Chapter 162

On the tree‑lined road, three black‑clad masked knights sat atop black steeds, blocking the carriage's way, and one coldly said, "Leave the carriage, and I'll spare your lives!"

The coachman reacted instantly, jumped down from the carriage and fled; before escaping, he actually unhitched the two horses pulling the carriage, leapt onto one, turned its head, and galloped off. The other horse also bolted in fright.

The two guards in charge of escort also hurriedly turned their horses, preparing to flee, but Ziling flung open the carriage door, leapt out, and in a single bound jumped onto one guard's horse—her movements were swift, clearly showing she knew martial arts; all four even chose to flee without offering any resistance, utterly disregarding the fate of the Wan Family's third young mistress.

Le Yao's face turned ashen; she flung open the carriage door and jumped down without hesitation, but she stumbled and fell upon landing.

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

Le Yao, enduring the pain, crawled up from the mire, clutching her mud‑stained long skirt, and desperately ran backward, not knowing where she was, surrounded by dense forest. Looking back at Ziling and the three guards, who were already riding away on three horses and growing more distant, her heart filled with terror, she pleaded, "Wait for me… wait for me…"

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

Le Yao, seeing that expression on her face, felt as if she had plunged into an ice cave, her liver and gall turned cold; in an instant she understood everything—what lay before her was entirely a plot arranged in advance by the Wan Family, how could she be so foolish as to believe the Wan Family would let her leave. Le Yao bit her lip hard, the ** let her not give up, and she fled forward without hesitation.

The black‑clad man lowered his long bow, drew and nocked an arrow, but his target was not the fleeing Le Yao—it was the carriage abandoned on the spot. Whoosh! an arrow shot forth, Thwack! the feathered shaft struck the carriage side, its plume trembling. The two black‑clad knights beside him spurred their horses and gave chase in the direction Le Yao had fled.

Le Yao heard the hoofbeats drawing nearer. Her expression turned to utter terror; a large hand landed on her shoulder, dragging her to the ground, where she fell again into the mire, flailing in panic—only to realize she was now surrounded by three bandits.

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

Le Yao suddenly pulled the hairpin from her head, pointing its tip at her own throat: "Don't come closer, or I'll kill myself before your eyes!"

The three hesitated briefly; the archer bandit gave a hollow chuckle and said, "Even dead she's a beauty—just as enjoyable, and I still rank her first."

Le Yao's pretty face was drained of color; her fate seemed terribly grim. Even in death she could not preserve her purity, her trembling hand moved to her waist and grasped the warm, lustrous coiling‑dragon jade pendant; before her eyes she seemed to see Hu Xiaotian's bright, smiling face, and from her heart rose a desperate cry: Lord Hu, we have no affinity in this life. May we meet again in the next! Her resolve hardened, she raised the hairpin, about to thrust it into her throat.

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

Le Yao's hand stalled; the voice was unmistakably 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 dragon from beyond the heavens, a bright, icy sword flash heading straight for the throat of their leader.

The bandit panicked, hastily lifting his long bow to block. The sword struck, the bow snapped, and the icy blade drove straight for his throat; convinced he was doomed, he let out a terrified scream. But Murong Feiyan retracted her sword at that moment, kicked him in the chest, and knocked him from his horse.

The other two bandits, seeing the tide turn, one slashed his knife at Le Yao; with a whoosh the blade lifted her hair, but stopping just one foot from her pink neck, Murong Feiyan blocked it, deflected the knife, stepped in and punched his right ribs, sending him flying sideways to slam against a tree trunk, where he collapsed limp.

The last bandit, knife in hand and ready to attack, froze at the sight of Murong Feiyan's prowess, forgetting to fight and trying to flee on horseback. Murong Feiyan gave a cold snort, sprang up with astonishing speed, executed a quick flip, soared above his head, reached out and seized his topknot, lifted him clean off his horse, and hurled him to the ground. The three bandits' martial skills were truly mediocre—not even a match for one of Murong Feiyan's moves.

Murong Feiyan sealed the pressure points of the three men, dumped them in a pile, then used her sword tip to lift the black cloth covering their faces. Le Yao, still shaken, rose to her feet; upon seeing the bandits' faces 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 now she realized these three were Wan Manor servants dressed as bandits, and everything was a plot by the Wan Manor: they had first deceived her into believing they would escort her to Jici Abbey to pay respects to the Buddha, then had their servants pose as bandits along the way to kill her. Le Yao had long known the Wan family were despicable, but she never imagined they could be this ruthless. Thinking of her own 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—what's really going on? If you utter a single lie, I'll take all three of your lives."

