Chapter 14: Situation

An overpowering pressure lodged in Lin Xin's chest, and just as he was about to speak, he saw the opponent smash out something with a bang—an explosion accompanied by white smoke that blurred and spread outwards, choking him immensely.

Cough, cough...

An Ying's voice came from below as she retreated about a dozen steps and easily leaped to his side.

"Senior brother, are you alright? Are you hurt anywhere?!" Her voice sounded unusually tense.

"I'm... I'm fine," Lin Xin slowly eased the suffocation in his chest, "If that guy hadn't run so fast, I would have gone down and killed him!"

"Big senior brother, don't worry, with me here, I absolutely won't let anyone hurt you!" An Ying patted her chest as she guaranteed, although what more attracted Lin Xin's attention were the quivering mounds on her chest.

Considering An Ying's low level of emotional intelligence, Lin Xin could only feel helpless in his heart and sighed silently.

At that moment, the woman in the bamboo hat and the woman swordsman in white also made their situation clear. Seeing her companion retreat, the woman in the bamboo hat also smashed a smoke bomb and disappeared.

The woman swordsman in white looked over here, sheathed her Black Sword, and walked over.

The two here also got off the rock and walked closer to meet her.

"Thank you both for your help." The woman approached with a salute and loudly expressed her thanks.

"It's nothing, it's nothing, helping each other out is what we should do when we are out on the road," Lin Xin politely smiled back.

"We should?" The woman found Lin Xin's reply a bit odd. "Anyway, I must thank this heroine." She then earnestly thanked An Ying.

"No need, no need," An Ying responded with a somewhat silly smile, seemingly unaccustomed to receiving such sincere thanks from others and unsure how to respond.

Lin Xin sized up the woman, who was passably attractive, with poor and slightly dark skin, but a good figure, probably due to many years of martial training.

The woman was dressed in standard Jianghu heroine attire, with a long object wrapped in black cloth on her back, seemingly entrusted with delivering something specifically.

"I am Chen Rui. May I ask if you two plan to descend the mountain?" the woman inquired.

"I'm An Ying, and this is my senior brother, Lin Xin." Without waiting for Lin Xin to speak, An Ying hurriedly introduced him, remembering the name that Lin Xin had told those around him to call him.

"For some reason, the road leading down the mountain to Red Pine City has been sealed off by those bamboo-hat people. I've already encountered two groups of opponents on my way here. If you two are heading down to Red Pine City, may I accompany you?" Chen Rui requested, though her gaze was fixed on An Ying, clearly having heard the shouting from that bamboo-hat man before; An Ying was obviously Lin Xin's protector.

"Senior brother?" An Ying looked towards Lin Xin.

Lin Xin felt a bit gloomy, but remembering the bamboo-hat man earlier, who seemed to resemble that inner strength master with the Qingluo Blade, he heard about the roadblock.

He suddenly felt alarmed, dismissing the messy thoughts.

"Could it be that they are already preparing for a second move against the Lin Family?"

His brow furrowed; he knew they could not delay and needed to hurry down the mountain.

"Together, let's head back to the city immediately!" Thinking of this, Lin Xin said quickly.

"Thank you very much," Chen Rui hastily expressed her gratitude.

The three of them didn't waste more words and quickened their pace toward the base of the mountain.

Before long, they reached the mid-mountain, where a group of bamboo-hat men were guarding the road, about five or six, each with a curved knife at their waist.

"What should we do?" Chen Rui looked at the two others.

"Charge through!" Lin Xin's expression grew stern as he gripped the handle of his sword, ready to make a move.

"I'm on it!" An Ying had already dashed forward.

Her Red Pine Sword Technique fully deployed, she resolved one bamboo-hat person with a thrust, then swiped left, her inner strength erupted, and the sword's speed sharply increased, slicing through the chests of two bamboo-hat men who rushed towards her.

Finally, three points of White Light from the Songyang needle appeared, and the two approaching from the side and rear were stabbed in the throat, immediately falling dead.

Lin Xin's face twitched, not even two breaths had passed, and five lives were already ended by An Ying's hands. He didn't even have a chance to test his own strength with his sword.

"Let's go."

Without more words, the three continued on their way.

Lin Xin moved swiftly, searching the bodies of several bamboo-hat men before they left, turning out some money bags and such to take with them.

After passing through a narrow slit between mountain walls, there was a small river with several bamboo-hat men guarding a wooden bridge beyond it.

Lin Xin spoke no words and drew his sword, charging forward.

Hissss, hissss, hissss!!

An Ying plunged into the crowd, unbeknownst when, instantly dealing with four bamboo-hat men with a powerful Songyang needle.

An Ying and Chen Rui had already reached the wooden bridge, sprinting forward.

"Senior brother, hurry up!" After sheathing her sword, An Ying didn't forget to look back and urge.

A breath of air that Lin Xin had been holding back was just about to be released, but it was stifled yet again.

Chen Rui glanced back at Lin Xin, frowning a little.

"This guy, being protected by women is one thing, but he's also dragging his feet slowly at this critical time for speed; doesn't he know that now is the time to save time? It would be troublesome if the opponents managed to regroup and surround them."

Seeing the disdain in Chen Rui's eyes, Lin Xin grew even more frustrated, reluctantly sheathed his sword, and sprinted forward to catch up, but he had never learned qinggong or other speed-enhancing techniques, and the basic Red Pine Footwork was only for combat, so for the time being, he could only follow behind, which only increased Chen Rui's disdain.

The two ahead slowed their pace, finally allowing Lin Xin to catch up. He reluctantly wanted to speak a few words to An Ying, asking her to slow down, to let him take the lead. But thinking that now was the time to save time, if they were delayed and the Lin Family was endangered, that really would be a loss beyond recuperation.

