Enemy
When the Empress Dowager passed away, the Emperor decreed that the entire nation should observe a three-day mourning period.
As the eldest daughter of the Gu family, Gu Jinning followed Xiao Heng'an and Gu Xueshu around for three days, keeping them quite busy.
After the Empress Dowager's body was buried in the imperial mausoleum and all the follow-up matters were completed, Gu Jinning returned to Ningyun Pavilion, completely exhausted.
Bai Sheng's side sent a message that the other party requested a transaction on a pleasure boat in the moat.
Gu Jinning refused, changing the location to the spring outing slope in the western suburbs outside the city, indicating that she would refuse the deal if the location was not hers.
The area around Taqingpo is covered in grassland for dozens of miles, making it difficult to hide in the shadows or set traps. Xiao Liao would have to agree to catch her in the act.
Early autumn arrived quietly, the wind blew away the summer heat, turned the red flowers and green trees yellow, and rattled the half-closed window frames with a series of "thump-thump-rustle" sounds.
Xiao Heng'an raised his hand to close the window, and the thumping sound became clearer and clearer in his ears, ringing in waves.
Song Ming listened intently, gripped the hilt of his knife, and quietly entered the inner room. He slowly approached the cabinet, drew his knife, and pried open the cabinet door.
A shadow suddenly darted out from the pile of clothes. Song Ming jumped in surprise, turned his knife and thrust it forward. The man shouted, "Hey, it's me! Don't use your knife!"
Song Ming stopped abruptly, and saw the man tear off the robe covering his face, revealing a big smile. "How about that? Didn't expect that, did you?"
"Princess, what happened?" Song Mingnan looked at her and then at the cabinet, incredulous. "You got from..."
Gu Jinning jumped out of the closet. "That's right, I crawled out of there."
"Hey, Xiao Heng'an." Gu Jinning saw Xiao Heng'an come in and couldn't wait to pull him over to admire her masterpiece.
“Look, the secret passage I dug leads right here.”
Gu Jinning pulled out clothes from the bottom of the closet, revealing a hole large enough for an adult man to pass through.
"I remember the wooden board was movable, but it got stuck because it hadn't been used for a long time, which is why it made some noise just now."
She cleaned away the remaining mud and sand from the hole, closed the cabinet, and clapped her hands in satisfaction, "Now it's all right."
Song Ming was still confused and looked at Xiao Heng'an, waiting for an explanation.
Gu Jinning tossed a small package to Xiao Heng'an. "These are the masks you wanted. Only three people can go. Oh, and change into something more ordinary. You have fifteen minutes."
As she spoke, she crawled back into the cabinet, jumped into the hole, and reminded everyone, "Go this way."
Xiao Heng'an summoned Song Hui into the house, closed the doors and windows tightly, and ordered the guards outside the courtyard not to let anyone in. After changing his clothes, he entered the underground cave.
After descending into the cave, one must first bend over and crawl through the entrance, then stand upright and walk. Once the cabinet is closed, the cave is pitch black, except for the luminous pearl in Gu Jinning's hand.
"What do you all think?" Gu Jinning, now wearing the same youthful face as Xiao Heng'an and the other two, proudly displayed her hard work. "Isn't it pretty good?"
Song Ming and Song Hui followed behind Xiao Heng'an, marveling at the sight as they walked.
Song Hui asked, "Princess, where does this lead? I've never seen a tunnel under the Prince's mansion before."
Gu Jinning replied, "It's hard to say where it will lead in the future. For now, let's start from the Princess's residence."
The group emerged from the cockfighting arena of the princess's mansion, circled around to the back gate, entered a pre-arranged carriage, and headed straight out of the west gate.
The carriage stopped at the bottom of the slope, and Gu Jinning and the other three got out and went up the slope.
The once lush, green hillside was burned to the ground by a perfectly timed fire last night, leaving only charred yellow ash, not even a grasshopper could hide there.
A carriage was waiting at the top of the hill, surrounded by four swordsmen and warriors. Judging from their figures, Wu Yizhao, Sun Ren, and Sun Li were among them.
These defeated opponents.
Gu Jinning raised an eyebrow and said to Xiao Heng'an, "Pay first, then deliver the goods. We'll leave as soon as we get them."
She told Song Ming and Song Hui to stop halfway down the slope, while she and Xiao Heng'an walked to the top and called out to the carriage, "Is the buyer inside?"
