Jiang Ye Chapter 55

Seeing those ordinarily peerless underlings being smacked flying easily by that middle-aged man’s sleeve, and seeing the opposing side coming closer and closer, South City’s Lord Meng, Jun Jie and Uncle Cat – these unreserved of the Night Scene, distinguished and admired ruthless figures of South City and West City; their bodies began to slightly tremble, and had no way of suppressing the birth of the strong desire to retreat.

However, thinking of the true n.o.ble that stood behind them, and thinking that those two in government were truly strong, they clenched their teeth, and emitting their most severely fierce roar, “Everyone charge together and surround him to death! Throw the axes!”

The severe roar reverberated throughout the streets and alleys of the Spring Wind Pavilion. Quite strangely, after hearing the words ‘surround him to death’, it drummed up the remaining braves of those gang mobs carrying blades, roaring as they charged in front using the fastest speed to disperse. Using their lives to keep away from Chao XiaoShu’s and Ning Que’s sides, the crowd in front spread out, revealing two rows of strong men —— those men were wearing coa.r.s.e cloth belts tied to their waists, and on each cloth belt carried four small axes. In their hands they already had two small axes, ready to throw them!

Great Tang’s folk customs promoted warrior spirit, from the Imperial Court to the rural areas flowed with a swift and brave atmosphere. Thus the capital ChangAn didn’t prohibit carrying swords, even for weapons of the plain cla.s.s. As long as you didn’t draw it in the middle of a busy area and carelessly swing it, the government wouldn’t mind you. However for bows and arrows, supervision was comparatively stricter for this kind of long-ranged weapon, especially the enormously powerful crossbow that was even strictly prohibited among commonfolk. In this kind of situation, tens of flying axes splitting the air became the most terrifying method!

In the night rain, melee had arrived. For the first time, Chao XiaoShu’s calm expression changed. He saw two rows of flying handaxes from a distant wall, and with a fearless expression without even alertness and only slightly frowning, seemingly only feeling that it was a bit troublesome, he shook his head and said a sentence, “You know what you should do.”

These words were naturally said to Ning Que, but Ning Que….. didn’t know what he should do at this moment. If the opposing side’s flying axes came flying like the rain, he was confident he himself could flee, but at the same time he believed that Chao XiaoShu would either be killed or before defeating everyone, wouldn’t choose to leave. Just in this instant, he saw Chao XiaoShu’s back, and suddenly he thought of the battlefield at North Mountain crossing. Thinking of the words Old Lu QingChen said, his eyes flashed with a bit of a different expression.

As though he heard the sound of shock in his mind, Chao XiaoShu brought that single, weak blue steel sword in his hand humming over at an extremely high speed, rapidly vibrating, making the rainwater and b.l.o.o.d.y water on the body of the sword shake into bits. Then yelling out and disappearing, he flew towards those two rows of flying hand axes!

It truly was a fast and swift sword like a gray blurry flowing image – with the sword’s slight essence, subtle and small, the sword tip went towards those chaotically scrambling raindrops suspended in the night sky like beads of spring dreams and pierced them apart. It pierced the outermost layer of the rain beads, thoroughly piercing their hearts, and again pierced through, the outmost layer of skin, and again piercing through flesh and bone, and again piercing through. The fingers firmly holding onto the axe handles were like lotus root sections, piece by piece falling down, and after breaking open it then began to spray blood!

In front of the alley between the walls, only the *pi pi pa pa* sound could be heard of the straight sword’s tip piercing through raindrops, and the *zeng zeng zeng zeng* sound of severing fingers. It was ultimately uncountable how many fingers firmly holding onto axe handles followed the raindrops together sprinkling down. Then the heavy hand axes each followed, falling to the ground and smashing onto the ground full of rainwater with a m.u.f.fled sound, at last before hearing the sound of countless wretched howls!

Two of them with the fastest reactions with the fastest axe hands, when Spring Wind Pavilion’s Old Chao raised his sword at first, they already threw out the axes in their hands. Then instantaneously like a flash of lightning or an ember, that streak of gray blur of a sword image easily swept past their wrists. Just seeing a whirlwind of blood, they unexpectedly threw out the axes and their hands at the same time, then drew out wretched lines of blood, ghastly falling not too far on the floor – the scene was exceptionally b.l.o.o.d.y!

