Gouge fled without choosing his path, bounding and leaping across rooftops, clearing over a hundred houses in the small town within a dozen breaths. Finding time to glance back and check for pursuers, he let out a sigh of relief when he saw no one following, assuming they had shown mercy and let him go. In truth, they couldn't even catch up to his dust, let alone talk about whether or not to spare him.
You only earn the right to talk about sparing someone when you have your fingers around their throat and a blade at their neck. If you can't even catch sight of the other person's back, you should crawl as far away as possible and stay wherever it's coolest.
Standing on a rooftop and gazing into the distance, Gouge saw a large crowd near the mouth of the Yangtze River. Vaguely remembering that he had come from that direction, he didn't stop to think and leaped toward it.
When he dropped down from a height of more than ten meters, he nearly scared several people nearby out of their wits. Gouge didn't think much of it himself, feeling only a slight tension in his muscles that would vanish the moment he relaxed. But the others, watching a monster leap down from the high air as if nothing were the matter, were terrified out of their senses; they dropped their vegetable baskets and fled with panicked screams.
Gouge was puzzled. What was wrong with these people? They had even abandoned their freshly bought vegetables without a care. Picking up a discarded basket, he chuckled, "Looks like tonight's vegetable dinner is sorted—just right for a nutritious vegetable stew," and strolled through the alleyways carrying the basket.
By the time he reached the riverside and found the spot he had just left, he discovered only a creel and a fire that had just gone out and still held some warmth. Tian Rulie and Liu Xiaowan were nowhere to be found. A shock went through Gouge's heart. Could they have been ambushed so quickly? Could those people possibly move with such blistering speed?
Clearly, he was overthinking. Suddenly, ripples stirred the water's surface, and Liu Xiaowan emerged, excitedly clutching a large black carp as she shouted to Gouge, "Look! Look! I just caught it! Aren't I amazing, *hehe*?" A massive black carp thrashed back and forth in her arms, sending splashes of water flying all around her.
Gouge laughed, "Amazing, truly amazing! Come on up, I brought loads of vegetables! Where's Brother Tian? Why is he nowhere to be seen?"
Liu Xiaowan slowly swam over, cradling the large black carp, her dainty feet tapping lightly on the water. Gouge tossed her a rope, which she grabbed, and he pulled her back to the shore with force. Reaching out, he scooped up the large black carp, pinned it to the ground with one hand, and then extended a hand to grasp Liu Xiaowan's slender fingers, hauling her straight up with a heave. Liu Xiaowan felt an immense, overwhelming strength lifting her entire body upward, pulling her out of the splashing water with an irresistible momentum. Considering she was completely soaked and weighed down by water, without strength several times her body weight, she never could have been pulled up like that. Yet Gouge did it effortlessly, prompting another silent marvel at his formidable power.
"You mean Tian Rulie? Haven't seen him. He was right here just a moment ago."
Remembering what had just happened, Gouge hurriedly said, "Miss Liu, just now I ran into a little girl who dragged me into an alley, and suddenly a bunch of people rushed out wanting to kill me! It scared me so much I hurried right back."
Liu Xiaowan wrung the water out of her clothes with both hands and said with an incredulous look, "Is there really anyone in this world who can beat you? An alien, maybe?"
Clutching the large black carp, Gouge said anxiously, "It's true, I'm not lying to you. Miss Liu, let's run quickly! I'm afraid they might want to kill you and Brother Tian as well."
Liu Xiaowan chuckled, "I'm so terrified, which is all the more reason I can't leave you! With a peerless master like you around, I don't believe anyone could possibly harm me. Since you're so scared, if anyone comes, you can just hide behind me—big sister here will protect you. How about that?"
Seeing that she still refused to believe him, Gouge was utterly helpless and could only say, "Let's get out of here first; it's too dangerous. As for Brother Tian, why did he suddenly leave without saying a word? Could something have happened? Never mind, let's go somewhere safe and wait for him; I can always look for him later."
Liu Xiaowan shook her long hair, rolling and smoothing the damp strands before wringing out the water droplets with force and tying them back into a long ponytail. As she turned around, she saw the pile of sea perch in the creel leaping wildly, shaking the basket back and forth incessantly.
She called out to Gouge, "What should we do with these fish?"
Gouge replied, "This one is more than enough to eat. I think we should let the others back into the sea."
Liu Xiaowan had only caught the fish on a sudden whim and hadn't figured out what to do with them anyway. Hearing him make sense, she picked up the creel and released the sea perch back into the Yangtze River. A nearby fisherman shot her a strange look, thinking to himself that there really were geniuses nowadays who caught fish only to let them go again. What was the point of all that thrashing in the water just now? Were they giving the fish a bath?
Gouge cradled the large fish and bolted ahead, turning back from time to time to urge her to hurry because people were coming to kill him.
Liu Xiaowan said unconcernedly, "What are you afraid of? We haven't even seen a shadow. And I don't know where Brother Tian went either, leaving without a single word when he was fine just a moment ago."
Gouge smiled, "Brother Tian has formidable martial arts, unlike me, who has poor skills and can't even read. He'll definitely be fine."
Liu Xiaowan pouted with a look that clearly said she didn't believe a word of it, assuming Gouge was speaking in reverse again.
The two soon walked downstream along the Yangtze River. Gouge had no particular destination in mind; the farther away from the small town, the better. Presently, they arrived at a Taoist temple consisting of a dozen front and back buildings, where meals were currently being prepared, sending curls of cooking smoke into the air. Unable to read, Gouge could only look to Liu Xiaowan, who had hurried up behind him, wanting her to read the characters on the plaque.
Panting heavily from exhaustion, Liu Xiaowan snapped, "Wait up for me! I was chasing you so hard my lungs almost burst!"
Gouge smiled apologetically, "Sorry, I wasn't paying attention. I'm really sorry. Miss Liu, see what's written up here? The place feels familiar to me, but I can't remember."
Liu Xiaowan looked up and saw three large characters: "Shangqing Taoist Temple".
She had no idea what place this was, assuming it was just an ordinary Taoist temple, completely unaware that this was the birthplace of Shi Qing and Min Rou, and the home of the two experts Daoist Tianxu and Chongxu.
"This seems to be called... Shangqing Taoist Temple. Never heard of it."
Gouge smiled, "That's it, that's it! It seems to be right here."
He hugged the large black carp and started walking inside, but two Taoist priests at the entrance quickly intercepted him and unceremoniously demanded, "What are you doing? Coming here to disturb our quiet cultivation? You selling fish? Didn't someone tell you to use the back entrance? Are you deaf?"
Gouge said angrily, "I'm not selling fish! I want to see Daoist Tianxu. Could the two of you please announce us?"
The plump priest sneered, "I want to see the Jade Emperor, but do you think the spirit giant would let me in? Look at yourself! A fish seller reeking of fish, yet you dare to call the Daoist Master by his name. It's my bad luck to be assigned to guard the gate, and now I run into two bad omens like you. Go on, go on, what rotten luck!"
Liu Xiaowan's eyebrows rose in anger, a nameless fury flaring up. She instantly drew her sword and thrust it forward. The thin Taoist priest beside him stepped up and kicked her sword tip away. Taking advantage of the momentum, Liu Xiaowan spun to deflect the force, leaped straight into the air, and swept down with a "white cloud covering the summit" strike. The plump priest's hat split right down the middle, half of it falling to the ground. Furious, the thin priest reached out to snatch her sword. Gouge employed the Ding family grappling technique, catching his wrist with a single move of "wild horse reaching for a spring".
No matter how the plump priest struggled, his wrist remained locked as if in an iron vice, completely unable to move.