Legend of Fu Yao

The servant acceded to his request moved forward to support the old man, but the old man continued to stroke his mole and chuckled, “No bother, no bother, this old man is very careful.”

The servant’s face darkened, but the old man’s eyes seemed to be laughing.

This was naturally the four of them in disguise.

Zhangsun Wuji was the old man, Meng Fuyao was the haggard-looking Daoist priest, Zhong Yi was the little child disciple, and Tie Cheng was the servant.

Given their abilities, it was naturally easy to hide from the Amethyst Cape Knights searching on Donglan mountain, but for Meng Fuyao and Zhangsun Wuji, they had to retaliate even when running away. As a result, the Amethyst Cape Knights were led by the noses and were now searching the mountaintop frantically for the expert who was “waiting for them to kill.”

The four of them had discussed things through, to first rest at a place with less Amethyst Cape Knights and go through Meng Fuyao and Zhangsun Wuji’s initial period of recovery. As long as the two of them could recover a little more, the situation would become a lot less dangerous.

The queue at the city gate inched forward slowly and finally reached their turn. The guards roughly shoved the “skinny-like-firewood Daoist priest” against the city walls and searched him thoroughly.

The “Daoist priest” felt ticklish and laughed, his body trembling as he said, “Eee, eee, Officer, this priest is unable to withstand such treatment, gentler—gentler—”

Even when Meng Fuyao’s chest was being searched, she didn’t think anything about it; after the events that stormy night, she had thought deeply and had learned to tolerate certain things.

After all, they were just touching, and they were touching the Daoist priest, not Meng Fuyao.

Although she had tolerated this time, someone was unable to do so.

After searching the old Daoist priest, it was the little child disciple’s turn to be viciously pushed. However, when the guard pushed the child, he suddenly felt a slight pain in his left hand, but it was just a slight pain as if he were bitten by an ant, so he paid no heed to it.

After that, when he searched the old man, the fingers on his left hand seemed to feel slightly numb, but it was for a fleeting moment.

The feeling was too faint, and the guard was annoyed and busy; hence, he didn’t care much about these few people who didn’t even carry any water.

Three days later, this guard’s hands would rot away. Of course, this was an unrelated piece of news.

Finally, it was Tie Cheng’s turn. Since the servant was carrying a huge bag, the bag naturally had to be searched carefully. The guard opened the bag to reveal several worn-out Daoist robes, cooking utensils, faded yellow talismans, a wooden sword, and several other miscellaneous items. After searching through the items and not noticing anything valuable, he threw the bundle aside with a huff.

The bag sailed through the air, spilling its contents all over the ground. Meng Fuyao reached out to grab the bag, but the guard turned around at that moment and noticed that a corner of the bag looked unusual.

He immediately intercepted the bag and reached into it, fishing out a black thing.

“Aha, what is this? A cat?”

Afraid of being found out, Lord Yuan Bao stiffened in the guard’s hand and rolled its eyes. ‘Don’t insult me by calling me a cat!’

“Officer, that is a little Daoist Demon Subduing Mouse!” Meng Fuyao hurried over.

“Demon Subduing Mouse?” The guard guffawed and squeezed so tightly that Lord Yuan Bao let out a squeak.

“Ah, please stop it!” Meng Fuyao shouted, “That is my rice bowl… Officer, please have mercy!”

“Do you think I’ll stop just because you say so?” The guard glared at Meng Fuyao and dangled Lord Yuan Bao by the ears. “I’ve heard of Demon Subduing Cat, but I’ve never heard of a Demon Subduing Mouse, how does it work? Can it help us find those bastard murderers?”

‘Damnit!’

‘You must be looking for death!’

Meng Fuyao’s anger began to bubble as she glared icily at the guard; in that instant, the guard felt a throbbing pain on his finger. Lord Yuan Bao had bitten off half his finger!

He shouted in pain and flung Lord Yuan Bao away. Lord Yuan Bao flew into the air and disappeared in the corner of the wall.

“Beat them up!”

The guard cradled his bloody finger and howled, pointing at Meng Fuyao and the others. Several large guards immediately launched themselves at her.

Meng Fuyao retreated a step back, curling her fingers. Even if she was gravely injured, it would only take a few minutes to settle these bastards!

However, from the corner of her eye, she noticed that all of the guards were already looking towards their direction.

The Amethyst Cape Knights were drawn by the noise and were coming down to take a look.

The majority of the Amethyst Cape Knights were congregated within fifty miles of where she was and would be able to rush over within a single period.

She thought of the injuries on herself and Zhangsun Wuji. She needed the precious three days to recover.

She thought of the promise she had sworn in the cave on Donglan Mountain.

Tolerate! She had to tolerate through this.

‘One day, I’ll return this to you tenfold!’

‘Whatever I’ve suffered will be returned a hundredfold!’

Meng Fuyao bent forward and hugged her head.

