Chapter 177:
At this moment, it was nighttime, and many women were directly dragged out from on the couch, their clothes disheveled.
One maidservant screamed too loudly and was decapitated with a single cleaver stroke; the rest were so frightened that they dared not make a sound anymore, even suppressing their sobs tightly.
Xie Wanning saw the two maidservants disguised as Pei Yuxuan and Pei Lin also being dragged out. Under the soaring firelight, both young ladies’ faces were full of panic, their delicate faces covered in tears, with cleavers pressed against their necks.
The bandits knew these two were noble ladies from the Capital City, so unlike their rough treatment of the maidservants, they teasingly ordered them to undress themselves.
The two young ladies’ hands trembled uncontrollably, yet they clutched their chests tightly and refused to undress. The bandits grew impatient; with a fan-like large palm, one swung down fiercely, slapping one to the ground, the sound of clothes being torn echoing in the night sky.
Trembling breasts were exposed to the night air, and the surrounding bandits burst into laughter.
The young lady screamed in horror but was pinned to the ground, her dress torn to shreds, her slender white legs kicking wildly before being ruthlessly forced apart.
The women’s despair, terror, struggle, helplessness; the men’s plundering, ferocity, destruction, ruthlessness.
Xie Wanning saw everything, her eyes nearly splitting with rage, but her mouth was tightly covered by Ming Feng.
“We should go.”
The defenses here had completely slackened; this was the best chance to leave.
Compared to Xie Wanning’s rage burning away her reason, Ming Feng was very calm and composed. He glanced back one last time at those horrific scenes, said “Forgive me,” wrapped an arm around Xie Wanning’s waist, leaped up, and silently left the treetop.
They vaulted over the wall, but it was not yet escaping to safety.
Over a dozen black-clad men stood not far away; upon seeing someone emerge, their faces all lit up.
Ming Feng’s gaze was icy cold; his speed did not slow in the slightest. With a few leaps, he passed over these men, whistling sharply from his mouth, as faint sounds of hoofbeats rang out.
He drew his sword from his waist with one hand to fend off the pursuing bandits behind, while taking a ring from his bosom with the other and handing it over. “Less than fifty miles northwest is the Northern Camp’s garrison location. Take this ring; you can summon reinforcements with it.”
This was the token Lu Ziyan had wanted to leave her with before departing, which she had refused at the time; now it had circled back to her.
The situation was urgent, and Pei Yuxuan was still waiting for her rescue. Xie Wanning did not hesitate and decisively took the ring, mounting the horse.
Her horsemanship was good; even on a warhorse not yet broken in, she handled it with ease.
The pursuers behind were held off by Ming Feng alone. Xie Wanning had long known his martial power was extraordinary, but the men sent by the Jin Dynasty were no pushovers either. Only a dozen were guarding this breach, but once fighting broke out, reinforcements would surely arrive.
Pei Er was already likely doomed; she hoped Ming Feng would not meet with misfortune…
The warhorse beneath her galloped swiftly, the sounds of fighting fading into the distance, but Xie Wanning dared not relax. So many lives depended on her; she gripped the ring in one hand and the reins tightly in the other.
Suddenly, the galloping horse’s legs were tripped up; its body pitched forward violently, and Xie Wanning was thrown harshly from the horseback…
At such speed, for a delicate young lady without any martial arts, truly falling to the ground would mean death or severe injury, but her waist tightened; in the instant before hitting the ground, she was pulled into an icy embrace.
This was a young man wearing a fur hat, with a high nose bridge, deep-set eyebrows and eyes, dressed in foreign tribal attire. Seeing her look over, he even gave her a slight smile.
Xie Wanning’s heart sank halfway.
From the woods on both sides, a group of men emerged rustlingly, all dressed as Khan tribesmen, laughing and chattering away at the man holding her in some guttural language.
The man listened for a moment, then spoke in impure Khan tongue: “You are Lu Ziyan’s madam?”
Xie Wanning’s brow twitched sharply. “You’ve got the wrong person; my husband is someone else.”
“No mistake,” the man laughed loudly. “Madam does not know, but I have long seen your portrait.”
With that, his laughter grew louder. “Your Great Khan men are indeed clever, but also too self-assuming.”
“Who sold me to you?” Xie Wanning’s brows furrowed tightly. “The First Prince?”
Only a few in the household knew of their visit to the Marriage Temple today, and coming to the Hot Spring Villa was a last-minute decision.
The man had no intention of explaining, merely laughing: “Madam, do not speak so harshly. I have long admired Madam’s beauty and have specially taken great risk to come invite Madam for a meeting.”
“You want to abduct me to threaten Lu Ziyan?” Xie Wanning tugged her lips. “Did the one who called you tell you that Lu Ziyan deeply loves me, and I alone can sway the Northern Frontier battlefield?”
The man smiled without speaking.
Xie Wanning said: “Did they also tell you that I abandoned Lu Ziyan last year to remarry another, and he wishes me dead?”
The man burst into loud laughter. “Madam, spare your breath. I am the Crown Prince of Great Jin; would I personally appear in the Great Khan’s Capital City without investigating your grudge thoroughly!”
His smile gradually faded, his gaze like an icy blade: “Lu Ziyan has slaughtered no fewer than ten thousand of my people; with such a blood feud, please be sensible, Madam, and come with me.”
With his words, the surrounding tribesmen all closed in.
Xie Wanning’s face was grim; thinking of the scenes at the Hot Spring Villa, falling into these barbarians’ hands, what good end could she expect? Logically, she should bite her tongue and end it without hesitation, but having relived her life, she cherished it even more.
She did not want to die!
She was not yet eighteen; how could she accept being dragged to a miserable death by Lu Ziyan again!
She could not bear to leave her parents, her family, and Pei Yuqing…
Pei Yuqing had not returned, and her elder brother had said he would definitely return to the capital before the new year.
She had not seen them yet; she truly dared not die.
Xie Wanning wanted to say something more, but the man before her frowned, his palm swinging down fiercely; her nape suddenly ached, and she completely lost consciousness.
The mountain forest, lively just moments ago, instantly fell quiet.
The autumn wind gently rustled the treetops; in the east, a streak of bright red appeared, the dawn glow illuminating the dark woods, revealing a jade-green ring lying quietly on the forest path.
After an unknown time, hoofbeats sounded; Ming Feng, covered in blood, arrived, scanning around. Amid the chaotic hoofprints, he spotted the ring, dismounting in a scramble to pick it up.
…………
A thousand miles away in the Northern Frontier, a slender youth stood with hands behind his back atop the city wall, his spine straight as a spear, exuding a piercing, unstoppable aura.
He tilted his head slightly toward the sky. “Has the Crown Prince of Jin Dynasty’s movements been scouted?”
Ever since two months ago when he speared the Jin Dynasty prince’s head flying, the crown prince—who in his past life had only appeared after he ascended the throne—had shown up at the border.
They had clashed several times, with the opponent repeatedly at a disadvantage; in this past half month, he had suddenly vanished.
The crown prince on a personal campaign would not cower before battle and flee with tail between his legs, so… where was he?
Ming Jian behind him said: “The spy reported that he received a secret dispatch, gathered over a hundred men, and then disappeared.”
