Chapter 165: Chapter 2 Dragon Pass Road
Bian Ruxue looked up slightly.
What she saw before her was the warm and tender smile of a young man by the campfire.
However, she felt that, although the smile hadn’t changed, she seemed to be a very long distance away from the young man.
But this feeling was fleeting, as if it were an illusion.
She thought of the sword.
The restless and unsettled part of her heart seemed to suddenly find a place to land.
She thought of the pinnacle of swordsmanship, that ultimate legendary sword technique.
In a soft voice, she said, “Brother Hao, you have more talent than I do, and you might even reach that place faster than me.”
“That’s not necessarily true.”
Li Hao opened his hands slightly and said, “You see, I don’t even have a sword.”
“…”
Bian Ruxue was startled and then smirked bitterly.
Without a sword, one cannot be called a Swordsman.
But the exquisite sword move Li Hao executed in the fierce battle with Li Tian Gang was still unforgettable for her.
Even though such extreme swordsmanship and immense Sword Intent were displayed, why did the person before her seem to care so little about swords?
It seemed that this had always been the case since he was young.
What exactly does Brother Hao… care about?
At that moment, a figure silently drifted down from the treetops, landing next to the campfire, interrupting Bian Ruxue’s thoughts. Her eyes, which held a trace of confusion, instantly became clear as she looked over promptly.
There was an old man in a green robe with white hair and beard, his hair casually tied atop his head with an old wooden hairpin skewered through it.
Now, he sat carelessly on a wooden stump by the fire, fanning the aroma of the roasted tiger meat toward his nose and clicking his tongue in approval:
“Without any seasonings, it’s a pity you’re not a chef given you can create such delicacies!”
“I would like to be one, but I never had the chance,”
Li Hao said with a smile.
“Is it ready?”
“It’s edible now.”
Hearing this, Feng Boping no longer held back and picked up a roasted tiger paw to blow on it.
The tiger paw had incisions made on it, sprinkled with salt, and smeared with wild herbs that Li Hao had gathered along the way, crushed and rubbed inside. Now, as a result of roasting, everything had soaked into the meat.
Feng Boping savored the meat, juice flowing, with no concern for appearances.
Li Hao chuckled and drew out Ren Qianqian’s sword, using it as a meat cleaver.
He cut a portion and then picked some leaves from the tree to use as a plate, handing it to Ren Qianqian.
“Thank you, young master.” Ren Qianqian said with a gentle smile, taking it with both hands.
Li Hao repeated the process, cutting meat from another tiger paw and serving it on a large mulberry leaf, waving Bian Ruxue over.
Bian Ruxue, having hurriedly traveled day after day without proper meals or rest, suddenly felt her hunger keenly. Enticed by the aromatic smell, she walked over.
She took the mulberry leaf, glanced at it, without disdain, and casually broke off a twig to use as chopsticks, picking up a piece of meat to eat.
“This is really delicious!”
As soon as she tasted the tiger meat, Bian Ruxue’s eyes slightly widened with amazement. It was incredibly delicious.
In the Sword Cottage where she practiced, she had seldom indulged. According to her master, succumbing to luxury would surely corrode the Sword Heart; after all, how could there be room for a sword if the mind were filled with various distractions of eating and playing?
Therefore, the meals in the Sword Cottage were always quite ordinary.
“If it’s good, eat more,”
Li Hao said with a smile.
He himself picked up a tiger paw, sliced off half a piece, and tossed it to the little white fox.
The rest he blew on and then began to eat.
“Who is this elder?”
During a pause in eating her meat, Bian Ruxue curiously looked at Feng Boping, not knowing when Li Hao had made the acquaintance of such a seemingly unfathomable old senior.
“It’s better for you not to know my name,”
Feng Boping said with a light chuckle before he continued eating and drinking without paying her any more attention.
He carried a flask of liquor on his belt, drank from it himself, and then passed it to Li Hao.
Li Hao didn’t hold back either. Eating meat in one hand and drinking liquor with the other, after he swallowed it all down, the spicy and meaty flavors mingled in his stomach, eliciting an exclamation of satisfaction!
