Chapter 1419: Each to Their Own Path

These years, he had not been able to craft a better magical artifact with the Maternal Needle, but the Maternal Needle and "Smooth Sailing" shared a natural connection, like a mother and her traveling child thinking of each other, and Qi Yunsheng could track the killer by following "Smooth Sailing"! He stood up and said to the two disciples: "Follow me to catch the murderer!"

Bao and Fu responded in unison.

Afterwards, Qi Yunsheng briefly assigned tasks within the manor, then pointed out dozens of manor laborers, together with over a hundred elite troops under Xue Zongwu, and they set off westward in pursuit according to the Maternal Needle's indication.

No one noticed that the large tree Fu Wending had just jumped onto harbored a tiny black shadow in its branches, with twelve eyes silently observing everything happening below.

After Qi Yunsheng gathered the people, it leapt up and lightly landed on the forehead of a certain manor guard, then hid in the folds of his headscarf.

In the pitch darkness, no one could easily spot it.

……

The Weng brothers' first wing-suit flight was surprisingly successful.

Although the flight path twisted and turned, and although they could not control direction or speed, the wind that night was gentle and steady, still carrying the two brothers safely to the ground.

Weng Xing fell face-first into the mud, got up and took a few steps, his head still dazed; Weng Su's wing suit got caught in the treetops, dangling awkwardly, and it took great effort before he landed.

He was unwilling to cut off the newly acquired wing suit—produced by Songyang Prefecture, and not so easy to cut.

After another quarter hour or so, the brothers reunited on the ground, both feeling they had survived a catastrophe.

Weng Xing grinned nonstop, blood trickling from his mouth at the same time.

"What's wrong with your mouth?"

"I broke a tooth." Weng Xing was very satisfied, the price of one night's great adventure being just a broken tooth, a wounded arm, and a burned hand—worth it, extremely worth it! "And the benefactor?"

"I don't know; he vanished mid-flight." To be precise, when Weng Su jumped from the cliff, he could still see the silhouette of the Nine Abysses Great Emperor, his flying posture more graceful than Weng Su's, like a mountain eagle soaring through the night sky.

Then he watched helplessly as the person slipped sideways through a mountain pass, melting into the darkness, light as a leaf.

He himself could not catch up no matter how hard he tried.

The black-armored person departed silently, just as he had appeared without warning.

Even though the brothers were deeply cultivated, they felt a chill run down their spines at his mysterious comings and goings.

But no matter what, tonight's mission was accomplished.

"Brother, do you think we'll ever see the Nine Abysses Great Emperor again?" Weng Xing stroked his newly acquired wings, feeling a bit wistful, "I've always wanted to ask him, does the Black Armored Army still need recruits?"

These wings are exquisitely made; compared to them, my nightclothes feel shabby. If I wore that full set of signature black armor, I too could be imposing!

Weng Su didn't know that, but he knew exactly how to handle his brother: "Yes! We've always stood up for justice, drawn our swords to help—if the Nine Abysses Great Emperor won't take us like this, who would he take? But we must leave now, the farther we are from Mangzhou, the better!"

"This seems to be north of Mangzhou." Weng Xing's sense of direction was outstanding, "Ah-ha, let's go quickly—they probably haven't closed the city gates yet!"

Mangzhou is a prosperous sleepless city; normally there is no curfew and the gates are not closed, so at any hour of the night, people come and go.

Usually it's like that.

The two discarded their nightclothes, doused themselves in alcohol odor, blended into a group of laughing, drunken merchants, and headed north toward the gate.

The outskirts of Mangzhou are also bustling, with houses packed closely together, wine shops and inns standing in rows, but prices are much cheaper than inside the city. The city's security is decent, and the gates are not closed at night—this was one of the factors the Weng brothers and He Lingchuan considered when choosing to act in Mangzhou—many merchants come into the city to discuss business and eat, then go out to stay in inns and sleep.

The drunken madmen, the city gate guards who have seen plenty of night duty, paid no special attention to the Weng brothers, even finding them somewhat disagreeable and stepping back two paces.

Weng Su grabbed his brother, who was making a motion to vomit.

Alright, if we keep acting like this, we'll be found out!

The brothers thus walked out of the north gate in a crab-like stride, openly and confidently.

They had only gone a few dozen breaths when suddenly a commotion arose behind them.

The two turned back, seeing a troop of torches rushing toward the city gate from within, shouting loudly: "Close the gate, shut the city gate quickly! No one allowed in or out!"

"Those going outside, you, yes, you all, get back here for me!"

Soon, the gates of the sleepless city began to close slowly amid the creaking of the machinery and the noisy shouts of passersby.

At this moment, the Weng brothers had already reached the low hills outside the city, witnessing this scene, each let out a long sigh of relief.

How fortunate, otherwise we would have been blocked inside the city one step later!

"Brother, we're out!" Weng Xing came to his senses, "Great vengeance has been avenged, we, we actually still live!"

They regarded death as homecoming; tonight originally only two things would happen:

Kill Xue Zongwu.

Or be killed by Xue Zongwu.

Yet they actually succeeded in taking revenge—uh, there was indeed a slight hiccup in between—and escaped safely.

"How fortunate!" Weng Su spoke in a refined manner, then immediately slipped up, "Being alive is truly good, being able to breathe is truly good!"

They are not afraid of sacrificing themselves, but that does not mean they do not want to live.

