Seeing no response from him, Pan Chi gritted his teeth and silently cursed a few times. “Hey, the important matter takes priority. Why are you being so petty?”
Zhu Yan echoed Pan Chi’s words: “You should go quickly. I won’t be a hindrance.” The most important thing was to not let those two escape.
Shen Du: …
Everyone was trapped in this cramped prison, unable to move freely. Moreover, the jailers were numerous and familiar with the layout. Mo Qianzhi was well-versed in military strategy and had led troops in battle before. For a moment, the imperial guards were at a disadvantage. Mo Qianzhi and Wang Buzui seized the opportunity and, protected by the jailers, headed towards the prison gate.
Zhu Yan grabbed Shen Du’s arm anxiously:
“Shen Du…”
“Hmm?”
“Husband,” Zhu Yan changed her form of address, “don’t let them escape.”
Releasing a tiger back to the mountains would only breed future troubles.
Shen Du’s dark eyes didn’t narrow, but the corners of his lips turned down slightly, showing a hint of pleasure as he gently patted Zhu Yan’s hand. “It’s not a problem.”
Not a problem?
“But they…”
Before Zhu Yan could finish, Jing Lin leaped up to block Mo Qianzhi and Wang Buzui just as they were about to step out of the prison. His sword flashed, pointing directly at their faces.
At that moment, an unexpected turn of events occurred. A black-clad figure appeared out of nowhere, deflecting Jing Lin’s sword. The figure then grabbed Wang Buzui and Mo Qianzhi, one on each side, preparing to flee from the prison.
This was the moment Shen Du had been waiting for. He drew his sword and leaped into action.
“Stay put!” he commanded.
Zhu Yan nodded, keeping her eyes fixed on Shen Du.
The black-clad figure had initially aimed for Jing Lin but hadn’t anticipated Shen Du’s swift movement. Forced to change direction abruptly, the figure launched a series of attacks at Shen Du. Jing Lin engaged the intruder, causing them to throw Wang Buzui and Mo Qianzhi to the jailers. The figure then headed straight for Zhu Yan but was intercepted by Pan Chi.
After just a few exchanges, Pan Chi was overpowered. The black-clad figure reached for Zhu Yan, who frantically stabbed with her dissection knife. The attacker kicked her away, sending her sprawling to the ground.
“Hohoho!” The black-clad figure let out a muffled, strange laugh.
“Zhu Yan!”
The laughter stopped abruptly as Shen Du’s sword appeared between the intruder’s eyes, mere inches away.
For a moment, Mo Qianzhi and Wang Buzui forgot about escaping, shocked by this sudden turn of events.
Had Shen Du’s martial arts skills progressed to such a level? He could kill silently and invisibly.
“Ugh!”
Zhu Yan tried to get up but was in too much pain. She let out a groan and looked up. Shen Du was looking at her, his face pale, a flash of light in his eyes:
“Be careful.”
Another unexpected move – the black-clad figure seized this opportunity to dodge Shen Du’s attack range, overpowered the severely injured and ineffective Pan Chi, and headed toward Mo Qianzhi and Wang Buzui. Mo Qianzhi and the masked figure together managed to push back Jing Lin.
“Go!”
With the jailers covering their retreat, the black-clad figure led Mo Qianzhi and Wang Buzui away, throwing down an object that released a black mist, blurring reality and illusion.
“An illusion technique?” Zhu Yan was regretting distracting Shen Du earlier, yet also feeling glad that he cared so much about her. Seeing the black mist at the prison door, she suddenly realized something and blurted out, “It’s an illusion technique.”
“Jing Lin!”
At Shen Du’s command, Jing Lin flipped his arm to reveal several intricate small crossbows. He fired several arrows in quick succession. Sure enough, screams were heard from within the black mist. Jing Lin’s heart leaped with joy as he darted through the mist and dragged out one person.
“Wang Buzui.”
Jing Lin apologized, “Lord Secretary, they escaped.”
Shen Du’s expression was inscrutable as he shook his head lightly: “It’s not a problem!” His hand, however, didn’t let go of Zhu Yan’s arm.
“Should we pursue them while we have the advantage?”
Shaking his head again, Shen Du didn’t bother to explain his reasoning. He lowered his head to examine Zhu Yan and found only superficial injuries, he didn’t say much more.
