Chapter 18: Suddenly, a Madman Draws His Sword at Night
Moonlight poured down from the night sky. As several figures streaked past the escort agency, unknown birds flapped their wings and flew away, leaving clear traces.
Huyan Lei let out a slight sigh, “A false alarm.”
Zhou Yan directly took down the quiver and placed it on the stone table of the pavilion.
“Brother, what do you think these people are up to?”
“In the middle of the night, avoiding the watchmen on the streets, what good can they be doing besides petty theft?”
“Have you ever encountered such a scene during your night shifts before?”
Huyan Lei, his emotions completely relaxed, said, “It’s like finding money at a brothel.”
Zhou Yan chuckled, “I’ll go get some melon seeds.”
“Alright!”
Zhou Yan walked out of the pavilion, then returned, bringing a pot of tea and a plate of melon seeds.
He poured tea for Huyan Lei and then sat on the stone stool.
The escort, cracking melon seeds, began to recount the glorious deeds of his ancestors during times of war, but Zhou Yan often found his mind wandering, always thinking of those night visitors.
Huyan Lei noticed this and suddenly said, “The escort agency’s rules state that during escort duty or guarding duty, one must not cause trouble. However, if those people passed by the escort agency and then left, it’s a different matter. Who knows if they were planning to steal the escort or cause other mischief. Those night travelers were empty-handed, so it’s highly likely they were going to steal.”
“So they might return the same way,” Zhou Yan asked.
Huyan Lei smiled, “What do you think? I’ll hide on the rooftop. If they return the same way, and attack with their spears, you can shoot arrows from the shadows. We can also find some runners to throw fishing nets and use hidden weapons. Capturing them shouldn’t be a problem.”
“I have a better idea. Let me switch with Brother. I’ll ambush them by throwing lime, and they’ll be caught off guard and fall into the courtyard. Brother, you can attack with your spear, and I’ll shoot arrows from above.”
“Good idea.”
The two of them quickly settled on a plan in a few sentences.
There were also runners on night duty at the escort agency. Huyan Lei got up, walked out of the pavilion, and summoned seven or eight capable individuals, giving them instructions.
All the runners were greatly invigorated.
With Huyan Lei and Zhou Yan backing them up, and ambushing at the escort agency, it was naturally foolproof. If they fought well, it would be recorded in their merit book, which would be beneficial for future promotion to escort.
The runners took their weapons, fishing nets, and hidden weapons, and slipped into the night.
Huyan Lei, holding his spear, cautioned Zhou Yan, “Be extra careful.”
“Don’t worry, Brother!”
He slung his quiver over his shoulder, held a steel knife, and checked the bag of lime powder in his embrace.
Some runners brought a ladder for Zhou Yan to climb onto the roof. He smiled and said it wasn’t necessary, then tensed his body and rushed out. With a few strides, he leaped onto the escort carts in the courtyard, bent his knees slightly, and with a surge of internal energy, he shot up and landed on the rooftop.
“Escort Zhou has excellent lightness skill,” a runner who was about to bring a ladder exclaimed opportunistically.
Huyan Lei was stunned. By all rights, Zhou Yan should not have been able to leap onto the roof like that. This…
Although he used agility techniques, it was mainly due to the explosive power from his feet. Had he refined his Qiao Meridian?
Huyan Lei, though rough on the outside, was meticulous on the inside. He recalled Zhou Yan’s appearance while practicing fist techniques in the martial field these past few days, the grand and expansive fist techniques, and the seamless coordination of his footwork and body movements, which seemed vastly different from before.
The escort scratched his head, “Good heavens, what talent and comprehension does this kid have? He only asked for guidance on practicing lightness skill a few days ago, and now he’s already mastered it and refined his Qiao Meridian.”
He then recalled the food he had at Zhou Yan’s house. Wang Kui had said that it would take about ten years for Brother Zhou to refine six main meridians, and suddenly, he felt that those words were utterly laughable.
“So the gap in talent between people is truly this vast,” Huyan Lei muttered to himself.
…
Zhou Yan hid in the shadow cast by the eaves, clutching two bags of lime powder in his left hand and his saber in his right. He repeatedly recalled the Five Tiger Severing Gate Saber technique taught by the escort Wang Kui, and finally, all his consciousness focused on the technique “Night Battle in All Directions” that the other had once displayed.
