Food Fairy Lord

Chapter 834 Martial Arts Snow Lotus (Part 4)

The Cloud-Piercing Whistle that Elder Hu had promised did not sound.

Lu Yuque did indeed harbor some faint hopes. For example, Elder Hu was indeed strong enough, and the disciples of Lushan had indeed gathered quickly enough. For example, that man in white also had his concerns, and might temporarily retreat in the face of Lushan's takeover.

She would rather face the encirclement of hundreds of disciples at the foot of Mount Lu than confront the white-clad figure in her nightmare.

She ran for only a short while before her accumulated inner energy was exhausted. She stumbled and knocked over several reeds, but she did not stop and continued running forward.

The shores of Dayue Lake were eerily silent, save for the rustling of the wind through the grass and the splashing of water birds and fish. She longed to hear shouts of battle, even the agonizing screams of Elder Hu. But there was no sound of human voice; it was as if everything that had just happened was merely a dream.

They are dead.

Lu Yuque realized this.

Even though they had only just parted, the figure in white had already taken their heads. Just like his father that night, Elder Hu neither engaged in any so-called "maneuvering" nor could he utter his Cloud-Piercing Whistle.

However, because he was no longer under their protection, he was able to temporarily keep his head on his neck.

Did I cause their harm? Lu Yuque couldn't help but wonder in his daze.

If he hadn't encountered me, Elder Hu probably wouldn't have died... However, Lushan had already entered the scene before the villa vanished.

For the first time, Lu Yuque personally experienced a kind of cruelty. The word "jianghu" changed in her mind. There was no need to keep saying that you died suddenly and unjustly, and I might not live to see the next breath.

She bit her lip hard, trying her best to recall the time.

The fact that Elder Hu did not whistle a quarter of an hour ago means that he encountered the man in white at that time or even earlier.

But no earlier than a quarter of an hour. Because by then, Li Li and she wouldn't have gone far, and the woman in white would be able to catch up with them immediately.

So how much time did she have left? Her mind was a complete mess, and she couldn't figure it out.

She just kept running, holding Wu Jing tightly in her arms.

She neither wanted her enemy to obtain it nor was she willing to hand it over to Lushan. She thought that if she were to die, she would rather die with it.

Lu Yuque tightened the cord around his body again, panting, trying his best to conceal his figure, and running forward with all his might.

Several whistles sounded in the distance, indicating that the disciples of Mount Lu had arrived.

She knew that whistles were commonly used to communicate on Mount Lu, but she didn't remember what each whistle meant. After this whistle was sounded, soon after, the same whistles sounded from both the east and west sides.

But they did not receive a response from Elder Hu.

At this moment, Lu Yuque felt a glimmer of hope, because she had come up with another idea.

She ran desperately toward the direction of the whistle.

Hundreds of disciples from Mount Lu were gathering around the lake. Of course, she couldn't let them catch her, but if she encountered a lone one, perhaps she could change into his clothes.

She slipped through the chaotic encirclement before the person in white recognized her.

Then if you can get a horse, go, go...

Where to go? Lu Yuque was stunned.

In reality, she didn't know where she should go. Time didn't allow her to rethink things. She was absolutely unwilling to hand over this martial arts manual to Lushan. But after crossing Lushan off, the next option didn't naturally emerge.

As Lu Yuque ran, a sudden, burning pain shot through her calf. The next moment, the world spun around her, and she fell heavily into the reeds.

At first glance, she thought her lower leg had been severed, but the next moment she saw that it was just a piece of hardwood covered with sharp thorns.

Hidden so well, perfectly buried by fallen leaves and reeds, it was nature's malice inflicted upon any creature that could run.

Physiological tears instantly filled her eyes, and the pain made her whole body tremble. The fracture had caused half of her body to lose sensation.

In an instant, she almost laughed through her tears—she never expected that, before being found by Lushan Mountain or caught by the white-clad man, she would stumble on a piece of wood.

Indeed, her vital energy was depleted, and she was in a daze... She couldn't even remember the last time she had fallen.

Lu Yuque gritted her teeth, cold sweat pouring down her face, and tried to move the leg. Blood soaked her trouser leg, and within a moment she knew it couldn't move.

At that moment, another whistle sounded from the north, noticeably closer to her, followed by a response from the east, and then, a sharp whistle that abruptly stopped sounded from the west.

Lu Yuque gripped the sword with a start.

The vast and boundless Dayue Lake.

