'What! He was actually luring me down from the horse and wanted to kill both of us at the same time?'
Huiguang's mind went blank in an instant, and he could not comprehend the situation. When a two-stars warrior saw them, he actually tried to kill them instead of trying to escape? Haha! Was this a joke?
Just when he was feeling absurd, a sense of death came over him.
'He's really trying to kill us!'
A golden glow lit up half the sky, and he instantly believed it as he shouted, "Connected at the heart, two become one!"
Huiguang and Huiming were brothers, and the martial technique practiced by them was a very rare concerted technique that required the users to be connected at the heart. Only brothers could practice more easily than ordinary people. The two of them were always together just to enhance their spiritual connection. In this critical juncture, they exerted their most instinctive power.
The figures of the two seemed to overlap at this moment, and four fists were punched out like two hands, causing a shocking power to explode out, smashing toward the terrible blade!
Yunxiao's pupils constricted. He had originally calculated everything clearly in his mind, but did not expect that his opponents knew a concerted technique. He smiled bitterly in his heart, 'I'm going to lose.'
Bam!
Under the impact of the two forces, Bluemoon let out a sad cry while the light on its blade faded away. In the blink of an eye, it returned to its normal state and fell to the ground. Meanwhile, Yunxiao was knocked flying away by the great force, leaving drops of blood in the air before he was slammed into a corner of the street!
It was all quiet on the street!
Meng Wu, who had witnessed the whole thing, was deeply shocked. What startled her was not only Yunxiao's strength, which had forced two State Guardians to join hands. More importantly, she seemed to see Yunxiao smiling at her when she was in a daze just now, telling her to run while he was being knocked flying away!
Although she did not hear anything, Yunxiao's voice was echoing in her mind. "RUN!"
How did that happen?
Looking at Yunxiao lying in blood in the corner of the street, Meng Wu could not move her legs no matter how she tried. But, she quickly came to her senses after a moment of blankness. 'I must run! I must run back for help!'
The word 'Run!' struck her in her mind once again. Her eyes flashed with a decisive look as she suddenly started to run quickly toward the academy!
"Ah! That girl's gone! Get her!" cried Long Hao, startled.
But, he suddenly realized that no one had responded to his order, because all the soldiers he had brought were wounded and lying on the ground while Huiguang and Huiming were simply beyond his command.
With a complicated look on his face, Huiguang glanced at Yunxiao, who was lying motionlessly in a corner of the street, while a huge wave was surging in his heart. A two-stars warrior had forced him and his brother to join hands and use a concerted technique, which was something that he did not believe could have happened in the past. He still felt like he was in a trance, as if what happened was not real.
He went to Bluemoon, then reached out a hand and performed a grabbing gesture. The broadsword flew into his grip in a flash, and then he looked at it carefully. Despite some minor scratches, the mystic weapon was largely intact.
"Oh...m-my lord, this broadsword..." Long Hao hurried over with beads of sweat trickling off his forehead, trying to get his weapon back.
Huiguang's eyes flashed with a bright gleam as he slid the broadsword straight into his storage ring. "Captain Long, we've taken down the criminal for you, so we won't bother you anymore."
With that, he and his brother jumped back upon their horses and were about to leave. On the other side, Long Hao was in panic. The broadsword had cost him all his money, and was crafted by Master Liang Wenyu through his father. It was too important and precious to him. "My lord, my lords, that..."
"We really have to go now, Captain Long. You don't have to see us off!" Huiguang's loud voice interrupted Long Hao once again and then he rode off on his horse. With a look of contempt in his eyes, Huiming followed behind him as well.
"AHH! Heavens! My mystic weapon!" Long Hao felt the sky suddenly darken.
"Get up, you pigs! Get up right now!" He screamed as he kicked the wounded soldiers. "Bring this boy back! Since he made me lose my precious broadsword, I will make him regret coming into this world!"
…
Meng Wu ran madly down the street. There was only one thought in her mind—'Help! I must quickly find someone to help him!'
She could not get Yunxiao's figure out of her mind, and whenever she thought of him lying on the street covered in blood, her heart ached as if it was stabbed by a sharp knife!
'I must find someone to save him!'
After running wildly for a while, she calmed down a little and found herself in a place she did not know. When she looked up, she saw a huge mansion with soldiers guarding the gates. Startled, she walked cautiously over. Suddenly her eyes lit up and her heart was filled with great joy. 'This is the Li Mansion! He is the eldest grandson and the young master of the Li Family! I can't believe I've come to the Li Mansion! He'll be saved!"
In the mansion, a man in luxury clothes was admiring a sword in the courtyard. "It is indeed a second-tier mystic weapon. Although in a sealed state, it already emits such a strong power. I can't imagine what it will look like when it is unsealed!"
While he was absorbed in complacency, he suddenly saw a servant running toward the inner hall. He frowned slightly and shouted, "Where are you going, 9527?"
