At this time, Fifth Brother, who had been sent to gather intelligence in the city, returned and reported quietly: “There are indeed troop movements in the city, but they’re still far from here. We have at least three incense sticks’ worth of time to act. Additionally, the guards and servants the Qin family brought total only about twenty people.”
“Ha! Twenty people aren’t worth fearing. With our brothers’ skills, one incense stick is enough to deal with them.”
The boss put away his water flask, wiped his mouth, and said: “Today our primary goal is to kill that woman, and secondly to rescue those three idiots. After we succeed, we’ll sneak back into the city to hide and wait for our Great Zhou army’s great victory.”
With the capital under siege, it wasn’t easy for them to get out. They could only hide in the capital and wait for Great Zhou’s day of victory, when they could return to receive rewards from His Majesty.
Hearing this, everyone felt invigorated. They each put on their masks, drew their knives, and headed toward the mountaintop where the Qin family had prepared to bury the deceased.
At this time, all the coffins were already arranged beside the pre-dug graves.
Qin Huaiyuan led his family in burning paper money, while those following to help all wailed sorrowfully.
Ji Yun knelt behind Qin Yining, while Mu Jinghu crouched symbolically beside her, watching the surroundings.
After Qin Huaiyuan led the paper burning and spoke the eulogy, he ordered the three assassins to be brought forward and the knives for death by a thousand cuts prepared.
“Today, we shall use these three men’s blood and flesh to honor the departed souls!”
As his words fell, another earth-shaking chorus of wails arose.
The executioners bound the three assassins in a “大” shape to wooden stakes and prepared the bone-scraping knives.
The three assassins had endured all manner of torture and were already covered in wounds, having confessed everything they could. Never expecting that after revealing all, they would still be slaughtered like livestock and suffer death by a thousand cuts, all three were terrified pale, with one trembling as he begged for mercy.
Their pleas for mercy sounded utterly ironic to Qin Yining’s ears.
She stood up, sneering at them: “Beg for mercy? You fear death now, but when you were killing my family members, why didn’t you think about whether they were afraid? You didn’t even spare my eleven-year-old cousin or my two sisters. You’ve already lost all humanity and don’t deserve to live! You want me to spare you? Impossible! Execute them!”
“Yes!” Three men took knives and began cutting into the three prisoners.
The mountaintop was a flat clearing, with forest and winding paths only a distance down the slopes.
At this moment, all the people the Qin family had brought were gathered around the execution scene, not paying attention to their surroundings.
The thirty-plus assassins, hearing the screams of those being executed, grew anxious.
At their boss’s command, they all charged out, rushing forward to attack.
These thirty men had conserved their strength and all had decent martial arts. For a moment, their momentum was truly like fierce tigers descending a mountain.
Meanwhile, Qin Yining had gathered with her father, two uncles, and two cousins, with guards surrounding them in the middle.
The boss sneered: “Fourth Miss Qin, why don’t you come out and die? If you had been willing to die that day, your family wouldn’t have lost so many lives. What’s this—are you still being cowardly and fearing death today? Aren’t you afraid those family members underground will be unsatisfied and come drag you down!”
Qin Yining showed no fear: “Today, who lives and who dies is yet unknown!”
Just as she finished speaking, the lids of the thirty-plus coffins arranged on the mountain were suddenly thrown open, and over thirty people in black clothes wearing silver masks jumped out.
The leader was not tall, her black tight-fitting outfit unable to hide her curvaceous figure. With a wave of her sharp blade, those behind her charged forward in well-trained fashion, silent but with imposing momentum and killing intent.
Simultaneously, roaring fires suddenly ignited around the mountaintop, encircling the clearing in a ring. In an instant, black smoke shot straight into the sky, trapping everyone within the circle of fire.
The thirty-plus assassins were shocked and dismayed. Not only were they evenly matched with the silver-masked agents in martial arts and numbers, but the other side still had additional deployed forces who hadn’t joined the fight yet.
They could only fight while retreating. But when they retreated to a certain point, behind them lay a sea of fire.
Qin Yining, protected in the midst of the group, laughed mockingly.
“How is it? How does it feel to have pursuers behind and a sea of fire ahead?”
The assassins’ current predicament was exactly like that of the Qin family that day.
“You damn bitch! Even if I die today, I’ll drag you down with me!”
The boss angrily swung his large blade, but before he could act, a stone struck his temple. He immediately spat blood and collapsed with rolling eyes.
This move truly stunned everyone.
Especially Cao Yuqing, who stood beside Qin Huaiyuan wearing a silver mask.
Qin Yining also looked at Mu Jinghu in surprise.
Mu Jinghu brushed the dust off his hands, explaining somewhat embarrassedly to Qin Yining: “He insulted you. That’s not good.” Having a friend’s wife insulted made him very uncomfortable. He thought if that fox were here, that person would probably die even more miserably, so he acted without hesitation.
Qin Yining came to her senses and smiled gratefully at Mu Jinghu.
The assassins, shocked by Mu Jinghu’s display, finally gradually lost ground under the silver-masked agents’ fierce pressure. With nowhere to retreat, they were captured alive one by one.
Just then, the fire suddenly weakened.
Only then did the assassins discover that isolation strips had been dug in a circle around the mountaintop all along. The great fire was merely to trap them and wouldn’t cause a mountain fire. How hateful that they hadn’t noticed the abnormality around them when they came up the mountain.
