Mission Failed

Zhao De's voice was full of fawning eagerness and the excitement of claiming credit.

At last, a flicker of emotion crossed Li Zhong's icy face, and a chilling killing aura poured from his body.

"Lead the way!"

Without another word of nonsense, he forced the two words through clenched teeth and squeezed his legs against his warhorse's belly. The horse let out a whinny.

Zhao De shuddered in terror at the killing aura and scrambled ahead to lead the way, his plump body looking especially comical as he ran.

"Quick! Keep up!"

A low shout rose from the personal guards. Led by the magistrate of Qinghe County, thirty armored riders swept into the county town's silent streets like a black whirlwind.

Hooves struck the flagstones with a rapid, crisp clatter, startling the stray dogs in the roadside alleys into a frenzy of barking.

Chen Fan blended into the group, saying nothing.

His gaze passed over the backs of his fellow guards ahead and settled on the magistrate bowing and scraping at the front.

Zhao De.

Once so imposing, he was now hunched over, a sight that stirred reflection.

His son was dead, and his daughter-in-law had run away. It was a heavy blow to the magistrate, who was in his fifties.

Of course, this was also his retribution.

After they rounded several streets, the scent of powder and perfume drifted toward them from afar, mingled with the sound of strings and flutes.

The group stopped in front of a brilliantly lit, three-story building.

On its signboard, three large characters were written in bold, flourishing strokes: Courtyard of Red Delights.

Chen Fan knew the place. He had come often enough back when he was a wastrel.

"My lord, this... this is the place." Zhao De wiped the sweat from his forehead and pointed at the brothel filled with singing and dancing, lowering his voice. "According to our informant, that demoness is hiding here."

Li Zhong glanced at the gaudy facade and snorted in disgust.

The most dangerous place is the safest place.

This demoness certainly knows how to pick a hiding place.

"Surround it! Don't let a single fly escape!"

"Yes!"

The guards answered with a thunderous shout and quickly dispersed, sealing off every exit of the Courtyard of Red Delights so tightly that not even water could get through.

Li Zhong swung down from his horse, the long saber at his waist already half an inch out of its sheath.

He pointed at ten guards, Chen Fan among them.

"You, come inside and search with me!"

The madam of the Courtyard of Red Delights had long since been frightened weak in the knees by the commotion. With a group of girls and brothel servants, she knelt trembling at the entrance.

Without so much as a glance at them, Li Zhong kicked open the main doors and charged inside with his men.

"Officers! Officers, spare us!"

"We're all respectable women... no, we're all law-abiding businesspeople!"

The madam's wails were drowned out in an instant.

Bang! Bang! Bang!

Doors were kicked open one after another.

The once-decadent atmosphere was instantly replaced by terrified screams.

"Ah! Soldiers!"

"What are you doing?!"

Disheveled women were driven from the rooms one by one, wearing only thin gauze robes that left their bodies exposed. The customers seeking pleasure scattered like rats, clutching their heads, only to be blocked in the main hall by fierce-looking guards armed with sharp blades.

The entire Courtyard of Red Delights was in a complete uproar.

Titillating, yet chaotic.

Expressionless, Chen Fan followed the group and kicked open a door.

The man and woman inside screamed in terror.

He merely swept a cold glance over them before withdrawing and heading for the next room.

He wasn't here to catch adulterers.

A face stood out clearly in his mind.

Su Xin.

Back on the mountain, the princess consort had been captured and taken up there with this demoness. He had gotten a few looks at her.

He remembered that face.

In the main hall, dozens of girls had been herded together. They huddled in a trembling cluster, a scene of vivid beauty.

Li Zhong stood in the center of the hall, his sharp gaze sweeping over every face like a hawk's.

But there were too many people here, and every one of them wore heavy makeup. There was simply no way to tell them apart.

Chen Fan stopped in front of a moon gate leading to the rear courtyard.

Several musicians clutching their instruments had also turned deathly pale with fright and were huddled in a corner.

His gaze fell on one of them, a woman holding a pipa.

The woman wore a plain, elegant green robe and no makeup, making her stand out among the brightly dressed girls. Like the others, she kept her head lowered and her body trembled slightly, looking terrified.

But Chen Fan stopped.

Something's wrong.

This woman is too calm.

Her trembling is an act. Beneath that frightened exterior, she's hiding an extreme calm.

