The dark alley was without light.
Over the wall, which stood more than three meters high, he could hear the idle chatter of servants and escorts inside the escort agency:
"Snake Eunuch really knows how to throw his weight around. One word from him, and the whole county town was sealed off. I hear even the brothels and taverns have closed..."
"He's one of the Heaven-Observing Pavilion's four commanders. What did you expect..."
Ye Xingge leaned between several stacks of bamboo baskets, listening closely for any movement inside the escort agency.
Things were far too tense in town right now. Yang Tuyan and the Eight Pillars Hall's undercover agents had surely gone into hiding. Since the great beauty Luo couldn't be certain whether they were there, she would have to check each place in turn. It was only natural for her to be slow, and he wasn't in a hurry.
But after waiting a moment without hearing anything from the escort agency, he caught the faintest sound of footsteps deeper in the alley:
Tap, tap, tap...
The footsteps were extremely light, but they didn't sound like just one person's.
?!
Ye Xingge frowned, gripped the saber wrapped in black cloth, and held his breath to listen.
Hongyu, who had been leaning against the bed at the inn with the jade token pressed to her ear, heard the unexpected noise too. She sat up and asked:
"Who is it?"
Ye Xingge didn't know either. He thought they were ordinary townsfolk passing by.
But he soon realized that the barely audible footsteps had turned into the side alley and were heading toward him.
Faint voices also came from nearby. They were rather hoarse and disguised, but he could tell they belonged to women:
"Ruan Jinyu hasn't searched the escort agency yet. Nine times out of ten, Yang Tuyan is inside. Spread out around the agency and seal off every escape route. I'll go in and find him..."
"Don't be careless. If you make any noise, Ruan Jinyu will be here in an instant..."
"He's just Yang Tuyan. He didn't even make the Gold List's Third Rank. I can deal with him with a flick of my hand. There's no reason to make any noise..."
Hearing that, Ye Xingge thought, This is bad.
They clearly weren't from the imperial court!
Yang Tuyan was a fierce outlaw, after all. He hadn't made the Gold List, but neither had Ye Xingge!
They made it sound as easy as killing a chicken, so killing him would naturally be just as easy...
If they found him, he'd be in serious trouble...
Hongyu had come on her master's orders for a blind date and to "protect his Dao." She was evidently afraid her prospective match would die out there, leaving her unable to answer to her master, so she quickly warned him:
"Hide well. Don't move or breathe, and don't let your heart beat too fast. Wait for that shameless hussy to come protect you."
Ye Xingge naturally knew how to suppress his breath. Hidden between two stacks of baskets, he held his breath and went still.
Tap, tap, tap...
Soon, light footsteps sounded nearby again.
Once the woman in charge had laid out the plan, four sets of footsteps scattered among the surrounding buildings.
Ye Xingge was near the mouth of the alley, with the street beyond it, and none of the four passed in front of him.
Ye Xingge breathed a little easier. He had assumed the woman in charge would leap onto the wall and disappear, just like the great beauty Luo.
But Luo Xuanqing had naturally chosen a very professional entry point.
To avoid stirring the grass and alarming the snake, the woman in charge observed her surroundings for a moment, then, as if of one mind with Luo Xuanqing, headed toward him. It looked as though she intended to slip in from the same place Luo Xuanqing had used to get onto the roof.
Tap, tap, tap...
Hearing the footsteps draw closer, Ye Xingge's heart skipped a beat.
At this rate, she would soon pass right in front of him. He was a full-grown living person; the woman couldn't possibly be too blind to see him.
But he couldn't run either. Her martial arts were surely better than his. If he showed himself, he might drop dead on the spot without even getting a chance to see her clearly...
Tap, tap...
The faint footsteps sounded like a death knell. In the blink of an eye, they were only a few paces away.
By the light of the stars and moon, Ye Xingge could even see the shadow of a cloak a few feet away. Knowing he had nowhere to hide, his gaze darkened.
Hongyu was fully focused too, but from the sidelines, she couldn't help him out of the predicament. She could only offer whatever assistance she could:
"Her footsteps are extremely light. She's an internal martial arts expert. Look for a chance to strike her Guanyuan, Zhongji, and Qugu acupoints. Block her Qi sea and cut off her Ren meridian, and she'll have trouble using her power..."
Huh?
Hearing that, Ye Xingge felt she might as well have said nothing!
Even a fool knew that striking those three acupoints could block the Qi channels and disrupt the Qi sea, but they were three, four, and five cun below the navel. How was he supposed to strike them?
