It had all happened too suddenly.
Bai Yuji had never imagined that Qin Yanying would sense Hu Huan's presence on her own.
Qin Yanying's spiritual sense wasn't strong, and her sense of smell was even worse.
Who could have guessed her battle instincts were this sharp?
No wonder she had become a renowned general despite being stuck at fourth rank.
Bai Yuji gritted her teeth and sprinted toward Chen Sui's residence.
Whatever the process had been.
Qin Yanying had already set foot on the path laid out in the plan.
She had told Bai Yuji to notify Chen Sui. From the perspective of keeping Qin Muye under control, there was nothing wrong with getting the message to Chen Sui as fast as possible.
Bai Yuji no longer knew what she wanted.
She could only cast aside every distracting thought, tread a mysterious path, and race toward Chen Sui's residence.
In an instant, she had covered a hundred zhang.
A figure wearing a bamboo hat flashed past her, crossing the river on foot.
Who was that?
Were they also going after Hu Huan?
Bai Yuji had no time to think. She didn't dare slow down for even a moment.
For some reason,
she felt that the person had glanced at her just now, their eyes seeming to brim with... disappointment?
By the Anjin River.
At a certain elegant estate.
Inside a warm pavilion, seven young boys and girls huddled on the ground, trembling uncontrollably.
They weren't bound hand and foot, yet terror had robbed them of control over their limbs. They couldn't even make the slightest move to flee.
A giant serpent, nearly three zhang long, coiled before them, regarding them with mocking eyes.
Its scales were like black jade, lustrous and translucent, more beautiful than polished stone, yet chilling beyond words.
Whenever the serpent shifted, its scales clattered like armor.
Its forked tongue flicked out.
The stench was overpowering.
A few of the more timid ones had already fainted.
The rest had wet themselves and were weeping uncontrollably, yet couldn't even make a sound.
Nearby,
stood three beautiful women.
They shared one feature: each had a slight swell to her belly, with a fetus of about four to six months.
At that moment,
Qingtiao's hands and feet were ice-cold, her mind utterly blank.
She had always wondered:
Why were there still customers willing to pay five times the going rate when Shen Jin already paid her so generously?
Now she understood. The new customers weren't even human.
A libertine like Shen Jin simply thought pregnant women offered a different kind of pleasure.
But this pair of snake demons wanted far more than mere pleasure.
She had clearly seen the hunger in the snake demons' eyes as they looked at the young boys and girls.
The children were food.
There was no reason the pregnant women would be spared.
Qingtiao was terrified.
The person who had arranged the work for her was mysterious. Even Fu Gui had never seen his face.
And when she had been brought here last night, they had passed no people along the way.
In other words, even if she died here, no one would ever know!
She was desperate.
For the first time, she hated her own beauty so much. If she hadn't been pretty, the Young Master wouldn't have harassed her, and her husband wouldn't have been beaten lame.
If she had been uglier, even pregnant, those lords with peculiar tastes wouldn't have chosen her.
And she wouldn't have ended up on this road to certain death.
She regretted it.
She regretted ever setting foot on this road of no return.
But... it was all too late!
"Creak!"
The door swung open. To everyone there, the sound was like the gates of the underworld opening, and they all trembled in fright.
A man with his upper body bare walked in.
He was tall and slender. Though somewhat lean, his muscles were sharply defined and full of strength.
His skin was dark, ringed with silver-white scales.
Combined with his snake-like eyes, he looked utterly eerie.
When the man approached,
the giant dark-green snake asked, "Husband, have those annoying pests left?"
"A bunch of flies. They won't leave no matter how often I drive them off. If this weren't human territory, I'd have taken their lives!"
Hu Huan's voice was menacing, but he quickly put on a smile. "Don't be angry, dear. They only dare pester us. Just enjoy yourself. I'll keep watch, and I doubt they'll dare make a move."
The giant snake glanced at the three pregnant women. "You're so good to me, husband. With so many choice morsels right in front of you, you still won't enjoy them!"
Hu Huan smiled. "You're carrying our child. You come first!"
His smile was full of affection, but to the young boys and girls, he looked more terrifying than a demon crawling out of the deepest hell.
They had no time to react.
The giant snake had already lunged at them with its jaws wide open.
Just then,
"Whoosh!"
"Whoosh!"
Two razor-sharp arrows shot through the window.
