I had no intention of entering the martial world.

Chapter 13 Shen Xingyao

Lu Chenzhou didn't say anything, but turned his back and squatted down.

The old man paused, then understood. He shakily climbed onto Lu Chenzhou's back, his withered arms encircling his neck. It was very light, like carrying a bundle of firewood.

Lu Chenzhou carried him on his back, picked up his own bundle and sword, and walked down the mountain.

Neither of them spoke the rest of the way. The only sounds were footsteps and the old man's suppressed cough.

After walking for about half an hour, a few scattered thatched huts appeared ahead. It was a small village, even more dilapidated than Wangjiazhuang. Lu Chenzhou carried the old man to the thatched hut furthest away and gently put him down.

The door opened, and an equally emaciated old woman rushed out. Upon seeing the old man covered in wounds, she burst into tears.

"Honey! What's wrong with you?!"

The old man waved his hand, pointed at Lu Chenzhou, then pointed to the mountain, mumbling incoherently but unable to utter a complete sentence.

Lu Chenzhou then noticed that the old man's tongue... seemed to have been cut off in half.

The old woman understood, and immediately knelt down in front of Lu Chenzhou, about to kowtow.

Lu Chenzhou reached out to support her: "No need."

He took out the two taels of silver that Lu Jinghong had given him from his bundle and stuffed it into the old woman's hand: "Find a doctor to check your injury, and use the rest to buy some rice."

The old woman looked at the silver in her hand, then at Lu Chenzhou, and tears streamed down her face.

Lu Chenzhou didn't say anything more and turned to leave.

"Young hero..." the old man suddenly spoke, his voice hoarse and indistinct, but still audible, "Are you... going to Jiangling?"

Lu Chenzhou paused and turned around.

The old man struggled to pull something out of his pocket and handed it over. It was a dark, thumb-sized stone with a rough surface, nothing special about it.

"Take this with you," the old man said with difficulty. "Crossing the Han River... there's a checkpoint... this... will allow you to cross..."

Lu Chenzhou took the stone. It was heavy in his hand, much heavier than it looked. He examined it closely and saw that there seemed to be extremely fine lines on the stone, like some kind of rune, but he couldn't make it out.

"What is this?"

"A keepsake..." The old man coughed a few times, "It was left by my son... who used to work on ships... who said it could save his life in an emergency..."

Lu Chenzhou looked into the old man's cloudy but sincere eyes, nodded, and put the stone away.

Thank you.

He turned around and continued walking down the mountain.

The sounds of an old woman crying and an old man coughing came from behind, gradually fading into the distance.

---

By the time we reached the foot of the mountain, it was already noon.

The sun was scorching, making the ground scorching hot. Lu Chenzhou stopped by a stream and scooped up water to wash his face. The water was cool, which invigorated him.

He took out the black stone and examined it closely again. The patterns were indeed very peculiar, unlike anything formed naturally. But he couldn't tell what it was.

Let's keep it for now.

He carefully placed the stone close to his body and continued on his way.

According to the map, ten miles south of here is a small ferry crossing on the Han River. Only after crossing the Han River can one truly leave the Zhongnan Mountain area.

After walking about three miles, they heard voices ahead again.

This time it wasn't crying or screaming, but shouts and the crisp sound of whips cracking.

Lu Chenzhou frowned. There seemed to be an unusually large amount of work to do today.

He tiptoed and hid behind a tree by the roadside, looking ahead.

Three carriages were parked on the official road. The carriages were ordinary, but the horses pulling them were all strong blue mules, and small flags were stuck on the shafts, with the words "Four Seas" embroidered on them.

It's a car belonging to a security escort agency.

A dozen or so men dressed in matching blue short-sleeved shirts were surrounding the carriage in the middle, their expressions tense. Two men lay on the ground; one had an arrow in his chest and was already motionless; the other had an arrow in his thigh and was gritting his teeth in pain.

Around the carriage lay seven or eight corpses—dressed in black, masked, just like those on Zhongnan Mountain.

Are they from the cinema again?

No, that's not right. Lu Chenzhou looked closely and noticed that although the men in black were dressed similarly, there were differences in the details—the cuffs didn't have hidden patterns, the boots had soft soles, and the weapons scattered around the corpses were more uniform in style.

It was another group of people. Or rather, another team from the cinema.

At this moment, a woman's voice came from inside the carriage, cold and tinged with anger:

"Robbing a caravan in broad daylight! Do you have any respect for the law?!"

The carriage curtain was lifted, and a woman leaned out.

