Given that Shen Wu was practically being served on a silver platter, it did not seem reasonable for Qiu Shui to show a lack of interest in the name 'Shen Wu'.
Wen Ran ignored Shen Wu's words and sighed, for she wondered just how long she would have to stay in the Hidden Abyss Valley.
"Oh?" Shen Wu blinked curiously and asked again, "Is repairing Sunset really that important?"
What kind of question was that?
Was he clueless to the significance of a sword to a swordsman?
Wen Ran only felt that he was deliberately acting like a dummy. She said irritatedly, "Well, duh. That's my sword. It has been with me for so many years!"
Wen Ran did not know what expression Shen Wu had under the straw hat. He only heard him say,"alright then. I'll think of a way to restore Sunset sword to its original state."
"What?" Wen Ran was stunned for a moment. She thought she was hallucinating, so she asked waveringly, "You can come up with a way?"
He held his head high, puffed out his chest, and exuded a masterful air. "Of course I can. I'm smart."
Wen Ran did not buy it entirely.
In the silence of the night, a maidservant's panicked shriek pierced through the air. "Eldest Miss has been taken away!"
In an instant, the entire Hidden Abyss Valley was brightly lit and all the disciples immediately set forth.
Wen Ran, who was jolted awake, immediately sat up on the bed. She needed some time to come to her senses, and she clearly heard the conversation of those disciples that were walking past her room—they were all talking about Qiu Shui's disappearance.
Wen Ran's mind cleared up in an instant, and she had a bad feeling. She hurriedly put on her clothes and went to the room next door, only to see that Shen Wu had disappeared.
Her bad feeling came true.
She should have known that a lunatic like him would never have been able to think of a good idea!
Wen Ran forced herself to calm down. She needed to figure out where Shen Wu had taken the young girl to, but doing so with a normal person's line of thought was definitely not going to cut it. What she needed to do was put herself in his shoes and ask herself, 'What would Shen Wu do?'
"Is there some sort of dangerous place near the Hidden Abyss Valley?" Wen Ran walked out of the room, grabbed a random disciple who was hurrying by, and questioned him.
The disciple was stunned. "A dangerous place?"
"Like a place with steep terrain, for example."
"There's a waterfall behind the Hidden Abyss Valley," the disciple answered immediately.
"I understand. Let me borrow your sword. I'll save your eldest miss!" Wen Ran snatched the sword from the other person's hand. The next second, she was already flying into the air on the sword. She once again said to the stunned disciple, "I'll save your eldest miss!"
In the dark of night, the sound of roaring water was endless in the waterfall that seemed to fall from a thousand zhang [1] above.
Qiu Shui's hands and feet were tied with ropes and she hung upside down on the cliff. She was drenched by the running water, which was much colder then because it was late at night.
She was facing a bad situation yet her temper was very bad too. She said stubbornly, "Just wait until I go up there! I'll definitely tear you into pieces! Cough cough!"
She choked on a few mouthfuls of water as soon as she opened her mouth. The running water that washed down and gushed against her body was absolutely painful. But the young miss simply refused to admit defeat.
Standing on the edge of the cliff was a masked man dressed in black. His voice had been deliberately lowered to make it sound hoarser than it was. "You're brave for the eldest miss of the Hidden Abyss Valley. You want to tear me into a thousand pieces, do you? Well, that'll depend on whether you're even able to come up here."
"If you have what it takes, you should come down here and confront me face to face! Cough cough! You... Cough... You're a man... Hiding yourself makes you a coward, not a man!" Water began flowing into her nasal cavity because she was hanging upside down, and the feeling was nothing short of uncomfortable. She could not even open her eyes! Even so, she still refused to lose to him in terms of character.
The man laughed sarcastically. "Rather than being stubborn, you should be thinking about what you've done to deserve this."
"I am a righteous young woman!"
The man's voice was low. "You're the eldest miss of Hidden Abyss Valley and you're usually arrogant. Haven't you done a lot of arrogant and despotic things? I'm sure you have"
"I do everything with a clear conscience!"
"You're unrepentant." The man untied the rope tied to the tree and flung one end of the rope with his hand. Since the rope had been lowered slightly, the girl who was hanging upside down fell some distance down too.
Qiu Shui's first instinct was to yell when she felt that weightlessness. She was already in the middle of the waterfall, so she was unable to say anything and could only cough incessantly.
"Stop!"
A third person called out in a flute-like voice. Qiu Shui struggled to open her eyes, and all she saw in the night was the figure of a green-clothed girl flying over on a sword.
Wen Ran landed steadily on the ground and assessed the situation at a glance. She thought that Shen Wu had captured the little girl and used words to threaten her, but it came as an absolute shock that he would actually be that ruthless to torture such a little girl!
Wen Ran saw the situation through a woman's eyes and was absolutely furious. "Don't you have a conscience for doing something like this to a young girl?"
Her sudden arrival surprised the black-robed man who was standing at the edge of the cliff. However, that surprise lasted only a moment, as he asked impatiently, "What does this have to do with you?"
"It has everything to do with me!" Wen Ran could not help but feel the heartache for her old man when she thought about how their reputation at the Immortal Ascension Mansion's reputation would be sullied if news got out that Qiu Shui was once kidnapped by Shen Wu!
Wen Ran said, "Don't be so stubborn. I believe that there will always be a way out. Even if Miss Qiu Shui is unwilling to cooperate, we can always find another way. She's free to do whatever she wants. You and I have no right to interfere."
Wen Ran was not so corrupt in terms of morality that she would allow a person to be threatened into handing over their belongings.
"You've lived in the Hidden Abyss Valley for a while now, so I'm sure you know that she's a hopeless person. I'm just teaching her a little lesson. This is nothing compared to her bullying."
"You can justify it all you like, but what you're doing now is wrong. I'm not going to reason with you anymore. Let her go."
He laughed. "If you want me to listen to you, you might as well win in a battle against me."
"Shen Wu!" Wen Ran took a step closer and yelled angrily.
A voice suddenly rang out from a tree not far away. "Why did you call my name?"
Everyone there was shocked.
Wen Ran looked up and saw a white-robed figure sitting among the mottled shadows of the trees.
The young man was sitting lazily against the trunk. His legs were dangling down and he stuck a nonchalantly casual posture. The white veil of his straw hat fluttered occasionally in the wind, revealing his handsome side profile in the briefest of manners.
He held a green plum in his hand that looked rather fresh. It was probably plucked from the tree not too long ago. Had he been dressed like that at the right place and the right time, he would have looked like a primary school student who had indulged in monkey business during a school trip.
TN:
[1] About 3.33m per zhang (丈).