9527 was the servant's number. The Li Mansion was so large that all the servants' names were erased and replaced by numbers to make it easier to manage. They would be given names only if they did a good job and were approved by their masters. 9527 was the number of a lower servant.
Upon seeing the man, 9527 quickly bowed and said humbly, "Young Master Yi, there's a girl outside the gate who says Young Master Yunxiao has been caught by the Imperial Guards. She told this one to inform the Master for help."
Clang!
The radiant sword was sheathed, and the whole courtyard seemed to darken. Li Yi had a curious look on his face as he said in a faint voice, "I thought that piece of trash was wasting his time at the academy? How did he get into a fight with the Imperial Guards?"
9527 shook his head in a hurry and said, "This one doesn't know."
Li Yi's eyes flashed with contempt as he snorted coldly and said, "It's no big deal when a piece of trash is caught. Tell the girl that the Master is informed of this matter, and ask her not to worry."
"Yes, my lord!" 9527 nodded hastily and trotted off.
He had faked the Master's reply, and was so indifferent toward the safety of the Li Family's eldest grandson; but, 9527 did not feel that anything was wrong. Instead, he trotted off with the reply as if it was the right thing to do.
Li Yi took out the sword again with an appreciative look on his face, as if nothing had happened.
Meanwhile, Meng Wu paced anxiously up and down the front gate. But, she soon got the reply and was relieved. As if she was still a little worried, she asked carefully, "When are you going to save him?"
9527 shook his head and pointed to the sky. "It's up to the top to decide," he said. "How are we, as the servants, to know when that would happen? In any case, the Master asks you not to worry."
Meng Wu naturally knew that the Master, as the servant called him, was Li Chunyang, the number one veteran of Tianshui's military, who was conferred the Duke of Jingguo.
In today's court, the six most powerful and prestigious men under the King were Xiao Qingwang, the commander-in-chief of the State Guardians; Zhong Lishan, the dean of Jialan Academy; Xu Han, the president of the Alchemist Association; Zhang Qingfan, the chief alchemist of the imperial palace; Li Chunyang, the number one veteran of the military; and Lan Hong, the prime minister of the court.
The first four paid little attention to state affairs, so almost all the nobles were attached to the two major opposing fractions of Li Chunyang and Lan Hong.
Now that Li Chunyang had told her not to worry, Meng Wu should be relieved. But, she could not relax at all. Instead, she felt more and more depressed as she walked silently down the street toward the academy.
...
When Yunxiao woke up, he found himself in a dark cell. The meridians on his arms and legs were all severed, and he could not muster any strength. He was slightly shocked as he found that he was not alone in the cell. More than a dozen pairs of dark eyes were all staring at him.
He jumped up from the ground with a start. Those blank, despairing eyes looked terrible to him. "Where is this place?"
"Oh, you have woken up, boy?" A scrawny old man said in a hoarse voice. "Hehe! This is the Long Family's dungeon. You have guts, boy! I heard the guards said that you have broken the Long Family's young master's arms."
Yunxiao slowly came to his senses as he asked curiously, "The Long Family's dungeon? Am I not in the capital's jail?"
The old man glared at him and said, "The capital's jail? It's a place where the court keeps felons. Who do you think you are? This place is the Long Family's private jail."
"A private jail? Hmph! How dare the Long Family set up their own jail!" Yunxiao said coldly. "When I get out, I'll report this to the court."
"Get out? Report?" The old man burst into laughter such that he began to cough. "You're so funny, boy! You've broken their young master's arms, and you still wish to get out of here? When I was young, about your age, I walked past the Long Family's front gate and spat there. They caught me and put me in here, and I've been locked up ever since. Oh, I have lost count of the years that I've spent here."
"..." Yunxiao gave the old man a glance. Although the cell was dark, he could see clearly. The old man's face was wrinkled like pine bark, and his hair were gray at the temples. He was at least seventy or eighty years old.
The old man stopped laughing and pointed toward a middle-aged man squatting beside him. "When he was eight years old, he followed his father into the city to sell vegetables. He merely glanced at one of the Long Family's maidservants and was arrested. He is now forty-eight years old."
"Forty years...That maidservant must have become an old lady now..." Traces of cold sweat oozed out of Yunxiao's forehead. How could this Long Family be so lawless? "Don't worry, old man," he said. "I'm sure I can get out. And when I do, I'll let all of you out as well."
The old man obviously did not trust Yunxiao as he shook his head and said, "Young man, stop dreaming! Just stay here in peace. However bad this place is, there's a meal every day, even though it's all rotten stuff."
The long-term imprisonment had made this group of people completely hopeless about life.
Yunxiao stopped explaining. Instead, he pressed his right palm against the ground, then bent his left hand and right leg upward to form a circle as he began to meditate with his eyes closed.