Guard Assault

Inside the room in the small courtyard, Xiao Cui's footsteps gradually faded away, and a trace of relief appeared on Gu Sheng's face.

"Speak! Why were you screaming?"

Gu Sheng roughly pulled Li Qingyu's delicate head toward him. If this little girl did not give him a reasonable explanation, he would not let her off easily.

"How can you blame me for that?"

Li Qingyu pouted, saying aggrievedly, "If you wanted to kidnap me, then just kidnap me! Why were you planning to do that sort of thing to me too? What kind of approach is that? You're not professional at all. Where's your professional ethics..."

Li Qingyu condemned Gu Sheng's shameless conduct of "toying with" a young girl, saying that as a kidnapper, he was completely unprofessional and was showing signs of developing into a flower thief. Her words left Gu Sheng rather embarrassed. He seemed to have indeed gone a little too far—not to mention that he was still kneading the girl's cheeks.

Her tender cheeks looked flushed, though Gu Sheng deserved plenty of the credit. Each mark was the result of his "great efforts."

"Enough!"

Gu Sheng did not want to lose all dignity in front of this little girl. Being rendered speechless by a girl was humiliating enough without anyone else finding out!

"But that's how it is! Where was I wrong..."

Li Qingyu's eyes rolled, and she continued berating Gu Sheng. She had already realized that this fellow might truly harbor no ill will toward her and perhaps really only wanted to kidnap her for some money. If that was the case, she would have Qin Da and the others go easy on him later and keep him around to relieve her boredom!

"You little—"

Gu Sheng was about to fire off a few more verbal attacks when his ears suddenly twitched. A vicious glint flashed through his eyes. The fact that he had not noticed Qin Da until the man reached the door had left a deep impression on him.

At the time, he had been too inexperienced and had not constantly paid attention to the sounds around him. Once Internal Fist had been cultivated to a certain level, he became extremely sensitive to human heartbeats. Before martial artists reached the innate realm, their heartbeat was very difficult to conceal. In other words, he should have been able to detect Qin Da's presence much earlier.

"Hmph... Nice move!"

Gu Sheng struck the back of Li Qingyu's neck with his palm, and her endless stream of words abruptly ceased. The poor girl had lost her last "haven" and all control over her body. Other than blinking her eyes, she could do nothing else.

Gu Sheng suddenly rose to his feet, his eyes flashing sharply. He had underestimated this fellow "in the same line of work." She looked like a soft and fragile White Rabbit who could only let him "trample" and bully her, yet she had still tricked him under these circumstances. She must have sent a message to the maid outside just now when she began speaking!

That maid was indeed clever. He had been watching her the whole time and had not noticed the slightest flaw. But thinking back, her heartbeat had indeed changed slightly then. It was just that most of his attention had been focused on her young mistress, so he had not paid much heed to it.

In the end, it still came down to a lack of experience. His theoretical plan had been nearly perfect, but actual execution was another matter entirely. Neither Gu Sheng nor Teng Qinghu had any experience with this sort of thing. It was only natural for flaws to appear on their first attempt.

"Hmph."

Gu Sheng's gaze swept continuously across every corner of the room, especially the doors and windows. His ears stood straight as he listened for movement outside. Before long, a large force had arrived outside and completely surrounded the room.

The commander outside was quite capable. Under his direction, nearly a hundred martial artists had taken up their positions without making much noise. If Gu Sheng had not noticed them beforehand, he really might have been caught off guard.

"What's going on?"

A burst of hurried footsteps approached. It seemed Lord Li had arrived.

"My lord!"

Qin Da wore a stern expression as he lowered his voice and said, "The young miss's maid, Xiao Cui, came to report that the young miss may have been seized by the assassin who killed Qin San."

"An assassin!"

Lord Li's brows furrowed into a deep crease. He also knew that panic would not solve the matter now. "If you move in to rescue her, how confident are you? You must not let Qingyu get hurt!"

What Lord Li cared about most was his daughter's safety. He had lost his wife in middle age. Although he had taken several concubines afterward, none had borne him a child. Li Qingyu was his only daughter.

Qin Da thought for a moment before responding, "I wouldn't dare claim complete confidence. We can only say that it's worth a try."

"Trying to rescue her is fine, but the moment Qingyu is in danger, withdraw immediately. Don't provoke the other side."

By the end, Lord Li's voice had turned harsh. As a major merchant, he had the resolve to gamble everything to save his daughter, but he absolutely would not allow his guards to act recklessly for the sake of claiming credit while his daughter was in danger.

"Yes!"

Qin Da nodded, then gestured to three other men who were clearly the guards' leaders. The other three nodded at the same time.

Two of them cautiously approached the windows on either side of the room. Another, who had apparently practiced an Inner Force movement technique, silently made his way to the roof. Qin Da slowed his steps and walked toward the main door.

"Four Second-Rate Experts attacking from all sides. They really think highly of me!"

Gu Sheng's gaze swept inconspicuously over the four positions. He pulled several small bottles from his clothes and gripped them in his hand. This time, he had come prepared to ensure everything went smoothly!

"Move!"

With a low shout, explosive crashes rang out simultaneously from all four directions. At that same moment, the small bottles in Gu Sheng's hand shot toward the four positions. Although he did not possess Teng Qingshan's formidable hidden-weapon skills, he had practiced this technique in the mountains.

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

The two large windows on the left and right shattered, while the three figures descending through the broken roof tiles were simultaneously enveloped in green mist. The three martial artists realized that something was wrong as soon as they were attacked and reacted swiftly, retreating to evade it.

Qin Da, who came through the main door, reacted even faster. Before Gu Sheng's small bottle could be detonated by Inner Force, he wrapped it in his outer robe and flung it away. He then continued charging toward Gu Sheng and Li Qingyu in the center of the study at astonishing speed.

So strong!

Those words flashed through Gu Sheng's mind. Qin Da clearly had not learned any special Inner Force movement technique, yet his straight-line speed was probably three times faster than Gu Sheng's while using Horizon Strider.

Unfortunately, although he had dealt with Gu Sheng's hidden attack, he had still been delayed for that brief instant. That tiny amount of time was already enough for Gu Sheng to grab Li Qingyu and use his movement technique to evade the pursuit.

"Bang!"

Qin Da's sword finger struck the spot where Gu Sheng had just been standing. A bowl-sized hole appeared in the desk behind it.

"Damn it!"

Qin Da's gaze shifted. Gu Sheng stood more than three yards to his side, holding Li Qingyu around the waist. One hand was locked tightly around the delicate neck of the head of the Li household, showing no mercy. The young miss's little face had already changed color.

"Release my young miss!"

Qin Da pointed fiercely at Gu Sheng. Sword force gathered at his fingertip but remained unreleased. Although the three of them were so close, he had no absolute confidence that he could kill the enemy with one strike while rescuing the young miss.

"Back off!"

Gu Sheng held the young miss, Li Qingyu, in front of him with both hands as a shield. This was no time to show consideration for a beauty!