Chapter 1608: Chapter 64: The Only One_2

Zhan Jingquan, who had mastered the divine skill, was unstoppable. Not only could he break through the Five Elements Spiritual Power, but even combined attacks of transcending the mundane couldn’t touch him.

Such a martial artist, even if placed in the city of Yan Fu, would be considered a master, let alone in a small place like Danmu Town.

The so-called prominent families of the coastal fishing village were either ordinary martial artists content with mediocrity or just gentry shadowed by their ancestors. Against such people, other than using some strategies, what else can one do?

Zhen Ping’er sighed lightly, “Perhaps this is my fate.”

As if she had already accepted everyone’s arrangements, Zhen Ping’er’s gaze was calm as she gently took Dongmei’s small hand and said, “But since the eldest son of the Zhan Clan is cruel, I don’t want you to get involved as well. Taking advantage of the night, I will have the guards take you away through the secret passage.”

“No, my lady, Dongmei won’t leave!”

The maid, Dongmei, tightly held Zhen Ping’er’s hand, her eyes misty with tears: “If we are to leave, let’s leave together.”

“Silly girl.”

Zhen Ping’er gently patted the maid’s head, “I cannot leave.”

“Why can’t you?”

The desperately crying Dongmei for the first time retorted, “My lady, let’s escape together through the secret passage, set sail overnight. By the time Zhan Jingquan reacts, we will have already reached somewhere else!”

Listening to her maid’s childish words, Zhen Ping’er smiled and shook her head, then she sat down with her on the steps of the hall, looking through the wide-open door at the starlight sprinkled over the courtyard’s ground, and spoke some words that were not meant for outsiders.

“In a woman’s life, we always live for others. Tending to our husbands, teaching our children, supporting our parents. If one day the universe were reversed, and a woman could be like a man, how wonderful that would be.”

“Although my lady is a woman, she is in no way inferior to a man. In contrast, those masters of the Zhen Clan are just men by birth, utterly useless; normal operations are maintained by my lady while they just enjoy themselves. Now that Zhan Jingquan’s wedding invitation has arrived, they are even playing deaf and mute. Such family members, such family members…”

Even though Dongmei was irritated at heart with these cowardly men of the Zhen Clan, she couldn’t speak ill of them fiercely, and in the end, she could only shake Zhen Ping’er’s arm desolately, pleading, “My lady, please leave with Dongmei.”

Zhen Ping’er did not respond, just staring vacantly at the crescent moon in the sky, softly sighing, “The moon tonight, it’s so beautiful.”

“Is my lady waiting for that person?”

Dongmei, in haste, said: “That’s just a scoundrel who deceives women; in Danmu Town, who knows how many girls he has broken hearts…”

“You don’t understand him.”

Zhen Ping’er smiled like a rat that found its way into a rice bin: “In this world, only I understand him.”

“My lady understands him, but does he understand my lady?”

The maid, exasperated but devoted, wished she could open the mind of this master she respected and loved, to see what kind of spell had been cast within: “Even if he comes back, what’s the use? In a few days, elder brother Zhan will come to take a bride, and bringing him back will just add one more soul under the knife!”

Gently stroking the maid’s back, Zhen Ping’er smiled softly.

…

Zhen Mansion’s side courtyard

Ever since meeting old Xu Ying, Kaba felt he had struck great fortune, first encountering the love of his life.

Although he later lost an arm while escorting a merchant convoy, his wife stood by him without leaving his side, and he was fortunate enough to acquire a family heirloom technique.

Even the always troubling matter of finances was sorted out thanks to the Zhen family’s dowry, with just protecting the mansion earning him eight hundred gold a month, three new sets of clothes for winter and summer, and even food and accommodation costs waived, making Kaba feel like he had met a goddess.

Free from worries, the dark-skinned young man devoted himself to his practice. But the reverse grip sword technique given by old brother Ying was truly profound.

The Four Directions Sword Step and the seven basic moves might seem few, but combined with various breathing methods and meridian bursts, they conjured effects as numerous as the stars.

Day by day, Kaba felt he was progressing, and the easy job of guarding allowed him to focus more, until one day his wife came to him, looking panicked.

“The head of the house, something bad has happened!”

The woman rushed into the remote area, anxiously saying to her husband who was practicing: “Something big has happened outside, and here you are still practicing!”

