Chapter 79 Chapter 79 Body temperature gradually dissipated in the cold night. ...
At midnight, dark clouds covered the moon, and willow catkins and light rain were floating in the air.
A woman wearing a conical hat and a tight-sleeved dress appeared on the street. Her right cheek was covered with hideous scars. The sound of her shoes stepping through puddles startled a woman in black who was drinking under the eaves of a street corner, sheltering from the rain.
The woman in black saw the scarred man approaching and sat down diagonally in front of her. The scarred man called out to the wine doctor in a hoarse voice. His voice was hoarse and unpleasant, because the smoke from the fire had damaged his throat.
She ordered a glass of sake and drank it all, her bandaged hand resting casually on the table.
Boom, boom, boom——
Three long knocks.
Boom, boom.
Two short beeps.
The woman in black whispered between drinks: "The sun, the moon, and the stars move."
"The rivers flow backwards." The scarred man responded hoarsely.
The woman in black suddenly stood up and gestured. The scarred man drank the remaining wine and followed closely behind her. The two of them disappeared around the corner of the dark alley, one in front and one behind.
"The Supreme Court has been cracking down on us lately," the man in black whispered. "Were you followed when you came?"
"No," Xie Tingyu replied briefly. The man in black glanced at the bandage on Xie Tingyu's left hand. The veins on the back of his hand were bulging, the skin was dry and cracked, and the center of his palm was wrapped in gauze. "Is your hand injured? How did you get hurt?"
"Bitten."
"Bite?" The man in black remembered that the scarred man did have a vicious dog. "Is it your beast again? I told you this vicious dog should be dealt with sooner rather than later."
Xie Tingyu remained silent.
The man in black didn't suspect anything. Scarface had always been a solitary man, and aside from the necessary words for communication, he was very frugal with his words. This reaction was perfectly normal.
Xie Tingyu followed the man in black silently.
Three figures were lurking quietly in the shadow of the eaves behind the two of them.
"Hey, Yuan Wangshu, why did you bring so many people with you?"
Cui Yuanying squinted his eyes and looked down. In addition to the officers from the Supreme Court, there were two teams of people lurking in the dark.
Yuan Wangshu glanced sideways and sneered, "My mother is worried about my safety, so she sent a few more guards to protect me. What's wrong with that? Didn't you bring people with you tonight?"
Wang Lanzhi suddenly gestured for silence. The two men immediately fell silent and quietly followed.
Behind the three figures, many people lurked in the shadows. They included officials from the Imperial Court, Cui Yuanying's followers, Yuan Wangshu's personal guards, and Xie's elite soldiers. All were dressed in tight black nightwear, making it difficult to tell who was whose in the darkness.
Everything in the rain was a blur of darkness. Occasionally, the cold light of a weapon flashed by, then quickly disappeared into the darkness.
Xie Tingyu followed the man in black through a dark passage. After several turns, the view suddenly opened up. At the city gate pier on the Qinhuai River, several large ships were quietly moored.
Her eyes darkened and she immediately recognized that this was an important waterway controlled by the Yingchuan Yu family.
In order to help her sort out the complicated relationships among the Jiankang families, Wang Zhuozhang forced her to recite the "Records of the Jiankang Families" every day. It was clearly stated in the book that the Yingchuan Yu family started out with the grain transport business and controlled most of the docks on the Qinhuai River.
In the dim light of the torches on the ship, one could see the sails of the large ship hanging low, and the deck was piled with ordinary goods, such as rice, cloth and other bulk commodities. At first glance, it looked no different from an ordinary merchant ship.
Xie Tingyu pondered: Where is the person hiding? Surely he couldn't be hiding under the deck? If the Yu family used their own ships to transport the goods, wouldn't they be caught if they were discovered?
She asked tentatively, "Why did you choose to hand it over at the dock this time?"
The man in black didn't suspect anything. "The Tingweitai has been investigating closely lately, so we can't move the people from the mountain behind the Buddhist temple in time. We'll pick them up here tonight. Pick them up here first, and then take the others from the mountain behind the Buddhist temple with us."
Xie Tingyu followed the men in black onto the deck.
"stop!"
A sharp shout suddenly rang out. Xie Tingyu paused as she saw several sailors, armed with ring-handled swords and holding torches, approaching. The scorching light shone directly on her face. On that face covered with hideous scars, only a pair of eyes remained calm as water.
Two crew members approached and roughly searched her, groping her from chest to calves. Xie Tingyu remained calm, allowing them to inspect her. After confirming that she was unarmed, she was led to the lower deck.
Walking down the narrow stairs, I saw four or five guards guarding seven or eight closed cabins.
The guard nodded to the man in black, then pulled a set of copper keys from his waist and clicked open the heavy hatch behind him. The air was filled with a damp, musty smell. Inside the dim cabin, more than a dozen Xianbei boys huddled in a corner. Seeing someone enter, they all recoiled in fear, their eyes filled with dread.
