Chapter 163: Where Did He Come From?

Outside the woods beyond Pingcheng, once past these trees, they would enter the bounds of Beihuang City.

When Chu Yuan arrived with his subordinate and Cheng Yao, all they saw was a vast stretch of scorched black earth, along with the corpses of seven or eight men in black.

Seeing this scene, everyone's expression turned very ugly.

They searched for a long time, turning this small few-hundred-meter woods nearly upside down, yet never caught a glimpse of Cheng Chengxuan.

Cheng Yao slammed a fist hard against the tree beside him, his face full of regret.

"It's all my fault. If we hadn't listened to the Young General and gone off to find people, if only we'd stayed behind to help."

Looking at the severed limbs and mangled remains on the ground, Chu Yuan's face grew uglier and uglier.

But somewhere in his heart there was this one notion—he simply believed that Cheng Chengxuan would definitely be fine.

"He's bound to be fine."

He said it softly, soothing the others, and comforting himself as well.

"Alright, let's tidy this place up first, don't let anyone else notice anything off."

After burying the corpses on the spot, the few of them searched once more, but still found not the slightest clue.

Just as they were preparing to leave, suddenly came a 'creak'—the sound of a dead tree branch being snapped under weight.

Hearing the noise, the few of them turned to look.

There, some ten meters away, sitting atop the small mound of earth where they had just buried the corpses, was a grey figure.

Everyone: "!!!"

In the dead of night, a shadow suddenly popping up on top of a grave mound—that was genuinely terrifying.

The hands of the few gripping their torches trembled violently three times; a few 'gulp gulp' sounds rang out as one after another nervously swallowed, a bead of cold sweat sliding down their temples.

This is—when did he get here?

Where did he come from?

Chu Yuan steeled his courage and walked forward a few steps. He was currently the only person among this group capable of taking charge; at this moment he had to step forward.

"Um, bro—brother?"

Hearing this, that person turned his head to look at them and said in a muffled voice.

"You're here. Perfect. Let's go."

Chu Yuan: "!!!"

He said—he's here to take us away?!

At this moment, Chu Yuan felt as though he were seeing his great-great-great-grandmother; his legs immediately went weak, and only by gripping the subordinate beside him tightly did he avoid crashing headfirst to the ground.

"Go—where are you taking us?"

Chu Yuan asked haltingly. At this moment, he felt he was about to cry.

He only saw that person reach a hand out toward him.

This made Chu Yuan's legs go even weaker.

It's over—he's going to make a move on them!

He gritted his teeth, gave the people beside him a hard shove, and roared in a low voice.

"You all run, don't bother with me!"

Then, with a noble and righteous air, he closed his eyes.

At this moment, he felt he was truly so magnificent.

Boohoo, he was nearly moved to tears by himself.

He must be the most loyal and the most dutiful Pavilion Master the Dark Pavilion has had in over a hundred years!

Suddenly, his arm was poked twice.

"Pavilion Master."

Chu Yuan kept his eyes shut and brushed that hand away.

"Stop tugging me! I told you all to run!"

If you lot don't run, then I'm running.

"Pavilion Master!"

"Chu Yuan! What madness are you up to now?"

Having been sent back at this critical moment, Cheng Chengxuan was already feeling out of sorts in his heart. He had been freezing here for ages, and that fellow Chu Yuan actually still had the mind to spout nonsense over there, without rushing over to lend him a hand.

And not only did he refuse to come help himself, he actually told the others to leave?!

How outrageous!

Hearing the familiar voice, Chu Yuan quietly opened one eye, craned his head to take a careful look, and as Cheng Yao approached holding the torch, he saw clearly at last. Now both eyes bulged wide, like copper bells.

"Cheng Chengxuan?!"

"Is it really you?!"

After Cheng Chengxuan stood up, he took the cloak from Cheng Yao's hands, gave him a disgruntled glare, walked over, and extended his hand in front of him.

"Hand over those five packs of Instant Noodles!"

Chu Yuan gave an awkward chuckle.

"Aiya, with the relationship between us brothers, don't say such hurtful things."

He took a look at Cheng Chengxuan's strange outfit.

"Still, with you dressed like this, it's perfectly normal I couldn't recognize you."

And he'd suddenly appeared on top of a grave mound—he'd nearly been scared to death.

After all, he was only wearing casual clothes; even with the cloak wrapped around him, he was still very cold.

Cheng Chengxuan, frozen stiff, had to rub his arms with his hands.

Seeing him like this, Chu Yuan took off his cloak.

"Come, come, come, don't freeze—put it on quick."

At this, Cheng Chengxuan finally warmed up a little.

"How's the situation over on your side?"

Cheng Yao replied.

"Don't worry, Young General. We've already intercepted the man who was about to go back and report."

"Very good."

Cheng Chengxuan swung himself back onto his Horse.

"Alright, let's head back quickly."

……

Meanwhile, An Luo sent a message to Cheng Sitao, telling him about Cheng Chengxuan's return, and also tidied up the tattered ancient costume on the ground, preparing to send it to Cheng Sitao.

Just as she picked up the long robe, something suddenly fell out.

An Luo looked closely—it was a ring set with a teardrop-shaped ruby.

She picked it up and put it on the table, then sent Cheng Chengxuan a message.

: Is it convenient for you to receive something on your end? It seems a gemstone ring was left here with me. I'll return it to you.

Seeing this message, Cheng Chengxuan, who was riding hard along the road, tightened the reins. His speed visibly slowed, and soon he fell several Horse-lengths behind the others.

No one else noticed, and he quickly typed out a reply.

An Luo soon received his response.

: That ring was meant to be given to Miss An in the first place. Today I finally have the chance—Miss An, don't point the sharp end toward yourself, then press the gemstone on top.

An Luo went to the Ke Ting, found a cardboard box, aimed the sharper teardrop end at the box, and tried pressing down.

She only heard a "whoosh," and the box was knocked back a few centimeters by the impact.

An Luo: "!!!"

She saw two small round holes appear on the box, one in front of the other—very, very small, but they had still pierced clean through the box and finally embedded themselves in the wall.

Looking closely, what was pinned in the wall was a very thin, very small iron needle.

Suddenly her phone buzzed, and An Luo came back to herself.

It was another message from Cheng Chengxuan.

: The iron needle is coated with a specially made Knockout Drug. Once it pierces skin, it only takes five breaths—even a Tiger can be knocked out. Twist the gemstone to the right again, and a very small blade will be revealed, made of dark iron, very sharp.

Seeing the earlier part of the message, An Luo pulled her hand back, took a tissue instead, and only then carefully pulled the iron needle out.

She twisted it again just as he said, and sure enough, a diamond-shaped small blade was revealed.

How small was it?

Hmm, about the size of the spoon on an ear pick.

"This small—how sharp could it possibly be?"

She found a small piece of wood and tried slicing it, and to her surprise it cut through extremely smoothly.

"Oh my!"

Staring at the corner of wood on the ground, An Luo was stunned.

"This is amazing!"

Looking at the string of exclamation marks on the screen, Cheng Chengxuan seemed to see those smiling, curved eyes.

He pressed a hand against his wildly pounding chest.

The gift he had given was liked by the person he cared about.

This feeling was like dipping his heart into warm honey.

So warm, so sweet…

"Hey! Cheng Chengxuan!"

That voice made him jerk back to reality.

He glared at Chu Yuan, who was waving at him up ahead, and Cheng Chengxuan ground his molars.

This friend—he's done for!