Chapter 159 He ran, she chased, he couldn't escape.
"Hey...you..." The servant wanted to shout, but fearing he would attract the tiger, he could only lower his voice, "Don't...don't leave me behind, wait for me..."
The sound was too soft, so his companions naturally didn't hear it.
The servant's teeth chattered, tears welling in his eyes. He didn't even have the strength to get up, and he covered his head, silently praying, "Don't let the tiger eat me... don't let the tiger eat me..."
Just then, light footsteps sounded.
The torch he flung away was picked up by someone.
As the footsteps drew closer, the firelight illuminated his surroundings once more.
He quickly looked up, and when he saw a beautiful young woman holding a torch approaching him, he was overjoyed. "You scared me to death! Thank goodness... thank goodness it's you, not a tiger..."
"Are tigers scary?" Ning Jinli asked with a smile.
The servant scrambled to his feet, glaring at him, and said, "A tiger isn't scary? Wait... I've never seen you before, who are you...?"
Ning Jinli held a sharp dagger to the servant's neck, still smiling, and said, "Where is the prefect? If you don't tell me, I'll show you what's more terrifying than a tiger."
Seeing that the woman looked to be in her early twenties, not much older than him, the servant didn't take her seriously and sneered, "Someone like you wants to be an assassin? Do you even know how to handle a knife? Don't cut your own hand."
"I'll ask you one more time, where is the prefect now?" Ning Jinli tightened her grip slightly, and the tip of her knife pierced the servant's neck, drawing a bloody gash.
The servant gasped, then snarled, "You little slut! How dare you hurt me! The Prefect will not let you get away with this! You won't even know how you died! I'll rape you and then kill you!"
"Tsk, just like father, like son. Even his lackeys are so arrogant, it's disgusting." Ning Jinli's eyes flashed with cold light. She moved the dagger away from the servant's neck, and the next second, she stabbed it into his shoulder. Then she quickly covered the servant's mouth with one hand.
"Don't scream," Ning Jinli said with a smile as she pulled out her dagger. "If you don't cooperate, my next stab won't miss."
The servant was trembling with pain and quickly nodded to indicate his willingness to cooperate.
Ning Jinli slowly covered his mouth with her hand, and slowly brought the bloody knife closer to his carotid artery. "If you don't tell the truth before the tip of the knife touches your neck, I will take your life."
The servant glanced at the approaching blade, his face growing paler with pain and fear, and he burst into sobs.
"Still crying?" Ning Jinli frowned. "Crying counts as time too."
"I...I...I don't know exactly where the Prefect is..." The servant cried and pointed in a direction, "He should...maybe...perhaps he's over there, that's the closest to...to the mansion."
"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Ning Jinli sheathed her dagger.
The servant suddenly opened his mouth and shouted, "Yes—"
Before he could utter the word "assassin," a flash of cold light from the blade slashed past and cut his throat.
He collapsed to the ground, clutching his bleeding neck, his eyes filled with shock.
Even on his deathbed, he couldn't believe that such a seemingly harmless young woman could actually dare to kill someone.
Ning Jinli squatted down and wiped the blood off the dagger with his clothes, adding calmly, "If you had said so earlier, you wouldn't have had to take a knife for nothing before you died, and you could have died a quicker death."
The servant kicked his legs and died.
If we don't count the enemy soldiers Ning Jinli accidentally killed when she was carrying out a bombing in Linxian Village, this was the first time in her life that she had killed someone with her own hands.
A few months ago, she was a naive and innocent girl who had just graduated from university, tricked by her own uncle and dumped by her boyfriend. She was unaware of the wickedness of human nature and could be easily manipulated by anyone.
But now, she can lead troops into battle, and she can wipe out scum without even blinking an eye.
Ning Jinli learned the approximate location of the prefect from the servant, and then used a walkie-talkie to exchange the information they had gathered with the other squad leaders.
Although the mountains and forests were vast, Ning Jinli further narrowed down the scope of the capture by cross-referencing and analysis.
The Xuanjia Army gradually formed an encirclement, and while continuously narrowing the area, they also took the opportunity to eliminate the servants and guards of the hot spring mansion they encountered.
"My lord, something's not right," a guard beside Lord You suddenly said.
Lord You, who was dozing off, slightly opened his eyes. "What's wrong?"
The guard said, "I've been keeping an eye on the surroundings, and it seems the torchlight is much dimmer than before. The master hasn't ordered us to expand the search area, so... they shouldn't be wandering further away, therefore..."
Lord You jumped up in shock, "When did you discover it?"
