Hidden Shadow – CH 040

Chapter Forty: Demoness

The four people originally headed north to find An Jiu, but they lost their way almost immediately. Wandering aimlessly, they stumbled upon a marked grave.

They immediately recognized it as a dagger symbol on the map. Mei Tingjun had a map with a complete route, so he wanted to retrieve the dagger. However, because they were disoriented and did not know which map the dagger belonged to, Mei Tingzhu tried to grab it first, resulting in a fight with Mei Tingjun.

Mei Tingyuan and Mei Tingchun tried to break up the fight, but their martial arts skills were no match for the two, and they were caught in the crossfire.

“Third Mei!” Mei Tingjun roared. “You dare try to take it from me!”

Mei Tingzhu sneered, “What, are you angry now? Why should the good things be yours?”

“Sister, calm down; he’s our own brother,” Mei Tingyuan said impatiently. “Even I can see this is a conspiracy, a trap set by the Grand Madam to test us. You are always so clever; how could you not see it?”

“Who says I cannot see it?” Mei Tingzhu said. “Since you know it’s a test, can you guess the answer?”

The answer was simple—absolute obedience.

An Jiu had fulfilled this countless times, and she fulfilled it even in her last.

“It’s about completing the mission at all costs,” Mei Tingzhu said, staring at them intently. “In the Konghe Army, there’s only sacrifice, no retreat. If you are not prepared for this, do not go to your deaths!”

She slightly shifted her foot, assuming a fighting stance. “Come on, whoever wins takes it!”

Mei Tingchun pursed her lips, taking a few steps back. “My martial arts are not good enough; I… I will withdraw.”

Mei Tingzhu looked at Mei Tingyuan. “What about you?”

Mei Tingjun’s martial arts were on par with Mei Tingzhu’s, far surpassing those of her peers. Mei Tingyuan was naturally no match for her, but she did not want to lose her chance to enter the Dark School.

“It’s all Fourteenth Young Lady’s fault!” Mei Tingyuan’s eyes were red. She stomped her foot, turned, and stood beside Mei Tingchun, also giving up. But she said it with resentment. “If Fourteenth Young Lady had not taken those two maps, we could have passed!”

A bunch of good-for-nothings!

Mei Tingyuan’s words forced An Jiu to make this assessment in her mind. The four of them, pieced together, could easily determine that the map she held depicted the southernmost area. Therefore, even searching every gravesite for two hours would be enough to find it!

In fact, An Jiu had wronged them; Mei Tingzhu had also considered this. However, there were no directional markers here, and those without specialized training in navigation could easily get lost.

“Brother, forgive me!” With that, Mei Tingzhu flicked a long whip from her sleeve, aiming straight for Mei Tingjun’s neck.

A gust of wind swept through, and Mei Tingjun dared not act directly. With a slight sway, he unsheathed his soft sword, twirling it with a flourish like a serpent in retaliation.

The whip struck the opposite grave mound with a crack, sending a shower of dry grass flying. The soil from the grave mound cascaded down like rain onto the grass, even affecting An Jiu, who was ten feet away.

An ordinary whip could not possibly have such force; it must be related to so-called internal energy. She grew increasingly excited.

Meanwhile, Mei Tingjun’s sword was only three inches from Mei Tingzhu’s face. She dodged to the side, and at the same time, her long whip, swirling with overwhelming force, attacked again.

Mei Tingzhu was usually taciturn and seemed gentle, yet she wielded a mere whip with the sharpness of a longsword.

Mei Tingyuan clenched her fists tightly, shifting her feet anxiously. Mei Tingzhu never used weapons, yet now she attacked with a long whip, showing her determination to obtain the dagger.

“Time is almost up.” Mei Tingchun frowned, glancing back at the grave marked with a wooden plaque. Like the other graves, it was overgrown with weeds; he could not tell where the dagger was.

“Yes!” Without a moon or any timekeeping device, Mei Tingyuan could only estimate that the time was about right.

The withered grass was constantly swept up by Meizhu’s bamboo whip, drifting and scattering from above.

Seeing the two locked in a fierce battle, their figures indistinguishable in the darkness, Mei Tingchun said, “Let’s look for the dagger first; otherwise, by the time they decide a winner, neither of them will pass.”

Mei Tingyuan looked at him suspiciously.

“What kind of look is that! I cannot even beat you; would I not just grab the dagger and run away?” Mei Tingchun said angrily. “All three of you siblings came, and none of you passed. Are you not afraid of being laughed at when we get back?”

Mei Tingyuan thought it made sense. “Alright.”

The two began to carefully search the grave mound.

A grave mound could not be that big; even searching inch by inch would not take long. They searched both sides carefully but found nothing.

“What’s going on?” Mei Tingchun asked. “Are we going to have to dig up the grave?”

Mei Tingyuan replied, “That’s unlikely. The mass grave is so big. It would take us a long time to find the markers, and we do not have any tools. We will not be able to dig up the grave by dawn. The Grand Madam would not assign such an unreasonable task.”

“Let’s look again.” Mei Tingchun continued to search.