If he could reach five cun below a woman's navel while fighting her, would he still need to strike her acupoints?
So Ye Xingge didn't take her advice. He simply held his breath and watched the approaching shadow with total concentration, ready to fight his way out with everything he had!
Fortunately, Heaven had eyes.
Just as the woman was about to reach him, a clamor of footsteps suddenly came from the street outside the alley. Several escorts who had finished work were passing the entrance:
"Let's go."
"Slow down..."
Ye Xingge breathed a sigh of relief at the sound.
The alley was a long, straight stretch with nowhere to hide. That was why he had concealed himself among the stacks of baskets.
And this woman was clearly a professional. She couldn't possibly stand there stupidly in the alley. As soon as she slipped out of the escorts' sight, he could...
Whoosh~
The thought had barely crossed Ye Xingge's mind when he felt a breeze stir and saw a black shadow flash before him!
Then a warm, fragrant, soft body leaned straight into his arms...
Fuck-!
Why the fuck are you hiding here?!
Aren't you an expert? Get on the roof!
Ye Xingge watched the black shadow crash into his arms, every hair on his body standing on end. He wanted nothing more than to kick this blind woman to death!
But judging by that extraordinary movement technique, the one who would end up dead on the roadside from a kick could only be him!
With his life hanging by a thread, Ye Xingge had no time to think. Without hesitation, he raised his arms in a bear hug, driving power from his spine and instantly bringing all his strength to bear:
"Hah!"
In front of him.
An Yurou had been about to slip into the escort agency. When she noticed escorts passing the mouth of the alley, she naturally had to hide for a moment.
And the stacks of baskets against the wall were simply perfect!
But she had never expected a chest mimic to be lurking in this godforsaken place!
The moment An Yurou slipped into the gap, she sensed something was wrong.
Almost at the same instant, two arms clamped around her upper body, accompanied by a deep, low shout.
The grip was like a vise, instantly pinning her arms. Her full, juicy melons were squeezed so hard they nearly spilled out past the edges of her arms...
With her back completely exposed and no guard up, even an expert at the bottom of the Third Rank might have a chance to sneak up and kill a Second Rank powerhouse.
An Yurou was scared out of her wits, thinking she was about to capsize in a ditch.
But she soon realized that although the person behind her had astonishing brute strength and a reasonably deep foundation in internal power, he still fell a little short of even those at the bottom of the Third Rank.
An Yurou, meanwhile, ranked in the upper-middle reaches of the Third Rank and was quite a force to be reckoned with. To her, the full-force burst from the person behind her felt like nothing more than a rough shove from a brute who didn't know how to cherish a woman.
Realizing he wasn't an expert, An Yurou instantly recovered her wits. She put strength into her shoulders and back, raised her Qi, and shook violently, trying to throw off the figure holding her!
But as she raised her Qi, she felt pain in her lower abdomen!
A large hand, like an eagle's claw, had seized the acupoints on her lower abdomen with perfect accuracy, its five fingers digging almost into her flesh.
"Ugh~"
An Yurou let out a short, low cry. With her Qi channels forcibly blocked, she immediately tried to break free by brute force.
But women mostly followed the "refined training" path, focusing on internal breath, protecting their bodies with Qi and using skillful force to deflect attacks.
With underdeveloped core muscles, their brute strength couldn't be all that formidable.
Ye Xingge, on the other hand, had trained exclusively in external fist and foot techniques. Even Great Beauty would be dragged along by him without her internal power.
When An Yurou exerted herself, she found that the arms holding her were like iron chains. With her Qi channels blocked, she could barely budge them. She could only twist her waist with all her might, trying to evade the large hand digging into the tip of her steamed bun.
Scrape, scrape~
Crash...
As the two figures struggled against each other, the baskets on either side were knocked to the ground.
Ye Xingge's right arm was clamped tightly around the rather short woman in his arms, while his left hand pressed on her acupoints. It felt as though he were holding a hot steamed bun fresh out of the steamer.
But he had no mind for such details right now. This was a tigress, after all!
In all his life, Ye Xingge had never met anyone with such terrifying strength. Even with her acupoints restrained, holding her felt like embracing a crazed tigress, and the strain made his arms ache.
Seeing her struggle violently, Ye Xingge was riding a tiger and couldn't get off. He couldn't let go at all. If she broke free, he had no doubt she'd tear him limb from limb. He could only turn his head and shout:
"Lady Luo!"
