Martial World Full of Disguises

27: Fire Breaks Out

When Fu Peibai spoke these words, the man was terrified out of his wits. His body went limp as he prostrated himself on the ground and began pleading for mercy without ceasing.

Fu Peibai took a deep breath. Her gaze at the man was dark. "However, you are not worthy of dying by my young mistress's sword. Someone like you, even your blood is dirty."

On the surface, Fu Peibai had spared this man's life. But only she knew in her heart that she had truly felt murderous intent toward him. To dare defile the Peak Master, with just those few words, this person could die ten thousand times and it would not be enough.

The man felt as if he had been granted a great pardon. He kowtowed on the ground in thanks, his face smeared with blood and tears.

Fu Peibai walked up to him and said, "But you must still pay the price for your words. Right now, right here, slap yourself one hundred times. Each slap must be with full force. If one is not up to standard, start over until you finish one hundred."

The man tremblingly agreed, then raised his hand and gave himself a slap, counting aloud as he did.

"One..."

"Two..."

"Three..."

"Too light. Start over."

"One, one..."

"Two..."

"Three..."

"Four..."

"Start over." Fu Peibai's voice held no warmth.

And so, after every few heavy slaps, the man was told to stop and begin again. By the end, his mind had become somewhat muddled. His eyelids drooped together, both cheeks were swollen high, and his arm could only rise with trembling difficulty.

Fu Peibai stood up and walked to Lu Yanran's side. Her tone softened. "Peak Master, let's go back."

The three men hurriedly scrambled aside to make way.

Before leaving, Lu Yanran glanced at the old woman on the ground. She whispered a few words in A-Fu's ear. A-Fu then walked over, helped the old woman to her feet, and took out a pouch of silver from her bosom to hand to her.

"Old uncle, we did not intend to cause trouble. We accidentally damaged your wine shop. This money is to compensate you. Please take it."

The old woman accepted it and thanked them repeatedly. "Thank you, young lady. Thank you, both young ladies."

After settling matters, the group left the wine shop. By then, lanterns had just been lit on the street. Various vendors set up stalls along the road, hawking their wares in loud voices. It was bustling indeed.

They had walked only a few steps when Fu Peibai suddenly stopped. She said "wait a moment," then turned and ran back into the wine shop.

When she returned to the wine shop, the man had already stopped slapping himself. Seeing Fu Peibai return, he gave a start of fright and hurriedly began slapping again.

Fu Peibai didn't even look at him. She went straight to the table by the window, picked up the white veil hat that Lu Yanran had left behind, carefully brushed off the dust that had settled on it, and only then took the hat out of the wine shop.

When Lu Yanran saw her come out and noticed the veil hat in her hand, she understood. She reached out her hand. But Fu Peibai didn't hand the hat over. Instead, she held the hat, stepped forward two paces, and personally placed it on Lu Yanran's head. Then she carefully arranged the white gauze that hung down all around. Only then did she withdraw her hand. Seeing Lu Yanran's face completely hidden behind the light gauze, she nodded with evident satisfaction.

Lu Yanran paused for a moment, then said softly, "Thank you."

A smile appeared on Fu Peibai's face again. "It's nothing. Just a small effort. The Peak Master need not thank me."

Lu Yanran looked at the person before her through the hazy gauze. The other was smiling with a mouthful of white teeth, appearing somewhat childish. She said nothing more and turned to walk toward the inn where they were staying.

After the four returned to the inn, each went to their own room. Since the caravan had split into two groups at Weizhou City, Fu Peibai's group now had only twelve people remaining. The number had greatly decreased, so each person was given a separate room. She was quite happy about this. No need to sleep on the floor, no need to worry about being discovered. It was a relief.

As soon as she entered the room, she went straight to the bed and lay down. She had eaten too much at dinner, then run around for a while. Now she had a stitch in her side and felt uncomfortable.

She had wanted to lie down and rest properly. But she had barely been lying down for a moment when a knocking came at the door.

"Little Bai, is it convenient for me to come in?"

It was A-Fu's voice. Fu Peibai roused herself, rolled off the bed in one motion, and went to open the door.

"What is it, Sister A-Fu?"

"Are you free right now?"

"Yes, I'm free."