“Please stop—please stop—” The old man rushed forward and said, “Officers, please have mercy, my grandson has been possessed and is waiting for this Daoist priest to cure him if you beat him up, what am I to do…”

He rushed forward and soundlessly pushed Meng Fuyao into a corner of the wall such that nobody could reach her. Then, he stood in front of her, blocking Meng Fuyao from the guards.

The fists of those cowardly guards began to fall on Zhangsun Wuji.

Tie Cheng immediately rushed forward, blocking Zhangsun Wuji, and the sound of fists hammering down on flesh continued.

From where she was stuck, Meng Fuyao couldn’t see what was happening, but she could hear the sound of flesh against flesh and unrestrained cursing, as well as the taunting laughter of the guards.

At that moment, he had used his body to protect her, blocking her from the humiliation and beating mere centimeters away.

The most respected and treasured man in the Five Regions Continent, a Crown Prince that could overturn governments with a raise of his hand, a man who had lived his life being respected and feared, one of the most powerful beings on earth, had chosen to take her place and be beaten at the city gates of a tiny city.

It was easy to share the good things, but hard to share suffering. Hence, he had chosen to take all the suffering for himself.

There was a kind of strength, not of the body, but of the heart and mind, that made the selfless decision to take her place.

No matter how injured he was, he still took the punches of those guards.

Furthermore, the consequences were even worse.

Even an immortal might not be willing to block the blows they suffered today, yet he didn’t even let her fall victim to such an inconsequential incident.

Meng Fuyao raised her head and looked above her. She could faintly make out Zhangsun Wuji’s silhouette. His expression was lighthearted as he met her gaze and said, “It’s fine.”

Meng Fuyao laughed bitterly and said, “You’re really unlucky when you’re with me, even getting beaten like this.”

“No,” Zhangsun Wuji’s answer was light yet firm, “The experiences I have with you are something nobody else can give me.”

‘Nobody else can give you,’ Meng Fuyao pouted. ‘Even taking a beating from these peasants.’

Under normal circumstances, these guards weren’t fit to even kiss the dirt on his robes.

After beating them without getting any response for a while, the guards soon got bored. Only the guard whose finger had been bitten refused to settle, cradling his finger as he shouted, “This Daoist priest carries a demonic animal! How can the heavens tolerate such a demonic human being? Take him! Take him!”

Zhong Yi immediately realized he was trying to blackmail them and prepared to retrieve some silver, but Zhangsun Wuji and Meng Fuyao’s eyes suddenly lit up.

Prison!

What place was safer and more undisturbed than the prison?

In a place crawling with the Amethyst Cape Knights, nobody would think that the people they were looking for were in the prison of Guanyuan County!

Meng Fuyao began to smile—although the living conditions would be less than acceptable, they could just treat it as a life experience.

She glanced at Zhong Yi, who immediately caught her intention.

After shouting for a while and seeing that nobody had taken out any silver, the guard was enraged and pointed at Meng Fuyao, shouting, “This demonic priest carries a demonic animal, he must be here to wreak havoc in the city, take him down!”

Several guards walked forward to secure several chains on Meng Fuyao as she “struggled in surprise” and pleaded, “Officer, please have mercy, I am a Daoist priest from Qingfeng Temple thirty miles from here, it’s famous for being virtuous and righteous…”

Several guards laughed in her ear and said, “It’s no use, hurry up and ask your buddies to take out some money for our boss’s treatment, we’ll release you after a few days, or else… Heh heh.”

Zhangsun Wuji rushed forward as well and grabbed the guard. “Officer, please don’t do this, my grandson is still waiting for this Daoist priest to exorcise him, he is the only descendant of three generations, if something happens to him, nobody will be around to inherit the family wealth…”

The guards’ eyes lit up one after another; wealthy family! Family riches! Anxious family members! Waiting to be saved! It all sounded like a huge sum of money waiting to be earned!

Murderers and rapists could be pardoned, but this person definitely had to be imprisoned!

“You must be up to no good, hanging around this demonic priest! We must investigate this situation clearly!” The Guard pointed at Zhangsun Wuji and ordered, “Round them up!”

After securing the two screaming criminals, they left, leaving the onlooking commoners shaking their heads. Someone hurriedly advised Zhong Yi, “Little Daoist priest, quickly gather up some silver to bail them out, the Guanyuan County Prison is… terrible!”

“Thank you for your advice,” Zhong Yi bowed respectfully, dragging away a Tie Cheng upset at not being caught together with them. “It would be good to keep them locked up for three to five days…”

The remaining commoners were utterly bamboozled by Zhong Yi’s happiness. Scratching their heads, they mumbled, “Perhaps he’s still in shock?”

Bam!

A bowl of leftover rice fell throw the metal bars. The rice and tofu were already rotting and giving off an unpleasant sour smell.

Meng Fuyao glanced at the ceiling for a while before turning to smile at the person behind her. “Have you eaten? If you’ve eaten then eat more if you haven’t eaten then hurry up and go home to eat.”