The tall, thin jailer who was shaking dice outside stopped, picked up an oil lamp, walked to the iron bars, shone it inside, and spat a glob of phlegm onto Kuki Yoshitaka's face.
"Are you trying to call back my soul?!"
"Stay put and soak in the water, or I'll whip you to death!"
Kuki Yoshitaka didn't wipe the phlegm off his face; instead, he opened his left palm and lifted the pearl out of the water.
Under the dim light of the oil lamp, the pearl gleamed with a dazzling, soft glow.
The tall, thin jailer's breathing suddenly became heavy. He glanced back at his companion who was still counting the coins, then quickly squatted down and brought his face close to the gap in the iron bars:
"You little rascal, you've been hiding this good stuff?"
"This bead is a tribute to the soldier."
Kuki Yoshitaka slipped the pearl through the gap in the bars, taking advantage of the moment the jailer reached out to catch it.
He grabbed the jailer's wrist tightly with his left hand, pressed his face against the iron bars, and said in a low, rapid voice,
" Gyeongsang Province- hwan, the Kim Seung-hwan of Gyeongsang Province, is in cahoots with us, the Great Wa!"
The tall, thin jailer was terrified and tried desperately to pull his hand back.
"Are you insane! How dare you slander the military governor? You don't want to live anymore!"
"Ten miles outside Incheon, beneath a dry well in the reed marshes to the south, lie the three large iron crates we hid before entering the port!"
Kuki Yoshitaka held him tightly, his eyes bloodshot.
"It was filled with a full ten thousand taels of gold!"
All you need to do is deliver a note to the Gyeongsang Province Naval Camp and give it to Kim Seung-hwan, and he will tell you the exact location.
When the time comes, all three chests of gold will be yours!
Only he and I know about that place!
Ten thousand taels of gold!
The tall, thin jailer swallowed hard, his eyes instantly turning red, forgetting even the pain in his wrist from being gripped so tightly.
He glanced back at his companions, who were drinking with their backs to him, and gritted his teeth:
Where is the note?
Kuki Yoshitaka released his hand, tore off a piece of the still-wet white undergarment from his chest with his teeth, and quickly drew a strange symbol on the cloth with his blood-stained fingers from using the bone-picking needle. He then crumpled it up and stuffed it into the jailer's hand.
"It's been delivered! You'll never have to worry about food or clothing for the rest of your life!"
The tall, thin jailer clutched the bloodstained rag and the pearl tightly, stuffed them into his arms, and crouched down as he ran up the stone steps above the water dungeon.
It was late in the Yin hour, just as dawn was breaking.
A scream came from the stone steps in the backyard of the prefect's mansion, and a jailer clutched his throat and tumbled down the steps.
A dozen or so masked men in black stepped over his corpse and scaled the courtyard wall. Holding torches, they headed straight for the stables in the front yard and casually nocked three whistling arrows.
Seize! Seize! Seize!
Three iron-tipped arrows pierced through the carved wooden window and were nailed to the nanmu wood bedposts of the canopy bed in the main room.
Shen Ling'er and Meng Jiuning, who were in bed, were awakened by the noise. They were only wearing close-fitting plain-colored tube tops, revealing large areas of their snow-white shoulders and collarbones.
Gu Moran threw back the brocade quilt and got out of bed. He grabbed his outer robe and draped it over his shoulders, then pulled the quilt up further to completely cover the two women's exposed shoulders. He tapped Shen Ling'er's collarbone with his finger.
"Put your clothes on properly, bolt the door shut, and don't answer anyone unless I tell them to open it."
Before he could finish speaking, he kicked open the door.
The stables at the west end of the courtyard were ablaze with flames, and a dozen masked assassins were running wildly towards the water dungeon in the backyard, stepping on the roof tiles.
The wooden window of the east wing was smashed open from the inside with a crash.
Murong Xue wore only a close-fitting moon-white dress, her long hair loose behind her head, and leaped onto the corridor.
Her thin shirt clung to her body in the morning breeze, clearly outlining her tall and firm waist and hips, while her long, fair legs shone brightly in the morning light.
She thrust her spear forward, the tip piercing a soldier's back. With a powerful downward flick of her arms, she sent the man tumbling off the roof, knocking down his comrades who followed behind.
