Chapter 281 - 277: The Scent of Blood Drifting into the Carriage
Chapter 281: Chapter 277: The Scent of Blood Drifting into the Carriage
The night was dark and the wind howled, whipping the inn’s wine banner back and forth with a loud, snapping sound.
SWOOSH! SWOOSH! SWOOSH!
Following a few soft sounds, six or seven men in black, armed with great sabers and sharp swords, swiftly closed in on the Fulong Inn. With a flick of their wrists, they threw iron grappling hooks that caught on the windowsill of a guest room, and they began to climb.
Inside the room,
Lieu Yahang, the young boy in brocade, was already fast asleep. In his dreams, his hands would occasionally move in sharp little motions, and he’d mumble fighting sounds like "Hmph! Ha! Hey!" from the corner of his mouth, as if practicing his swordplay.
Lieu Nuoning herself had also just drifted off to sleep.
Just then, Aunt Qing, the middle-aged woman sleeping beside Lieu Nuoning, suddenly snapped her eyes open. Her gaze fell upon the windowsill, and her face paled in horror. She cried out, "Assassins! There are assassins! Miss, Young Master, wake up!"
Outside, one after another, men in black scrambled up their ropes and vaulted into the room. They charged toward the beds, their steel sabers and sharp swords gleaming.
SHING!
Aunt Qing swiftly drew the sharp sword from beside her bed and charged. Her longsword became a blur as she desperately engaged the three foremost assassins, locking them in a fierce struggle.
Instantly, the sounds of CLANGING and BANGING filled the entire room.
Startled from her sleep, Lieu Nuoning’s beautiful eyes widened in panic. She quickly grabbed her brother’s hand and tried to flee toward the door.
However, at that moment, two more assassins leaped in through the window. Their sharp swords glinted coldly as they slashed down at the brother and sister.
"Die, you little bastards!"
The assassin sneered, his face a ferocious mask.
But suddenly, at that very moment—
The door was kicked open, and a figure in green flashed into the room. Two streaks of cold light suddenly flared.
The next moment,
The smiles on the two assassins’ faces froze solid. Their hands were still raised, holding their sharp swords in a downward slash, but a thin red line had appeared on their necks. Dark red blood trickled out, the line growing wider and wider.
THUD! THUD!
With two soft thuds, the bodies of the two assassins fell rigidly to the floor.
A gust of wind seemed to sweep through the room as five more flashes of sword light flickered past. Five screams were abruptly cut short, and the remaining five assassins crumpled to the floor, dead.
In less than the time it took to take two breaths, all seven assassins were dead.
SHINK!
Ye Xing sheathed his sword and looked toward Lieu Nuoning and the young boy in brocade. "Miss Nuoning, little guy, are you two alright?" he asked.
"Thank you, Brother Ye." Color slowly returned to Lieu Nuoning’s pale, pretty face. "We’re fine," she said gratefully. "We were just scared."
Moonlight streamed in through the window, illuminating Lieu Nuoning’s fair, jade-like skin. She was in her nightclothes, which had apparently been torn during her panicked escape, exposing a large patch of her snowy, alluring skin. Ye Xing inadvertently glanced a few times. ’Wow, what a sight,’ he thought, feeling a heat pool in his lower abdomen. ’If I stay any longer, I’m afraid I’m going to pitch a tent. How awkward would that be?’
"Right. You two should get some rest," Ye Xing said, nodding slightly. "Don’t be afraid. I’m in the room right next door. If there’s any danger, I’ll be here in an instant." He immediately turned and left.
Inside the room,
Aunt Qing looked at the seven corpses on the floor and finally let out a huge sigh of relief. ’Every one of these seven men possessed formidable Martial Arts,’ she thought. ’They were all at the Martial Arts Sixth Realm of Cultivation. I used all my strength just now, and I could only barely hold back three of them.’
"Aunt Qing, your arm is injured!" Lieu Nuoning quickly tore a strip of cloth and began to bandage the older woman’s wound.
"I’m fine, Miss. It’s just a scratch, nothing serious." Aunt Qing’s face was clouded with worry. She sighed. "Sigh... The Great Madam truly won’t rest until we are dead. Thankfully, Young Master Ye arrived when he did, or I fear we would not have survived." Her eyes flickered with doubt. "By the way, Miss, you didn’t tell Young Master Ye about our circumstances, did you?"
"I did. I told Brother Ye everything."
