In the sixth and seventh months, the Central Plains region was unbearably hot everywhere. In Guangling City north of the Yunlan River, a young girl in yellow clothing strolled through the streets. Though the wars across the land had only recently been settled, with all territories north of the Yunlan River now under the Definitive Prince’s jurisdiction, the once vast lands of Great Chu had truly become restricted to a small corner. The Definitive Prince’s administration worked efficiently – in just two or three short months, Guangling, which hadn’t been heavily affected by the warfare, had already restored its former prosperity.
The yellow-clad young girl walked casually down the main street, occasionally looking here and touching there, her beautiful face radiating a brilliant smile that drew the attention of passing pedestrians.
This young lady was none other than Miss Yun Ge, who had run away from the Xu residence in Li City. After leaving Li City, Yun Ge headed south, practicing medicine and sightseeing along the way, living quite freely. Though she encountered some minor troubles, with her martial arts skills, resolving them was naturally no challenge. This young girl, traveling alone far from home for the first time in her life, had made it to Guangling without any obstacles.
“Miss… Are you Miss Shen Yun Ge?”
Yun Ge was staring at a candy stall by the street, debating whether to buy something, when a strange man suddenly rushed over and called out while grabbing her. Yun Ge blinked, asking somewhat confused: “I am Shen Yun Ge, but who are you? How do you know my name?”
“Miss Shen… Miss Shen, please save my mother!” the man said anxiously, starting to kneel as he spoke. Yun Ge quickly caught hold of him, saying: “Don’t panic, tell me slowly. How did you know… I could save your mother?”
The man said: “Miss Shen’s medical skills are excellent, and she has a kind heart. She has saved many lives. I… I also heard people talking about it and heard that Miss Shen had come to Guangling, so I hurried over. Please show mercy…”
Seeing his face flushed with anxiety, Yun Ge quickly nodded: “Don’t worry, I’ll save your mother. Where… where is your mother?”
The man’s face reddened, and he said somewhat shamefully: “I was in such a hurry to enter the city to find you that I left my mother staying at a farmhouse outside the city.”
“Then let’s hurry!” Seeing the man so anxious, Yun Ge didn’t dare delay and headed directly toward the city gate.
Meanwhile, in a teahouse in Guangling City, Young Master Qingchen sat by the window in his white robes, leisurely observing the bustling street below.
“Young Master.” A man in gray cloth clothing quickly walked upstairs and approached Xu Qingchen, saying softly: “Miss Shen has left the city again.” Young Master Qingchen frowned slightly: “She just entered the city, why has she left again?”
After leaving Li City, Young Master Qingchen followed Yun Ge’s trail. But Yun Ge was unpredictable in her movements – sometimes on a whim she would travel two or three hundred li in a day as if it were nothing. Young Master Qingchen, who had no martial arts abilities, clearly couldn’t keep up with such exhausting travel. Thus as they traveled, it wasn’t until a few days ago that they truly caught up with Yun Ge’s trail. But Xu Qingchen hadn’t immediately gone to see her, instead having people follow her from a distance. Yesterday, Xu Qingchen guessed Yun Ge might come to Guangling, so they had arrived first to wait, but unexpectedly she had left again before they could even see her.
“Someone found Miss Shen on the street asking for medical help, so she followed them out,” the man in gray reported quietly. “Someone is already following them.”
“Asking for medical help?” Young Master Qingchen frowned. Throughout their journey, Yun Ge would help anyone who needed it. That her medical skills could earn Shen Yang’s praise showed they were indeed excellent. Along the way, she had gained some reputation, but…
Seeing Young Master Qingchen’s expression darken, the guard quickly said: “Young Master need not worry, Miss Shen’s martial arts are strong, and guards are secretly following her. Nothing should go wrong.” Xu Qingchen thought for a moment, then stood up saying: “Let’s go take a look.” Though Yun Ge’s martial arts were indeed good, she had no experience in the jianghu. Otherwise, she wouldn’t have failed to notice them following her this whole time. Xu Qingchen felt something strange about the person who stopped her on the street asking for medical help. Even if Yun Ge had gained some reputation in the places she passed through, it shouldn’t have spread so quickly. And given Yun Ge’s travel schedule, someone couldn’t follow behind her with a patient.