“Damn it, Mo Qianzhi got away just like that.” Pan Chi looked at Wang Buzui’s smug expression, his face full of anger but with nowhere to vent it.
Shen Du walked towards Wang Buzui, his eyes containing some anger. Before Wang Buzui could react, Shen Du delivered a flying kick. Wang Buzui, already with an arrow wound in his lower leg that was bleeding profusely, couldn’t move easily. He was kicked, tumbling several times before crashing into the iron prison door, falling to the ground and rolling a few more times, covered in dust and dirt, in too much pain to speak.
Wang Buzui gritted his teeth, looking defiant: “If you have the guts, kill me.”
After saying this, he silently began chanting an incantation, his face crazed.
Shen Du, known as the Cold-faced Yama and White-faced King of Hell, showed no mercy to such petty villains. He stepped forward, placing his foot on Wang Buzui’s chest, grinding down. Wang Buzui writhed in pain, covered in cold sweat, his eyes bloodshot as he glared at Shen Du, who only then let out an emotionless laugh.
“You…” Wang Buzui sensed something was wrong and kept trying to retreat backward using his feet.
“Ah!”
No one saw the movement. They only saw Wang Buzui clutching one of his eyes, howling and rolling in agony, completely disregarding the wound on his leg. Blood flowed from his right eye, seeping through his fingers and dripping onto the ground, a pool of crimson.
“Hmph!” Shen Du lightly flicked his cloak. “This official leaves you one eye so you can see exactly how you die.”
A cold wind blew in from the prison entrance, chilling everyone to the core.
“Take him away!”
“Yes, sir!”
As Jing Lin led people to clean up, Shen Du turned to see Zhu Yan staring at him blankly, her expression incredibly dazed and cute. He couldn’t help but soften his tone:
“Shall we go?”
Zhu Yan nodded mechanically, still stuck in the moment of Shen Du’s cold execution. She shook her head suddenly, realizing – that’s right, Shen Du was the White King of Hell. She had forgotten recently, almost believing Shen Du was no longer that wolf.
The two walked in silence. Zhu Yan tried to pull her hand back several times but couldn’t. She looked up furtively at Shen Du and saw his brows were still furrowed deeply.
“I’m sorry!”
“Hmm?” Shen Du didn’t understand.
Zhu Yan lowered her head and explained: “It’s all because I held you back that they got away.”
Shen Du clarified: “It has nothing to do with you.”
But Shen Du saying this didn’t make Zhu Yan feel it truly had nothing to do with her. “Shen Du.”
“…”
Zhu Yan bit her lip: “Husband.”
Only then did Shen Du turn his gaze to her face, with an expression of ‘I’m listening to what you have to say’.
Zhu Yan inwardly cursed herself for being so subservient but didn’t show it on her face. She said, “Husband, given the current situation, let’s not talk about their escape from prison. Just considering the task assigned by the Empress, how should we report back?”
The Empress had first ordered Zhu Yan to investigate Mo Qianzhi’s rebellion and then commanded Shen Du to investigate the Half-Face Ghosts in Gannan. Now these two matters had become entangled…
Shen Du gently stroked Zhu Yan’s palm, his brows furrowed: “Perhaps the Empress’s secret agents haven’t learned of this unexpected turn of events yet.”
Zhu Yan felt a chill run down her spine. If that was the case, didn’t it mean that everything under heaven, inside and outside of Da Zhou, was under the Empress’s surveillance?
“Why didn’t you pursue Mo Qianzhi and that black-clad person? Why did you let them escape?” Zhu Yan finally asked. Then she frowned, mentioning the black-clad figure made her feel like she was overlooking something.
Seeing that Shen Du wasn’t in a hurry to answer, Zhu Yan sensed something: “Did you discover something?”
But Shen Du just shook his head, though he then nodded slightly.
“Sigh, we finally caught the main culprit, but one of them got away.”
Shen Du remained silent, his expression enigmatic, confusing Zhu Yan.
She stepped in front of Shen Du, blocking his line of sight: “What’s wrong? One person escaped and you’re smiling?”
“They were so well-coordinated, I almost thought it was a pre-arranged prison break plan. But…”
Zhu Yan tilted her head to look at him, then suddenly understood.