Chapter Eight: Coercion and Enticement

As dawn broke, a shower fell, and the wildfire was successfully extinguished. The camp was in a mess, but fortunately, the casualties were not great.

After taking inventory with his guards, Deputy Commander Sun sat down in his tent, wiped the rain and sweat from his face, and exclaimed, "That old bastard Liu Zhang is a real scoundrel! He only targets our food and supplies. Now our group has lost four or five tents and two cartloads of provisions. It's inconvenient to camp out and we're short on food. We still have almost a day's journey to the next post station, and I'm afraid there will be more trouble along the way..."

With her slender fingers unfurling a travel map, Ye Yiqing pointed to the location of the next post station. She looked up at Deputy Commander Sun, her expression inscrutable: "Now that they've succeeded, they might quiet down for a day or two..."

Calm down? How can things calm down? Sun Bin was full of doubt. Judging from the situation last night, it was clearly aimed at murder and arson. Now the fire was set, but no one was killed. How could he be satisfied? But Ye Yiqing changed the subject and said no more.

Confused and unanswered, Sun Bin was deeply troubled, almost scratching his head in frustration. But Lord Ye, sitting upright above him, was busy instructing his attendant Ye Xun to bandage the wound, pretending not to see anything. Enraged, Deputy Commander Sun cursed this "wolf in sheep's clothing" Ye Xun in his heart.

The office of the magistrate.

Inside the tent, Mu Lian sat behind a table, his expression indifferent, toying with a thin, gleaming dagger in his hand. The captured man in black was writhing and crawling on the ground in agony, blood still gushing from the bloody hole in his right wrist.

"You only have three chances..." A voice as cold and clear as shattered jade suddenly rang in my ears, no less than a demon from hell.

The man in black, who was in a semi-conscious state, suddenly woke up. He had been silenced by a pressure point and could not speak, so he could only desperately make "woo-woo" sounds.

The thin, sharp knife lightly touched the face of the man in black, which was covered by a mask, and slid down the edge of the mask, across the man's already bloodstained chest and waist, revealing taut abdominal muscles, finally stopping at the crotch of his black trousers. The man in black shuddered violently, letting out a few sharper "whooshes," struggling to pull his legs together, and nodding with all his might.

With a cold glance at the trembling man in black, Mu Lian sneered inwardly. What talk of "a scholar can be killed but not humiliated"—even the most arrogant and fearless man harbors an innate fear of having his manhood severed.

"Don't try anything funny..." The woman twirled the thin, sharp knife between her fingers like a flower: "Otherwise, even if you commit suicide, you'll still be cut off at the root..."

The man in black, whose pressure points had been released, gasped for breath, his legs still tightly clenched together. After a long while, he finally spoke in a hoarse voice, "I'll talk, I'll tell you everything. I... I was ordered by a mysterious person to come here specifically to assassinate the Chief of the Cauldrons..."

A mysterious person? What mysterious person? Mu Lianqing stared at the man in black on the ground, the sharp knife in her hand gleaming.

The man in black closed his eyes briefly, then gritted his teeth and spoke again: "I have never seen the mysterious person's true face, I have only heard the leader mention him..."

The woman stood up, her sharp, thin blade slicing through the black cloth covering the man's face, revealing a dark but youthful face, which upon closer inspection seemed to hold a touch of childishness. Mu Lian paused, then sheathed her blade: "What's your name?"

As he felt the sharp blade move away from his cheek, the man in black spoke, his voice trembling slightly: "I am an orphan, and I do not know my name. The leader calls me 'A-Zhe'..."

Another orphan. Mu Lian's gaze lingered on A Zhe for a few seconds before she waved for someone to take him away to heal his wounds. Judging from the looks of it, A Zhe hadn't been in the assassin organization for long and probably hadn't actually killed anyone yet, but to be valued by the leader, he must have some skill.

Mu Lian tossed the thin-bladed dagger into its case and soaked her hands in the floral water that had been prepared beforehand. Although the dagger hadn't drawn blood today, Mu Lian was already in the habit of soaking her hands in the floral water after putting down the butcher's knife.

In the fragrant flowerpot, the woman's hands were slender and white, with only a thin layer of calluses on her fingertips, appearing perfect. But only Mu Lian knew that no matter how much she washed her blood-stained hands, they could never be truly clean.

Outside the tent, several familiar bird calls suddenly rang out.

Mu Lian rose and stepped out of the tent, where she saw a white-feathered, brown-backed, sharp-beaked eagle circling in the air, seemingly searching for its master. The woman took out a short flute from her bosom and played a tune that harmonized with the bird's cry. The eagle flapped its wings and flew towards the woman's direction. In an instant, it perched on the crossbeam in front of the tent. Mu Lian took a secret letter from beside the eagle's talons and fed it raw meat from a dish. The eagle rubbed its long, sharp beak against the woman's palm before happily enjoying its meal.

Unfolding the secret letter, as expected, it was a message from Meng Yuan.

When the fake Imperial Guard came to investigate, Mu Lian and Meng Yuan pretended to be poisoned and sprinkled hallucinogenic powder on themselves, making the fake guard believe that the poisoning had succeeded. This led to the subsequent commotion of the men in black, who then set fires and attempted assassinations. While the men in black were focused on the Imperial Guard, the two killed two more men in black and disguised their corpses. They then secretly hid in the shadows, one protecting the Chief of the Cauldrons and the other tracking them. This clever scheme successfully led them to the men in black's lair.

After writing the reply and retying the eagle's claws, Mu Lian watched the eagle quickly disappear into the horizon before getting up and heading towards Ye Yuqing's tent.

Upon entering the tent, Mu Lian greeted Ye Yuqing and Sun Bin. He then cupped his hands and said, "Reporting to the Commander of the Cauldrons, and Deputy Commander Sun, I have come on the orders of Chief Mu to inform you of the upcoming action plan..."

After giving a brief explanation, Mu Lian turned and left.

"Oh, this..." Sun Bin didn't recognize Mu Lian and thought it was just that Meng attendant. He was still full of anger, and now he had an outlet for it: "How can they all act like this? They didn't even discuss it beforehand, just sent someone to inform them? Damn it, they really don't respect me, Old Sun, at all..."

Ye Yiqing watched Mu Lian's departing figure, thinking to herself, "It seems that Chief Mu's plan to turn the tables has worked." Thinking this, she quickly stood up to comfort Sun Bin: "Don't worry, don't worry, Deputy Commander Sun. It seems that Chief Mu didn't want the Imperial Guards to be too overworked. You've done a great job repelling the enemy; it's time for the people from the Judicial Office to show their worth..."

Lord Ye's kind words finally calmed Sun Bin down, who was on the verge of exploding. "Damn it," Sun Bin thought, "I'll have to see what tricks you clerks from the Judicial Office can pull."

By now it was broad daylight. After packing up, the group broke camp and set off again. If everything went smoothly with Chief Mu, they could reunite at the next post station.