Chapter 497

Miao Zhen and Miao He also clenched their fists and charged forward, slamming two heavy punches onto the man lying on the ground.

Anyone chosen by Jiang Feng to find Pan Yun could hardly be an unarmed civilian; after being kicked down, he first panicked and curled up, clutching his head.

But as Pan Yun, Miao Zhen, and Miao He pounded down, their fists hurt—but carried no internal force.

He instinctively resisted, shoved them away, swung his own fist—and was seized by Wang Cong and Tao Yanbai, who arrived two steps behind, grabbed his arm, then kicked him in the stomach.

Pan Yun's three immediately surrounded him.

To vent their anger, all five used only physical strength, no internal or elemental force; since they were five against one, they feared killing him and deliberately held back.

An Chen and the two Brocade Uniform Guards stood frozen to the side, watching the five mob one man.

Brocade Uniform Guard A feared a fatality: "My lord, won't you stop them?"

An Chen scanned their movements, saw they were holding back, and shook his head: "They won't kill him. Besides… if he dies, he dies."

This man had been following them all along. Had it not involved the Jiangnan officialdom and Wang Zhen, and risked misinterpretation, he'd have killed him long ago.

With An Chen's order, the Brocade Uniform Guards no longer worried; they crossed their arms and watched the five beat the man.

The five beat him for over a quarter-hour, gasping for breath before finally stopping.

The man lay curled on the ground, clutching his head, motionless.

Pan Yun raised her hand; Wang Cong and the others immediately stood sternly behind her.

Only then did she rub her fists and step forward, kicking his thigh several times: "Stop pretending to be dead. Lift your head!"

He lay perfectly still, as if dead.

Pan Yun saw this, grew angry, and kicked him hard twice more: "Open your eyes! You think you can extort me? Do you even know who I am?"

Pan Yun kicked him several more times: "We're all trained in medicine—we know exactly where it hurts without killing you. We won't beat you to death. Lift your head!"

The man on the ground finally lifted his head slightly, still shielding it with both hands.

Though he'd clutched his head desperately, he was now bruised and swollen, unrecognizable.

Pan Yun stared at his face, repulsed: "Speak. Where are your accomplices?"

He curled back up, clutching his head, motionless.

Seeing this, Pan Yun snorted and waved to Miao Zhen: "Go!"

Miao Zhen extended her hand to Miao He.

Miao He placed a thick needle in her palm; Miao Zhen seized his hand and drove the needle into his ring finger.

"Ahh—!" In terror, he screamed in agony, struggling to pull his hand back, rolling wildly on the ground.

Pan Yun stomped on his neck, pressing down slightly, her face cold and threatening: "Shut up! Scream again, and I'll snap your neck!"

Miao Zhen squeezed blood from his ring finger, pulled out a compass, dripped the blood into it, then stirred her elemental force, murmured a spell—the compass trembled, its needle slowly sliding to point a direction.

Only then did Pan Yun lift her foot and ask: "What's your name?"

He remained silent, his expression resolute and loyal.

"Fine. Since you won't speak, I'll call you Blood Bag Jia."

Blood Bag Jia looked bewildered: "What?"

"You'll find out soon," Pan Yun grabbed him by the back of his robe and dragged him toward An Chen, tossing him outright: "This is one of the medicinal ingredients for Mu Xi's cure. Take him back."

An Chen's expression twisted; he silently looked down at the man who had just been interrogated by him, released, and now returned: "Medicinal ingredient?"

Pan Yun smiled gently at him and nodded: "Correct."

The man on the ground heard their conversation, shuddered violently, scrambled up, and ran.

An Chen kicked out, striking his buttocks squarely, sending him flying through the air—thud—he landed face-down again.

His face hardened; he waved his hand: "Seize him!"

The two Brocade Uniform Guards behind him lunged like wolves, pinned him down, tied his waistband into a restraint, then dragged him back to the Mu residence.

The surrounding crowd, now even more outraged, stepped forward two paces: "We've hated you for ages—acting like you're from Jingcheng and beating people in the street! This man's so pitiful…"

"Exactly! Are you so proud to be Brocade Uniform Guards that you dare bully people in our Chun City?"

They'd been watching since Pan Yun's five began fighting.

But since Pan Yun's group were young, and the man on the ground clearly wasn't good, they'd ignored it.

But dragging someone off to be a medicinal ingredient? That was too much.

"If this man has broken the law, minor offenses have clan rules, major ones have state law—how dare you dispose of him as you please?"

This remark clearly came from a cultured person.

Pan Yun nodded in agreement, then quietly slipped away with Wang Cong and the other four.

By the time An Chen broke free from the crowd, furious, they were long gone.

An Chen: …

The Brocade Uniform Guards worried: "Captain, they won't have run off, will they?"

"No," An Chen mused: "They asked about his accomplices—they're probably going to catch them. Let's return first."

Someone who traveled thousands of miles to threaten her couldn't possibly have come alone.

What if something happened on the road? He'd have no one to carry a message.

So, there were at least two of them.

Miao Zhen had learned the tracking spell well; with Blood Bag Jia's blood, they quickly followed the blood mist to a guesthouse near the city gate.

Pan Yun looked up at the guesthouse's sign: "So far away? No wonder we only spotted him all along. They clearly have great faith in our abilities."

Wang Cong: "Otherwise, they wouldn't have come thousands of miles to threaten you, Little Master." Pan Yun waved: "Go seize him. I'll keep watch."

Wang Cong: "Aren't you going to beat him up too?"