There was a moment of silence in the north and east, then the cloud whistle sounded again, but after several breaths, there was no response from the west.

died.

Lu Yuque felt a chill run through his body.

In an instant, she understood why she had been able to run so far.

This was because when that figure in white entered the lakeside, the disciples of Mount Lu were also arriving one after another.

The man's senses were indeed ghostly and almost demonic, but after killing Elder Hu, he faced nearly a hundred rustling sounds from all around the lake.

Lu Yuque's heart was pounding.

He was erasing them all because they were disturbing him.

The disciples of Mount Lu in the north seemed unwilling to give up, and sent out another cloud whistle, heading west, while the east responded simultaneously.

The two whistles exchanged signals every five breaths, but after only three rounds, there was no further echo from the north.

The white-clad figure resembled a silent ghost.

The sound ceased from the east, and after a dozen breaths, all was silent. Lu Yuque didn't know if they dared not fire again, or if they too had been beheaded.

Each group of disciples, ranging from a dozen to twenty or thirty people, was silently wiped out without making the slightest sound.

Lu Yuque had not yet seen any of them, and his plan to exchange clothes and steal horses seemed like a pipe dream.

The ducks splashed in the water not far away, and then there was no more sound.

Lu Yuque breathed heavily, staring straight at the water. Perhaps the only way was to sneak in quietly, and perhaps that person would think she had already escaped... But she knew in her heart that this was all self-deception, the traces of her falling and running behind her were so obvious.

But what if?
What if that person has a brain fart and doesn't think of it?

Lu Yuque gritted his teeth and moved towards the lake as quietly and discreetly as possible.

But she froze again the next moment.

The chill seeped into her skin, locking her vocal cords and her gaze.

Before she touched the water, a porcelain-like head rose from the lake.

A delicate, beautiful face, but with a deathly pallor.

Even though it wasn't late at night and there was no pale moonlight, the eerie feeling that sent chills down your spine remained undiminished. Amidst the swaying grass and trees, it rose from the cold water, like a corpse that had been submerged at the bottom of the lake for thousands of years.

Lu Yuque dared to guarantee that just a moment ago it looked completely different, but immediately the mother's face was "painted" on it, to the point that it seemed like a hallucinatory illusion.

She pressed her icy hand to the martial arts manual on her chest; the snow lotus bud... had indeed been blooming for far too long.

Lu Yuque retreated, her lips turning blue. At that moment, she truly preferred to die at the hands of that man in white, or to be captured by Lushan, rather than face this thing. The fear of her limbs being torn apart like paper overwhelmed her. The man in black's remains from that night were all ugly dissections, some with tendons still writhing. She vomited almost as she ran.

And that face slowly approached her, and Lu Yuque's tears flowed again as she waved her hands forcefully. She almost wanted to shout, but her throat was already stiff and tight.

She shivered and curled up, the icy cold creeping in little by little... until three breaths later, a thoughtful voice sounded beside her: "I think it might not have intended to hurt you."

Lu Yuque raised his head in a daze and saw a young man sitting on the stone next to him.

His features were clean, his clothes were clean, and a dark yellow sword, the same color as the autumn reeds, lay across his lap. He rested his elbow on the sword, half-resting his chin on his hand as he looked at her.

The person was nothing special, but a small black ball was perched on his shoulder, and a small kingfisher was perched on the ball.

Lu Yuque stood there stunned for a long while before turning back. The eerie face was right in front of her, and the man spoke softly, his voice hoarse and stiff: "Little Que, tell your mother... where is the 'Unsolvable Sword Sutra'?"

Lu Yuque realized that the snow lotus bud had probably disappeared again.

"Has it been chasing you for a long time?" the young man asked.

Lu Yuque opened his mouth: "I...I don't know. I saw it two nights ago..."

She stared nervously at the object in front of her, worried that her pronunciation would startle it.

But nothing happened.

"Hmm." The young man thought for a moment, then took out another martial arts manual with snow lotus sprouts growing from his robes and waved it twice at the object in front of him. "Hey, do you want this?"

The face turned away, and for a moment Lu Yuque's heart leaped into his throat, as if he foresaw the bloody scene of the young man being torn apart, but nothing happened.

The face looked at him, then turned back.

Stare at her.

"Looks like I don't want to," the young man said. "He's a picky eater."

Lu Yuque's mind cleared up a bit at this moment, and the silence around her reminded her where she was.

