Chapter 5: Listening Wind Pavilion
The two black-clad figures froze slightly, seemingly not expecting to be discovered so quickly.
“Go!”
The two seemed unwilling to entangle with Ji Qing and turned to flee.
“Clang.”
Ji Qing drew his saber.
With a single strike, the saber light flashed past like a startled swan.
The two had excellent light-body martial arts, and they narrowly, yet skillfully, dodged Ji Qing’s saber strike.
A hint of surprise flashed in Ji Qing’s eyes.
His Thirteen Road Fast Saber had already reached the Great Accomplishment realm; his saber strikes were not bound by specific forms, and his every move was as if naturally formed.
Even without using a “secret technique,” it was by no means something an ordinary martial artist could block.
Yet, both individuals before him had managed to evade it?
The black-clad figure further from Ji Qing had already leaped off the rooftop, on the verge of disappearing into the night.
Ji Qing no longer held back.
“Swish.”
A dazzling saber light shone in the dark night.
“One Line Sky!”
Ji Qing unleashed the secret technique he had just comprehended.
The black-clad figure’s mind was greatly shaken.
Gazing at the brilliant saber light, his vision seemed to be left with only that saber light.
“Young Master Ji, spare my life… ”
The black-clad figure suddenly awoke from his daze and shouted.
“Hmm?”
Ji Qing raised an eyebrow, and the saber in his hand slightly deviated.
“Pfft.”
The saber strike still cut down.
The saber light grazed the black-clad figure’s cheek, severing a few strands of hair, and his right ear was also sliced off, blood flowing freely.
“You know me?”
Ji Qing used his saber to pull open the black-clad figure’s face mask; it was an unfamiliar face that Ji Qing didn’t recognize.
“Speak, who are you?”
“Young Master Ji, spare my life, I am Ge Er, a member of the Listening Wind Pavilion.”
“Listening Wind Pavilion?”
“It’s a force in the martial arts world that specializes in selling intelligence and information… ”
Ji Qing understood as he listened to Ge Er’s explanation.
So, the other party was from the Listening Wind Pavilion, and their purpose was to scout Ji Qing’s whereabouts.
Currently, Ji Qing was a hot topic in the martial arts world.
Information about Ji Qing was very valuable.
After all, a thousand taels of silver reward, who wouldn’t be tempted by that?
Ji Qing grabbed Ge Er and leaped back into the room.
“How did you know I was here?”
“Young Master Ji, after you committed the incident in Liang City, our Listening Wind Pavilion thoroughly investigated the situation at the Ji Residence and found that there were no young bodies among the corpses at the Ji Residence, so… ”
Ge Er’s gaze fell upon Ji Yao, who was sound asleep on the bed.
Perhaps Ji Yao was too tired; even such a large commotion just now hadn’t managed to wake her.
And Ji Qing immediately understood.
His whereabouts hadn’t actually been exposed, but the fact that he was carrying Ji Yao made this characteristic very obvious.
The Listening Wind Pavilion thrives on intelligence, so naturally, they could notice many details that ordinary people wouldn’t.
When Ji Qing brought Ji Yao to the mule and horse inn, he was noticed by people from the Listening Wind Pavilion.
However, the Listening Wind Pavilion wasn’t entirely certain, which was why they sent Ge Er and his companion to the inn to gather information and confirm Ji Qing’s identity.
“Young Master Ji, we have no grievances or grudges, please spare my life.”
Ge Er immediately knelt and kowtowed, full of a strong desire to survive.
“You want to live? Your companion’s light-body martial arts are quite good.”
Ge Er gritted his teeth and immediately said, “My companion is Liu Shiwu. That light-body martial art is just an ordinary third-rate light-body martial art called Flying on Grass. It’s just that Liu Shiwu has practiced it to Great Accomplishment. I also know Flying on Grass, and if Young Master doesn’t mind, I will write it down and give it to you.”
Ji Qing directly took out paper and a brush and placed them in front of Ge Er.
Ge Er immediately wrote down Flying on Grass from memory.
“How can I enter your Listening Wind Pavilion to buy information?”
Ji Qing asked again.
