The blades swept down like a curtain, enveloping An Jiu tightly.
An Jiu nocked another arrow and aimed at the fat man, silently calculating his explosive power, which would determine his evasion speed. This time the opponent was prepared, and merely aiming would not guarantee a hit. She had to predict his next move and shoot the arrow to that spot, not too fast or too slow.
Her highly focused mental energy made it easier for her to lock onto the target, and she could also sense the opponent’s inner force.
Through the flashing blades, An Jiu stared intently at the target.
The fat man’s gaze was terrifying as if he possessed intelligence, but he was nothing like a human, his entire being like the blade in the hand of the Grim Reaper.
The target’s entire muscular frame suddenly tensed, his body leaning to the right – all in the blink of an eye, his body shifting mere millimeters!
Now is the time!
An Jiu released her finger and the arrow flew towards a spot half a foot to his right.
The fat man saw the arrow approaching, his gaze sharpening, and he abruptly halted his steps. But even so, his body still lurched forward slightly, and the whistling arrow suddenly pierced his heart.
“An Jiu!” Blood Fiend could hardly hold out against the relentless attacks of the nearly two dozen martial artists.
Seeing her shot hit the mark, An Jiu immediately drew the hidden sword at her waist and fought alongside Blood Fiend, urgently calling out, “Seize the opportunity to escape!”
Without their leader, the attackers’ offense and defense gradually fell into disarray. An Jiu and Blood Fiend hacked a bloody path and once again fled wildly down the official road.
An Jiu had thought these people lacked human consciousness and would continue to pursue them, but after seeing the fat man shot, they all stopped in their tracks.
The two did not dare linger, running for over ten miles before pausing to catch their breath.
“I’ve never run such a long distance in one go before!” panted Blood Fiend.
“I can see the city gates now, let’s go in first,” said An Jiu.
Blood Fiend took a deep breath and followed her in a dash to the city walls.
The defenses of Hexi County were almost negligible, and the two easily scaled the walls and hurried to the county government.
The darkest hour is before dawn. It was almost pitch black, with barely a hand’s breadth of visibility. To save oil, only Mosigui’s courtyard had a hanging lantern, and the two, exhausted and with numerous external injuries, naturally headed there.
The lantern swayed in the wind, its faint yellow glow accompanied by drifting medicinal smoke.
Mosigui sat on the veranda, puffing away at his pipe. Suddenly, he heard rustling by the wall and looked up to see two bloodied figures, like evil spirits just crawled up from hell, in the flickering lamplight. He was startled and nearly threw his folding fan.
“It’s me!” said An Jiu.
Mosigui paused, smacking his lips, “What are you two up to, not sleeping in the dead of night?”
“We just got back from Zhending Prefecture,” An Jiu sighed in relief.
Mosigui’s hooded eyes raised slightly, “What happened to you two?”
“We encountered a group of assassins.” An Jiu wiped her face and sat down on a nearby stone stool. “They just started attacking us for no reason.”
Blood Fiend continued, “Those people seemed to have lost all sense of self, only knowing to kill. But strangely, a fat man among them could command them.”
He then recounted their full encounter from start to finish, and then asked, “Was it the Feng and Li families?”
In the recent big case, several hundred people from the two families had died – except for the poisoned children and elders, all the young and able-bodied had been killed with a single sword to the throat. And the two families’ healthy adults had all gone missing.
Those unaware of the details found it horrifying and bizarre, but those in the know could easily imagine what had happened – the people in the two families had their inherent toxins activated, and then massacred their households, while the old and weak succumbed to the poison changes.
“Most likely. I heard the Feng family head, Feng Fang, is a fat man. If that’s the case, we must capture two of them alive to take a look!” Mosigui’s eyes gleamed with excitement, the drowsiness he had just moments ago now completely gone, though he didn’t seem to mind. Turning to the tightly shut door, he asked, “What do you think?”
Inside, it was Wei Yuizhi.
