Qin Shi: I went astray in the Heavenly Sect

Chapter 180 Entering the Martial World and Leaving the Martial World
"Young heroes, are you alright?"

In the State of Chu, beside a mountain path, Xiang Quan walked over with a somewhat gloomy expression.

This is the third assassination attempt they have faced since what happened last night.

"Those sons of bitches."

A man standing nearby tore a piece of cloth off the corpse's clothes and used it to bandage his wounds, all the while cursing angrily.

Just now, he was accidentally shot in the shoulder by an enemy's arrow. Fortunately, his armor protected him, so it did not hit a vital spot. Otherwise, this arrow might have ruined his arm.

Xiu Yuan and Xiao Meng walked over from a distance, both looking normal, except that their clothes were covered in dust. The attack had been sudden, and even they hadn't fully anticipated it.

"No problem."

Xiu Yuan glanced at the other person and replied softly.

When Xiang Quan saw the two men, he looked slightly embarrassed. If they hadn't been traveling with them, they might not have encountered these problems. Now they were certain that these people were after them.

Xiaomeng looked at the group of men with a hint of curiosity for a while. Just now, when they were dodging the cold arrows, Xiuyuan had mentioned something to her.

There might be other secrets hidden within this team, otherwise those assassins and death squads would never have come to kill them again and again.

This situation was similar to when Li Yuan sent people to invite Nian Duan to come out of the mountains to treat the Empress Dowager. According to Yan Ri's report, he intercepted two groups of people who went to Jinghu Medical Village. In other words, the group that met Nian Duan was the third group.

"uncle!"

On the other side, Xiang Qian walked over slowly, and at this moment, the young man's face was also very ugly.

"Qian'er, are you hurt?"

Xiang Quan reached out and patted Xiang Qian's shoulder, a hint of worry unconsciously showing in his eyes.

Xiang Qian shook his head.

"Something's not right."

This young man was also very perceptive, and he sensed something was amiss in the current situation.

"what happened?"

Xiang Quan's eyes flickered uncertainly, as if he had guessed something.

Xiang Qian glanced at Xiu Yuan and Xiao Meng before continuing, "Including this ambush, this is the third wave."

"These people are recklessly ambushing and killing members of my Xiang clan. Aren't they afraid of the General's wrath?"

Just then, the other men also came over. Hearing this, they all looked suspicious. Xiang Qian was right. Their Xiang family army was not some ragtag army. If General Xiang Yan found out about this, who would face Xiang Yan's wrath?

The Xiang clan did not participate in the power struggles within the Chu state, but that does not mean they lacked the ability to influence the course of the war.

If the Xiang clan were to intervene, the outcome of the entire game would be decided immediately.

Xiang Qian then continued, "The General is currently in Shouying."

Hearing this, Xiang Quan narrowed his eyes. Based on this analysis, the current situation was indeed unreasonable.

"Qian'er, what do you mean?"

"In my opinion, there are only two possibilities for this situation to occur."

Xiang Qian's gaze sharpened, then locked onto the two little ones not far in front of him.

“Among us are key figures they have to eliminate, which is why they repeatedly lay ambushes and assassinate us, regardless of the consequences.”

Upon hearing this, Xiang Quan and his group subconsciously looked at the boy and girl opposite them. To them, these two were strangers who had joined the group midway. If they were to say who among them was most likely to have a problem, these two were the most likely candidates.

Seeing everyone's gaze, Xiu Yuan and Xiao Meng stood still, seemingly unaware. What Xiang Qian said was exactly what they had been thinking before.

However, they suspected the people in front of them.

"Not them."

Xiang Qian shook his head slightly, then changed the subject and spoke again.

Xiang Quan and the others were speechless for a moment, while cursing inwardly, wondering what this brat was up to.
The young man then explained, "A Grandmaster wouldn't need to go through such a roundabout way to kill us. Similarly, if they are fleeing from pursuers and leaving us, their chances of escaping will be much greater."

Hearing this, Xiang Quan and his group nodded in agreement.

