Chapter 50: Rescue is urgent

  Song Qing was scolded by Yin Liting's rare loud rebuke, and he looked over with a pitiful expression, clutching Yao Guang's hand.

  Yao Guang chuckled and sighed, "Although I really didn't have plans to get married, but why is Sixth Shixiong so agitated?"

  Yin Litian's face suddenly turned red, and she stuttered and couldn't answer.

  He was originally speaking without thinking, and after a little thought, he roughly knew that he had a subtle feeling of not wanting his sister to marry someone else, but when asked by the person involved, he was even more embarrassed to say it.

  It's okay for me to get married, but not allowed for my sister to marry, where is the logic in that? If this kind of talk gets out, people will definitely laugh at us.

  Song Qing didn't dare to speak up, although he had his suspicions, because Yin Litian was his senior. He simply shook his head and hummed softly.

  Yao Guang didn't make things difficult for his senior brother, and smiled: "I'm very curious about this 'Ji Shijie', after some time, I'll go to Emei Sect to visit her, and see what kind of outstanding person my future sixth sister-in-law is, that makes my sixth senior brother so infatuated."

  She didn't ask Yin Litian what she meant by that sentence, but instead brought up Ji Xiaofu to change the subject. Although she was genuinely eager to see Ji Xiaofu, there was also a hint of teasing her senior brother.

  Sure, here is the translation:

  As expected, Yin Litian hurriedly quickened her pace, almost fleeing in a fluster.

  Yao Guang and Song Qing Shu exchanged a glance, and couldn't help but smile.

  After March, it was already late spring. Yao Guang indeed obtained permission from Zhang Sanfeng and went to visit the Emei Sect, bringing some gifts along the way, which he considered as going out to broaden his horizons and see the world.

  Strictly speaking, this was Yao Guang's second time going down the mountain. Although she was mature for her age, Song Yuanqiao, as her senior brother, was still worried and had Yu Daishan accompany Yao Guang together. Yao Guang couldn't decline and happily went down the mountain with Third Senior Brother.

  Just as the two of them had left Hubei, Yao Guang's sharp eyes spotted a white powder-painted emblem of the Emei Sect's "Buddha Light Small Sword" at the base of a residential wall. It looked quite new. She immediately pulled Yu Daiyan to a stop, and after a brief discussion, they decided to temporarily postpone their visit to the Emei Sect and instead go see why the local Emei disciples were seeking help.

  "Third Master, what do you think is going on?"

  Yao Guang thought to herself that it was strange, this wasn't the Emei territory, why would someone from the Emei Sect come here. With the current reputation of the Emei Sect, even ordinary evil people wouldn't dare to cause trouble for a disciple of the Emei Sect, and those who were sent down the mountain must have achieved something, what could they have encountered that made them hastily draw a distress signal?

  Look at the symbol of that Buddha's light sword, it is drawn quite roughly, as if time was pressing and could only be written hastily...

  Yu Daishan sank into thought for a moment before saying, "Perhaps some of the Emei Sect's sisters were tracking down evil-doers and ran into trouble."

  According to Zhang Sanfeng's generation, he is actually of the same generation as Emei Sect's ancestor Guo Xiang, two generations higher than the current Emei Sect leader Mie Jue Shitai. Zhang Sanfeng's disciples are also one generation higher than Mie Jue Shitai. The two sects have always interacted with each other, and since Zhang Sanfeng is broad-minded, he didn't want to create an awkward situation, so he didn't let his disciples discuss their generational differences. Wudang and Emei Sect disciples usually address each other as "older brother" or "younger sister" based on age. However, now that Yin Litian and Ji Xiaofu are engaged, the situation is different. The Seven Heroes of Wudang have always been like brothers, so naturally they would follow Yin Litian's lead in treating Emei Sect's second-generation disciples as peers. Given Yu Dairen's age and generation, it's not presumptuous for him to call Emei Sect's second-generation disciples "younger sister".

  Yao Guang also understood this truth, so he didn't bother to correct Yu Daishan's title.

  Compared with someone actively looking for trouble from the Emei faction, this kind of danger encountered by the Emei faction disciples actively pursuing evil people is more credible.

  Yao Guang nodded, thinking about whether there were any notorious villains that had appeared in the area recently. After some thought, she couldn't help but sigh at the fact that Wudang was not well-informed about the situation of the Ghost Prison Map.

  No matter how intelligent a person is, if they lack sufficient information, it's difficult to make a perfect inference. Yao Guang is currently facing such a situation.

