Chapter 107: She Saw Me Kill
“Caw——”
The albatross cawed once, then flew away right under the eyelids of the six Dragon Terrace Guards, taking off straight up into the sky in that dry-land onion-pull style, with no sign of level flight; it kept rushing upward, looking extremely excited.
The sound of Gaoliang Mountain breaking was still echoing through the valley when dense flocks of flying birds blotted out the sky, and all sorts of beast roars sounded at the same time.
At the same time, the ground began to tremble.
The red date horse galloped wildly while neighing loudly, seeming extremely happy, and E Ji’s little milk dog barked madly along with it, as if celebrating new life.
Once the earthquake subsided, Yun Ce released his hold on E Ji, and when he looked up again at distant Gaoliang Mountain, it was still flashing with lightning and thundering, with torrential heavy rain immediately pouring down.
Old Cao wiped the rainwater from his face and grabbed Old Huang, saying: “Let’s go now, let’s go now.”
Old Huang, likewise soaked by the heavy rain, nodded repeatedly and said: “We do need to leave immediately. We let you enter Daizhou Prefecture precisely to investigate the Chuyun Prefecture Shehuo, but now that the Shehuo has fled, you’re not so important anymore. Hurry and go.”
Yun Ce grabbed the red date horse, which was excited beyond measure, and it took a good while to calm it down. He urgently ordered Feng An, Liang Kun, and Steward Qiu to harness it to the horse carriage that had been prepared long ago. Ignoring the chaotic camp, he took the lead in driving the convoy through the rain away from the Royal Hunting Ground.
Old Cao, Old Zhao, and the others were also prepared early. Before Yun Ce’s convoy was out of sight, their own convoy had already set off along the wheel tracks crushed out by Yun Ce’s convoy.
1 Whenever a large-scale crisis arrives, those with decisiveness can always seize the fleeting opportunity to escape with their lives.
1 A woman with a boy on her back and a girl tied to her chest charged bravely at Yun Ce, who was riding a Thunder Smoke Beast, wielding a long spear.
1 Even in the pouring heavy rain, Yun Ce could still see the tears in the woman’s eyes. She was gambling that Yun Ce wouldn’t use his horse spear to skewer her and her three children like trash into the ditch, and also gambling that Yun Ce harbored a compassionate heart, giving her and her children a way to live.
1 This opportunity was fleeting; there was no time to beg or negotiate. She could only gamble her life.
1 Yun Ce thrust his horse spear, but avoided the woman’s body. The sharp spear blade hooked horizontally into her shoulder socket, and with a shake of his hand, he tossed her onto the grain cart driven by Steward Qiu.
1 The woman clutched tightly with both hands at the rainproof cloth covering the grain, bit a hole through it with her teeth, tore open a big gap, and crawled inside with her children.
1 Steward Qiu shook his head, reached back to tie up the hole with rope, shook the reins, and continued urging the horse to go faster.
1 For some reason, the horses’ spirits were extremely vigorous today; they barely needed urging and ran extremely fast on their own.
1 It was six hundred li from the Royal Hunting Ground to Dragon Gate Bridge. To gain a time advantage, Old Cao didn’t dare stop along the way. He had to cross Dragon Gate Bridge and enter Daizhou Prefecture before Daizhou Inspector Chen Lin learned that the Chuyun Prefecture Shehuo had fled without a trace. As long as they entered Daizhou Prefecture before the ban was issued, they would be a group of legal, compliant Han people.
1 “Liu Chang’an, the Thunder Smoke Beast is fast. Go ahead to Dragon Gate Bridge and smooth things over.”
2 In the heavy rain, Old Cao shouted at the top of his lungs to Yun Ce, while also tossing over a heavy bag.
2 Yun Ce caught the bag with one hand. It was very heavy, clearly filled with gold. He acknowledged and urged the red date horse to full speed.
2 The red date horse was more spirited than ever, let out a long neigh, and charged out again against the bean-sized raindrops.
2 The dark clouds hung very low, like a pot lid clamped over the ground. The rain was heavy, with bean-sized drops hitting people like pebbles.
2 The red date horse continued its mad gallop between the dark clouds and the ground against the rain. E Ji watched Yun Ce gradually vanishing into the rain curtain and shouted loudly: “If things go south, run first——”
2 Zhang Min, holding a little girl, said discontentedly: “What if he really runs?”
2 E Ji sat back in the horse carriage, sealed the rainproof cloth, and said viciously to Zhang Min: “I’m hoping he runs. A dragon of a man, grounded and crawling on the earth because of us women—should a dragon’s claws be crawling on the ground? He’s born to fly.”
2 Zhang Min didn’t dare meet E Ji’s fierce gaze, turned her head, and said: “He won’t abandon you.”
2 E Ji snapped angrily: “Do I need you to tell me?”
2 The red date horse was truly fast. After galloping for an hour, it ran out of the rainy area. At that moment, the mountains on both sides became low and squat. After another half hour of mad dashing, the mountains gradually turned into hills. Rounding a bend, four red-armored knights suddenly appeared ahead, all mounted on Thunder Smoke Beasts, their horse spears held horizontally, blocking the already narrow road completely.
3 “Halt.” The red-armored knight on the far left saw Yun Ce charging rapidly and immediately shouted to stop him.
3 Yun Ce pulled the reins of the red date horse to slow to a halt, cupped his hands from horseback toward the cavalry opposite, and said: “The first batch of identified people from Chuyun Prefecture is about to arrive. Please make way, brothers.”
3 As he spoke, Yun Ce grabbed four gold ingots from his pocket and scattered them toward the four men opposite like a heavenly maiden scattering flowers.