Seeing Li Hao in such a state, Bian Ruxue felt a bit lost. Drinking was considered the pursuit of rough men. Although most men did enjoy drinking, Li Hao was still quite young in her eyes.
“Brother Hao, drink less…” Bian Ruxue couldn’t help saying.
Feng Boping laughed loudly, “Kid, your bride hasn’t crossed the threshold yet, and she has already started to manage you.”
Li Hao merely smiled faintly without responding to the comment, continuing to eat and drink.
Bian Ruxue’s cheeks flushed, and seeing that Li Hao wouldn’t be persuaded, she stopped trying to convince him and quietly ate her own piece of meat.
In the dark forest, stars twinkled.
The long night was silent.
After eating their fill, everyone settled down to rest.
Li Hao lay comfortably in front of the campfire, his expression peaceful and content, his mouth curving into a slight smile as he slept.
Bian Ruxue sat by the fire, occasionally adding a stick of firewood, and occasionally gazing at the young man with a slightly furrowed brow.
Having come out from the Divine General Mansion, having suffered such serious injuries, and having broken with her father… why did he appear to sleep so soundly?
What was he dreaming about? Who was in his dreams?
The girl didn’t know. She slowly retracted her gaze, staring at the dancing sparks of the campfire in a trance…
Birds startled into flight within the woods, and the dawn’s first light gradually approached.
The campfire had died down.
A new day had arrived.
On the edge of the forest, on the road through Liangzhou, Li Hao bid farewell to Bian Ruxue, telling her to return home without worries.
Having said all that could be said, Bian Ruxue didn’t insist any longer. Carrying her sword, she turned back three times, only to see that the young man was no longer lingering in place. Thus, without looking back again, she headed straight down the road she had come from, all the way back.
Deep down, she felt a sense of relief.
Since Li Hao did not need her company, she could then devote herself wholeheartedly to pursuing her own path of swordsmanship.
“Brother Hao, I will definitely reach the pinnacle of the Sword Path, and then I’ll tell you what I’ve seen…”
The girl murmured to herself, her gaze gradually becoming steady.
…
…
Continuing along the official road, the cypress trees gradually became sparse, and in some areas where the cypresses had been obviously destroyed and trampled, there had been no repairs or replanting.
The official road also became increasingly dilapidated, with some parts even cracked open, leaving behind thick indentations as if a large python had traversed it, crushing it as it passed.
“Ahead lies the Dragon Pass Road.”
Feng Boping’s eyes were also slightly grave.
The Dragon Pass Road extended from the border’s official road like a sharp spike, penetrating thousands of miles away, with Heavenly Gate Pass and Cangya City, where the Li Family’s army was stationed, at its end.
The Dragon Pass Road was the essential route to Heavenly Gate Pass. The road was so long that it took a day’s ride on horseback. It was the first emperor of Dayu who, thousands of years ago, with the ancestors of the Li Family, fought and opened up the territory, step by step, along this path.
With this road, the Dayu’s army could at any time make a long march directly into Northern Cold Country, which lay outside of Heavenly Gate Pass.
The Northern Cold Country was one of the six neighboring nations subdued by Dayu, becoming a vassal state, but now, as the Dayu Dynasty declined from its glory, these once vassal states seemed to show signs of restlessness.
Li Hao gazed into the distance, faintly seeing a vast white road stretching straight out.
“That was quick.”
Li Hao sighed and then continued forward.
Before long, they encountered an elderly man and his grandson carrying baskets of medicinal herbs on the official road ahead of them.
Although Li Hao, with the little white fox and Ren Qianqian, were walking casually, their pace was still faster than that of the grandfather and grandson, and they slowly caught up with and then overtook them.
The grandfather and grandson had noticed Li Hao and Ren Qianqian from a distance, revealing a cautious and even somewhat nervous look in their eyes. Despite the wide and deserted official road, they still unconsciously stepped aside to avoid them.
Only when they saw that Li Hao did not pay them any attention did the grandfather and grandson breathe a sigh of relief.
They followed slowly at a far distance, yet dared not show anything out of the ordinary.
But this behavior was already strange enough in Li Hao’s eyes, as the local people seemed to be very vigilant and fearful of strangers.
