When the fat mouse does not show its might, you think it’s just a meatball.
These desperadoes brought an astonishing amount of gunpowder; the ground seemed to have been shaven off a layer.
The fat mouse tried to escape, but the more it struggled, the more the nearby sand and gravel, loosened by the explosions, slid into the pit.
Mo Li: “…”
From the perspective of the sand mouse, it caused a great disturbance. Sand and stones kept being thrown into the air, almost blocking out the sky.
——In fact, the sand and stones never flew higher than the knees of the doctor squatting at the edge of the pit.
Judging by the amount of sand flying, it might take a hundred years to blind someone.
Doctor Mo silently stretched out two fingers, carefully grabbed the sand mouse by the nape, and rescued the dragon vein of Taijing from the pit.
Pulling it out wasn’t the end; it also needed a shake.
It was covered in dirt.
After shaking it off, it still looked a greyish clump, so dirty that its original snowy white fur was almost indistinguishable.
The sand mouse tilted its head to see its current state and even despised itself, then smoothly climbed up Mo Li’s arm to his shoulder, and settled down there obediently.
Mo Li continued to search through the clothes Meng Qi had dropped.
The clothes were torn and damaged from the ordeal, and even the parts that were intact were soiled by the sand and dirt. These clothes were not valuable; what mattered was the sword Meng Qi carried with him.
This flexible sword, named Zhongqing, had been buried in the mud at the bottom of Qing River for many years and now it didn’t really find its worthy master.
It was often discarded, just thrown away, along with the clothes.
Zhongqing couldn’t crawl out by itself at the sound of noises, nor could it dig holes to hide, so it was relatively easy to find.
Mo Li wiped the sand off this flexible sword, and by then the smoke had gradually dissipated, revealing the grim scene nearby.
Nearly twenty black-clad assassins, along with the fifty or so followers of the Holy Lotus Sect brought by Leader Liang earlier, were all affected by the explosion. The ground was littered with chunks of corpses and remnants, mixed with blood-stained sand, piled up in large heaps.
They were dead, because at that moment they couldn’t move.
The followers of the Holy Lotus Sect had their acupoints pressed, and among the black-clad assassins there might have been those who didn’t wish to die, but they were knocked down and immobilized, carrying a large amount of Thunderclap Hall’s explosives on them. As soon as one person ignited the fuse, the rest could not escape.
Mo Li looked around, his expression vacant.
How many times had he witnessed such horrific scenes?
The post-earthquake fire in Qiuling County, the exposed skeletons in the mines of Silang Mountain, the desolate stretch of bones uncovered across miles of Yongzhou’s red land…
Although Mo Li possessed supreme martial prowess, he had never actually committed a massacre, nor had he intended to kill everyone here. The disaster had struck unexpectedly, and people who were alive moments ago had suddenly turned into piles of broken pieces.
There was no bloody mess; the bodies were all covered in sand, like the stone sculptures and figurines buried in tombs.
He instinctively stepped in, looking for possible survivors.
Turning over one body might reveal another person’s fragmented remains underneath, or even just half a head.
Leader Liang lay on the ground; his body looked relatively intact at first glance, but upon turning him over, his entire chest was pierced by shattered stones, his flesh a bloody mess.
Mo Li found nothing, his forehead throbbing with pain.
Earlier, when Meng Qi had escaped, he had grabbed Young Master Qiu, pulling him out of the blast radius. If there had been more gunpowder this time, and the blast radius had been wider, Meng Qi might not have escaped unscathed. This was the first time that the principles Mo Li adhered to clashed with his deepest wishes.
Shouldn’t he save people?
No, if it were Mo Li himself, he would have made the same choice.
He could blame Meng Qi for not being careful enough during their previous clash with Leader Liang, but now, this act of casually saving people relying on his superior martial skills, Mo Li couldn’t really fault him. However, the thought of Meng Qi possibly being covered in wounds from trying to save someone during the escape, or even ending up as one of the bodies buried under the sand, unsettled Mo Li deeply.
Inadvertently forgetting the path due to personal feelings.
Is this what human selfishness is like?
Ignoring right or wrong, hard to control.
Suddenly, a warmth spread around Mo Li’s neck, followed by a tickling sensation.
Mo Li instinctively placed his hand on the fat mouse, then steadied himself and whispered, “I’m fine.”