For a sudden attack, this move was best. At times, he would also wonder if the night travelers would return the same way. If it turned out to be a false alarm, he would consider it a crisis drill with the runners, and his own heart would be much more at ease.
About two quarters of an hour later, in the scale-like arrangement of buildings in the distance of Zhou Yan’s sight, four figures arrived swiftly. The one in the center was carrying a sack on his shoulder.
“Flower thieves!”
Zhou Yan’s first thought was of a notorious womanizer, and then he thought of Ouyang Ke. The young master of White Camel Mountain was naturally lustful and often sent people to search for beautiful women everywhere to take as concubines.
Sha Tongtian’s desire to capture Li Mochou and present her to Ouyang Ke was for this reason. Judging by the time of the encounter with the Ghost Gate Dragon King in the suburbs of Datong Prefecture, Ouyang Ke was also not far from Zhongdu.
He let out a slight sigh.
The approaching distance felt like an illusion. Zhou Yan could already hear the whistling wind. With a swish, the saber light surged up along the eaves. He unleashed a saber strike at the peak of his essence, energy, and spirit.
“Night Battle in All Directions,” the gleaming saber light carried a resolute and domineering aura that devoured everything.
The night travelers ahead never expected a madman to suddenly draw his saber at night. They were completely caught off guard. The saber light, sweeping half a zhang, directly severed their lower bodies, and thick blood splattered out like an explosion.
Huyan Lei, hiding in the courtyard, felt his eyelids twitch. The night traveler whose legs were severed let out a hysterical scream. Before the man could even fall, Zhou Yan’s figure shot up, pushing the man’s upper body towards another night traveler on the roof.
The other party flipped his hand, and his steel knife unleashed a monstrous sharpness. The lime powder exploded amidst the saber light.
Huyan Lei suddenly felt old.
The night traveler was terrified. He closed his eyes and retreated rapidly. With no leverage in the air, he fell directly into the courtyard, along with the night traveler carrying the sack and a man covering their retreat.
The night traveler, blinded by the lime thrown by Zhou Yan, fell to the ground. Huyan Lei’s spearhead had already magnified and was upon him. He rolled on the ground, and the escort’s iron spear pursued the man on the ground like a shadow. His entire body lunged forward with the spear, and with a sudden movement, the spear plunged into the ground like an iron plow, Huyan Lei flicked his wrist, lifted the spear, and the man on the ground, along with the bluestone, were all tossed into the air.
Huyan Lei’s spear lifted comfortably, and in an instant, it broke through the wind and pierced the man’s abdomen.
“Pfft!”
The escort pulled out his spear, and the man fell, blood gushing like a pillar.
The night traveler carrying the sack had already discarded his burden. He and his companion dodged and weaved through the fishing nets falling from all directions. However, what followed were flying darts, iron caltrops, and bone-piercing nails, as well as long arrows whistling down from the rooftop. Under such an unscrupulous fighting style, how could the two, whose martial arts did not hold an overwhelming advantage, resist and escape?
First, they were entangled by the fishing net, and then they were struck to the ground by hidden weapons coming from all directions, their limbs twitching.
Not a single runner was injured. Amidst the cheers, someone lit torches.
Zhou Yan jumped down into the courtyard and quickly stepped forward to untie the sack.
A familiar face came into view.
He was stunned. It wasn’t a respectable young woman as he had imagined, but Escort Su from the Four Seas Escort Agency, who had tried to kill him in Songhe Tower.
Huyan Lei also did not expect such an outcome.
Escort Su had been acupoint-sealed with a unique technique that Huyan Lei couldn’t undo. His expression was somewhat grim, and he asked a quick-witted runner to quickly find Zhang Wangyue.
Zhou Yan was searching the corpses, patting them down, and found a token on one of them.
It was a rectangular token with writing on it.
“Imperial City Guard Swift Runner Cao Yi.”
Zhou Yan became confused.
“Imperial City Guard, the secret service agency of the Lin’an Prefecture court. What were they doing capturing an escort from the Four Seas Escort Agency?”
