xiaofeng crouched there, hesitating to speak, with his eyes fixed on the floor, not daring to look around.

This place was clearly not meant for holding prisoners; the books and bamboo slips were organized by category. He feared that if he saw things he shouldn’t see, he would lose his life because of his eyes.

Every time a sound echoed from above, Hua Manlou trembled.

Similar yet different circumstances quickly brought him back to his experience from half a year ago when he was taken by the Iron Shoe Bandit. His excellent and sensitive hearing had now become a source of fear.

Compared to Ximen Chuixue, he could hear the sounds from above more clearly. Involuntarily imagining what was happening upstairs, the fear and helplessness that had never truly left his heart assaulted him again, piercing his heart with pain.

Ximen Chuixue noticed Hua Manlou’s distress and held the little dumpling protectively in his arms. He pressed his lips together, not knowing how to comfort him. His gaze fell on Lu Xiaofeng, who was shrinking motionless in a corner trying to minimize his presence, and asked coldly, “Who is that woman?”

Hua Manlou clutched tightly at Ximen Chuixue’s hand. Hearing the question, he suddenly “looked” toward Lu Xiaofeng with a stern expression the other two had never seen before.

“I…” Lu Xiaofeng moved his lips with difficulty, hesitated for a long while, but only said, “He promised someone he wouldn’t kill recklessly…..He just…”

“I don’t care what kind of person she is in your eyes, but right now my family is up there. If you don’t tell us, I’ll—I’ll…” Hua Manlou almost broke free from Ximen Chuixue’s arms, but was held firmly in his embrace. His chest heaved violently for quite some time before he said, “I’ll drive you out of here!”

Ximen Chuixue: “…”

He had thought the little dumpling would say something else…

Due to his recent care and nourishment, Ximen Chuixue had grown taller, subtly taking on the appearance of a young boy. A trace of helplessness crossed his face as he placed his hand on Hua Manlou’s shoulder and said softly, “I’ll handle this. You’re not suited for this. Be good.”

Hua Manlou clutched Ximen Chuixue’s sleeve and called out a plaintive “Big brother.”

Lu Xiaofeng had lost both parents at a young age and grown up in the streets. Later, though taken in by someone, he had still drifted through various chaotic places among all kinds of people. His ability to read situations and people was extremely precise. Seeing that the brothers were serious, he immediately raised both hands and said:

“I truly don’t know my master’s name. Each time he appears before me, he has a different appearance. I don’t even know which face is his real one… though perhaps none of them are.” Lu Xiaofeng looked at the gold needle in Ximen Chuixue’s hand, swallowed, and quickly continued, “But I’ve heard his subordinates call him ‘Young Master Wang.’ I also have a senior sister who stays in Lin’an Prefecture!”

“That’s really all I know!!! Really!!!”

“That woman who barged in earlier said she came looking for you,” Ximen Chuixue narrowed his eyes and approached Lu Xiaofeng.

Lu Xiaofeng, being used as a smokescreen, wore a bitter expression. “Even if I appeared before him now, he would first beat me half to death, then say he was avenging me, and continue to fight joyfully with that person.”

…….

“…Tsk.” Yu Luocha raised his hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his mouth and said in a moderate voice, “Where did this old monster come from.”

In the moonlight, a woman in a pure white dress stood gracefully on a pear tree branch, looking down at the disheveled Yu Luocha. She laughed lightly, “Look, where did this stray cat from the Western Regions come from?”

Yu Luocha straightened up, his eye corner twitching with pain.

Since reaching the Grandmaster realm, he had never been so thoroughly overwhelmed by anyone. That feeling of having every attack method and every evasive movement seemingly anticipated in advance, of being toyed with like a puppet—it had brought his frustration and anger to an unprecedented peak.

Yu Luocha looked in the direction of the woman and slowly backed up, leaning against the wall of the house as if unable to stand—the half maintained by the Jinyiwei.

His fingers pulled a ring, making a light clicking sound. Yu Luocha suddenly crouched down, lying on the ground and rolling awkwardly. The places on his chest and shoulder blades where the woman had struck him earlier throbbed with intense pain, making his face lose three more shades of color.

But he didn’t care. Instead, he immediately looked toward the pear tree.

In the moonlight and starlight, hundreds of silver needles flashing with cold light had penetrated the tree trunk and the ground. The entire courtyard seemed like a hedgehog’s back, filled with a heart-stopping array of needles, but there was—no one!

Yu Luocha’s pupils contracted, and suddenly, a gentle voice like Wu dialect sounded behind his ear.

“Are you looking for me?”

The voice carried a smile, and at the same time, Yu Luocha’s back was stepped on hard, leaving him sprawled helplessly on the ground.

“Poor little fox slave?”

The woman reached out to turn Yu Luocha’s face, bent down to examine him for a good while, then sighed and said softly, “With this face of yours, no wonder Xiao Yin’er would like you. This child has always liked beautiful things, but her luck has never been very good.”

“Always picking up all sorts of messy things.”

Yu Luocha’s heart stirred.

“But what interests me more is why the Loulan remnants, whose ancestors once vowed never to set foot in the Central Plains, have in your generation violated ancestral teachings to establish the Luocha Sect, slowly encroaching on the Central Plains from beyond the border? His Highness the…Prince of Loulan?”

The last title carried deep meaning, yet sounded like mockery.