Xiang Qian's words hit the nail on the head. These two kids are not ordinary people. The boy is at least a Grandmaster-level expert. If they wanted to kill someone, given the methods the other party displayed in the dilapidated courtyard, they would have no chance at all.

Similarly, if the other party wants to break away from the group and go their own way, given their methods, they will only be able to go down that path more smoothly and faster.

"In that case, it becomes the second possibility."

Recalling what Xiang Qian had said earlier, Xiang Quan stroked his chin thoughtfully.

Similarly, Xiu Yuan and Xiao Meng also looked over.

Xiang Qian lowered his head in thought, and then he uttered something astonishing.

"Someone may be trying to use someone else to do their dirty work, or they may be trying to sow discord."

Most of the people present were from military backgrounds and didn't understand these kinds of schemes and plots very well; their wisdom came from the accumulation of years.

Therefore, only Xiang Quan understood what the young man was saying.

"Qian'er, are you saying there's something going on in Shouying?"

Xiang Qian frowned. In fact, at this moment he was not sure what was going on, after all, they had not yet arrived in Shouying and knew nothing about what had happened there.

Xiu Yuan nodded slightly at Xiang Qian's guess.

It's quite impressive that a young person has such vision.

"What insightful opinion do you have, young sir?"

Seeing Xiu Yuan nod, Xiang Qian couldn't help but ask.

Of all the people present, the only ones he couldn't understand were the boy and the girl. He had observed them on the road before; the girl was very indifferent, and the events that happened on the road hardly caused any emotional fluctuation in her.

The boy's behavior was even more alarming to him. The girl's indifference might have stemmed from her detachment from the world, but this boy viewed things with a calm and all-encompassing perspective.

His ability to accept any uncertainty and solve any problem, this natural confidence, made him unable to even entertain any other thoughts.

"To be able to analyze so much in such a short time, it is clear that Young Master Xiang has extraordinary thinking and vision, and he will surely become an outstanding general in the future."

Xiu Yuan first affirmed the young man's guess, saying that right is right and wrong is wrong. Acknowledging the excellence of others was not a difficult thing for Xiu Yuan.

"As for the repeated ambushes we've encountered, I have some thoughts on that. If you think they make sense, then you might as well listen to them. Of course, if you think they don't make sense, then just treat them as a joke."

At this point, Xiu Yuan glanced at everyone present and then continued, "We haven't made a move since the first attack. This is the third attack. But have you all thought about this? Apart from some of us being injured, none of us have died as a result of the attack."

In other words, these people seemed to act with great restraint, only injuring people and not killing them.

They clearly had better options before, but in the end they only chose to shoot from the shadows. If it were any other assassins, they would have poisoned their arrows, even if they were to shoot from the shadows.

Upon hearing Xiu Yuan's words, the man who had just been shot changed his expression and hurriedly looked at his wound. Seeing that the wound had not turned black or purple, he breathed a sigh of relief.

Compared to the man's reaction, Xiang Quan and Xiang Qian's reactions were rather strange. They seemed to have remembered something, and their expressions suddenly became even more unpleasant.

"If I'm not mistaken, even if we encounter an ambush next, it will definitely not be a situation where we have a slim chance of survival. In fact, this will be the last ambush we encounter on our way back to Shouying."

Xiang Qian clenched his fists tightly at his sides. This guess was indeed somewhat unexpected, but it was also highly probable.

Human calculations are never reckless; they are a back-and-forth, a kind of ambiguity that gradually draws people in, making it impossible for them to extricate themselves. Just like the ambush they encountered on their way back, if the attacks continued and only one person returned to Shouying in the end, although the ending would be tragic, how certain would that general be about the matter?
As a general who had fought countless battles, his judgment on these matters was far more accurate than that of these people.

If all of them were to return to Shouying, how would Xiang Yan consider the assassination attempt he encountered on his return journey? Would he become suspicious of the legion under his command?

Although the two suspicions are directed at the same matter, they are vastly different, and the degree of their difference is extremely subtle.