“Yes.” Seeing Young Master Qingchen’s serious expression, the guard also knew something was likely to happen, and quickly followed Xu Qingchen downstairs.
Outside Guangling City, Yun Ge followed the man seeking medical help into increasingly remote areas and stopped with some suspicion.
“Miss… Miss Shen, what’s wrong?” The man turned back to look at Yun Ge with an apologetic smile. Yun Ge looked at him with furrowed brows: “Where is your mother? There’s no one around here anywhere.”
The man’s expression stiffened slightly as he said: “It’s just ahead. Miss Shen, let’s hurry.” Yun Ge hesitated for a moment but still nodded and continued following him forward.
After walking a bit further, Yun Ge finally felt something was wrong. “Where exactly are you taking me?” Along her journey, Yun Ge encountered various situations. She naturally knew not everyone in the world was good. Though at first, she hadn’t thought much of it due to the man’s anxious face and pleading, if there was a patient, why would they be placed in such a remote, hard-to-find location?
The man turned back, giving Yun Ge a sinister laugh. His face, which had appeared honest and sincere before, now showed a malicious smile that instantly made him appear repulsive. “Hehe, Miss Shen, just follow along and you’ll find out. Why ask so many questions?”
“I’m not going any further!” Yun Ge said sternly, “I’m going back. You don’t have anyone who needs medical attention.”
“No one needs medical attention? Miss Shen… don’t you see that this young master is ill?” An oily voice came from behind. The mountain path that had been empty before suddenly filled with several men, led by a thin youth. His face was sallow, his body skeletal, and his murky eyes held a hint of wickedness. His originally plain features now showed several traces of lewdness, making one feel disgusted at first glance.
However, Yun Ge silently looked over the men before her. None of these people were ordinary – even the thin, sickly-looking man knew some martial arts. “Get out of my way, I’m leaving,” Yun Ge frowned, saying with some displeasure. She wasn’t truly someone without any temper – being tricked after kindly offering to help someone with medical treatment, it would be a lie to say she wasn’t angry.
“Get out of the way?” The group exchanged glances and burst into laughter.
“Miss Shen, this young master followed you for half a day just to meet you. Letting you leave just like this, wouldn’t that be a huge loss for me?” The thin man stared lecherously at Yun Ge while smiling, “This young master sincerely wants to ask for medical treatment. Why don’t you come stay at my humble abode for a few days?”
Meeting his murky eyes, Yun Ge felt nauseated. Glancing at him, she said: “You’re not ill, you just need to live a more disciplined life.” This man’s gaunt face and turbid, lifeless eyes clearly showed he had simply overindulged in carnal pleasures.
Having said this, she ignored the group and turned to leave the way they had come. Seeing Yun Ge show such disrespect, the man grew furious and waved his hand saying: “Quickly, invite this beauty back as a guest for your young master.”
“Yes!” Those beside him responded in unison, all moving forward to surround Yun Ge.
“Be careful, don’t harm this young master’s beauty.” This man was a young master from a prominent family near Guangling, though he had no real abilities himself. Relying on his family’s accumulated wealth, he spent his days in pleasure houses and brothels and had a habit of forcibly taking commoner women. With authority being distant and the realm newly settled, no one paid attention to such matters. Early this morning, he had seen Yun Ge treating refugees in a small town, and this brazenly lecherous fellow had followed her for dozens of li before thinking of a way to lure her here.
Yun Ge wasn’t easy to bully on her journey. She glared at the group in displeasure and struck out with her palm at one of the men approaching her. Though these men following the young master weren’t experts, they had learned some martial arts. Seeing Yun Ge attack, the others rushed in to surround and attack her. When the thin young master saw that Yun Ge knew martial arts, he grew even more excited, “Oh? Does she even know martial arts? Excellent! Quick… bring this little beauty back for your young master. I’ll take her as a concubine!”
Yun Ge’s face flushed red with anger. She raised her hand and shot a dark projectile toward the man. The young master knew some martial arts himself, and seeing the flying weapon, he quickly dodged aside. Looking back at the dart embedded in the tree, he broke out in a cold sweat.
“Useless! Hurry up, you can’t even handle one woman!” the young master roared.