The sand mouse was not yet as big as a palm; it took the opportunity to nudge Mo Li’s palm with its head, signaling for Doctor Mo to leave quickly.
The commotion here was too great, and even though it was a secluded area, it wouldn’t be long before villagers or constables came to investigate.
Mo Li did not grasp this meaning; he murmured, “Were those assassins from the Holy Lotus Sect?”
The sand mouse nodded vigorously.
“Leader Liang doesn’t know about these people…”
Mo Li talked to himself. The Holy Lotus Sect had two factions in Yuzhou; openly, there were people like Leader Liang, and then there were others who led a group of desperadoes in hiding. These desperadoes were not meant to deal with Meng Qi and Mo Li; after all, one wouldn’t expect two dragon veins ready to overturn the Yuzhou branch in advance.
It seemed more like they were secretly supervising the branch of the Holy Lotus Sect to prevent any betrayal.
The power behind the Holy Lotus Sect was becoming increasingly intricate.
What exactly was the background of the southwestern Tianshou King, and was the Holy Lotus Sect truly a weapon he had cultivated himself? Or perhaps, was the Tianshou King himself a pawn?
Mo Li turned back to look for Young Master Qiu.
He did not have the profound internal strength like Mo Li, not only was he injured by debris, but he also suffered severe internal injuries from the impact. Mo Li infused him with a stream of internal energy to clear his meridians and dissolve the bruises, and then he rummaged through the thoroughly shattered carriage for luggage.
The sand mouse leaped into the luggage.
In a moment, it dragged out a pair of underwear and ran out with it.
This was shorter and lighter, easier to drag.
While Mo Li was treating Young Master Qiu with acupuncture needles, Meng Qi quickly dressed himself.
“Doctor.”
“Hmm?”
“Our horse have run off without a trace.”
Although Meng Qi had given a push, the carriage was still caught in the blast’s aftershock, the entire compartment shattered into pieces, with the broken shafts being dragged across the ground by the old horse, creating two deep tracks extending forward.
The good news was it could be followed; the bad news was that others could follow the tracks as well.
“Doctor, let’s just give up on the horse!” Meng Qi seriously suggested.
“…”
Mo Li put away the acupuncture needles and slapped Young Master Qiu on the back.
Young Master Qiu violently coughed up several mouthfuls of blood and gradually came to his senses.
“Cough, cough, what happened?” Young Master Qiu’s vision darkened, and his ears rang. He lacked the deep internal strength; the recent explosion had stunned him, leaving him temporarily deaf.
Young Master Qiu panicked and tried to get up, only to be met with a horrific scene that left him dumbfounded.
He knew the Holy Lotus Sect was trouble, but he hadn’t expected it to be this much trouble!
In his haste, he coughed incessantly.
“You’ve been seriously injured; I’ve cleared some of the blood clots for you. You must not use your internal energy for thirty days; here is the medicine.” Mo Li pulled out a small porcelain bottle from his medicine pouch, containing emergency medicine for internal injuries, similar to what is commonly known in the martial arts world as “small rejuvenation pills.”
Mo Li tossed the bottle to Young Master Qiu.
“Take one every three days, continue until they are all gone. We cannot stay here any longer.”
As they spoke, Meng Qi had already gathered all the luggage from the wreckage of the carriage.
All of the doctor’s books were packed, while the dry food was set aside; carrying too much would hinder their travel.
When Young Master Qiu, still dizzy, stood up, Meng Qi had already signaled Mo Li to leave.
Mo Li noticed Young Master Qiu catching the bottle with an anxious and gesturing face, and only then did he realize, but the situation did not allow for a thorough check; he could only shoulder the medicine pouch and prepare to take Young Master Qiu with him.
“The doctor will carry the books, I’ll take care of the rest.” Meng Qi took over assisting Young Master Qiu.
With their level of martial skills, carrying one person while using lightness skills was not difficult.
“Let’s go!”
In an instant, they had left the flattened hillside behind.
Meng Qi spoke of abandoning the horses, but in reality, he ran ahead, choosing a direction that matched the tracks on the ground.
“Who’s looking for a horse? This is the direction to the official road!” Meng Qi stated confidently.
The official road, also known as the post road, is where couriers and minor officials from various stations ride horses to deliver messages and documents. They had no time to erase the hoofprints; the only choice was to take the official road, where hiding in the woods or pouring a bowl of water into a barrel is safer.
