Chapter 50: Calling His Name – His Nose, His Body, Everywhere Was…
Screeech—
In the curtain of night, a wild goose circled several times, yet the letter was never delivered.
That goose, carrying the handwritten letter Ying Xi had scrawled on rotten straw paper, kept banging its head against the door with a dull thud-thud.
The dumb goose was dizzy.
In reality, just separated by a single wall inside the East Gate, Xie Qianli led Lian Qing. The two had killed four bandit gatekeepers and had already infiltrated the core of the Luoshan Bandit Stronghold.
The residence of the bandit chief was a grand structure built in the shape of the character Pin (品), featuring a main gate and two side gates. It was imposing.
The air was thick with the smell of strong liquor!
The lingering fumes alone seemed enough to intoxicate a person. It was easy to imagine the bandits’ wild revelry after returning to the stronghold.
The two men concealed themselves in the darkness, terrified of kicking over a wine jar. They placed their feet with extreme caution, moving very slowly despite their long legs.
They passed another corner gate.
Head-on, they encountered a bandit patrolling with a lantern. Before the bandit could react to the figures hiding in the shadows, Xie Qianli stepped swiftly behind him and snapped his neck. Lian Qing followed up, his blade rising and falling. The two figures wove through the dark in close coordination, and in an instant, lanterns were rolling all over the ground.
Xie Qianli left one alive. “Where is Dong Gu?”
The survivor’s ears were still ringing with the terrifying sound of snapping neck bones. With the god of death standing right before him, he was scared out of his wits. “W-W-W-Weiyang Hall! Spare me, spare my life…”
Dong Gu might be mad, but he wasn’t stupid.
The bandits kept close as his personal guards were certainly guilty of heinous crimes and deserved no sympathy.
Thus, Lian Qing raised his hand and finished him off with a blade strike. He took the opportunity to pat down the bandit’s pockets. “Good lord, bulging with loose silver, gold rings, jade bracelets. The harvest from this trip down the mountain was quite good.” Behind every item, there was likely an innocent human life.
“Weiyang Hall…” Xie Qianli repeated quietly to himself.
In the Imperial Palace of Chang’an, Ying Xi’s residence was named Weiyang Palace.
Although the Luoshan bandits had not openly raised the banner of rebellion, the fact that he dared to place himself on par with the Emperor of Great Qin showed that his heart was punishable by death.
Fwoosh—
Xie Qianli extinguished the scattered lanterns, and the corridor returned to gloom.
Lian Qing flicked the blood groove of his short blade clean and limbered up his arms.
Xie Qianli: “Find Weiyang Hall.”
On the other side, Ying Xi didn’t wait for the goose. The arrow had already left the bow; the chaos in the Yangzi Fang (hostage quarters) would be exposed sooner or later. Killing Dong Gu was imperative.
The group moved slowly under the cover of night.
Ying Xi and Zhu Zhao’s complexions looked nothing like bandits, so they walked in the center of the formation, tightly screened by the mountain villagers.
They were taking the route of luring the enemy. The group advanced slowly, daring not to alert too many bandits.
If they needed to pass a gate ahead, they would inevitably encounter a guard or two. The villager team would send Shuangzhu and another man to knock, reporting that the Yangzi Fang was gambling and drinking tonight and urgently needed a few more hands to join in.
If those bandits followed, the laborers would attack together, hacking them to death in a chaotic flurry.
The guarding forces would grow weaker and weaker until, unable to keep the noise down any longer, the laborers would force a breakthrough.
Inside this stronghold, there were a thousand sleeping bandits and a hundred on night watch. One slip-up would thoroughly poke the hornet’s nest!
Therefore, amidst the orange lantern light and flickering shadows, this small squad moved like ghosts. The journey was heart-stopping.
After traversing two or three li through the stronghold and finally scaling an earthen wall, the mountain villagers bypassed the most heavily guarded rampart and saw the massive Pin-shaped building.
The group headed straight for the tightly closed West Gate.
Outside that West Gate, lights blazed brightly. Standing side-by-side were four fierce, robust bandits, each with a large machete tucked diagonally into his belt.
These were Dong Gu’s trusted guards.
Even if Dong Gu was drinking himself into a stupor with the rest, these gatekeeping lackeys were clearly sober.
Sanjinzi whispered, “That’s the Chief’s residence. Brother Shuangzhu and I have only seen it from afar; we’ve never been inside… They say there are lots of treasures in there, all gathered from all over.”
At the mention of treasure, Sanjinzi’s eyes lit up.
But that glimmer vanished in an instant.
Because in the next moment, they might lose their lives—what use was money then?
Sanjinzi pursed his thick lips. Even against just one of those burly men, their whole group might not win, let alone four.
Shuangzhu still suggested luring the enemy and killing them one by one.
In this team, Shuangzhu had a wife and child to worry about. The more he struggled to survive, the more urgent his desire to return home became.
Without waiting for Ying Xi’s permission, Shuangzhu risked his life and stepped forward, walking up to the West Gate to face the bandits. “Big brothers, we are from the Yangzi Fang…”
The four fierce bandits instantly turned cold!