Though these men were tall and strong, they were no match for Yun Ge in martial arts. During the fight, the men exchanged glances. Two of them engaged Yun Ge while another took something from his clothes and threw it in her direction. Yun Ge’s heart lurched – “Muscle-weakening powder?!”
As a medical practitioner, Yun Ge naturally knew how dangerous muscle-weakening powder was. But with several people entangling her, though she tried her best to avoid it, she still was exposed to some. No longer concerning herself with these men, Yun Ge struck back one attacker with her palm and flew away into the distance. She knew clearly that once the powder’s effects took hold, she would truly be at their mercy.
“Hurry and chase her! Bunch of useless trash!” Seeing his prize escaping, the young master flew into a rage and berated them.
“Young Master… that lady doesn’t seem ordinary…” one man advised quietly. Though they weren’t very experienced, someone who could still run after being hit with muscle-weakening powder, and with such powerful martial arts, clearly wasn’t ordinary. If they offended someone they shouldn’t…
“This young master doesn’t care if she’s ordinary or not,” the young master sneered. “In Guangling territory, is there anyone more powerful than my Huang family? Once she becomes mine…” Seeing him like this, the guards naturally didn’t dare object and hurriedly chased after Yun Ge.
Yun Ge used her lightness skill to sprint toward Guangling City while feeling herself breaking into a sweat, her body growing weak and losing strength. Her desperate sprint was making the powder’s effects hit even harder. But she had no medicine on hand that could counter it.
Gradually, she couldn’t even use her lightness skill anymore. Yun Ge finally collapsed exhausted by the roadside, her body so weak she couldn’t even lift her hands.
Damn it… Yun Ge couldn’t help but curse those villains in her heart, while also growing anxious. She remembered… on the way here she seemed to have seen some herbs that could counter poison… Yun Ge tried hard to remember while forcing herself to stand up and head in the direction she recalled. But she had barely stood before falling again.
Soon, the men caught up. Seeing Yun Ge fall to the ground, the thin young master laughed triumphantly, “Little beauty, why don’t you run? Why aren’t you running anymore?”
Yun Ge glared at him fiercely, “You bastard… despicable!”
The young master laughed even more smugly, “Bastard? Despicable? This is all your fault, miss. If you had just obediently listened, this young master wouldn’t have had to be so abrupt with beauty. This young master’s family has immense wealth – if you just obediently return with me, you’ll have endless riches and luxury to enjoy.”
“Who wants your stupid wealth!” Yun Ge said disdainfully. She had plenty of money too – Sister Li had said that the money her father left her was enough to live a life of luxury.
The young master had long lost his patience. Seeing Yun Ge like this, he gave a cold laugh: “Don’t want it? You won’t say that later. Come, bring the little beauty back for your young master.”
Two of the attendant men came forward to grab Yun Ge. She bit down hard on her tongue, using the sharp pain as a stimulus to throw out a handful of hidden weapons, then used what little strength she had gathered to stand and run while the men were dodging.
“Catch her!” The young master’s furious voice came from behind.
Yun Ge struggled forward, but sometimes even the strongest willpower couldn’t overcome the effects of the medicine. From overexertion, Yun Ge felt her vision going dark. She knew that when she stopped next time, it wouldn’t just be a weakness – she would completely pass out. So she desperately told herself not to stop, don’t stop…
“Stop! You damned girl…” The men had caught up again.
Yun Ge began to feel despair. She was just a young girl who hadn’t experienced much in life – being able to persist this long in such a situation was already remarkable. Tears slid from her eyes as she fell to the ground once more.
“Wuu…”
“So foolish, running around everywhere. What would you do if I hadn’t come looking for you?” A gentle voice tinged with faint resignation rang out, sounding like heavenly music to Yun Ge’s ears. Yun Ge fell into an embrace that carried a hint of coolness and the scent of ink, momentarily stunned. Looking up, she met a pair of gentle, tranquil eyes. Only now those eyes held a faint coldness and turbulence.
“Xu… Xu Qingchen, is it you?”
“Who else would it be?” Xu Qingchen sighed helplessly. Seeing her struggling so painfully, he could only sigh with pity, gently stroking her hair: “It’s me. Everything’s fine now. Be good… go to sleep.”
Yun Ge felt her heart settle. Leaning in his embrace, she slowly closed her eyes.