Qingshan Wild Man Valley

Chapter 34

"Today, old friends have gathered together..." Yan Chaohong said slowly, glancing at the wild man after a few words, then slightly turning his eye to look at the man in black following closely behind him. "If this gentleman were not here," Yan Chaohong chuckled, "it would truly be a great loss of fun."

"What you're saying—" The man in black was about to ask a question, but Yan Chaohong ignored him and turned directly to me.

“Sun Qingshan,” Yan Chaohong asked me seriously, pointing to the man in black beside her, “this man has a clear and confident voice. Although it’s not particularly special, you should remember his words about chopping you into thirty-six pieces and feeding you to the dogs, right?”

"Feed the dog—?" I paused, suddenly remembering the brawl on the long street, that devastating human slaughterhouse, where crabapple blossoms fell and blood flowed. Then, the savage grabbed my hand, and a cold blade pierced the chest of a masked man—"Ah!" I cried, "It's him?! The masked man?! Yes, yes, that's right—it's him!!"

Because I recognized his eyes beneath the black cloth covering his face.

As dark as ink, unfathomable.

And now I see his face again, quite young, with strong features. When he tightens his lips and becomes serious, I can't imagine why he would portray himself as "thirty-six parts to be fed to dogs." To be honest, jokes don't suit him.

So when he said I was messing around with men all over the place, he wasn't joking; he was serious.

"He said you're a womanizer who goes around ruining men on the street!!"

Yan Chaohong, you really know me too well—I turned my face and glared at Yan Chaohong, who was spouting a bunch of nonsense, with endless emotion.

“But you don’t know who he specifically refers to as the man he’s talking about,” Yan Chaohong added.

I was startled and turned around instantly. Sure enough, the savage's face was deathly pale.

“Therefore,” Yan Chaohong patiently summarized for me, “you understand now, Sun Qingshan?” As she spoke, she leaned closer to me, “the reason this man wants to kill you is not because of you, but because you interfered with his master’s plans—as for who his master is, perhaps I should introduce him to you first.” Yan Chaohong sneered, stepped back, and once again pointed her finger at the man in black’s face, “This is Song Guan, the shadow guard of Liangfeng Manor, the number one assassin in the world, and the most loyal dog under the leader of the martial arts alliance!”

"Yan Chaohong, how dare you speak like that!" I glared at him habitually and corrected him. No matter what, this man was still a savage.

Even a savage dog is one of my kind.

Thinking this, I turned my gaze to the savage, and at the most crucial moment, I caught a crucial change in his eyes as his face turned pale—the savage looked at Song Guan in black, his gaze cold and resolute, and meaningful. That gaze contained some kind of information that could be transformed into something tangible. Based on my understanding of the savage, I could be 100% certain that it was a tacit understanding that had long existed between master and servant—giving orders and receiving commands.

With a "whoosh," the soft sword that the man in black had wrapped around his waist as a belt was thrust out, confirming my deduction.

The savages wanted the man in black to kill Little Red.

I find it a little hard to accept.

But what I find even more unacceptable is that when the man in black, Song Guan, thrust his sword straight at Yan Chaohong, Yan Chaohong ignored him and didn't even bother to parry. She reached out and grabbed the Divine Weeping Blade from the tea table. If it weren't for the savage's quick reaction, blocking with one hand and slashing with the other, the blade would have been in Yan Chaohong's hands long ago. Then, the one who left this world first would have become the savage.

So at the same time, Yan Chaohong had to use her knife to deal with the savages!

However, failing to retrieve the knife, he swiftly moved his hand, palm turning into fist, fist back into palm—with a "thud," the black-clad man Song Guan's sword pierced Yan Chaohong's lower back, while in front of the savage, Yan Chaohong's powerful palm strike was redirected mid-flight—

It struck me!

I was terrified.

Dead Yan Zhaohong, it turns out there's nothing he can't do, only things I can't imagine. He knows the savage is fast and has good lightness skills. Even if the savage has no internal strength, he won't be seriously injured by that palm strike. So the only way to win is to change the move at the last moment, catching the savage off guard. When he sees me injured, the savage will definitely risk his life to save me.

