16: Chapter 16 I promised you.

In the blink of an eye, the two had already exchanged dozens of blows, and Lan Guping grew increasingly alarmed as they fought.

In the past, he had held himself in high regard, believing that apart from his Prodigy of an older brother, his own cultivation was likely quite respectable in the world.

However, this kid before him was unknown, yet he not only possessed a Fifth-Grade cultivation but also executed his Moves with such seasoned, sharp precision that it was clearly the result of years of life-and-death combat.

Furthermore, this kid's True Qi was fierce and potent, clearly a military Cultivation Technique.

Could it be that he was also an expert sent by the imperial court?

This operation to capture the Third Prince was a crucial step for the Lan Family.

Therefore, in Hechuan City, City Lord Lan Sheng had spared no effort in deploying his secretly trained Iron Guard Battalion.

This was the Lan Family's pledge of allegiance to King Yu, who had raised an army, and it could not be allowed to fail.

Even though the Third Prince had sacrificed all his guards to escape, he had been quickly tracked to the Fuyuan Escort Agency.

Thinking that Lan Guping's involvement would be more than enough, City Lord Lan Sheng had arranged for troops to seal off information and had not brought a large army with him.

However, he had not expected such a turn of events.

This time, there was trouble; if the news leaked out prematurely...

Seeing that the Third Prince had vanished without a trace, Lan Guping grew increasingly anxious, and his movements became somewhat flustered.

Su Jiuchuan fought with increasing ease, and seeing that his opponent's rhythm was disrupted, his spirits soared; he feigned a slash with his blade, then flicked his other hand, throwing a handful of white powder.

Lan Guping was startled and hurriedly channeled his Qi to repel the powder.

From the side, another slash came diagonally, and he hurriedly swung his sword to parry.

Unexpectedly, this was another feint, and another handful of powder was thrown at him.

This time, Lan Guping was unable to use his True Qi to repel it in time, and suddenly, he felt a burning, searing pain in his eyes.

"No..."

Su Jiuchuan seized the opportunity and finished him off with a single slash.

Seeing that Lan Guping was finally dead, an indescribable feeling welled up in Su Jiuchuan's heart.

For some time now, Lan Guping had almost become his nightmare, as countless simulations had ultimately ended in defeat at his hands.

It had forced him to constantly find money to top up, but he had finally accumulated enough strength and had now thoroughly eliminated this major threat.

The heavy pressure on him vanished instantly, and Su Jiuchuan felt his entire being lighten.

"Are... are you alright!"

Seeing Su Jiuchuan covered in blood, Xue Mingcai asked with some fear.

Su Jiuchuan checked himself and found only a few small cuts, so he answered casually: "It's nothing, just some minor wounds."

"My father and the Third Prince are gone!" Zheng Xinyue only then realized that several people were missing.

Su Jiuchuan smiled and said: "I suppose they were afraid I'd be killed and wanted me to cover their escape!"

Zheng Xinyue remained silent, acknowledging it; she knew her father must have thought exactly that.

"Why didn't you go with them?"

"I... I said that until you get the ten thousand taels of silver, I won't leave." Her eyes flashed with determination.

Su Jiuchuan smiled noncommittally and walked over to Lan Guping to search him.

He didn't even have enough money on him to simulate once, so he hoped this rich Young Master wouldn't disappoint him.

After some searching, he found over a hundred taels of silver on the few subordinates.

On Lan Guping, he only found a dozen or so gold leaves, but he did manage to find a page of gold foil tucked in his robes, on which a Move was outlined; it appeared to be a sword technique.

This sword technique looked extremely complicated, and since Su Jiuchuan used a blade, he couldn't be bothered to study it and simply tucked it into his robes.

In this world, the exchange rate between gold and silver was roughly 1 to 10, so these gold leaves added up to quite a bit.

"Top up!"

[Topped up 1520 points, current balance: 2056 points.]

Seeing this, Su Jiuchuan let out a long sigh of relief; he could finally use the simulator again.

The three of them dealt with the bodies together, only then realizing how exhausted they felt.

Throughout the night, with continuous fighting, fleeing, and then facing a powerful enemy, they were truly exhausted, so they found a nearby cave and fell asleep as soon as they lay down.

By the time Su Jiuchuan woke up, it had already grown dark outside.

A campfire had been lit in the cave, and Xue Mingcai was busily adding branches to the fire, her beautiful face smudged with ash, looking particularly disheveled.

Zheng Xinyue didn't know where she had gone, but she was no longer in the cave.

Su Jiuchuan brushed the dirt off himself, walked over, sat down beside Xue Mingcai, and used a stick to poke the fire, making it burn brighter.

"Yesterday... yesterday..., I agreed to your request." The more Xue Mingcai spoke, the lower her voice became, until at the end it sounded like the buzzing of a mosquito.

Su Jiuchuan was stunned for a moment, not realizing what she meant, and said: "I... what request?"

"You... didn't you say that to learn martial arts, one must pay a price? I... I agreed."

Su Jiuchuan finally realized; yesterday, he had seemingly made a casual joke with this young girl.

"I don't want to be like my mother, powerless to resist for my whole life, only able to passively accept my fate." Xue Mingcai stared fixedly at the dancing flames and said firmly.

"From the time I could remember, I lived with my mother in that courtyard. My mother said there was more beautiful scenery outside Qingyun Temple. Every spring, the azaleas would bloom all over the mountains, in summer the peach trees in the mountains would be laden with fruit, and little monkeys would dart through the forest..."

"However, I had never seen any of this; I could only look at the pine and cypress trees filling the courtyard inside Qingyun Temple. I really wanted to go out and see, but the old man wouldn't let me."

"My mother would then take me to prune the branches and leaves in the courtyard. I secretly asked my mother how to escape that cage, how to escape Qingyun Temple."

"My mother said that everything is fate, destined, and one cannot escape it. In the end, she died of grief just like that..."

Su Jiuchuan was moved; he turned to look and saw something glistening in the girl's eyes, and he couldn't help but feel some regret for his joke yesterday.

"Since leaving Qingyun Temple, I've been thinking that I must not live my life like my mother did."

"Therefore, I must become a Martial Artist, no matter what price I have to pay."

Su Jiuchuan sighed inwardly, wondering if his words from yesterday had directly corrupted the young girl.

"Uh, actually, the condition I mentioned yesterday was for you to be my maid for a year!" Su Jiuchuan hurriedly said.

Seeing the look of astonishment on Xue Mingcai's face, he couldn't help but add: "What? Did you think I had some other request?"

"Ah!" Xue Mingcai's fair, pretty face instantly turned bright red, and she hurriedly said to cover it up: "No... how could that be, how could Brother Su be that kind of person."

At this moment, Zheng Xinyue walked in from outside, carrying two wild rabbits in her hand; it seemed she had gone to find food just now.

"Sister Xinyue, let me help you." Xue Mingcai ran over excitedly, and Zheng Xinyue was stunned for a moment, feeling as if she had missed something.

Seeing this, Su Jiuchuan couldn't help but smile slightly.