The silver-masked agents dislocated all these assassins’ jaws and handed them over to Qin Huaiyuan’s men.
Qin Huaiyuan ordered these people bound together with the original three who were to be executed by a thousand cuts.
Seeing the matter concluded, Cao Yuqing silently bowed to Qin Huaiyuan with cupped fists.
Qin Huaiyuan smiled gratefully at her and returned the bow with cupped fists.
Seeing this, Cao Yuqing’s face heated up. She quickly lowered her head to avoid his smile and led her subordinates to stand in formation to one side.
Third Master looked at the assassins tied up like dumplings and suddenly laughed and cried: “Satisfying! Truly satisfying!”
Seeing Third Master like this, Qin Huaiyuan put an arm around his shoulder and patted it, whispering in his ear: “Third brother, don’t worry. They won’t live.”
“Yes, elder brother. I believe you.” Third Master wiped his face.
Though he couldn’t wait to kill these people immediately, they had to consider the bigger picture and not ruin the plan.
The group escorted the assassins front and back, proceeding majestically down the mountain toward the city.
Qin Huaiyuan instructed Qi Tai: “Have our people prepare. Shortly we’ll parade these people through the streets.”
“Yes!” Qi Tai nodded and spurred his horse to make preparations.
He didn’t believe that the people, whose anger had already been stirred, and the disaster victims in Ningyuan who owed Qin Yining great gratitude, wouldn’t be stirred to action upon learning that the always loyal and people-serving Qin family had nearly been exterminated, while the assassins who caused the massacre had been captured.
The people had been shrouded by the shadow of national destruction for too long. After the peace talks succeeded only to be unilaterally torn up by the Zhou emperor, the people’s hatred for the Zhou emperor had risen to a new level.
Now, with these peace-destroying executioners being paraded through the streets, the consequences were predictable.
The Emperor wouldn’t permit death by a thousand cuts? Fine, they didn’t use it.
But with popular sentiment running high, if these assassins were killed by the people, surely the Emperor wouldn’t blame the Qin family?
This was exactly what Qin Yining and Qin Huaiyuan had aimed to achieve from the beginning.
The procession returned majestically.
Qin Yining lifted the carriage curtain to look at the assassins being driven like livestock behind them, immediately feeling a surge of satisfaction, as if a great stone pressing on her heart for days had been moved away.
The whole family felt the same. Third Master and Second Master shared a carriage, quietly discussing how to properly handle the actual funeral and burial along the way.
Thinking of his wife, Qin Yu hung his head and cried the whole way, with Qin Han silently comforting him.
Just as the group reached the city gate, they discovered crowds of people in chaos before the gate, including both soldiers and civilians, making it impossible for their procession to pass.
Qin Huaiyuan found this strange and quickly sent someone to inquire.
The inquiry didn’t matter—everyone who heard the news was stunned.
“What did you say? Prince Ning led ten thousand men into the city!”
“Yes, Marquis! Prince Ning, upon receiving the military talisman, immediately gathered one thousand musketeers from the Divine Engine Battalion, cavalry from the Three Thousand Battalion, and six thousand from the Five Military Camps—a full ten thousand troops—and charged straight into the city, completely surrounding the palace. He himself led men to storm directly into the palace, claiming the demon empress has brought chaos to the country and he must purge the emperor’s side!”
Qin Huaiyuan stood stunned, momentarily not knowing how to react.
He never could have imagined that Prince Ning’s first act upon gaining military power would be rebellion!
Hearing this, Cao Yuqing and the silver-masked agents beside them could no longer concern themselves with this place and all rushed toward the palace.
Meanwhile, the string of tied assassins Qin Huaiyuan had brought back attracted the surrounding people’s attention.
Qin Yining quietly instructed Ji Yun, who immediately took the lead, picked up a stone to throw at the assassins, and shouted: “These are Zhou dynasty assassins! Beat them to death!”
Hearing this, the people became agitated and began hurling stones, wood, rotten vegetable leaves, and whatever they could grab at the assassins.
Qin Yining then withdrew with Qin Huaiyuan, her two uncles, and two cousins plus their subordinates to the side, quietly watching the assassins being beaten to death by the people.
Qin Yining said: “Now His Majesty should have no time to punish anyone.”
“Yes, truly satisfying!” Qin Han couldn’t help himself. He rolled up his sleeves and charged out, learning from the people to grab a wooden stick and viciously beat the assassins.
Qin Yu followed suit, red-eyed as he rushed forward.
Qin Huaiyuan frowned tightly, still thinking about Prince Ning’s situation.
“Father is worried about the palace?” Qin Yining looked up at Qin Huaiyuan, saying quietly: “If I were Father, I would be so shocked and worried I’d faint right now, then secretly order people to hunt down the Cao family.”
Qin Huaiyuan, Second Master, and Third Master all suddenly looked at Qin Yining.
Qin Yining sneered: “Prince Ning purging the emperor’s side, killing the demon empress, while the Cao family is simultaneously broken through by angry people—isn’t that perfectly normal?”
Qin Huaiyuan nodded. Suddenly closing his eyes, he collapsed against Second Master, whispering: “Alright, I’ve fainted. Quickly take me home.”
Second Master and Third Master exchanged glances, then immediately put on a good show of carrying Qin Huaiyuan to the carriage, squeezing toward the city.
Meanwhile, Mu Jinghu had long been stunned speechless by Qin Yining.
He felt like he was seeing a female fox…
Truly, birds of a feather flock together!