Things Suddenly Got Complicated

Even though Wang Qi had prepared himself, Ran Jiao's way of "sending a message" still startled him... it was a low, hoarse hissing, like a venomous snake lurking in the dark.

Yet he could understand what those seemingly "serpentine" words meant. Broadly speaking, she was reporting their coordinates...

At the same time, he sensed an extremely subtle fluctuation of spiritual force, one he would never have noticed had he not been right beside her... Ran Jiao was casting a spell.

Impressed and envious, he waited for Ran Jiao to finish before asking curiously, "How does it work?"

Ran Jiao glanced at him, clearly not particularly inclined to talk, but she simply could not bear his curious gaze. Helplessly, she explained, "This is the Wind Whisper Spell. It can effectively transmit information within a hundred li."

"Of course, the recipient needs a separate conduit to receive the sound transmitted by the Wind Whisper Spell, and Sima Xu happens to carry one."

Wang Qi felt as though his horizons had broadened again. He asked, "But won't someone notice you casting it? Commandant Lin can always sense it when I practice spells."

He recalled the several times Commandant Lin had driven him out of camp in disgust, and a sour, stifling feeling rose in his chest.

Ran Jiao answered with complete confidence, "Don't worry. I already chant my Wind Whisper Spell in an encoded, suppressed form. Only someone like Commandant Lin, with a special gift for sensing fluctuations in spiritual force, could detect it. Such people are exceedingly rare."

Wang Qi could only feel that this world bore him a deep malice. Why had he run into someone so rare?

Forget it. Don't think about that. It only hurts.

He now understood another reason Xu Ping had paired him with Ran Jiao... this Wind Whisper Spell must have been an important part of it.

So they settled down to wait, while also looking for a way to learn what was happening inside...

"With that powerful martial artist there, I'm afraid we have no way of discovering exactly what they're discussing," Ran Jiao said regretfully.

It was not that they could not investigate, but doing so would increase the risk of stirring the grass and startling the snake.

Wang Qi was itching to try. He wanted to scout by leaving his body; he did not believe that this supposed expert could see through the presence of his disembodied consciousness as well.

But he quickly suppressed that impulse... looking at Ran Jiao beside him, he decided to play it safe for now.

He and Ran Jiao had only been partners for a short time. They were nowhere near the point where he could reveal such a secret... besides, he had already done quite well on this mission. He should leave the rest to Xu Ping, the Yulin Shadow Guard's Detached Division Commandant.

He was merely curious about how this household had managed to drag the common people into committing such an outrageous offense, and surprised by the Mount Tai Commandery Governor's deliberate concealment.

The Mount Tai Commandery Governor was firmly rooted in the region. There was no reason he would not know about such a prominent household or what they had done... so why had they mentioned only bandits, and never this household?

As a result, they had come to investigate without any concrete information, not even knowing who this household was.

Suddenly, after the people inside had been discussing matters for about half an hour, Wang Qi heard a robust voice backed by deep, sustained internal qi. Its owner began shouting as he emerged from the main courtyard, waking everyone sleeping in the fort.

Ran Jiao's expression turned serious. She glanced at the torches being rapidly lit throughout the fort, then immediately pulled Wang Qi into hiding in a corner of the inner courtyard.

By the firelight spilling over the wall, Wang Qi saw Ran Jiao's slit pupils glitter in the shadows, as though reflecting the light.

But her eyes were filled with caution, and she kept her head tilted, listening closely to the activity outside.

Seeing this, Wang Qi guessed that the fellow with the particularly powerful voice might be the expert Ran Jiao feared.

Outside, a hubbub rose as the fort's private soldiers were clearly being gathered to head out into the night... this was happening half an hour after that old villager had delivered his message, so they could be almost certain the soldiers were setting out to find the two of them.

Yet while the commotion continued outside, the courtyard grew considerably quieter.

Especially once the private soldiers had assembled and departed, the courtyard became utterly still.

Wang Qi and Ran Jiao suddenly exchanged a glance, each understanding the other's meaning...

Together, they crouched low and carefully slipped farther into the inner courtyard...

Although they had already notified their colleagues, a better chance to strike directly at the enemy leader would be an opportunity sent by heaven.

This time, Ran Jiao was much bolder as she crept in, showing none of her earlier caution... it seemed the martial artist who had left had put her under considerable pressure.

But how had she known beforehand that a difficult martial artist was there?

Wang Qi recalled how his disembodied consciousness apparently could be sensed... could Ran Jiao also possess a special gift for perception?

Weren't people like that supposed to be rare?

Once again, Wang Qi felt the world's thick malice. Why did such rare people keep appearing around him?

Soon, however, he had no attention to spare for that, because as he entered the inner courtyard, his keen ears picked up soft sobbing from within.

Ran Jiao must have heard it too.

They carefully climbed onto the ridge of the buildings' roof, then advanced along it as silently as possible.

Once they reached a suitable spot, Ran Jiao lifted a roof tile with practiced ease, and the voices inside came through with perfect clarity...

"What are we going to do? Surely we won't be treated as rebels? Tian'er has taken men out there. Nothing will happen to him, will it?" It was an elderly woman's voice, and the sobbing had come from her as well.

Wang Qi looked down through the gap left by the tile and saw an imposing-looking old man and an elderly woman who kept wiping away her tears.

Both were around forty or fifty, and appeared to be the masters of this fort.

Wang Qi's fingers itched. Wouldn't one arrow put an end to this?

In the end, however, he did not loose that arrow, and instead listened patiently...

"Isn't this all your son's doing?! If the Fei County magistrate wanted to collect land taxes, we should have let him. We'd already paid our share. Why stick our necks out for those common folk?"

"He killed the officials collecting taxes, and instead of stopping there, he had the gall to rally a mob and turn things into this mess... our Chen Family has endured for thirteen generations, but I fear it will finally end here!"

The old man inside spoke with both anger and lament.

So this was Chen Family Fort.

"The Mount Tai Chen Family is a renowned lineage within Mount Tai Commandery... even throughout Yan Province. I never imagined something like this would happen," Ran Jiao whispered.

The two below were ordinary people, so she was not afraid they would hear her speaking overhead.

Madam Chen began complaining resentfully again. "This is all your fault. I told you long ago not to let him study martial arts... and look at things now! He's mastered his martial arts, but this household is about to be destroyed!"

"What are you fretting about, woman? Why do you think only two scouts have come, rather than the Commandery Governor's Commandery Troops coming to suppress a rebellion? Obviously, it's because there's still room to turn things around!"

The Chen Family Head said helplessly:

"As long as that rascal disbands the unruly commoners he stirred up, we can put forward a household-born servant to take the blame."

"But we don't have much time left. Though I have an old connection with the Commandery Governor, this matter cannot be kept under wraps forever... the arrival of those two scouts means Tian'er has little time left to keep indulging his whims."

Listening from the rooftop, Wang Qi was truly dumbfounded. Then he realized that the outcome of this operation would probably become very complicated... when powerful local families were involved, even the reigning emperor had to weigh the consequences carefully.