"Okay." A hint of a smile gradually appeared in Cen Ji's somber eyes.
Evidence? Ha, so what if we can't find it? As long as she believes in herself, that's enough.
Cen Ji remained standing still, motionless. Yet, anyone could sense that he was like a melting iceberg.
two,
Ban Lan, carrying Fang Huo's urn and the Qingguang Sword on her back, slowly walked down the mountain.
As darkness fell, a damp smell filled the air.
Ban Lan looked up. The mist rising in the sky was soon dispersed by the rapidly approaching dark clouds. The dark clouds crowded together in the low sky, as if they could be reached out and touched.
"Oh no, it's going to pour!" Ban Lan quickly quickened her pace and ran down the mountain.
As they approached the foot of the mountain, a thunderclap boomed overhead, and Ban Lan felt the mountain path beneath her feet tremble slightly. A moment later, a torrential downpour began, the rain whipping up in the wind and soaking Ban Lan completely in the blink of an eye.
"Damn it, will I die if I hold it in a little longer?" Upon seeing this, Ban Lan simply slowed down and muttered as she walked.
She was already soaked to the bone, so she didn't really care. The rain was just so heavy that it obscured the road ahead.
"Miss Ban".
Hearing voices behind him, Ban Lan stiffened and turned around.
Seeing her turn around, Zhang Liang narrowed his eyes and looked Ban Lan up and down.
Ban Lan had never met Zhang Liang, and Zhang Liang had never met Ban Lan. Zhang Liang only knew from Cen Ji's call that Guan Zhen's death was caused by this woman.
Behind Zhang Liang were more than a dozen disciples of the Iron Sword Sect, clearly with Zhang Liang as their leader.
"The Iron Sword Sect?" Ban Lan glanced at the group. Her voice sounded particularly faint in the torrential rain, as thin and frail as her slender frame.
Zhang Liang's expression was sinister as he said, "Young lady, you have a good eye."
"You're not bad either." Ban Lan glanced at Zhang Liang, a strange sense of disgust rising in her heart, and then turned to leave.
"Wait!"
Ban Lan turned around irritably and said, "Didn't you want to see Master Kongshan? I'm not Master Kongshan, so why won't you let me leave?"
Zhang Liang smiled coldly and said, "Now that you've drawn a card that's even more threatening than Master Kongshan, how can our Iron Sword Sect just watch you get away?"
Ban Lan quickly guessed seven or eight parts of the answer.
"You want to use me to threaten Cen Ji?" Ban Lan said as she slowly backed away.
“Why don’t you come with us and find out?” As he spoke, a sharp glint flashed in Zhang Liang’s eyes. Like a swift cheetah, he appeared in front of Ban Lan in the blink of an eye.
Ban Lan was shocked, took a step back, and turned to run.
"Trying to run?" Zhang Liang sneered and lunged to grab Ban Lan's nape.
Ban Lan felt a sharp pain in the back of her neck and slapped Zhang Liang in the abdomen. Caught off guard, Zhang Liang was hit in the abdomen. Although not seriously injured, the pain made his face twitch, and his grip on Ban Lan's neck loosened.
Ban Lan seized the opportunity to jump away, and was about to escape when he was blocked by other disciples of the Iron Sword Sect with their swords.
"Damn it!" Zhang Liang spat, grabbing Ban Lan's chin and pinching her cheek with his iron-like fingers until it stung. He leaned closer, his lips and nose brushing against Ban Lan's smooth cheek, then took a deep breath and said in a sinister tone, "Even your smell is spicy. You little brat, I'm going to have you today!"
Ban Lan's expression darkened further, and suddenly she sprang up and kicked Zhang Liang hard in the groin.
Zhang Liang let out a miserable cry and bent over in pain.
"Damn it! Did you touch my face?!" Ban Lan roared in fury, then reached out and grabbed Zhang Liang's hair, slamming it against a nearby rock.
Ban Lan's moves were completely devoid of any set techniques; they were simply her spontaneous fighting habits. This left the Iron Sword Sect disciples, who were used to martial arts battles, momentarily stunned and unable to react.
Although Zhang Liang was in pain in his lower body, he had practiced martial arts for many years and reacted extremely quickly. He struggled violently, his face barely grazing the large rock. Startled, he hurriedly raised his arm and drew his sword, turning around to stab Ban Lan diagonally.
With a flash of sword light, Ban Lan instinctively stretched out his arm to block, but was forced back several steps by the attacking sword force. The excruciating pain in his forearm was like an explosion, and the spurting blood was scattered by the heavy rain, leaving a light red stain on the ground in an instant.
Ban Lan looked down at the wound and saw that the cut was so deep that the bone was visible.
Ban Lan has always been extremely afraid of pain, but if she really suffers great pain, she can grit her teeth and endure it.
In the torrential rain, Ban Lan's small face grew even paler. Her left hand still clutched Fang Huo's urn tightly, while blood seeped continuously from her injured right arm. Enduring the excruciating pain, she reached behind her and drew the Qingguang Sword.
She was not skilled with a sword, or rather, she didn't know how to use a sword at all.
But for some reason, the moment she held that heavy ancient sword in her hand, she felt a strange sense of peace.
A sudden gust of wind arose, causing the torrential rain to fly obliquely upwards.
