Chapter 157 Closing the Net to Catch the Big Fish

"M-Sir..." the leader of the six guards said hurriedly, "We...we wanted to take it to you."

Lord You gave a forced smile. "Is that so? Then why didn't you head towards the mansion, but instead went in the opposite direction?"

"This...this..." The six soldiers turned pale and stammered, unable to give a coherent answer.

“Five thousand soldiers from Longyuan County are already guarding the passes outside the mountains. Do you really think you can lead them out of my grasp and then get promoted?” Lord You suddenly frowned. “You dogs! I’ve wasted my time raising you!”

"Sir, spare your life!"

The six soldiers knelt down and kowtowed, begging for mercy.

"I was just momentarily confused and believed your... Xiao Qidi's nonsense! I know I was wrong!"

"Please, sir, give us a chance! Spare us, sir!"

Lord You glanced coldly at the scene, took a bow and arrow from the guard beside him, and shot one of the men squarely in the forehead. The man fell to the ground with a thud.

The other five were so frightened that they fled in panic.

Lord You, unhurried, drew his bow and shot again.

Swoosh—

Several soft sounds followed.

Those five men also died under his arrows.

Every arrow struck the back of the head, killing instantly.

This level of archery skill is comparable to that of the top archers carefully selected from the Xuanjia Army, far surpassing even Duan Wu's abilities.

Lord You sneered, "This is the consequence of betraying me."

Xiao Qidi's expression was gloomy. He sighed inwardly. This governor of Longyuan had both martial prowess and strategic acumen. If he hadn't gone astray, he would indeed be a rare talent.

It's both a pity and a hateful thing.

"Xiao Qidi, now I will personally send you on your way." Lord You drew his longbow once more, and without the slightest hesitation, released an arrow.

"Your Majesty!" Duan Wu's eyes were bloodshot, but he no longer had the strength to get up.

Xiao Qidi was barely able to stand, having no strength left to dodge.

The arrow pierced the air and arrived in an instant.

Just as it was about to pierce Xiao Qidi's brow, a shadow suddenly flashed by and pounced on him into the bushes beside him.

Lord You was taken aback. "What is that?"

"Did you see clearly?" he asked the guards beside him.

Everyone stared at each other, their faces filled with astonishment.

Because the incident happened suddenly, the shadow was moving very fast, and the bushes obstructed the view, none of the soldiers present could figure out what was going on.

"Your...Your Majesty?" Duan Wu stared blankly at the bushes where Xiao Qidi had just disappeared.

He was the closest, but he didn't react in time.

It seems that His Majesty was knocked away by something and then disappeared into the bushes.

The arrow that Lord You fired landed right where Xiao Qidi had just been standing.

It was clearly a miss.

"Could it be... a black bear?" a soldier asked fearfully.

One of the guards immediately said, "How could a black bear be that fast? I think it's a tiger! Only a tiger can move that fast in the instant it attacks!"

"No, no!" someone else interjected, "The shadow just now wasn't nearly as big as a tiger, it couldn't have been a tiger..."

"Stop talking, hurry up and search!" Lord You ordered.

Unsure of their chances, the soldiers gripped their weapons tightly and slowly moved forward.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty, where are you..." Duan Wu crawled slowly toward the direction where Xiao Qidi had just disappeared, calling out in a low voice.

"Jun——"

Suddenly, his expression froze, his eyes widened rapidly, and a look of surprise appeared in them.

Immediately afterwards, his hands were grabbed and he was pulled over.

When Lord You's guards approached, not only was Xiao Qidi nowhere to be seen, but Duan Wu was also nowhere to be found.

Only some obvious drag marks were left in the grass.

The soldiers continued to follow the trail, but after only a few steps, the trail abruptly ended, as if Xiao Qidi and Duan Wu had been dragged here by that mysterious shadow and then vanished on the spot.

"This is...a...a ghost?!" someone couldn't help but shout in fear.

The other soldiers' expressions immediately changed.

It was already quite dark in the forest, and the thick fog added to the somber atmosphere.

"My lord...it's haunted, my lord!" A soldier scrambled up to Lord You to report.

Lord You slapped him across the face, "Nonsense! I've lived here for who knows how many years, when have I ever seen a ghost!"

"But...the person just vanished into thin air!" The soldier covered his face, on the verge of tears.

Lord You refused to believe it and rushed over to check it himself.

However, the situation at the scene left him completely baffled.

The traces in the grass did indeed disappear suddenly, and there was nothing unusual on the ground where the traces disappeared. Looking up further, the surrounding trees also left no trace.

Lord You's expression changed slightly, and he froze on the spot.

"Sir, look at this...is it...haunted?" the guard said, trembling.

