The oriole is behind
Lie Changkong followed closely behind. The two of them crouched low as they walked, passing through beams and houses. They could hear the barking of mastiffs all around them. Looking down, they saw four or five mastiffs of varying shades of fur chasing after them, barking incessantly.
A Qiu was drenched in cold sweat and said, "What I fear most is that Mu Huaying will catch up with us. If she is determined to keep us alive to avenge her husband, and with the entire Pei family's army mobilized, we might be exposed."
Lie Changkong looked around and replied, "If she truly cared about her marital bond, she should stay by Pei Yuanli's side during this chaotic time to prevent any of our accomplices from taking advantage of the situation, instead of chasing after us."
A-Qiu looked behind her and sighed, "You're right."
Lie Changkong looked at her again, then remembered something important and asked uncertainly, "Are you sure Pei Yuanli is dead?"
A Qiu smiled bitterly, "I wasn't the one who struck, so how can I be sure?" After a moment, she said with a heavy heart, "Mu Huaying originally intended to kill me, but she accidentally hit Pei Yuanli. However, when she realized that she had hit her husband, she had to hold back a little. Judging from the current situation, there is a high chance that Pei Yuanli can be saved."
Lie Changkong glanced in the direction of the main house and agreed, "That's right. If Pei Yuanli had died on the spot, Mu Huaying would definitely have gone mad and chased after us to kill us. Right now, she's probably busy rescuing him, so she doesn't have time to settle scores with us."
A Qiu suddenly changed his expression and said, "Let's go! It's not a big deal that these beasts are chasing us and barking, but I heard a powerful expert coming this way."
A Qiu and Lie Changkong originally relied on their superior skills and boldness, believing that no one in the entire Pei family except Mu Huaying could rival them, which allowed them to stand so openly on the wall and chat idly.
But judging from the sound of clothes rustling through the air from the southeast corner, the approaching expert should be no less skilled than Mu Huaying.
Furthermore, a dense sound of footsteps came from the corridor, as countless guards and retainers approached, drawn by the sound of barking dogs. These people were usually no threat to them, but if the expert managed to entangle the two for a moment, and then the group attacked, they would have no chance of escape.
Lie Changkong said in a deep voice, "Let's split up. I'll distract them."
A Qiu resolutely replied, "No, I am better at martial arts than you, have more experience in assassination, and am also familiar with the geography of Jianzhang. You should return to Jinlingtai as soon as possible. I will hold him off for a moment, and then I will find a way to escape on my own."
Lie Changkong pressed his hand against the blade. Under normal circumstances, he would never have left A Qiu to cover their retreat. But now he knew that what A Qiu said was true, and most importantly, A Qiu was Gu Yi's man. If he were captured alive or his body was obtained, it would implicate Gu Yi.
He sheathed the knife, let out a long breath, gritted his teeth, gave Ah Qiu a deep look, and said, "Take care."
Then, without looking back, he dashed across the alley and leaped toward the distant shadows of houses.
A Qiu watched his figure disappear before turning around with her sword drawn.
She was facing the person she least wanted to see at that moment.
Clad in fiery red armor, her long hair flowed freely beneath a golden crown, swaying in the wind.
The usually aloof Pei Yu was now ashen-faced, holding a gleaming six-foot-long spear, and descended like a god to a spot several feet in front of her. The spot where he stepped was the very wall where A Qiu was standing.
A-Qiu really wanted to ask, "Weren't you on duty in the palace today?" But she knew it was impossible to ask, because that would undoubtedly expose her identity.
She remained silent.
Without another word, Pei Yu let out an angry shout, and her wolf-tooth spear, carrying a strong wind, came straight at her, seemingly weighing more than a thousand pounds. If it hit her, any weapon would be reduced to scrap metal.
A Qiu dared not meet the attack head-on with his sword, and immediately dodged backward with footwork.
There was only a narrow strip of space on the top of the wall to stand on, but Pei Yu attacked relentlessly, like a violent storm.
