Chapter 652

Wang Cong and several others immediately stepped forward, staring intently at Pan Yun.

Pan Yun looked at Xue Shao, then at Wang Cong and the others, thought for a moment, and nodded: "Fine. After all, this is a journey of cultivation—you shouldn't let them hide behind me and learn nothing."

Pan Yun pulled out a makeup case: "I'll go get Naito Man'o's head. You go to Dainai Hongjian's place—capture him alive. We'll meet outside the city."

Pan Yun tapped the table: "Sit down. I'll make up your faces."

"We're coming too!" The door slammed open, and Song Xuan stepped in first: "Master Sanzhu, you can't leave us out of everything."

Gao Zhiming: "Exactly. In terms of martial skill and street experience, we're no weaker than you young Daoist priests. Shouldn't capturing people be left to us?"

Pan Yun swept her gaze over them and nodded: "Alright. Then plan it out—how to capture him, how to escape, how to leave the city, how to regroup."

Pan Yun said: "We need at least an extra hour to put distance between us and them. Of course, the best way is to avoid their tracking entirely."

Gao Zhiming frowned: "That's difficult, but not impossible—it just requires someone to go ahead first."

Pan Yun spread her hands: "That's exactly why I'm sending you ahead."

Gao Zhiming immediately said: "But we have so many people—we don't all need to go ahead. We can split up."

Before Pan Yun could speak, Gao Zhiming grabbed Wang Cong and the others to confer: "You kids are too young—you're not suited for brothels. Let us handle the capture. You take the lead…"

Wang Cong: "... You're underestimating us, Master Gao? We're Daoists—what places haven't we been to? What scenes haven't we seen?"

Wang Cong turned to Seeing Miao Zhen: "Tell Master Gao how many brothel girls we've saved."

Seeing Miao Zhen looked serious: "Sixty-eight!"

Wang Cong blinked, glaring at Gao Zhiming: "That's right—sixty-eight! Have you ever visited a brothel sixty-eight times?"

Song Xuan turned to look at Gao Zhiming.

Gao Zhiming:...

He said, face twisted in discomfort: "Once."

Pan Yun couldn't help herself, curiously asking: "So how many times has Master Gao visited a brothel?"

"Yes, Brother, how many times have you visited a brothel?" Song Xuan gripped his arm, gritting her teeth: "I really want to know too."

Gao Zhiming broke into a sweat, gritting his teeth: "Once! Truly, Sister, just once!"

Even Tao Yanbai and Seeing Miao Zhen couldn't help showing disdain: "We've been in more than once."

Seeing Miao Zhen said: "We've even been on painted boats. In terms of understanding brothel culture, we're no less experienced than you!"

The four of them utterly defeated Gao Zhiming and Song Xuan, pushing the two out to serve as outer support.

In the end, Hu Jing voluntarily took on the task of leading the group out of the city and going ahead first.

Pan Yun saw their planning was decent enough and nodded reluctantly. She turned to Xue Shao: "I'm entrusting them to you."

Xue Shao nodded: "They're skilled in martial arts, I've got brains. Combined, we won't cause you trouble. Just focus on your own mission."

The group carefully planned everything. Early the next morning, Hu Jing led Yi Jianren and the team out of the city, going ahead first.

The rest waited in the city until nightfall.

Wang Cong, accompanied by one of Yi Jianren's household retainers, went out to stake out the location. By evening, he returned excitedly to report: "We've got eyes on him—Dainai Hongjian is going to the pleasure house tonight. Naito Man'o must've been scared—he hasn't left his house all day."

Pan Yun nodded: "Good. Split up."

Pan Yun left with Pan Xiaohei.

The Naito residence was hidden deep in an alley, surrounded by trees, thick and dense.

Dusk fell, the street empty—except for the warriors hiding behind leaves, pretending to be leaves, who didn't count as people.

Pan Yun hugged Pan Xiaohei as she approached the house, each movement hidden in the corner of a wall or beside a tree; those hiding among the leaves saw nothing of her.

In truth, they couldn't see her—Pan Yun's Qi circled her body, aided by light and shadow, perfectly concealing her form.

Near the wall, Pan Yun leapt up, effortlessly flipping over and landing inside the courtyard.

A cluster of leaves nearby trembled slightly.

On a branch above, a man, dissatisfied, whispered in the absence of witnesses: "Idiot, what are you doing? What if you give away our position?"

The man on the higher branch whispered back: "I just saw a shadow flicker over the wall—someone must've climbed over."

"Impossible! I've been watching constantly!" he said. "It's not a shinobi—they'd never be caught by my eyes. And shinobi don't climb over walls—they slip through door cracks like invisible ghosts."

The man on the branch, already doubting himself, now convinced he'd imagined it—he lay still, motionless: "If we're fighting shinobi, why aren't we using shinobi? We're warriors—we're terrible at hiding."

"Where would we find that many shinobi? Not every household can afford them."

Pan Yun, already inside the wall, noticed them too. She moved swiftly between courtyards, soon tracking a servant delivering food to Naito Man'o.

Easier than she'd imagined.

"Tight outside, loose inside," Pan Yun couldn't help clicking her tongue: "So stupid."

Pan Xiaohei: "His stupidity is your luck."