I'm determined not to let you succeed. I may not know Little Red, but do you think I don't know the Wild Man? The moment the palm wind changed, with an intuition and speed that I could not even imagine, that was extraordinary and unusual, I took a step forward by one centimeter.

The saying goes, "A difference of a hair's breadth can lead to an error of a thousand miles."

One centimeter was enough for Yan Chaohong to kill me faster, and for the savage to be a fraction of a second slower, leading to a prince rescuing the princess.

Of course, I'm quite confident that Yan Zhaohong doesn't really want to kill me, so he'll strategically hold back.

Bang--!

This sound didn't originate in my ears; it directly shattered my limbs and bones.

A pair of hands embraced me from behind. In my twenty-four years of life, this was the first time I had suffered internal injuries. The trembling and coldness of those hands, which gripped my shoulder from one side, even seeped into my clothes, completely diverting my attention from the pain.

Before my eyes, Yan Chaohong coughed up blood. He also strategically slapped me with his palm, and was saved by the magician who acted decisively. The cloaked magician temporarily dealt with the soft sword of the man in black, Song Guan.

The current situation is that the five of us form a chain. I spontaneously blocked Yan Chaohong's palm strike in front of the savage, Yan Chaohong was stabbed by Song Guan, and Song Guan was restrained by the magician—and all of this was caused by just one look from the savage.

Wild man, oh wild man… I imagined my lips turning blue, pitifully looking up at him, but he seemed to be in more pain than I was, his Adam's apple trembling constantly. He avoided my gaze, frowned, and pulled open my collar to check me, his eyes filled with genuine panic and lingering fear.

"I'm fine...uh..." But as soon as he opened his mouth, he had to groan in pain.

Actually, it's nothing. I even groan in pain when I get a small scrape.

The savage ignored me, but it was time for someone from the crowd of onlookers to step forward and break the deadlock.

"Please calm down, gentlemen." One of the young masters of the Nangong family stepped forward and addressed Song Guan and the magician.

After a low cough, Young Master Nangong said in a hoarse voice, "Since the truth is unclear right now, why not..." As he spoke, his expression changed, just like when Yan Chaohong turned treacherous. Young Master Nangong's gaze extended and moved towards the savage, but the person he was really looking at was me.

Why does everyone in the world know that if you want to attack a savage, you should avoid the strong points and focus on the weak points, and it would be best to target me first?

"Right now, it's more important to clarify the whole matter." Young Master Nangong took a step forward and said in a deep voice, "Since the Alliance Leader is unable to speak, I will temporarily take his place. I will venture to make an assumption about the ins and outs of this matter. If the Alliance Leader finds it acceptable, he may simply nod in approval."

He finished speaking, but was met with an awkward silence. The savage wasn't listening to him at all, or perhaps he was listening but deliberately choosing to ignore it.

After the savage touched my bones, he examined my skin and flesh. He craned his neck, blocking everyone's view, and touched my chest with very light touch and icy fingertips. I tried to block him, but he rudely pushed my hand away, making me want to groan in public.

"Leaving aside distant matters," Young Master Nangong said, turning to me and the savage, "let's start with the God-Weeping Blade that the Alliance Leader wants to retrieve. The God-Weeping Blade is a symbol of the Alliance Leader's supreme status, and it's understandable that you want to wield it again. But four years ago, may I ask—how could such an important item have been lost from your hands?!"

"Or perhaps it shouldn't be said that it was four years ago... cough cough..." Young Master Nangong coughed incessantly, then continued, "In the first year of Xianping, which is six years ago, when you first became the leader of the alliance, a great tragedy occurred in the martial arts world. The former leader, Shi Youfeng, and his family of thirteen, including his daughter Shi Shenghuan who had returned home to visit her family, were slaughtered by the demonic sect's vengeful members. Not to mention the hundreds of maids, servants, and guards in his mansion—Leader Shao, I remember that you issued a righteous decree at the time, vowing to find the real culprit and comfort the spirit of Leader Shi in heaven—but I also remember that it was you who issued the obituary to the martial arts world at that time, declaring that the leader of the alliance had died. In other words, apart from the people of your Liangfeng Manor, in fact, no one could prove how the leader's family was murdered, or who murdered them. Leader Shao, am I right?"