“Young Master Ji, here is a token, called a listening wind token. As long as you hold a listening wind token, you can enter the Listening Wind Pavilions in various large towns to purchase all kinds of information, and you can also sell information.”
Ji Qing took the listening wind token.
“Alright, you may go.”
Ji Qing waved his hand, telling Ge Er to leave.
After all, Ge Er’s companion had already fled back, and his whereabouts would definitely be exposed. Killing Ge Er would only create enmity with the Listening Wind Pavilion, which would not be worth it.
“Thank you, Young Master Ji.”
Ge Er covered his ear and prepared to leave.
“Wait.”
Ge Er’s body stiffened.
Had Ji Qing regretted it and intended to kill him to silence him?
Ji Qing pointed to the ceiling and said indifferently, “Take out all the silver on you. You pierced the inn’s roof, shouldn’t you compensate them?”
“Uh… ”
Ge Er took out all the silver he had, then used his light-body martial arts to disappear into the night.
“Ji Yao, wake up.”
Ji Qing woke Ji Yao and quickly packed their belongings.
“It’s not safe here anymore, we need to leave quickly!”
Ji Yao very obediently climbed into the backpack, and then Ji Qing came to the inn’s lobby.
“Innkeeper, checking out. This is the silver for repairing the roof… ”
Ji Qing threw down the silver and turned to leave.
“Roof?”
The innkeeper rushed to the guest room, looking at the large hole in the roof, his expression a bit dazed.
“This is a true hero, he pierced the roof and even gave silver for compensation… ”
The innkeeper weighed the silver; it was decent, he could even make a profit after repairing the roof.
Ji Qing didn’t know that he had become a “true hero” in the innkeeper’s mind because of a few taels of silver.
Knowing that his whereabouts had been exposed, Ji Qing quickly left the mule and horse inn.
Ji Qing’s destination was “Anyang City.”
He had to send Ji Yao to Anyang City to settle her down.
Otherwise, it would be too dangerous for him to travel the martial arts world with Ji Yao.
His identity would also be easily discovered.
Half a month passed in the blink of an eye.
Ji Qing’s matter also spread throughout the entire world as time went on.
A thousand taels of silver was no small sum, enough to attract many martial artists to risk ambushing and killing Ji Qing.
Therefore, Ji Qing traveled along small paths the entire way.
Fortunately, he used his remaining source point to raise his light-body martial art, Flying on Grass, to Minor Accomplishment.
With light-body martial arts, Ji Qing could traverse mountain trails and small paths as if on flat ground, making travel much easier.
On this day, as dusk approached.
Ji Qing planned to find a place that could shelter them from wind and rain for the night.
But this place was too desolate, with no villages or inns ahead or behind. Ji Qing searched for a long time before finally finding an abandoned temple, barely able to provide shelter from wind and rain for a night.
Ji Qing put down his backpack.
A small head rustled out from the backpack.
“Brother, I’m so hungry.”
Ji Yao’s stomach was rumbling with hunger.
“I caught a wild chicken on the way; today I’ll roast wild chicken for you to eat.”
“That’s great, I can finally eat meat.”
Ji Yao’s mouth watered with anticipation.
During this half-month of travel, Ji Qing basically only took mountain trails and small paths, not entering cities or staying in inns. It was truly a life of eating and sleeping in the open, incredibly arduous.
Ji Yao hadn’t eaten anything good along the way either.
Ji Qing skillfully gutted the wild chicken, and soon a rich aroma of meat permeated the dilapidated temple.
Just as the two were heartily sharing the roasted chicken, a series of messy footsteps came from outside. It seemed many people were heading towards the dilapidated temple, and they could even faintly hear the sound of vehicles crushing pebbles.
“We are escorts from the Weiyuan Escort Agency. Seeing that dusk is approaching and the road ahead is difficult, we wish to borrow your esteemed place for a night. We hope the friends inside the temple will provide us with convenience; we will be eternally grateful!”
The voice was full of vigor and echoed through the mountains, indicating that the speaker had considerable internal energy.
However, after the voice faded, there was no response from the temple for a long time.
The members of the Weiyuan Escort Agency exchanged glances, looking at each other in confusion.
There was clearly a firelight in the temple just now, indicating that there were people inside.
Why was there no reply?