"I am your ancestor!"
Upon hearing this...
Mei Zhongjun's Adam's apple bobbed. He wanted to curse again, but he was struck hard, and a spurt of black blood gushed from his chest. He turned his head and spat it onto the ground, the blood mixed with dark red fragments.
His body slid down the bedpost two inches, and his head tilted to the side.
There was no further movement.
Gu Moran looked away.
A system notification sounded in my mind.
[The destiny line of Mei Zhongjun, the Son of Destiny, has broken.]
[Successfully plundered destiny.]
[Reward: Profound Yin Meridian-Locking Art, increases the cultivation level of Protective Qi by one level.]
With a gentle flick of his fingertips within his sleeve, a surge of new true energy flowed through his meridians, propelling him forward half a step from his previously stagnant Third Rank level.
Outside the courtyard.
Mei Boqian stood under the eaves, the bow in his hand slowly lowering.
He looked at his younger brother, nailed to the bedpost, and then at the corpses lying scattered on the floor. His lips moved a few times, but he could only panic and didn't know what to say.
Could the woman in this house really be a princess?!
Otherwise, why would each of the people who come be so incredibly capable?!
Outside the courtyard gate, the sound of armor plates clashing grew louder as it approached.
A middle-aged man wearing black armor stepped into the courtyard, his helmet on his head and his shoulder armor gleaming from the rain.
The plum blossom pattern on the scabbard of the sword at his waist flashed in the firelight.
Marquis Mei Hongye of Luoyang has returned.
The torchlight flickered in his direction, and he froze.
There were about a dozen black-clad corpses lying haphazardly on the ground. Some of them were still holding crossbows, their fingers still on the triggers, the cuts on their necks clean and swift, one cut at a time.
Rainwater mixed with blood flowed along the cracks in the blue bricks, converging in the low-lying areas.
Mei Hongye's gaze swept over the corpse and landed at the end of the corridor.
The eldest son, Mei Boqian, sat on the ground leaning against a pillar, his legs trembling uncontrollably. His face was deathly pale, and his mouth opened and closed several times.
"Father... Father..."
When Mei Boqian saw the armor, he relaxed completely, tried to stand up by supporting himself with his hands, but his knees buckled and he sat back down.
Mei Hongye ignored him.
His gaze swept across the corridor and landed on the open door of the main room.
The lights were still on inside, and the candlelight flickered in the draft, illuminating most of the scene inside.
A person was nailed to the bedpost.
A three-inch dagger was plunged into his left chest, the hilt wrapped with half a piece of deerskin.
Mei Hongye recognized the piece of deerskin; it was the self-defense tool that his second brother had hidden in the sump of his wheelchair.
Right now, this thing is stuck in his own son's chest.
Mei Zhongjun's head drooped, his chin resting on his chest, his brand-new sapphire blue brocade robe soaked with blood.
The leg below the knee, which had been paralyzed for seven years, was twisted, with more than one broken bone, and the angle of twisting was not what a living person should have.
Mei Hongye paused for a moment.
But at that moment, he was too preoccupied to care about his son.
A person was standing in the middle of the room, with his back to him.
The man's black hair was tied back, and the hem of his outer robe was stained with mud and blood. He was bowing his head and wiping his fingers with a handkerchief.
He wiped it at a leisurely pace.
There were a few dark red stains on the white handkerchief. I wiped it, then turned it over and wiped it again.
Mei Hongye's mind was in complete turmoil.
Half an hour ago, thirty miles outside the city, at a patrol post.
The letter was delivered by royal courier, sealed with a private seal on a wax seal.
He had seen that seal once before, twenty years ago when he went to the palace to express his gratitude; he had caught a glimpse of it from afar.
The letter contained only one sentence.
"Someone in the Marquis's household plots to assassinate the reigning princess."
There was no name at the end, only the seal.
This was Gu Moli's last resort.
If things go wrong due to fratricide, let the Marquis take control.
Mei Hongye was holding a half-bowl of medicine when he finished reading the last word. His fingers slipped, the bowl slipped, and broke into three pieces on the stone slab.
