Chapter Ninety: Assassination

Chapter Ninety: Assassination

“Wooden Man Disease? Who is that? I’ve never even heard of such an illness!” Wu Hong asked, utterly bewildered.

Wu Songran, her cheeks flushed with embarrassment, and Li Ruolan, who had been staring blankly, suddenly burst into peals of laughter, their mirth so great they were doubled over. Wu Hong became genuinely concerned that their slender waists might be strained from laughing so hard.

“What’s so funny? Did I say something wrong?” Wu Hong asked, puzzled.

If he had kept silent, it might have passed, but as soon as he spoke, the two women laughed even harder, losing all composure. Usually dignified and reserved, Li Ruolan now lay sprawled across the carriage floor, pounding it with her delicate fists to vent the overwhelming hilarity that had seized her.

Amidst this cheerful commotion, they soon arrived at Great West Lake. The scenery was so breathtaking it hardly seemed of this earth.

The tranquil surface of the lake revealed schools of fish, their multicolored scales visible even ten meters below. The radiant sunlight poured directly down, setting the fishes’ scales aglow with gold, transforming the lakebed into a shimmering golden net.

Great West Lake was vast, with towering emerald mountains rising from the water. From afar, thick veils of mist shrouded hundreds of scattered peaks, the distant ranges appearing and disappearing in the haze, an ethereal land akin to paradise.

On the lake’s surface stood many pavilions built atop the water, stretching out to meet the land, where poets and painters gathered to compose verses and capture the view with brush and ink.

“Wow! This is so beautiful! It truly feels like heaven,” Li Ruolan exclaimed, spreading her arms wide to embrace the dawn. The golden sunlight bathed her tall, graceful figure, clothing her in a radiant robe of light that accentuated her already stunning form.

Emerald peaks, crystal waters, and a beauty to complement the scene!

Wu Hong was momentarily captivated, gazing at Li Ruolan and murmuring, “So beautiful…” He couldn’t take his eyes off her.

Behind Wu Hong, Wu Songran was equally entranced, but her eyes did not leave Wu Hong, who was himself illuminated by that same golden light. She felt her heart grow strangely complicated, forgetting the natural wonders around her and staring dumbly at Wu Hong, thinking, “He isn’t really my brother. Is there hope for us? What place do I hold in his heart?”

While Wu Songran was lost in thought, Wu Hong had already rented a boat.

“Ran, are you daydreaming about your sweetheart? Hurry up and get on the boat!” Wu Hong called out with a bright smile.

“Please, sir, don’t tease your sister like that. She might not be able to take it,” Li Ruolan nearly burst out laughing again.

“Ruolan, you’re quite talkative today! That’s not like you. I’m only concerned for my sister’s future. She should be grateful!” Wu Hong replied, still smiling.

Wu Songran, a touch annoyed, retorted, “Brother, if you keep teasing me, I won’t go with you at all.”

In truth, she spoke only to hide her feelings. Wu Hong, unaware of her inner turmoil, assumed she was simply shy and said, “Ran, that’s not like you! My sister has always been brave in love and hate. Remember back in the capital, when you took a fancy to the top scholar and chased him all over the city? When did you become so bashful?”

As Wu Hong recounted her past, Wu Songran’s heart warmed unexpectedly. She thought, “So he’s cared about me all along. I wonder if he’d ever be jealous…”

But when she glanced at Wu Hong, she saw only genuine concern and a sincere wish to see the ‘brother-in-law’ he imagined.

Only now did Wu Songran realize: when a young woman truly falls for someone, when she is madly in love, no matter how bold or passionate she once seemed, the words become impossible to speak. Her past pursuits were nothing more than youthful impulsiveness. When it comes to true love, she hadn’t experienced even a fraction of it.

The more she thought, the more stifled she felt. Her expression grew serious as she thought, “So, even when I thought of him as my brother, I liked him. It was only the familial tie that held me back from confessing. Now I know the truth—there’s no blood relation at all—so why am I suddenly so timid?”

Wu Songran, how did you become so cowardly?

No, I must find an opportunity to confess my feelings to my wooden-headed brother.

Resolute, Wu Songran made up her mind, though deep inside she was still uncertain, terrified that the man she loved would reject her.

Lost in these tangled thoughts, she hardly knew how she got into the boat.

The boatman dipped his oar, and their little vessel glided across the lake’s surface.

Wu Hong’s instincts stirred. The boatman’s appearance was ordinary, but with just a gentle stroke, the boat shot forward more than ten meters—this was clearly no commoner. Still, Wu Hong didn’t dwell on it; as long as the man meant no harm, he saw no need to act.

Li Ruolan and Wu Songran noticed nothing amiss.

Without revealing his intentions, Wu Hong silently sent two streams of protective true energy toward the women. This energy was usually tangible and visible, but Wu Hong’s mastery of controlling its form was unrivaled in all the martial world.

With the Great Sun Tathagata Sutra, his mastery over internal force had reached an almost supernatural level. In just a few months, he’d achieved the finesse of a master chef carving an ox.

The Great Sun Tathagata Vajra Palm allowed him to command his true energy as naturally as his own limbs.

Since advancing to the marrow-refining stage, Wu Hong found he could alter the form of his true energy without anyone noticing, rendering it invisible and intangible, though this reduced its defensive power somewhat.

Still, he felt that even if they encountered trouble on the lake, his enemies would be no match for him.

The protective aura he wove around the two women could not be pierced by any but two or three consummate masters.

Wu Hong’s reservoir of true energy was so vast that even if he faced dozens of such masters at once, he’d still stand a fighting chance—and perhaps even emerge victorious.

Sure enough, when their boat reached the center of the lake, shadows began to dart beneath the water. Even Wu Songran, whose martial cultivation was modest, sensed something was wrong.

“Brother…” she said, worried.

Wu Hong raised his right hand slightly and gave her a confident smile.

Her heart settled. She chided herself for her anxiety—Wu Hong was a peerless warrior; she vividly remembered how he’d once faced ten thousand enemies alone by the Blackwood Cliff’s lake. It had been hard-fought, but no ordinary assassins could hope to harm him.

Suddenly, the boatman at the prow plunged into the water with a splash, vanishing beneath the surface amid a fountain of droplets.

Only Wu Hong and the two women remained aboard.

Li Ruolan, untrained in martial arts, let out a sudden cry of alarm.

Wu Hong felt the boat shatter beneath their feet.

“Hmph—whoever you are, did you really think to assassinate me with such a trick?” Four arms of true energy unfurled from Wu Hong’s body. Before the women could fall into the water, the hands formed by true energy caught them in their grasp.

With a mighty surge, a wave dozens of meters high swept outward from Wu Hong. His true energy poured into the lake below, keeping him standing atop the water as if it were solid ground.

From a distance, he looked every inch the sea god: hair streaming upright, feet planted on rolling waves, radiating awe-inspiring power.

The hands of true energy firmly held the two women.

With a single burst, the unleashed energy sent shockwaves through the depths, and soon blood boiled up from below. Moments later, several lifeless bodies floated to the surface.