World of Honor

Seven years ago.

Twilight City

It was the rainy season in the south, and it had been raining for nine days straight.
The mist was thick, the air was humid, and the whole city seemed to fall into a fairyland, looking ethereal and dreamy.
But today’s rain was different, it was no longer the silky drizzle, but the torrential downpour, pounding on the eaves with a loud sound.

Under the eaves of a pharmacy at the entrance of Orange Blossom Alley, a woman in plain clothes looked at the sky.
She seemed to be in her twenties, with a beautiful face but a bit pale.
She stared at the rain curtain as if thinking about something, and after a long time she muttered a sentence.

“What a heavy rain.”

But her voice overlapped with another voice.

The woman was startled and quickly turned her head, only to find that there was already a scholar in white standing next to her.
The scholar looked no more than seventeen or eighteen years old, with a long sword at his waist and a bookcase on his back.
He seemed to have just taken shelter under this eave, and was wiping the rain off his face with his hand.

“Who are you?” The woman asked in surprise.

The scholar wiped off the rain on his face, turned his head and smiled gently at the woman, “Greetings, miss.
My name is Su Baiyi.”

The woman was stunned, and the rain suddenly became lighter at this moment.
She could not detect any hostility in the scholar’s gentle smile, and she thought: Could he be a traveler who really lost his way?

The scholar who called himself Su Baiyi turned around and set his bookcase by the wall, still with a gentle smile on his face.
“That’s more like it.
You were so wound up with murderous aura, even this soft rain felt threatening.”

As soon as he finished speaking, the rain became heavier again.

A long knife was pressed against Su Baiyi’s chest, and the woman said coldly, “I just asked you who you are, not your name.
I asked why you appeared here.
The checkpoints within three miles should be guarded by people from the four major families.
How did you sneak in?”

Su Baiyi faced the sharp knife, still smiling calmly, “Miss, however you got in here, I got in here the same way.
This question is meaningless.
But our meeting here is very meaningful.
Because… I’m here to help you.”

The woman withdrew her knife and looked at Su Baiyi suspiciously.
“Are you from Devil City? I thought they didn’t receive my letter.”

Su Baiyi scratched his head and pointed at his face.
“May I ask, miss, what do you see on my face?”

The woman looked at him for a long time, frowning more tightly.
She didn’t understand what this young man was up to.
“Nothing.”

“Innocence.
I have the face of a noble gentleman, pure and harmless.
How could I be from Devil City?” Su Baiyi sighed helplessly and fiddled with his sleeve.
“Do people from Devil City have such fine features as mine? Do they have such clear eyes as mine? Miss, your vision is really not very good.
No wonder you like…”

“Qing Yi Lang such a man.”

A gust of wind blew by, and the rain came in, hitting their faces, hurting a bit.

Su Baiyi still had a gentle smile on his face, looking at the woman in front of him, although his words were clearly provocative.

The woman felt that she should be angry, but she held back her knife and met Su Baiyi’s eyes, only lowering her head slightly.

The wind died down, and the rain resumed its steady fall, and then there was the sound of horse hooves splashing water.

“They’re here.” Su Baiyi raised his eyebrows.

The woman’s expression became serious in an instant.
She said in a low voice, “I can’t guess who you are, but since you say you are my helper, I believe you.
After all, I have no choice.
But we have to work together to fight the enemy, on the edge of life and death.
I hope you won’t lie to me, Su Baiyi.”

“Actually, I don’t know what to say.
I have no sect, no school.
I come from a small village.
You’ve never heard of that village, but maybe you’ve heard of its wine.
As for why I’m here to help you? My master sent me.” Su Baiyi scratched his head.
“I’m a good disciple, you know.
I always listen to my master.”

“Who is your master?” The woman asked, trailing off.

“Shh.” Su Baiyi raised a finger and made a gesture of silence.
He raised his eyebrows slightly.
“Listen, the sound of horse hooves has passed the second street corner.
When they reach the third one, it will be time to act.
I’ll go first.
If things go smoothly, I can handle it alone.
If I need your help, I’ll send a signal.”

The woman shook her head anxiously.
“The fourth street corner is a better place to act.
That place is very narrow, and the carriage can’t move easily.
Even if they have more people, they can’t use their full strength…”

“True, but we’re not the only ones who can think of such a good place.
So I guess there are already other people waiting there to ambush.”

“Achoo!” At the fourth street corner, a carriage was parked quietly.
A burly man in white sat in front of the carriage, holding the reins in his hand.
He sneezed heavily and blew his nose.
He said unhappily, “Senior sister, we’ve already come this far.
Can you tell us who we’re waiting for?”

“Have you ever heard of Qing Yi Lang?” A gentle voice came from the carriage.

“The young gentleman in green clothes, who comes and goes in the apricot garden fragrant.
Isn’t he the most charming young master in the south nowadays? I heard that half of the women from the four major families like him.
Senior sister, could it be that you also…” The burly man raised his eyebrows suggestively.

