Chapter 1109: First Volume_Chapter 1109: Brocade-Clad Night March

First Volume_Chapter 1109: Brocade-Clad Night March

From time to time a gust of night wind blew through, the leaves rustling, making the atmosphere in the woods even more oppressive.

Even for a desperado like Sun Bai, in this kind of environment, cold sweat still broke out on his palms.

He held his breath, his eyes carefully scanning every little stir around him. He didn't know how long it had been before his taut nerves finally began to relax.

"False alarm…"

"This place is too close to Ming County, and Qin Feng only just left not long ago. Only by being careful can the ten-thousand-year ship stay afloat."

"Stop sleeping. It's your turn to keep watch."

Sun Bai turned around, yanked open the tent, raised the hilt of his blade, and brought it down on his subordinate Wu Er's thigh.

Wu Er was woken by the pain, rubbed his bleary eyes, and asked in confusion, "Brother Sun, what's going on?"

Sun Bai's brows knit tight, and he said in a low voice, "Sleeping like a pig — even if someone came to slaughter you, you'd never know a thing."

"From now on, at night each person keeps watch for two hours, to keep the Jinyi Wei from sneaking up on us."

Wu Er, who had been listless a moment ago, instantly perked up at the three words "Jinyi Wei." "What? The Jinyi Wei are here?"

Sun Bai punched Wu Er square in the chest, his face annoyed. "What are you hollering for! They weren't coming, and now you've called them here."

"Keep a sharp watch. Don't light any fire, and don't make any noise at random. Just squat beside the tent and keep your eyes peeled, that's all."

With that, Sun Bai stopped paying Wu Er any more attention, threw himself straight into the tent, and was snoring away in no time.

Wu Er squatted nearby, staring at the pitch-black mountain forest around him, a chill running uncontrollably down his back.

He wasn't afraid of the dark — he was afraid of the Jinyi Wei.

Back when Wu Heli had left, they had already brought up the dreaded name of the Jinyi Wei. Those fellows were like a divine dragon — you only ever saw the head, never the tail — and their methods were viciously ruthless. Once you fell into the Jinyi Wei's hands, you'd be unable to live and unable to die.

Running into the Jinyi Wei was far more terrifying than running into a ghost.

Just as Wu Er was ceaselessly calling on every ancestor he had, praying the Jinyi Wei would never spot him, a faint rustle suddenly came from the tent beside him.

Even though visibility in the mountain forest was extremely poor, Wu Er had been born with sharp eyes and actually managed to dimly make out a dark shadow slipping into the tent.

Wu Er thought it was just someone getting up in the night, and hurriedly called out softly, "Comrade, where'd you go?"

"Comrade?"

Seeing no response at all from the opposite tent, Wu Er grew more and more suspicious. He simply crawled over, lifted the curtain, and asked softly inside, "Who was it that just came in?"

Three men were lying in the tent, and still no one paid Wu Er any attention.

Perhaps the fellow had been half-asleep and confused?

Wu Er stopped dwelling on it. Just as he was about to turn and leave, he caught a faint whiff of a metallic tang.

"What's that smell?"

Wu Er frowned, took a deep breath, and a stench of blood shot straight up his nose.

"Good lord, which one of you pissed in the tent?"

"It's choking me to death!"

Wu Er was half-annoyed, half-amused. Just as he was cursing and lowering the curtain, the clouds piled up in the sky happened to part, and pale moonlight spilled down onto the earth.

A flash of faint light flickered once and vanished inside the tent.

Wu Er's smile froze. He rubbed his eyes hard, and hurriedly pulled the curtain all the way open.

By the dim moonlight, he carefully examined the situation inside the tent. He saw a dark shadow squatting right at the heads of his three comrades.

That shadow had its left hand clamped over one comrade's mouth and nose, while the other hand gripped a Dagger, sliding it back and forth across the man's neck.

No matter how stupid Wu Er was, he realized what was happening. An unprecedented chill instantly spread through his whole body!

He finally understood what it was that had been giving off that metallic stench just now.

Blood!

The reason no one in the tent had answered Wu Er was that all three of those comrades had been silently killed in their sleep.

Wu Er stumbled back in terror, dropped the tent flap, and scrambled on all fours back to his own tent.

"Brother Sun, bad news — the camp's been hit!"

"Brother Sun! Brother Sun, say something!"

Seeing Sun Bai lying face-down on the ground, not moving at all, Wu Er panicked, grabbed Sun Bai's ankle, and shook him hard.

But after shaking him twice, something felt off — why was his hand sticky?

He pulled his hand back, took a careful look by the moonlight, and instantly broke out in a cold sweat all over his body.

Blood! It was all blood!

Overcome by an unprecedented terror, Wu Er's whole body had gone completely rigid. He slowly raised his head and looked back into the tent, only to see another dark shadow squatting inside his own tent as well.

And a Dagger had been driven into Sun Bai's and the other two comrades' hearts and the center of their backs, one each.

"Oh heavens!"

Wu Er's courage was thoroughly broken. Just a moment ago, Brother Sun had been bouncing about alive, and then in the blink of an eye he was dead…

He didn't dare hesitate a single moment longer, turned and ran, but in his panic he tripped and fell.

Just as Wu Er was about to scramble back up, he suddenly heard the sound of footsteps right in front of him.

The sound was very close, as if it were pressed right against his face.

Wu Er instantly didn't dare move. He just stayed frozen in place, holding the posture of lying face-down on the ground.

He didn't know how long it had been before he finally mustered a little Courage, and slowly raised his head.

He saw a dark shadow standing right before him. Because it was facing away from the moonlight, Wu Er could only be sure that a person was standing in front of him, but beyond that he couldn't see a thing.

Suddenly, a flash of firelight sprang up.

In an instant, it illuminated the person before him. Under Wu Er's utterly shocked gaze, a man wearing a black brocade garment, a bamboo hat on his head, and a short blade at his waist stood looking down at him with a smiling gaze.

Before Wu Er could even recover from his shock, four Fire Torches flared up one after another beside him.

Four men, all dressed in black brocade uniforms, stood at the four directions, perfectly encircling the camp.

From the three tents inside the camp, one man in a brocade uniform stepped out in succession from each.

Each of them held three blood-dripping human heads in his hands.

In all his years, Wu Er had never encountered such a bizarre scene. This camp didn't look like it had been invaded—it looked like it had run into ghosts. Otherwise, how could nine people in total be silently beheaded while someone was keeping watch?

"Grandpa, spare my life!"

Wu Er's hysterical pleas for mercy echoed throughout the entire mountain forest.

He knelt on the ground, kowtowing frantically, hoping the other party would spare his miserable life. But no matter how he shouted, the other side gave no response whatsoever.

When Wu Er raised his head, the man before him still wore that eerie smile on his face.

"Go ahead and scream. Why aren't you screaming anymore?"

Feeling the other party's soul-piercing, razor-sharp gaze, Wu Er felt as if his heart had been grabbed and squeezed hard by someone, so stifled he couldn't breathe.

"You... who exactly are you people?"

Facing Wu Er's question, the man wearing a bamboo hat slowly crouched down and asked casually, "Ever heard of the Jinyiwei?"

What?!

The Jinyiwei!