The Spring Wind Pavilion under the night rain was in dead silence. Chao XiaoShu stood amidst the rain, watching the mob of several hundreds of ChangAn City’s gangs in the four directions, watching his own flying sword appearing and disappearing triggering waves of miserable howls, with his whole face calm and unmoved.

South City’s Lord Meng’s face was pale, trembling as he pointed at Chao XiaoShu outside the pavilion, and deranged like an insane woman he shouted, “Chao XiaoShu! ….Chao XiaoShu! Chao XiaoShu how can you be…… a cultivator! You….. how can you be a Great Sword Master!”    ……    ……

“What kind of person do you need at your side?”

“Fast enough, ruthless enough, brave enough. When he kills people he doesn’t blink, and can’t let anything fall onto my body.”

Ning Que stared at Chao XiaoShu’s back in front of him, seeing those two hands dangling outside of the blue shirt sleeves slightly trembling, his body couldn’t help but to feel a bit stiff. That thin sword drew a soundless and stirless gray shadow finally proved his guess, and he finally understood the words from inside the shop before.

Amidst that battle at North Mountain Crossing, that Great Sword Master who had been expelled from the Academy had a warrior servant close to his side. After Lu QingChen used a scheme to entice him to kill that Great Sword Master, he waited for the first moment to kill that servant. It was exactly because that Sword Master studied this kind of cultivation that when in battle, he most feared being killed by people getting close – just like this moment when Spring Wind Pavilion’s Old Chao finally showed his true strength.

At the moment Chao XiaoShu’s psychic powers were completely tied up in that blurry unpredictable flying sword above. Seemingly otherworldly powerful, but without a sword in hand, he already lost all of his defensive ability. If someone of the opposing side could break through that flying sword, and quietly without sound sneak up near him, he would fall into utmost danger.

Surely Chao XiaoShu in past years had fierce fights, and at his side definitely had those rumored to be fierce brothers as bodyguards. But tonight his brothers had all been locked down by the officials in government in their camps, so he needed to find someone, someone he could trust, as well as powerful enough that he could protect his body at close range.

So in the pitter-patter of the spring rain he went to 47th Street, went into that calligraphy shop called the Old Brush House, stood outside on the ground of that dripping wet door sill, looking at that youngster in the middle groaning a sigh and eating noodles, and with a slight smile said:

“I want to go kill people.”

“I need a person at my side.”

Chao XiaoShu only knew what kind work Ning Que had done in the past, but didn’t know what kind of person he was, but like this it seemed that he voluntarily entrusted his safety and even his life to him – without a doubt this was a gamble.

This gamble, or perhaps to say trusting someone, made Ning Que feel a bit heavy on his shoulders. He took a deep breath, his right hand like a tiger’s mouth slightly tightened. Tightly grasping that blade handle on his back angled towards the sky, he slowly pulled out that plain blade that shone like snow without any scratches.    ……    ……

Rainwater fell to the floor, ordinarily gathering dust it quickly stained, gradually collecting into a stream towards the street’s sidewalk gutter, then quickly emitting a stench from this year’s filthy dirt. It was precisely the environment that ChangAn City’s rats loved most. Rats that always had ulcers in their fur used their two filthy black claws on human fingers that had been chopped off, excitedly without stopping they gnawed, occasionally resting to lick the blood off their fur. Up above that human melee on the horizon did not matter to them, they only hoped that the blurry shadow could cut off even more fingers, hoping that the rain water could rush those fingers right in front of them. A blessing from Lord Clear Sky, the family big and small these days will depend on your bestowments.

With a clapping sound, a lump of something whizzed smashing over – smashing just in front of this rat’s front, splashing the flooded filthy water and blood on the ground. Did Lord Clear Sky feel that I was too greedy and so wanted to smash me to death? The rat was very much shocked and quickly ran away, nearly digging into the rat hole underneath the courtyard wall under its feet, a bit unwillingly turning to glance at a finger nearly gnawed to bones, but firmly decided to flip its tail and drill inside. If it looked twice, and discovered that the lump that splashed filthy water and blood was a human’s head, it would’ve definitely regretted its decision.