These servants were no heroes; frightened by Murong Feiyan, they confessed outright—they were all Wan Manor servants, and this time the Wan lady had devised a plot to have them pose as bandits on the road and kill Le Yao. hearing this, Murong Feiyan felt righteous indignation; the Wan lady was truly vicious—why exterminate Le Yao to the last when she had already left the Wan Manor? Turning to look at the unconscious Le Yao, Murong Feiyan thought to herself, if not for Hu Xiaotian's godlike foresight, the Wan lady's scheme might already have succeeded and Le Yao would have died unjustly here. This matter is no small affair; better to report it to Hu Xiaotian first before taking any action.

Hu Xiaotian was leisurely drinking at the Wild Goose Tower, waiting about a quarter hour, when he saw Hu Tianxiong return with a smug smile. Liang Da Zhuang could not wait and asked, "Big Brother Hu, how's the situation?"

Hu Tianxiong said, "I beat him soundly, stripped that son of a bitch naked, and hung him upside down from the old pagoda tree in Yuanhe Lane."

Liang Da Zhuang praised him without end, rolled up his sleeves, wishing he could go over himself and give Xingshan a sound beating.

Hu Xiaotian said, "With this kind of dog‑headed adviser, we can't be polite—beating him is meant to give that old fogey Xu Qinglian a lesson."

Hu Tianxiong laughed, "If you feel that's not enough to vent your anger, Young Master, I'll help you beat that old fogey Xu Qinglian as well."

Hu Xiaotian shook his head, "Beating people is rough work—I'll deal with that old fogey myself."

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

At that moment, seeing Murong Feiyan approach, Hu Xiaotian saw her coming, smiled, rose to greet her, and said, "Feiyan, you've come at just the right time—Big Brother Hu, you know her, right? Let's have a couple drinks together."

Murong Feiyan naturally recognized Hu Tianxiong; when she had gone to the Minister's office to seize Hu Xiaotian earlier, they had crossed paths, and she knew Hu Tianxiong was the chief guard of Minister of Revenue Hu Buwei, a man of formidable skill. She gave Hu Tianxiong a slight nod as a greeting, then turned to Hu Xiaotian and said, "Sir Hu, I have an important matter to report."

Hu Xiaotian knew her matter certainly concerned Le Yao, and as he was about to rise, Hu Tianxiong said, "You all speak; I'll step out first."

Murong Feiyan replied, "No need, we'll go out and talk."

Hu Xiaotian understood that Murong Feiyan didn't want to speak of this in front of Hu Tianxiong and his companions—in fact he himself didn't want Hu Tianxiong to know—so he followed her downstairs.

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

Hu Xiaotian boarded the carriage, and Murong Feiyan cracked the whip, driving the carriage out of the city.

Along the way Murong Feiyan recounted everything that had just happened in detail; although Hu Xiaotian hadn't seen the scene himself, hearing it made his heart pound—had he not already taken precautions against the Wan family, that delicate, tender young widow would surely have met disaster. He had thought Wan Bo Ping's father was bad enough, but he never expected the Wan lady herself to be a venomous woman with a heart like a snake and scorpion. Reflecting on the reason, it must be that the Wan lady has observed her husband's son's conduct and therefore always wanted to dispose of Le Yao quickly; only by killing her could she completely sever the Wan father's attachment. Yet Le Yao is utterly innocent, and the Wan lady is excessively cruel.

Murong Feiyan hid Le Yao in the treetops, while the three Wan Manor servants she had sealed were tossed straight into the wild grass thicket. Bringing Hu Xiaotian to the scene of the recent fight—a grove on the southern outskirts of Qingyun, off the main road, rarely traveled, and after the heavy rain the path became especially mire‑laden and hard to traverse.

Those three servants now lay motionless in the grass thicket, their pressure points sealed so they could not move; to be absolutely certain, Murong Feiyan also bound their hands.

Hu Xiaotian saw the three men, recognized them as Wan Manor servants, and anger surged; he kicked one hard in the abdomen, the blow curling the man up like a shrimp, agonizing to the bone yet unable to utter a sound, his body trembling uncontrollably.