Without asking anything or waiting for anything, he rushed out with his armor half-drawn, pulling his sword off the door frame. The night watch captain was given a thorough dressing-down by him.
He selected sixty elite armored soldiers and they rushed towards Luoyang City in the pouring rain.
He only had one thing on his mind the whole way.
If the private seal is genuine, and the princess is hidden in the Marquis's mansion, and that blind fool really does something...
The combined wealth of the Mei Clan of Luoyang for three generations, plus his own head, wouldn't be enough to fill it all.
His plan was simple: kick open the courtyard gate, snap the second son's neck with his own hands, throw his head in front of the princess, kneel down and beg for forgiveness, and save his entire family.
When he arrived, he found that the tidying up was no longer necessary.
A person emerged from the shadows of the inner room.
The young woman was dressed in plain blue cloth, her hair loosely tied back, without any hairpins or ornaments.
Her face was a little pale, but her steps were steady. The way she emerged from the shadows seemed out of place in this dilapidated courtyard.
He recognized that face.
No.
No, this isn't the face he's seen before.
It's another face that bears a six or seven-tenths resemblance to this one.
Noble Consort Chen.
It seems this is indeed Princess Anle of the current dynasty.
His hand slid off the sword hilt, and his legs, which had been bouncing on horseback for thirty miles, finally began to sway.
He hurriedly reached into his sleeve and touched the letter. His knees bent halfway down, as if he wanted to kneel, to hold the letter above his head, and to pour out all the respect and fear he felt.
At that very moment.
Mei Zhongjun was on the bedpost, moved.
The lifeless body twitched at the shoulder.
Mei Hongye didn't notice.
Gu Moli didn't notice either.
Her eyes were fixed on Mei Hongye, her mind preoccupied with figuring out how to make the old man spill all his secrets.
Mei Zhongjun's eyelids lifted slightly.
He had a knife stuck in his chest, three ribs were broken on his left side, and there was hardly any intact flesh left on his body.
But he's still alive.
Having mastered external martial arts to such a level, he could shift the vital organs of his internal organs by half an inch. Even though the knife pierced deeply, it didn't touch his pericardium.
Once the Turtle Breathing Technique was activated, the heartbeat was reduced to almost nothing, and the breathing was so weak that it was almost imperceptible even when placed close to the mouth.
After seven years in a wheelchair and seven years practicing the Turtle Breathing Technique, tonight was the first time it truly came in handy.
His back molars were pressed against a smooth little stone.
His last resort was to remain in the wheelchair.
He'd been in that wheelchair for seven years; he could feel every single rivet with his eyes closed.
Hidden beneath the right armrest are three hidden darts, their arrowheads coated with venom from snakes of the Southern Frontier. Within a radius of three zhang (approximately 10 meters), the venom spreads out from the fan, and anyone who gets touched by it will die.
The mechanism was already pre-wound, secured by a thin bone plate holding the locking spring in place.
If a heavy object falls on the handrail and shatters the bone fragments, the spring will be activated instantly.
Having just been nailed to the bedpost, he quietly moved the tip of his tongue to hold the stone ball firmly in his mouth.
This is the moment he's been waiting for.
Everyone's attention was on Mei Hongye.
Mei Zhongjun flicked his tongue suddenly.
The stone pellet pierced the air with a soft "thud," striking the armrest of the wheelchair.
The thin bone fragment shattered instantly.
The spring snapped, the leather of the wheelchair armrest cracked, and three dark sleeve arrows shot out, their fan-shaped surfaces aimed at Gu Moli, who was three steps away.
The grayish-white powder on the arrowhead flickered in the candlelight.
When Gu Moli heard the noise, she quickly moved to the right.
However.
The three arrows had already spread out in a fan shape, and the arc of the one on the right perfectly blocked her retreat.
[Thanks to: I'm in a hurry for the certification, and Xia Zong's milk tea. I'll resume updating three times a month next month, and I should be discharged from the hospital the day after tomorrow.]
Thank you everyone for your concern. I haven't been able to release a chapter yet because of some problem. The next chapter took four hours to be reviewed, probably because of the small comic (っ- ‸ - ς).