Gazing at the night sky thick with clouds, the two brothers felt unusually cheerful.

All this is thanks to the Nine Abysses Great Emperor! Weng Xing let out a long breath, having endured over ten days of nonstop travel and a night of heart-pounding excitement, even an iron man would be tired and weary: "Brother, where should we go now?"

Weng Su pulled out two silver ingots from his bosom and waved them: "Of course, we should hurry to leave this place and go to the next town to celebrate! Tomorrow's matters, we'll think about tomorrow."

The brothers laughed heartily, mounted their horses in the dark, and set off.

After all, this money is ill-gotten gain; they might as well not spend it if they don't have to.

……

The distant suburbs of Zhuozhou.

The rain gradually eased, the night sky no longer like a hole punched through it, desperately pouring water onto the human world.

The Heavy Martial General stood in the Lin Zi, tightly staring at the lights of a small village not far away.

The beads of sweat on his forehead dripped down to his chin, but he was too lazy to wipe them away.

The village is not large, estimated to have about twenty or so houses, but only one had its lights on, standing alone and isolated.

The Heavy Martial General's several hundred troops had, just a few breaths earlier, charged into the village and also into that lit house.

Not long after, his subordinates came running out of the village house, hurrying to his side to report:

"General, the tribute has been found! Inside the house are two local rascals who don't know their place!"

"Just like that?" The swift end of the battle surprised General Zhongwu. After all, the masked black-clad man they had chased was as slippery as a loach, and he had even used a mountain cave to escape—he didn't look like someone who would surrender easily.

"The goods from the other caravans have also been found, all hidden in the abandoned houses."

"Who are the bandits?" General Zhongwu waved his hand. "Never mind, I'll go see for myself."

Seeing them in person, General Zhongwu felt even more disappointed. These were just two scrawny thieves—no way they looked like the type to dare steal tribute goods.

Around them, dozens of burly men surrounded them like chicks, and the two small thieves had long been terrified witless, shouting their innocence upon seeing General Zhongwu.

Without him even asking, the two small thieves knocked their heads to the ground and confessed everything in full detail.

It turned out they had indeed sneaked into the inn, because there were too many recent guests, and they thought they could steal something opportunistically.

Their initial operation went smoothly, but when they stole over twenty taels of silver, they were still discovered by a guest, who shouted loudly and grabbed a weapon to give chase.

General Zhongwu suddenly understood. This was probably the commotion he had heard outside while sitting in his private room.

So it was these two small thieves who did it.

Relying on their intimate knowledge of the local terrain, they easily shook off their pursuers and fled here to split the loot. Originally, they planned to leave after dividing the money, but who knew they would start nodding off while splitting it, and then—

Then they opened their eyes and saw a group of soldiers rushing in like wolves and tigers.

Yes, they woke up from their nap and were greeted by General Zhongwu.

What happened in between, they had no idea.

They had already been roughed up by the guards—bruised and swollen—and swore solemnly that every word they said was true.

General Zhongwu knew that if the prefecture's officers had caught these two, they wouldn't bother with their excuses, would slap on charges, and throw them in jail to close the case—after all, the stolen goods and the thieves were both in hand, leaving no room for denial. But he could sense something fishy going on here.

These two fellows were too useless—how could they possibly have the guts to rob so many merchants and travelers in one go, including a general from Yao State?

"If these two fellows are telling the truth, then they were set up—the real thief of the tribute goods is someone else."

Stealing tribute goods is a serious crime, punishable by immediate beheading at the hands of General Zhongwu.

Risking capture, they entered the inn to steal money and tribute goods, then framed these two small thieves in this deserted village, and finally returned the goods to their rightful owner. If someone really did this, what could they possibly be after?

The recovery of the tribute goods let General Zhongwu breathe a sigh of relief—it proved his detour wasn't too absurd—but today's strangeness only made his doubts grow stronger.

He had experienced many strange things before, and knew that behind confusing appearances, there was often a reasonable explanation.

The fact that they could dump the tribute goods in this deserted village proved they didn't care about the valuable goods themselves, but had some other purpose—such as—

"Lure the tiger away from the mountain? Pass off fakes as genuine?"

Thinking this, General Zhongwu gave a decisive order: "Take the tribute goods and the two small thieves, return to the inn!"

His subordinates shouted in response: "Yes!"

General Zhongwu rubbed his knuckles. Tonight, many convoys had been robbed—what were the thieves planning to do?

￥￥￥￥￥

He Lingchuan controlled the winged platform as it descended steadily.

The landing point was a vast thicket of shrubs. On rainy days, not even a ghost could be seen here.

With the real-time connection from the eyeball spiders, Dong Rui and the snail toad, ghost ape, and Ling Guang were already waiting for him here.

The little monkey still held the medicine box in its hand, ready at a moment's notice.

The ghost ape, meanwhile, was calmly eating bananas.

"Hurry up, hurry up—it's getting light!" Dong Rui urged He Lingchuan, "You've been gone too long—I don't even know if Zhuozhou has had any trouble."

The distance between the two places was too great, exceeding the communication range of the eyeball spiders.

Sometimes, after doing all you can, you just have to leave it to fate.

He Lingchuan climbed into the snail toad and let out a long breath.

Without him needing to remind, Dong Rui drove the snail toad underground, beginning the journey toward Zhuozhou.

"Almost out of time."

He Lingchuan closed his eyes: "We'll make it."

(End of Chapter)