"I'm tired from earlier. I've vented enough. I'll save this one—for when I'm angry again," Pan Yun paused, stroking her chin and concluding: "So, you see, if you want to draw hatred, let your fellow Daoist do it. Look—he never showed up, and all the threats came from Blood Bag Jia, so all my anger was directed at him."

Miao Zhen: "…So Little Master is now making us draw the hatred?"

Pan Yun patted her on the head: "Am I that kind of person? I'm here to hold the line, so no one slips out through some other route."

With that, she leapt onto the rooftop, lifted her chin, and ordered: "Go on, quickly!"

Wang Cong and the other three walked into the inn, following the direction the compass pointed to look for the man.

But the compass had only just reached the second floor—probably because it was too close to that person—when the needle spun rapidly a few times, then stopped dead.

Seeing Miao Zhen tucked the compass away without hesitation: "We'll have to search room by room."

Seeing her really about to push open every door one by one, Wang Cong, afraid she'd get beaten up, hurriedly held her back, then called over a shop hand and shoved a handful of coins into his hand: "In the last day or two, have any new, unfamiliar guests checked in? Northern accent, or possibly Jiangnan accent, grown man, with a horse."

The shop hand glanced at the copper coins in his hand, hesitant: "This…"

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Wang Cong pulled out another handful and gave it to him: "We've come to find him on business—you can tell that from our accents."

The shop hand said at once: "Today there really was a guest who checked in with an accent like yours, looked to be in his twenties, leading a horse, carrying only a simple bundle."

Wang Cong: "Where is he now?"

The shop hand pointed—and the spot was empty. He let out a surprised "Eh?": "He was right here just now, must've gone back to his room. He's in Room Jia-Three."

Wang Cong, hearing that, asked immediately: "Besides the front door, is there any other way out of the inn?"

The shop hand pointed toward the back courtyard: "The back door."

Wang Cong immediately dragged Miao He and rushed toward the back courtyard: "You two go check the room."

Seeing Miao Zhen reacted just as fast—one charge, and she kicked open Room Jia-Three with a single foot.

The shop hand's eyes went wide, and he shrieked: "What are you doing—!"

This didn't look like doing business at all.

Seeing Miao Zhen and Tao Yanbai burst into the room: "The bundle's still here—he must've seen us and run."

Tao Yanbai turned to give chase, but Seeing Miao Zhen pulled him back: "Little Xiao Shishu is on the rooftop; the man can't get away. Pack up all his luggage and check his household register and travel permit."

She said in a low voice: "If they won't talk, we can look into it another way. Since they dared use Lord Pan to threaten Little Xiao Shishu, we at least need to know who we're up against—we can't go back to the capital still blindly treating everyone as a good person."

Tao Yanbai figured she had a point, so he searched the room thoroughly, pulling everything out and stuffing it into the bundle to take along.

The shop hand led the Shopkeeper hurrying over. "What are you doing?"

Seeing Miao Zhen stepped forward at once, face solemn: "The Mu Residence is on business—uninvolved parties, stand aside!"

Shopkeeper: …

Pan Yun stood on the rooftop and saw a shadow leap down from an opening on the second floor, heading straight for the back door.

The corners of her mouth lifted slightly; her lightness art carried her over rooftops and courtyards, and she landed on the ridge, matching stride with the youth sprinting through the alley.

He knew how to run—once in the alley, he turned at every bend, no pattern at all.

From the look of it, he wasn't going to find his companions.

Pan Yun figured that, for safety's sake, even if there were hidden companions, they wouldn't split up to act—so she decided it was enough, and flew ahead of him, drifting down slowly from the ridge.

The youth saw Pan Yun descend from the sky, his face changed, and he turned to run.

But the moment he turned, Wang Cong and Miao He, each bracing against a wall and panting, were blocking the way behind him.

"You—you really can run…" Wang Cong asked: "You know martial arts?"

The youth looked at the blocked path, his expression shifting slightly.

Pan Yun sized him up from head to toe and raised an eyebrow: "You don't look like a guard or a Retainer—you look more like a strategist."

The youth's face returned to normal, and he said solemnly: "I don't know what the Daoist Priest is talking about."

Pan Yun touched her own short hair: "How did you know I'm a Daoist Priest? I'm not wearing a Daoist robe today."

A girl her age with short hair was still rare—most people, on seeing her, would either suspect she was a nun or assume she had lice on her head and had shaved it.

No one would guess she was a Daoist Priest.

The youth: "…"

Pan Yun grinned: "Clever—but not clever enough."

She waved her hand: "Take him!"

The youth immediately cried out: "Wait—I can explain!"

Wang Cong knocked him down and tied him up on the spot. Pan Yun fished a handkerchief out of his clothes, wadded it up, and stuffed it into his mouth: "You can explain when we see your companions."

Seeing Miao Zhen and Tao Yanbai also got away cleanly.

The Shopkeeper sent two shop hands to go with them, watching helplessly as they dragged the man and carried the luggage into the Mu Residence—only then did he believe they really were from the Mu Residence.

As they left, the shop hand still looked incredulous: "Impossible. The people of the Mu Residence have always been modest and kind—if someone offended them, small matters they wouldn't bother with, big matters they'd hand to the government office. They never take people into custody themselves."

"You don't know yet—the people from the Mu Residence were beating someone up in the street just now. I heard they left the man with only one breath left."

"That serious? What terrible thing did those two do?"

"Don't know, but I don't think it's necessarily that they did something bad—because the ones beating people in the street were the Embroidered Uniform Guard staying at the Mu Residence."

"Those hounds…"

Embroidered Uniform Guard's reputation -99. (End of chapter)