He had been alert – he had noticed when An Jiu and Blood Fiend arrived outside the county government but had stayed inside to avoid meeting An Jiu, and even when Mosigui asked, he remained silent, pretending to sleep.
Mosigui chuckled, “I have the Mei family’s blood in me too, you know. If I die, how long do you think you can last?”
“I’m not sure what the ‘Control Crane Manual’ says, but I can guess – either he doesn’t have the Mei family’s poison activation method, or he’s keeping you two for some other use, and will eventually come find you of his own accord. Since he has a need, there’s no need to be too anxious,” Wei Yuizhi sat up, looking at the closed door, “If he has a need, he won’t need to kill you.”
Noticing that Wei Yuizhi referred to “him”, Mosigui asked, “Do you know who got the manual?”
“Just a guess,” Wei Yuizhi replied.
“Normally, the best choice for someone who obtained such an item would be to threaten the two families to do his bidding – even a fallen family is more useful than a bunch of dead bodies. But the mastermind quickly activated the poison, and these soulless assassins went all the way to the border, which couldn’t have been an accidental loss, but rather a summoning. A mere two dozen people couldn’t possibly pose a threat to the border defenses, so he must want to use the assassins for something. Considering all the powerful figures in Northern China who could have obtained the Control Crane Manual and activated the poison, I suspect they were just passing through this area, heading towards Liao. Of all the people in Liao who would act this way, there is only one – Yelü Jinglie.”
The three people in the courtyard fell silent, stunned.
“Why do you suspect it’s Yelü Jinglie?” Mosigui asked.
After a moment of silence, Wei Yuizhi answered, “I know them. Yelü Huangwu has the Ghost Shadow, he doesn’t lack this kind of manpower. It would be more useful for him to stay in the Song and do business for Yelü Huangwu. As for Yelü Quangcang, the other power-hungry figures are all focused on seizing power. Only Yelü Jinglie acts recklessly and without regard for the cost, and I vaguely sense that his actions are not solely to seize the throne. His urgency and disregard for the consequences suggest he is trying to accomplish some great deed in haste. As for why Yelü Quangcang would leave you alive…”
Wei Yuizhi sighed, “You’re the kind of person he would keep alive.”
“My time is limited, he was willing to do me this one favor.” Wei Yuizhi said flatly.
His mental strength was so formidable that the injury harmed him even more. As long as he was still alive and thinking, this kind of damage would not stop, and even with Mosigui, a miraculous doctor, by his side, it was just a cycle of patching up, and he still wouldn’t have many good years left.
A few years is hardly enough time to scheme for this vast territory.
Wei Yuizhi raised a hand to rub his brow, slowly lying back down.
For a moment, both inside and outside the room fell silent.
After a long while, Wei Yuizhi slowly opened his eyes. As if speaking to himself, yet also as if prophesying, “Yelü Jinglie will not succeed.”
All these years, he had been the one running around outside, while Yelü Quangcang had never shown any exceptional abilities. But just seeing him switch between various identities in plain sight without anyone noticing, and hide in the Mei family, a place swarming with assassins, for so many years without exposure, was enough to show that he was no ordinary person.
And when did he start serving Yelü Quangcang? When Wei Yuizhi had some idle time to reflect on the past, he only then realized Yelü Quangcang’s schemes.
He was proud of his cleverness. But Yelü Quangcang saw through him, using him to the fullest extent when he was useful, and discarding him without hesitation when he was not.
The only grace Yelü Quangcang had shown him in all these years was not killing him in the end.
Yelü Quangcang’s way of commanding others was to subtly manipulate them into acting according to his will. Now, Wei Yuizhi finally understood that his own choice of this path was half due to Yelü Quangcang’s influence.
He had been orchestrating the entire time, unaware that he was also a mere pawn in someone else’s game.
For Wei Yuizhi, it was never too late to gain that realization, at least better than dying ignorantly.