  The situation on Mount Wudang was clear to both Yao Guang and the natural world. The news that had been passed down from the mountain, anything that Song Yuanqiao could know, Yao Guang also knew. However, after filtering through these messages one by one, she found it difficult to screen out any suspicious characters.

  It should be known that in this era, news spreads slowly. Even notorious thieves and villains can often escape punishment for over a decade. If they intentionally hide their identities and go into hiding, it's even harder to find them. Unless someone puts in great effort to gather intelligence and investigate, many pieces of information will remain uncertain or be cut off after a short while.

  In that case, I'll just have to follow the direction of the little sword and chase after it first. Let's see if we can meet someone from Mount Emei along the way.

  Yao Guang's mind turned, and he suddenly had a doubt. He asked: "Third Brother, although the tokens of each sect are only circulated within their own sect, we also know the token of Emei Sect. Who knows if outsiders also know our Wudang Sect's token? How can we be sure that this token was drawn by an Emei Sect disciple or some villain from another side trying to set a trap?"

  Yu Daoyan was taken aback, and originally wanted to reach out and ruffle his little junior sister's hair, but after seeing the Shangqing lotus flower crown on her head, he changed it to patting her shoulder, laughing: "Little junior sister can think of these things, it's not easy to come by. Indeed, in Jianghu, there are many such tactics. We stand upright with integrity, and cannot ignore them because of a little danger. If this is indeed the Emei Sect seeking help, hesitating for a moment may result in more losses. If it's someone from another sect, we should be magnanimous and thoroughly eliminate them. Be careful on the road and make thorough preparations before taking action."

  Yao Guang couldn't help but secretly laugh at herself for unknowingly having some pride, thinking that what she could think of, Yu Daiyan, who had been traveling the world for many years, wouldn't be able to think of. With this thought, she silently warned herself not to underestimate the heroes of the world again. She then hugged her arms and smiled: "Third Brother is absolutely right, just in case, let's send a message back to Big Brother as well."

  Wudang was very concerned about "losing contact" due to the events of previous years, and in recent years, no matter who came down from the mountain, Song Yuanqiao would specially remind them to keep in touch with the sect and not break off contact.

  Yu Dairan couldn't help but think of his own past when Yao Guang said that, and he let out a sigh before gently patting Yao Guang's shoulder.

  "That's also true, Little Sister is meticulous in her thoughts, after a few years, I'm afraid there will be no need for Big Brother to worry much."

  Yao Guang shook his head and smiled: "Third Shixiong, why say such things? I still have a lot to learn."

  The two men agreed and went to a shop to borrow paper and pen.

  Yu Daiyan was writing a letter, Yao Guang carelessly looked around and unintentionally saw a blurry white shadow on the stone steps beside the shop door, which seemed to be a mark left by a white chalk. She walked over to take a look, and her eyes widened unknowingly, this was also the mark of Fo Guang Xiao Jian!

  The mark looks like it's already faded a lot, as if it had been washed away by rainwater. Although it was painted on the side wall of the stone steps, it has also opened up. If you don't pay attention carefully, I'm afraid you won't be able to see this mark at all.

  Yao Guang didn't make a sound, and just walked back to Yu Daiyan's side with a casual stroll. After he had someone send the letter, they left the door, and only then did she lightly pull on Yu Daiyan's sleeve, indicating for him to look at that mark.

  Yu Daishan looked in the direction that Yao Guang was pointing, and after a while, he looked at Yao Guang with some surprise.

  "Little junior sister... have you also discovered it?"

  Yao Guang nodded and said in a low voice: "It doesn't seem like it was written by one person, the writing habits are different, and the directions of the strokes are also inconsistent."

  The sword in front points towards the north, while this one points towards southwest.

  Two symbols, one new and one old, both written by two people, pointing in different directions, how can it not make people suspicious.

  Yu Daixi thought for a moment, letting Yao Guang wait for a while, and walked to the side to ask an old man a few questions. After returning, his expression became even more solemn.

  "That old fellow said that half a month ago, he indeed saw two female knights passing by. Later, one of them was asking people in the town if they had seen her senior sister, but after searching for several days without result, she hastily left. The rain fell two days ago."

  Yao Guang slightly furrowed her brow, "Half a month ago? It seems that the two sisters have been living here for four or five days. Later, they somehow got separated and lost each other. The 'younger sister' left first without finding anyone, while the 'older sister' who went missing left several days later and even left a mark on the wall... it's been quite some time."

