Chapter 224: The Horse-Head Blade

“Good! As expected of Brother Ye!” Old Monster Xiong immediately burst into thunderous applause.

Standing atop the Thousand-Mile Cable, Ye Yuzhu was just about to leisurely pull out his fan when the rush of wind reached his ears. Reacting with lightning speed, he retreated several steps and instantly caught an arrow right before it struck his face.

“Not good!” Standing to the side, Nanshan Qiao was the first to realize the danger. Striding forward in three quick steps, he grabbed the trembling Thousand-Mile Cable to pull it taut once more, shouting at Ye Yuzhu, “Chief! It’s a hidden arrow! Get back here!”

Ye Yuzhu was right in the middle of the Thousand-Mile Cable. Hearing Nanshan Qiao’s shout, he caught sight out of the corner of his eye of countless hidden crossbows suddenly appearing from the tomb walls on all sides. Dozens of sharp arrows closed in on him. Without time to drop the arrow in his hand, Ye Yuzhu leaped into the air, spinning half a turn as two arrows whistled past beneath him.

Tapping his toes lightly against the Thousand-Mile Cable, he flipped horizontally through the air. The Horse-Head Blade slid from his right sleeve once more, slicing through three arrows. With a reverse kick, he knocked away two lethal bolts aimed straight at his face. Just as he was about to launch off the cable again, the brothers holding the line began to lose their strength, causing the chain to slacken. Unable to leap again, Ye Yuzhu was forced to step back twice.

Seeing this, Nanshan Qiao immediately pushed those brothers aside and decisively wrapped the Thousand-Mile Cable around his arm. The chain instantly pulled taut once more. He shouted, “Chief! Hurry!”

Ye Yuzhu glanced up, saw Nanshan Qiao, and leaped from the cable. The Horse-Head Blade shot from his sleeve, its curved edge knocking down a dense cluster of incoming arrows before returning to his hand. The moment his feet touched the cable, he hurled the Horse-Head Blade once more. A cold light flashed across the men’s eyes, and the remaining row of hidden crossbows on the wall was instantly sliced off, falling into the bottomless abyss.

From behind, Ulunzhurige could see only a blur of green, accompanied by the ringing chime of the Horse-Head Blade unsheathing. She had never seen anyone capable of such legendary skill, and was so stunned she could not recover her senses for a long moment.

The Horse-Head Blade flew far before Ye Yuzhu, landing on the opposite side, caught it back into his sleeve. The green figure finally came to a standstill. Even after facing danger, his face bore the same unchanging pride upon landing. This Chief Chief, who commanded absolute respect in the martial world with his lightness kung fu, possessed truly remarkable footwork. Aside from a minor tear at the hem of his long robe from an arrow, he had not been scratched in the slightest by the barrage of arrows. The hidden bolts and crossbow mechanisms concealed in the seams of the tomb bricks had all been sheared off into the abyss.

Ye Yuzhu pulled out a handkerchief to wipe the sweat from his forehead, then immediately went to check the grappling hook of the Thousand-Mile Cable.

“Brother Ye, the rest of us don’t have your skills, so we’ll figure out a way across! Take good care of our brothers over there on your end!” Old Monster Xiong laughed heartily.

Ye Yuzhu folded his handkerchief, put it away, and scolded him, “Quit joking around. The layout of this tomb is very precise; we must be at the main entrance. Nanshan Qiao, look after the brothers. That little girl seems useless to us now, so let her go back! Old Monster Xiong, go outside and tell Qian Chuanzi to come in, then take a few brothers back with you to bring the rest of the team over.”

Hearing this, Ulunzhurige felt as though she had received a grand pardon. Old Monster Xiong clearly did not want to let her go, but constrained by Ye Yuzhu’s orders, he could not make trouble for her. He could only obey and lead her out of the Crying Forest. She rode home in near-panic, packed her bags as fast as she could the moment she crossed the threshold, and took her younger brother to leave this place of trouble as quickly as possible.

She had thought her connection with Ye Yuzhu’s group was broken for good in this life, yet a month later, when she stepped onto those same grasslands once more, she met them again.

However, the present was nothing like the past.

For a time, Zhurige thought she had mistaken his identity, but Manager Gan’s profuse gratitude softened her heart. She gave them a place to shelter from the wind and rain, then gathered local herbs and brewed them into medicine, leaving it outside their door.

