Cen Ji said, "No swearing!"
Ban Lan retorted, "You wouldn't like me even if I didn't tell you, so why should you care?"
Cen Ji frowned, remained silent, and continued to hold Ban Lan tightly as they ran. After a while, they found a large tree that had been cut down lying across the road ahead.
The tree was only about the thickness of an arm's length, but when it was cut, it broke cleanly. It would have been impossible for someone without immense strength to do such a thing.
Cen Ji stopped and put Ban Lan down.
Ban Lan only realized she had twisted her ankle when she fell from the horse as soon as she landed; her ankle was now swollen like an egg. She hadn't felt much pain before, but the moment she touched the ground, the pain made her wince.
She hopped and skipped on one foot to the tree, turned around and said to Cen Ji, "Can't you just step over it?"
Cen Ji's eyes turned cold: "Come back!"
Ban Lan was startled, and then limped over to Cen Ji's side.
Although Ban Lan was straightforward, she was also incredibly intelligent and never underestimated herself, much less arrogant. She knew that her experience in the martial world was far less extensive than Cen Ji's, and that she would always act with discretion and tact in crucial moments, never acting impulsively.
Cen Ji casually picked up a pebble the size of a goose egg and threw it to the other side of the crossbeam.
As soon as the pebble landed, countless sharp blades burst forth from the ground.
"What an amazing mechanism," Cen Ji said in a deep voice.
The gleaming blade sent a chill down Ban Lan's spine, and her voice lacked confidence as she asked, "Could it be... Crane Feather Palace?"
Cen Ji said, "Probably not. Crane Feather Palace always sends assassins directly and rarely uses traps or hidden weapons."
Ban Lan asked, "Then what do we do?"
Cen Ji said, "Wait."
Ban Lan pressed further, "Waiting for what?"
Cen Ji said, "Wait for the person who will come to kill me to appear."
Ban Lan glanced sideways at Cen Ji.
Cen Ji stood there motionless, dressed in black with black hair, his face cold and stern, like a black iron sword about to be drawn from its sheath, all his brilliance concealed within his long black robe.
Suddenly, without warning, he raised his hand and reached out to grab at the air.
In the blink of an eye, Ban Lan saw that he had a feathered arrow in his hand, with a piece of paper tied to the arrow.
Cen Ji opened the note and saw only three words: Keep going.
Cen Ji looked around, but there was no one in sight. He lowered his eyes and thought for a moment, then turned around, picked up Ban Lan again, and walked straight towards the horizontal log.
"Hey, stop! Why don't you walk from the sides?" Ban Lan hurriedly tried to stop him when she saw that he had no intention of stopping.
Cen Ji held her in his arms, walked silently to the crossbeam, and stepped over it.
The sharp blades seemed to have eyes; before Cen Ji's feet even touched the ground, they all retracted into the ground.
Ban Lan was stunned: "How do you know what's written on the note is true?"
Cen Ji said, "I don't know. It's just my intuition accumulated from experience."
Ban Lan looked at him: "You've killed a lot of people?"
Cen Ji said, "That's not a small amount."
Ban Lan rested her head on his arm, stopped talking, and looked thoughtful.
Cen Ji walked through the thicket of knives, casually kicking a pebble to one end of a crossbeam. With a "whoosh," a giant net suddenly peeled off the ground, its four corners quickly closing together. The net was covered with gleaming knife tips of all sizes, which made a chilling crackling sound as they collided.
A gust of wind blew by, and Banlan felt a chill on her forehead. She reached up and wiped it, finding it covered in fine beads of sweat.
Cen Ji also felt that what had just happened was extremely dangerous. He had questioned the authenticity of the note, but this move was simply a risky gamble.
Just then, Ban Lan patted his arm, pointed, and said, "Look, someone's coming."
Cen Ji looked up and saw a man and a donkey walking towards them at a leisurely pace. The man was dressed in blue and sat sideways on the donkey, which had a fist-sized bell tied around its neck that jingled as it walked.
As they got closer, the two could see that the man in blue was dressed as a scholar, about thirty years old, wearing a turban and holding a judge's pen. He had an air of contemplating the mountains and rivers, swaying left and right as the donkey moved forward.
Seeing Cen Ji holding Ban Lan standing by the roadside, the scholar raised his judge's pen and pointed at the two, saying, "Are you married?"
The two shook their heads.
The scholar then said, "Hugging and cuddling before marriage is so improper!"
Before Cen Ji could speak, Ban Lan said angrily, "Who made these rules? Did you?"
The scholar said, "Men and women should not sit together or give each other gifts; this is proper etiquette. The young lady's behavior is improper, and it is her reputation that is damaged. I am merely offering some pointers."
Cen Ji explained, "She has an injury on her foot and it's difficult for her to walk."
Ban Lan rolled her eyes: "Why bother explaining to him? He starts whining after being hugged. Is this guy even alive? He's never even held a woman's hand in Dalian. He's got a twisted personality!"
Upon hearing this, the scholar's face turned ashen, his fair complexion contorted with rage: "Nonsense! Shameless!"
Ban Lan retorted: "You're just showing off your knowledge, you don't understand reason!"
The scholar stared in astonishment and exclaimed, "Women and petty men are the most difficult to deal with!"
Ban Lan immediately said, "I don't know you at all, why would I ask you to 'raise' me?"