Zhong Xiaokui

More than five thousand people in Zhu Youning's party finally departed Bian Prefecture in a great, sprawling procession.

When they had just left Bian Prefecture, the scenery along the road was actually quite pleasant.

Though the sunlit pastoral landscape was not as peaceful and lovely as the poets of the High Tang had praised, and the common people still had to bear the heavy burden of taxes and labor service, the area was nevertheless bustling with people living and working in peace.

But after they reached Pinglu in the east, there was no scenery to speak of along the road.

In its place lay desolation.

It wasn't that these places had always been desolate. They had been picked clean by refugees fleeing famine. To call them deserted would be no exaggeration.

Pinglu encompassed Hebei and the Shandong Peninsula. Its soil was fertile and pale, so when famine-stricken people from other regions fled in search of food, they naturally assumed grain would be plentiful here and chose to come.

But reality was often nothing like the picture in one's mind.

Zhu Youning's party had ten carriages, more than forty horses to pull them, and over a hundred mules.

The jewels Zhu Wen had bestowed on Zhu Youning were packed into the carriages at the rear, guarded by two hundred cavalrymen, each mounted on a horse.

Of course, those two hundred men and the roughly one thousand soldiers assigned to sentry duty and combat were the only ones who didn't have to carry anything.

As for the remaining four thousand, they trudged along beside carts both large and small.

After all, they weren't going to war but relocating their commandery. It was more like moving house. And when you moved house, you hauled out all your belongings in bundles and boxes!

Apart from provisions and supplies, the soldiers brought along plenty of other things, such as tin cups for eating and drinking, iron pots, hammers, rations, and spare weapons and armor of all sizes. Mules had to carry all of it.

Moving house was exhausting work, to say the least.

Zhu Youning was the one exception. The prince took an enormous carriage all to himself without the slightest hesitation. He settled comfortably inside, munching on grapes peeled by Miaocheng Tian and Xuanjing Tian, and paid no attention to anything outside.

His conduct seemed spoiled and self-indulgent, but Wu Yi understood that the prince was actually shrewd beneath his rough exterior. Hiding inside the carriage let him avoid prying eyes.

"Enemy troops! Form ranks!"

Liu Xun, on sentry duty in front of the carriages, shouted the warning.

Miaocheng Tian's face went pale inside the carriage. "Your Highness, did I just hear someone attacking us?"

Wu Yi swiftly drew his sword and took up a position on the north side of the carriage. Turning his head, he said, "Your Highness, we don't know yet! This subordinate will protect you with his life!"

A moment later, a group of mounted figures appeared in the distance. They shouted loudly, spurred their horses into a charge, and rushed straight toward Zhu Youning's carriage.

Seated inside, Zhu Youning slightly lifted the curtain and naturally saw the riders galloping toward them.

This really was a calamity out of nowhere. He'd left the city with his maids, eating grapes and fondling beauties, only to suddenly get held up by horse bandits.

And these bandits didn't seem ordinary!

"Attack! Go straight for Zhu Youning's carriage!"

A low voice rose from among the bandits. The others surged forward, their charge carrying the force of a cavalry assault. Liu Xun immediately sensed that something was wrong.

These bandits were well trained and strictly disciplined. They didn't seem like bandits at all!

"Anyone who flees the battlefield will be executed! Failure to protect the prince is still a capital offense!" Wu Yi shouted at the attackers. "Infantry and cavalry, form ranks! Archers, prepare..."

Inside the carriage, Miaocheng Tian and Xuanjing Tian looked completely at a loss. They seemed terrified.

Zhu Youning took in both their reactions.

The two women stiffened, but their faces still showed traces of panic.

By then, the bandits outside had charged down from the road's raised shoulder and were closing in on the carriages.

Only after seeing them at close range did Wu Yi realize these bandits weren't ordinary men. They looked strong and well equipped, and their advances and formations were disciplined, almost like an army.

Wu Yi immediately felt overwhelmed.

Zhu Youning wasn't going to war this time but relocating his commandery, so his party was laden with baggage. Faced with trained attackers, they couldn't gather all their forces in time.

As a result, Wu Yi had no way to end the fight quickly. Though he managed to hold back most of the bandits, five exceptionally fierce thugs had already made their way to the carriages at the rear.

Their target was Zhu Youning's carriage.

"Today's the day we claim a marquis's title and reward!"

The five ferocious thugs charged excitedly toward Zhu Youning's carriage.

But right then, screams rang out one after another.

The bandits charging at Zhu Youning's carriage somehow toppled from their horses before they could react, each crashing face-first into the dirt.

Falling from a horse at full gallop was no small injury. It took the thug at the very front quite some time to get back to his feet.

But when he finally stood, he discovered that all four legs of his horse had been severed by something.

The other four thugs who had charged in with him were already lying motionless in pools of blood, their fates uncertain.

The ground was already clouded with dust from the horses' hooves, and now it seemed shrouded in a mist of blood.

Through the blood mist, he saw a petite figure.

The bandit's eyes widened. "How could it be you? Why are you here?"

The petite figure's voice was ice-cold. "You dared waylay the prince. You deserve to die!"

The bandit understood at once that he had been tricked. He pointed at the petite figure. "You deliberately set me—"

Before he could finish, the petite figure flicked her hand from afar. Something like invisible threads sliced the bandit in half at the waist.

The farce of an ambush was quickly brought to an end. Zhu Youning had remained seated in his carriage the entire time, his expression unchanged.

With his strength, he had nothing to fear from a bandit attack.

The only people who could threaten him were Great Heavenly Rank experts. But Great Heavenly Rank experts rarely acted lightly; they spent most of their time cultivating.

Though he had emerged unharmed, the attack still forced Zhu Youning to think.

Who would dare waylay him? And why? How had they learned where he was?

As Zhu Youning pondered, a woman's voice rang out.

"Zhong Kui of the Xuanming Cult arrived too late to rescue you, Your Highness. Please forgive me!"

The Xuanming Cult? Zhong Kui?

Zhu Youning was taken aback. Beside him, Miaocheng Tian and Xuanjing Tian exchanged a furtive glance.

Then Zhu Youning stepped down from the carriage and met Zhong Kui of the Xuanming Cult.

Zhong Kui of the Xuanming Cult was merely a title, or rather, a position.

The cult's Zhong Kui wasn't some burly fellow with a full beard. Instead, the role was held by a petite young woman dressed in a fitted red outfit.

She wore a uniquely shaped red cap. Her clothes were red too, snug and close-fitting, with graceful lines. A large character, "Kui," was printed on her back.

At that moment, she knelt on one knee before Zhu Youning's carriage, head bowed and silent.

Zhu Youning looked at her. "You're Zhong Kui of the Xuanming Cult, Zhong Xiaokui?"

"Yes." Zhong Xiaokui answered with a solemn expression. Then she cupped her hands and said, "Zhong Xiaokui is willing to follow Your Highness and serve at your command!"