Looking at the composed young man before him, Xiang Qian sighed softly in his heart.

There are many similarities between fighting on the battlefield and fighting in Go. Those who can control the overall situation can see the outcome of the game as soon as the first piece is placed.

Clearly, the young man before me was such a person; his ability to grasp the overall situation far surpassed mine.

"However, these are all just speculations. If Young Master Xiang Qian wants a definite answer, he might as well leave a few survivors during the next confrontation. Whether it is true or false, we can find out by asking them."

Upon hearing this, Xiang Qian subconsciously looked at Xiang Quan, and then saw his uncle gently shake his head, his eyes darkening.

He did not deny that Xiu Yuan's method was good, but it was extremely difficult to carry out. In the midst of a chaotic attack, how could they capture the enemy alive? Were they the ones who ambushed them, or were they the ones who were ambushed?
The wind passed without a trace. After a quick packing, the group resumed their journey. At the back of the group, Xiu Yuan and Xiao Meng sat on the same horse. Watching the others galloping ahead, Xiao Meng asked curiously, "How did you guess that there wouldn't be any more assassination attempts on the rest of the journey, Senior Brother?"

Xiu Yuan held the horse's reins, looking ahead with a profound gaze, realizing that everything in the world was interconnected.

The person closely associated with Xiang Quan and his group was Xiang Yan, the great general of Chu. If we look at this matter from their perspective, the answer is nothing more than sowing discord and creating chaos.

But if we go to a higher level, will the answer still be the same?

His answer was no.

However, things might not be as complicated as he imagined. Perhaps it was just sowing discord and people's hearts changing. He wasn't a mind reader, so only the parties involved probably knew the real situation.

His thoughts were racing. After a moment, Xiu Yuan calmed himself down and focused his mind. Then he gently patted the horse beneath him. As if it knew Xiu Yuan's intention, the horse reared up and quickened its pace.

Speaking of the big horse he and Xiaomeng rode, there was actually a bit of a coincidence. When they passed by the post station, the group found a horse next to the stable. Thinking it would be convenient for their return journey, Xiang Quan and the others spent a lot of money to buy it.

However, what gave them a headache was that the horse they bought was completely unruly. After trying to train it without success, they wanted to return it to the post station, but Xiu Yuan stopped them.

Xiu Yuan simply stood there staring at this unruly horse for a moment, and to the astonishment of Xiang Quan and the others, the horse obediently knelt on the ground.

The wind blew past his ears, ruffling their hair, and Xiu Yuan's voice rang out from the depths of Xiao Meng's heart.

"Everything has its limits. Too much of anything is bad. Take the assassination for example. You can tell from the fact that those people held back in the previous attacks that the other side did not really want to kill them."

"I guess they didn't want to incur the wrath of that general, but they wanted to achieve some goal, so they did this."

"However, something must have happened in Shouying City. These people seem to be intentionally trying to drag the Xiang clan into this mess."

Xiaomeng frowned.

Based on her senior brother's guess, she wondered who those people were who had taken action, and why they wanted the Xiang clan to suffer. A terrifying thought crept into her mind about this matter.

Could the person who summoned Xiang Quan, Xiang Qian, and others back to the capital be the mastermind behind this assassination?
In other words, could the mastermind behind these attacks be the King of Chu?

He was very clear about the Xiang clan's attitude: they only supported the person sitting on the throne. In other words, the Xiang clan supported the legitimate ruler, not him, the king.

If we want to change this situation and firmly grasp the State of Chu in our own hands, what good methods are there?

By forcing the Xiang clan to participate, this was a drastic measure, forcing them to make a choice—a choice they had no other option to make.

This is a scheme involving calculation and manipulation of human nature, and the two sides playing the game are the King of Chu and Xiang Yan, the great general of Chu.

Unfortunately, a special person appeared in this game, namely Xiu Yuan, so this game also had a new ending.

If Xiang Yan were to learn of this, this great general who had dominated the Chu state would likely be disappointed in the King of Chu, and the situation in Shouying might become unpredictable.

