Chapter 13: Encounter
The three people led their horses forward. However, after traveling for a while, they discovered that Li Musheng and Cang Yinyue's figures no longer appeared on the mountain path ahead.
"This doesn't make sense. Could they have quickened their pace?"
Meng Shan showed a puzzled expression. Yuan Mei beside him placed her hand back on her blade hilt and said vigilantly, "It's also possible they've hidden and set up an ambush ahead, intending to attack us."
Meng Shan's gaze swept over the densely distributed, deep mountain forest ahead. A cold gleam flashed through his eyes, "What you say isn't impossible. Be careful from now on!"
Yuan Mei nodded lightly, bringing the scholar along as they gradually slowed their steps, carefully continuing forward along the mountain path.
An incense stick's time later, Meng Shan's ears twitched. He suddenly stopped and waved to halt Yuan Mei and the other.
His eyes looked toward the bushes and forest ahead as he suddenly shouted in a deep voice, "Come out!"
Soon, rustling sounds came from the forest. Then a group of burly men with blades and spears jumped out from behind the trees.
These burly men wore red headbands. Each one was big and brawny with fierce, menacing looks, perfectly blocking their path.
Seeing this, both Meng Shan and Yuan Mei were stunned. They had originally thought Li Musheng and Cang Yinyue were lying in ambush here, but unexpectedly, these fellows had popped out instead.
The two instinctively exchanged glances. Their first reaction at this moment was: where had Li Musheng and the other gone?
Or perhaps, were they actually in league with these people before them?
However, before they could think it through, their thoughts were interrupted by laughter like thunder.
Another large man's figure appeared from the forest. His feet stepping on flying leaves, he leaped swiftly and lightly in mid-air, as if flying through the air. In the blink of an eye, he arrived before them.
"Guarding this godforsaken place for almost ten days without seeing a single hair, today we've finally caught fish."
The large man had a bald head. His exposed chest was covered in dense black hair, and in his hands he held horizontally an iron fishing rod as thick as a baby's arm.
He laughed heartily looking at Meng Shan's group of three, "Surprised, aren't you? This hall master has been waiting in this wretched place for you for many days!"
Meng Shan's expression was gloomy. He cautiously surveyed the surroundings and said in a deep voice, "Where are those two hiding?"
Hearing this, the bald man grinned and said, "Yo, quite alert. But with this hall master personally taking action, the rest aren't needed. They're in the stockade making a fire to roast meat, preparing to celebrate for all the brothers!"
At these words, the surrounding group of burly men all burst into loud laughter, their gazes toward Meng Shan's group of three looking at them like lambs to be slaughtered.
At this time, the bald man heavily thrust the iron fishing rod in his hands into the ground.
With a dull thud accompanied by sparks, the fishing rod pierced nearly a foot deep into the rock beneath his feet like stabbing into tofu.
"Tell me, are you spies from Yinshan Gate? Or scouts from Yanqiu City?"
Hearing this, both Meng Shan and Yuan Mei frowned.
They came from Shangyang City and naturally weren't familiar with Chong Province.
The reason they knew of this hidden path was because they had used connections to obtain information from Yanqiu City.
But this certainly didn't mean they were scouts from Yanqiu City. Given the current situation, the other party had probably found the wrong people.
However, they still couldn't confirm what relationship Li Musheng and the other had with the bald man and these people.
Therefore, at this time, besides dealing with the bald man who was clearly an Innate expert, they also had to guard against sneak attacks from Li Musheng and Cang Yinyue in the shadows.
So to say, Meng Shan and Yuan Mei were under great pressure now.
Thus, Meng Shan took the initiative to lower his stance, cupping his hands toward the bald man, "This heroic warrior, we three are people from Jing Province and have no relationship whatsoever with either of the forces you mentioned. Please be magnanimous and let us pass."
"Bullshit! Do you take me for a three-year-old child?"
The bald man spat and completely didn't believe Meng Shan's nonsense.
"You don't take the water route or official road? An outsider specifically takes this desolate mountain wilderness, godforsaken small path. To say you're not a spy, that's ridiculous!"
His face was fierce, "I advise you to be sensible and honestly confess everything to this hall master clearly, so you can avoid suffering physical pain."
At this time, several fierce and menacing large men around them advanced slowly while sneering, holding blades and spears.
"Looks like there's nothing to discuss."
Meng Shan's expression instantly turned cold. He quietly signaled Yuan Mei with his eyes to guard against ambushes from the shadows, while he suddenly charged forward, stamping the ground.
With a piercing sound of a long blade being unsheathed, his entire body's martial Dao true qi boiled as he struck without warning.
Swish! Swish!
As snow-white blade light flashed, two fierce and menacing heads rolled to the ground with blood splashing over three feet high.
"Such audacity!"
The bald man's teeth were bared. Scalding true qi instantly gathered in his hands as he pulled up the fishing rod and swung it fiercely at Meng Shan.
Sharp whistling sounds arose in the air. The fishing rod's tip had strands of silver-glinting threads that cut through like sharp blades, seeming to want to tear Meng Shan into pieces.
At this critical moment, Meng Shan turned and punched out. The perfected Mountain-Shaking Fist force was like a giant hammer, shocking away the sharp threads in mid-air.
Those threads fell from his side, cutting straight through the hard mountain rock on the ground. For a moment, explosions rang out continuously as countless rocks flew everywhere.
The next instant, Meng Shan's eyes showed a fierce gleam. Attacking with attack, his blade tip aimed straight at the bald man as he left an afterimage in place and charged to kill!
On the other side, Yuan Mei also made her move while guarding against the shadows.
Her blade technique was extremely fast. The surrounding large men were no match for her at all. In one breath, several heads fell.
...
Not far away in the dense forest, Li Musheng and Cang Yinyue stood on a large tree, quietly observing this scene.
"These people blocking the road aren't much either. Like a motley crew, so many died just at first contact."
Li Musheng wasn't very interested in bloody scenes, shaking his head and clicking his tongue.
Cang Yinyue glanced at him, "This is quite good. With them clearing the path ahead, we can avoid a lot of trouble, and I can save a lot of worry."
"Is that so? I somehow feel this matter seems somewhat unreliable." Li Musheng expressed doubt.
Just at this time, the battle situation over there already showed a one-sided trend.
The bald man obviously hadn't expected that Meng Shan and Yuan Mei would be such tough opponents. Both were actually Innate experts no weaker than him.
It had only been a short while, and his subordinates had already been killed completely.
He himself was entangled by Meng Shan. For the moment, the two were evenly matched, neither able to overcome the other.
"Those two are in league with you, right? They still haven't made a move until now. They probably abandoned you and ran away long ago."
Meng Shan slashed down with a blade, clashing with the fishing rod in the other's hands. The powerful true qi aftershock directly shattered a tree several zhang away as thick as a bowl.
"What are you barking about? You killed so many of my brothers. I'm going to cut you into ten thousand pieces!"
The bald man gnashed his teeth but suddenly pulled out a bamboo tube from his bosom. Activating it with true qi, he shot a dazzling red firework toward the sky!