The woman in the carriage seemed to have no mood to joke with him.
She continued calmly, “Wang, Xie, Chen, Dongfang, the four major families in the south.
They hold a meeting every three years to compete for supremacy.
In this meeting, each family sends out their most powerful young disciples to fight each other.
Qing Yi Lang represents the Xie family this time.
The Xie family has declined in recent years and become the weakest of the four families.
But against all odds, Qing Yi Lang broke into the final round of this meeting with his own strength.
Many people say that after more than ten years, the Xie family finally saw their long-awaited dragon among men in this generation.”

“The Xie family in the south? Isn’t that where Xie Yuling, whom I hate the most, comes from?” The burly man snorted.
“I heard he had big plans to restore the Xie family’s glory.
Looks like someone got there before him.”

“Not really.
In the final battle with Wang family’s young master, Qing Yi Lang suddenly went berserk and lost control of his true energy.
Only by joining forces, four elders from Wang family barely subdued him.
According to them later, Qing Yi Lang was able to rise suddenly in this meeting because he secretly practiced some martial arts, and these martial arts might be evil arts passed down from the extinct Demon Sect.
So now the four families decided on taking Qing Yi Lang to Wang family’s mansion as a captive and questioning him about this matter.”

“So we’re here to…”

“For these years, Wang family has been leading the four families and deliberately suppressing the power of the other families.
If Qing Yi Lang is really sent to Wang family’s mansion, I’m afraid he won’t have much luck.
Qing Yi Lang is Xie Yuling’s elder brother.
He learned about this and begged our master for help.
Master also felt that there was something fishy about this matter, so he sent me here.”

The burly man licked his lips.
“To save that kid’s elder brother? Then will he still dare to be arrogant in front of me? No wonder senior sister chose to bring me along.
I can’t wait.”

“But you’ll have to wait.” The voice in the carriage was gentle, but it had some kind of irresistible power.
The burly man shrugged his shoulders and looked up.
“Fine, fine.
It won’t be long anyway.”

“One, two, three, four.” Su Baiyi counted under his breath at the entrance of the pharmacy, each number matching a sound of rainwater splashed by the horse hooves.
“Five, six, seven…now! Lend me a hairpin!”

A white figure darted out like an arrow, only to see Su Baiyi’s movements were extremely fast, his feet stepping on the water, but not splashing a drop.

Such a movement… The woman thought of a legend in the martial arts world that she had heard a long time ago.
She touched her hair bun and found that the green hairpin on it was gone.

When the carriage turned into the third street corner, a white figure suddenly appeared at that corner, and then leaped up.
As he leaped up, he also brought up a lot of rainwater, which then scattered and poured down on the people guarding the carriage.

“Ambush!” The leader of the escort drew his sword and yelled in alarm.

But the white figure had already disappeared.

The leader wiped the rainwater from his face and looked around.
He cursed and then said, “Everyone, stay alert.
Be careful on the rest of the way!”

Inside the carriage, two people were staring at each other.

A man in green clothes was leaning there, his face pale and dull, his eyes lifeless.
His neck, arms, and face were covered with festering sores.
He looked like he was dying, nothing like the charming young master in the south.
He looked at Su Baiyi in front of him and tried to say something with all his strength, but only made some unintelligible sounds.

Su Baiyi quickly took out the green hairpin and put it in the man’s hand.

The man in green clothes lowered his head and looked at the hairpin.
His eyes welled up with tears.

Su Baiyi whispered, “Don’t worry, I’m here to save you.”

The carriage sped through the third street corner and reached the fourth one.

“Whoa.” The coachman yanked the reins and halted the carriage.

Another carriage was blocking their way at the fourth street corner.
A burly young man stood up from the carriage, wearing a loose white robe that fluttered in the wind.
He had a toothpick in his mouth and a bamboo sword on his shoulder.
“Senior sister, they’re here.”

There were four riders escorting this carriage, besides the coachman.
The leader rode to the front and looked at the arrogant burly young man.
He asked, “Who are you?”

“Leave Qing Yi Lang behind.” The burly young man pointed his bamboo sword at their carriage.

“You dare to stop a carriage of the four families?” The leader sneered.

“The four families are so impressive, huh? Just now you asked me who I am, so I’ll tell you.” The burly young man said proudly.
“I am the leader of the Extremely Evil Sect, Feng…”

A steamed bun flew out of the carriage and hit the burly young man’s head, interrupting his introduction.

“What Extremely Evil Sect leader? Say it again!” A woman’s voice came from the carriage.

“Fine.” The burly young man jumped up and swung his bamboo sword down.
The sword had a strong wind force that swept down the rain curtain and hit the leader’s guard.

“This is the Great Wind Style of swordsmanship!” The leader’s guard tried to block with his iron sword, but it was pressed down by the bamboo sword after one move.

The burly young man snorted and suddenly retracted his sword and kicked the leader’s guard away.
Then he flipped and landed on the ground, splashing water everywhere.

“Xue Gong, Feng Zuo Jun.” The burly young man smirked.

* Xue Gong is the name of a martial arts school, and it literally means Learning Palace