A man got out of the car, his face covered, and asked in a low voice, "Where's the stuff?"
"Naturally, it's in my hands." Gu Jinning rubbed her hands together, hinting, "You know my rules."
The other party took out three thousand taels of silver notes from his pocket. "Silver ingots are inconvenient, how about silver notes?"
"No problem, no problem." Gu Jinning raised her wrist, and a thin thread flew out, instantly snatching away the silver note.
The man said urgently, "You..."
Before he could finish speaking, Xiao Heng'an had already tossed the mine map into his hands.
"Genuine product, three times the price back if fake, take your time to verify."
Gu Jinning left a sentence, grabbed Xiao Heng'an, and ran away.
The man glanced at the mine map, confirmed it was real, and waved his hand, sending Sun Ren and Sun Li in pursuit from both sides.
Using the momentum of the downhill slope, the two sped off and quickly shook off the Sun brothers. Xiao Heng'an keenly sensed that something was wrong.
They are too slow.
Suddenly, a chilling sound arose from the east, and several beams of cold light shot out simultaneously, stirring up a cloud of dust and mist as they flew towards them.
"careful!"
Xiao Heng'an lowered Gu Jinning to avoid the hidden weapons, and they both tumbled down the hillside. Several dark figures rapidly approached, and several more hidden weapons flew straight towards them.
Song Ming and Song Hui arrived quickly, drew their swords to deflect the hidden weapon, but were knocked back several steps by the impact before regaining their footing.
The hidden weapon pierced the ground, revealing half of its curved blade, with a faintly visible icon on it—a skull symbol.
Gu Jinning's pupils suddenly dilated, and she thought to herself, "Oh no!"
She scrambled to her feet and cried out as she fled, "Let's get out of here! We're no match for him!"
No wonder Xiao Liao was so confident; he had hired a great demon.
The dark figure rapidly approached, and Gu Jinning, in a panic, flung out a thunderbolt.
The next moment, a dark figure pierced through the smoke and grabbed at Gu Jinning.
Xiao Heng'an drew his sword and parried, shielding Gu Jinning behind him.
The man produced a ghostly blade, hooked it onto Xiao Heng'an's sword blade, and slashed it towards the hilt, sparks flying as the two blades rubbed together.
Xiao Heng'an led Gu Jinning backwards. As the smoke dissipated, the man's appearance was revealed. He was tall and burly, with a cold and stern face and a pair of deep, dark eyes that were extremely profound and ruthless.
He stared at the two of them as if they were prey, and asked, "Which of you is the 'Man of a Thousand Faces'?"
Xiao Heng'an stopped his stance, and Gu Jinning drew her soft sword and thrust it forward. As the man dodged, Xiao Heng'an deflected the ghost blade with a backhand, forcing the man to retreat several steps, thus creating distance between them.
Several dark figures followed closely behind and surrounded them.
Xiao Heng'an pushed Gu Jinning behind him, and Song Ming and Song Hui came over to protect Gu Jinning's back.
Xiao Hengan replied, "Yes, that's me."
The man squinted at him for a moment, then shook his head. "No, you're not. But it doesn't matter, none of you are leaving today."
He raised his hand and waved, and the black-clad assassin drew his sword and charged. The swordsmen from the Blade Sect also rushed over, drawing their swords in response.
Gu Jinning shouted, "Hey, Boss Gui, don't you know the rules of the underworld? One thing at a time. If you want to settle accounts with me, you have to wait until I settle this deal first."
The Ghost Boss snorted, "You want to talk about rules with me? Take off your tattered mask first."
After saying that, he raised his hand and struck out with a palm strike, and the others swarmed forward.
Xiao Heng'an received a palm strike from the Ghost Boss. Their weapons clashed, producing a series of crackling sounds as they fought back and forth, neither gaining the upper hand.
While Song Ming and Song Hui's side fought against the Ghost Gate Death Servants, Wu Yizhao, Sun Ren, and Sun Li took the opportunity to besiege Gu Jinning.
Gu Jinning curled her lips into a sneer, "Four of them couldn't beat me, and now three of them want to take me down? Dream on!"
She wielded her longsword, using the opponent's force against them, weaving among the three like a snake, preventing them from gaining the upper hand, yet failing to harm them in the slightest.
Three fierce battles raged, leaving the sky dark and the earth shrouded in chaos. At the top of the hill, the carriage remained motionless, awaiting the final victor.
