Urban Martial Saint

Looking at Yelu Ying, Ye Qing always had a feeling of awkwardness in his heart. Ever since the forced marriage incident with those two old men last night, his mood has been uneasy. Now being alone here with Yelu Ying, one can imagine how he feels.

”Miss Yelu, you don’t need to worry about me, I’m not sleepy,” Ye Qing said. ”You go over there, have them finish eating quickly and bring me some bread or steamed buns.”

”How can that be enough? These things aren’t real meals!” Yelu Ying said.

Ye Qing said, ”It’s okay, skipping a meal or two is still manageable. When I was a soldier, I went a whole month like that!”

Yelu Ying glanced at Ye Qing, didn’t say anything more, and walked back to the restaurant. It wasn’t long before the members of the Yelu family and Old Wang Ba came out of the restaurant, with Old Wang Ba still holding a bowl, mumbling complaints about Yelu Ying not letting him eat his fill.

Yelu Ying brought over a box meal herself, had everyone get into the car, and then sat down next to Ye Qing, carefully opening the meal box. ”Ye, I packed some easy-to-eat food. You can eat some while driving later.”

Ye Qing looked down; there were two chicken legs and some delicate side dishes in the box, apparently specially requested by Yelu Ying. One must say, this girl is really considerate and good at taking care of people. However, looking at these things, Ye Qing felt even more awkward. After all, this girl was the one the Yelu family wanted to force him to marry.

”No worries, I’m not hungry.” Ye Qing started the vehicle and continued driving towards the direction of Meng District.

”How can you not be hungry after such a long time without food?” Seeing Ye Qing didn’t move, Yelu Ying simply picked up a chicken leg and held it to Ye Qing’s mouth, saying, ”Ye, be careful driving, I’ll feed you.”

Old Wang Ba, squeezed in by the crowd in the back, saw this and immediately said indignantly, ”Wow, what kind of treatment is this? Why is no one feeding me? Back in the day, Eighth Master was quite the looker. Even though I’m not what I once was, I’m still...”

”Squid?” Ye Qing directly added.

”To hell with you, why are you everywhere!” Old Wang Ba said discontentedly. ”Nowadays, I’m still something of a handsome man, right!”

”Uh...” A girl in the back suddenly retched, and everyone turned to look.

The girl’s pretty face blushed, and she whispered, ”No...it’s nothing, I...I’m a bit carsick...”

Everyone looked at the girl and then at Old Wang Ba, and suddenly burst into laughter.

Old Wang Ba’s face turned beet red, and after a long wait, he said indignantly, ”You sure know how to time being carsick.”

No one paid attention to self-obsessed Old Wang Ba. Yelu Ying placed the chicken leg at Ye Qing’s mouth, and he had no choice but to slowly eat it. To be honest, this was his first time eating like this, sitting here with an indescribable torment, like sitting on pins and needles.

Finally managing to finish the meal, Ye Qing felt much more refreshed and drove straight towards Meng District. Fortunately, no one pursued them along the way, and by evening, they were not far from Meng District.

Around ten p.m., Old Wang Ba leaned forward to sit next to Ye Qing, and said in a deep voice, ”Young Ye, we need to be careful around here!”

”What’s the matter?” Yelu Ying turned her head and asked curiously. ”We’re about to enter Meng District, and the Wanyan Family hasn’t caught up. What is there to be careful about?”

”Just because the Wanyan Family hasn’t caught up doesn’t mean they won’t be blocking us here,” Old Wang Ba said. ”The entire Northern Desert is under the Wanyan Family’s control. As long as we’re within the Northern Desert, they can find us eventually. And Prince Wan Yan isn’t a fool; he definitely won’t just drive around chasing us. He’ll block us on our route. That way, we can’t get through and they save a lot of effort!”

”Is this a necessary route?” Ye Qing asked curiously.

”Once past this city, we’re essentially in Meng District territory,” Old Wang Ba said. ”Starting from Tianzhao City, entering Meng District from here is the shortest route, saving at least three hundred kilometers compared to other routes. So as long as we’re not stupid, we’d definitely choose this path.”

”But they might not necessarily know we’re heading to Meng District!” a woman from the back said.

”Nonsense, we know we’re heading to Meng District, so why wouldn’t they guess that?” Old Wang Ba snorted. ”In the North, we can only be absolutely safe once we enter Meng District. Prince Wan Yan could figure out we’re going to Meng District even with his toes. So I dare say he will most likely deploy a large number of people on the roads entering Meng District to stop us. And this city is the most dangerous point. Not only heavily guarded, but I suspect Prince Wan Yan might personally be stationed here!”