  She pursed her lips and didn't continue speaking.

  If this wasn't a trap set by evil people to lure others in, but rather the Emei Sect members really were in danger, then the longer they waited, the more dangerous it would become.

  Moreover, judging from the way he kidnapped people, that person was quite bold and arrogant. Although he had already captured someone, he didn't leave immediately but instead waited in town until another Emei Sect member left before slowly leaving himself. The Emei Sect disciple who encountered danger managed to leave a mark, even though the villain was too arrogant and lax in his defense. That senior sister or junior sister was also quite clever and meticulous. If it were someone like that who encountered danger, people would be more eager to rescue them.

  Yin Liting and Ji Xiaofu are engaged, Wudang and Emei are relatives by marriage. In terms of emotions and reason, Yao Guang has a good reason to save people. It's the same as saving people, it's more pleasant to spend effort to save a clever and talented person than to save an incompetent fool.

  Yao Guang said these things, Yu Daiyan naturally could think of them too, and even thought of more. After all, he had more experience in the Jianghu world. At this moment, he quickly thought about which lecherous villains were active in the Jianghu world recently, and then compared their recent activity ranges one by one. After thinking about it, he also sighed helplessly.

  Yu Daishan sighed: "Time is pressing, saving people is urgent, if Little Shifu can bear it, we may have to rush on the road day and night."

  Yao Guang nodded first, then hesitated for a moment and said: "Third Brother, let's split up. I'm worried about that Emei Sect sister who left alone. She's searching for her fellow disciple all by herself, it's hard to guarantee she won't stir up trouble, if there are bad people with ill intentions or if they're already in a group, she's in great danger being alone. Brother, go catch up with that sister and come back, I'll directly go after the sister who encountered danger, we can meet up later."

  To be honest, this arrangement is also good. If it was Yu Lianzhu or Zhang Songxi who made the suggestion, Yu Dairen would have agreed after some consideration. But now that it's his little junior sister who said so, he refused without hesitation.

  "It's extremely dangerous for Little Sister to chase after that evil person alone! If you must separate, it should be Little Sister who goes southwest!"

  Yao Guang hesitated for a moment and said, "Rescuing people is like putting out a fire, I can catch up with that person quickly."

  This is also saying that Zhi Shu's lightness skill is even better than Yu Dailiu's.

  A wicked man kidnapped a member of the Emei sect and went north, not long after, a short pursuit, with superior lightness kung fu, surpassing the speed of a galloping horse.

  Yu Daoyan was taken aback for a moment before retorting, "It's precisely because we can catch up quickly that Little Sister is in even greater danger."

  In Yu Daoyan's heart, that wicked person was undoubtedly highly skilled in martial arts and cunning in thought, and also lecherous. How could he let his junior sister go after such a person alone!

  Yao Guang fell silent for a moment, then smiled and said: "Third Brother is worried unnecessarily. I'm not as easily imperiled as Third Brother thinks. Eldest Brother and Fourth Brother often tell me about things in the jianghu, and I have some basic understanding of medicine and poison techniques. As for swordsmanship..."

  Yao Guang took out the ordinary iron sword she bought at the foot of Wudang Mountain, pressed the hilt with her right hand, slightly drew the sword out of its scabbard, only about an inch or so, a pure sword energy and cyan white light flashed by, she immediately put the sword back into its scabbard, looked up at Yu Daishan with a "leave everything to me" smile.

  Yu Dailuo blinked his eyes, seemingly somewhat disbelieving, and after a moment said: "......Sword energy...... Sword aura......"

  The swordsmanship has reached the ultimate, and can hurt people with the sword energy. In the past, the Duan family of Dali had the "Six Pulse Divine Sword" that was unmatched in the Jianghu, but it became a legendary story after decades. All the swordsmen take pride in cultivating their sword energy, let alone the sword edge. Yu Daoyan has been traveling in the Jianghu for many years and only saw his master Zhang Sanfeng use it once.

  The author has something to say: I saw that many people in the comments were shouting to abuse Ji Xiaofu, so I'll take a stand here.

  I don't dislike Ji Xiaofu, nor do I intend to bully her.

  She was engaged to Yin Liting, but lost her virginity to Yang Xiao and gave birth to a daughter named Bu Hui. She then secretly raised the child without telling either Yang or Yin about it, causing Yin to wait for many years.

  Of course there is something wrong with Ji Xiaofu in this matter, but it can't all be blamed on her.