More importantly, that face, the outline of her figure...

It's her!

Without the slightest hesitation, Chen Fan abruptly raised his hand, pointed at the woman holding the pipa, and bellowed with all his might!

"The demoness Su Xin! She's here!"

The shout exploded through the chaotic hall like thunder from a clear sky.

Everyone's movements halted.

The woman holding the pipa stiffened abruptly.

She slowly raised her head. All disguise vanished instantly from her once-delicate, innocent-looking face, replaced by an unyielding chill and astonishment.

She hadn't expected anyone to see through her flawless disguise at a glance!

During the time she had spent undercover at the prince's residence, she had disguised her appearance. Later, after abducting the princess consort and fleeing the residence, she had changed to another face, the one she was wearing now.

She was certain that no one from the prince's residence could possibly recognize her.

So why had this insignificant, unknown guard recognized her?

Killing intent flashed across her, then vanished.

Almost at the very instant Chen Fan shouted, Su Xin moved.

With no intention of prolonging the fight, she touched her toes to the floor and drifted toward a second-floor window like a weightless willow seed.

"Where do you think you're going?!"

Li Zhong roared. Having long been poised to strike, he stomped down, shattering the green floor bricks, and became a black afterimage as he pursued her!

A blade flashed!

Clang!

Su Xin swung the pipa in her arms back as a weapon, blocking Li Zhong's saber strike, which he had been certain would succeed.

A tremendous crash rang out as a powerful shockwave of internal force spread outward!

"Ah!"

The surrounding girls and customers were sent sprawling by the blast, crying for their mothers and fathers.

Chen Fan, too, was forced back seven or eight steps before he barely managed to steady himself. He felt only his Qi and Blood churning in his chest.

A battlefield for Seventh Rank martial artists!

The mere aftershocks of their clash were more than he, a Ninth Grade martial artist, could bear.

He couldn't intervene at all!

Li Zhong and Su Xin had already fought their way from the first floor to the second.

Sabers flashed and blades cast shadows as force flew in every direction.

Railings were severed and tables and chairs shattered. Under the impact of their fight, the entire second floor of the Courtyard of Red Delights looked as though a gale had swept through it.

Li Zhong's saber technique used broad, sweeping movements, full of the iron-blooded ferocity of the military.

Su Xin's Movement Method, by contrast, was strange and elusive. The pipa in her hands served as a shield one moment and a weapon the next, her moves vicious and devious, utterly unlike the martial arts of the righteous path.

Chen Fan could only watch the battle calmly from downstairs.

He noticed that although Li Zhong's attacks were fierce, he was gradually falling into a disadvantage.

The demoness was far stronger than the intelligence had described!

Bang!

They clashed head-on once more.

Su Xin used the force to fly backward, landing lightly on a roof beam and looking down at the panting Li Zhong.

A trace of undisguised mockery showed on her beautiful face.

"Is that all a captain of the Prince of Xiushan's Residence can do?"

"You can't even take down a woman. If word gets out, won't you be afraid of being laughed at?"

Li Zhong's anger made his hair bristle beneath his cap. With a furious roar, he raised his saber and prepared to charge again.

Just then, Su Xin's gaze passed over him and fell on the guard downstairs who had ruined her entire plan.

Her pupils narrowed slightly.

That icy gaze, like a venomous snake's, made Chen Fan's whole body tense as a chill shot from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.

Has she set her sights on me?

Su Xin gave him a long look, as though she meant to carve that utterly ordinary face into her bones.

Then she suddenly chuckled, pulled a black sphere from her robes, and hurled it downward.

Bang!

The sphere burst, and a dense cloud of black smoke instantly enveloped the entire hall.

"Not good! It's poisonous!"

Li Zhong roared and hurriedly held his breath.

By the time the smoke cleared, there was no sign of Su Xin on the roof beam.

Cold wind howled through the second-floor window she had smashed open.

The mission had failed.

Li Zhong leaped down from the second floor and landed in the middle of the wrecked hall. Veins bulged on the hand gripping his saber, and his body trembled slightly with extreme rage.

Humiliation!

An enormous humiliation!

He spun around, his bloodshot eyes fixed on the county magistrate Zhao De, who had collapsed on the floor in terror.

"Useless trash!"

With a furious roar, he kicked a sturdy square table beside him.

Crack!

The entire table shattered into pieces!