If on flat ground, A-Qiu could use his agility to slip into the gaps between her spear strikes and seize an opportunity to counterattack.
But at this moment, they only have two directions: forward and backward.
Pei Yu's attack from the front was relentless and airtight, leaving A Qiu with no way to retaliate and only able to retreat step by step. However, after several rounds, she had already reached the end of the courtyard wall, with nowhere left to retreat.
At the same time, a powerful palm strike came from behind, and Mu Huaying's icy voice rang out: "Give me your life."
A Qiu had never experienced such a perilous situation of being attacked from both sides before.
In that instant, she also understood why Mu Huaying had rushed over.
It must have been Pei Yu who, upon seeing her father being stabbed, flew into a rage and immediately gave chase. Mu Huaying knew perfectly well that there were two assassins, both of whom were no less skilled than her, while Pei Yu was alone. Fearing that her daughter might also perish, she had no choice but to abandon Pei Yuanli and rush over.
But they ended up working together with Pei Yu to kill her there.
A Qiu's mind stirred, and she reached into her bosom, intending to use Madam Pei's method to disfigure herself.
The "Face-Scorching Powder" is a drug that, if splashed on the face, can instantly burn and destroy one's appearance. As a young master from a righteous martial arts family and Gu Yi's junior master, Lie Changkong would naturally not possess such a shameful drug.
But Xingfeng Hall has it.
Ah Qiu had never asked Xing Feng Tang for the Corrosive Powder during his previous assassinations, because he simply did not believe that there would be any need for it.
In the past, whenever an assassination attempt was carried out, the members of the sect would plan in detail beforehand, and devise a retreat and cover route.
Unlike the usual view of assassins as tools, Lanling Hall considers a top assassin to be extremely valuable and will never easily lose them unless absolutely necessary.
In this assassination attempt, she chose to act alone and arranged all the details.
Because she knew very well in her heart that she was no longer entirely A Qiu of Lanling Hall.
One cannot always rely on others, nor can one always ask others for help.
Nevertheless, Xingfengtang still prepared clothing, weapons, hidden weapons, and drugs for her assassination.
But when she saw the bottle of the antiseptic, she felt a chill and had a bad feeling.
Although, as an assassin, there is always the possibility of making a mistake.
But the consequences of her mistake were so clear: she appeared before A Qiu as a bottle of rotten powder, which she still found hard to accept.
However, it only lasted for a moment. She was not a sentimental person, and she quickly let it go, putting the Corrupted Skin Powder into her bosom.
When it came time to use the Corrosive Powder, she thought, "It would be good to end it all like this."
Lie Changkong asked her for her last words, and it seems he really did have foresight.
As the palm strike was about to hit him from behind, A Qiu's hand had already reached for the bottle of Corrupting Agent in his pocket.
A large burst of golden light swirled and surged from the ground in front of him. Pei Yu staggered backward and fell straight down the courtyard wall.
A Qiu reacted quickly, leaping forward and leaping off the wall to avoid Mu Huaying's double palm strikes from behind.
Pei Yu landed on the wall before her, but was knocked down by someone with a spinning scimitar.
Standing in the middle of the long street was a tall, burly man dressed in black and wearing a mask, holding a scimitar that swung back, his eyes gleaming fiercely.
Although the other party was masked, A Qiu was very familiar with him and recognized him at a glance as her second senior brother, Mo Yimingyue, the head of Xingfeng Hall.
Upon seeing A Qiu land, Mo Yimingyue immediately flipped her palm and threw out two smoke bombs.
A thick cloud of smoke billowed through the street, obscuring visibility and emitting a pungent odor that was enough to irritate the noses of the dozen or so mastiffs that had come out of the Pei residence.
A Qiu immediately followed the sound and flew away with Mo Yimingyue.
Pei Yu stood up from his kneeling position, while Mu Huaying had already fallen to the ground.
Pei Yu asked in a trembling voice, "How is Father?"
