Star Luo Zhu Family? That Means Nothing to Me

The footsteps in the distance suddenly split apart.

One group of torches swept down along the creek, while another climbed the ridge to surround them. Boot soles crushed dry branches, the sharp cracks following one after another.

At their head was a tall, thin man with a Zhu Family Crest hanging at his waist. A layer of gray-black fur covered the back of his hand.

He stopped at a fork in the path and bent to touch the blood in the mud.

"The blood's still warm."

He raised a hand and waved.

"Second Miss is injured, and her Soul Power won't hold out much longer. First team, block the creek. Second team, sweep the ridge. Don't let her reach the road to Soto."

A guard beside him hesitated, then lowered his voice.

"Commander Zhu, do we really have to press her this hard? If Second Miss is badly hurt, what about Eldest Miss..."

Commander Zhu shot him a cold look.

"Eldest Miss wants her brought back, not sent to Shrek to settle things with Dai Mubai. The engagement ties the Zhu Family to the Dai Family. If anything goes wrong, someone's head will roll first."

The guard dared not say more. The torches spread out to either side.

Behind a tree, Zhu Zhuqing held a short dagger between her teeth. With the Hell Spirit Cat possessing her, she touched her toes to the damp earth and shot past the bushes, her figure skimming close to the ground.

The first torchlight swept over, but she had already passed behind the guard.

He felt only a chill at the back of his neck. When he turned, all he saw was a leaf caught up by the wind.

"Over there!"

The shout had barely sounded when Zhu Zhuqing kicked off a tree trunk and vaulted over a low slope.

Her shoulder wound tore open. The scent of blood spread at once, and her stride faltered for half a beat. Her knee nearly struck a rock.

Too long.

She had fled all the way from outside Star Luo City to here, and her Soul Power had been worn away bit by bit.

She pressed her lips together and steadied herself.

She couldn't stop.

Beside the Hunting Path's wooden shelter, a dirt wall blocked the Seven Treasures convoy's torchlight, leaving only a dark red glow on the wheels.

Ning Rongrong crouched over a map, dragging a charcoal pencil across several forks in the road.

Mud stained her hem, though she hadn't noticed. Her brows, however, drew tighter and tighter.

"Put out the front carriage's torch."

She looked up at Ning Chuan.

"Don't leave the rear carriage beside the shelter. Take it around behind this bend. Uncle Ning Chuan, take two men up high. Don't pursue too far; just watch the torches move."

Ning Chuan held his riding crop, his expression unusually serious.

"Miss, this arrangement gives us room to retreat if we're ambushed, but you can't move any farther forward."

Ning Rongrong slapped the Seven Treasures Token onto the corner of the map.

"I'm not charging ahead, but I need to know where the line breaks. The Seven Treasures do business by watching the road. We can't save someone by running around with our eyes shut."

Xiao Wu sat by the carriage window, one hand on the Concealment Talisman inside her collar. Her nose twitched.

"Blood."

Ning Rongrong immediately turned around.

Xiao Wu didn't argue with her. Her face was tense.

"There are a lot of people. The blood scent is ahead on the left, not far away. A few of them are moving fast. Their scent keeps cutting in and out, like they're circling her."

Ning Chuan glanced at Xiao Wu and asked no questions. He merely signaled to the guards.

Su Hang stood outside the carriage, watching the torches move through the woods.

They weren't searching at random.

The two wings were closing in steadily, leaving an opening in the middle, as if they were driving someone toward Broken Slope.

"They're not ordinary guards."

Su Hang rolled up the map and put it back in Ning Rongrong's hands.

"There's an agility-type Soul Master among them, and they know how to track. They're not looking for Zhu Zhuqing. They're driving her somewhere."

Ning Rongrong tightened her grip. The charcoal pencil nearly snapped.

"Where?"

Su Hang pointed to the shadow at the end of the ridge.

"Broken Slope."

Xiao Wu stood up at once, only to be blocked by the carriage doorframe.

She looked down at the talisman inside her collar, her fingers slowly curling into a fist.

"Brother Su Hang, I can smell her. She's really close."

But that heavy gaze in the distance was still there.

Tang Hao hadn't come closer, yet he remained just beyond the woods.

Su Hang glanced at her and pressed another Concealment Talisman against her sleeve.

"You stay in the carriage."

Xiao Wu jerked her head up.

Su Hang's tone remained calm.

"It's not that I won't let you help her. We just can't let the person in the distance spot you. If you expose yourself, we won't have saved Zhu Zhuqing, and we'll have a Titled Douluo to deal with as well."

Xiao Wu bit her lip and knocked her toe against the carriage floor.

Ning Rongrong stepped forward with the map in her arms.

"Then I'm going with you."

Su Hang pushed her back beside the carriage.

"You stay at a safe distance."