Dawn was breaking.
After bathing, An Jiu returned to her room.
As soon as she entered, she sensed something was off. But there was no killing intent, only a feeling of someone behind her. She suddenly turned around.
In the hazy light, a familiar tall figure abruptly came into her vision.
After a moment of silence, Lu Dingjiang’s deep voice finally sounded, “Surprised, huh?”
An Jiu finally snapped out of it, pouncing on him with a loud cry, “Lu Dingjiang! You’re here!”
Her voice was full of unrestrained joy.
Hearing this, Lu Dingjiang couldn’t help but curve his lips, tightly embracing her.
The two stood silently in each other’s arms, no more words needed, the sense of solidity enough.
After a long while, they finally parted. An Jiu lit the lamp and began, “You came faster than expected. I thought the Mei family and the Emperor would have you tied up for a year or two before you could break free.”
“If I want to leave, nothing can hold me back,” Lu Dingjiang carefully looked around the room, “There are some more things outside, waiting to be brought in when the sun rises.”
“For me?” An Jiu asked.
Lu Dingjiang nodded, “Some of the foods you like.”
“Great.” An Jiu sat down and began to recount what happened after arriving in Hexi County, “There are so few people here, not even enough constables, but luckily the Mei family came, so we can use them for now. Oh, I recruited the first subordinate, called Blood Fiend, he seems to have been one of your people before.”
“I only have one person,” Lu Dingjiang said.
An Jiu didn’t think much of it, casually asking, “Who?”
Lu Dingjiang looked at her, smiling, “Guess.”
An Jiu immediately understood his meaning, refuting, “No, you’re mine.”
The expected reaction, Lu Dingjiang heard it with satisfaction and crinkled his eyes, “Mm.”
An Jiu realized he was teasing her in a roundabout way, pursing her lips, “I won’t play your game. Oh right, let me tell you what happened tonight.”
As soon as she entered, Lu Dingjiang had already caught the scent of blood, and she brought it up herself, sparing him the need to ask. He assumed an attentive listening posture.
An Jiu then recounted the night’s events from start to finish.
“Mm.” Lu Dingjiang poured her a cup of water, “Go tend to your own business, don’t think too much about it. I’m not just here to retire, so I’ll take care of it.”
“Okay.” An Jiu stared at his smiling face, then leaned in and kissed him.
Lu Dingjiang didn’t move, so she dragged a stool over and sat down, hugging his neck to kiss him.
“Ahjiu,” Lu Dingjiang’s voice was slightly hoarse, “I missed you.”
The softest part of An Jiu’s heart seemed to be gently pinched, a dull ache, and warm tears involuntarily spilled from the corners of her eyes down her cheeks.
This was the first time Lu Dingjiang had seen her with teary eyes, not the usual delicate beauty, but a bewildered look that made his heart melt.
The iron-blooded tomboy was still puzzled by her tears triggered by just a few words when Lu Dingjiang suddenly lifted her and carried her to the bed.
As their gazes met, it was like igniting something.
…
In the Liao Palace.
Yelü Quangcang stood holding a lantern, the shelves around him filled to the brim with books.
“You’ve come.” A voice spoke from the darkness ahead.
“National Teacher.” Yelü Quangcang placed the lantern on the table and stepped into the darkness, “Has the improvement of the Repeating Crossbow succeeded?”
The man did not answer, but instead asked, “Did you find the person I told you to look into?”
“Mei Shisi, codenamed Xuanren, also known as An Jiu,” Yelü Quangcang took a piece of paper from his sleeve and handed it to him, “This is her detailed information.”
The gloved hand in the darkness reached out and took the document, seeming in no hurry to look at it. He only sighed, “Accurately hitting a moving target across a ravine in a raging wind…truly fascinating.”
Yelü Quangcang felt that he was not marveling at this, and if he were truly curious, he would have acted already in these two years, but he had only been silently observing her.
“An Jiu,” he murmured.