When Zhou Bo woke up.
Debris was being cleaned up in the streets, the city defense camp's soldiers were carrying their comrades' bodies covered in white cloth, walking slowly, everyone's face was gloomy.
The air smelled not only of blood but also of sorrow.
He sat in a corner of the street, guarded by several of his subordinates.
"I didn't die?"
The memories before he fainted gradually returned. He was poisoned by Chen Xiao's Five Poison Palms. The poison had entered his system, his True Qi depleted to the point of exhaustion, unable to withstand anymore, ultimately collapsing in despair and anger.
Yes, it was despair and anger.
If the Royal Mansion Tributor had been willing to exert his full strength, with both of them combined against Chen Xiao in his current state, he would definitely not be able to escape.
Now, Chen Xiao was already a Middle-stage Innate, once he recovered, there would never be a second opportunity as good as today.
Zhou Bo secretly resented Yu Xian's fear of death, and the more he thought about it, the angrier he became.
"Bring me the Royal Mansion's Tributor Yu! Did he run away?"
"Are you looking for me, General Zhou?"
A voice echoed from behind him.
Zhou Bo felt a chill down his spine. He turned around as if he had seen a ghost and was met with a pale face, the hair at the temples being soaked with sweat and stuck to his forehead, looking very exhausted.
"Tributor Yu! What are you doing here?"
Yu Xian feigned innocence and said, "General Zhou, why can't I be here? After all, I just saved your life. Why can't you even give me a nice face?"
"You saved me? The poisonous gas in my body?"
It was then that Zhou Bo belatedly realized that his paralyzed body had returned to normal. All the poisonous gas had been driven to his right palm, being bounded by a powerful force.
Once he recovers his True Qi, he would just need some time to expel the poisonous gas from his body.
It seems that Tributor Yu had been healing him just now, which is why he looked so exhausted.
Zhou Bo's face turned pale then flush. He hesitated for a moment, but bit the bullet and said:
"Tributor Yu, you saved my life, and I am immensely grateful for that, but I am going to inform Prince Wang of your cowardice today. Whatever the punishment Prince Wang decides, I am willing to bear it together with you."
"Punish? Why should we be punished?"
Yu Xian was holding back a laugh, but made a pretense of not understanding:
"Besides, when did I show cowardice? Isn't the man has been captured? Prince Wang should be rewarding me."
"Ah?"
Zhou Bo was stunned and then followed Yu Xian's direction.
There he saw Chen Xiao, unconscious, his body covered in wounds, and half his body scorched. He had been tied up and thrown aside.
Zhou Bo only felt a rush of blood to his head and his face became flushed quickly.
Not only did Yu Xian save him, but he also captured Chen Xiao.
And yet, he not only failed to show gratitude to Yu Xian, he even wanted to report him to Prince Wang.
This is simply... it's ridiculously embarrassing!
At this point, he only wanted to find a hole and crawl into it.
Seeing Zhou Bo's reaction, Yu Xian quietly pinched his thigh to prevent himself from laughing.
"General Zhou, now that you're awake, I can rest easy. Besides, Chen Xiao is the assassin who tried to kill Prince Wang. I have to bring him to Royal Mansion to await Prince Wang's judgment. Do you agree, General Zhou?"
At this point, even if Zhou Bo wanted to bring Chen Xiao to the Government Office for interrogation first, he couldn't speak out. He could only nod awkwardly.
"It's only right."
"Thank you for your understanding, General Zhou."
Yu Xian thanked him, stood up, and went toward Chen Xiao, picked him up, and left.
The reason he stayed behind to stage this drama was first, he saw that Zhou Bo was a kind man. It didn't hurt to lend him a hand. Secondly, he remembered that he still had to spend his old age in Duke Fu's Mansion. If word got out that he avoided the battle today, he would have a hard time in the future.
Now that Chen Xiao had been captured by him, Zhou Bo owed him a favor, he could explain things at the Royal Mansion, and the Government Office would also thank him.
All he had to give up was one weakened Fireball Technique.
Indeed, a real win-win situation.
Zhou Bo felt that something was not right, but the grace of saving his life was immense. Even if he knew that Yu Xian had taken advantage of the situation, he had no choice but to swallow his pride.
