Everyone stared outside, motionless.
Li Qingxian smiled. "I know you have your doubts because Jian Yuancang and I are at odds. Now someone is knocking outside. If you don't believe me, go open the door."
Hong Nian's eyes flickered, but he did not answer.
Yu Ping said, "You've all seen it. If he doesn't dare go, that proves he's harboring malicious intentions. Just because the two lords are at odds, he's deliberately opposing us, even at the cost of your lives. If that's truly the case, a malignant tumor like him must be cut out."
Everyone looked at Hong Nian.
The Ninth Rank Night Guard gripped his saber's hilt and said, "You and I both know what sort of reputation the marquis has in the Night Guard. Even knowing you were making trouble, he hasn't laid a hand on you. Now I'll give you a choice: either follow orders honestly like the rest of us and swear a binding oath, or, since you don't trust the marquis, go open the door."
An image surfaced in Hong Nian's mind: Jian Yuancang lying in his sickbed, cursing Li Qingxian and coughing up blood. Then he remembered the battlefield years ago, watching a tiger demon's huge paw come crashing down, with nowhere to dodge, helplessly awaiting death. Jian Yuancang had slashed his saber across, severed the tiger's head, laughed heartily, and turned to charge another tiger demon.
"Anyone who harmed Lord Jian is no good person!" With that, Hong Nian strode forward, pushed open the room's door, and followed the gravel path toward the translucent paper gate.
Everyone watched. Beyond the paper gate, a silhouette swayed gently, as though standing in a gale.
The dark silhouette extended an arm and knocked three more times on the paper gate.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Hong Nian