Coincidentally, the frightened horse had also run in this direction.
“Tch, it’s lucky,” Meng Qi stubbornly maintained his disdain for that horse.
After a short pursuit, Meng Qi indeed spotted the old horse, standing and panting while pawing at the ground.
“I told you not to worry, this horse isn’t capable of much, it couldn’t have gone far,” Meng Qi said with disdain.
Faced with the stubborn yet softhearted fat mouse, Mo Li didn’t know how to respond and chose to remain silent.
When they reached the horse, it turned out that the remnants of the shaft it was dragging had caught in a hole and were obstructed by stones, preventing the horse from moving forward and forcing it to stop, panting heavily and pawing the ground.
“Neigh!”
The old horse didn’t calm down upon seeing Mo Li; instead, it shook its head and kept neighing loudly.
“It’s terrified,” Mo Li sighed while stroking the horse’s mane.
Meng Qi set down Young Master Qiu and coolly observed the horse.
—Why didn’t Doctor Mo say the sand mouse was terrified? He hardly even touched it.
With Mo Li’s soothing, the horse gradually calmed down. Mo Li removed the remnants of the shaft hanging on the horse and handed the horse over to Young Master Qiu.
Young Master Qiu was still confused, dizzy and unable to discern directions, and still couldn’t hear anything.
Meng Qi lifted Young Master Qiu onto the horse.
“This way!” Meng Qi discerned the direction and continued towards the official road.
After a short while, Mo Li suddenly looked up at the woods beside the road.
Someone was lying in ambush.
Instantly, Mo Li’s form sank slightly; the moment he touched the ground, his right foot kicked up, sending several stones flying.
With a flick of his hand, the stones’ trajectories changed, shooting towards the woods.
At the same moment, Meng Qi lifted his unencumbered left hand, drawing a semi-circle in the air.
His internal energy burst forth, causing the leaves to whirl violently.
“Click, click, click.”
A series of rapid mechanical sounds indicated that the ground and nearby tree trunks were rigged with ropes—clearly, traps had been set in advance.
Some ropes triggered spinning blades, while others released large nets.
Unfortunately, these traps were all in vain, as Meng Qi used his internal energy to sweep the ground ahead, prematurely triggering the mechanisms.
Meng Qi’s feet didn’t stop as he rushed forward.
Mo Li followed closely behind, holding the horse’s reins in one hand while reaching for his waist with the other.
Young Master Qiu clung to the horse’s neck, looking ahead in panic at the traps scattered about, exclaiming, “We can’t go this way, the horse won’t make it.”
—This was, after all, an old horse!
Meng Qi timely reached back, and Mo Li accurately tossed the flexible sword to him.
A purple sword light swept diagonally, its force shearing through dozens of trees. The nets and ropes hanging from the branches were also flipped over.
Young Master Qiu looked up to see the slowly falling tree trunks, his eyes nearly popping out.
They were about to be crushed!
At that moment, Mo Li drew the knife from his sleeve and in an instant slashed seven times, carving the entire tree trunk into roughly the same shape and sending it into a hole that had appeared in the ground.
The horse’s hooves steadily stepped on the trunk, quickly crossing the trapped area.
It was only then that figures emerged from the woods, drawn out by the stones Mo Li had previously thrown.
They whistled sharply, followed by the familiar sound of mechanical springs.
“Crossbows.”
Meng Qi snorted coldly, spinning around to switch places with Mo Li, protecting Mo Li and the others behind him.
With his sword raised, his stance as firm as a mountain, the flurry of arrows fell helplessly to the ground.
Meng Qi didn’t stop moving; he faced a second volley of arrows with another sword technique.
The sword energy was vast and powerful, like a rising dragon, charging directly at the source of the crossbow bolts.
“Boom.”
Trees fell, crushing everyone who hadn’t managed to escape.
Meng Qi stood on the fallen tree trunk, looking down disdainfully: “Hiding and exposing tails, is this all the Holy Lotus Sect is capable of?”
Author’s Note:
Time and again, these ambushes calculate against us. The fat mouse is angry, and when the fat mouse doesn’t show its might, do you think it’s just a meatball?
——————
The fat mouse stands on a treetop, holding a sword, chest out, head high: “Hah! Forcing me to dig pits! Behold my sword!”