The guard scratched his head. "Just now."
Lord You frowned and immediately used his lightness skill to leap to the top of a large tree in a few steps, only to find that there were figures lurking from all directions.
He tried to run away, but paused briefly, looked further into the distance, a cold smile on his face, and then calmly returned to the ground.
After about half an incense stick's time, Ning Jinli's Xuanjia Army had narrowed the encirclement to about the size of a drill field.
“Prefect of Longyuan, you are surrounded. I suggest you surrender.” Ning Jinli emerged from the darkness of the woods.
A campfire was burning in front of her.
Lord You stood by the campfire, his back to her.
In addition, dozens of guards formed a circle around him, protecting him in the middle.
Upon hearing the clear voice, Lord You turned around, his face showing surprise. He looked her up and down and said, "The person who led over a thousand men to attack my territory is actually a woman?"
"Does it matter?" Ning Jinli met his gaze, then looked at the guards. "Don't bother, put down your weapons and surrender."
The guards remained unmoved, gripping their long swords and glaring menacingly.
Lord You is currently pondering something that he cannot understand.
He and his men searched the area thoroughly, turning it inside out, centered on the spot where Xiao Qidi and Duan Wu disappeared, but they still couldn't find a trace of them. The group that rushed in from the outside and surrounded them didn't seem to encounter Xiao Qidi and Duan Wu either, and they didn't even find the four or five-year-old girl.
That's really strange.
Could it be that those three people really vanished into thin air?
But now is not the time to think about these things.
He needs to buy some time.
The reason he didn't leave earlier was that he not only saw the group of people dressed in strange black clothes from the tree, but also saw his own county soldiers rushing over from behind them.
"Heh, it's not certain who's surrounding whom yet." Lord You sneered, continuing to scrutinize Ning Jinli with a playful expression. "You are indeed very beautiful. I have lived for over thirty years and have seen countless beauties, but none of them can compare to you."
Ning Jinli frowned. "It's no use saying nice things, and besides, I really don't like the way you look at me."
Lord You added, "What a pity... you're too old."
Ning Jinli immediately lost her composure. Even though she knew that the concept of age in ancient times was very different from that in modern times, she still couldn't help but say, "Am I too old? I'm only in my twenties! I'm in the prime of my youth!"
Lord You curled the corners of his mouth, "In my opinion, once you're over fifteen, you're no longer fresh enough. What a pity, what a pity. If I had met you ten years earlier, you would definitely have become my most favored maid."
Ning Jinli then remembered that Xiao Qidi had also said that this corrupt official had some kind of peculiar fetish, and immediately her stomach cramped, and she almost vomited.
It's important to know that in that era, it was common for women to marry and have children around the age of fifteen or sixteen.
However, even under such circumstances, the prefect of Longyuan's eccentricities could not be tolerated by the worldly customs of the time, which shows how excessive he was.
The thought of An'an, such a well-behaved and adorable little girl, almost falling victim to this beast's cruelty ignited a surge of anger within Ning Jinli.
Even more frightening is...
Before An'an, countless little girls had already fallen into his clutches...
Two murderous glints flashed in Ning Jinli's eyes.
She stopped wasting words and raised her right hand, waving it forcefully.
Whoosh whoosh!
A dense barrage of crossbow bolts flew out from behind her.
The dozens of guards surrounding the prefect had no time to dodge and were instantly riddled with thorns.
Lord You's expression changed slightly.
His guards were all wearing soft armor, which was of much better quality than the soft armor commonly used by the Great Xuan Army. Under normal circumstances, ordinary bronze arrows could hardly penetrate it.
Even when encountering iron arrows, it can block a significant amount of damage.
But when faced with that volley of arrows, the guards' soft armor was as flimsy as paper.
"What a powerful arrow!" Lord You exclaimed in surprise and doubt. "When did the Great Xuan Army acquire such a weapon? How come I didn't know?"
"There are many things you don't know!" Ning Jinli approached step by step, her murderous aura palpable. "Kneel down and put your hands behind your head!"
If it weren't for the need to bring this beast back to Xiao Qidi for trial and to give an explanation to the people who had suffered so much, Ning Jinli would have loved to tear him apart right now.
"You think you can arrest me? You're too green." Lord You suddenly kicked the corpse of the guard at his feet away.
The hedgehog-like corpse rose into the air and slammed down on Ning Jinli like a giant sandbag.
Ning Jinli quickly turned around and avoided it.
The next second, Lord You had already pulled several crossbow bolts from the other corpses and hurled them at Ning Jinli.