She peered through the tent flap, unable to reconcile the bloody, mangled figure Manager Gan had carried out of the woods with the once-insufferable Ye Yuzhu. The hundreds of men he had led inside had been swallowed whole by that terrifying Crying Forest, leaving not even a fragment of bone behind.

Ye Yuzhu had lost both his legs, his top-notch martial arts completely destroyed. He only clung to life thanks to an elixir Gan Zhao had salvaged from the tomb, keeping his last breath hanging by a thread. Qian Chuanzi had lost an arm as well, but his attitude was fairly good; while Ye Yuzhu was recovering, he would occasionally help Zhurige herd her sheep.

Half a month later, Ye Yuzhu regained consciousness. When Zhurige went inside the tent to deliver medicine again, his face looked the same as before, yet she could no longer find even a trace of his former expression. That youthful ambition, the concern for success or failure, the brimming pride—all of it had collapsed like a building inside him. The pride in his bones had been shattered to pieces by this defeat, never to be put back together again.

Some time later, Manager Gan’s main caravan arrived, and the group planned to return the way they came.

Before leaving, Ye Yuzhu left behind the Horse-Head Blade that had never left his side, tucked among the bedding. Two days after they departed, Zhurige finally discovered it. She wrapped the blade in cloth, thinking Ye Yuzhu would surely send someone back for it once he noticed.

Yet a month passed, and no one returned. Zhurige had witnessed how formidable this blade was, but she didn’t know whether Ye Yuzhu had accidentally misplaced it or deliberately left it behind. The Horse-Head Blade was as sharp as ever, yet she never dared use it to cut grass or do chores, feeling that it could only achieve its full potential in the hands of that figure in green.

This Horse-Head Blade, along with all of Chief Chief Ye’s lifelong pride, seemed to remain forever on the grassland. Upon returning to the Central Plains, Chief Chief Ye resolutely disbanded his brothers and went into hiding under an assumed name, taking with him only a broken body.

“I didn’t expect such a story took place here back then. Just listening to it sounds legendary. From what you’ve described, with Ye Yuzhu’s style, if he hadn’t suffered this setback, he might have become a grand warlord and carved his name into the history books,” He Yu said, stroking his chin.

“That’s for sure. My grandfather said Chief Chief Ye’s reputation back then was never an empty boast,” Qian Deli sighed. “What a shame, though, that he ended up in such a miserable state in the end.”

Pulled back to reality, my gaze finally landed on a piece of red cloth that Ulunzhurige drew from her breast. With hands weathered by time, she peeled back the four corners of the cloth, revealing the legendary silver-inlaid ivory Horse-Head Blade before our eyes.

Lu Qianshan seemed intensely interested in the Horse-Head Blade and leaned in close, crowding He Yu so tightly that the two exchanged a round of colorful curses invoking each other’s mothers and uncles. I felt that if Lu Qianshan had a magnifying glass right now, he would definitely climb onto the table to inspect it.

Judging by its exterior alone, the Horse-Head Blade was clearly quite old. I wondered whether it would still be as legendary once unsheathed.

Kuba exchanged a few words in Mongolian with Ulunzhurige, then extended both hands to push the Horse-Head Blade toward me. “After all these years,” he said, “my Amma^[1] feels it should finally be returned to its rightful owner.”

He Yu immediately nudged me with his elbow, signaling for me to pull the blade and take a look. His nudge made me suddenly nervous, and I hesitated to reach for it.

“If you’re too chicken, don’t blame me for stepping in.” Seeing my hesitation, Lu Qianshan reached out to grab the blade, but Lu Ayao intercepted him. He pinned his arm to the table in an instant, making Lu Qianshan grimace in pain.

This had originally belonged to my great-grandfather. Taking it back now on his behalf was only right. I gave myself a quick mental pep talk, then reached out and picked up the Horse-Head Blade. The others crowded in closer.

I glanced at them, then applied a bit of pressure with my fingers. As I drew the blade from its sheath, a clear metallic ring echoed through the room. The edge remained pristine, the reflection of my own eyes staring back at me from the steel. It was truly a rare treasure among cold weapons.

I tested the weight in my hand, making a few small movements. He Yu backed away, warning me, “Whoa, watch it! That’s a lethal weapon. This blade has definitely seen its share of blood. Take it easy, or you’ll end up splitting our heads open before you even know how to use it.”

I sheathed the blade and looked at Zhurige across from me. “Thank you. But there is one more thing. I wonder if you would be willing to help?”

“What else do our guests require?” Kuba asked.

“Tomorrow,” I said, “could you take us to see that Crying Forest?”