These were bandits who had originated from Dong Gu’s rebel army; how could they be so easily deceived? Immediately, they shouted bandit cant and greeted him with machetes:
“The sky is high and clouds are pale, gazing at the geese flying south!”
“Where the hell are you from? Does the Yangzi Fang deserve to be an eyesore in front of me?”
“Kill this kid!”
The machete slashed down. Shuangzhu ducked, lowering his head and thrusting out his knife. How could the mountain villagers watch Shuangzhu die? They rushed up together to save him. It looked as if everyone was about to be exposed.
But at that moment, lightning flashed across the spring rainy sky, illuminating the night world with clarity.
A powerful current of electricity, masked by the curtain of light, shot straight into Shuangzhu’s rusty knife!
The blade conducted the electricity, knocking out a bandit on the spot. That bandit collapsed like a crumbling mountain. The others, unaware, were crowded together at the door and were instantly shocked by the current passing through their bodies, immediately paralyzed with pain.
Unknown to them, the bandits went from advantage to disadvantage, and were finally having their throats slit by a dozen villagers.
The villagers, hearts still pounding with lingering fear, dragged the bandits away, panting heavily. They rejoiced in their survival, but naturally had no mind to investigate how they had survived.
“…” Even someone as learned as Zhu Zhao only felt the lightning was odd, unable to explain the source of this strange electric light.
In the mind of the only one who knew—Ying Xi—Sweet System (Tian Tong) was complaining feebly:
“Your Majesty, I’m so tiiiired.”
It whimpered in a little girl’s voice, full of grievance, “Since I started this job, I’ve never activated such a violent ‘Atmosphere Pusher’.”
“The person who set up this background for dating must have violated the Heavenly Laws!!!”
The system repeatedly roasted the situation in Ying Xi’s ear.
The smell of alcohol grew heavier.
Groping their way from the West Gate to this point, through countless dangers, Weiyang Hall was right before their eyes!
“We… we’re here…” Sanjinzi’s voice was suppressed extremely low.
The main gate of Weiyang Hall was tightly shut; no lights were lit inside.
A plaque with gold hooks and silver strokes hung outside the hall, reading “Weiyang Hall.”
It was too dark right now. If the light were slightly brighter, someone present would have seen that someone had used a tortoise-crawl script to add a lawless prefix to the plaque.
Since Dong Gu moved in, the full name of this hall had been changed to: Yellow Heaven Father Weiyang Hall.
Dong Gu’s writing was full of errors; he had written “Yellow” wrong.
Shuangzhu looked toward the envoys. His large hand, covered in blood, was already pressed against the door frame, his fingernails digging into the wood.
But having learned the lesson from his impulse just now that nearly killed everyone, Shuangzhu looked to the two envoys. Ying Xi nodded slightly.
Creak—
Weiyang Hall opened, revealing a thin slit. It was pitch black inside. At the moment of the final battle, the villagers’ hearts were practically jumping out of their throats.
People entered one by one. Shuangzhu led the way.
No one present had ever seen the full view of Weiyang Hall; they only heard the snoring rising and falling all over the place.
Judging by the acoustics of the echoing snores, this had to be a massive space. If the bandits had reveled here this afternoon, one could imagine how absurd and lively it must have been.
Rumble rumble rumble…
A villager stumbled!
Zhu Zhao immediately supported the man, while Ying Xi crouched down to steady a wine jar. One had to be extremely careful walking here.
Shuangzhu, clearing the path ahead, was startled by the noise. He turned his head, very displeased, and lowered his rough voice: “What are you doing!”
The villager was also badly frightened and quickly whispered apologetically, “Sorry, sorry, I stepped on some wine.”
No, that wasn’t wine!
When Ying Xi steadied the wine jar just now, he felt it was heavy, as if the mud seal hadn’t even been opened.
He felt strange, took half a step back, crouched down, returned to where the villager had slipped, lowered his head, dipped his fingertip in the liquid, and sniffed. A strong scent of rust instantly bloomed at the tip of his nose.
It was blood… Weiyang Hall was a trap; there were already dead people inside!
“Everyone, be careful,” Ying Xi warned.
But because he issued the instruction, he was naturally identified by the enemy as the core figure of the team.
In that instant, a gleaming arc of a blade cut through the gloomy environment!
“Bandit leader, give me your life!”
That strike was too urgent and too fast. The attacker’s momentum pierced through the crowd, aiming straight for Ying Xi’s throat.
Ying Xi couldn’t dodge in time; the blood in his entire body seemed to freeze!
The villagers around him panicked, thrusting out their weapons to block the front: “Protect the Envoy! Protect the Envoy!”
Envoy!?
At the mention of the word “Envoy,” Lian Qing was scared out of his wits.
But his blade was already right there, difficult to retract immediately. Lian Qing could only divert the blade’s edge as much as possible. Just then, he felt a powerful force grab the back of his collar, hoisting him up and pulling him away from the target.