Human greed is insatiable; no matter who came up with this plan, the key lies with the King of Chu. If the other party did not have such intentions, this matter would most likely not have come to this.

After hearing Xiu Yuan's words, the little girl's thoughts were in a state of confusion. There were countless possibilities behind this matter, like a tangled mess, and it would definitely not be easy to sort it out.

She still disliked the affairs of the imperial court very much. There were too many twists and turns involved. You scheme against me, and I scheme against you. In the end, will there be a winner?

In her view, they were all nothing more than slaves to power.

"Didn't my senior brother say that these are all just guesses?"

"Ah."

Xiu Yuan nodded slightly. Everyone had their own opinion on this matter. Whether they were caught in the vortex, the people behind the scenes, or even others, they were all just pawns on the chessboard of the Chu Kingdom.

This contest began the moment they left Mirror Lake Medical Manor. The final outcome will depend on their respective methods.

"In this contest, we may witness more worldly conflicts."

On the other side, Nian Duan and Duanmu Rong's group also arrived at Wuligou.

In the same dilapidated courtyard, seeing the hastily disposed corpse and the arrows left behind, the people were shocked.

Judging from the two sides involved, it appears to be a contest within the Chu state.

"Master, what's wrong?"

After a while, Duanmu Rong noticed that Nian Duan's expression was not quite natural, and assumed that it was because he was upset after seeing the corpses, so she asked him a question.

Nian Duan shook his head.

Though their faces remained impassive, a storm raged within them. These people showed no visible injuries on their bodies, appearing more as if they had died of suffocation.

She had just witnessed this kind of death before; it was the method that the young man from the Heavenly Sect used when dealing with the assassins from the Luo Wang organization.

Although there are other methods in the martial arts world that can achieve this, she always had a feeling that these people were the work of Xiu Yuan.

The martial world is a special place of killing and being killed. She didn't feel much for these people. They were a group of people who didn't value their lives and weren't worth her sorrow.

But this incident also illustrates something else: the boy and girl seem to have already gotten ahead of them, but the road to Shouying doesn't seem to be safe.

“Rong’er, go and look at those corpses. As doctors, we don’t just deal with the living; sometimes we also have to deal with the dead. We can learn a lot from these dead people.”

Upon hearing Nian Duan's instructions, Duanmu Rong frowned. In the past, the medical manor had indeed taken in some people who were on the verge of death. She could learn a lot from those people, whether it was the changes in pulse or the physical changes brought about by the deterioration of the disease.

For a doctor, these are all extremely valuable experiences, but these people have been dead for a long time now, and she doesn't think she can learn much from examining them.

The torso and limbs were completely stiff, which roughly indicated the time of death, as for the injuries left on the body.
After a while, Duanmu Rong quietly returned. She came to Nian Duan's side and then glanced at her master. Her bright eyes seemed to speak volumes.

Seeing Nian Dian nod, the girl sighed and said that her master would not ask her to examine the corpse for no reason.

"By the way, Master, I noticed that these people's clothing doesn't seem to be that of ordinary bandits; they seem more like members of the military."

Nian Duan shook her head. She had noticed this matter as well, but she had just kept quiet about it.

"No matter what forces these people come from or what their purpose is, it has nothing to do with us, and besides, we don't have the ability to handle or resolve this matter."

"Master, I miss the medical clinic."

Upon hearing his disciple's words, Nian Duan was speechless for a moment.

The world of martial arts has two sides. One side is glamorous and attractive, while the other side is full of grotesque and terrifying aspects that make people hesitate to venture into it.

Some people naively believe that they will only ever see the glamorous side of things, but they overlook what kind of scene lies behind that glamorous facade.

My disciple has been away from the Jianghu Medical Clinic for less than three days, so he can be considered a newcomer to the Jianghu.

But after witnessing these things today, I no longer have any expectations for this world of martial arts, and it can be said that I have returned to the world of martial arts.

Three days, neither long nor short, were enough for a young woman to enter and leave the martial arts world.

(End of this chapter)