Ghost Boss was consumed by rage, seeking revenge. He wielded two ghost blades, capable of both close-quarters combat and long-range attacks, his moves extremely ruthless; once entangled, certain death was certain.
Xiao Heng'an blocked his attacks for ten rounds, but couldn't find a way to break through his defenses.
His movements were too unpredictable.
Ghost Boss's ghost blades spun rapidly between his hands, forming a whirlwind that flew out horizontally, slashing towards Xiao Heng'an. He said arrogantly, "There aren't many people who can stop me, but you're one of them."
Xiao Heng'an dodged the flying blade, but before he could regain his footing, the blade spun back. Xiao Heng'an quickly flew again, and just then, a ghostly blade slashed towards his neck.
Xiao Heng'an hurriedly parried with his sword, the blade striking the sword blade, just inches from his eyes, sparks flying.
"Unfortunately, you are not a seasoned veteran of the martial world and are no match for me." Ghost Boss smiled knowingly, turned his palm, gathered power in his hand again, and the flying blade spun rapidly. The clattering sound of the iron blades colliding made Xiao Heng'an's entire arm tremble.
Gu Jinning shouted urgently, "Be careful, he might be cheating!"
Out of the corner of his eye, Xiao Heng'an saw another ghostly hand pushing towards him. He turned his sword-wielding hand, held the sword horizontally, and pushed with his left palm. The flying blade was repelled by the force of the palm and forced back against the ghost leader at an extremely fast speed.
Ghost Boss hastily withdrew his palm to dodge the flying blade, and Xiao Heng'an seized the opportunity to slash horizontally with his sword, aiming for his leg.
Ghost Boss flew upwards to dodge, but Xiao Heng'an slashed vertically with his sword again. Ghost Boss couldn't avoid it in time and was injured by the sword energy, falling to the ground.
Seeing this, Gu Jinning produced a packet of powder, which instantly blinded Wu Yizhao and the other two, causing them to cough repeatedly.
Gu Jinning escaped the encirclement and threw smoke bombs towards Song Hui and Song Ming.
"Walk!"
Gu Jinning jumped in front of Song Ming and Song Hui, grabbed one of them with each hand, and quickly went down the slope. Xiao Heng'an followed closely behind.
Bai Sheng arrived at the bottom of the slope in a horse-drawn carriage to pick them up.
The four entered the carriage, and Bai Sheng spurred his horse to gallop away.
Song Ming and Song Hui's eyes were blinded by the sleeping gas, so Gu Jinning threw them a pot of water to wash their eyes. Suddenly, she noticed that Xiao Heng'an's palm was bloody.
"You're injured."
Gu Jinning grabbed his hand and examined it. A clear, bloody gash pierced through Xiao Heng'an's palm, and blood gushed out.
Gu Jinning hurriedly helped him wash his wound, took out some medicine powder to sprinkle on it, and wrapped the bandage tightly, saying, "I'm really sorry that we encountered such a troublesome guy on our first time experiencing the martial world."
She had planned everything, but she never expected that Xiao Liao would actually be able to find Ghost Boss.
Ghost Boss is highly skilled, and his Ghost Blade is wielded with unparalleled skill. If Xiao Heng'an hadn't been quite skilled, that spinning blade strike would have been enough to take his head.
Song Ming asked curiously, "How did you get involved with such a powerful guy?"
Gu Jinning said embarrassedly, "When you're in the world of martial arts, you can't control who you meet or what you encounter. It's just a small misunderstanding. We can talk it out next time we meet."
Of course, it's best not to see each other again.
The carriage turned from the main road onto a side road, then sped into the mountains, stopping in a thicket where three horses were tethered.
Gu Jinning got out of the carriage and divided the horses. "We have to ride separately. Song Ming and Song Hui will ride one horse, Bai Sheng and I will ride one horse, and Wang Shu, you will ride one horse."
Xiao Heng'an said, "I'll go with you."
Gu Jinning opened her mouth to try to persuade him, but after meeting his eyes, she chose to give in silently, "Alright, come on up."
After the group mounted their horses, Gu Jinning instructed, "Song Ming, you guys run back to the city. Bai Sheng, you distract them."
Having said that, he kicked his horse, cracked his whip, and galloped north.
Ghost Boss followed closely behind, landing on the carriage and gazing at the three hoofprints on the ground, lost in thought.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