Lian Qing had tremendous momentum, but Xie Qianli’s pulling force was even greater.
Lian Qing couldn’t find his footing; the world spun, and he staggered back, sitting on the ground! He landed on a pile of sleeping bandits, making a dull heavy sound, which immediately provoked cries from the bandits!
“Who the hell stepped on my hand—son of a bitch, I’ll chop you up!”
“Someone snuck in… who… who is it…”
“Beat the drums and call the brothers to help!”
The lamps in this bandit hall were special; one ignited another. Weiyang Hall gradually lit up along the surrounding walls until it was brightly illuminated.
The bandits swayed, fully waking up. “Activate the traps!”
The Luoshan Bandit Stronghold had been built long ago and refined countless times. Instantly, the clicking sounds of mechanisms winding up inside the hall were as dense as a rainstorm. Random arrows shot down from all directions high in the hall. The rain of arrows wove into white nets.
The villagers were terrified and their legs went weak. Some were paralyzed with fear and were turned into hedgehogs on the spot, blood flowing across the floor.
Shuangzhu, Sanjinzi, and the others scattered to find cover, helplessly exposing Ying Xi and Zhu Zhao outside the circle.
Arrows do not recognize Emperors.
But Xie Qianli had been prepared ever since he heard the cry of “Envoy.” He lifted a bandit corpse he had just killed with one hand to block the first wave of arrows, then lunged forward to hug Ying Xi tightly, pushing the Emperor behind a pillar that reached the ceiling of Weiyang Hall.
First, the Emperor felt his body suddenly become light, then a loud noise rang in his ears.
Changes happened one after another. Ying Xi felt as if he were embedded into the pillar, pressed airtight against it.
Breathing was difficult. Just as he was about to look up, his head and face were pressed down by a hand. Even his exposed leg was covered by a heavy armored plate!
Xie Qianli, seemingly worried that the cover wasn’t tight enough, lowered his head and pressed his chin onto the top of Ying Xi’s head, completely covering the Dragon Head.
It had been a long time since Ying Xi had been this close to this powerful physique. His flesh and bones seemed to merge with the other’s, forcing him to struggle slightly to relieve the discomfort. But Xie Qianli’s large hand pressed his entire waist, insisting on not letting him move.
Ying Xi had sensitive ticklish spots at his side and shivered involuntarily.
He was trembling, so he was held even tighter by Xie Qianli.
Xie Qianli was full of heat, which was transmitting through the silver armor to Ying Xi’s cheek, spreading behind his ears.
Thwack thwack thwack!
Thwack—
Arrowheads continued to strike Xie Qianli’s armor, the sounds of ding-ding-dang-dang ringing out incessantly around them.
In this moment that should have been a matter of life and death, what flashed through Ying Xi’s mind was a fragment of memory, carrying the whispers of years past.
“Why is Ju-er leading the horse?”
“Ate too much at lunch, digesting food.”
“Then I’ll come down and walk together.”
“No need.”
“Why?”
“J-just no need.”
He couldn’t even clearly recall which small river they played by or which wild mountain they climbed when he snuck out of Fanglan Hall while sick back then.
He only remembered that he had also been leaning tightly against Xie Qianli, and then his back felt empty as the young general leaped off the horse, leading it slowly, taking him towards the place where the sunset disappeared.
Memories flowed, shining from reality into the past.
Heat traveled from the tips of Ying Xi’s ears to his eyes. His nasal cavity, his body, everywhere was covered with Xie Qianli’s scent, so familiar that he almost blurted out his name.
“Ju-er…”
The arrow rain stopped. Xie Qianli hurriedly separated from Ying Xi, quickly retreating a few steps, and reported his offense in a low, steady voice.
The speed was so fast, it was as if he didn’t want to be near him for a moment longer.
General Xie was icy and dutiful, while Ying Xi was thoroughly doused, extinguishing that spark of superfluous thought.
Drums beat heavily around them, and shouts constantly flooded into the room. The bandits had heavily surrounded Weiyang Hall!
Dong Gu, bleary-eyed with only one eye, hugged a massive wine jar and swayed as he ascended to the Chief’s main seat.
This man sobered up very quickly. Seeing the arrowheads scattered across the floor and the bandits surrounding the envoys, he realized in moments what had happened.
Dong Gu laughed loudly and threw the wine jar. Liquor splashed, and broken porcelain scattered everywhere. The tassels on his neck ring flashed chaotically, dazzling the eyes.
Dong Gu shouted, “Good, good, good! I was just drinking beautifully in my dream, and when I wake up, someone comes to perform a hall opera! Wonderful! Thrilling!”
“You all went to great lengths to suppress me, right? I’ll return the favor. I’ll kill a few lambs to entertain you gentlemen, the saviors and relief-bringers from the Imperial Court. Bring the hostages.”
It turned out there were actually many hidden rooms inside Weiyang Hall.
As soon as Dong Gu’s voice fell, as if he had been prepared for this day to come, his minions pushed out dozens of hostages like herding sheep.
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