3 The red-armored cavalrymen caught the gold ingots and deftly stowed them into the leather pouches at their waists.
3 Yun Ce cupped his hands again and said: “Chuyun Prefecture is in chaos. We finally got a chance to escape with our families. Please make way, brothers. I’m traveling alone on horseback with not much gold. When the convoy behind arrives, there will surely be generous thanks.”
3 The red-armored cavalrymen still said nothing, just urged their Thunder Smoke Beasts to move aside. Just as Yun Ce rejoiced, thinking the gold had worked, a middle-aged man with a long mustache, also riding a Thunder Smoke Beast, appeared from the gap the cavalry had made.
3 As soon as Yun Ce made out the man’s face, he knew trouble was coming. Mainly because the vertical lines between this guy’s brows were too deep, and the lines around his mouth were as clear as if carved by knife and axe.
3 At a glance, this was an official, and a high-ranking one at that. Most fatally, leaders with this appearance were generally stingy and ungracious.
3 In a good light, such people valued rules and disliked flexibility. In a bad light, they were the type to exploit even the smallest power to its utmost.
3 “Heaven’s visage has drastically changed. The Chuyun Prefecture Shehuo has fled without a trace. After Daizhou Prefecture no longer accepts convicted prisoners from Chuyun Prefecture, go back. Tell those coming later: no entry into Daizhou Prefecture.”
4 Hearing this, Yun Ce cupped his hands unwillingly and said: “May I know the lord’s name? Do you have the authority to block Chuyun Prefecture’s displaced people and forbid us from entering Daizhou Prefecture?”
4 The middle-aged man sneered, and a nearby cavalryman immediately said: “Before you is our Daizhou Inspector Chen Lin.”
4 Yun Ce glanced left and right, saw no one else, and said disdainfully: “I’ve heard the Inspector is a vassal lord in his own right. How is it that here there are no attendants, only you four rough men? No one would believe it if word got out.”
4 “My lord has always disliked pomp. The others have already rushed to various checkpoints to bar Chuyun Prefecture convicted prisoners from entering Daizhou Prefecture. This road to Dragon Gate Bridge is guarded by us.”
4 Yun Ce took a deep breath, looked at Chen Lin in the middle, and said: “The Chuyun Prefecture Shehuo has fled, and the mountains, rivers, geography, even the heavens have sensed it. Wild beasts howl in chorus, birds fly high—it’s truly a bad omen. The people of Chuyun Prefecture are also of Han blood. Does the Inspector have no compassion?”
4 Chen Lin said coldly: “Go back. No need for more words.”
4 Yun Ce held up the bag and slowly approached Chen Lin, pleading: “We’re willing to buy a way to live with our family wealth. Please make way, Inspector.”
4 Chen Lin scoffed: “A mere few taels of gold, and you think to sway me? Kill him.”
4 Yun Ce swung the money bag at the opposing cavalryman. His horse spear shot out like a venomous dragon from behind the money bag, viciously piercing Chen Lin’s throat. With a shake left and right, the sharp spear blade severed Chen Lin’s neck, then slanted into the chest of the cavalry leader on the left.
4 In the blink of an eye, Yun Ce had killed two men. The remaining three saw Yun Ce suddenly strike and kill, wanting to counterattack, but the five Thunder Smoke Beasts crammed the road completely.
5 Yun Ce needed a quick fight. He hurled his horse spear like a javelin into the back of the farthest cavalryman. His own body had long left the red date horse, and with all his strength, he smashed a fist into a cavalryman’s chest. With a muffled thud, the cavalryman’s body went limp and slumped over the Thunder Smoke Beast’s back.
5 By the time the last cavalryman finally extricated his Thunder Smoke Beast from the chaos, Yun Ce was already standing on the Thunder Smoke Beast’s head, looking down at him.
5 With a clang, the cavalryman’s horse spear fell to the ground. Yun Ce pounced on the cavalryman like a giant bat, pinched his throat with one hand, and yanked him alive off the Thunder Smoke Beast’s back.
5 Five minutes later, Yun Ce released the cavalryman, and his corpse flopped limply to the ground.
5 Also collapsing at the same time were the five Thunder Smoke Beasts; they had actually collided into each other to death, without the slightest hesitation.
5 To spare the red date horse any psychological shadow, Yun Ce kindly covered its eyes with his hand. But the red date horse seemed to quite enjoy the sight of its kind dead and piled up; it tossed its head free of Yun Ce’s hand, snorted, and paced among the two heaps of dead Thunder Smoke Beasts.
5 Dead people were easy enough—just toss them into the nearby river. But the Thunder Smoke Beasts were a big problem; at nearly three thousand jin each, getting them to a distant spot was very troublesome.
5 Just as Yun Ce resignedly hoisted one Thunder Smoke Beast, two people emerged from behind a nearby hill, waving at him from afar.
5 “You always show up right when I’m killing. Aren’t you afraid I’ll silence you?”
5 Miss Hong said: “We won’t betray you. You’ve only killed five; we’ve already killed over two hundred.”
6 Yun Ce’s brows furrowed, and he said softly: “You want to enter Daizhou Prefecture too?”
6 Pei Chuan said darkly: “When albatrosses filled the sky, my Young Lord had already decided to lead our men out of Chuyun Prefecture.”
6 Yun Ce shook his head: “Impossible. Five albatrosses and thirty Dragon Terrace Guards aren’t enough to make you decide that.”
6 Pei Chuan said angrily: “We’re just avoiding them, okay? Why do you have to butt in, acting like you know everything.”
6 Miss Hong pushed away Pei Chuan’s hand supporting her, placed one hand on her abdomen, and said sorrowfully: “The Shehuo fails to continue, no descendants— the child in my womb is gone.”