  In the original text, it is clearly stated that she was chased by Yang Xiang all the way and finally "could not refuse" and lost her virginity to him. He monitored me very strictly, teaching his disciples to seek death but not be allowed to die. After several months passed like this, suddenly an enemy came to the door looking for him, and the disciple took advantage of the opportunity to escape, only to discover that she was already pregnant soon after, and did not dare to tell her master, so she had to hide and secretly give birth to this child. This sentence "could not refuse" is actually full of pain and grievance, Ji Xiaofu didn't just see Yang Xiang as handsome and follow him, she was completely unable to escape at first, being forced, and then was watched closely, even seeking death was not allowed, until later when she escaped (it can be seen that she had the intention to run away!), discovered herself pregnant, couldn't bear to abort the child, so gave birth to it.

  Up to this point, she didn't make a big mistake. But after that, she was afraid of being killed by the sect (especially the Extinction Sect), so she didn't dare say that she had hidden a child outside, which is also understandable. She didn't clarify things with Yin Liting either, which delayed him and was indeed wrong. However, it's unreasonable to criticize Ji Xiaofu to death based on this.

  Men and women's love affairs are originally unreasonable things. Ji Xiaofu was forced to fall in love with Yang Xiao, and Yin Liting was infatuated with Ji Xiaofu. In the end, it's just a matter of mutual affection. If you want to distinguish right from wrong, it's hard to say clearly. Moreover, there is one point: although both are entangled with enemies of their sect, the biggest difference between Ji Xiaofu and Sun Xiuying is that Ji Xiaofu was forced to lose her virginity without knowing that Yang Xiao had killed her own master (......), and afterwards did not take her daughter to seek refuge, but instead hid with her daughter. In the end, she was found by Mie Xiu and slapped to death with one palm. It was because she saw someone from Emei Sect seeking help, and she didn't abandon them for the sake of survival. She followed the distress signal all the way, not knowing that it was a plot by Jin Hua's wife.

  I'll quote a passage from the original work:

  "After falling out with my sister Ding, I never returned to Emei and brought Nuer to live in seclusion on Mount Shun'geng, over 300 miles west of here. For more than two years, I have been accompanied only by woodcutters and rural farmers every day, and it has been quite a carefree and happy life. Half a month ago, I took Nuer to the town to buy fabric, intending to sew some new clothes for her. However, on the wall corner, I saw a circle of Buddhist light and a small sword drawn with white chalk, with very fresh marks. This is the signal used by Emei Sect to summon fellow disciples. Seeing it, I was naturally greatly shocked and pondered for a long time. I thought that although I had fallen out with my sister Ding, I was not in the wrong, and I had not committed any acts of disloyalty or betrayal towards my master. Today, perhaps our fellow disciples are in trouble, and we cannot but lend a helping hand. Therefore, following the signal, I came all the way to Fengyang."

  Ji Xiaofu is still very loyal to her sect and has not betrayed it, nor can she be called a despicable person. Her biggest mistake was delaying Yin Liting, as for other insults, I really can't agree with them.

  Therefore, I am more sympathetic to the character of Ji Xiao Fu. As she said herself, "the disciple's life is bitter". What she has encountered, where is what she had hoped for?

  Who helped her when she was desperate and had no way out back then?

  Nothing.

  All her grievances can only be summed up in one sentence: "A disciple cannot refuse."

  Jin Yong's writing has always been simple and concise, but when I looked back, the three words "cannot refuse" left me with a mix of emotions.

  I saw some fellow authors, who wrote about the female lead traversing through time and space, yet instead of saving Ji Xiao Fu when they had the chance, they put on a cold demeanor, saying "I know the plot, this woman deserves to die". Even when they were still fellow disciples with Ji Xiao Fu, they watched her suffer such misfortune and then ran out to scold her. I really don't know what kind of hearts these people have! (Of course, maybe some of them are just writing fanfics after reading other fanfics, in that case, I have nothing to say. Readers may not be clear about the original work, but authors should at least review it a few times before writing to avoid making big mistakes.)

  Of course, the above comments only apply to the original version of The Legend of Sword and Fairy, not including various TV drama adaptations. Each version of the TV series has adapted Yang Xiang and Ji Xiao Fu's storyline differently, personally I like Sun Xing's version better.

  This chapter is Chapter 50 of Rescue Mission. If you think this chapter is not bad, please don't forget to recommend it to your friends on QQ group and Weibo!