Chapter 159

On the tree-lined path, three black-clad masked riders sat atop black steeds, blocking the carriage's road. The one in the middle coldly said, "Leave the carriage, and I'll spare your lives."

The carriage driver reacted instantly, jumped down and fled. Before escaping, he unhitched the two horses pulling the carriage, leapt onto one, turned its head, and galloped away. The other horse also bolted in fear.

The two escorts also hurriedly turned their horses, preparing to flee, but Zi Ling flung open the carriage door, leapt out, and vaulted onto one of the guards' horses. Her movements were swift—clearly she knew martial arts—and without any resistance, all four chose to escape, utterly disregarding the fate of the Wan family's third young mistress.

Le Yao's face drained of color; she flung open the carriage door and jumped out, but stumbled as she landed.

The three black-clad masked men exchanged a glance, all revealing an extremely lecherous look, and almost simultaneously burst into loud laughter.

Le Yao gritted her teeth against the pain, clambered up from the mire, grabbed her mud‑soaked skirt, and desperately ran back. She had no idea where she was; dense forest surrounded her. Seeing Zi Ling and the three guards already riding three horses farther away, her heart pounded with terror, and she pleaded, "Wait for me… wait for me…"

Those four had no intention of stopping; Zi Ling, seated behind the horse, turned to look back and her face clearly showed a cruel smile.

Seeing that smile, Le Yao felt as if she had plunged into an ice cave, her liver and gall chilled. Instantly she understood everything—it was all a prearranged plot by the Wan family. How could she be so foolish to trust they would let her go? She bit her cherry lip hard; the will to survive kept her from giving up, and she fled forward without hesitation.

The central black‑clad figure drew his long bow, nocked an arrow—but his target was not the fleeing Le Yao, but the abandoned carriage. With a swish, the arrow flew; with a thud, it struck the carriage roof, the feather trembling. His two black‑clad companions spurred their horses and chased after Le Yao's direction.

Le Yao heard the hoofbeats drawing nearer, her expression turning to utter panic. A large hand grabbed her shoulder and dragged her to the ground; she fell again into the mire, flailed in terror, and realized she was now surrounded by three bandits.

The archer among the bandits stared at Le Yao with lustful eyes and whispered, "Take her. We brothers are going to have a good time today."

Le Yao suddenly snatched the hairpin from her head, pointed its tip at her own throat, and shouted, "Don't come closer—or I'll kill myself right before your eyes!"

The three hesitated for a moment, then the archer chuckled coldly, "Even dead she's a beauty—just as enjoyable, and I'm still first in line."

Le Yao's pretty face had lost all color. Her fate was so miserable that even death could not preserve her purity. Her trembling hand moved to her waist, clutching the warm, smooth Coiled Dragon Jade Pendant. In her mind's eye she saw Hu Xiaotian's bright, smiling face, and a desperate cry rose from within. "Young Master Hu, we have no affinity in this life; may we meet again in the next!" Resolute, she raised the hairpin to stab her throat.

But then a calm voice came from above: "If you die just like that, won't someone grieve for you?"

Le Yao's hand stopped moving; the voice was very familiar to her. Clearly it was Hu Xiaotian's guard, Murong Feiyan.

The three bandits looked up together and saw a graceful figure swoop down like a heavenly dragon, a bright, icy sword light shooting straight for the throat of their leader.

The bandit panicked, hastily raising his long bow to block. The sword snapped the bow, its icy blade piercing his throat. Thinking he was surely dead, he screamed in terror—but Murong Feiyan retracted her sword, kicked him in the chest, and knocked him off his horse.

The other two bandits, seeing the tide turn, one slashed his knife at Le Yao. A fierce wind lifted her hair, and the blade stopped an inch from her neck as Murong Feiyan blocked it. She wrested the knife from his hand, stepped in, and punched his right rib, sending him flying to strike a tree trunk and slump limp to the ground.

The last bandit, knife in hand ready to attack, saw Murong Feiyan's prowess and, frightened, forgot to attack, spurring his horse to flee. She snorted coldly, leapt up with astonishing speed, performed a sparrow‑hawk flip, and soared above his head. He looked up to see her seize his topknot, lift him clean off his horse, and slam him hard to the ground. These three bandits' martial skills were utterly ordinary—none could withstand even a single move from Murong Feiyan.

Murong Feiyan sealed each of their pressure points, dumped them in a pile, then used her sword tip to lift the black cloth covering their faces. Le Yao rose, still shaken, and when she saw the three bandits' features she exclaimed in disbelief, "It's you!" She knew them—they were all guards of the Wan manor. She had thought she'd truly encountered bandits on the road, but realized these three were merely Wan household servants dressed as bandits. Now she fully understood: the Wan manor had orchestrated this, first deceiving her into believing she was being sent to Jici Abbey to pray, then having their servants pose as bandits to kill her. Le Yao had long known the Wan family were despicable, but never imagined they could be so vicious. Thinking of her miserable fate, grief welled up, her vision darkened, and she collapsed limp to the ground.

