18. Forming an Alliance (II)

Ye Lan didn’t hesitate to raise her hand and take the core. She later took out one bag of panacea from the other space and tossed it to the chief of the mercenaries, since she didn’t like owing others a favor. She said, “This is for you saving my life!”

Ye Lan turned around and headed into the depth of the forest without turning back! The chief of mercenaries untied the bag and was surprised to see the quality panacea inside. But he couldn’t tell others about it! He took a long time to concentrate while staring at her fading figure. Where to find such a special girl! What an interesting girl, by her standards, the mercenaries should owe her more. How can they repay her for saving their lives!

Ye Lan calmly headed into the depth of the forest and all of a sudden, she detected the presence of some high level beasts. She frowned and stopped to have a better sense. She had developed the habit of spreading her spiritual power to her surrounding areas to search around with the help of the old man. Now she was carefully sensing while frowning and her face full of seriousness. She could sense that the level of the spiritual animal must be above level seven!

“Help! Help!”

Someone was calling for help! Ye Lan leaped forward on her tiptoe after hearing the call! However, she didn’t do this to save other people as she made a judgement based on her hearing that this was a group of at least 10 people and the ones who made it here must be at least spiritual cultivators. If this was a beast that more than ten people found it hard to deal with, it must be something above mid-level five!

Ye Lan felt pumped up thinking about that. It was a good opportunity for her to practice her stage five and level five spiritual power as she needed experience to help her get into the next level. She had now understood that through practice she could get a better understanding of the knowledge and that she could get into the next level after each battle! After mastering the knack, Ye Lan got near the edge of the battle by turning over and clinging to a hundred-year-old tree. She observed through the leaves and saw a big beast and twelve people, seven of whom were injured and four seemed to be escorting a noble man to retreat. Unfortunately, that man also got hurt and they were unable to outrun the beast! They were taking none of the advantages from good timing, geographical position or human factors! Ye Lan couldn’t help smiling at that as she knew the saying: Two dogs strive for a bone, and a third runs away with it.

Ye Lan took a deep breath and reached out her tender fingers The fiery red flowing fireflies were then gathered and later formed into a flying knife. The knife of spiritual power that could hurt people invisibly with every fatal cut flew all its way toward the beast and it paused and then turned around to see who hurt it just now!

Ye Lan got up fearlessly, and was then leaning against the tree, with her arms crossing before her chest and one foot on top of the other. She looked at the beast with a faint mocking smile on her face and even gave a whistle to provoke the beast. This time, apart from the beast, the one who were being attacked also realized her presence and looked up at her.

It was a slim teenage-looking girl in her pale coarse linen and a pair of plain cloth shoes, with a casual ponytail on her head. She was exceedingly beautiful with her pretty little face and full of coquettishness though without makeup! She had a smile at the corner of her mouth; even though it carried some sense of ridicule, the brightness of that little face had impressed Ming Qingyu and was engraved in his heart ever since.

Years later, when Ming Qingyu recalled the first time when he saw Ye Lan, what did she look like? She was such a bright, coquettish, determined and beautiful girl! It turns out that she had been deeply engraved in his blood, his heart, his bones and his soul!

Ye Lan didn’t hesitate to attack as she did a clean turn-around on her tiptoes. Her Qingliu Wanyue had then gone out its sheath, with a flash of rolling murderous sense, the dagger swept the fallen leaves on the ground instantly and turned the leaves into sharp blades that could cut anything. The flying blades had now scratched the flesh of the beast and immediately left numerous cuts. The beast that was invincible in front of the team had no advantage at all before Ye Lan!

The beast, who was interrupted in the middle of taking his meal and filled with anger at the apex of his happiness, was now roaring to the sky and rushed all the way towards Ye Lan with his eyes blood-red, driven by the itchy, painful wounds.“Watch out!” Ming Qingyu blurted out by instinct.

After a gust of sandy wind, the beast was now on its knee and the little girl was nowhere to be found. Ming Qingyu was stopped by the guards as he frowned and was about to look for her worriedly. Before they knew it, a sudden blood mist splattered after a clear unsheathing sound. The head of the beast fell on the ground as the sound went while the blood splashed all over. Ming Qingyu quickly shielded off the blood by using his cape and the blood soon dropped from the cape one after another. The cape was soon unable to be reused. Ming took it off and went for Ye Lan, “Miss, Miss!”

Ye Lan managed to avoid the blood mist. It was the last outfit Xiao Hei had got for her; she couldn’t afford messing with this one piece as she didn’t want to wash her clothes on her own in the middle of nowhere!