"You—ugh!"
The hatch had just been half-closed, and the man in black had just uttered a word when Xie Tingyu suddenly attacked.
Her left hand grabbed the man's throat like a ghost, and her right hand clamped his jaw, twisting it hard.
Snap!
The crisp sound of bones dislocating was particularly clear in the cabin. Then, with a sweeping kick, he knocked the man in black down, removed his bamboo hat, and the silver hairpin from his hair. With a flash of cold light, he stabbed the vital point in his throat with precision.
All this happened in just five breaths, and in the blink of an eye, the man in black fell to the ground dead.
When these Xianbei people were imprisoned here, they were fed a mute drug and could only speak after taking the antidote. This was originally intended to prevent these people from attracting the attention of the government, but unexpectedly, it helped Xie Tingyu a lot tonight.
The Xianbei men opened their eyes wide at this moment, instinctively wanting to scream but unable to make a sound. They could only desperately squeeze into the corner, trembling.
The guard outside heard a strange noise coming from inside the cabin and just as he pushed the door open to check, he suddenly felt a tearing pain in his right eye. Before he could scream, his jaw was suddenly dislocated, and he could only utter a muffled whimper.
Xie Tingyu threw the man to the ground and yanked the sword from the guard's waist. A flash of cold light appeared, and a line of blood opened at the guard's throat, splattering on the door panel, ending his life instantly.
The whole action was clean and neat, without making any sound.
In the dim candlelight, a slender figure was cast upon the hatch. When the other guards noticed something was amiss, they saw a scarred woman stepping out with a knife, a pool of blood slowly spreading behind her.
The guards realized something was wrong and rushed forward with swords drawn. Xie Tingyu showed no fear, and with the swift movement of his sword, he beheaded all of them in a flash.
At that moment, a sudden commotion erupted from the deck. The clanging of metal was mingled with screams. It was Yuan Wangshu's men who had quietly boarded the ship and engaged the guards.
Xie Tingyu picked up the copper keys on the ground and clicked open the door to the next cabin. Sure enough, there were quite a few people imprisoned inside. Besides the Xianbei male slaves, there were also quite a few Han Chinese.
When these people saw her, they shrank back as if they saw a demon, their eyes full of fear.
"Huh? I'm here to save you? Why are you retreating?"
Xie Tingyu was puzzled, and he touched his face subconsciously, and suddenly understood: Oh, this face is too ugly, it scared them.
She wiped off the disguise on her face, opened every hatch, turned around and headed straight for the deck.
Looking around, the government troops had already taken control of the remaining ships.
Before he could take a closer look, a knife-like wind suddenly attacked from behind.
Xie Tingyu suddenly crouched down, flipped his wrist, and stabbed the attacker's abdomen with his sword. Before he could draw his sword, several more enemies rushed at him at the same time.
The sword in her hand was of poor quality. As soon as it pierced an enemy's throat, it got stuck in the bone, making it difficult to pull out. She simply abandoned the sword and faced the rest of the group with her bare hands.
But even with his hands, he could still deal with these shrimp soldiers and crab generals with ease.
When Yuan Wangshu and his men arrived, they witnessed Xie Tingyu's decisive back-throw, hurling the enemy into the river. Her hands were empty, and the blood and unwashed scarred makeup on her face blended together, making her look like a ghost from hell, seeking revenge in the firelight.
She was about to order someone to throw knives to help, but she saw Xie Tingyu bending down to pick up a piece of thick rope on the ground.
Xie Tingyu flicked her wrist, and the noose flew out like lightning, accurately wrapping around the other man's neck. With a sudden swing of her arm, the man was flung into the water like a rag bag.
This scene was truly astonishing. It truly was divine power!
"Hey! Wangshu's mother!"
The evil ghost suddenly turned around and shouted, without a trace of murderous intent in his voice, "Do you have a handkerchief? There's blood in my eyes."
Yuan Wangshu: “…………”
With Yuan Wangshu's help, Xie Tingyu's enemies were immediately cleared. Taking advantage of this opportunity, she asked Yuan Wangshu for a handkerchief to wipe her face.
Yuan Wangshu handed over a broadsword and turned to ask if any of his guards had a handkerchief. A guard in the last row hurriedly handed over a coarse cloth handkerchief.
She took it and looked at it. The handkerchief was rough and had a sandy touch. It was obviously not the high-quality silk used by the nobles.
Yuan Wangshu frowned, "This handkerchief is too rough, change it."
Xie Tingyu didn't care much. He took it with one hand and quickly wiped off the blood and makeup on his face. Then he shook his wrist and the blood-stained handkerchief flew out and hit the face of a creeping attacker.
Her figure was as fast as lightning, and she approached. A cold light flashed, and she swung her sword.
