White-Robed Chief
chapter-917

Chapter 917: Contingency Plan

Li Ruolan was already standing back-to-back with Ji Xin when she unsheathed her sword. Then, they slowly began to make their way toward Zhou Jinchun.

However, the blurred flashes of blades surrounding Zhou Jinchun kept forcing him to retreat further away from his two friends. He knew that he should be moving in the opposite direction but was unable to do so due to the overwhelming attacks from the enemies.

Li Ruolan waved her sword around at lightning speed and shouted, “Senior Brother Ji, you should go to him first!”

“Okay!” Ji Xin shouted back.

Li Ruolan increased the speed of her sword abruptly and managed to overpower the four men who had been attacking them. Ji Xin ignored the opponents and rushed over to Zhou Jinchun’s side.

“Ding, ding, ding, ding…” As their swords and blades continued to collide with one another, Ji Xin and Zhou Jinchun came together and stood with their backs against each other while fighting off their opponents.

Since Li Ruolan was now battling four men on her own, she immediately fell into an unfavorable position.

Nonetheless, as she continued to wave her sword around at an incredible speed, she was able to cope with her situation temporarily and was not overwhelmed by their attacks.

Although Zhou Jinchun and Ji Xin were going up against two opponents together, they were somewhat struggling to defend themselves. The short and thin man was simply too powerful, and it felt as though the cold gleam of the man’s blade was going to cause them to freeze over. They tried their best to move closer toward Li Ruolan.

While Li Ruolan struggled to fend off her opponents, Zhou Jinchun and Ji Xin were also having difficulty making their away to her side.

“Humph!” The short and thin man let out a cold laugh. Then, he suddenly turned around and charged toward Li Ruolan before joining the other four men to attack her from all directions.

Zhou Jinchun and Ji Xin saw that the situation was taking a bad turn and wanted to assist Li Ruolan but their opponent stopped them from doing so.

Their opponent was a tall and skinny middle-aged man. They had not been able to tell how skillful he was since his skills paled in comparison to the short and thin man’s shining blade.

The moment the short and thin man left them, this tall and skinny man immediately unleashed his power, and his blade slashed at the two of them rapidly. With that, he momentarily managed to stop them from moving forward.

“Junior Sister Li!” Ji Xin yelled anxiously.

As he watched Li Ruolan quickly being forced into a desperate situation, he became all the more anxious and flustered due to his inability to help her. Thus, his ferocious sword technique lost its precision and viciousness.

As a result, it became much easier for the tall and skinny man to deal with them. As his long blade moved around swiftly and cunningly like a sword, the two guys were trapped in an intense battle and were unable to assist Li Ruolan.

The short and thin man’s blade technique was exquisite and profound. After he came over to her side, Li Ruolan could no longer handle the increasingly overwhelming attacks from the enemy. With just three strokes from his blade, the man injured her right shoulder. Crimson blood began to seep into the fabric of her clothing over her shoulder.

She instantly lost strength in her right arm and could not defend herself anymore.

“Junior Sister Li…!” Ji Xin screamed his lungs out and was scared out of his wits.

He watched helplessly as the long blade slashed toward Li Ruolan’s slender, pale, swan-like neck. It was going to chop her head off in the next moment.

“Ding…” There was a lightning-fast flash of light. Immediately, the short and thin man’s long blade was struck out of his hand and was sent flying away.

“Tsh!” Another flash of light shot into the man’s chest and sent him flying off like his blade.

“Tsh, tsh, tsh, tsh!” A string of whistling noises could be heard as the four men who had been attacking Li Ruolan were sent flying and crashed to the ground some ten meters away.

“Bang, bang, bang, bang, bang!” The five men fell against each other and then clutched at their chests while rolling around on the ground.

“Junior Brother Zhao!” Ji Xin screamed.

“Tsh!” They heard a whistling noise again.

“Ding…” The tall and skinny man who had attacked Zhou Jinchun waved his blade and struck the invisible yet powerful energy blade. Instantly, his blade slipped from his grip. Although he had prepared himself to receive the attack, he still failed to block the violent force that was surging toward him from the blade.

“Tsh!” After another whistling noise, the tall and skinny man was sent flying away with blood shooting out from his chest.

“Is it Junior Brother Zhao?” Ji Xin asked loudly.

Chu Li glided down from a tree and landed in front of the three patrols before giving them a fist salute.

“It really is you, Junior Brother Zhao!” Ji Xin sighed in relief and returned the fist salute. Then, he turned his gaze to Li Ruolan. “Junior Sister Li, are you severely wounded?”

Li Ruolan shook her head. “It’s nothing serious. It’s just a flesh wound.”

“Let me bind it up for you,” Ji Xin said. “You’re a girl. You shouldn’t suffer too many injuries.”

He went forward and stretched out his hands to help Li Ruolan bandage her wound.