Ning Jinli doesn't know any martial arts moves, but the various dangers she has encountered during this period have greatly improved her agility. Coupled with the support of her powerful internal energy, her reaction speed is far beyond that of ordinary people.
In the blink of an eye, he leaned back and easily dodged the attack again.
When the Xuanjia Army saw the prefect suddenly attack, they rushed forward to surround and attack him. However, because they wanted to spare his life, they could not kill him and therefore dared not use their weapons.
Lord You pushed off the ground with both feet, and just before the Xuanjia Army pounced on him, he used his lightness skill to leap into the air, dodging and weaving by stepping on several of the Xuanjia Army's helmets, before finally flying up into a tree.
"Damn, his martial arts are so good?" Ning Jinli looked up and searched around for the other person's figure.
The Xuanjia Army are first-rate fighters, but few of them are martial arts masters, let alone light-footed warriors. Seeing Lord You leap up the tree, they were at a loss for what to do.
"Get down here!" Ning Jinli roared, channeling her inner strength and kicking the tree trunk hard.
boom!
A towering tree, thicker than an adult's waist, snapped in two with a crack.
Most of the tree trunk fell to the ground.
Lord You immediately leaped onto another large tree. Looking at the tree that Ning Jinli had just kicked down, he couldn't help but gasp, "Who is this young woman? Her martial arts moves are unremarkable, yet her strength is so terrifying!"
"Still running? Let's see where you can run to!" Ning Jinli delivered a spinning kick, snapping the tree where Lord You was hiding.
boom!
Lord You grew increasingly flustered, shifting his position among the trees like a monkey.
Ning Jinli wouldn't let it go; whichever tree he moved to, she would chase after him and kick it down.
The Xuanjia soldiers were dumbfounded.
I feel like Fairy Jinli is different from when I first met her...
Lord You was exhausted, his face was pale, and after changing positions again, he almost collapsed from the branches.
He was constantly fleeing at such a high intensity, without any chance to catch his breath or recover, and he was about to give up.
In contrast, Ning Jinli only had a flushed face and a little sweat, seemingly unaware of fatigue at all.
"He can't run anymore!" Ning Jinli shouted to the Xuanjia Army, "Once he falls, immediately pin him down!"
"Yes!" the Xuanjia soldiers responded in unison.
The roar of thousands of people startled Lord You on the treetop, who hurriedly looked up to look around.
Ning Jinli took a deep breath and kicked out with all her might.
Bang!
The tree trunk cracked.
Lord You used all his strength to jump more than two zhang away, but because he was on the verge of exhaustion, his movements were a beat slower, and he was hit to the ground by a falling tree halfway through his jump.
It was like swatting a mosquito with a fly, making him feel increasingly powerless, as if he couldn't escape.
"Kill!" Suddenly, a deafening roar rang out from behind the Xuanjia Army.
Lord You was overjoyed, "They've finally arrived!"
Before the Xuanjia Army could capture Lord You, county soldiers charged in from all directions through the woods and began fighting without warning.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Lord You found a gap in the forest and scrambled away to escape into its depths.
The county troops had a slight numerical advantage, and their attack was a surprise attack with all their might. The Xuanjia Army, however, was reluctant to kill the soldiers who were also part of the Great Xuan Army, and for a time the two sides were evenly matched.
Ning Jinli, of course, would not let the governor of Longyuan escape, and quickly chased after him in the direction he fled.
With his intimate knowledge of the terrain, the Prefect of Longyuan County easily made his way back to his residence even without torches. He instructed the servants left behind to close the doors and windows before he could finally have a drink of water to catch his breath.
"I have never seen anything like it in my life," he muttered to himself, slumped in the hall, still shaken.
"Sir, all the doors and windows are closed." A servant came to report.
Lord You breathed a sigh of relief.
His house was built with hard ancient wood comparable to bronze, with thickened doors and bronze bars on the windows. Even if that strange woman who could kick down a tree came after him, she would not be able to force her way in.
After calming himself down, he went up to the rooftop of the house and looked out at the area where the battle was taking place in the distance.
At this moment, the Xuanjia Army gained control of the battle rhythm and gradually took the upper hand, advancing towards the house, while the county soldiers, despite their best efforts, could only fight and retreat.
Lord You's brows furrowed more and more. Although he couldn't see the specific details of the battle between the county soldiers in the mountains and forests in the darkness, he could hear the sounds of fighting getting closer and closer to his house.
"When did soldiers from a wretched place like Xitun Pass become so skilled in battle?" he muttered to himself, feeling increasingly uneasy as he pondered the matter.
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