“Young man, are you going further ahead?”
Just as they were about to enter the Dragon Pass Road, suddenly, an old voice called out from behind.
Li Hao stopped, turned his head, and looked at the grandfather and grandson with a slight frown, surprised that they would initiate a conversation. He smiled and said, “Can’t I continue forward?”
The old man with a basket full of medicinal herbs looked at Li Hao and then at Ren Qianqian, thinking to himself that they must not be demons but rather descendants of a noble family out on a training journey.
He sighed inwardly and said to Li Hao, “Young man, beyond here lies the Dragon Pass Road.”
“Hmm?”
Li Hao looked at him with a hint of confusion.
Seeing that Li Hao had not yet understood, the old man continued with a sigh:
“Once you reach the Dragon Pass Road, you can’t go any further; that place is full of demons!”
“Demons?”
Li Hao was surprised, exchanged a glance with Ren Qianqian, and then asked, “The Dragon Pass Road is still within the territory of our Dayu, right? Beyond the end of it, at Heavenly Gate Pass, is where demons dwell.”
“Heavenly Gate Pass?”
The old man appeared momentarily stupefied before shaking his head and saying, “What Heavenly Gate Pass? There’s nothing there but mountains of corpses and a sea of blood, nothing but the intense stench of decay and bloodshed.”
With that, he glanced at the sky, seeming to realize it was getting late, and said right away:
“Young man, you want to exterminate demons and uphold justice, which is admirable, but this is no place for you to play. You’d better leave quickly before it gets dark. This official road won’t be safe…”
After saying so, he took his grandson’s hand and, carrying the medicinal herbs, continued walking forward.
Only the young grandson carrying the small basket kept looking back from time to time.
Once they were a kilometer away, the young grandson suddenly said, “Grandpa, it looks like they went in.”
“What?”
The old man was shocked, turning his head to look, but on the official road, there was no longer any sign of the young man and woman.
He couldn’t help but sigh deeply and said, “No use advising those bent on courting death.”
…
On Dragon Pass Road, Li Hao and Ren Qianqian continued to walk at a leisurely pace.
But before long, Li Hao’s expression subtly changed, and he stopped, turning to look in the direction of the old man and his grandson had traveled.
“Young master?”
Ren Qianqian was puzzled.
Li Hao didn’t speak but simply looked around and noticed a wooden stick.
He bent down to pick it up and casually sent a wave of Sword Qi flying with the rough stick!
The Sword Qi was like a gentle breeze, silently sweeping by, but rushing furiously forward.
As if stimulated by the breeze, it brushed past the slowly toiling grandfather and grandson on the official road, lifting hairs at their temples as if a warm breeze had swept from behind them.
And the breeze traveled ahead, extending over twenty li.
There, a demon resembling a crocodile lay in ambush by the roadside, poised to strike.
Suddenly, a gust of wind blew along the official road.
The demon, sensing something, pupils contracting, tried to move, but its body violently trembled.
Then, from its forehead to its body, it split open, with blood and entrails scattering all over the ground…
…
Li Hao smiled faintly, tossing the stick casually to the side of the road.
Then clapping his hands, he continued onward.
Ren Qianqian didn’t understand what had just happened but didn’t ask any further questions. Li Hao would occasionally do something strange on their journey, and she had grown accustomed to it.
As they delved deeper into Dragon Pass Road, Li Hao encountered more rotting corpses and bones of demons, now merely white bones, left unattended.
Along the way, he also came across demons lying on Dragon Pass Road, deeply asleep, turning what was once a road evaded by demons into their own comfortable bed.
With these demons, Li Hao showed no mercy. There was no need for Elder Feng to make a move; he dealt with them effortlessly.
Throughout their journey, Li Hao’s expression became somber as he finally understood why the old man had said what he did.
The Dragon Pass Road, established thousands of years ago, seemed now almost abandoned.
In theory, over the years, the Li Family should have had people guarding this place. Why then had it become like this?
Walking intermittently, Li Hao, accompanied by Ren Qianqian and the little white fox, finally arrived at the end of Dragon Pass Road.