Chapter 142: Your Father Was Robbed by Me
One night passed uneventfully. The next morning, Cheng Yuan led the caravan on its return journey, eager to deliver the herbs he had purchased to his daughter. Cheng Yuan’s caravan was of medium size, with dozens of horses carrying the goods he had acquired in the prefecture capital. In addition to the ordinary stable hands, he had also specially hired several bodyguards for protection. For safety, each person and even each horse carried low-level Master-grade talismans.
“We’re about to enter the no man’s land soon. Guard Wang, please ask all the brothers to stay alert,” Cheng Yuan instructed the burly man beside him as they gradually moved away from the prefecture capital.
“Don’t worry, Shopkeeper Cheng! I, Wang Xiao, am considered a second-rate warrior. There are only a handful of people in the Green Wood region of Yongning Prefecture who can defeat me,” the burly man said confidently. His words were not entirely boastful; although the path of martial arts was divided into six major realms from low to high: Third-rate, Second-rate, First-rate, Grandmaster, Legend, and Myth, cultivation was extremely difficult, so ninety percent of warriors were at the lowest Third-rate realm. He, being Second-rate, was already considered outstanding.
“Indeed, indeed!” Cheng Yuan agreed verbally, but his heart was filled with anxiety. He had traveled this road countless times and knew the immense risks involved, so even the slightest carelessness was unacceptable.
As expected, trouble soon arrived! The caravan was moving along the official road when a strange explosion suddenly sounded ahead. Then, a gale suddenly whipped up from flat ground, rolling sand and stones like a stormy sea towards them.
“Be careful, there’s a strong wind!” Cheng Yuan quickly warned. As soon as he spoke, the gale hit them. Everyone covered their mouths and noses and tightly gripped their horse reins, fearing they would be blown away. The wind was strong, but not enough to blow away the horses and goods. However, the dust it stirred up obscured the sky, reducing visibility to less than ten feet. It was difficult to see each other’s faces even at a close distance.
Amidst the commotion, cries of agony erupted one after another. “Something’s wrong, there’s a situation!” Cheng Yuan shouted a warning, simultaneously pulling out a talisman and crushing it. A semi-transparent ice shield, about ten feet high, immediately appeared around him, protecting him. This was something his daughter had specially prepared for his safety.
At this very moment, a series of piercing sounds of air being broken came, and several arrows were shot towards Cheng Yuan, but they were all blocked by the shield. Cheng Yuan gasped, realizing that if he hadn’t reacted quickly, he would have already become a pincushion. After the hail of arrows, the dust also dispersed. Cheng Yuan looked around and found that all his companions had fallen, and he was the only one standing.
“Didn’t you say there weren’t many people in Yongning Prefecture who were your match?” Cheng Yuan looked at the groaning Wang Xiao on the ground, feeling utterly speechless. Simultaneously, dozens of people wearing masks surrounded them. They carried powerful bows on their backs and various weapons in their hands, all stained with blood.
“Big Brother, what should we do with this shopkeeper?” one of them asked the lean man in the lead.
“Since he’s a shopkeeper, he must be rich! Let’s capture him and extort his family after figuring out his identity,” the leading lean middle-aged man instructed with clear thinking.
“Extort my family? Brother, I advise you not to do that!” Cheng Yuan sighed and then earnestly advised.
“Why?” the lean man frowned and asked.
“My name is Cheng Yuan, and my daughter is Cheng Hong Ling! Cheng Hong Ling, you should know her, right? She’s a peerless genius of the HongHua Sect. At twelve years old, she already entered the top sixty of the Xihui Kingdom’s Immortal Seed Ranking. Do you think you have the ability to extort her?” Cheng Yuan calmly stated his identity.
“What? Cheng Hong Ling? Is that true?”
“I’ve seen Cheng Hong Ling’s portrait. Looking at his appearance, he does resemble her somewhat.”
“We’re doomed. We actually robbed Cheng Hong Ling’s father. What should we do now? I heard that woman is already a great master of the Guiyi Realm.”
…
Hearing Cheng Hong Ling’s name, the robbers fell into a panic.
“It’s good that you’re scared. Leave now, and I can pretend that nothing happened,” Cheng Yuan said with a satisfied smile.
“Leave now? I’m afraid it’s not that easy!” After a moment of silence, the leading man suddenly said sternly, “First, I don’t know if what you’re saying is true! Second, even if it is true, we can’t just leave like this. Who knows if you’ll keep your word? Conversely, this place is tens of thousands of miles away from the HongHua Sect. If we kill you to silence you, no matter how powerful your daughter is, will she know who did it?”
