Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Uninvited Guest
Translator: 549690339
After spending more than an hour and covering nearly ten miles of mountain road, Lu Yuan finally bypassed those Black Wolf Gang members and returned to the vicinity of his cave dwelling.
Whoosh!
In the cold stream, he grabbed a handful of icy water to wipe his face, and took the opportunity to wash away the bloodstains on his body.
The freezing water from the melting early snow merged into the stream, bringing a bone-piercing chill. The exhaustion from Lu Yuan’s long trek through the mountain was immediately relieved by this cold sensation, and he instantly felt much more refreshed.
After briefly cleaning himself up, he picked up his bow and arrow and began walking towards his cave dwelling.
The distance between the stream and the cave was very short—it was only about a hundred steps away.
However, when he was still ten steps away from the entrance, his gaze swept across the doorway, and his attention fell on the vines he used for concealment. In that instant, Lu Yuan’s eyes narrowed.
“Someone has been here.”
He noticed that the dense vines originally arranged meticulously by him had shifted positions. Although someone had tried to reset the placement of some of the vines, they were now different from how he had left them before.
Seeing this, Lu Yuan immediately took several steps back, staying far away from the vines.
“Who entered my cave?”
Almost instinctively, he thought of the Black Wolf Gang members he had encountered earlier.
Although the Black Wolf Gang controlled the trade in Dayu County, they were only interested in the terminal commerce in the county town, and showed no interest in the mountain where goods originated from.
In the past few years, there had been no reports of any Black Wolf Gang members venturing into the mountains.
But now, a large group of Black Wolf Gang members have entered Dayu Mountain, seemingly searching for someone,
There must be a reason for this abnormal situation.
“Those Black Wolf Gang members were chasing whoever entered my cave.”
Lu Yuan did not think it was the Black Wolf Gang that had entered his cave, because, with their overwhelming numbers and domineering attitude, they would have had no reason to discreetly cover their tracks by fixing the vines at the entrance.
The timing of someone entering his cave and the arrival of the Black Wolf Gang in the mountains was too close to be a coincidence.
Having figured this out, Lu Yuan looked at his cave dwelling hidden by the vines, appearing somewhat indecisive.
He had always hated trouble.
He possessed an infinite lifespan, and even if life was tough at the moment, he believed that things would eventually get better, and there would be a brighter future waiting for him.
But even after hiding in the mountains, trouble still seemed to find him.
“Trouble comes uninvited.”
Lu Yuan murmured in a low voice. Suddenly, he raised the Hunting Bow in his hand, nocking an arrow and releasing it. The arrow shot out and pierced right through the vines.
Ding!
A crisp metallic sound echoed, and a figure burst through the vines, quickly emerging from behind them.
However, just as the figure reached mid-air, a series of whooshing noises sounded, signaling the arrival of three more arrows, all accurately aimed at him.
Although they could not find any leverage in mid-air, the figure somehow managed to twist their body around while simultaneously swinging a Long Sword in their hand. With several swipes, two arrows were cut down.
But the arrows came fast and furiously, and while he managed to deflect two of them, the third one hit him directly in the shoulder.
The enormous impact sent him flying backwards in mid-air before crashing down to the ground.
Yet before he could even land, several more arrows came “whooshing” towards him, hitting his chest and thigh. One even pierced through his neck.
“Heh heh…”
The figure collapsed on the ground, blood gushing from his throat. After struggling for a moment, he was silent.
Seeing this from a distance, Lu Yuan’s eyes slightly narrowed.
Although he had shot down the man, he did not rashly approach directly. Instead, he raised his hand and continued to shoot another arrow towards the motionless figure on the ground in the distance.
With a puff, the arrowhead pierced through the man’s temple and entered his brain directly.
This time, even if he were the King of Heaven’s father, he couldn’t be more dead.
“Phew, that was close.”
After confirming the man’s death, Lu Yuan put down his hunting bow, wiped his sweat, and looked frightened.
If it wasn’t for his earlier vigilance and maintaining a safe distance from the cave entrance when he discovered something was wrong, he might have been killed directly by the ambushing person as he entered the cave.
Thinking about the speed at which the man swept through the air earlier, his sharp swordsmanship, and his bizarre body movements in mid-air, Lu Yuan couldn’t help but palpitate.
“This is definitely a martial arts expert.”
Being sure of this, he hurriedly went up and came to the corpse on the ground.
When he approached and could see the man’s face clearly, Lu Yuan froze and recognized, “Ma Ji Qing.”
This man was actually the martial arts swordsman who killed Zhang Biao and four others on the street that day.
“How could he be here?” He wondered, but soon thought, “That’s right, there are still Black Wolf Gang members in the mountains. Could it be that he was chased by the Black Wolf Gang for revenge, so he fled into the mountains to hide?”
Ma Ji Qing had killed people from the Black Wolf Gang, and they would not let it go easily.
On that day, Zhang Biao said before his death that the Black Wolf Gang leader was a disciple of the Iron Sword Sect and should also come from the martial arts world.
“So, he was hunted down for revenge?”
As Lu Yuan spoke, he had already reached out to search the body of Ma Ji Qing and soon found several bloody scars on the man’s body.
The man had traces of sharp objects cutting through his thigh, chest, and back. Most of his clothes were soaked in blood, as he had obviously lost too much blood earlier.
If it weren’t for that, Lu Yuan thought it would not be easy for him to kill this martial arts expert with his major success in “Crude Archery.”
“It seems he had already suffered serious injuries and hid in my cave. Coincidentally, I returned, and he intended to kill me to silence me, right?”
Lu Yuan didn’t think that Ma Ji Qing, quietly hiding behind the vine, was trying to greet him.
The man was a ruthless Jianghu person, who had killed Zhang Biao and the others without giving them any mercy. It was straightforward and efficient.
How could such a desperado spare a living person to ensure his safety?
Had Lu Yuan fallen into the man’s hands, a swift death would be considered lucky.
“You wanted to kill me, but I killed you. It’s fair and just.”
Looking at the corpse on the ground, Lu Yuan held a book and a large money bag in his hands, his face full of smiles.
Although this time was a bit risky, at least it wasn’t in vain.
After securing the book and money bag close to his body, he picked up the long sword that had fallen on the ground, and after taking his spoils of war, he dragged Ma Ji Qing’s corpse towards the back of the mountain.
Of course, he couldn’t bury a person where he lived.
Doing that would not only risk leaving clues but also make it uncomfortable to live there.
Fortunately, there was a nearby mountain cliff with a deep pit of vegetation underneath, which has always been uninhabited and has hidden dangerous things in it.
It was just right for disposing of the corpse.
It took him more than an hour, and Lu Yuan dragged the corpse to a mountain cliff five miles away from his cave. He raised his leg, kicked, and the corpse rolled down the cliff.
“Hmm, when the wild beasts smell the blood and come over, the traces will disappear in a couple of days.”
Lu Yuan stared at the pitch-black bottom of the cliff for a while, shuddered when he felt a cold wind blowing, and turned his head to go back to his cave.
Busy for a day, he was already tired.
Now he just wanted to return to the cave, fill his stomach, and then have a good night’s sleep