She turned to look at the young man, biting her lip and asking urgently, "Who are you? Someone is killing people here. He is very skilled in martial arts. The leader of Lushan has been killed by him with one sword, and many disciples around him have also met with misfortune... When did you get here?"

"I just arrived," the young man said. "Lushan? I've heard it's not a good place; they often do things that bully men and women..."

Then he looked her up and down: "Excuse me, you are Lu Yuque, right? The only daughter of Jiandu Villa."

"……Yes."

"Hmm. You've disguised yourself." The young man looked down at the portrait in his hand again, then put it away with a slight realization. "Shall we go?"

"...Leave?" Lu Yuque asked blankly.

"Hmm. Do you want to stay here? You seem quite scared." The young man seemed to chuckle. "Even if you're not scared, there's nothing to stay here."

“That person, that person is right here.” Lu Yuque looked back worriedly. “If we talk here, he might have already heard us… I, I can’t stand up for a moment.”

The young man nodded: "Okay, then let's stay here for a while."

Lu Yuque's heart clenched. Of course, she had no intention of "staying" here any longer. She said, "You...you can carry me on your back, that person...that person..."

The young man paused for a moment, then said, "I apologize for the intrusion, Miss Lu, but I came in a hurry and this is indeed all I have."

"..."

"..."

Lu Yuque slowly lowered his head and saw his body covered in mud and grass, with his disheveled hair and slightly swollen face reflected in the water.

"Let's leave that person aside for now," the young man said. "Miss Lu, you should rest. I'll ask you some questions later."

Lu Yuque felt as if everything was a dream.

The young man sat up on the rock. The wind blew and the reeds swayed. Twenty breaths passed, then a quarter of an hour, but the nightmarish figure in white still did not appear.

Nothing has changed, yet everything that should have happened no longer happens.

It seems that the person really couldn't find them.

Lu Yuque breathed a heavy sigh of relief.

The terrifying face in front of me inexplicably stopped moving, as if frozen in place. At this moment, it was indeed a human body; the torso, limbs, facial features... the proportions were all so pleasing to the eye, every detail was perfect.

Lu Yuque struggled to move his body and move away from it.

A gentle breeze swept by.

The young man on the stone was looking down at the papers, occasionally glancing at the black ball on his shoulder—at that moment she recognized the ball as a kitten—and the kitten would also glance at him.

"You...you..." Lu Yuque opened his mouth twice, but for a moment he didn't know what to say.

“It’s an inanimate object,” the young man said. “It won’t move for now, so you don’t need to be afraid—but there may be new ones coming.”

Lu Yuque paused for a moment before realizing he was referring to the eerie monster behind her, and she couldn't help but move further away.

"Are you feeling a little better?" The man stood up from the rock, but instead of coming over, he went to the lakeside. "I see your left calf is injured. Once your inner energy recovers, you can tie it into a bandage and wrap it inside temporarily. A cultivator will be fine in a few days."

“…Hmm, okay.” Lu Yuque reacted for a moment, realizing that he was referring to the method of weaving true energy into shapes. This method wasn't a secret, but it was indeed not easy, and she wasn't very proficient at it yet. At this moment, she tried her best to calm her mind, gather the slight amount of true energy that had returned, and guide it to the bone fracture to wrap around it.

As she did this, she watched him, and saw him squat down by the lake and take a gourd from his waist.

He filled the container with water and poured it all into the lake. Amidst the clear sound of the water, he also released a few small red fish into the lake.

'...Is this person actually a lay Buddhist?'

She thought to herself.

After watching for a moment, the man submerged the gourd in the water, poured water in, and then caught a few small fish and put them in.

'...Isn't doing good deeds like this a fraudulent act?' she asked, somewhat surprised.

"Miss Deer".

"Ok!"

"Have you thought about this carefully these past few days? In your opinion, who is the murderer?"

"..."

"Ok?"

Lu Yuque lowered his head and pursed his lips, his brows and eyes darkening in the shadows: "I...I don't know."

"Who, who are you?" she asked, trying to take the initiative in the conversation.

“I will track them down.” The young man closed the gourd lid, gazing into the water. “My condolences. The wicked will surely pay for their crimes in blood.”

"..."

Lu Yuque was trying to figure out what she could get out of this person and how to exchange her knowledge for more information when she unexpectedly heard such a sentence. She hesitated for a moment, then suddenly turned her head away, and two streams of hot tears flowed down her face, which she could not stop.

(End of this chapter)