One week later, the group had been pared down to sixteen and had been tasked with an actual combat mission. Four disciples with wood elemental abilities plus four others with combat-oriented skills were grouped together to complete lower to mid-level missions. Cheng Nuo and Li Jiu were in the same group while four were all newly selected disciples from different departments.
Bai Rui was leaving to resume his regular duties with the other covert guards. Their parting was in public so they couldn’t say goodbye to each other. Cheng Nuo’s heart beat faster because he felt as though the way Bai Rui’s eyes rested on his face was filled with a mysterious significance. Cheng Nuo secretly pinched his hand. What the heck was going on?
Cheng Nuo was both excited and nervous now that he was going on his first mission. They were tasked with escorting a noble’s offspring to his wedding in Lincheng. Since the wedding party had to pass through a bandit-infested area in the middle of the journey, they needed an escort team. It would take about a month for Cheng Nuo’s team to finish the mission and return.
Fearing that Liu Guang would be worried when he didn’t find him, Cheng Nuo wrote a note and fixed it to his table. These days, Cheng Nuo was always busy, but whenever he had time to relax, he would miss Liu Guang terribly.
The noble’s wedding party was quite grand, with dozens of magical beasts hitched to wagons containing the dowry gifts along with more than a dozen beautiful young female attendants. In addition to Cheng Nuo’s group of eight disciples, the noble family had also sent hundreds of guards to accompany them.
This was the first time that Cheng Nuo saw such a large wedding party. He secretly sighed when he saw that, fortunately, although the brides in this world wore red wedding clothes, they didn’t wear the phoenix crown and veil.
He glanced curiously at the wedding sedan chair. The bride was sitting upright on the sedan, which had translucent white gauze curtains hanging on all sides. Although Cheng Nuo couldn’t see the bride’s face clearly, he looked like he was only fifteen or sixteen years old. Sure enough, this was a world where early marriages were the norm…
Cheng Nuo felt like a real bodyguard when the party set off. He was riding a bull-headed magical beast and felt excited about this novel experience, especially since he hadn’t left the city in a long time.
The first few days were calm. The wedding party traveled quite slowly and the scenery was boring. The only person Cheng Nuo was acquainted with was Li Jiu who was a very quiet and gloomy person, so Cheng Nuo didn’t want to talk to him.
The more experienced guards were on alert because they were now getting closer and closer to the dangerous area. Although it was unlikely for bandits to attack such a well-guarded convoy, they still didn’t want to be too careless and possibly lose some people or things.
Today everyone stopped to make a fire and cook. They only started eating after Cheng Nuo and the other wood elemental disciples had checked to see if the food was safe. Cheng Nuo sat in the middle of the crowd, absentmindedly chewing on a magical beast’s hind leg. He was bored of eating meat all the time. In this world, most people loved to eat meat and drink wine, even females were no exception. Only a few people liked to eat vegetables like Bai Rui. When they had all finished their meals, they immediately went back on the road.
While the others were eating, Cheng Nuo took the opportunity to go to the surrounding forest to forage for some fruits that were growing in the wild. He threw the fruits into his mouth to get rid of the greasy aftertaste of the meat he had eaten.
Halfway up the mountain, most of the people in the wedding party fell off their magical beast mounts and panic ensued. Cheng Nuo was stunned. Were they poisoned? But that was practically impossible! He jumped off his mount and checked one of the fallen’s pulse. His mind racing, he quickly deduced the cause.
Two drugs that cause unconsciousness must have been added to the food but it wasn’t detected because they were harmless if taken separately. Their soporific effect would only appear if the wine and meat were eaten together. It could be easily cured by giving the stricken people the juice of the Ling Grass… The thing he was worried about was: who could the poisoner be?
Their food was prepared by a few trusted people and it was checked by the four disciples in Cheng Nuo’s group, so it must be one of them!
He quickly took out the Ling Grass from his storage bag, but a loud commotion broke out before he could prepare the detoxification medicine. Hundreds of bandits brandishing weapons and mounted on magical beasts rushed to surround the wedding party. Cheng Nuo saw that one of the bandit leaders looked familiar but it took a few moments before he remembered that this was Chu Yunxuan, who had fought with Bai Rui and was forced to sign a blood contract.
