Do Not Fear, I Am Here
With Lu Ping’s jump, forget about Ren Xitao, even Ren Xifeng was stunned. And those pursuers from Lu Manor, each one of them was dazed.
Lu Song asked them to capture a person, but he gave an absolute order. She could be captured, but she could not be harmed in any way, they needed to guarantee the perfect condition of the Eldest Miss. But with this situation, not only would damage be done, her life would be gone. Jumping down from such a high cliff, how could she still be alive after that?
Just as they were looking at each other, no one could predict that with Lu Ping jumping off the cliff, Ren Xitao, in a move which could not be understood at all, also jumped off the cliff! He practiced martial arts, but this mountain was too high, between the precipitous rock face and sheer cliff, he had a sword in his hand which he could pierce into the rock face to slow his descent. But he was focused on quickly catching up to Lu Ping who jumped down first, so he did not think of any ways to save himself, he even executed the Thousand Pound move, making himself fall much faster.
(Translator’s note: Thousand Pound move is a technique in which they control their Qi and also lower their center of gravity to make themselves more stable and weigh more than usual)
Everyone was stunned, Ren Xifeng and the Ren family’s driver were even more shocked, with the two of them simultaneously jumping to the edge of the cliff, but they only made it in time to see the corner of Ren Xitao’s clothes. Very quickly, even the shadow of those clothes could not be seen.
Ren Xifeng was horrified and her body trembled uncontrollably, her first thought was fear: It’s over, Older Brother would definitely die from the fall; her second thought was self-blame: I should not have brought him to Ji An Prefecture, if he stayed in the capital, even if he developed a bond with the Eldest Miss from the Lu family, it would not be to the point where he would lose his life; and her third thought was complaint and hatred, she complained about her older brother, after so long, why was he unable to forget that Lu Ping who was like an evil spirit, she also hated Lu Ping and the Lu family, who knew what evil tricks they used to make her brother be this fixated, to the point that he would disregard his life and dare to jump off the cliff.
Her expression became stern, and she turned back to look at those pursuers from the Lu family. Those pursuers were still in shock after the pair jumped off the cliff one after another, being glared by Ren Xifeng like that, they received a fright. Someone wanted to lecture this audacious girl on reflex, she actually dared to glare at them? But once this thought arose, it was brushed aside, she was someone from General Ping Nan’s manor. They have mixed within the capital for many years and would naturally not be mistaken about. Currently, because of the Lu family’s Young Miss, the Young Master from General Ping Nan’s manor jumped off a cliff. For this debt, General Ping Nan’s manor would likely settle it with the Left Prime Minister’s manor!
Those people backed up step by step, only thinking of leaving this place. Lu Ping jumped off the cliff. Seeing the height of this cliff, there was no possibility of surviving, they did not need to continue staying here. It would be better for them to go back to the capital to report and leave the two people behind to search for the body.
But Ren Xifeng would not let them leave just like this. She stood up, standing at the edge of the cliff, a valiant aura appeared. The imposing manner of General Ping Nan’s manor appeared from her strongly, such that no one dared to look down on her. She reached out and pointed at the cliff below, speaking harshly to those pursuers from Lu Manor: “None of you are allowed to leave! Go down and rescue them! It is not to rescue your family’s Eldest Miss, but my older brother. If he is alive, I want to see him, if he is dead, I want to see his corpse. Listen up, do not think that the Lu family can protect all of you, today, if not for all of you coming, my older brother would not have jumped off the cliff. Just a Left Prime Minister would not be enough to conserve your lives. If you do not go down and search for him today, remember, General Ping Nan’s manor will become your eternal nightmare. Regardless of where you run to, the General’s manor will spare any of you. In addition, do not think of simply killing me now. Before I returned to the capital, I have sent a letter via eagle to the capital, there are already people from the manor heading in this direction. With the Lu family causing such a huge commotion, do not hope that General’s manor would know nothing about this. Moreover,” As she spoke, she widened her stance and pulled out the Feng sword from her waist, “Do not think that This Young Miss is a pushover. If you do not believe me, then give it a try. Will it be all of you or me who will die today!”
With these words, the pursuers lost their imposing manner. They are only the guards from Lu manor, even if some of them were hired by Lu Song after paying a lot of money, but normally, they only served as bodyguards. Based on the fact that they knew some martial arts, they was why they accepted this job. Lu family did not have that much money to hire experts from Jiang Hu. These bodyguards were hired by Lu Song in the capital for the sake of recovering his daughter. Their family was still in the capital, and even if they did not have family, they could not bear to leave this path. With more than ten people, they were still unfamiliar with each other, so it was impossible for them to work together, making it impossible for them to succeed in silencing Ren Xifeng. Therefore, they only had one choice now, that would be to help search. As long as they could find Ren Xitao, this matter could still be discussed.
Therefore they nodded and agreed. Their actions were swift, spurring on their horses and running down the mountain, attempting to enter between the mountains to reach the bottom to conduct the search. And Ren Xifeng and that driver also unhooked the horses which were pulling the carriage, with one person on each horse, they followed those people down the mountain.
