Miss Xu, Watch Out!

Moonlight spilled across the rooftops.

Xu Xiaogang, whom they had seen during the day, stood atop one of them. Dressed all in white, he clasped his hands behind his back, tilted his head at a forty-five-degree angle, and gazed at the bright moon.

Then he slowly recited, "The world is fickle, and dreams are easily startled; drifting clouds gather and scatter, their meaning ever hard to discern. If only one could enjoy a long, carefree life, asking neither about the future nor about fame."

When he finished, Xu Xiaogang glanced down from the corner of his eye, hoping to observe Jiang Yun's reaction.

He'd paid a full hundred taels in the capital to have someone write that poem especially for him, so he could recite it when making an entrance and give himself an air of refinement.

Didn't all the experts in the operas recite a line or two when they made their entrances?

Jiang Yun's head was full of question marks. What was this guy here for? It was the middle of the night, and instead of sleeping, he'd climbed onto someone's roof to recite poetry?

"What are you doing?" Jiang Yun asked with a frown.

Seeing Jiang Yun's reaction, Xu Xiaogang immediately felt dissatisfied.

It looked like this guy still hadn't realized he was an expert.

He'd have to show Jiang Yun a little something.

With that thought, he pushed off hard with his foot, vaulted into the air, and flew toward Jiang Yun's rooftop.

"Watch out!"

Seeing him fly toward his roof, Jiang Yun's eyes widened. He hurriedly called out a warning, but it was already too late.

Xu Xiaogang had just set foot on the roof when, to his surprise, his foot slipped. With a bang, he fell flat, smashing his face hard against the eaves.

Jiang Yun had coated the eaves with lard long ago, just in case evil practitioners tried to ambush them from the rooftop.

"Hiss." Xu Xiaogang lay sprawled across the roof, bracing himself as he slowly got up. Jiang Yun stared at him with a look that seemed to belong to someone worrying about a fool.

"Xu Xiaogang!"

Hearing the commotion, Xu Suwen came out of the house too. Her face darkened as she said, "Didn't I tell you to stay put at Nanmanju Inn? What are you doing here?"

Xu Xiaogang managed to steady himself on the roof and tidied his disheveled hair. Only then did he calmly say, "Miss, the name Xu Xiaogang you just called out sounds familiar. It's as if it belonged to a handsome, free-spirited old friend."

"However, my name is Xu Wuchang. It seems you've mistaken me for someone else."

Xu Suwen's face was dark as Jiang Yun's head filled with questions. Unable to resist, he asked, "Who is this guy?"

"My younger brother." Xu Suwen gritted her teeth. "He's been talented since he was little. In martial arts, he could be called a prodigy, and he thinks very highly of himself."

"He's always wanted to make a grand entrance and show off in front of everyone, but the capital is crawling with hidden dragons and crouching tigers. There are countless geniuses there."

"Only recently did he finally leave the capital..."

Jiang Yun understood. In plain terms, this guy just wanted to show off?

There were too many show-offs in the capital for him to get his turn, so now that he'd reached Nanzhou Prefecture, he wanted to put on a really big show?

But if he wanted to show off, why climb onto the roof in the middle of the night...

Jiang Yun quietly asked, "How strong is he?"

"Not bad," Xu Suwen replied.

As long as he had some strength, that was enough!

Jiang Yun felt more at ease. Anyone who could help deal with those evil practitioners was one of his people.

Jiang Yun called out, "Hey, you're Xu Xiaogang, right? Come down first. If you just want to make a grand entrance, there's no need to climb so high. Do me a favor, and I'll teach you..."

"Go get a ladder," Jiang Yun said to Xu Suwen beside him.

"Haha! I, Xu Wuchang, come and go without a trace. Why would I need a wooden ladder to get down from a roof?"

Xu Xiaogang leaped into the air and even performed several graceful three-hundred-and-sixty-degree spins.

He dropped into the back courtyard.

Jiang Yun thought, Oh no. "Be careful!"

A bang and Xu Xiaogang's scream came from the back courtyard.

By the time Jiang Yun and Xu Suwen reached it, the pit in the courtyard had already been smashed open, but Xu Xiaogang was nowhere to be seen.

No one knew where he'd run off to.

"That guy." Xu Suwen gritted her teeth and stamped her foot. "I should never have let him join the Imperial Guards. All he does is cause trouble."

Jiang Yun felt a little helpless. "What a shame. If he were here, tonight might..."

"Don't worry, he hasn't gone far." Xu Suwen swept her gaze around and said in a low voice, "He's probably hiding in some corner, waiting to make his entrance at the last possible moment."

"Because of that bad habit, on many missions, the targets have already been captured by other Imperial Guards before he even shows up."

"He never gets so much as a shred of credit, but he still enjoys it."

Just as the two were about to head back inside, the bells hung around the courtyard suddenly began ringing.

Jiang Yun's expression darkened slightly as he looked around. A chill ran through him. They were here!

Xu Suwen instantly drew the saber at her waist and scanned their surroundings.

"Miss Xu, how about reconsidering my suggestion?" Jiang Yun asked.

Jiang Yun had suggested drawing another Golden Light Divine Incantation for Xu Suwen, but she'd nearly drawn her saber when she heard him.

Xu Suwen glared fiercely at Jiang Yun. "Bring it up again, and I'll cut you down first!"

Just then, footsteps sounded slowly. Three elderly men, all over eighty, approached the entrance to the Jiang Family courtyard.

All three wore black robes. Yang Qian, the leader, stared coldly at Jiang Yun and Xu Suwen inside the courtyard.

"Was it you who killed Ghost Granny?" Yang Qian asked icily, his gaze fixed on Jiang Yun.

"If you've come for revenge, why waste so many words?" Xu Suwen said coldly as she drew her saber.

The three evil practitioners slowly entered the courtyard, the killing intent in their eyes growing stronger by the moment. Yang Qian said, "Fourth Sister had known us for fifty years. We faced hardship together."

"We never expected her to fall at your hands."

Watching the three of them enter, Jiang Yun couldn't help feeling a pang of regret. He glanced at Xu Suwen.

Xu Suwen had wasted the two basins of black dog's blood by the entrance.

They wouldn't be able to find two more black dogs anytime soon.

Otherwise, if they'd splashed those two basins of black dog's blood over them, the power of those evil practitioners' Evil Arts would've been greatly reduced.

"Miss Xu, attack!" Jiang Yun said, then retreated.

Xu Suwen gave a cold snort, gripped her long saber, and charged at the three evil practitioners.

Her saber work was fierce. With each swing, she quickly hacked at the three of them.

The three evil practitioners neither dodged nor evaded. Her steel saber opened gash after gash across their bodies.

But inside their wounds were nothing but bizarre black bugs.

The bugs wriggled, and the wounds quickly healed.

They couldn't be killed.

"Little girl, those tricks of yours aren't enough to kill us," Yang Qian said. Then he opened his mouth.

A swarm of flies poured out of it.

The countless flies, packed densely together, swept toward Xu Suwen like a blanket.

Watching Xu Suwen get driven back to the tree beside the courtyard, Jiang Yun grew anxious and hurriedly warned her, "Miss Xu, watch out!"

As she swung her steel saber, Xu Suwen couldn't help thinking, I'm surrounded by these strange bugs. Does he really think I don't know to watch out?

I need him to remind me?

But soon, a thought stirred in Xu Suwen's mind.

What that guy meant...

Could he be warning her to watch out for his trap?

Then Xu Suwen felt as if she'd stepped on some sort of mechanism beneath her foot.