Encountering a Beauty on the Ancient Path in the Westerly Wind

Tang Qi fled from the Tang Family Village. His heart was filled with deep sorrow. When he saw the fire raging across the sky, he knew that his parents had already met with misfortune. However, he couldn't go back to save them. He was overcome with grief and hated Mi Tianhun to the core. He made up his mind to avenge his parents for this great grievance.

All the way along an ancient path, he walked in a daze. This ancient path was a rarely frequented road in Suzhou City and had been abandoned for a long time. The bluestone-paved road stretched straight ahead, and one couldn't tell where its end was. It was an extremely cold autumn. The westerly wind raged unbridledly on this ancient path, making people feel an endless chill.

As Tang Qi walked forward, the images of his parents would appear in his mind from time to time. A warm home no longer existed. The family happiness of the past had turned into a permanent farewell now. How could one not be heartbroken?

The ancient path was desolate and gloomy, and the westerly wind was rampant. The houses beside the path were in a dilapidated state. Some had already collapsed, and some, although not yet fallen, were also on the verge of collapse. The sun was about to set, and the sky was dim and hazy.

Tang Qi had been walking for about two hours. He was hungry, and coupled with the great battle he had fought before, which had consumed a great deal of his inner energy, he was extremely hungry and felt very uncomfortable. He staggered as he walked.

Suddenly, a woman appeared in front of him, facing Tang Qi directly. In her white clothes, she fluttered gracefully like a celestial being under the caress of the westerly wind. The woman had shoulders as if carved, eyebrows like the tips of willow branches, eyes like stars, as bright as the rising sun. She was as graceful as snowflakes whirling in the wind, and as dazzling as a lotus emerging from the green waves. She was truly like a fairy descending to the mortal world.

Tang Qi walked towards the woman step by step, stunned, and was truly attracted by her beauty. He had never seen such a beautiful woman before. When he saw her for the first time today, his heart was pounding.

Suddenly, the woman stepped forward with a sword in her hand. Without asking right from wrong, she slashed at him with a sword. Tang Qi was panic-stricken and quickly raised his sword to parry. With a clang, the two swords collided. Tang Qi exclaimed urgently, "Miss, hold your hand for a moment. I have no intention of offending you..."

The woman said as she fought, "You are a bad person!" Tang Qi used his long sword to block the sword that she hacked at his head, and with his other hand, he exchanged several moves with her in succession, saying, "I'm not a bad person. Miss, don't misunderstand!" The woman kicked at his abdomen with her right foot. Tang Qi withdrew his sword and stepped back, holding his long sword across his chest.

The woman said coldly, "If you're not a bad person, why are you staring at me so intently?" Tang Qi secretly thought with a smile in his heart, "This girl is really unreasonable. You are so naturally beautiful. I don't know how many people would lose their appetite and yearn for you day and night just by taking one look at you. Are all the people who look at you bad people?"

The woman said, "Why don't you answer me?" Tang Qi smiled bitterly and said, "How do you want me to answer? Do you want to kill me?" The woman said, "My master said that if a man stares at you, he must be a bad person. If you don't kill him, you will suffer a loss!"

Tang Qi thought to himself, "What kind of master is that? Since you say I'm a bad person, I'll show you!" So he said, "Yes, I'm a bad person. Bad people specialize in doing bad things. You'd better be careful." After saying that, he rushed in front of the woman, stabbing at her left rib with the long sword in his right hand and reaching out with his left hand to grab her wrist.

The woman flipped her right wrist and stabbed with her long sword. It seemed that she was about to stab Tang Qi's left wrist. Seeing that Tang Qi showed no intention of dodging, she suddenly stopped the sword halfway. Unexpectedly, Tang Qi turned his left wrist upwards and grabbed her right wrist. The woman was startled and thought, "I showed mercy out of kindness, but you actually tease me like this." In her heart, she was now certain that he was a bad person.

The woman shouted, "Let go!" Tang Qi smiled wickedly and said, "I won't let go. What are you going to do about it?" The woman's face turned crimson. With her right hand firmly grasped, the long sword in her hand couldn't be controlled as she wished, and she became even angrier. She pointed the index and middle fingers of her left wrist at two major acupoints on Tang Qi's chest and stabbed fiercely.