Mei Tingyuan muttered to herself as she carefully searched from top to bottom. When she reached the bottom, she noticed that her left foot felt the ground was soft and yielding, unlike the rest of the ground. A surge of joy filled her. After a moment’s hesitation, she did not call out to Mei Tingchun but bent down to feel it herself.

Parting the grass and a layer of loose soil, Mei Tingyuan touched something cold and soft.

The hairs on her body stood on end, but her curiosity compelled her to carefully explore further.

Suddenly, the thing jerked, gripping her wrist tightly and pulling her further in. The entire mound of earth rustled and shifted.

Mei Tingyuan was so frightened that she forgot to cry for help. By the time she realized what was happening, half of her arm had already been pulled in.

“Fifth Brother! Fifth Brother! Save me!” Mei Tingyuan’s voice was distorted, sharp and piercing the silent night.

Mei Tingchun jumped up, rushed over to see what was happening, and immediately grabbed her arm and pulled her upwards.

“It hurts!” Mei Tingyuan cried out. “My arm is going to break!”

Mei Tingchun was only a teenager, and he panicked as well, shouting, “Second Brother, Third Sister, stop fighting! Come and save Seventh Sister!”

Mei Tingzhu and Mei Tingjun heard the cries for help, exchanged a glance, and saw the determination in each other’s eyes. Not only did they not stop, but they even used their most lethal moves.

From An Jiu’s angle, she could not see what danger was happening to Mei Tingyuan, and she was not interested at all. She only hoped that Mei Tingjun and Mei Tingjun would continue fighting.

The two fighters certainly did not disappoint her; their attacks were increasingly fierce and swift, yet An Jiu could see them clearly. As she watched, she tried breathing and circulating her qi using the methods Mei Yanran had taught her. After a while, she faintly felt a small warmth gathering in her dantian.

Internal strength was something An Jiu needed to improve, so she stopped watching their fierce fight and focused on circulating her qi.

The sounds of fighting and Mei Tingyuan’s cries could not disturb her concentration. She could feel the qi gathering in her dantian increasing; if it had felt like a sesame seed before, it was now at least the size of a soybean.

An Jiu focused on gathering her qi, reducing the sharpness of her six senses. Only when she guided the warm current through her meridians did she notice breathing very close to her! She steadied herself, discerning that the breathing was about ten breaths per minute, even and steady, remaining in one place. It should not be harmful to her for the time being, so she slowly channeled the warmth throughout her meridians. Feeling light and comfortable all over, she opened her eyes and looked at the source of the breathing.

The man was squatting beside her, a long, dark blue robe with a long tear in the chest. His handsome face shone like the moon, his eyes gleaming with excitement as he stared at her. “Heroine…”

An Jiu suddenly reached out and covered his mouth, giving him a cold glare and threatening him to shut up.

The warm breath sprayed onto her palm, a ticklish, tingling sensation quickly spreading from her arm throughout her body.

The young man understood her meaning and immediately nodded.

An Jiu released her hand, staring at his mouth with a strange expression for a moment.

The young man touched his mouth, thinking, “There’s nothing there!”

An Jiu glanced over, seeing they were still busy, then grabbed the young man by the collar and dragged him away.

After walking a hundred paces, An Jiu threw him to the ground. “Get lost.”

The young man moved his lips as if to say something, but An Jiu interrupted him, “I will count to three. If you do not leave, I will kill you.”

Before she finished speaking, a dagger was already pressed against his neck.

The young man had not even seen her draw the dagger, concluding he’d encountered a martial arts master practicing here. “Heroine, I am lost.”

“One.”

“My family is a wealthy household in Bianjing. If you help me out, I will reward you with ten thousand taels of gold.”

Even the imperial relief fund was only ten thousand taels of silver; he was offering ten thousand taels of gold. An ordinary person would understand that his family was no ordinary wealthy household, but he had encountered someone who had absolutely no concept of money.

An Jiu used to have enormous wealth, yet she ate only the simplest food provided by the organization every day; she never needed to buy anything.

“Two.”

The young man glared, his imposing manner declaring, “My surname is Hua!”

An Jiu’s grip tightened suddenly. The young man was terrified and hastily retreated, but blood still gushed from his neck.

An Jiu turned and left.

“Help, heroine! If you do not help me, I will die!” The young man clutched his neck, his face deathly pale, cautiously following her.

She stopped, turning her head to look at him coldly. “If you want to die now, then follow me.”

The young man stood there watching her resolutely leave. Only after she was out of sight did his face darken, and he angrily said, “Demoness.”

Smack!

A rock the size of a baby’s fist struck him precisely on the head, instantly raising a large bump on his smooth, jade-like forehead.

The young man clutched his forehead with one hand and his neck with the other, not daring to speak again, his dark eyes fixed on the direction An Jiu had gone.

He remembered the plum blossom embroidered on the girl’s shoes, and his eyes brightened slightly.

He had seen many beauties hailed as breathtakingly beautiful, but none could compare to the girl from before. Her beauty was neither too glamorous nor too plain; her neck was long and slender, her figure beginning to show its graceful curves, and her appearance utterly extraordinary; even her murderous aura possessed a unique charm. Most strikingly, her eyes were utterly clear, devoid of anything but murderous intent.

The young man pondered for a moment, then clutched his neck and ran eastward—he really would die if he did not get it bandaged!