Besides, Prosper County is Duke Fu's territory to begin with, and it is not unheard of for the Royal Mansion to supersede the Government Office and enforce the law itself.
"Compile a list of the names of our fallen and injured brothers. I will personally prepare the report. Moreover, no one is to touch their pensions. I'll deliver it myself."
Zhou Bo pondered for a moment, stood up with the support of his men, and managed to give his orders before he left.
The price paid today to apprehend Chen Xiao was enormous. Luckily, Duke Fu's Mansion had previously promised to bear all costs and pensions.
Otherwise, without money, it would be impossible for his men to risk their lives again, no matter how much they admire him.
...
Cloud Inn.
Chen Xiao gradually regains consciousness. His injuries have been initially bandaged, but he still feels an intense, tearing pain all over his body.
He tries to use his internal energy to heal himself, only to find that his body is so weak that he can't muster any strength.
"It's useless. This is Soft Tendon Powder, specially designed by the court's Ministry of Punishments to control martial arts experts. If an Innate Warrior ingests it, they won't be able to circulate their internal energy for three days and nights."
A faint voice speaks out.
Chen Xiao turns his head and only then notices that he's lying on a bed in a guest room, with a young scholar in a green shirt sitting at the table in front of him, leisurely drinking tea.
"You!"
Chen Xiao finally remembers that he was the one who struck him from behind and then made a mockery of his Five Poison Palms.
"What a hero, sneaking up from behind!"
Yu Xian looks very surprised, "When did I ever say that I was a hero?"
In Chen Xiao's incredulous face, Yu Xian takes out two white crystal stones the size of quail eggs: sharp-edged, the common currency in the Cultivation World - spirit stones.
White represents low-grade spirit stones.
"Enough with the drivel, where did you get this from?"
Checking for valuables on corpses is a good habit.
Yu Xian had confiscated the spirit stones from Chen Xiao. That's why he didn't immediately haul him back to the Royal Mansion for questioning, opting instead to extract whatever he could first.
Back when Yu Xian used to toil in the fields for senior cultivators in the Cultivation World, he only earned three low-grade spirit stones per year and usually managed with spirit sand, which is of even lower level.
But this could explain how Chen Xiao managed to reach the Middle Stage Innate level in the Mortal World where spiritual energy is thin.
With enough spirit stones, the thinness of spiritual energy isn't such an issue.
Every time he thinks about how many spirit stones Chen Xiao must've wasted for his cultivation, a pang of pain seizes Yu Xian.
Those spirit stones should've been his!
"So, you recognize spirit stones too?"
Chen Xiao sneers with his eyes full of sarcasm.
"Do you think I would tell you? Or maybe you should beg me. If I'm in a good mood, I might tell you."
Unruffled, Yu Xian only sighs, "Actually, I don't like to threaten people by using the weak and frail, as it does dishonor to my character.
However, since you aren't cooperating, I have no choice."
"Bring her in."
The door swings open as two royal mansion guards escort a young girl into the room.
"You two may leave."
Yu Xian dismisses the guards, then points at the girl, "You could've left Prosper City with your skills, but you chose to stay. For her sake, I presume?
The city gates have been under strict surveillance. In the state you are in, it's indeed not easy to flee with a frail girl by your side.
You hoped to draw the officers away and disguise her as an inn guest to escape unnoticed.
But too bad you don't understand the mindset of those in power. They would rather risk killing three thousand innocents than letting one suspect escape. Honestly, you should thank me for saving her life."
The girl, aged around eighteen or nineteen, is dressed in a plain white long dress. With gentle brows and eyes, she looks at Chen Xiao, who is grievously injured on the bed, and silent tears fall down her cheeks.
On seeing the girl captured, Chen Xiao flies into a rage, shouting, "You call yourself a man? Attacking a helpless girl instead of coming at me!"
Yu Xian walks slowly to the girl, gently lifts her chin, revealing her tear-streaked face.
"You shouldn't provoke me, because when I'm angry, she'll be the one to get hurt."
Chen Xiao's eyes nearly pop out from rage, and it even becomes hard for him to breathe.
"Let her go! I...I'll talk. Just let her go…"
Yu Xian gives a faint smile and releases the girl, "Pleasure doing business with you."