The Loulan tribe had suffered a catastrophe a hundred years ago, being obliterated in the merciless storms of the desert. In that shocking event, the Loulan tribe had suffered heavy casualties. It was said that some royal bloodlines had survived, but no one had seen them for many years. Instead, several decades ago, the ruins of the ancient city of Loulan had been occupied by King Kuaihuo Chai Yuguan, which had brought the name of Loulan back into mention in the martial arts world, reaching great prominence.

Later, Chai Yuguan and his wife Yunmeng Xianzi, two rare villains in the jianghu seen only once in thousands of years, perished together. Their only acknowledged son, Wang Lianhua, faded from the jianghu, choosing to retreat overseas with a friend, and no one had ever traced his whereabouts again. The ancient city of Loulan was once more forgotten by the martial arts world.

Having his identity revealed, Yu Luocha showed not the slightest panic. Instead, he sneered and turned slightly to look at the woman behind him, mocking, “So Young Master Wang is imitating his mother’s immortal style? Truly worthy of being mother and son, learning so perfectly.”

Yunmeng Xianzi’s image in the jianghu had been that of an unparalleled beauty with captivating looks, a soul-stirring voice, inscrutable thoughts, and ruthless, decisive methods.

Wang Lianhua patted Yu Luocha’s face and suddenly hooked a smile at the corner of his mouth, saying softly, “You’re quite bold.”

Yu Luocha’s vital points and chin were held in the other’s fingers, yet he smiled even more wildly and recklessly. “Thanks to your leniency, senior.”

Wang Lianhua’s gaze darkened.

From the beginning of their confrontation until now, he had for the first time developed a genuine killing intent toward Yu Luocha.

This person was definitely not an easily controlled character.

In Yu Luocha, Wang Lianhua saw his former self.

“Senior, my wife will be back soon~” Yu Luocha was smiling, smiling with reckless confidence. “Would you like to stay for a meal?”

The force of Wang Lianhua’s hand gradually increased. Because of Yu Luocha’s words, he realized something and said playfully, “She left you as bait? She doesn’t care if I actually kill you.”

Yu Luocha suddenly laughed out loud. The scorching internal energy in his dantian surged forth, suddenly circulating protective true qi to his palms, striking Wang Lianhua’s left shoulder directly and sending him flying!

In the next instant, several cold flashes were thrown toward Wang Lianhua. Their shape was clearly the hidden weapons that had once belonged to Yan Hongyin, which Yu Luocha had taken!

Below on the ground were the cold flashing, poison-laced Storm Pear Blossom Needles. In front were hidden weapons shooting toward his key acupoints. After disguising himself as a woman, Wang Lianhua’s entire demeanor was incredibly light and graceful. With a twist of his waist and a flutter of his wide sleeves, he caught all the hidden weapons in his sleeve and shot them back toward Yu Luocha!

A sweet, coquettish female voice rang out. “Returning them to you, no thanks needed.”

However, beyond Wang Lianhua’s expectations, Yu Luocha, leaning against the house, remained motionless—one leg bent, one leg stretched out, long hair scattered over his shoulders, his face still bearing a smile. Seeing Wang Lianhua look over, he even flashed a provocative and malicious smile.

In the dark night, a ghostly shadow flashed rapidly from the eaves.

It carried the cold of early winter wind and a faint smell of rust lingering in the air.

A series of clanging sounds of weapons clashing rang out. The Embroidered Spring Blade blocked all those cold hidden weapons. With a horizontal sweep, the blade’s energy cleared away all the poisoned needles fixed in the ground, sending them flying to one side.

Dressed in black, with a mask covering her face, the Commander stood in front of Yu Luocha. Her posture was straight, with a visibly protective intent.

“…Had enough fun?”

The Commander’s voice was slightly hoarse, carrying the slight panting of having rushed over, filled with deep displeasure and anger.

Wang Lianhua had already landed and stood on the now-cleared ground. He looked deeply at the woman before him, his eyes quickly flashing with a trace of entanglement and helplessness. But soon, he deeply concealed these emotions, raised his hand to smooth his sleeve, and said softly, “Does Daren know that the person you’re protecting is a survivor of the Loulan tribe, whose country was annihilated by the court years ago?”

“I know who I am and what I should do.”

The blade in the Commander’s hand carried bloodstains from an unknown source, with moonlight condensing into a streak sliding down from the blade’s edge.

“I’ll investigate who he is myself.”

The Commander and the white-robed woman gazed at each other, their eyes sharing the same clarity and calmness, indifference and obsession.

“But as long as he remains my prisoner for one day, I will never allow him to die at the hands of anyone other than myself.”

“As for you… since you’re already dead, stop interfering with the Jinyiwei.”

The Commander’s lips, not covered by the mask, moved slightly to utter two words.

“Master.”

Wang Lianhua’s eyelashes trembled, his gaze lingering on Yan Hongyin for a moment before turning to Yu Luocha behind her.

The formerly arrogant and reckless Western Regions madman now had one hand pressed against his chest, his face pale, lips colorless. Seeing Wang Lianhua look over, he even squeezed out a trace of crimson blood from the corner of his lips, looking truly miserable and pitiful.

Yu Luocha raised his eyes and slowly, gently blinked at Wang Lianhua.

Wang Lianhua’s hand tightened inside his sleeve.

His killing intent grew more intense.