Lord You snapped out of his daze and gritted his teeth, saying, "Even if it's haunted, I have to find them! Keep searching! Tell the five thousand elite soldiers outside to keep a close watch; no one is allowed to sleep tonight!"

"Yes... sir..."

...

However, at this moment, Xiao Qidi, Duan Wu, and An'an had already arrived at the county government office.

It turned out that the person who rescued the three was none other than Ning Jinli.

Through her senses, she opened a portal to another dimension, located near where Xiao Qidi had been at the time.

The figure that tackled Xiao Qidi to the ground in time was her.

Before this, a portal to another dimension appeared in the county jail. Ning Jinli first teleported the extremely weak Xiao Qidi and An'an to the jail, and then quickly returned to save Duan Wu.

It is now night.

Only a few dozen Xuanjia Army soldiers who had originally stayed behind to await orders remained in the county government office.

The magistrate of Hewan County and his constables all went home, and there were no prisoners in the jail, not even the jailers.

This would be a good opportunity to vacate a decent room in the government office for the three who had narrowly escaped death to rest.

An'an was tired and frightened because of her young age. Ning Jinli held her and comforted her for a while, fed her some food and drink, and then let the little one fall asleep.

Ning Jinli let An'an sleep alone in a room and arranged for two soldiers to guard her.

In another room, Duan Wu lay on the bed, snoring loudly.

Xiao Qidi, still managing to stay awake, told Ning Jinli everything that had happened that day.

Upon hearing this, Ning Jinli was so angry that her face contorted, and she immediately cursed the ancestors of the Prefect of Longyuan for eighteen generations.

At that moment, a soldier rushed in to report, "Your Majesty, Your Highness, I just received a message from the Xuanjia Army on the walkie-talkie!"

Ning Jinli knew that the fifty soldiers who arrived first and the Xuan family army that set off from Xitun Pass later all carried walkie-talkies.

The fact that the two sides were able to make contact proves that the Xuanjia Army has arrived at the nearest county checkpoint.

Ning Jinli ordered, "Have them take down the yamen runners guarding the checkpoint and gather at the county government office immediately. Do not disturb the people."

"Yes, fairy!" The soldier grabbed the walkie-talkie and went out.

Without saying a word, Xiao Qidi was about to get out of bed.

Ning Jinli grabbed him and pressed him down, "What do you think you're doing?"

Xiao Qidi was pale and weak, but his eyes were still sharp. "The Prefect of Longyuan doesn't know we've escaped yet. He's probably still searching the mountains and forests around the Hot Spring Mansion. There's no time to lose... tonight is the best time to close the net. I must... lead the Xuanjia Army to capture him..."

"You're already like this, you should rest!" Ning Jinli glared at him.

Xiao Qidi gritted his teeth and said, "It's just a so-called muscle-weakening powder. Now... now the effects of the medicine have mostly worn off, and I can hold on."

"Alright, alright! Now is not the time for you to push yourself," Ning Jinli comforted. "You should rest quietly and leave the rest to me."

"this……"

"What, you don't trust me?"

"No, no, no, I..."

"Then stop talking and lie down!"

"..."

Ning Jinli touched his cheek and said softly, "Little brother, I'm going to haul in the net and bring back the big fish for you. You rest well, okay?"

After saying that, she lowered her head, leaned close to him, and gave him a quick kiss.

The brief moment of tenderness finally made Xiao Qidi relax. "Okay, then please be careful."

——

At the checkpoint in Hewan County, two thousand Xuanjia soldiers received orders and immediately broke through the checkpoint.

Before the guards on duty could react, they were tied up like dumplings and their mouths were gagged.

At the same time, inside the county government office, Ning Jinli ordered dozens of soldiers to ride at full speed to the magistrate's house in Hewan County, demanding that the magistrate's residence be completely under control, inside and out, to prevent this corrupt official from discovering anything amiss and sending someone to inform the prefect.

At this moment, the magistrate of Hewan County was furious at home.

He didn't eat a single bite of the dinner prepared for him by the servants; instead, he overturned it all over the floor.

Even the concubines who tried to appease him were beaten and kicked out of the bedroom.

There was no other way but for everyone to ask the magistrate's wife to appease the situation, otherwise the whole household would be in turmoil.

"My lord, please calm down," the magistrate's wife slowly approached the bedside and gently massaged the magistrate's shoulders. "You're already injured; what if you make things worse by getting angry?"

The magistrate lay on the bed, his eyes bulging, and said, "Just kill me with anger!"

The magistrate's wife said, "How can that be? Are you going to abandon this whole family? Let's just let this matter go. Didn't they promise to return everything in our storeroom?"