Ning Rongrong immediately bristled, already reaching for the Seven Treasures Token.

"I just finished deploying everyone, and now you're telling me to hide in the back?"

Su Hang looked toward the torches in the woods and said flatly, "If the Zhu Family captures you, tonight will stop being about rescuing Zhu Zhuqing and become a negotiation between the Seven Treasures and the Star Luo Empire."

Ning Rongrong: "..."

Xiao Wu couldn't resist adding a jab.

"See? He doesn't think you're weak. He thinks you're expensive."

Ning Rongrong was speechless for a long while. At last, she hung the Seven Treasures Token at her waist.

"Fine. I'm expensive, so I'll stand somewhere expensive."

Ning Chuan almost lost his composure and gave a quiet cough.

Su Hang had already turned around.

"Ning Chuan, bring two guards with me. Everyone else follows Rongrong's orders. Don't chase the torches; just guard the escape route."

Ning Chuan immediately followed. His boots pressed into the wet mud, and he didn't hesitate again.

Ning Rongrong stood beside the carriage, watching Su Hang's back disappear into the woods. The map in her hands crumpled under her grip.

Xiao Wu lifted one corner of the curtain, then quickly let it fall.

"Don't glare. You won't glare a path into existence."

Ning Rongrong didn't turn around.

"Rabbit, keep track of that blood scent. If Su Hang comes back and takes a wrong turn, I'll use you as a signpost."

Xiao Wu snorted.

"Don't worry. My sense of direction is better than your map."

The torches in the woods drew closer and closer.

Zhu Zhuqing had been driven to the edge of Broken Slope. Behind her lay slick, jumbled rocks, and the bottom of the slope was too dark to see.

Blood ran from her shoulder down her arm. She held her short dagger crosswise before her.

Commander Zhu and his men stopped ten paces away.

He didn't hurry forward. Instead, he planted a torch in the mud, letting the light fall across Zhu Zhuqing's face.

"Second Miss, stop running."

Zhu Zhuqing's breaths were short. Her cat tail hung low, but she didn't retreat.

Commander Zhu raised a hand, signaling the guards on both sides to surround her.

"Eldest Miss said the engagement isn't yours to throw away. The Dai Family hasn't spoken, and the Zhu Family hasn't given its consent. It makes no difference where you run."

Zhu Zhuqing tightened her grip on the short dagger.

"Then let her marry him herself."

The words fell, and several guards' expressions changed.

Commander Zhu's face darkened as well.

"Second Miss, if those words get back, Eldest Miss won't show you any more mercy."

A shadow flashed beneath Zhu Zhuqing's feet. She suddenly lunged toward the weak point on the right.

Her short dagger slit the first guard's sleeve. She struck the second guard's wrist bone with the back of her hand, and his torch fell to the ground.

She broke through by half a step.

Only half a step.

Commander Zhu blurred forward. Gray-black fur spread over both his arms, and he moved far faster than an ordinary guard.

He cut off her escape with a sideways palm. The force of it grazed Zhu Zhuqing's wounded shoulder.

A muffled thud.

Zhu Zhuqing was driven back to the edge of Broken Slope. Pebbles tumbled from beneath her boot heel and rolled down, but no sound came back for a long time.

Commander Zhu shook his wrist, a touch of impatience in his eyes.

"Second Miss, you're hurt this badly, and you still want to force your way through?"

Zhu Zhuqing swallowed the taste of blood and raised her dagger again.

The torches closed in.

The guards pressed nearer, one step at a time.

"Take her back."

Just as Commander Zhu finished speaking, a streak of Dark Purple Lightning flashed from behind the trees.

Crack!

The outermost torch burst into sparks. Mud and water flew, and several guards instinctively retreated half a step.

The woods fell silent for an instant.

"Who's there?"

Commander Zhu spun around.

Beyond the torchlight, Su Hang stepped out from the shadows of the trees, not a single spark on his hem.

Ning Chuan and two Seven Treasures Guards followed behind him, their Seven Treasures Patterns flashing in the darkness.

Su Hang didn't even look at Commander Zhu. He only gazed at Zhu Zhuqing by the edge of Broken Slope.

"Can you still stand?"

Zhu Zhuqing's hand stiffened around her dagger.

She didn't answer, only straightened her back a little.

Commander Zhu glanced at the Seven Treasures Patterns, his expression darkening.

"The Seven Treasure Glazed Tile Sect? This is a family matter of the Star Luo Zhu Family. I'd advise you not to interfere."

Ning Chuan stepped forward half a pace, about to respond according to protocol, but Su Hang raised a hand to stop him.

Su Hang looked at Commander Zhu, his tone as even as if he were asking for directions.

"Family matter?"

He stepped on the scattered embers, snuffing them out.

"She said she won't go back. Can't you understand that?"