Talking about Ren Xitao jumping off the cliff, this was an action conducted as his brain grew heated, but he did not regret it at all, especially when he quickly caught up to Lu Ping during the process of falling and successfully grabbed her hand, at this moment, Ren Xitao thought, even if they died together, it was considered worth it, right? He had never done anything grand in his life and had never loved anyone deeply. He only met this Lu Ping by chance but she succeeded in leaving such a deep impression in his heart, to the point that his younger sister and family anxiously took him away from the capital. But even so, he was unable to erase the impression of that woman away from his mind, such that when they met again, these thoughts were reignited.
He grabbed Lu Ping, seeing her surprised and fearful gaze, he smiled slightly and said loudly: “Grab tightly, I will not let you die!” With only this sentence, it was like a promise, he strongly wanted to protect her and with the pull of his arm, he lifted her into his embrace.
Ren Xitao though, if he was unable to successfully save him and fall onto the ground in the end, he would definitely position Lu Ping above his body. With this, he could use himself as a meat pillow, giving her a larger chance of survival.
He did think like this, but he was not planning to obediently wait for this death. The Feng sword in his hand sliced across the body of the mountain, constantly looking for a support point. Even though it was not found yet, the speed of their descent slowed down greatly, and when they finally slid to the middle of the mountain, they were finally stopped by a dense patch of bush growing on the mountain.
Carrying Lu Ping, Ren Xitao stopped. His knees were bleeding due to the friction of rubbing against the mountain surface, causing him to frown in pain. But in the end, this was only a temporary stop, the bush could snap anytime, he needed to think of something else quickly, else the two of them would continue to fall.
Ren Xitao’s eyes constantly searched the mountain, trying to find a safe place to land. As for Lu Ping, she slightly recovered from the shock, looking towards Ren Xitao, countless thoughts quickly flashed through her mind.
Why did this person save her? Is this person an idiot? If she involved Ren Xitao and he died as well, then even if she went to Hell, she would not be able to forgive herself? She escaped from the capital, so even if she died, that was the arrangements made by fate, she only had to submit to it. But seeing Ren Xitao jump off the cliff because of her, this was the first time she felt regret. If she did not leave the capital, all of this would not have happened, right?
As she thought this, before she realised it, the tears flowed. Large drops of tears flowed, washing away the black rogue on her face, the otherworldly appearance could vaguely be seen and as Ren Xitao gave a glance, he was dazed.
The blade moved and the two sank downwards, scaring Lu Ping into screaming. Ren Xitao tightened his grip on her slightly, reassuring her: “Do not fear, with me around, you will not die.”
“But I don’t want to be the only one who lives.” Lu Ping finally opened her mouth, looking up and talking to the man who was like a god to her: “If you die because of me, even if I live, I will definitely follow after you. Therefore, Brother Ren, protect yourself, as long as you live, even if I die, I will have no regrets.”
“What stupid things are you saying.” Ren Xitao turned away and searched the mountain again while speaking to Lu Ping: “I jumped after you, do you think I will feel good if you die? The moment I jumped, I was already prepared to die, let’s not advise each other anymore, if we can live, then we are lucky, if we die, then there is nothing to complain about. We have chosen our path, so let’s continue to walk on it.”
Hearing these words, Lu Ping’s heart felt strangely grounded, even if her feet were still treading air now, even if it was a bottomless ravine below, she was no longer afraid. Ren Xitao was correct, they have chosen their own path, so they should continue to walk on it.
“Look, there seems to be a cave over there.” Suddenly, Ren Xitao used his chin to gesture below and said: “The distance is about ten paces away, there seems to be a cave.”
Lu Ping barely managed to look down, the height made her feel dizzy, but she could not see any cave clearly. She only said: “I will leave all the arrangements to Brother Ren.”
Ren Xitao nodded, “Alright, then listen to me, hug my waist tightly, I will head down together with you now. When we reach the cave and I shout your name, we will push towards the inside together, let’s swing inside first before planning the rest.”
Lu Ping nodded, making her preparations nervously.
Finally, the sword stuck in the cliff face was pulled out and the falling begin again. Ren Xitao used all his effort to control the speed of descent, and when he saw that they were about to reach the cave, at this moment, a “crack” sound was heard suddenly, he thought to himself ‘No good’, the blade could not withstand the weight of two people and broke in the middle. At the same time, the speed of descent suddenly increased, and like how it was when he first jumped down the cliff, it could not be controlled at all.
Ren Xitao got a huge shock and chose to throw away the blade directly, hugging Lu Ping with both arms, seeing that they were about to miss the cave entrance, his inner force flared up explosively, and with one jump, he rushed into that cave while hugging Lu Ping at the last second.
They rolled along the ground. Ren Xitao’s back crashed into a large rock, and that was when they stopped.
The force of the impact was too huge and he almost fainted. The good thing was that he used his last shred of will to forcefully bear with it, but the pain caused him to break out in cold sweat.
“Brother Ren!” Lu Ping was anxious, quickly getting up, kneeling on the ground to check his injuries. Flipping his back over to take a look, it was already a mess of flesh and blood. In a daze, she looked at Ren Xitao, from his back to his knees and his right palm which held the sword tightly. With all his injuries, she finally could not hold it in, crying out loud with a “Waa”.