Quick Travel to the Clouds

Chapter 654 Fame Spreads Throughout the World 2

After giving her brief instructions, she seemed to have no lingering attachment whatsoever, showing none of the hesitation or hesitation a young girl should have before leaving home. Her gaze passed over her father and brother, landing on the winding path leading down the mountain, half-hidden in the morning mist.

That is the road leading down the mountain, leading to the complex and chaotic world of martial arts.

Her sword, a simple, longsword with a flowing blade, slung diagonally at her waist. Named "Cold Moon," it was a prize her father had acquired in his youth, spending all his savings. To her, it was merely a tool.

"I am leaving."

Before the words were even finished, she had already moved. There were no tearful farewells, no lingering glances back. Her steps were firm and swift, her figure like a drawn sword, piercing straight through the thin morning mist, stepping onto the road leading to the unknown.

The mountain breeze stirred her sky-blue robes, and her dark hair billowed in a cold, hard arc in the wind.

The golden rays of the rising sun pierced through the gaps in the trees, landing right at the entrance to the winding mountain path, casting a bright band of light, as if silently beckoning her to step inside.

Yun Chu, all alone, stepped into the interplay of light and shadow without hesitation. She kept her back straight the whole time, never looking back.

Behind them, in front of the simple courtyard gate, only two figures remained, gazing into the distance for a long time, and a long sigh carried away by the mountain wind. The small Tianji Sect seemed even more desolate.

The new journey begins with an emotionally stripped-away soul and instincts etched into her very bones. "Fame"—for her, it's nothing more than a task to be accomplished.

On the mountain path, where the morning mist had not yet dissipated, five men in coarse clothes and short jackets emerged from the bushes beside the path. The leader, with a scarred face, brandished a chipped machete and chuckled maliciously: "Young lady, you have some nerve! Leave your bundle behind and keep the brothers company..."

Before he could finish speaking, Yun Chu had already drawn his sword.

The Cold Moon Sword drew a chilling arc in the thin mist, precisely piercing the scarred man's right wrist where he held the knife.

As blood splattered, she spun around and kicked to the side, sending the bandit rushing towards her from the left crashing into a tree trunk.

Before the remaining three could react, the sword's spine struck their temples three times with a muffled thud, and the bandits fell one after another like wheat being harvested.

The entire fight lasted no more than ten breaths.

She flicked the blood from the tip of her sword, looking at the groaning bandits on the ground. The scarred man, clutching his wrist, trembled, "Grandma, spare my life..."

Yun Chu's gaze swept over the blood-stained blade, and she took out half a string of copper coins from her bundle and threw them on the ground—these were stolen goods that had fallen from the bandit's waist pouch.

"Your meridians will open up after an incense stick burns." She sheathed her sword and turned to leave. Amidst the bandits' terrified gasps, her azure figure gradually disappeared into the thick fog, the mountain breeze carrying a calm whisper:

"So this is what the martial arts world is like."

As the morning glow pierced through the clouds, merchants at the tea stalls along the official road were already discussing the bandit stronghold's attack the previous night.

Yun Chu sat quietly in the corner, drinking tea and listening to the exaggerated rumor of "breaking seven knives in three moves," her fingertips unconsciously stroking the hilt of the sword.

In the reflection of the tea, those calm eyes reflected the outline of the majestic city in the distance.

a month later

As the sun rose higher, dust swirled in the air beside the official road under the hooves of horses. When Yun Chu reached the fork in the road, a clang of metal shattered the noise.

Ten paces away from the teahouse, seven or eight burly men dressed as servants were surrounding a blue cloth carriage. The carriage curtain was half torn off, and a woman's suppressed sobs could be heard from inside.

A splash of red stood out in the arena.

The young girl, wielding twin willow-leaf swords, stood in front of the carriage with wide, almond-shaped eyes, shouting: "Robbing a woman in broad daylight! The Wang family of Wuzhou has quite the audacity!"

The blades flashed like a sudden rain, but they couldn't withstand the sheer number and power of the servants. The scarred man at the head dodged the blades, his iron ruler sweeping menacingly towards the girl's ankle: "Little Su girl, mind your own business!"

The girl in red staggered backward, her hair disheveled. Two other servants seized the opportunity to pounce on the carriage—

"Shh!"

A figure in a sky-blue robe swept past the tea stall's banners.

Before the Cold Moon Sword was drawn, the tip of the scabbard precisely struck the scarred man's elbow tendon.

As the iron ruler clattered to the ground, Yun Chu spun around and stepped onto the carriage shaft. Using her left palm as leverage, she flipped over and kicked out with her right leg in mid-air. With two muffled thuds, the servants who had rushed towards the carriage tumbled more than ten feet away like gourds rolling on the ground.

The room fell into a deathly silence.

