Chapter 453: Holy Maiden's Protector, Elder Si

Chapter 453: The Saintess's Protector Si Laoye

The noise outside had clearly stirred the tent.

Lost in passion, Yue Hongling regained her senses, reaching out to grab the sword hilt by the tub: "Lei Ao is here, I need to..."

"You'd better take it easy." Zhao Changhe pressed her shoulder, casually picking up a set of foreign garments and placing them on the tub's edge: "Anyone can show up, but not you. If they find an excuse, Sisi will be in trouble."

"Then what if Lei Ao uses that excuse to bully Sisi? How about I disguise myself and go out?"

"Who could you fool with your swordsmanship?" Zhao Changhe leisurely picked at medicinal powders to apply to his face. In moments, a man of the Guling tribe appeared before Yue Hongling, flashing a toothy grin: "Of course, neither Zhao Changhe nor Wang Daozhong can appear. How do you like my Guling look?"

Watching Zhao Changhe's increasingly adept and bizarre tricks, Yue Hongling suddenly felt that the little brat in her heart was now so distant.

Yes... he was now a master ranked thirty-seventh on the Human Ranking, known throughout the land. Wherever he went, he could become a crucial variable...

If the other side never knew there was a Zhao Changhe here, they might suffer a great loss.

At the entrance of the stockade, Guling men and women lay in ambush with bows drawn, arrows nocked. The ground was covered with poisonous insects, miasma, and interwoven hook vines.

Lei Ao swept past. The hook vines touched his body, but as if struck by thunder, they were flung far away. The poisonous insects and miasma seemed to have little effect on him. Lei Ao wielded a Miao knife, slashing at a young Guling girl who was summoning insects by the roadside.

In the clashes among the Miao tribes, these sorcerers who controlled insects, spread miasma, and used various strange arts and curses were key. Once they were subdued, the rest of the conventional forces were not particularly outstanding, especially with the Guling tribe being so few in number—it was actually easy to "bully."

But just as his Miao knife neared the Guling girl, a fragrant breeze swept in. Sisi flashed past like a ghost, silently revealing a dagger's tip, parrying Lei Ao's blade.

As they crossed, Sisi twisted her wrist, the dagger flowing like water as it stabbed toward Lei Ao's back. The fact that she was midair with no foothold seemed no obstacle to her at all.

Lei Ao's lightness skill was not so effortless. He awkwardly parried backward, stumbling several steps, retreating into his own ranks with a grim expression: "I've always thought your bizarre techniques are not of the so-called Guling tribe! You're most likely a Xia spy!"

"Where I got my techniques is none of your business!" Sisi sneered. "Lei Ao, do you think you have too many teeth?"

Lei Ao barked, "Harboring a wanted criminal—have you Guling people thought this through?"

"Oh, spare me your word games, dear. You don't know a thing, yet you slap labels like 'spy' and 'harboring a wanted criminal' on me?" Sisi laughed coldly. "I wonder who it was that secretly called on all tribes to kill the Pacification Commissioner and rebel against Xia. I'd say Yue Hongling was invited by you, Lei Ao, and now you come crying thief? Besides, what authority do you have to investigate the case of the Great Xia Pacification Commissioner? Are you from the Demon Suppression Bureau?"

Lei Ao said, "I'm not investigating the Pacification Commissioner's case... Among his guards were brothers from my tribe, who endured humiliation to spy on Xia intelligence, lurking by his side. But Yue Hongling killed them all in one go. Now I want revenge for my brothers. Whoever stands in my way is the great enemy of my Black Miao tribe!"

As he spoke, figures loomed behind him, stretching into the thousands.

Poor Sisi's "entire tribe" numbered only a few hundred here—a pitifully small clan.

Normally, Lei Ao would not dare to openly provoke such ethnic conflicts, fearing that one move would affect the whole, making other tribes feel endangered and harming the alliance's grand plan. But with this great chaos and a fabricated reason to stir up trouble, he could fish in troubled waters—his real aim was simply Sisi's beauty.

In other words, even if Sisi had nothing to do with Yue Hongling, she would still have to face this.

In truth, Lei Ao had a mountain of things to do and shouldn't be wasting his energy here. It could only be said that beauty was truly a curse.

Sisi realized all this in a flash and said with a smile, "Young Chief Lei has a fine scheme, but I suggest you think carefully. If you dawdle here too long, others might fish in troubled waters."

"It won't take long." Lei Ao raised his hand and waved: "Charge!"

"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh!" Several fireworks shot into the sky, and a strange fragrance spread everywhere.

The poisonous insects and snakes that filled the forest were startled and disobedient; the miasma parted left and right, and the woods became clear.

Countless Black Miao tribesmen behind Lei Ao charged forward, brandishing Miao knives. Lei Ao led the way, his knife thrusting toward Sisi's shoulder.

It seemed as if Sisi's tactics had been broken by special means. But Sisi's smile did not waver. Just as she was about to unleash a new trick, a gust of wind rose behind her.

Sisi's expression shifted slightly. She tucked the little gadget she had just pulled out back into her pocket, smiling as she took half a step back, as if dodging Lei Ao's strike.

A longsword shot past her, precisely tapping the side of Lei Ao's blade.

Lei Ao's tiger's mouth went numb, and his Miao knife nearly slipped from his hand. He recoiled in shock: "Who?!"