She was about eighteen or nineteen years old, dressed in a light purple outfit, her hair simply tied in a ponytail. Her eyebrows and eyes were delicate and pretty, but at this moment her eyebrows were raised and her eyes were filled with a cold, sharp light. In her hand she held a short sword, its blade slender and gleaming like autumn water.

Lu Chenzhou's gaze lingered on her face for a moment.

It wasn't because she was pretty, but because... she also had a very faint, dark red line under the corner of her eye. Just like his, only in a different location.

Sword Qi Mark?

The woman seemed to sense something and suddenly turned her head to look in the direction where Lu Chenzhou was hiding!

His gaze was like lightning, piercing straight at me from dozens of steps away!

Lu Chenzhou didn't hide. He stepped out from behind the tree, met the gaze, and walked onto the official road.

The men from the escort agency immediately became alert, drawing their swords and aiming them at him.

"Who goes there?!" shouted a bearded bodyguard.

Lu Chenzhou ignored him. He looked at the woman, and she looked at him. Their gazes met in mid-air, silent, scrutinizing.

Then, the woman's eyes widened slightly.

She saw the same red marks at the corners of Lu Chenzhou's eyes.

"You are..." she began, her tone uncertain.

Lu Chenzhou did not answer. He looked at the corpses of the men in black, then at the arrows scattered around the carriage—the shafts were black, the arrowheads were dark blue, and they were poisoned.

"People from the Shadow Hall?" he asked.

A look of surprise flashed in the woman's eyes, then she nodded: "Yes. They've got their eyes on this batch of red goods we're betting on."

"Red goods" is a slang term used in the escort agency industry to refer to extremely valuable and high-risk shipments.

Lu Chenzhou glanced at the three carriages. The ruts were deep, indicating they were heavily loaded. But what caught his attention even more was a fresh, sharp mark on the axle of the middle carriage.

"The axle has been tampered with," he said.

The bearded bodyguard was taken aback, immediately crouching down to inspect it. His expression then changed drastically: "Miss! The axle has been sawed in half! It'll break if we go any further!"

The woman's face darkened. She jumped off the carriage, squatted down beside the axle to examine it closely, and her expression grew increasingly grim the more she looked.

"It's an inside job," she said through gritted teeth. "It was checked just before we left, and everything was fine then."

A mole. A member of the shadow gang. An ambush.

This was a meticulously planned robbery and murder.

Lu Chenzhou glanced at the sky. The sun was already beginning to set; if they lingered here too long, they wouldn't be able to cross the Han River before dark.

"Where are you going?" he asked.

"Jiangling." The woman stood up, dusted off her hands, and said, "Sihai Escort Agency, Jiangling Branch."

Jiangling. On the way.

Lu Chenzhou remained silent for a moment.

Then he said, "I can escort you to the Han River ferry. But there's a condition."

The woman raised an eyebrow: "What are the conditions?"

"After crossing the Han River, I need to hitch a ride with you to Jiangling."

The bearded bodyguard immediately objected: "Miss! This man's origins are unknown; we can't trust him!"

The woman didn't speak. She looked at Lu Chenzhou with sharp eyes, as if she wanted to see right through him.

"Why are you going to Jiangling?" she asked.

Lu Chenzhou thought for a moment and gave a half-true, half-false answer.

"Searching for relatives."

The woman stared at him for a long time before finally nodding.

"Deal," she said. "But if you make any moves, my sword will show no mercy."

Lu Chenzhou nodded. It's very fair.

He walked to the carriage and inspected the axle. It had indeed been sawed in half, with only a thin layer connecting it. It would undoubtedly break after traveling at most three to five miles.

"Do you have any spare axles?" he asked.

"Yes, in the car behind," the bearded bodyguard said, but his face was grim. "But changing the axle will take an hour. If the Shadow Hall men come back..."

"No need to change it." Lu Chenzhou took out a roll of hemp rope from his bundle—it was Lu Jinghong who asked him to bring it, saying it might be useful on the road. He soaked the hemp rope in water, then wrapped it tightly around the broken axle, finally tying a knot.

"That should last for twenty li," he said. "That'll get us to the ferry."

The bearded bodyguard was skeptical, but he had no better option at the moment.

The woman glanced at Lu Chenzhou, her eyes now filled with scrutiny.

"What's your name?" she asked.

Lu Chenzhou.

"Lu Chenzhou..." the woman repeated, nodding. "My name is Shen Xingyao. I'm the head of the Jiangling branch of the Sihai Escort Agency."

Shen Xingyao.

Lu Chenzhou wrote down the name.

Then, he walked to the carriage and gripped the iron sword on his back.

In the distance, the mountains and forests were silent.

But he knew that something was quietly approaching beneath that silence.

Like a net slowly closing in.

This time, however, he was not alone.