A series of urgent bamboo whistles sounded from the west watchtower.
Lin Qingdai leaped down from the courtyard wall, tore off a piece of black cloth from the assassin's arm with her left hand, and tossed it across the air towards the corridor below.
"Your Highness, these are the markings of the Goryeo Gyeongsang Province navy of Goryeo. They are all Fourth Rank experts. They received intelligence and are here to ambush Kuki Yoshitaka!"
Gu Moran reached out and caught the armband, rubbing off the salty, fishy smell of the seawater.
The roof tiles shattered with a crack. A white figure, enveloped in a dazzling golden wheel, descended from the sky. Xie Linyuan's monk robe billowed as he pressed his right palm down.
The leader of the suicide squad, who was at the forefront, didn't even have time to raise his knife before he was slammed into the bluestone paving stones, creating a half-foot-deep crater in the ground, with rubble flying everywhere.
Xie Linyuan withdrew his hand and turned to look down the corridor.
Seeing that Gu Moran's clothes were open, and that there were still red marks on her neck from last night, and that the faint scent of perfume and medicine wafted from the main room,
He snorted through his nose, "What a philandering good-for-nothing!"
He turned his head and swept the golden wheel horizontally, knocking away three assassins who were rushing at his right side.
Hurried footsteps came from the courtyard gate.
Kim Seon-a rushed in from the side courtyard, carrying a sword. She was only wearing a loose white silk gauze dress, and her long, snow-white legs were faintly visible under the hem of the dress.
She rushed to the edge of the bluestone pit and looked down to see a section of the assassin leader's forearm, tattooed with blue wolf patterns, peeking out from under his tattered sleeve.
Those were the marks of the private soldiers of Kim Tae-won, a member of a collateral branch of the Goryeo royal family and the military governor of Gyeongsang Province.
Kim Seon-a's right hand, which was holding the sword, trembled slightly, and the tip of the sword drooped downwards.
A severely wounded soldier lying in the crack of the floor tiles suddenly sprang up, his blood-stained hands lunging forward to grab her exposed, fair ankles.
Gu Moran's eyes turned cold, and just as he was about to take a step, a burly man sprang out from the shadows beside him.
Tuoba Mang arrived carrying two large iron hammers, stepped on the assassin's head with his left foot, and brought the hammer down with his right hand.
With a snap, the assassin's spine broke in two, and his filthy hands hung limply on the ground, three inches away from the hem of Kim Seon-a's skirt.
Tuoba Mang spat and, brandishing his iron hammer, shouted in a gruff voice:
"How could Goryeo kill their own people!"
Princess, these people had poison sacs stuffed in their mouths, and I just pried open their jaws!
The leader of the assassins in the pit raised his head, his mouth full of blood.
He stared at Kim Seon-a, his throat emitting a hoarse, bellowing roar as he cursed in Goryeo:
"You wretch! You've let a wolf into the house, using the Goryeo navy to serve the Great Yan!"
Governor Kim Tae-won- won has already led an army of ten thousand by land and sea to blockade the southward waterway. At dawn, he will raze Incheon Port to the ground and chop you and your lover into mincemeat!
The courtyard fell silent, save for the crackling sound of burning stable beams.
Gu Moran stood under the corridor without speaking, slowly pulling on the black leather belt and fastening it around his waist, one buckle at a time.
Kim Seon-a turned her head and glanced at Gu Moran's frighteningly calm face.
She clenched her back teeth, her chest heaving violently twice, and took a step forward, gripping the sword hilt with both hands.
With a soft thud, the sword blade pierced precisely into the leader of the assassins' left chest, penetrating the bluestone slab.
Blood splattered onto the hem of her white silk skirt, blooming like a few red plum blossoms.
"Gather five hundred personal guards and come with me to the southern camp!"
Kim Seon-a forcefully pulled out the blood-stained longsword, its tip pointing straight at the ground. She turned around, knelt on one knee in the corridor, and looked up at Gu Moran with her pretty face stained with blood.
"Your Highness, Seon-a will go and clean house immediately."
Before 9:00 AM, I will present you with Kim Tae-won's head and the military tally of Gyeongsang Province!