“But I got a beating, Madam,” the magistrate said with a face full of resentment, turning his head with difficulty. “For so many years, I have been more loyal to the Prefect of Longyuan than a dog, and I have done everything for him perfectly. But he just let me lose face in public and didn’t even give me a chance to vent my anger!”

The magistrate's wife sighed, "There's nothing we can do. He's the prefect after all. No matter how angry you are, there's nothing you can do about it. Besides, if it weren't for him bribing his superiors, how could our family live such a life of luxury? With your meager salary, how could we have the good life we ​​have now? Don't you think so?"

The magistrate snorted, "I understand that... but... sigh, Duan Wu has managed to curry favor with the prefect today. Judging from the prefect's attitude, he will definitely be given an important position in the future. Otherwise, he wouldn't have invited him to his hot spring residence as a guest. I haven't even received that treatment yet. I'm both angry and worried. What if Duan Wu starts to ride roughshod over me in the future? Wouldn't I have to appease him again? Would I have to give him another portion of my silver?"

"Alright, alright, you're just overthinking things. Things aren't settled yet," the magistrate's wife said with a smile. "I believe the prefect knows how important you are. That little border general is just a soldier who can only do some hard labor for the prefect. How can he compare to you?"

Hearing these words, the magistrate felt a little better.

“Madam, you are the only one who can comfort me,” he slowly turned to the side, “Go and get me some food, I’m hungry.”

The magistrate's wife was overjoyed and immediately went to the kitchen to fetch a bowl of ginseng and minced meat porridge.

"Here, I'll feed you."

The magistrate's wife sat on the edge of the bed, scooped up some food with a spoon, blew on it, and then fed it to the magistrate.

The magistrate, smelling the aroma, felt even hungrier and hurriedly opened his mouth.

Just then, a commotion suddenly broke out outside the door.

Who are you people?!

"Who gave you the audacity to break into the magistrate's residence at night!"

"Guards! Seize these arrogant bastards—"

Before the butler could finish his reprimand, a chaotic brawl broke out.

The magistrate's wife was so frightened that her hand trembled, and the scalding hot porridge in the bowl spilled all over the magistrate's chest.

"Ah!" The magistrate screamed and jumped up from the bed, frantically patting his chest, which only aggravated the wound on his buttocks. He screamed and ran around like a monkey struck by lightning.

The magistrate's wife wanted to help but didn't know where to start. Hearing the commotion outside getting louder, she had no choice but to leave the magistrate behind and hurriedly left the bedroom. She shouted at the top of her lungs, "What's going on?! Who's so fearless as to come and cause trouble in our magistrate's house?! Are they looking for death?!"

Bang!

A muffled thud.

The steward flew backward from a distance and landed at the magistrate's wife's feet, clutching his chest and spitting blood.

The magistrate's wife was taken aback, and only then did she realize the situation around her.

The guards in the house were lying on the ground, and the servants were running around in panic.

The cause of this situation was none other than a group of soldiers in armor.

"What do you want to do!" The magistrate's wife, both frightened and angry, shouted with all her might, "Is there no law anymore?! This is the magistrate's house!"

"Where is the magistrate?" A soldier, sword in hand, charged toward the magistrate's wife with murderous intent.

The magistrate's wife collapsed to the ground, her legs giving way, and pointed tremblingly to the bedroom behind her.

Without a word, the soldiers broke down the door, dragged the magistrate out like a chick, and threw him into the courtyard.

Before long, all the dozens of people in the magistrate's house were tied up, not one was left out.

"Outrageous...you...you are utterly outrageous! Lawless!" The magistrate cursed, spitting blood as he spoke. "You are Duan Wu's men, aren't you?! I will appeal to the Prefect of Longyuan! The Prefect will not let you get away with this! Just you wait!"

The leading soldier glanced at him indifferently and said, "Gag this corrupt official's rotten mouth."

"You... ugh!" The magistrate was about to curse again when a rag was stuffed into his mouth.

Then, the soldiers stuffed all the men into several carriages and quickly escorted them to the county government office, where they were all thrown into prison.

Hewan County never imagined that one day it would be locked up in its own county government jail, and it was so angry that it almost fainted.

At the same time, two thousand Xuanjia soldiers arrived on the street outside the county government office.

A vast army occupied the entire street, creating a spectacular scene.

Ning Jinli selected 500 people from among them and gave them a list and address that she had found in the county government office's study, instructing them to immediately arrest all the people working in the county government office based on the information.

Upon receiving the order, the five hundred soldiers immediately departed and began their operation.

Ning Jinli mounted a tall horse and walked to the front of the remaining 1,500 Xuanjia soldiers, speaking briefly and forcefully:

"Gentlemen, follow me!"