"And what is even more coincidental is that it was also from six years ago that you, as the leader of the alliance, led the righteous path. During that time, there were countless events, big and small, and various sects joined forces to fight against countless enemies. Yet, you never once placed the God's Cry Blade in front of anyone. Therefore, I fearfully speculate that you may have lost the blade even earlier."

"Then, half a year ago, Divine Constable Mi went on a long journey, but unexpectedly, the long arm of the law caught up with him, and he ended up obtaining this sword from a foreigner by a twist of fate. Moreover, the flawless Divine Weeping Sword was no longer what it used to be. On the hilt, which was forged from fine steel, there was a character 'Shao' written with internal force, and the last stroke went from strong to weak, with the bloodstains not fading. It was obviously the work of the person who carved the character before they died—"

"In this world, anyone who is skilled in martial arts and knows a little about the affairs of the martial world can explain that, including you, the leader, there are only five people who can achieve the skill of carving words on a knife. However, the leader of the Chen Gang Hall is seriously injured, the Xi Tian Tian Sword has gone into seclusion, and the martial arts master Fang Ning Dao Ren has long since stopped caring about worldly affairs. Moreover, all three of them have appeared in the martial world one after another and are still alive. Therefore, the only people who are related to the loss of the Divine Weeping Blade are you and the former leader of the Shi Alliance."

After the other party finished speaking, Ye Ren finally straightened my collar, confirmed that I was not seriously ill, turned around, and looked at Young Master Nangong in a slow and unhurried manner.

Young Master Nangong paused slightly, coughed again, covered his lips with his hand, and then asked, "Alliance Leader Shao, may I ask you this: since this Divine Weeping Blade already belongs to you, why don't you show yourself openly and honestly? And why are you so eager to retrieve it, even resorting to unscrupulous means?—But do you remember where you left it, or who you killed with it?!"

The entire room was silent.

However, when the savage heard his questioning, he not only remained silent but also did not move an inch, offering no explanation or even taking it seriously.

“Originally,” Young Master Nangong continued, “someone spotted you here over a month ago and thought they were seeing things. Neither my brother nor I have ever met you. Judging solely from the portrait, it was difficult to distinguish the real from the fake. Therefore, we had to ask Constable Mi to rush from Bianjing to confirm. As for the sword tournament, using the Divine Weeping Sword as bait to lure you into the scheme, it was truly out of necessity. After all, it was all just our speculation, while you are the Supreme Martial Arts Master personally appointed by the Emperor. To question you is to question the Emperor, unless—” Young Master Nangong paused again, his tone turning cold, uttering a question, yet his statement was entirely declarative—

"Unless you, Alliance Leader, knew this was a trap but still risked stealing the knife, does that mean you have something to hide?!"

"What nonsense are you spouting?!" The savage remained silent, so I stepped forward in his place to confront these people on his behalf.

However, I just suffered a minor injury and am somewhat lacking in confidence, making me a little unworthy of the position of the martial arts alliance leader's secretary.

Taking a deep breath and focusing my energy, I said, "Young Master Nangong, I'll answer the questions you just asked—although I haven't fully grasped the whole situation yet, and am still confused and disoriented, it's precisely because I'm an outsider that I can see things clearly and objectively—and more importantly, my perspective is different from yours. From the very beginning, you judged him guilty. From the moment you first saw the character 'Shao' on the Divine Cry Blade, you already assumed my dear savage—no, Shao the savage—no, Shao Yanhe—was a bad guy. So you assumed you were setting a trap with the blade, thinking that as long as the alliance leader was guilty, he would try his best to retrieve or destroy the evidence without anyone noticing—but have you ever considered that this issue can't be approached in reverse? Just because Shao something (I forgot his name again) wanted to take the blade back doesn't mean he's guilty!"