Gululu, a head rolled onto the deck.
She clapped her hands. "It's okay, it's okay. As long as it can be wiped clean, I don't care about these things."
Yuan Wangshu's mouth twitched, his eyes shifting between the falling head and Xie Tingyu's nonchalant expression, "That's really not polite."
The rain was falling, and the boat was covered in blood. The sound of swords clashing and screams and wails echoed across the river.
When the last enemy fell, the clouds parted and the moon appeared. The cold moonlight sprinkled on the mottled bloodstains, reflecting a solemn and murderous scene.
"Besides this place, there are a few more hidden in the Buddhist temple on the back mountain."
Xie Tingyu held a knife in her hand, dripping with blood, its tip gleaming coldly as it dropped to the ground. She kicked the corpse away and said, "Send some men to follow me to the Buddhist temple to capture the man."
"A Buddhist temple?" Yuan Wangshu's eyes flashed with suspicion. "There are at least dozens, if not hundreds, of Buddhist temples in the suburbs of Jiankang. Do you know which one it is?"
Xie Tingyu said firmly, "Of course I know. I will go to whichever temple the head of the Yingchuan Yu family who practices asceticism with his hair uncut is in."
Before Yuan Wangshu could dwell on the Yingchuan Yu family's involvement in the case, she saw Xie Tingyu leaving with several of the Xie family's elite soldiers. She hurriedly called on several of Yuan's personal guards to follow, and several others volunteered to go.
Yuan Wangshu said loudly, "You go first. I'll meet you as soon as I finish dealing with the mess here."
Xie Tingyu waved his hand without looking back, and his figure disappeared into the night.
Under the moonlight, a group of dark figures scurried along the winding path. Iron armor and scabbards occasionally collided, making subtle clangs.
Xie Tingyu and her group took a short, quick route and soon reached their destination. As they were heading toward a secluded area in the back mountains, she felt a sudden movement in her ears. From the swaying shadows of the trees, a dozen or so masked men in black suddenly leaped out.
Someone actually set an ambush here?
Xie Tingyu had thought a nighttime raid on the temple would catch the enemy off guard, but he was instead ambushed. Who leaked the news? And who could foresee the future?
The man in black had a clear goal and completely ignored the outer guards. The ring-handled knife in his hand shone coldly as he went straight for Xie Tingyu who was protected in the center.
In the darkness of the night, the troops of the Yuan and Xie families had already become mixed together and it was difficult to distinguish between them.
Cen Xiu fought tooth and nail to protect her master. Despite being stabbed several times, she gritted her teeth and clung to Xie Tingyu's side. She rolled sideways to avoid the sharp blades, but when she looked up, she was shocked to see that the men who had been protecting Xie Tingyu had suddenly switched sides and were slashing at him with their knives raised. She screamed, "Young Master, be careful!"
Xie Tingyu spun at the sound, his sword in hand rising like a silver dragon from the sea, simultaneously blocking four incoming ring-handled swords. Blades clashed, sparks flying. Just as he was about to strike back, a sudden dark shadow loomed before his eyes, and a wave of dizziness washed over him. A sudden, sharp pain in his left arm dispelled the drowsiness.
Her mind raced. She hadn't consumed anything unpleasant before leaving today, and the sake itself was normal.
It's that handkerchief!
Under normal circumstances, such a siege would have been a piece of cake. But now, with the effects of the drug taking effect, Xie Tingyu suddenly felt powerless. Especially since the assassin before him was pressing forward, his moves were ruthless and cunning, not the style of a noble family's guards, but more like a bounty hunter living on the edge of a knife.
The blade, which was emitting a dark and cold light, was clearly poisoned.
In a flash, the guards that had accompanied Xie Tingyu were few in number, and the enemy surged in like a tide. Cen Xiu's eyes were bloodshot, and he desperately rushed to her side.
Another ring-handled sword slashed towards her. Xie Tingyu bent her knees and leaned back. The blade grazed her face, and a few strands of her hair fell. In this lightning moment, the assassin who had been lying on the ground suddenly jumped up and stabbed the sharp blade into the back of her thigh.
Xie Tingyu groaned and knelt on one knee. The assassin in front of him seized the opportunity and thrust his sword forward.
“Young Master——!”
As Cen Xiu roared, the sword pierced Xie Tingyu's chest. The tip of the sword protruded from his back, and blood dripped down the blade.
Xie Tingyu bit his lip, gathered his last strength in the severe pain, and stabbed the assassin's throat from bottom to top with the sword in his hand.
Both men fell to the ground at the same time.
Blood flowed like a river beneath Xie Tingyu's body. She stared at the endless night sky with her eyes open, feeling her life slipping away with her blood, her body temperature gradually dissipating in the cold night.
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The author has something to say: To fill in the foreshadowing of Ji Lian’s dream in Chapter 33.
Lianlian is about to cry loudly
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