A life of clearness

Chapter 14: Horse Head Mountain

It was so dark that I couldn't see anything clearly, only the sound of horses' hooves kicking and the creaking of wheels rolling on gravel and grass. Occasionally, there was the snort of horses accompanied by the hot air coming out of their nostrils, shuttling across the empty mountain road.

Old man Chen was terrified. He had walked many night roads before, and there was nothing unusual tonight, but he didn't know why he felt uneasy.

"Master," Old Man Chen said respectfully to the person inside the carriage through the curtain, "We have reached Shili Pavilion. If we go any further, the carriage will have no room to go."

Matou Mountain separates Suicheng and Sizhou. Pavilions were built on the road leading into the mountain for pedestrians to stop and rest, one pavilion every mile.

The Shili Pavilion was built extra large, with several paths leading to the official road. In the past, many people would go out of the city to climb the mountain during the day, so the Shili Pavilion was quite lively. But this year, not many people came, and even the stone tablet in the center of the pavilion was covered with dust. What did Master Guo want to do by coming here so late?
"I didn't see anyone coming to pick you up either." Old Man Chen was puzzled, "Master, did someone trick you? Otherwise, you should go back first and still make it in time for curfew."

This Shili Pavilion was just as Old Man Chen had said, dark and gloomy, without even a lantern, let alone anyone coming to pick them up.

"Who said no one came to pick me up?" There was obvious pride in the old woman's voice.

But this smugness soon turned into silence.

When Old Man Chen saw that there was no movement inside again, he was about to ask again when he caught a light from the corner of his eye.

A faint flame swayed in the pavilion.

It is only the size of a fist, and its core seems to be a snow-white sphere. As the sphere rotates, bright light splashes out.

The appearance of this ball was strange. Logically, Old Man Chen should have run away.

But he did not run away. Instead, he opened his eyes wide, as if he was watching a miracle.

After all, this white flame ball was too dreamy, covering the pavilion with a layer of bright white light, which exceeded the limit of his cognition.

Old man Chen thought that this adventure would be enough for him to brag about when he returned. After traveling all over the country for so many years, who could have seen this before?
He perked up. How about taking a closer look?

Thinking of this, he no longer cared about the three women in the car. Anyway, they seemed to be strangers all the way and were silent without saying a word.

"Heh." A low laugh sounded.

The bright white light gradually illuminated the person coming. The speed was extremely fast... from a blurry figure in the distance to a clearly illuminated face as he approached.

A child of about ten years old? His face was white and clean, his hair was neatly combed, and his clothes looked very expensive.

The boy held his head high, but no matter how much he looked up, he could not make up for the height difference between him and adults.

The expression of surprise had just emerged in Old Man Chen's eyes when it was caught by the boy.

"Are you weird?" The voice that came out of the boy's mouth was still as immature as that of his age.

"No, it's not." Old man Chen's instinct made him wisely choose to shake his head.

But he didn't know that the boy had already anticipated his surprise, just like a net that had been sunk in the water and could be pulled out immediately as soon as the fish approached.

"Isn't it strange? Do you think I'm blind?" The boy said viciously with a gloomy look in his eyes.

"Hey, kid..." You can't be so unreasonable.

Old man Chen's face also fell. He didn't need to argue with the child, but he also didn't have the nerve to praise a child who didn't know where he came from.

He forgot the possibility that this child was the person who picked up the car as Mr. Guo mentioned.

Just such an impatient young boy?

"Hmph." The boy got completely annoyed when he heard Old Man Chen call him kid.

He made a quick gesture with his right hand, and a small knife flew out of the scabbard tied to his waist, with a faint blue-purple fluorescence on the blade.

The boy's soft lips moved up and down, reciting the formula silently.

The knife was not moving fast, but the handle was pointing at Old Man Chen. While he was shouting "Fairy Boy" in surprise at this extraordinary scene, the knife had already hit his chest with incredible precision.

