Chapter 79 Changing the Route
Ye Xunyang immediately returned to Lou Jin's side, anxiously checking him for injuries: "Your Highness, are you alright?"
"It's nothing." Lou Jin shook his head, but his gaze turned seriously to the direction in which the assassins had retreated. "They retreated too decisively."
Wushan stepped forward and reported: "Master, we left behind seven corpses. We've examined them, and there were no markings on their bodies. Their weapons were also very ordinary, and we can't trace their origin."
Lou Jin crouched down and carefully examined the hidden arrow he had left behind.
Apart from the marks left by the impact of the barbed wire, there were no other features on the arrow shaft.
“Their objective is clear,” Lou Jin stood up and said in a deep voice, “It’s Feng Bao, and their aim is to silence him. As for me, it’s more of a test and a way to keep me in check.”
He looked at the still-shaken Feng Bao and said coldly, "Eunuch Feng, it seems your master is determined to take your life."
Feng Bao's face was deathly pale, his lips trembled, and he couldn't speak.
Ye Xunyang frowned: "We failed this time, but they will definitely come again. And next time it will probably be even more dangerous."
"Hmm." Lou Jin nodded, his eyes sharp as knives. "But we have at least confirmed one thing: the other side is extremely afraid that Feng Bao will fall into the capital and into the hands of the Emperor. This means that what Feng Bao knows is deadly enough."
He looked towards the capital, where the winding mountain roads disappeared into the pitch-black night.
After clearing the battlefield, the team did not delay for a moment and immediately continued to advance along the rugged mountain path.
Ye Xunyang walked close to Lou Jin, almost never leaving his side, still feeling lingering fear from the poisoned sleeve arrow that had just been shot at Feng Bao.
He whispered, "Your Highness, their goal is indeed to silence them. They will likely become even more ruthless in the future."
Lou Jin's gaze was calm as he analyzed, "This time they tested our guard strength and confirmed that Feng Bao was in the group. Next time, it might not just be assassins coming."
As if to confirm his guess, after traveling for another half an hour, the scouts ahead suddenly issued a warning.
"Watch out! There's a trap!" Wushan shouted urgently.
On the narrow mountain path ahead, the ground, which appeared to be covered with fallen leaves, suddenly collapsed, revealing a pit filled with sharpened bamboo thorns! One of the scouts reacted quickly and, although he did not fall in, his arm was cut by poisoned needles ejected from the trap, and the wound instantly turned black and swelled!
"It's snake venom!" another guard immediately judged, quickly sealing the wound, squeezing out the venomous blood, and applying the antidote powder he carried with him, but the injured man still fell into a coma.
The team was forced to stop.
Ye Xunyang drew his longsword and warily surveyed the dark jungle around him.
“More than one place.” Lou Jin calmly observed the terrain. “The enemy has set up an ambush here, having calculated our inevitable route. Wushan, take men to carefully inspect the road ahead, focusing on the ground, trees, and rock walls on both sides.”
"yes!"
The guards acted immediately and indeed discovered several cleverly disguised traps, such as tripwires, hidden bows, and poisoned arrows. Had they not been alerted beforehand, the consequences would have been unimaginable.
“They’re stalling for time,” Lou Jin frowned, “so that the organization can intercept them more effectively.”
Just then, the guard responsible for watching over Feng Bao suddenly shouted, "Master, something's wrong with Feng Bao!"
Lou Jin and Ye Xunyang immediately went over and saw Feng Bao curled up on the ground, his face pale, his lips purplish-black, his body trembling incessantly, and strange noises coming from his throat, as if he couldn't breathe.
Lou Jin crouched down and observed Feng Bao's condition, his eyes turning cold: "It's not through the mouth or nose, it's a Gu poison! It takes effect slowly, but it's extremely vicious!"
"It's possible that the curse was cast at the post station, or even earlier, and was activated remotely at this moment."
Lou Jin made a decisive decision, "Seal his heart meridian and slow down the poison's attack on his heart! We must get to the next town as soon as possible to find someone who knows how to cure the poison, or find a medicine to suppress it, otherwise he won't last long!"
If Feng Bao were to die now, all their previous adventures and plans would be in vain!
Wushan immediately did as instructed, but Feng Bao's condition continued to deteriorate, and his breathing became weaker and weaker.
"Your Highness, what should we do?" Ye Xunyang looked anxiously at Lou Jin. Traps blocked their path ahead, pursuers surrounded them from behind, and now the key witness was poisoned; the situation was rapidly deteriorating.
"We can't go on like this," Lou Jin said in a deep voice. "Their target is Feng Bao. If we take him with us, we'll be like a beacon in the darkness."
Ye Xunyang frowned as he looked at the barely breathing Feng Bao and said, "But Feng Bao is a key witness, we absolutely cannot abandon him."
“Of course we can’t lose it.” A glint of light flashed in Lou Jin’s eyes. “But we can make it disappear.”
He looked at the misty mountains: "There should be a small town not far away. Let's go there. But we'll have to disguise ourselves again."
Several hours later, as dawn broke, a small, seemingly weary caravan slowly entered Shikan Town.
The caravan was small, consisting of several mule carts loaded with ordinary mountain goods and cloth.
The leader was a middle-aged businessman with a sallow complexion, accompanied by a young assistant responsible for his protection.
In the middle of the caravan, on a mule cart, lay a sickly old man covered tightly with a coarse blanket.
The remaining guards also disguised themselves as coachmen, porters, and other roles, and were scattered throughout the caravan.
They bribed the guards at the city gate and were able to enter Shikan Town without any trouble.
Lou Jin chose to stay at a small inn frequented by all sorts of people.
"I need two shared rooms, and some hot water and congee for the sick person at home," Lou Jin, disguised as a merchant, said to the shopkeeper in slightly accented Mandarin.
Ye Xunyang followed silently behind, his eyes scanning warily over the few martial arts practitioners drinking and playing drinking games in the main hall, and a man wearing a bamboo hat drinking tea alone in the corner.
After making the arrangements, everyone settled Feng Bao in a corner of the dormitory and drew the curtain.
Lou Jin and Ye Xunyang stayed in a slightly better room next door, so they could take care of each other.
"Your Highness, can this method be concealed?" Ye Xunyang asked in a low voice after closing the door. He was still somewhat unaccustomed to Lou Jin's unfamiliar face at this moment.
Lou Jin walked to the window and observed the street outside through the crack: "At least this can temporarily disrupt their vision. What we need now is time, on the one hand, to let Feng Bao stabilize the situation, and on the other hand, to wait for news from Shan Lan."
His gaze sharpened slightly: "Or, let's see if we can find any clues about 'Shadow Serpent' in this town. Border towns like this are often nodes for intelligence exchange."
Ye Xunyang nodded, admiring Lou Jin's adaptability.
However, they did not relax for long. At dusk, Wushan quietly came in to report: "Master, some unfamiliar faces have come to town. They seem to be inquiring about any suspicious outsiders, especially those with patients."
Lou Jin's eyes narrowed: "They came really fast. It seems they haven't completely lost track of us, or they have spies in this town."
He pondered for a moment, then said to Ye Xunyang and Wushan, "Pass the word down: everyone must be on high alert and not act rashly without my order."
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