At this moment, she had lost all the domineering and fierce aura she had displayed when she brandished the spear, and only felt the bewilderment of a daughter.
Mu Huaying's face was as cold as frost, and she said in a deep voice, "First, we need to see if he can survive tonight. You know the power of my palm strikes; there has never been a survivor under the 'Delicate Hands Yama's' palm. Although I managed to withdraw 30% of my power when I struck him, I'm afraid the damage to his internal organs is still enough to be fatal."
Pei Yu then looked up at the direction shrouded in mist and said hatefully, "Where did these two assassins come from, targeting my father like this! If I catch them, I will tear them to pieces!"
Despite her initial shock, Mu Huaying had regained some composure and said, "First of all, there weren't just two assassins, but at least three. The assassin who wielded the curved sword wasn't among the two who fought with me and your father earlier. Secondly,"
She glanced intently at Pei Yu and said, “There are only a handful of masters in the world with such martial arts skills. Moreover, the three of them have different styles and backgrounds. One of them uses Xuanmen swordsmanship. Although I have never seen any other school use this swordsmanship, it is unique and unrestrained. Another person uses a thick-backed longsword, but the way he drags it shows traces of his usual use of soft weapons. The third person uses a curved sword, which shows the inheritance of the martial arts of the northern nomads.”
Upon hearing this, even Mu Huaying's usually elegant and aloof face showed signs of exhaustion.
"These three people deliberately concealed their identities, so these weapons must not be the weapons they usually use."
She looked at her daughter again and sighed, "Such experts are not easy to hire, let alone hire at the same time. Do you know what that means?"
Pei Yu's face turned pale, and he shook his head in confusion.
Mu Huaying let out a heavy sigh and said, "This means that at this moment, several powerful forces with deep backgrounds have reached an agreement and formed an alliance on the matter of taking your father's life."
In Jianzhang City, A Qiu followed Mo Yimingyue, leaping and bounding under the starlight of the night sky. To avoid alerting the soldiers, she moved through houses and alleys by scaling walls and rooftops, and even seemed to float in the air.
They ran at full speed for nearly half an hour, with A Qiu following closely behind, never leaving Mo Yimingyue's side for a moment.
It wasn't until the two of them climbed over into the courtyard of the inn that served as the stronghold of Xingfeng Hall that A Qiu's mind finally calmed down.
This was truly the most dangerous assassination attempt of her life, bar none.
She herself nearly lost her life.
Mo Yimingyue had remained silent the entire way, but now, with his back to her, he said calmly, "Give it to me!"
Even though assassinating Pei Yuanli was clearly Mo Yimingyue's punishment for her, A Qiu still had no complaints about her senior brother until this moment.
She asked in surprise, "What did you bring?"
Mo Yimingyue's voice deepened: "The thing in your arms!"
Ah Qiu then realized that what he wanted was the Corrosive Powder. Corrosive Powder was also a forbidden drug in the hall, so since it had not been used, it had to be taken back.
A-Qiu quickly took out a medicine bottle from his pocket and handed it over.
Although Mo Yimingyue had her back to her, she snatched it away. She tucked it into her bosom, then turned around swiftly, her sharp eyes fixed on her, and said coldly, "I didn't expect you to actually take it with you!"
If A Qiu really uses this medicine tonight, then the result... Mo Yimingyue dared not close her eyes to imagine.
A-Qiu blinked at him and smiled innocently, "It's better to be prepared! If we really end up in the place where the corpses are slaughtered, at least it won't implicate my sect and my senior brother."
“You…” Mo Yimingyue only said one word before falling silent.
He was the one who wanted to punish her. Saying anything more at this moment would seem hypocritical.
The last thing he said was this:
"Gu Yi, is it really that good?"
It's worth it for you to venture alone into such a dangerous place; it's worth it for you to risk offending your master and the entire Lanling Hall.
It's worth noting that one day you might stand on the opposite side of us fellow disciples.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
