Longing Lasts, Yet Men's Hearts Are Less Trustworthy Than Water; Calm Plains Give Rise to Sudden Waves

"Oh?"

"What's so suspicious about it?" Lu Yang asked.

"The Wang Family seems to be transporting a batch of... dead people," Sheng San said, his expression turning rather uneasy.

Lu Yang stared into his eyes and narrowed his own. "Are you sure?"

Sheng San replied firmly, "Absolutely. Seven or eight corpses, packed into wooden barrels and covered with hemp cloth. They sprayed them with dung, loaded them onto a cart, and headed for East City Gate."

"They think that spraying them with manure water will hide the stench of death, but they can't fool me. Yang-ge, you know how we beggars all crawled out of piles of corpses. I'll never forget that peculiar smell."

Lu Yang nodded.

"East City Gate?"

Lu Yang murmured, "There's a Mass Grave Mound outside East City Gate. Even if someone spots them, they can say they're going to bury the dead."

Those powerful, wealthy households had long since bought their servants' lives outright. Even their very lives were in their masters' hands.

Even if they killed one or two and buried them on the spot, the authorities wouldn't ask questions.

So why go to the trouble of disguising it?

A terrible thought suddenly rose in Lu Yang's mind.

"This Wang Family, could they be...?"

Lu Yang suddenly grabbed Sheng San. "How long ago did they leave?"

Sheng San said, "By my reckoning, they should have only just left the city."

"Take this."

Lu Yang tossed Sheng San the money pouch, then became a gust of wind, mounted his horse, and headed straight for the area beyond East City Gate.

Watching Lu Yang leave, Sheng San's expression suddenly turned somewhat desolate.

He galloped all the way beyond the city gate. From far away, Lu Yang spotted a convoy.

They were heading straight for the Lonely Mountain where the Mass Grave Mound outside the city lay.

Keeping his distance, Lu Yang followed behind at an unhurried pace.

They followed the road all the way to the Mass Grave Mound, but the convoy suddenly sped up and continued along the mountain path toward a distant grove.

"Hmph! Just as I thought."

Lu Yang flicked his reins and hurried after them.

After pursuing them seven or eight li into the woods, the carriage racing ahead suddenly slowed, then gradually came to a stop.

Lu Yang rode up beside it. Only then did he realize the driver had vanished.

A sense of foreboding welled up in his heart.

With a single bound, he leaped onto the cart. Enduring the stench, he pulled back the hemp cloth covering one of the wooden barrels, wanting to see whether it contained what he suspected.

Suddenly!

Splash!

A lithe figure sprang out of the barrel in an instant. The blade of a dagger flashed coldly as it thrust straight at his chest!

Fortunately, Lu Yang reacted quickly. He instinctively stepped back, evading the lethal strike.

But before he could counterattack, several shrill whistles suddenly came from behind him and diagonally ahead.

Several gleaming blades and swords lunged straight for his vital points.

Their speed and impeccable timing were unlike anything Lu Yang had ever seen.

"Houtian Realm!"

Just from their auras, Lu Yang realized that all of them were Houtian Realm experts!

"What a fine trap—you invited me in, and the Wang Family really thinks highly of me, Lu Yang!" He spun around and drew his saber. His perfected Mountain Splitting Saber Art burst forth with the force of a mountain cleaver, meeting three of them head-on. Where saber and sword clashed, sparks burst brilliantly.

With a single strike, Lu Yang forced back three Houtian First Level martial artists.

"Your saber art has reached perfection. You really do have some talent!"

"Too bad your saber art is still nothing but common trash, beneath even the lowest rank!"

An ethereal, elusive voice drifted slowly from all around him.

Mockery and contempt laced the voice.

"There's someone else?"

Lu Yang's expression tightened slightly. Until now, he hadn't detected a fifth person.

This person's strength was clearly greater than that of the four who had attacked him just now.

Lu Yang had little confidence in facing four Houtian First Level martial artists at once.

Now there was an even stronger opponent hiding in the shadows, ready to strike a fatal blow at any moment.

In these circumstances, even his perfected Mountain Splitting Saber Art couldn't give him enough confidence.

"Sheng San, you sold me out!" Lu Yang's heart blazed with fury.

If not for Sheng San's false information, he wouldn't have fallen into the Wang Family's trap.

As the most crucial link in the entire ambush, Sheng San had undoubtedly sided with the Wang Family.

During the year Lu Yang had worked as a constable, he had looked after Sheng San quite a bit. He truly hadn't expected the other man to betray him.

"Once I escape this, I'll kill him!" Killing intent boiled in Lu Yang's heart.

The Wang Family's four Houtian Realm experts had already closed in again, their blades and swords aimed at his vital points.

Lu Yang knew that although those four were inferior to him in martial arts, they outnumbered him. Once they surrounded him, he would have no chance of survival today, even if the person in the shadows never made a move.

In a flash, Lu Yang immediately decided to break through in one direction.

"Rolling Stone Opens Mountain!"

True qi surged within him. His perfected saber swept forth with the force of a mountain cleaver, bearing down with crushing weight.

Crack!

The long sword of his opponent snapped in two beneath Lu Yang's strike!

The biting edge of the saber continued on, severing the swordsman's left arm. Blood sprayed wildly as he screamed.

Lu Yang didn't linger to fight. He kicked the swordsman blocking his way into the air, then hurriedly fled into the distance.

"Where do you think you're going?"

In the shadowy mountain forest, a palm strike descended from above without warning.

The attacker moved incredibly fast. By the time Lu Yang sensed something was wrong, the palm was already thrusting toward his back.

There was no time to turn around. In his haste, Lu Yang could only rely on instinct and slash blindly behind him with his saber.

His hurried strike was knocked askew by the attacker's palm. Yet even with half its force deflected, the palm still landed squarely on Lu Yang's back.

Lu Yang felt a burst of agony in his back and couldn't help spitting out a mouthful of blood.

But he didn't dare pause for even an instant. Instead, he used the force of that palm strike to speed up and flee into the distance.

The man pursued him like a leech, continuing to close in at astonishing speed.

"Heh."

"My Wang Family's Smoke-like Net Steps are a High-grade Yellow Tier movement technique. If I let an ignorant brat like you escape, that would be a joke!"

Lu Yang didn't reply. He merely endured the pain and ran deeper into the woods without looking back.

That palm strike had come from someone at least at the third level of the Houtian Realm. His opponent's palm technique was also at least a Mid-grade Yellow Tier martial art. Before mastering the Returning Origin Art, Lu Yang stood no chance against him.

As the man drew ever closer and death seemed just within reach, a smile curved Lu Yang's lips.

At some point, a talisman had appeared between the two fingers of his left hand. As his true qi flowed into it, a faint, hazy green light gathered over its surface.

Just now, he had been trying again and again to activate the talisman with his own true qi. His reserves were limited, and he had only managed to succeed now.

In an instant, the talisman blazed with green light, and wisps of radiance coiled around Lu Yang.

Lu Yang felt his feet grow light. His speed surged seven or eight times over, and within just a few breaths, he had left the man who had been closing in far behind.

The man stopped, his face darkening, and let out a sigh.

"Light Spirit Talisman. I miscalculated. I didn't expect that little constable to have something like this on him."

"If I'd known, I would've brought a few talismans when I left home."