The rat drilled out of its rat hole, and had no way of regretting, as it was stomped into meat paste by a solid Tang Army’s military boot in an instant, not knowing if its regret was that it hadn’t told its kind that human flesh had such wonderful flavor.

An elite of the Tang Army private soldiers slowly pulled back his foot wearing military boots. Glancing at the mouse changed into indistinct b.l.o.o.d.y flesh by his foot, and hearing a voice outside the courtyard walls, he slowly walked and returned to formation, using hand signals to a colleague gesturing the situation of the battle outside, then bowing and glancing at the crossbow in his hands, verifying that the rainwater hadn’t caused problems with the machine’s spring.

Several dozens of Tang military elites wearing dark rain cloaks silently and quietly stood at the rear of the courtyard wall, their hands holding crossbow arrows. Outside the wall of that shabby Spring Wind Pavilion all around now the sounds of killing shook the heavens, but there weren’t any people that discovered their presence. The silence of these officers resembled a group of stone carvings – regardless if it was wind and rain or fighting in close quarters it was all incapable of making their facial expressions have the slightest change.

Behind these elite Tang troops, inside of a house locked by layer upon layer of rainwater, sat two people on wooden floorboards. One person was a middle-aged person with smart brows and eyes, his whole body was covered in a star-white robe and beside his body  was a calmly placed, somewhat small sword on top of the wooden floor. Another person wore a bamboo rain hat and his countenance couldn’t be seen, but from the monk robes he was wearing, and the wide, large, and filthy pair of bare feet and the copper alms bowl in front of him under the rim of his hat, he must be an ascetic monk.

That long robed swordsman slightly frowned looking at the rain curtain in front of his eyes like threads of silk. He softly said, “Unexpectedly it is a Sword Master, no wonder the two of us were needed.”

The Ascetic Monk lowered his head without speaking, he faintly heard the sound of a flying sword splitting the air hacking coming from outside the wall. He stared at the copper alms bowl below the wooden stairs, watching the rainwater in the copper alms bowl’s interior disturbed by newly incoming raindrops disturbing it to no peace. Gradually he felt that his own Sea of Qi also became somewhat disturbed. Then he lowered his head even more, his finger even more slowly but firmly kneaded the ironwood prayer beads from between his wrists.

This estate was Chao Mansion, Spring Wind Pavilion Old Chao’s mansion. This wooden open building was a small building for listening to the rain – Spring Wind Pavilion’s Old Chao, when he was idle with nothing to do would occasionally come to this little building pretending to be scholar and listen to the rain. These elite Tang troops and these two strong ones were waiting for him to return.

On another side of Chao’s mansion, outside the courtyard wall, the spring rain pattered at the opening of the lane where two carriages stopped. In front of the carriage, a n.o.ble young horse somewhat couldn’t tolerate the spring rain drenching it – from time to time wanting to nose blow its nose but was unable to utter a sound, wanting to kick its two hooves forward but didn’t dare to move, and the carriage sunk into a deep deathly silence. Inside the other carriage however from time to time came the sound of low, deep coughs.

There wasn’t anyone that knew who was inside these two carriages, but if Chao XiaoShu now could see the fatty standing beside the carriage, they could certainly guess that the people inside the carriage weren’t ordinary people. That person that looked like a common middle-aged fatty wasn’t famous in ChangAn City. On his body there wasn’t any official rank identification, however when very many government officials saw that him they would all sing a charming tune, because very many people all knew, when His majesty the Prince had to manage some inconvenient affairs, all were carried out and handled by him.

However a person like this, compared to the Prime Minister’s housekeeper was an even more awesome figure. Even if drenched all over by ice-cold spring rain, he also didn’t dare to sit and enter the carriage to avoid the rain, rather slightly bending his back openly standing near the carriage, his att.i.tude especially humble.