Chapter 188: Turmoil at the Inn

This flight did not stop until they had crossed the river.

Looking at the rolling Yangtze River behind them, the few of them felt a sense of relief wash over them involuntarily.

In truth, they all knew in their hearts that never mind crossing the Yangtze, even if they ran to the Yellow River, it would still be within the territory and sphere of influence of the other party.

Yet, they could not help but feel that crossing the Yangtze would provide at least some slight respite.

Not daring to stop for a rest in any towns or cities, they could only stick to the small paths.

It was not until late at night that they finally arrived at an inn in the wilderness to stay.

Requesting three guest rooms, they gathered together to discuss their situation.

"Boss, say something. What exactly are we supposed to do now?"

They all cast their gazes toward their boss, waiting for him to come up with an idea.

The leader of the Qishan Five Tigers saw this and frowned slightly.

He knew at this moment that he had to seize this opportunity to settle the matter.

His mind had not been idle along the way, and seeing that his brothers were asking, he simply stated his thoughts directly.

"Brothers, we have offended that man surnamed Zhu to the death. In my view, even if we return the child completely unharmed, I fear the other party will not let us off."

"By then, we will have neither money nor men, and having to hide and scurry about will only make us more passive."

After he finished speaking, the others nodded one after another.

Seeing this, the leader continued: "So I think we should just go all the way; we will wait for them to bring money to ransom the person. When the time comes, we split the money and run for it based on our own abilities. At this point, we can only say that life and death are fated, and wealth is in the hands of Heaven!"

As the leader finished his final sentence, they all nodded in succession.

With the situation now decided, they no longer fretted over the matter.

Next, they discussed the issue of how to avoid being tracked over the next two days.

Being old hands in the world of martial arts, they naturally had their own set of skills for dealing with this.

Zhu Gaoxu was left in the room next door the entire time; the group was actually very at ease regarding Zhu Gaoxu, mainly because Zhu Gaoxu was behaving exceptionally well.

They did not mind this brief absence.

And Zhu Gaoxu was indeed just as they had imagined; when they finished their discussion and returned, they saw Zhu Gaoxu sitting obediently in the room.

At this, they all nodded secretly.

They thought to themselves that he was indeed a member of the imperial family; when faced with a kidnapping, he was actually quite calm, neither crying nor making a scene, eating and drinking as he should.

Under these circumstances, they lowered their guard against Zhu Gaoxu quite a bit.

Immediately after, two of the five remained to sleep with Zhu Gaoxu, while the others headed to other rooms.

The night passed without incident. Before dawn the next day, they requested food and wine from the inn, packed up, and took Zhu Gaoxu away in a hurry.

Heading north, the route happened to coincide with Zhu Gaoxu's destination.

Just like that, they rode without stopping, basically taking no rest along the way.

They ate and drank while on horseback when hungry or thirsty, and if they needed to use the latrine, they basically held it in, waiting until everyone could go together.

In this manner, they ran for a full day. Halfway through, the third and fourth brothers used their special skills to find a few more horses from somewhere, and they switched mounts.

That night, they actually ran all the way into the territory of Shandong.

Late at night, they arrived at an inn outside Huangshan Town.

Having spent the day covered in dust and wind, they finally had time to rest their feet.

They walked into the inn boisterously, immediately found a place to sit, and ordered the waiter to bring wine and meat.

Zhu Gaoxu took a glance; he had made some observations along this journey.

He felt that ever since they crossed the Yangtze, there had been many more people dressed like martial artists on the road.

The reason he could tell was mainly that they all carried weapons at their waists or on their backs.

Although most were wrapped up symbolically, Zhu Gaoxu could still make out the general shape.

This situation became more obvious the further north they went.

And it was already late at night; there were actually people other than them in this inn outside the city.

And they looked like martial artists as well.

Unfortunately, before Zhu Gaoxu could observe any further, the men beside him took him to a guest room on the second floor.

But just as Zhu Gaoxu was going upstairs, a gust of wind suddenly blew in from outside.

It also brought a few flower petals flying in with it.

Zhu Gaoxu was all too familiar with this scene.

He immediately narrowed his eyes and looked toward the door.

Seeing Zhu Gaoxu standing still, the men were somewhat puzzled and were just about to step forward to urge him on.

But the next second, several masked women entered the inn.

With the entry of these women, the temperature in the entire inn seemed to drop by a few degrees.

The Qishan Five Tigers immediately froze, their hands involuntarily gripping their weapons.

They all stared intently at the women who had just entered below.

And the three martial artists eating and drinking in the main hall reacted much like the Qishan Five Tigers.

They all immediately placed their hands on the weapons on their tables.

Their peripheral vision remained fixed on those women.

The inn waiter clearly noticed the change in atmosphere.

But duty-bound, the waiter still braced himself and went up to meet them, asking the women, "Are you ladies stopping for a meal or staying the night?"

Hearing the waiter's words, the leading woman replied coldly.

"Looking for someone!"

Hearing the woman's words, the waiter still wanted to open his mouth to say something, but the woman had already stepped past him, her gaze sweeping across the interior of the inn.

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