"Or let me put it this way, I, Sun Qingshan, as your alliance leader's lover, can say with absolute certainty that this person—he has no intention of being your alliance leader at all. He wants to retrieve the knife precisely because he is all too aware of the existence of people like you who cannot distinguish right from wrong. Before any evidence has even become clear, you have already decided he is the murderer, and this is only with a small circle of people knowing the whole story. A highly confidential matter has already driven him into a corner, making his life miserable. If this matter blows up, and the whole world treats him as a murderer or a wanted criminal, will he still want to live? Will he still be able to go out to the market? Will he still be able to have a son? Will he still be able to set a good example for his children? Will he still be able to live a normal life in peace? —You abnormal bunch!!" I added a curse.

But unexpectedly, after a brief silence...

“You’re wrong.” Yan Chao’s red lips were bleeding, and she pressed her hand against the wound as she slowly walked out from the side. “Sun Qingshan, the fact that you would say such things means that you don’t understand what kind of person Shao Yanhe is at all. First of all, do you know why he wanted to kill me? It’s because he has secrets. He has many secrets that he can’t let you know, so he’s afraid that I will reveal his secrets. And you, perhaps then you won’t have those generous words you spoke earlier.”

"Oh?" I raised an eyebrow, the words escaping my throat. "What secrets do these savages have that they can't let me know? Tell me, and let's see if I'm truly forbidden from knowing, or if even if I did know, I wouldn't—"

Suddenly, my hand was grabbed. Before I could even finish speaking, the savage's hand, when we clasped, had a touch unlike any other. First, three of his finger bones were misaligned. No matter how tightly he gripped me, or how tightly I gripped him, those three fingers could never hold my hand firmly because he couldn't exert any force.

Secondly, at times, the savage's hands would be unusually cold, even though many times, aside from the roughness of his fingertips, his palms were warm, so warm that one wanted to hold them close to their chest as a heater, and then that warm current would rush up their heart...

This time, however, it was hypothermia.

It was frighteningly cold.

The savage pulled me forward. Someone blocked his way but didn't dare to actually block him, so they eventually made way for him. But the savage was walking too fast and his body was slightly unsteady. He swayed slightly several times, and each time it happened within five steps.

He pulled me along, and as I watched his back, I felt sorry for him.

He is such a repressed person. In fact, many times, he doesn't need to keep everything bottled up inside. I think I can enlighten him with my wonderful chatter. So what if he killed that martial arts alliance leader? A prodigal son who returns is more precious than gold. Just forget everything. He has already received all the punishment he deserved. He is not much better off than being sentenced to death.

"Sun Qingshan!" Yan Chaohong suddenly called out to me from behind. "You really haven't heard of the name Shi Shenghuan? That's right, you've lost your memory, you've forgotten everything, so you probably don't know that the former leader Shi Youfeng and your so-called 'Wild Man' had a close relationship, and it was even a well-known story in the martial arts world—'Liangfeng Manor gets a good son-in-law, the father-in-law becomes the leader's son-in-law'—six years ago, after the bloodbath, you thought Leader Shi's daughter Shi Shenghuan was home visiting relatives—that was the auspicious day she married Shao Yanhe and returned home three days later!!"

I suddenly stopped in my tracks, and the savage, pulled by me, also stopped.

But his back remained stiff, and he did not turn around.

What made my heart clench wasn't that the savage had married someone else's daughter, nor that he hadn't informed me of his marriage, but rather the three characters "Shi Shenghuan." Shenghuan Shenghuan sounded like a tiny, delicate needle, even finer and softer than a bee's stinger, piercing my heart and making me instantly breathless.

"You say we're all guilty—" Yan Chaohong limped back to me, glanced at the wild man's hand holding mine, and sneered, "Sun Qingshan, aren't you the same?! In fact, even you can't be sure whether your wild man is loyal or treacherous. You just wishfully want to forgive all his crimes, but I think there's one crime you'll never forgive until you die—uh…!"

The savage suddenly turned around and grabbed Yan Chaohong by the neck.

I stood there stunned, watching the savage's lips move. His bloodless lips clearly conveyed three words: "Say it again and I'll kill you!"