"Good. The Peak Master wants to bathe. Come help me carry hot water."

"What about Brother Xing? Hasn't he always done it these past few days?"

"Don't mention him. As soon as we got back, he disappeared. Don't know where he ran off to."

"Alright then."

So the two went together to the water-heating room. Fu Peibai was used to carrying water. She lifted a bucket of steaming hot water in each hand and headed upstairs.

When she entered Lu Yanran's room, she subconsciously glanced at the bed but didn't see anyone. It wasn't her place to ask where the Peak Master had gone, so she dutifully poured the two buckets of hot water into the bathing tub, then went back downstairs to fetch more. By the time she entered the room with the second round of hot water, Lu Yanran was already sitting properly at the dressing table.

She wore only a thin middle garment, with no hairpin in her hair. Her raven tresses cascaded naturally, giving her a more elegant and graceful appearance than when she wore jade ornaments and hairpins during the day.

"Little Bai, what are you standing there for? The water will cool down soon."

Fu Peibai suddenly came back to her senses. She quickly averted her gaze, poured the hot water into the tub, and retreated from the room.

After returning to her own room, her heart was still beating irregularly. She still couldn't say exactly why. After hastily washing up, she lay down on the bed.

That night, before getting up to practice martial arts, she was tormented by nightmares again. But the dreams were slightly different from before.

In the dream, there was thick fog everywhere. She couldn't see her hand in front of her face. From deep within the white mist came the sound of drums and se zithers playing together. In an instant, reed pipes and flutes joined in. Finally, dozens of instruments were playing, all jumbled together, noisy and raucous. Then those sounds faded. Suddenly, a mournful suona horn sounded, accompanied by a trumpet. The white mist rapidly dispersed, revealing a small path before her eyes. A group of people with ox heads and horse faces carried three coffins, slowly passing by her. The trumpet and suona sounds grew shriller with each blast, piercing her ears. Yet she couldn't move at all.

Her throat moved soundlessly, but no voice came out. She wanted to shout for them to stop, to make those people stop. Though she couldn't see who was lying in those three coffins, in her subconscious she knew it was her father, mother, and younger brother.

In dreams, she had lost them like this countless times.

The white mist gradually closed in again, finally blocking her vision. She felt that her feet could move again, so she began walking, aimlessly. As she walked, a familiar fragrance drifted to her nose.

The Peak Master!

She ran in the direction the scent came from. But in the next moment, she suddenly felt something soft and light covering her face, a white veil. The veil carried a faint, pleasant scent. She pulled it off, and before her eyes appeared a woman's bare white back, along with smooth, black hair.

She stopped in her tracks, her gaze growing hazy. She asked tentatively, "Peak... Master?"

The woman turned her head at the sound. It was indeed Lu Yanran. But on that beautiful face hung a miserable, tragic smile. On her slender white neck was a glaring line of blood.

Her eyes widened. Her body trembled. She watched helplessly as that blood line began to seep blood, then finally gushed forth. Warm blood splattered onto her face. In the dream, she screamed herself hoarse, shouting "No!"

……

Fu Peibai sat up abruptly from the bed. Before her eyes was complete darkness. She pinched her thigh. The pain made her realize she wasn't dreaming now.

She gasped for breath in large gulps. In this quiet room, she could almost hear the violent pounding of her heart within her chest.

She sat like this for a while. A feeling rose within her. She knew well what it was. It was fear, the fear of losing someone.

After resting a bit longer, Fu Peibai shook her head to clear her mind, then got off the bed, preparing to go out for night practice. But she had barely reached the door when she noticed flickering yellow light in the corridor outside. Thin wisps of white smoke seeped through the crack beneath the door. From outside, a shout rang out. "Fire! Fire! Everyone get out, get out now!"

She had no time to be shocked. She immediately kicked open the door and discovered that the fire in the corridor had already grown intense. A wall of flames burned furiously, cutting off the staircase. At that moment, A-Fu also came running out of the adjacent room, covering her mouth and nose as she shouted, "The Peak Master! The Peak Master is on the third floor. She hasn't come down yet!"