Li Ruolan took a step backward. “That’s not necessary, Senior Brother Ji. I’m really fine. It’s just a minor injury. It’ll get better after I apply some medicine to it.”

“… Alright then.” Ji Xin noticed her firm expression and lowered his hands in resignation.

Zhou Jinchun gave a fist salute as he chuckled and asked, “Junior Brother Zhao? You’re that famous Zhao Dahe, Junior Brother Zhao?”

Upon witnessing such an excellent and terrifying Light Blade, he could already guess Chu Li’s identity.

At Great Light Peak, only the famous Zhao Dahe had managed to achieve such a high level of cultivation in the Light Blade aside from the Saint.

In a matter of months, Zhao Dahe had been able to enter Great Light Peak and had even cultivated until the eighth and ninth levels of the Light Blade. Although he was still at the First Peak, he had already become a legendary figure.

Chu Li gave a fist salute. “I’m Zhao Dahe!”

“I’m Zhou Jinchun. As expected, Junior Brother Zhao’s Light Blade has a well-deserved reputation!”

“I came slightly late.” Chu Li shook his head while sighing and glancing at Li Ruolan. Li Ruolan had lowered her head to apply some medicine to her wound and did not pay any attention to him.

“You weren’t late at all,” Zhou Jinchun quickly replied. “You came at just the right time. I didn’t expect Royal Blade Palace to be so bold. They even had the nerve to get close to Great Light Peak. They’re not afraid of dying at all, but now they finally know how powerful we are!”

He had just finished speaking when those people from Royal Blade Palace suddenly rolled over on the ground and ran off, disappearing before them in the blink of an eye.

Chu Li frowned as he stared at the direction in which they had disappeared.

Li Ruolan exhaled sharply and said, “Royal Blade Palace has a secret skill. You won’t be able to kill them unless you manage to hit the core of their blade!”

“There’s even a secret skill like that?” Chu Li was astonished. “The core of their blade?”

“They merge their bodies with their blades and use their blade energy to strengthen their physical bodies. That’s why they’re all slim yet very strong.” Li Ruolan kept the jade bottle in her hand and raised her head. “If you wish to kill them, you should either chop off their heads or destroy the core of their blades.”

Chu Li slowly nodded. “Next time, I’ll aim straight for the head.”

Li Ruolan asked, “Why have you come?”

Chu Li replied, “The Saint has ordered me to protect the three of you in secret and make sure nothing goes wrong this time. Initially, I thought that the Saint was making an unnecessary move. Now, it seems like the Saint has been very wise to have made such an arrangement!”

The three of them seemed slightly embarrassed.

They had initially thought that this mission would be a piece of cake since no one else knew about it. Furthermore, given that three patrols were working together to carry out this mission, they should be capable of getting away unscathed even if they encountered any enemy. They never expected to run into those martial arts masters from Royal Blade Palace so soon after descending the mountain.

If the Saint had not arranged a contingency plan, they would have died at the hands of those people from Royal Blade Palace this time.

Of course, it would be very unfortunate if they died, but more importantly, their deaths might cause more trouble to their comrades at Falling Autumn City and could even put the Li Dynasty in danger. If that happened, they would have committed a great sin!

Chu Li said, “Since those people have gotten away, your whereabouts will be exposed as well. You should hurry up and leave now before anyone else shows up to block your path.”

“Let’s go,” Ji Xin anxiously muttered. “Junior Sister Li, will you be able to continue traveling?”

“Yes.” Li Ruolan nodded.

Chu Li swept his eyes over Li Ruolan. “Senior Sister should meditate and recuperate for a while instead of using up too much energy. If you run into any more enemies, you might not have the strength to fight back.”

“That’s not necessary!” Li Ruolan let out a huff.

Chu Li replied, “Well then, do as you wish. I’ll be leaving first.”

He then gave Zhou Jinchun and Ji Xin a fist salute before gliding away, quickly disappearing from their view.

Ji Xin looked at Li Ruolan in confusion.

Supposedly, Li Ruolan and Zhao Dahe should be on friendly terms with each other since Li Ruolan had been the one guiding Zhao Dahe before this. However, the two of them seemed like they were enemies instead, and there was no sign of closeness between them at all. This was a truly puzzling sight.

Ji Xin was not aware of Li Ruolan’s trip back to Fairy’s Capital. Li Ruolan had gone there and returned in secret, so no one else had known about it, except for the Saint.

“Junior Sister Li, has Junior Brother Zhao offended you in any way?” Ji Xin carefully asked.

“No!” Li Ruolan replied coldly.

Ji Xin shook his head.

Clearly, Junior Brother Zhao had offended her in some way. Ji Xin wondered what Junior Brother Zhao had done to make Junior Sister Li so upset. Junior Sister Li had always been sweet-tempered and good-natured. She would never easily lose her temper like this, so Junior Brother Zhao had probably offended her greatly to make her so angry.

Ji Xin felt very intrigued by this.