"Your Lordship, are you Sir Song Xue?"
The other party smiles, "I dare not take the title of 'Sir', you may address me by my name. Song Xue is only an alias for friends to joke around with, how dare I introduce myself in such way."
The Zuoyue Bureau's networks are fast and accurate. Cui Buqu is a knowledgeable figure in the world of Jianghu, but in the end, he is only a man and not a god. It is impossible for him to know everything about a person just by simply hearing his name, however, Xiao Lu is an exception.
He is an officer from the Southern Chen Dynasty. His rank is very low, he holds the lowest rank among the people from the Western Palace, and it did not matter most of the time whether he is present or not, for he is dispensable. There is no need for him to take on any task, nor lead any escapades. On the other hand, he is born from a side branch of the Nanliang Xiao Sect. Since he is young, he is known as the skilled calligrapher Guye Wang and Zhiyong Monk. Both his skills in calligrapher and cursive scripts were excellent. He even incorporate his knowledge of books into sword techniques, and is heralded as a man who is both good in academics and martial arts.
But for many people, once they speak of Xiao Lu, it is impossible for them to not think of the words 'such a waste'.
It is such a waste that an admirable hero like Xiao Lu is abandoned by the Heavens, for otherwise with his skills, his worth would not simply be just a small, inconsequential, nine-ranking officer in the Southern Chen Dynasty.
However, it is unknown whether this is a friend or foe, so Cui Buqu did not ask more in such a situation. He only chooses to ask questions that are important.
"Master Xiao, why are you not in the Southern Dynasty, but came all the way here?"
"I have relieved myself of my rank to come here for a rescue." Xiao Lu replies cleanly and abruptly. He did not beat around the bush and speak nonsense. "How may I address this gentleman?"
"My surname is Cui," Cui Buqu says, "Master Xiao, do you know the way out?"
Xiao Lu, "I have just came here myself, so I am also looking."
Cui Buqu is positive that there is not only one exit in this place, but if Duan Qigu made such a vault underground and his intentions were only to build himself an escape route, then why waste such a huge effort on it?
Both men stop talking. Cui Buqu lets out a few coughs and musters all his energy to withstand the pain at his back, before he begins to start looking for an exit with Xiao Lu.
"Before you came down, I have looked around for a while." Xiao Lu says, "There are no levels engineered under the ground, so logically speaking, it is impossible to dig deeper. If there should be an exit here, it can only be within these four walls."
Cui Buqu lets out a low 'En', and feels his hand touching a dent.
There is a loose brick inside, and he tries to push it backwards. There is a deep click and sunlight seeps from behind.
The stone door slides open slowly, before it was followed by the weak calling of women.
In a place like this, how can there be women?
Questions rise from behind both their heads. Once the stone door opens completely, the scenery inside before them is something even Cui Buqu, who would not have been surprised even if a mountain collapsed in front of him, stare with wide eyes.
Comparing to the darkness they come from, what lies beyond the door isn't just only a sea of brightness, it was practically deserving to call it a haven away from this world.
Red curtains bellow in waves of silk, pleasant fragrance float from behind them.
Cui Buqu and Xiao Lu walk near the stone door and feels that the smell of that fragrance has the power to sway their consciousness. One of them wrinkles their head and takes a few steps back, and the other waves his sword with a pivot of his wrist to fan the fragrance away.
Lending the light, Cui Buqu sees the beast that attacked him just now. It is a tiger, and there are two men by its side with sword wounds on their chests. They might be people that are killed by Xiao Lu when he fell down here.
Aside from these two people and the tiger, there are no traps like he imagines. There is a few mattresses in the heart of the vault and a few silk curtains.
The women's legs were spread and on them were thin metal chains that chained them to the pillars of the beds to prevent them from ever leaving the bed.
Even without the chains, by the looks of them being in the haze of drugs, adding with the fact that they are locked up in this stone vault, and a beast guarding the entrance, it would be been difficult for them to escape.
Xiao Lu's expression changes and suddenly he runs towards one of the beds.
"Lady Mei!"
The woman whose name was called by him turns around looking confused and dazzled, as if she has heard nothing.
Xiao Lu immediately reaches out with a hand and holds her wrist down to channel some life energy into her before rubbing her temples with his fingers.
The woman's body shivers and his expression turns from confusion to relaxation.
When she sees Xiao Lu, at first she looks confused, but when Xiao Lu calls her name a few more times, she immediately lunges herself at him, her face turning from white to green and tears brimming out her eyes.
"Seventh Brother?!"
Cui Buqu understands.
Not only did Duan Qigu used this place as his escape route, it is also a place where he exercises his lecherous habits. He put these women, who were definitely common women from other families, under house arrest. For one, these were definitely done by the dirty tricks that Duan Qigu is so skilled in. It would be too troublesome to expose them to the light. Secondly, this place would not see daylight and it is sealed tight. These women would have no strength to retaliate, so they were simply kept here to satisfy his eccentric, disgusting habits and serve as his entertainment.
Ever since he joined the Zuoyue Bureau, Cui Buqu is used to seeing the disgusting facets of men, so he is not too surprised by this one. It is only that he did not expect Xiao Lu's family was also dragged into this.
He walks around the room and kicks the incense burner that was exuding the smell. The fragrance immediately thinned in the air.
On the other hand, Lady Mei is hugging Xiao Lu as she wails loudly, as if she is crying out all the tragedy she had experienced in life. The other women has not yet recover from their daze, that even this crying is not enough to wake them.