Facing his frantic wife, Kaba remained undisturbed. Ever since South Mountain Stream, he had kept old Xu Ying’s identity as his deepest secret.

Moreover, he had acquired a transcendent aura; after all, Uncle Kaba had witnessed the leader of the Overturning Sky Thieves being beheaded, and trained personally by Xu Clan’s swordsman. In such a small place like Danmu Town, what big incident could possibly catch Uncle Kaba’s serious attention?

After methodically completing the final move, Kaba put down the short sword, took the vegetable basket from his wife’s hands to one side, then turned and took a towel from the stone post to wipe his face. Once the sweat was wiped clean, he leisurely asked, “What is so alarming?”

The woman gave him a sidelong glance, silently barged into the house, followed by the sound of rummaging through boxes and cabinets.

“Hey, hey, hey?”

Kaba panicked, quickly chased in and asked, “What are you doing?”

“Packing up, leaving Zhen Mansion!”

The woman efficiently rolled the bedding into a long cylinder, wrapping it around a sandalwood pillow and a wool felt, ready to move.

“How can you, woman, be so thoughtless? Just had a few days of peace and now stirring up trouble?”

Kaba stepped forward, held down the bedding, and scolded the woman.

“Peaceful days, yet Zhen Ping’er wants you dead!”

The woman, unable to move the bedding, shouted at Kaba, “Now I understand why she hired you as a guard; she wants you to fight to the death.”

“Hmm?”

Kaba frowned, sensing that things were complicated, and asked, “What exactly happened outside?”

“You don’t worry about it, today we’re going to find the steward and resign from guarding the mansion, then leave here, okay?”

The woman pleaded with the man.

“We should at least clarify things before leaving!”

Sighing, Kaba wiped the tears from the woman’s face with the back of his hand, saying, “Lady Zhen not only saved my life but also hired me, a disabled person, as a guard without holding past grudges. If Zhen Mansion is truly in danger and we just leave, wouldn’t that make us ungrateful and despicable?”

“But we can’t just throw our lives away.”

The lady, wiping her tears, said, “Zhan Jingquan has mastered a peerless divine skill, no one in Danmu Town can match him, and now he wants to forcibly take a lady as his concubine. The masters of Zhen Clan will definitely not agree, and when the time comes, they will surely have the mansion’s guards fight to the death. But now all the top fighters in Danmu Town are Zhan’s retainers; Zhen Mansion can’t stand against them!”

“Ha ha ha, ha ha ha ha.”

Hearing the woman’s words, Kaba burst into laughter, so much that the woman didn’t understand and finally asked with a belly laugh, “Where did you hear all this from?”

“The guards in the canteen were talking, I… I heard it from them.”

Hugging the sobbing woman into his arms, Kaba kissed her flat nose like a garlic bulb and said, “If there’s any peerless divine skill in Danmu Town, it’d be the one your man is practicing now!”

“But they all say…”

The woman, ignorant about martial arts, could still sense the fear in the words of those guards. Such powerful warriors were afraid, not to mention her husband who lost an arm.

“There now, don’t worry, if the sky collapses, the tall ones will hold it up, and your man is just a side-yard guard, he won’t be called to fight to the death.”

Kaba carelessly comforted his wife for a bit, rubbing his stomach and saying, “Eat, eat, after practicing all day, Kaba is starving!”

Comforted and distracted by her husband, the woman’s worries faded considerably. Thinking more about it, it also made sense that with so many masters and renowned guards in Zhen Clan, they wouldn’t easily ask her husband to risk his life.

Love begets chaos; she was overthinking it.

Upon further reflection, if Lady Zhen really became subordinate to Zhan Jingquan, then Zhen Mansion would merge into Zhan Mansion given the current influence of the Zhan family.

Their status would surely rise with the tide. Thinking this way, the woman no longer wanted to leave.

The couple, envisioning the future, ate heartily. For a couple who had struggled through tough times, the food served in Zhen Mansion’s kitchen was a delicacy.

After a day of hard work and emotional ups and downs, the woman went to bed early, while Kaba alone walked outside to the courtyard and gripped the short sword tightly.

‘Before the foundation is solid, don’t practice sword techniques, but it seems there’s no time left now.’

In the moonlit night, the dark young man practiced his sword techniques holding the high-carbon steel short sword, taking the Four Directions Sword Step that advances without retreat, wielding the sword single-handedly, slashing through six feet of space.

Sword technique–Abandoning Life.