"Oh? That’s strange." Aunt Qing looked both grateful and puzzled. "If he knows everything, why was he still willing to save us? Isn’t he afraid of the Great Madam’s retaliation?" ’In my opinion,’ she thought, ’if he knew the truth, a petty man would have been furious that we hid it from him. Even if he were magnanimous enough not to blame us, he should still want nothing more to do with this affair. Our enemy is the current head of the Lieu Family, after all. Once someone gets involved, even a master at the Martial Arts Ninth Layer would be in mortal danger.’
"Aunt Qing, Brother Ye told us not to worry or let our imaginations run wild. He said that since he accepted our mission and took the deposit, he will see to our safety."
"Silly girl. To a master like Young Master Ye, a thousand gold coins is nothing. And that’s only if the young master successfully inherits his title and reclaims the position of Patriarch from the Great Madam. Still, this Young Master Ye is quite mysterious. There can’t be many masters that young in the entire Southern Tang Country. Miss, you should seize this opportunity. With your looks, maybe you could..."
"Aunt Qing, what are you talking about?" Lieu Nuoning’s beautiful eyes were downcast with shyness. Her fair cheeks flushed scarlet in an instant, and her face felt like it was burning.
"I’m serious, Miss. A young hero like Young Master Ye, so powerful and with such good character, is a rare find..."
...
The next morning, the sun rose slowly from the eastern horizon, instantly brightening the world.
After Ye Xing, Lieu Nuoning, and the others finished breakfast, the group of four bought a carriage in the city. They continued their journey, departing from Central Cloud City and heading toward the Golden Scale Imperial City.
Since Aunt Qing was more familiar with the road to the Imperial City, she naturally took charge of driving. This saved Ye Xing the trouble of reading maps and navigating. As a result, Ye Xing, Lieu Nuoning, and the young boy stayed inside the carriage, where Ye Xing, being a cultivation maniac, didn’t waste a moment of the journey.
The carriage wheels rumbled on as they traveled day and night, passing through one city and town after another. After six or seven days on the road, they had long since left the borders of Central Cloud Province and were drawing ever closer to the Golden Scale Imperial City.
Logically, this period should have been fraught with assassination attempts. After all, killing Lieu Nuoning and her brother before they reached the Golden Scale Imperial City would be the simplest solution for their enemy. Once the siblings arrived safely at the Lieu Mansion and secured the support of the clan elders, the Great Madam—a woman who had married into the family—would be in serious trouble. It would be far more difficult for her to strike a fatal blow. Therefore, the road to the Golden Scale Imperial City should have been the most dangerous part of their journey.
However, strangely enough, the past six or seven days had been completely peaceful. The Great Madam of the Lieu Mansion, it seemed, had not sent any more killers after the siblings.
"Brother Ye, Shuanglong Bridge is just ahead!" Lieu Nuoning said with delight.
"Er, Shuanglong Bridge?" Ye Xing asked awkwardly. "Pardon my ignorance. This is my first time traveling to the Golden Scale Imperial City."
Lieu Nuoning covered her mouth and giggled. "Hee hee. Once we cross Shuanglong Bridge, we’ll be in the outskirts of the Golden Scale Imperial City. From there, it’s only another day or two at most until we arrive."
"Big Brother, are you going to leave us after we reach the Golden Scale Imperial City?" the young boy in brocade asked, looking up at Ye Xing with wide, dark eyes full of reluctance.
"Yes, something like that. I have my own business to attend to, but I’ll see you safely to the Lieu Mansion first."
As Ye Xing was speaking, his expression suddenly shifted. His gaze shot outside the carriage as he said in a low, grave voice, "Such intense killing intent!"
NEEEIGH!
At the same time, the horse neighed shrilly, and the speeding carriage screeched to a halt, throwing everyone inside into disarray.
Thanks to his cultivation, Ye Xing was unaffected, but the sudden stop sent Lieu Nuoning and her little brother tumbling right on top of him. For a moment, he found himself with an armful of soft, fragrant warmth.
Lieu Nuoning’s face flushed red, her eyes flustered. She quickly scrambled off of Ye Xing and looked out of the carriage in confusion. "Aunt Qing, what’s going on? Why did we stop so suddenly?"
There was no answer to Lieu Nuoning’s question. Outside, an eerie, deathly silence had fallen. The only sound was the whistling of the wind, which carried the sharp, coppery stench of blood into the carriage.