That was true.

Pan Yun pressed against the wall corner, waiting until the servants filed out of the courtyard. Only then did she slip quietly inside.

Naito Man'o sat cross-legged, eating, head down. With Pan Yun's silent steps, he didn't look up until her shadow fell over his meal. Only then did he frown and raise his head.

One glance—he sensed something wrong. His pupils shrank. He opened his mouth to shout—but *puch! * His vision spun, rolled, then stopped. He stared wide-eyed at his own body, sitting stiffly across from him. Blood began dripping from midair, splattering his head and face, turning his vision crimson...

This was the last thing he saw—so fast he forgot the face he'd glimpsed, and no sound escaped his throat.

Pan Yun pulled down the curtain beside her, spread it out, picked up his head, and laid it upon it. She wrapped the head in the curtain, then began searching the room.

She quickly found a slightly larger box, emptied its contents of gold, silver, and jewels into her space, then placed the head inside the empty box, closed the door, and left.

Pan Yun was sentimental, so she exited the same way she entered—flipping over the wall, landing silently, then slipping swiftly into the wall's shadow.

The leaves trembled again.

"Bujirō, what are you doing?"

"I really saw a shadow—I swear! I didn't see a person, but I'm sure someone just climbed out over the wall!"

"Impossible! Nothing happened! There are so many people here—why only you saw it? Stop making noise, or I'll report you to Lord Waka for severe punishment!"

Wu Cilang remained silent, daring not to speak.

At this moment, Wang Cong and Xue Shao, who had already infiltrated the pleasure house, each gripped one of Dainai Hongjian's arms, reeling with drunkenness, and pointed at Miao Zhen and Miao He standing nearby: "Your Excellency, what do you think of these two?"

Miao Zhen and Miao He stood at the corner outside the pleasure house, their figures faintly visible in the lamplight, slender and graceful; Dainai Hongjian swallowed hard and couldn't help nodding: "Good, good!"

Wang Cong clapped his shoulder and smiled: "They're my sisters. If Your Excellency lets me take one look at the escort ship, I'll let them accompany you."

"If Your Excellency lets me board the ship and feel its motion, I'll give you one of them; if you let me join the escort squad, I have two more sisters at home—I'll give them all to you!"

Dainai Hongjian burst into loud laughter, pounding his chest and assuring him it was no problem.

Saying this, he draped his arms over their shoulders and headed toward Miao Zhen and Miao He.

The staff of the pleasure house hurried to block him, alarmed: "Your Excellency, why leave so soon? Have we failed to serve you properly?"

Dainai Hongjian's eyes were fixed only on Miao Zhen and Miao He standing afar; he impatiently shoved them aside: "Get out, get out—you won't be needed these two days…"

Before he finished speaking, the two figures standing with their backs to them took a few steps forward, half their bodies vanishing into the wall's shadow.

Dainai Hongjian wasted no more words and rushed toward them.

Miao Zhen and Miao He heard the rapid footsteps approaching; they rolled their eyes disdainfully, then stepped into the shadow beneath the wall.

Dainai Hongjian charged forward, saw two little beauties, his eyes brightening instantly, and reached out eagerly.

As he reached out, Miao Zhen seized his arm and yanked it hard forward; Miao He, swift as lightning, shoved a wad of cloth into his gaping mouth, while one kicked his knee and the other slammed him to the ground…

Wang Cong and Xue Shao, lagging a step behind, arrived to see Miao Zhen and Miao He kicking Dainai Hongjian fiercely.

Xue Shao waited quietly, silently counting to thirty, then whispered to Wang Cong: "Enough."

Wang Cong immediately stepped forward to stop them: "Stop, stop—don't kill him. Little Master Shu wants him alive."

Miao Zhen snorted, flicking her loose hair back over her shoulder: "Let's go."

Wang Cong and Xue Shao immediately stepped forward and lifted him up.

Dainai Hongjian's mouth was stuffed with cloth; he had already been kicked unconscious, limp and powerless.

Wang Cong and Xue Shao spread out his short, sparse hair across his face, then dragged him away.

Most shops in this area operated at night; people passed by occasionally.

Dainai Hongjian's guards were currently detained and drunk by Gao Zhiming and Qu Le, so they had to hurry out.

Everyone here knew Dainai Hongjian; even with his head bowed and carried by two men, they recognized him, and greeted him warmly. Xue Shao replied for him, smiling amiably, carrying him half-embraced toward the alley's mouth without changing expression.

Wang Cong imitated Xue Shao's response: "Drunk, drunk…"

As soon as they stepped out of the alley, Song Xuan immediately drove the donkey cart forward; Wang Cong and Xue Shao hoisted him up and shoved him inside, while Miao Zhen and Miao He followed closely and climbed in.

Song Xuan whipped the donkey cart; Wang Cong and Xue Shao walked on either side, escorting it swiftly toward the city gate.

Not long after, Gao Zhiming and Qu Le staggered out, leaning on each other's shoulders, and soon vanished along the roadside.

Less than a quarter-hour later, two more guards reeked of alcohol as they stepped out, grabbing a woman from the pleasure house: "Where's our Your Excellency?"

"His Excellency Hongjian went to find other women to play with…" (End of Chapter)