The girl in red, leaning on her knife, gasped for breath, staring blankly at the suddenly appearing Yun Chu. Her fiery red dress, with silver thread embroidered with fluttering birds on the cuffs, contrasted sharply with the coarse cloth of the woman she had rescued.

"Thank you so much, heroine..." The woman inside the car trembled as she climbed out.

The scarred man, clutching his arm, roared, "Where did this charlatan come from! Don't you know this is the Prefect of Wuzhou..."

Before he could finish speaking, the scabbard of the Cold Moon Sword was already three inches from his Adam's apple. Yun Chu's gaze swept over the carriage with the Wang family emblem, her voice as cold as a frost blade: "Get out."

The servants hurriedly helped the leader up.

The scarred man stared at Yun Chu's empty waistband, his pupils suddenly contracting—how could an ordinary sect disciple possess such a decisive and ruthless demeanor? Finally, he gritted his teeth and waved his hand: "Go!"

As the dust settled, the girl in red finally came to her senses and sheathed her sword. Her cheeks were smudged with mud and grime, but her eyes shone with an astonishing light: "My name is Su Ling, and I live in the west of Wuzhou City! Did you just use acupressure to cut off meridians? My father says that skill takes at least twenty years of practice..."

Yun Chu had already squatted down to inspect the crack in the axle.

Upon hearing this, he paused for a moment, then stuffed half a string of copper coins into the still-shaken singing girl's hand: "Change to a donkey cart."

As he stood up, he met Su Ling's admiring gaze and simply said, "It was just on my way."

Su Ling, however, kept chattering as she chased after the azure figure: "What is my sister going to Wuzhou for? To compete in martial arts? To find relatives? My Su Family Escort Agency knows all kinds of heroes best..." Suddenly, she saw Yun Chu stop in front of the stone tablet outside the city gate.

The majestic city walls cast a heavy shadow, and the two characters "Wuzhou" on the monument were eroded and mottled by wind and rain.

In the shadow of the city gate, Su Ling's red sleeves fluttered in the wind, like a tireless sparrow circling around the green bamboo. She grabbed Yun Chu's sword tassel: "Sister, what are you looking at this broken stone for! Come home with me quickly, Mother's plum drink is the best way to cool you down!"

The warmth from her fingertips seeped into her wrist bone through the icy silk tassel of the sword. Yun Chu couldn't pull her hand away in time and was instead pulled forward by her arm.

The black iron door knocker of the Su Family Escort Agency gleamed darkly under the blazing sun. Before the old servant guarding the gate could even pull back the bolt, Su Ling's voice boomed into the three-courtyard house: "Father! I've struck gold!" Startled, the parrot under the eaves flapped its wings and cried out, "Catch the goods! Catch the goods!"

Chief镖头 Su, who was holding a teacup in the rosewood chair in the main hall, trembled.

But then he saw his daughter dragging a girl in a sky-blue dress in like a whirlwind. The way the girl had a long sword hanging at her waist reminded him of the snow goose he had seen in the Kunlun Mountains twenty years ago—it was silent when it folded its wings, and it could cleave through the clouds when it flapped its wings.

"This is the heroine who single-handedly took on the wicked servants of the Wang family!" Su Ling pressed Yun Chu into a rosewood armchair, her apricot-yellow skirt sweeping over the fruit plate on the octagonal table. "Don't be shy, little sister!"

Before she could finish speaking, a maidservant brought over a gilded basin with towels and combs. Yun Chu had just dampened her fingertips when Su Ling suddenly grabbed her right hand and exclaimed, "These calluses! Sister, could it be that you've practiced the Thirteen Styles of the Startling Swan?"

All eyes were fixed on Yun Chu's calloused tiger's mouth.

The butler, carrying a glass of chilled bayberry wine, was caught in a dilemma, while seven or eight bodyguards peered curiously through the carved window.

Yun Chu gazed at the plums floating in the celadon bowl and finally nodded almost imperceptibly.

Suddenly, the old locust tree in front of the courtyard rustled, as if the joyful voices of people inside Yinghe Hall had suddenly burst forth.

The clamor in the hall was abruptly cut off by Su Ling's raised voice. She sprang up like a lit firecracker, the silver sparrow on her sleeve fluttering as if about to take flight: "Excellent! Sister, let's exchange a few blows!"

Before she finished speaking, she spun around and lunged at the weapon rack, her apricot-yellow skirt sweeping the bayberries in the ice basin into a frenzy.

Suddenly, the carved wooden window was filled with a dense crowd of people, and the celadon bowl held by the butler was still condensed with water. Su Ling brandished her willow-leaf twin swords with a clanging sound, the tips pointing directly at the plum drink that Yun Chu hadn't yet drunk: "That's enough!"