Murong Feiyan did not rush to help Le Yao; instead she pressed her sword tip to the leader's throat and said coldly, "Now tell me the truth—if you utter a single lie, I'll take your three lives."

These servants were hardly brave and fearless; Murong Feiyan frightened them into spilling the truth—they were all servants of the Wan Family mansion, and this time the Wan Family lady had set a plot, having them pose as bandits on the road to kill Le Yao. After hearing this, Murong Feiyan felt righteous indignation as well; the Wan Family lady is truly vicious—since Le Yao has already left the Wan Family, why still seek to exterminate her? Turning to look at the unconscious Le Yao, Murong Feiyan secretly thought, if not for Hu Xiaotian's godlike foresight, the Wan Family lady's wicked scheme would have succeeded and Le Yao would have died unjustly here. This matter is no small affair; we should first report it to Hu Xiaotian before taking any action.

Hu Xiaotian was leisurely drinking at the Hongyan Tower, waiting about a quarter of an hour, when he saw Hu Xiong return with a smiling face. Liang Da Zhuang eagerly asked, "Big Brother Hu, how's the situation?"

Hu Xiong said: "I gave him a sound beating, stripped that dog said naked, and hung him upside down from the old pagoda tree in Yuanhe Lane."

Liang Da Zhuang praised it without end, rolled up his sleeves, wishing he could personally go over and give Xingshan a good thrashing.

Hu Xiaotian said: "When dealing with this kind of dog-headed secretary, we can't be polite; beating him is meant to give that old thing Xu Qinglian a lesson."

Hu Xiong laughed: "If you feel that's not enough to vent your anger, I'll help you beat that old thing Xu Qinglian as well."

Hu Xiaotian shook his head and said: "Beating people is rough work; that old thing I'll handle myself."

Hu Xiong secretly thought: "If you say beating people is rough work, why did you just send me? This young master is really hard to read."

At this moment, seeing Murong Feiyan approach, Hu Xiaotian saw her coming, smiled, rose to greet her: "Feiyan, you come just in time, Big Brother Hu, you know him, right? Let's have a drink together."

Murong Feiyan naturally recognized Hu Xiong; when she had gone to the Ministry of Revenue office to arrest Hu Xiaotian, she had already met him, knowing that Hu Xiong was the chief guard under Minister of Revenue Hu Buwei, highly skilled in martial arts. She gave Hu Xiong a slight nod as a greeting, then said to Hu Xiaotian: "Sir, I have an important matter to report."

Hu Xiaotian knew what she was going to say certainly concerned Le Yao; as he was about to rise, Hu Xiong said: "You speak, we'll go out first."

Murong Feiyan said: "No need, we'll talk outside."

Hu Xiaotian understood that Murong Feiyan did not want to say this in front of Hu Xiong and the others, and in fact he himself did not want Hu Xiong to know about it, so he followed Murong Feiyan downstairs.

Murong Feiyan pointed to the carriage downstairs and said: "Get on, follow me!"

Hu Xiaotian got into the carriage, and Murong Feiyan whipped the horse, driving the carriage out of the city.

On the way, Murong Feiyan recounted everything that had just happened in detail. Although Hu Xiaotian had not witnessed the scene himself, hearing it made his heart pound. If it weren't for his earlier precautions against the Wan Family, this tender, delicate young widow would surely have met with disaster. He had already thought Wan Bo Ping and his son were wicked enough, but he never expected this Wan Family lady to be a poisonous woman with a heart like a snake and scorpion. Thinking it over, he deduced that the Wan Family lady must have noticed her husband's and son's deeds, and thus had always wanted to dispose of Le Yao quickly; only by killing her could she completely cut off the Wan Family father and son's lingering thoughts. Yet Le Yao was utterly innocent, and this Wan Family lady was truly too ruthless.

Murong Feiyan hid Le Yao in the treetops, while the three Wan Family mansion servants were had their acupuncture points sealed by her and thrown directly into the wild grass. Bringing Hu Xiaotian to the scene of the earlier fight, this place is a grove in the southern suburbs of Qingyun, off the main road, rarely frequented under normal circumstances, but after the heavy rain the road has become especially muddy and difficult to travel.

Those three servants now lay motionless in the grass, all having had their acupuncture points sealed and unable to move; to make absolutely sure, Murong Feiyan also bound their hands.

Hu Xiaotian saw these three men, recognized them as indeed Wan Family mansion servants, and anger welled up in his heart; he lifted his foot and kicked hard at one man's abdomen, the kick causing that fellow to curl up like a shrimp, pain piercing to the marrow, yet unable to occur, his body kept trembling.