An Yurou's face was red as blood as she twisted, still trying to break free. But when she heard the words "Lady Luo," her expression suddenly changed!
Luo Xuanqing was fifteenth in the Second Rank. There were only a handful of people in all of Yongzhou Prefecture who were stronger than her. More importantly, An Yurou knew Luo Xuanqing, and they were quite familiar with each other.
Wasn't the Flower Judge in Qingxi? What was she doing here?
Worried that the Flower Judge would arrive and kill her in an instant, An Yurou grew desperate. She could only resort to an "ancient escape technique," lowering her head and biting down on the forearm of the man behind her.
"Hiss-!"
A sharp pain shot through his arm. Ye Xingge sucked in a cold breath, feeling as though she had nearly bitten off a chunk of flesh. Unable to hold her down any longer, he could only take a desperate gamble and yank hard with his right hand.
Rip~
The black cloak and the collar beneath it were torn open, revealing thin, silvery-white fabric, as well as half a snowy curve and a red cherry that spilled out.
Peonies were embroidered on the silvery-white fabric, the stitching so splendid it even carried the noble air of a great and prosperous age.
Ye Xingge had no time to look. After tearing it open, he thrust his hips forward, shoving the woman ahead of him, then turned and rushed toward the street.
Tap, tap...
With her clothes torn open, the woman stumbled forward. Instead of attacking immediately, she quickly clutched her collar shut.
By the time she looked up, Ye Xingge had already reached the mouth of the alley.
"You..."
An Yurou's face flushed red, her killing intent soaring, but when she heard the sound of air being cut inside the escort agency, she could only sweep her foot into the baskets rolling on the ground.
Whoosh-
Seven or eight nested baskets shot across the alley like flying stones, trailing a fierce wind that even swept up bits of trash and dead grass along the way.
As Ye Xingge ran, the hairs on his body stood on end. He stomped down and leaped, twisting in midair. The Black Banner Saber flashed from its sheath, drawing a cold streak of light through the alley.
Crash-
The flying baskets split in two beneath the saber's flash, but the fragments lost none of their momentum and still struck him in the chest.
The baskets were light, but Ye Xingge felt as though a heavy hammer wrapped in cotton had slammed into his chest. He flew halfway across the street and landed, sliding backward several paces before slapping the ground and springing up.
Clatter...
The two had grappled for only a few seconds.
Out on the street, the escorts who had walked several paces away only now turned around in alarm at the noise.
Ye Xingge was already braced on the ground with one hand, the Black Banner Saber in his right. Blood was clearly visible on his arm, and several bamboo splinters stuck out of his robes. Beneath his conical hat, his eyes were like a hawk's, fixed on the depths of the dark alley.
Inside the alley, the cloaked woman had vanished.
Luo Xuanqing, wearing a veiled hat, flashed across a rooftop and shouted in a clear, feminine voice:
"Light the fires!"
Her ethereal voice carried to the surrounding streets.
Several dazzling lights quickly rose into the sky from various parts of the county town, like flares, illuminating the streets and alleys across half the town as bright as day. No one could hide on the rooftops or in the dark alleys any longer.
Piercing sounds of rushing air also came from the distance. Evidently, the embroidered-robed officers surrounding the town were all converging on this spot.
Standing in the street, Ye Xingge saw that the cloaked woman hadn't come after him and finally breathed a quiet sigh of relief, his heart still full of lingering fear.
But the great beauty Luo had gone after that inexplicable woman. What about Yang Tuyan?
Seeing the great beauty Luo give chase, Ye Xingge didn't follow. Instead, he sprinted up onto a roadside roof and looked in the opposite direction.
And just as he had expected, with an overwhelming commotion on the east side of the escort agency, there was no way the people inside would flee in that direction.
Ye Xingge scanned the sprawling buildings and soon spotted two or three figures flashing over the escort agency's wall, heading toward the western city wall.
Seeing this, Ye Xingge guessed that Yang Tuyan and the Eight Pillars Hall's spies were taking the opportunity to break out. Without delay, he brushed the bamboo splinters off his chest and chased after them at full speed, saber in hand.
Tap, tap, tap...
The sprawling county town erupted in an instant. Hundreds of figures leaped across the rooftops like fleas, pursuing at full speed toward the east.
Three figures going against the flow quietly fled west, soon escaping the streets covered by the light.
Behind them, one man with one saber plunged into the night as well, gradually drawing farther away from the main force to the east...
Just finished polishing it, so it was a little late or2!