However, this beast was so colossal that the corner of her clothes was stained with its blood even though she tried her best to hide from it.

Ye Lan went back on the ground after turning around and frowned at seeing the blood stain, feeling annoyed.

“Miss!” Ming Qingyu saw Ye Lan who was thinking to herself and standing still in the dust of smoke. He quickly went forward and held her arms, as if he regained something he had lost. He smiled and said, “I don’t know you are here, Miss! Are you okay?”

Ye Lan pulled a long face as she got grabbed by her arm and revealed her murderous look, which then scared Ming Qingyu as he halted. Ye Lan quieted down and turned a bit milder as she got a clearer view of him, but her high alert still made Ming Qingyu hesitate.

Ye Lan had to free herself from his grabbing as he didn’t make any move. Then she glanced at Ming Qingyu, “What’s up?”

“Ah! Oh!” Ming Qingyu, who was in a daze by Ye Lan’s temperament and only came back to himself after hearing what Ye Lan had said, answered, “Oh, thanks for saving my life!”

“No problem! I don’t intend to save your live, I am only here to practice.” Ye Lan had always be straightforward and was about to turn around after saying that. Ming Qingyu was about to stop her but spat a mouthful of black blood after feeling a sudden pain in his chest. The blood fell right on Ye Lan’s clothes and Ye Lan, who was furious enough, only to find Ming Qingyu was lying on the ground when she turned back. His eyes were filled with reluctance and rolled up. Then he passed out.

Ming Qingyu’s men were about to reproach her but was only looking at each other awkwardly at the thought that this woman just killed a beast without any efforts, so they could do nothing but call the name of their prince as they held him, heartbroken.

Ye Lan had a twitch at the corner of her mouth and she didn’t want to vent her anger on him anymore. She wasn’t the type of person who would love to mind other people’s business, so she decided to leave and found a place to wash her blood-smelling clothes. What a mess! It was really annoying to wash her own clothes, darn it!

“Ah, ah, ah, ah! Prince! You can’t die! Wake up, please! Prince!” tens of guards cried out brokenheartedly, like their own parents had died, making Ye Lan feel even more annoyed. She finally burst with anger and yelled at them, “Shut up!”

The guards were quickly quieted down after Ye Lan’s yell as she expected and the whole area went soundless immediately.

After a few seconds, a guard who was braver stood out and made an obeisance by cupping his hands in respect and said, “Miss, I was wondering if you have any way of saving our prince’s life. You will get heavily awarded if he wakes up!” The guard, being afraid that she wouldn’t agree, hurriedly present her with a good gift so that she could have a good look. Ye Lan received it and found it was a quality jade of a renowned origin. She giggled after having a clearer look at the jade and said, “Turns out it was the prince of Beiming Kingdom!”

“Please save our prince’s life, Miss! If you say no, we will remain on our knees till we die!” The guard suddenly knelt down, seeing it was a good opportunity. The rest of the guards followed suit and they all kowtowed to her three times and begged her, “Please help, Miss!” The voice of a dozen of guards was so loud that Ye Lan couldn’t help covering her eyes and rolled her eyes up in her mind, thinking this manliness was totally different from when they called for help just now!

Ye Lan was never the kind of person who enjoyed being threatened and she turned around and decided to leave, “It’s none of my business if you want to die on your knees!”

“No, Miss, please!” The guard was a clever man. Seeing that this didn’t work, he had to beg her to save the prince’s life without asking for anything!

Ye Lan had a twitch at her heart on seeing this guard and was wondering she may try the new pills she just produced! She then turned toward Ming Qingyu and lowered her body. Her tender hands touched his wrist to take his pulse. She knew that he was poisoned as his pulse was very weak.

She then got out a white pill from the other space and pinched his jaw open. Then she threw the pill right into his mouth and closed his mouth. Later she pinched his nose and pulled it so that Ming Qingyu would swallow the pill.Ming Qingyu looked better within no time; his face was no longer pale and gradually turned red. The guard, seeing that his master had turned better, instantly kowtowed three times again to Ye Lan. Ye Lan felt she deserved this and sat on the ground with her feet crossed, “Find me a set of clean clothes that I can wear! Or else I will poison your master again!”

“Ah? Oh! Yes, yes!” The guard, amused by her childish behavior, quickly turned around and went to look for the clothes, after all, they got twelve people. Unfortunately, the skinniest person’s clothes were too loose for Ye Lan to wear that she had to tie it tight after putting it on.

That was why when Ming Qingyu opened his eyes, he found the girl in front of him fiddling with a belt and himself lying next to a campfire. The way she frowned and pursed her lips was far from being a murderous person! Just like an innocent kid!