“Unfortunately, things are probably not as simple as you think. I have a Thousand Li Sound Transmission Device here! I can tell her your appearance characteristics right now. Where will you be able to escape to then? Moreover, I don’t think you can break this shield before she arrives,” Cheng Yuan said with a pitying smile and then took out a Thousand Li Sound Transmission Device from his pocket.
“Damn it, he really has a Thousand Li Sound Transmission Device!” one of the robbers shouted.
“We’ll only know if we can break it by trying!” The bandit leader, refusing to believe it, took a few steps back, holding his large saber. He slightly crouched, his muscles tensed, and his aura condensed to its peak. Then, he suddenly charged forward, stomped the ground, and ferociously struck at the shield with a move called “Split the Mountain.”
“Clang!” A mournful metallic sound echoed. The saber struck the shield, actually creating bright sparks. The bandit leader, due to the immense rebound force, staggered back several steps, his right hand holding the saber trembling as if he had epilepsy.
“Big Brother! What should we do?” a robber next to him anxiously asked. The bandit leader showed a conflicted expression, unsure of how to respond for a moment.
“Heh heh, a bunch of riffraff dares to imitate others in robbing!” A man’s voice suddenly echoed from afar. Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw three people walking over from not far away. The leader was a tall and thin middle-aged man dressed in a luxurious robe, holding a folding fan, and carrying himself with elegant demeanor, looking like a well-read scholar. Behind him followed a short and stout attendant. These two were the same people who had been talking in the private room at the “Juyin Auction House” earlier.
“Who are you calling riffraff?” one of the robbers angrily stepped forward to question him. The middle-aged man didn’t stop. He casually stepped on the ground, and a small stone shot out like an arrow, hitting the robber’s forehead with a whistling sound.
“Bang!” The robber’s head suddenly exploded like a watermelon, splashing red and white everywhere. More than half of the people present didn’t even know what had happened. They scrambled to dodge, then looked at each other in shock. Those who could see were horrified; such a small stone possessed such immense power, and such an unintentional strike had directly blown a person’s head apart.
“Friend, I don’t know…” The bandit leader’s eyes darted around, preparing to be polite before resorting to force. However, before he could finish speaking, an immense pressure descended from the sky, his legs went weak, and he knelt down.
“Spiritual Sense pressure! You’re a Guiyi Realm cultivator!” the bandit leader stammered, looking around. He found that his subordinates were even worse off, all of them lying on the ground, unable to move.
“Guiyi Realm?” Hearing this, Cheng Yuan’s heart sank. He didn’t know if the newcomer was friend or foe.
“You didn’t fall down. You must also be a Second-rate Master among warriors.” The middle-aged man praised verbally, but his figure had already disappeared from its original spot. When he reappeared, he was behind the bandit leader, the edge of his folding fan dripping two beads of blood.
“Thud!” Just then, the bandit leader’s head fell from his shoulders without warning, his face still showing a look of surprise. A fountain-like spray of blood gushed from his neck, completely covering his expression.
“What a pity! You’re also just a Second-rate warrior.” The middle-aged man then sneered and walked slowly towards Cheng Yuan without even looking. Cheng Yuan didn’t know if the other party was friend or foe and was contemplating how to speak. Without a word, the middle-aged man slapped the ice shield.
“Crack!” The ice shield let out a sound of unbearable strain, and dense cracks began to spread. The middle-aged man did not retract his hand. Fiery True Qi gushed out from his palm, beginning to scorch the ice shield.
“Alas! As expected, it’s an enemy, not a friend,” Cheng Yuan sighed helplessly and then opened the Thousand Li Sound Transmission Device to send a message to his daughter. At the same time, Cheng Hong Ling, who was at the HongHua Sect, heard her father’s message. She calmly picked up the Thousand Li Sound Transmission Device next to her, thinking he just wanted to chat.
“Daughter! Father may be in real trouble this time! Take good care of your mother. I’m proud of you!” Cheng Yuan instructed. He didn’t ask for help because he knew the other party was also a Guiyi Realm expert, and he didn’t want his daughter to take risks for him. Cheng Hong Ling’s beautiful eyes widened, and she immediately sprang off the bed, asking agitatedly, “Dad, what’s wrong?”
“Nothing!” Cheng Yuan replied perfunctorily.
“Yes! Nothing. Your father was robbed by me. Remember his voice; this is the last time he’s speaking to you,” the middle-aged man, who was attacking the shield, interjected.