It was light and fluttery, like the caress of a lover. As soon as it made contact, a huge force exploded!
Old man Chen didn't even have time to scream in pain. His chest was hit with a terrible dent. The huge force threw him to the gravel road. The sharp stones pierced his exposed skin with inertia. A large amount of blood flowed from half of his face and the back of his head, slowly seeping into the cracks in the stones and accumulating again.

This sudden heavy blow didn't even give Old Man Chen any room to groan, and it directly took his life, leaving only a pale face and collapsed limbs.

Zhong Xiu covered her mouth with her hands, and her painful gasps were suppressed.

As long as the curtain on the small window was gently opened by the wind, she could look outside with her head against the wall of the car. She looked away, but she couldn't hide the fear that was about to overflow in her eyes.

His right hand unconsciously grasped Rong Qing's arm tightly, and his short nails almost sank into her clothes. Fortunately, Rong Qing was not sensitive to pain at the moment, and she lowered her head silently, in a "standby" state when she did not receive any new instructions.

Zhong Xiu's attention is not on Rong Qing now, otherwise he would notice that the depths of Rong Qing's eyes are brightening up little by little.

A person who accidentally falls into the water cannot resist the process of sinking, but she also struggles hard instinctively and swims upwards. From the dark depths of the water, she tries to get close to and embrace the light on the water surface, until her eyes are filled with the light that breaks through the water...

The man is dead, and the anger has subsided. The boy was about to nod in satisfaction when he raised his hand to catch the flying knife.

But unexpectedly, something unexpected happened!
The horse pulling the cart neighed loudly, raised its front hooves and then dropped them, swinging the saddle ropes wildly. The not-so-heavy carriage was repeatedly pulled by the mad horse.

Zhong Xiu in the car couldn't help but scream, "Help! Someone help!"

The boy's cold and arrogant look that always looked down on others finally changed. No matter how sensitive he was to other people's attitudes towards his young age, he couldn't erase the fact that he was only twelve or thirteen years old. He didn't know at all that he shouldn't let the horse bleed!

A blood-mad horse is much more destructive than a human.

"Beast." The boy cursed inwardly.

The recalled flying sword turned a corner, drawing an arc with blue light.

This time the blade was aimed at the horse's head.

There was a heavy muffled "bang".

The horse fell heavily to the ground, and the entire carriage was overturned uncontrollably.

It was clearly just a knife as long as a hand, but the cut was smooth when it cut the horse's head. Even the bones were cut like tofu!

"What took you so long?" A woman's voice came from a distance, "Junior Brother~"

As soon as he finished speaking, he stood still beside the pavilion.

"Hey, what's going on?" Even though it was dark at night, large patches of blood could still be clearly seen in the area illuminated by the white flame. The blood from the horse's severed head instantly dyed the ground red. The woman curled her lips in disgust, "This is too dirty."

The boy looked unhappy.

"What's wrong? Senior Sister can't say anything to you?" The woman knew her junior brother's temper and teased him on purpose, "Who told Master that he would guarantee to complete the task? Before Senior Sister came, Master was still worried about you."

“Why would Master be worried about me?” the boy muttered, and glanced at the woman cautiously, “Really?”

"How could it be false?" The woman smiled, stroking the mask on her temples. "Master loves you the most. You said you wanted to do this alone. Even though Master was worried about your safety, he still agreed to it."

The boy looked much better, and he was in the mood to ask the woman, "Sister, why are you here?"

"You've been delayed for a long time, so I found an excuse to come out and see how you're doing. Don't worry." The woman blinked, "Master, don't you know I'm here to see you."

"Well, thank you, Senior Sister." The boy bowed respectfully to the woman and raised his head. "I've brought everyone here. The guy from Suicheng," he smiled contemptuously, "didn't notice it either."

"..." The woman stared at the carriage. As a monk, she was very proficient in sensing breath. "Don't kill anyone."

"It's not that easy."

The woman shook her head. "Mortals are as tenacious as weeds, but sometimes they can be very fragile."

(End of this chapter)