Nangong Zheng, with his people, raced day and night, following the tracks, and in just a few days, they had ventured a thousand miles away.
Upon receiving the news that Little Shijiu had gone missing, Nangong Zheng immediately thought, "It seems Little Shijiu was shot down by someone."
Ya Luo, who was standing by his side, was shocked, "Young Master, who could have shot down Little Shijiu?"
Everyone knew that a hunting hawk in the sky was the hardest target to hit, especially a trained one, as it would fly higher and be more alert. Normally, such a thing shouldn’t have happened.
Nangong Zheng said: "Since Zhou Gu was the one who brought His Majesty out of the Royal Capital, it must have been him. The archery skills of Duke Residence’s cavalry are incomparable to ordinary folks."
Ya Luo looked at Nangong Zheng, "Young Master, what should we do now?"
Nangong Zheng narrowed his eyes, appearing even more excited, "Keep chasing and issue my orders, keep a good eye on the hawks. Report back immediately if there is any news."
Ya Luo nodded and passed on the order.
Zhou Gu and his two companions did not have a smooth journey on the road to Xiling. Despite Zhou Gu shooting down a hawk, they were quickly discovered by the second, third, fourth hawks...
After traveling a hundred miles, he shot down four hawks. However, no one is flawless, and one hawk managed to evade his arrow and flew away.
Zhou Gu held his bow, massaging his aching forearm, and turned to Ajiu, "The real trouble is coming up, get ready!"
Ajiu nodded.
During a short rest, Zhou Gu wiped his sword. Seeing that Zhang Yun was also cleaning his sword, he asked him, "Your sword is rusting too?"
Zhang Yun silently gave him a glance, removed the silk cloth from his sword and revealed the cold, glinting blade, making it clear that it was not rusted.
Zhou Gu laughed, "Oh, it’s not that the swords are rusting, but rather, we are getting rusty."
After all, it had been a long time since they last crossed swords.
Zhang Yun didn’t want to talk to him. Rusting was a concept that didn’t apply to him, not to his sword nor his hands.
After cleaning his sword, Zhou Gu returned it to its sheath. He sighed, "I just hope Ziye isn’t too dumb and will come looking for me soon. I don’t want to fight these guys alone."
After he finished talking, he asked Zhang Yun, "Your Lang Ying should be a bit smarter than Ziye, right? He knows how to come and find us, right?"
Before the Crown Prince’s secret agents had been eradicated by Nangong Zheng, they had sent messages to Ziye and Lang Ying, asking them to shake off the hounds of the Nangong family and join them as soon as possible.
"I don’t know." Zhang Yun honestly admitted, after all, Ziye was Zhou Gu’s man. Did he have any fools around him? As for who is smarter between Lang Ying and Ziye, it all depended on how one looked at it.
"Let’s go! The more we run, the further we’ll be away." Zhou Gu helped the Nanchu King mount his horse.
Having led a comfortable life for years, though the Nanchu King had been secretly exercising and strengthening his body for the past five years, with his personal physician taking care of his health, he was still no match for the younger men. Continuous travel day and night was too much for him. At this point, he could barely ride his horse and Zhou Gu had to carry him.
Feeling that he was slowing Zhou Gu down, he felt a little guilty. As such, he kept silent throughout the journey with a pallid face.
Each time Zhou Gu saw him looking unwell, he fed him a body strengthening pill. Fortunately, Su Rong had given him plenty of good medicine. Even though a lot had been used, there was still some left over. Using them to feed the Nanchu King was well within their means.
As expected, after the hawk left, they were intercepted about seventy to eighty miles away. Hundreds of assassins swarmed towards them.
Zhou Gu handed the Nanchu King over to Zhang Yun, "You stay and guard him, I’ll go and fight."
Zhang Yun immediately said, "His Majesty has Ajiu with him."
Zhou Gu bluntly retorted, "Ajiu’s martial arts skills are better than yours, he’ll come with me which leaves my father-in-law in your care."
Zhang Yun: "..."
Apparently, he was belittling Zhang Yun’s level of martial arts.
As a result, while a few people stayed to protect the Nanchu King, Zhou Gu and Ajiu, along with half of Ye Guixue’s guards and a leader of the secret agents named Yin Dong, faced the assassins sent by the Nangong family and plunged into battle.
The Nanchu King witnessed Zhou Gu’s double-handed sword skills for the first time. Zhou Gu, with his two swords, maintained a radius of three zhang around him where no one could approach. Moreover, almost every move he made with his swords was lethal.
Although Zhou Gu had disguised himself and his looks were ordinary, the Nanchu King had never seen his true appearance even after all this time. In this moment, however, Zhou Gu wielding his double-handed sword left an extremely profound impression on the king.
Facing the carnage, avoiding the assassins, and relying on others to protect him, the Nanchu King was still lost in his thoughts. No wonder Ye Guixue, who he had asked his daughter to give up, was so easily outshone by Zhou Gu. This young man indeed had some skills which could win over a young woman.
The first wave of assassins had a considerable number, but there were also many secret guards by the Nanchu King’s and Zhou Gu’s sides. Therefore, after a fierce battle, Zhou Gu, Ajiu, Yin Dong, and the secret agents ultimately took the upper hand. The Nangong family’s secret agents, seeing they could not kill the Nanchu King and that Zhou Gu was only slightly injured, retreated on the leader’s orders without persisting till the end.
This surprised Zhou Gu a great deal. He licked the corner of his mouth, wiped the blood from his sword on the dead assassin’s clothes and squinted, "This Nangong Zheng is indeed quite a person."
All the more surprising was that he was a few years younger.
After coming to Nanchu, Zhou Gu had encountered numerous assassins. They would fight to the death, and if not dead, continue to fight, killing themselves if they failed their mission. They were ordered not to retreat until they were dead. Naturally, such orders would only be executed by suicide-squad-like secret agents or assassins.
Nangong Zheng was different. His orders were clear: if you can’t win, retreat, continue tracking and waiting, or regroup and strike again later.
"Let’s go. We have to keep moving." Zhou Gu sheathed his sword.
Everyone mounted their horses and carried on.
The Nanchu King finally spoke up, "Zhou Gu, your double-handed sword skills are impressive, just as rumored."
Zhou Gu gave a curving smile, "Thank you for your praise, Father-in-law."
Seeing that he was still in the mood to smile, the Nanchu King thought that this lad, worthy of the affection of his daughter, possessed the calmness in the face of danger that was needed to accomplish great things. As her husband in the future, he definitely wouldn’t be any lesser than Ye Guixue.
After traveling a few dozen miles, as expected, the assassins returned for a second attack. This time, the bodies were packed densely, every knife was sharp, every sword radiated a killing intent, and their numbers were also greater than the previous wave.
Zhou Gu, as before, handed the Nanchu King over to Zhang Yun and his protectors. Alongside the secret agents, he plunged into a new round of battle.
By the time they were two hundred miles from Xiling, two-thirds of the secret agents escorting them had been lost under the relentless pursuit of the Nangong family’s forces.
Meanwhile, Nangong Zheng was obviously about to catch up with them.
At the same time, looking at the forests in front of him, Zhou Gu felt a premonition. Nangong Zheng was likely to have mobilized the local provincial soldiers. Because Zhou Gu clearly remembered from his research that the governor of this Yutian County was a man of the Nangong family.
There was no reason Nangong Zheng wouldn’t use this card.
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