Cui Buqu furrows his brows, "Master Xiao..."
Xiao Lu laughs bitterly to express that he understands. He reaches out to take the woman into his shoulder and lays her down before walking towards the others to free them from their chains.
"Master Xiao, wait." Cui Buqu says, "These people have been tortured for so long, if they were woken up, they might show the same reaction as your sister did. When that time comes, it would be difficult to bring so many people out at once. Why don't we free them from their chains first, and once we managed to find the exit, we can come back to their rescue."
Xiao Lu nods his head, "Brother Cui is indeed thorough."
He follows Cui Buqu's advice and breaks the chains of all the women, however, because they have been drugged for so long, they did not realize what was happening, and that it would take a while before they can finally come back to their senses. Even without the chains, they did not wake up or run around, but they continue to lie on their bed and blanket. Their faces look irritable and their bodies were sturdy. The blue-black bruises on their body, however, was mixed among new and old, as if they were bearing tortures their owner endured in the past that was unimaginable.
But no matter how many sighs are made, the situation could not be helped.
Cui Buqu is not a person with a soft-heart, and Xiao Lu also is not someone who would do something pointless, so both of them begins to look around for an exit.
After a while, Cui Buqu hears the other letting out a light sigh.
That sigh is one of anger and frustration, but in a situation such as this, he has chosen to allow his wisdom to guide him in lieu of his emotions.
Cui Buqu finds himself admiring this man.
He is concerned of the big picture, and did not allow himself to ruin the goal.
"There is no need to worry, Brother Xiao. I heard that Qiemo houses a few skilled physicians. Once we return, we can give your sister proper medical attention." He had been just saved by Xiao Lu just now, so if he did not show some degree of concern, it would make him too rude and cold.
Xiao Lu laughs bitterly, "She is not my sister, but the daughter of an uncle. When she was little, a fortune teller told us she would encounter an incident, so it was required for her to leave her family for a few years. Her family decided to send her to the Huangshan Sect to learn martial arts. I have not seen her for almost ten years, but suddenly her family came to me to beg for help, saying that she had gone missing while she was on the journey to the Huangshan Sect. Not a word was heard, so they feared something has happened to her and begged for my help. I only managed to come here after following a few leads, but I could not have imagined that..."
To a woman, for something like this to happen to her, is perhaps even worse compared to death. Even if it was within the Northern Dynasty that is more open-minded, nothing was truly different.
Both of them search the stone vault for a long time, but did not manage to find anything at all. They could only retreat back to the place they had come from.
The tiger's corpse and the two men are still there. Added with the smell of blood and fragrance, it blended into a strong, unpleasant smell. It made one feel like vomiting.
Xiao Lu searches here and there, but he could not find a level. His face quickly yields a look of panic. He himself could still stand all of this, but he is carrying a Lady Mei. The longer they remain here, the more harm will come to her.
"Here. I feel a brick that is slightly indent." Cui Buqu says suddenly.
Xiao Lu immediately pipes. He walks forward and touches here and there before finally finding the brick that sat among all the others differently. He uses his strength to press it down.
"It moved!" He exclaims happily.
But what follows after is water pouring down and drench both of them wet.
"Not good!" Cui Buqu suddenly thought about something. There are two people guarding the place here, so perhaps there are two levels. It requires two people to trigger it at the same time. So since only one is moved by Xiao Lu, the path did not open.
But it isn't just only this, the water above their heads ceases to stop. It keeps pouring from above, as if what they have opened is a path leading to a lake.
The water rises to their feet and very quickly it made it to their knees. Under such a situation, usually, let alone saving a few other people. Both of them might very possibly drown here.
But at the same time, Cui Buqu and Xiao Lu exchange glances and immediately weave a plan of freeing the sheep first before mending the cage.
Needless to say, very quickly, Cui Buqu manages to find a stone brick in the wall that was slightly indent, so he presses it down together with Xiao Lu.
Following a deep rumbling sound, the opening where the water came from closed up, replaced by another brick that rose from the wall.
Xiao Lu did not refrain himself from letting out a bitter laugh, "Was Duan Qigu thinking of building an underground palace?"
Cui Buqu, "I fear this is not built by him alone. The way this place is engineered looked like an old tomb. Duan Qigu emptied it out and used the stone vault for his own personal use."
Xiao Lu presses the stone brick down, and a finally, a stone door opens.
Beyond the stone door lies a flight of stairs leading up.
This is perhaps the true exit.
Both of them let out a relieving breathe. Cui Buqu takes the first step willingly, while Xiao Lu carries Lady Mei on his back as he follows after him.
As for the other girls, there is nothing they could do at the moment, so they decide to come back for them after they manage to find help.
The stone stairs isn't long. One could reach the end in the time one joss stick.
The light lies at the horizon. Other than that, there is also the pained cries of Duan Qigu.
Cui Buqu leaps down from the secret passage and chases after it with all he has. All he has in his mind was to stop Yan Xuexing from killing Duan Qigu.
Even if Duan Qigu is to die, at the very least, he wants to extract more information of the Yunhai Thirteen Stories from him.
With only one Yu Heng is not enough. To crosscheck information from both of their mouths, only can he find out which ones are the truth.
In the end, just as he reached the end and sees the daylight, he is just in time to see Yan Xuexing thrust a sword into Duan Qigu's chest.
Author's Notes:
Feng Xiao is returning in the next chapter ~
Freeing the sheep first before mending the cage: A Han idiom that means thinking of a solution only after the problem surfaces, in a way, it might not be too late to save the situation.