The giant snake's gaze sharpened. Its tongue lashed out and swept the arrows into the wall.
Hu Huan's face instantly darkened. He reached toward the empty air outside, and two clouds of blood burst open a hundred feet away.
He said coldly, "Who are you people? Sneaking around—what kind of skill is that? Do you dare come out and speak?"
In the bamboo grove outside the courtyard,
Luo Qing wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. "Great Elder, we've done all we can! Hu Huan crippled two of my Gu Puppets with one move. He's at least upper fourth rank. We can't actually fight him, so what are we staying here for?"
He Xifeng said gravely, "I promised the princess I'd protect these pregnant women and children."
Luo Qing gritted his teeth. "The people of the Central Plains destroyed our home, yet we're supposed to protect their women and children? What kind of sense does that make? If these people really die, it's because Qin Yanying was too slow to get here. I'm leaving. Whoever wants to handle this absurd business can do it!"
With that,
he left at once.
He Xifeng was furious. She hadn't expected Luo Qing to be so disobedient.
But the snake demon's cultivation really was terrifying. Though they were both upper fourth rank, their combat strength was on entirely different levels.
As expected of Yayu's descendant. Even with the weakest bloodline, its physical gifts were enough to outclass most human prodigies.
So,
what should she do?
At that moment, Hu Huan's voice came from inside the courtyard again. "Since none of you dare show yourselves, we'll get started."
The Second Elder grew anxious. "Great Elder, what do we do?"
He Xifeng pondered for a moment. "We've held them off this long. We've done right by the princess. Withdraw!"
But
just as they were about to retreat,
a resounding whinny rang across the sky.
Everyone looked up. Qin Yanying had arrived astride a ferocious battle steed, Flowing Light, galloping through the air.
A silver saddle flashed on a white horse, swift as a shooting star.
She hurled her spear like a bolt of red lightning. In an instant, it pierced through the pavilion.
At the sight, He Xifeng's eyes shuddered.
This was only the second time in all these years she had seen the killer of her son.
Yet she still couldn't strike.
She gritted her teeth. "Withdraw!"
Inside the room.
"Dear, look out!"
Hu Huan's expression changed dramatically. With a shout, he slammed into the giant snake, sending it flying three zhang and out of the spear's path.
But he himself couldn't dodge in time.
With a roar, tiger-striped scales covered his arms, and he braced himself against the spear.
A grating metallic buzz rang out.
He barely managed to disperse the terrifying impact.
"Qin Yanying!"
His eyes bulged with rage. He had clearly recognized the human female general who had once beaten him to a pulp.
But when he looked up, all he saw in the sky was the Spirit Rhinoceros Dragon Steed, still descending.
A surge of utter terror welled up inside him. The scales all over his body stood on end as he whipped around to look.
At that moment,
Qin Yanying was wreathed in flames, gripping the giant snake by the nape.
The giant snake, terrifying just moments before, now lay limp as an enormous earthworm, its eyes full of pleading.
She glanced at the children and pregnant women, then turned back to the giant snake. Her eyes blazed with indescribable savagery. "A leopard never changes its spots. Since you want to die, I'll grant your wish."
Just then,
"General Qin, don't!"
A man wearing a bamboo hat rushed in, his voice cracking with desperation.
Qin Muye was stunned. In an instant, he understood what those Nanzhao bastards were thinking.
The major negotiations were about to begin. The barbarians had agreed to negotiate because they could no longer withstand being attacked from both sides.
The Demon Officials were allies of Great Gan. The imperial court couldn't afford to offend them now.
Granted, Hu Huan had started it. But massacring civilians wasn't unheard of even among the human noble houses, and in many places, the local authorities turned a blind eye to similar deeds by Demon Officials.
If they killed Yayu's daughter-in-law and grandchild now...
He had to stop his great-aunt.
But,
Qin Yanying shot the puppet a cold glance. "What are you supposed to be? You dare stop me?"
She formed her fingers into a blade.
Then struck with a vicious thrust.
"Pfft!"
The giant snake's body was pierced clean through.
Blood mixed with egg fluid spilled from the wound.
The giant snake thrashed violently.
Qin Yanying found it annoying and twisted its head off in one swift motion.
Hu Huan: "!?!?!?"
Qin Muye: "..."
This was bad!
Before you continue