Junior Brother Fang? Ban Lan felt the sudden gust of wind, which made the cyan sword in her hand buzz.
"Sigh, at least you used to save the day, but now, that's impossible. Junior brother, are you blaming me?" Ban Lan seemed to have forgotten her current situation, sniffling and pressing her lips tightly together in sadness, as if she was about to burst into tears at any moment.
After recovering, Zhang Liang saw Ban Lan standing there, seemingly talking to herself. He then snorted coldly and ordered his fellow disciples, "Capture that brat, alive!"
The Iron Sword Sect disciples obeyed and stepped forward, surrounding Ban Lan.
Ban Lan looked up at the dark, oppressive sky.
Junior brother, we can't go back to Fish Eye Valley. I wonder if Master ever wonders where we went?
Junior brother, do you think Cen Qiruo will feel sad if she knows I'm dead?
Ban Lan suddenly smiled sadly, flipped his right wrist, and swung his sword towards his own neck.
"Don't let her commit suicide!" Seeing the desperate smile on Ban Lan's lips, Zhang Liang immediately sensed something was wrong. As Ban Lan flipped her wrist and raised her hand, he suddenly threw the scabbard in his hand.
The scabbard struck Ban Lan's injured arm, causing her to lose her balance and the sword grazed her sideways, severing a lock of her hair near her ear.
Upon seeing this, a disciple of the Iron Sword Sect quickly reached out and pressed Banlan's acupoints.
Ban Lan dodged to the side, about to counterattack, when suddenly she heard a strange wind whistling past her ears. Before she could turn around, a dark shadow flashed by, followed by a burst of sword light and a cloud of blood mist. The fierce killing intent forced the Iron Sword Sect disciples to retreat step by step. Several terrified disciples tripped over the corpses of their fellow disciples, forgetting to stand up, and scrambled backward.
The air was thick with the stench of blood, but Ban Lan suddenly caught a familiar scent.
She slowly turned around and saw Cen Ji standing behind her.
She looked at Cen Ji's face with some surprise. She realized that Cen Ji could also show uncontrollable panic, and this panic seemed to have been caused by her.
While surprised, she was also somewhat afraid. She had never seen Cen Ji with bloodshot eyes, nor with murderous intent, nor with clenched teeth, and certainly not with such a loss of control.
She forgot that Cen Ji couldn't see, forgot the ruthlessness of his sudden attack with his sword, forgot how he gripped Hua Ying tightly and chopped the Iron Sword Sect disciples around him into mincemeat, forgot how he continued to frantically stab Zhang Liang's corpse with his sword after pinning him to the ground.
She just stared blankly at Cen Ji's back, and in a daze, she felt that the ruthless killer was both familiar and strange.
She thought she was so scared that she couldn't speak for a long time.
Or perhaps, she was so overwhelmed by his murderous aura that she couldn't utter a sound.
Or perhaps, it was because she was witnessing Cen Ji kill someone for the first time that she forgot to speak, only knowing to watch him as a grim reaper wrapped in human skin, mercilessly slaughtering one life after another that tried to escape.
But whatever the reason, Ban Lan was stunned the moment Cen Ji drew his sword.
Only when the sound of rain lingered across the mountains and fields, only when the figure that had stood frozen for so long amidst the corpses suddenly moved, did Ban Lan seem to come back to her senses and call out—
“Cen Qi”.
Her voice was soft, and it sounded even weaker in the downpour.
But this sound made Cen Ji turn around abruptly and stumble towards the direction where Ban Lan was standing.
He seemed to have all his strength drained away, and even his walking was unsteady.
Ban Lan couldn't help but reach out to help him, but as soon as she touched his hands, he pulled her into his arms tightly.
"I thought you were dead..."
"I'm afraid you'll die..."
"sorry……"
His incoherent words rang in her ears, but she forgot to respond.
She not only forgot to respond, but also seemed to have forgotten how to breathe.
She felt herself being held tightly in Cen Ji's arms, his strong arms so tight that even breathing became difficult.
So she simply stopped breathing.
She thought that if breathing would distance her from him, she would rather not breathe at all.
But things didn't go as planned. After a short while, she couldn't hold on any longer and coughed up.
Cen Ji was startled, then quickly turned her shoulder and touched her face.
Ban Lan took the opportunity to breathe deeply. She glanced at Cen Ji and saw that his eyes were full of tension. She was both touched and puzzled, and asked, "Hey, you... how did you suddenly appear?"
The first thing Ban Lan said to her savior was something that even she found somewhat illogical.
Hearing Ban Lan's still clear voice, Cen Ji gradually calmed down. Although he couldn't see Ban Lan's face clearly, he could still feel the indelible vitality emanating from her.
"I'm asking you, Cen Qi."
Ban Lan knew he was blind, but she still felt a little embarrassed by his gaze.
"I'll follow you," he said calmly.
"Why didn't you jump out earlier if you were following me?"
It's raining.
"Um?"
I can't hear your footsteps.
"So you lost them?"
"Um."
Ban Lan said "Oh" to indicate her understanding, then suddenly asked, "Why are you following me?"
"Worry."
"Worry??"
“It’s getting dark, and you refuse to stay overnight at Kongshanling.”
Ban Lan said "Oh" again.
Cen Ji felt that she would ask more questions, so he said, "Come back with me."
Ban Lan blurted out, "Go back where?"