With thoughts turning, he could only forcefully suppress his breath back down.

"Next time! Next time I'll be the fastest!"

The three crossed the river and passed through a stone canyon where surprisingly, corpses of soldiers lay everywhere. Occasionally, one could see a bamboo-hat man's corpse, but far fewer than the soldiers'.

"Something is indeed amiss!" Seeing this, the three quickened their pace even more.

For some reason, Chen Rui, seeing such trouble, continued towards Red Pine City without saying a word.

After crossing the gorge, the last exit off the mountain was in sight, just in front of a dilapidated Mountain God Temple built with yellow mud walls,

more than a dozen people in bamboo hats, holding curved blades, stood together with a vigilant demeanor.

Lin Xin saw this from a distance and rejoiced, immediately drawing his sword with a clang.

"This time it's my turn!" he yelled, rushing forward with increased speed.

Just as An Ying drew his sword, he heard this and obediently didn't rush ahead, simply following behind Lin Xin.

Chen Rui actually started to see Lin Xin in a new light; this guy wasn't really a coward.

The people in bamboo hats came forth to meet them, and one of them, a man in a bamboo hat, sneered and suddenly leaped fiercely towards them.

He violently drew his blade, the blade trembling rapidly in mid-air, emitting a muffled sound, as it was infused with inner strength right from the start.

Lin Xin sneered and thrust his sword forward fiercely.

Pine Sun Needle!

He charged directly towards the man, but just as he thrust his sword, his inner strength suddenly stagnated, and the inner breath reached his shoulder and would go no further. Clearly, due to the lack of prolonged use of inner strength, his body's channels hadn't fully adapted yet, causing a delay in mobilizing his inner strength!

"Damn it!!"

Seeing the other guy's blade coming down, Lin Xin's sword clearly lacked the coordination of inner strength, and he instantly panicked.

If it connected, even a regular Pine Sun Needle would meet a blade driven by inner strength, which would be like offering himself up on a platter!!

"Senior brother, be careful!" An Ying's voice suddenly came from beside him.

A silver longsword pierced out from beside him, aiming straight for the curved blade.

Just then, Lin Xin's swordplay suddenly changed, and the previously uncoordinated inner breath instantly rushed to his hand.

Suddenly, six points of white light lit up in front of Lin Xin, illuminating both the bamboo hat man and their faces, causing both to squint at the same time.

Great Pine Sun Needle!

Clang clang clang!!

A series of violent clashings, like explosions, echoed as Lin Xin and the bamboo hat man's sword and blade collided, sending a series of overlapping noises in a moment.

Thud thud thud...

Both men stepped back over ten steps and stood firm.

"Good! I didn't expect to be mistaken." The man in the bamboo hat pressed his hat down and once again slashed fiercely with his blade. In mid-air, the blade transformed into a ghastly pale, bright net.

Lin Xin, expressionless, held his longsword horizontally in front of him and abruptly swept it.

Hiss!!

The sword blade traced a bright arc, meeting the blade net.

The sword tip and blade collided right in front of An Ying, and the two weapons, driven by tremendous inner strength, sprang apart, sparking in mid-air.

With a bang, the bamboo hat man was knocked back, falling to the ground on one knee and sliding back several meters, leaving a clear trace on the muddy ground.

This sudden change was so quick that it momentarily silenced the entire scene.

The actions of the dozen or so bamboo hat men slowed down noticeably, evidently stunned by their leader's sudden injury.

Chen Rui, entangled with other bamboo hat men, upon witnessing this scene, was so shaken that she almost forgot to swing her sword.

An Ying, standing to the side, retracted her longsword, also startled by the round of attacks between Lin Xin and the man.

When had her senior brother become so powerful?

She blinked her eyes towards Lin Xin, who held his longsword with a stern face, his tall figure fluttering in the breeze, making her heart skip vigorously. Her cheeks involuntarily flushed, apparently recalling some embarrassing scene, as she tightly clenched her thighs together.

The bamboo hat man clutched his chest, his face pale.

"Impressive!" he coughed out a trace of blood. "I didn't expect, didn't expect to be wounded by you, hehe, let's stop here for today."

After speaking, he leapt backwards, distancing himself from An Ying's chance to strike and widening the gap between them.

Clearly lagging behind in movement technique, Lin Xin could not catch up, retracted his longsword. That last strike was his full burst of inner strength, naturally powerful, and since that strike was released in the form of a skill, it was the perfect cross slash, thus appearing effortlessly smooth.

At this moment, the bamboo hat man's gaze towards him had changed, that manner of movement and easy slash had easily made him spit blood.

Seeing Lin Xin's composed demeanor was precisely what frightened him, as a master without abundant inner strength would hardly dare to use it so freely.

Lin Xin's gaze flickered, and he then looked towards the remaining bamboo hat men. Earlier, due to inexperienced use of inner strength, he had almost made a mistake. If he couldn't deal with that expert, surely these minor characters wouldn't be a problem, right?

He swept his sword around and was just about to charge.

"Retreat!!" Initially engaged with Chen Rui, one of the bamboo hat group suddenly yelled, and everyone instantly scattered like birds, not even waiting for Lin Xin to move before swiftly fleeing.

Bang!

A smoke bomb was thrown.

At that moment, the bamboo hat expert tossed a smoke grenade onto the ground, and the pungent smoke quickly dispersed.

When the smoke cleared, there was no one left in front of them.

Chen Rui coughed several times. Having seen Lin Xin's sudden eruption of powerful and impressive strength, and seeing his composed demeanor not indicative of excessive inner strength consumption, she immediately put away her previously disdainful attitude. Her mouth opened, a bit unsure of what to say, but after hesitating, she finally spoke.

"Now... what should we do?" At this point, her tone carried a hint of respect.