Although around eighty percent of the wedding guards had fallen, the rest were not to be trifled with and quickly started fighting the bandits. Cheng Nuo, wielding the sword that Bai Rui had given him, quickly ran over to the bride’s wedding sedan. Of course, the most important thing they had to protect was this little boy who had been pampered and spoiled since childhood. Cheng Nuo was worried about one thing in particular. Will the traitor also take advantage of the chaos to go there?
Although the level one disciples were also poisoned, their high cultivation allowed them to suppress the effects somewhat. As Cheng Nuo passed them, he threw some Ling Grass over to them and shouted loudly, “Chew this to detoxify the poison!”
Unfortunately, the Ling Grass that was still in the air was shot down by an arrow from a hidden enemy. Cheng Nuo turned around in shock, only to realize that a plant was rapidly growing on the ground and wrapping itself around him. Li Jiu was not far away and he was staring at Cheng Nuo with an icy expression in his grey eyes.
Looks like Li Jiu was the traitor! Li Jiu was from Lingyun Pavilion, from a sect that has been under the direct control of Liao Ji’s City Lord. So if they could capture Li Jiu then the rest of the group wouldn’t be suspected!
Cheng Nuo took a deep breath, then started cutting off the plant that had entangled him, but the more he cut, the more it grew. In the meantime, Li Jiu had already ridden away to the forefront of the battle. Cheng Nuo anxiously called out, “Who can make a fire?”
A guard with a fire ability ran over and burned the plant off. Some of the other guards who were behind them rushed over to follow Cheng Nuo.
Many of the bandits were clearly more skilled than Chu Yunxian and had reached the bride’s sedan, frightening the female attendants.
The guards fought on, forming a circle of protection around the bride’s party and frantically blocked all sorts of ice, thorn, fire, lighting, etc. attacks. The wedding sedan was on fire and many of the magical beasts had panicked. Who knew how many unconscious people on the ground had been trampled?
Cheng Nuo knew that Li Jiu had a certain target in mind. When he saw Li Jiu rushing towards the bride’s sedan, Cheng Nuo quickly used a sticky vine on him. An eye for an eye! This was to pay Li Jiu back for the plants earlier.
The guards didn’t know that Li Jiu was the traitor so they let him pass when they saw his sect disciple’s uniform, just as Li Jiu had secretly planned.
The sticky vine stopped Li Jiu’s magical beast but Li Jiu simply jumped down and shot a few arrows behind him. This time Cheng Nuo was prepared and cut down all the arrows with his sword.
Li Jiu had already reached his target. Jumping into the wedding sedan, he ripped the veil around it then placed a poisoned arrow against the young boy’s neck, shouting, “Don’t move or I’ll kill him!”
Cheng Nuo ground his teeth in frustration. Why was he always so unlucky?! To think that he would encounter such a problem on his very first mission! Chu Yunxuan’s bandit group used to live near the slums, when did they move here?
Cheng Nuo didn’t know that, because of the discovery of energy stone deposits around the slums, the slum residents were all dispersed by the city lord. The bandits in the area also moved away.
In the distance, Chu Yunxuan waved his folding fan and laughed. “This kid Chang Chun did a good job, this time he’ll get most of the credit! Everyone, surrender! As long as you surrender, our boss won’t kill those who haven’t offended him!”
Only twenty to thirty guards were left facing hundreds of bandits. Seeing the bride captured and many of their companions dead or unconscious on the ground, they all hesitated and stopped fighting.
When Cheng Nuo heard Chu Yuanxian’s words, his vision momentarily turned black. ****! Li Jiu is Chang Chun?! The children of the slums were often covered in grime from head to toe, so he hadn’t seen their faces too clearly. He would’ve never thought to connect Chang Chun to Li Jiu…
Reika’s Notes:
- What the heck?! Li Jiu is Chang Chun? I never even thought of that. Maybe I’m not as smart as I think, lol! Did any of you figure it out?
- “…didn’t wear the phoenix crown and veil.” – The phoenix crown or Fengguan is a very, very fancy piece of headgear worn on formal occasions in ancient times, especially by brides.
- Please let me know in the comments if there are any errors. Thank you very much for reading.