Fu Peibai immediately stripped off her outer robe, went back into her room, soaked the garment in the remaining tea water, and draped it over herself. Then, taking A-Fu with her, she charged toward the stairs. The two successfully passed through the wall of flames. Without stopping, she ran upstairs.

The fire on the third floor was even worse. Thick smoke billowed everywhere. One section of the corridor had been completely burned through. Lu Yanran's room was at the very end of the corridor.

Fu Peibai tore off a strip from her hem to cover her mouth and nose, shouting in a muffled voice, "Peak Master!"

Receiving no response, she couldn't wait another moment. She took two steps back, gathered her strength, and charged forward, barely managing to leap across the broken section of corridor.

She brushed off the scattered small sparks on her body and kicked open the room door. Inside, Lu Yanran was lying quietly on the bed. Fu Peibai hurried to the bedside. Seeing the other's unconscious face, she called out urgently and softly, "Peak Master, Peak Master, please wake up, wake up!"

The person on the bed gave no response. Fu Peibai had no choice. She could only hoist Lu Yanran onto her back and rush out of the room. However, the fire in the corridor had grown even more intense. The wood burned with cracking sounds, sparks flying everywhere. Carrying someone on her back, she couldn't possibly jump across the broken corridor again.

At that moment, Xing Guang also came running up. Seeing the current state of the fire, he roared loudly, "Go back to the room! Jump out the window! Quick!"

Fu Peibai immediately turned around and returned to the room. She wrapped Lu Yanran from head to toe in a quilt, then held her tightly against her chest. Without a moment's hesitation, she stood with her back to the window, closed her eyes, and fell backward.

The third floor was neither very high nor very low. When they landed, Fu Peibai was on the bottom. Lu Yanran, wrapped in the soft quilt, fell on top of her.

The impact made Fu Peibai's vision go black. The back of her head struck the hard stone pavement. A muffled groan escaped her lips. But she had no time to worry about such pain. She half-raised her head to look at Lu Yanran lying on top of her. After repeatedly confirming that the other wasn't injured anywhere, she finally let out a breath of relief. Her hand, which had been protecting Lu Yanran's head, slowly lowered.

"Peak Master! Little Bai!" A-Fu and Xing Guang came running over, shouting.

Xing Guang scooped up Lu Yanran and headed for another inn. A-Fu helped Fu Peibai to her feet.

"Are you alright, Little Bai?"

Fu Peibai stood up. Her ears were ringing slightly. Her right foot had twisted when she fell. Now, even the slightest pressure sent a piercing pain through it.

"Let's settle at another inn first. Walk slowly. I'll support you."

By the time the two arrived at an inn on another street, Xing Guang had already settled Lu Yanran in. He was now preparing to go out and find a physician.

"Brother Xing, it's too late now. I'll go with you to find one. You go to the east of the city, I'll head west. Little Bai, you go to the room and look after the Peak Master first." After saying this, A-Fu left the inn with Xing Guang.

Fu Peibai limped slowly up the stairs. Her right ankle was now swollen high. Putting weight on it sent a pain straight to her skull. So she could only hold onto the railing and hop up on one foot.

When she reached the room, she gently pushed open the door. Upon entering, she saw the woman lying unconscious on the bed. She didn't dare make too much noise. Dragging her injured leg, she slowly made her way to the bedside.

After reaching the bedside, she stood holding onto the bedpost. The woman on the bed had her eyes gently closed. In the dim candlelight, her features were soft, lacking some of the coldness of the daytime. Only, on her fair, clean face there were now some smudges of black ash from the thick smoke. She subconsciously wanted to reach out and wipe them away for her. But seeing her own hands covered in grime, she could only reluctantly withdraw her hand.

She stood like this for a while. Her feet grew weak, so she slid down to sit against the bedpost. She closed her eyes, her mind constantly replaying the scene that had just occurred.

The Peak Master had been lying there so quietly, so lifelessly. At that moment, she had almost thought this was also a dream. Her heart had seemed to sink into a deep, bottomless frozen lake.

Even though they were now out of danger, that feeling still lingered in her heart. She extended her hand and looked at her palm, wordlessly clenching it, then loosening it.

Can I protect you?

Do I have the ability to protect you?

She looked at her palm. Her gaze was so hollow it seemed to have fallen into nothingness.