Tang Qi sidestepped to avoid it and slashed with his long sword. The woman quickly retracted her left hand, made a circle, and in a flash, grabbed Tang Qi's right wrist. Her speed was beyond imagination. Tang Qi secretly thought that this girl was extremely agile. He stabbed at her right rib with three quick strokes of his long sword. The woman also stabbed three quick strokes with her long sword. In the end, when their last swords crossed, both swords fell to the ground at the same time.

The woman shouted, "Will you let go or not? If you don't let go, I won't be polite." Looking at her furious expression, Tang Qi felt delighted in his heart: You called me a bad person, so I'll just do something bad to show you. After saying that, his left hand suddenly tightened its grip, and the woman cried out in pain, shouting, "You're hurting me! I'll definitely kill you!"

Tang Qi secretly felt proud, but unexpectedly, the woman leaped up into the air. She released his right wrist with her left hand and struck down towards his head. The momentum was fierce, accompanied by a strong gust of wind. Tang Qi quickly waved his right hand and exchanged several moves with her left hand. Suddenly, the woman lost her balance in mid-air and was on the verge of falling. She let out a loud cry and pounced on Tang Qi.

Tang Qi was so frightened by this sudden change that he was at a loss. His hands involuntarily hugged the woman's slender waist, and the two of them fell to the ground at the same time. The woman lay on top of Tang Qi, and a deep blush rushed to her face. Being held tightly by him, she couldn't move.

Since she grew up and understood things, although she had met several men, she had never been hugged so tightly like this. Her heart had already secretly been given to this man. She said softly, "Won't you let go yet?" Only when Tang Qi had just calmed down did he realize that he was hugging her. He secretly felt that he had been extremely rude to her and quickly let go.

The woman jumped up, and Tang Qi stood up and clasped his fists in front of him, saying, "I was really extremely rude and shouldn't have been so... so impolite to you, miss." Suddenly, he felt a dizzy spell, and everything went pitch black in front of his eyes. Then he suddenly fainted...

In his coma, Tang Qi seemed to feel a stream of true qi gradually entering his body. It traveled from his back to his dantian and then spread throughout his body from the dantian. It was very comfortable. After about an hour, Tang Qi slowly woke up. He opened his hazy eyes and saw that he was in a dilapidated house, and a young woman in white was sitting beside him.

Tang Qi reluctantly propped up his upper body. Knowing that it was this beautiful female knight in front of him who had saved him, he felt extremely ashamed of his previous rudeness. So he said, "Thank you, miss, for saving my life. My parents have just passed away, and I was walking alone on this desolate path. I almost lost my life. If it weren't for you, I'm afraid... I shouldn't have offended you."

The woman smiled and said, "You're still talking about it. When you walked over, you stared at me without blinking, and you were staggering as you walked. I thought you were a bad person, so I fought with you. If you hadn't fainted, I wouldn't have saved you. Maybe I would have killed you." After saying that, the two of them couldn't help but laugh.

Both of them thought of the situation when they had fallen down together earlier. The blush on the woman's face hadn't faded yet, and she quickly turned around. Tang Qi knew that she was shy, so he wanted to change the topic with words to avoid making her feel embarrassed.

Tang Qi asked, "I wonder what your name is, miss?" The woman didn't turn around and said in a soft voice, "My name is Zhao Leirui. What about you?" Tang Qi said, "My name is Tang Qi. Why are you alone on this ancient path?"

Zhao Leirui said, "I live in the valley over there. When I saw the fire raging in the sky here, I came over. I didn't expect to meet you and even fought with you, and also..." After saying that, she lowered her head and remained silent, and a blush appeared on her face again.

Tang Qi said, "Why are you living alone in the valley? Where is your master?" A look of pain appeared on Zhao Leirui's face. She turned around and said, "I lived in the valley with my master. Five years ago, my master suddenly fell seriously ill and never recovered. She left me alone in that deep valley."

Tang Qi knew that he had touched on her sad memories, and he said, "My parents were also killed by a Taoist priest. We can be said to be in the same miserable situation. That fire was set by him. I must avenge them!" After saying that, he stood up and was about to walk outside. Zhao Leirui said, "Where are you going? If you want to avenge them, you should recover from your injuries first. Let's go to the valley first. You have a very serious internal injury and need to be properly recuperated. If you die, how can you avenge your parents?"

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