Yan Chaohong laughed even more, seemingly disdainful. The martial arts practitioners nearby wanted to step forward to help, but were blocked by Song Guanyi, the man in black, who drew his sword.

Yan Chaohong went the extra mile by softly raising her hand to indicate that he was alright and that no one needed to help him.

"So what if you kill me?" Yan Chaohong's neck was between the savage's fingers, his life hanging by a thread, yet he seemed completely unconcerned, laughing as he asked the savage, "Even if you kill me, I'm not the only one who knows about that matter. Unless you kill everyone, preferably even Xu Yi, otherwise—" The savage's fingers suddenly withdrew, and Yan Chaohong groaned in pain, his face covered in cold sweat. He was truly pitiful today. I chuckled inwardly; he deserved to be injured again and again.

"Why don't I speak for him?"

While everyone's thoughts were preoccupied with Yan Chaohong and the wild man, a voice suddenly came from not far away from Mi Dang, the divine constable, "Although I know little about it, I can only say one thing—that is, young lady of Qingshan, do you know why you have lost your memory? It is definitely not because you fell off the cliff and injured your head as you think—but because someone deliberately did it!"

"What?"

I was stunned for a moment, not quite reacting. I was thinking, "I thought it was something serious. Why are you bringing up amnesia again? It's just amnesia. What's the difference between man-made and natural injuries? They're both the same thing."

But the next moment, I realized something was wrong.

"What exactly happened?" I turned around and asked the savage.

The savage didn't look at me, slowly loosened his grip, and Yan Chaohong slid off his hand.

"Savage, are you alright?"

I asked him because he looked strange; his arms were down, his eyes were drooping, his face was pale, and he wasn't looking at anyone.

When he did something wrong, he never dared to look at me, even when I was the one framing him.

And this time, his breathing was somewhat slow, slow and drawn out in an unnatural way, like a silence that was being forcibly suppressed, which would gradually erupt.

“Sun Qingshan…” Yan Chaohong was not going to stop this time. After being released by the savage and helped to sit on the opposite chair by others, she eventually turned back to me and, panting, said, “Little Qingshan, actually, I had already started paying attention to you before you lost your memory. I followed you every day for a long time… Take the day you lost your memory, for example. Do you know why you got separated from your savage husband? It was because of Song Guan, the loyal subordinate of this alliance leader. He tied you up and then deliberately let you escape, resulting in you falling off the cliff…”

You weren't paying attention to me at all—I was just about to curse Yan Chaohong, it was obvious you were trying to spy on the savage!

Then they said, "Little Qingshan, how come you still don't understand the relationship between master and servant? Why would a subordinate go to such lengths to kidnap his master's woman? Qingshan, Qingshan, do you really think you've damaged your brain from falling off the cliff? Actually, Little Honghong, let me tell you the truth. When I found you in the haystack that day, there was another person standing beside it. That person was your dearest wild man husband—meaning, he not only left you alone in the wilderness, but afterwards he also pretended to be pitiful and coaxed you into his arms. Isn't that kind of person hateful? And also, do you know why the Xu Yi sorcerer wanted you to stay at his house unconditionally? It's all thanks to your husband. Your husband got a magic pill from him to forget the past, and he's using you to test it!"

The leader of the alliance

Nothing in this world is a given.

Therefore, nothing should be without reason... and thinking about this makes me feel like I'm having a brain fart.

Yan Chaohong sat calmly, already beginning to recount the savages' numerous misdeeds...

"Rumor has it that Shao Yanhe, the leader of the martial arts alliance, forced his widowed mother to remarry in his early years in order to rise above others. Unable to bear the humiliation, his mother committed suicide by drinking poison..."

"His younger brother was even forced to marry into a wealthy family, but the woman he was to marry was an old slut who was already over forty years old..."

"Nine years ago, during the night rain at Jinchi, the young leader of the alliance became famous in one battle. However, his opponent, the Hall Master of Chengang, recently clarified that Shao Yanhe's martial arts skills benefited from the Demonic Sect, and that even in the battle at Jinmingchi Lotus Pavilion, he was by no means simply superior in skill..."