A tall man in Guling tribal attire shielded Sisi, silently tilting his longsword and thrusting straight at Lei Ao's heart!

Sisi blinked.

Unlike when he had impersonated Wang Daozhong and mimicked the Sea-Calming Sword Technique, Zhao Changhe's swordsmanship now was very Sisi, very Guling.

Because the sword techniques Sisi and the Guling tribe had learned were all derived from the Sword Emperor's legacy, which he had organized—he was the Guling tribe's sword instructor. Playing a Guling swordsman was a seamless transformation.

Lei Ao saw nothing wrong and did not recognize him as the same person he had met yesterday as Wang Daozhong. The sword's momentum was elusive and unpredictable; he couldn't even grasp where the sword's path was heading, so he had to retreat backward.

But Zhao Changhe's movement technique was also of the same lineage as Sisi's—Wind-Chasing Clouds. Even though his forward momentum seemed spent, he continued thrusting forward without any awkwardness, relentlessly aiming for Lei Ao's chest again.

Both were from the same school of lightness skill, stolen from the Thief Saint Ye Wuzong—one had stolen the manual, the other had stolen the method from the Heavenly Book...

Anyway, they looked like family. Even Sisi was extremely surprised, then she couldn't help but laugh.

Lei Ao stumbled back again. His tribesmen were charging forward, but their young chief was knocked back into their formation, throwing it into chaos.

"What are you all standing around for!" Lei Ao fell into his own ranks, shouting furiously: "Protect me!"

"Clang!" Several Miao knives lined up in front of Lei Ao. Zhao Changhe's sword momentum shifted, as if with some sticky quality, spinning the knives together, sending them all flying to stick into nearby trees, quivering.

The sword light burst forth, and he entered the formation again, pointing the blade at Lei Ao's throat, standing still.

The air, which had been about to erupt into battle, froze. Both sides stared at this inexplicably appearing swordsman, dumbfounded.

Zhao Changhe pressed the longsword against Lei Ao and said calmly, "So this is the so-called Ninth Level of the Mystic Barrier, Young Chief Lei? With this level of skill, you dare to covet our saintess... tch."

Sisi's smiling expression turned into a grin, her teeth showing.

The sword had not yet reached his throat; Lei Ao could still retreat, but at that moment, he seemed to lose confidence. He felt that no matter how he retreated, this man would stick to him like a shadow, as if no number of people could stop him. He simply stopped moving, staring coldly at Zhao Changhe: "Who are you!"

Sisi poked her head out from behind Zhao Changhe: "He's my protector."

Zhao Changhe said, "Protector of the Guling tribe, Si Laoye."

Sisi: "?"

Zhao Changhe said calmly, "Young Chief Lei is free to order your men to attack, but within five paces, your blood will spill here. Whether to fight or retreat, Young Chief Lei can decide with a word."

Lei Ao stared at him for a long moment, then suddenly waved his hand: "Retreat!"

The fierce Black Miao tribesmen lost all their momentum and withdrew in some disarray.

Lei Ao could tell himself it was because he didn't want to linger here too long, fearing changes behind him. But deep down, he knew he was truly afraid of this strange swordsman. He felt that if it came to a real fight, he couldn't even keep his head amid the crowd.

What the hell? When did the Guling tribe have such a strong swordsman? Si Laoye... never heard of him. With this strength, shouldn't he be on the Chaos Ranking?

The forest fell silent again. The night breeze blew gently, the poisonous insects dispersed, but all around, a group of greenish eyes stared at Zhao Changhe, full of suspicion and uncertainty.

The Guling tribe in the secret realm had indeed multiplied over time, and not everyone in the tribe knew each other.

The young men and women Sisi had brought out now truly felt that this protector's techniques were indeed their own, and he used them so well... Was he a high-ranking elder newly sent from the tribe's secret realm? So young.

Si Laoye... but our tribe has no such surname.

Sisi turned to look at Zhao Changhe, transmitting silently: "You want to use this trick to infiltrate my tribe? Do you really think I don't exist?"

Zhao Changhe was startled for a moment, then laughed: "I hadn't actually thought of that... Hey, if it's possible, how about a deal?"

Sisi fumed: "What deal? Who are you to me? No way!"

"I did just help you out of a jam..."

"That's what the name you used should do. You wouldn't even kill Lei Ao!" Sisi stormed back into the stockade: "Go back and fawn over your female knight. That moaning was so sweet. We foreign little maids are just meant to guard the door, aren't we?"

"Hey, hey, hey, I can't just kill him casually. If I did, your stockade wouldn't be able to handle it."

"I can handle it!" Sisi sneered. "If you killed him using my tribe's identity, it wouldn't cause a huge uproar. But if you, as Zhao Changhe or Wang Daozhong, a Xia, killed him, that would be the real trouble... The excuse for the Black Miao tribe to unite with others in rebellion, which just disappeared with the Pacification Commissioner's death, would be reignited because a son died at the hands of a Xia. That's the real problem."

Zhao Changhe was stunned, then suddenly tensed: "Damn!"

He spun around and dashed down the mountain: "Lei Ao might die!"

Before the words had faded, a young man of the Spirit Clan came rushing up the mountain: "Holy Maiden, disaster! Lei Ao was ambushed on his way back to Xizhou, and the Black Miao tribe is in an uproar!"