”You keep saying you suspect; so since you’re Mr. Iron Mouth, why don’t you calculate it directly?” Ye Qing couldn’t help but ask.

Old Wang Ba glanced at Ye Qing and said, ”Damn, you want to get me killed, Eighth Master. This is a conflict between two descendants of the Imperial Family, involving issues of dragon veins and fate. If I forcibly divine, it will alter the dragon’s fortune, and the price to pay for such an act is high. Even staking my life might not be enough!”

Ye Qing was speechless. Though he wasn’t fully aware of Old Wang Ba’s divination methods, he had vaguely heard that such divination and fate-changing were against Heavenly Retribution, and those attempting it must pay a price. Old Wang Ba could clearly see through many things, but he couldn’t speak of them for this reason. If he spoke too much, he might have already faced Heavenly Retribution!

Therefore, Ye Qing didn’t press Old Wang Ba. After a moment of silence, he asked, ”How many roads are there leading from this city to Meng District?”

”None,” replied Old Wang Ba.

”What do you mean, none?” Ye Qing was stunned. What do you mean, none?

Wu Changming explained from the back, ”This city is separated from the Meng District by the Beimeng River. Because of the rugged geography here, the water routes are complex, and the turbulent waters make it difficult to build a bridge, which has been under construction for years without completion. So, there’s no road to the Meng District; only a ferry can be used for vehicles to cross the Beimeng River.”

”Is this the road you meant?” Ye Qing was speechless, looking at Old Wang Ba. ”If we knew this earlier, why didn’t we take another route? Why insist on this path to Meng District?”

”That’s the key issue,” said Old Wang Ba. ”Do you know who controls the ferry on Beimeng River?”

”Who?” Ye Qing asked.

”It’s controlled by Gui Jian Chou Du Jiang, under the General of Meng District,” Old Wang Ba glanced at Ye Qing. ”In other words, as long as we reach the ferry, we’re considered to have entered Meng District’s territory. This is the fastest and safest route to Meng District. If we take other routes, not only might we be stopped by the Wanyan Family, but even if we enter Meng District, we’d only reach hundreds of miles of uninhabited grassland desert. Although it’s Helian Tiehua’s territory, if the Wanyan Family enters, no one would know, and we wouldn’t be safe!”

Ye Qing suddenly realized that Old Wang Ba had chosen this road after careful consideration. Although this old guy was usually unreliable, this time he really put his mind into it.

”The most troublesome thing now is, I suspect the Wanyan Family will definitely set up roadblocks in this city to prevent us from passing.” Old Wang Ba said solemnly, ”And the closer to the pier, the tighter the defense is likely to be. Whether we can reach this ferry is still an unknown!”

After a moment of silence, Ye Qing said solemnly, ”Is there a map of this place?”

”Yes,” Wu Changming quickly sat up and said, ”I have maps of the North in my car, stored in the front compartment.”

Yelu Ying opened the compartment, took out a few maps, and handed one to Ye Qing; it was clearly the map of this city. The map was drawn clearly, and Ye Qing could clearly see the main terrains and routes of this city.

On the map, the location of the pier was clearly marked, which was also where the ferry was. As long as they reached there, everyone would be safe.

The routes on the map were quite complex. Ye Qing summarized and found that there were only three routes leading to the pier. Although these three routes had many branches and were quite complex, no matter how they went, they would eventually converge on these three routes. This means the Wanyan Family only needs to guard these three routes to stop Ye Qing and the others. Alternatively, they guard the final convergence point, which everyone had to pass through.

After studying the map for nearly ten minutes, Ye Qing suddenly looked up at everyone in the back and asked solemnly, ”Who among you can swim?”

”Swim? What for?” Old Wang Ba immediately widened his eyes and said, ”Are you planning to swim across? Young Ye, I’m not bragging, but have you seen this river? Even if you had a boat, you might not be able to row across; the current here is really too rapid.”

Ye Qing didn’t pay attention to Old Wang Ba, only looking at everyone and asking, ”Who can swim?”

A few people exchanged glances, and a few girls slowly raised their hands. One girl timidly said, ”I... I’m not very good at swimming, only learned breath-holding for a few days, does... does that count?”

”Knowing how to hold your breath is enough!” Ye Qing nodded and said, ”Now, those of you who can swim, quickly teach those who can’t how to hold their breath.”

”What are you planning to do?” Old Wang Ba was even more bewildered.

Ye Qing started the vehicle but did not drive towards the city ahead. Instead, he suddenly changed direction and drove in another direction.

”If the ferry is not an option, then we’ll go by water!” Ye Qing replied succinctly.

(Chapter owed has been supplemented, thank you all for your support.)