Content Warning: Mild descriptions of gore and dismemberment.
After Luoyang, they weren't far from the capital.
The sky was dark as gloomy clouds hovered over the air like an endless night.
Waves of chilled wind swept by one after the last, but even more unusual were the dark and sinister whispers coming from all around.
They have just left the main path and ventured into a smaller alley. Forests stood on both sides; and although all the leaves had mostly fallen, the light of lanterns wavering in front of the horses gave off a strange, eerie feeling from the forest as if something would leap out at any moment.
Pei Jingzhe repeatedly raised his head, questioning why the sky hasn't brightened yet.
The more he thought about it, the more the sky seemed to defy him, refusing to grant him his wish. After they have travelled more than half their journey, a glint of greyish white finally peered through the sky, though it was still far from a bright and sunny day. Instead, those wilted trees that were originally pitch black had turned into swaying dark shadows that overlapped one another, looking like they were opening their jaws wide sinisterly.
The good news was that there was no snow.
The bad news was that fog had risen.
A wave of fog surged towards them. The breeze had not only failed to blow the fog away, but it had instead made the forest thick with it.
The roots of jagged, wilted trees were halfway concealed, leaving only their strange upper body to flaunt endlessly in the fog.
Pei Jingzhe realized something was amiss.
He knew that this path stretched a long way, and the forest was quite huge, but—
The tree on their right looked a little familiar.
"Ghosts are hammering the wall."
At the same time, he heard Cui Buqu's voice from inside the carriage.
Truly, this was a case of "speaking of the devil, and the devil may come to haunt you."
He wasn't afraid of ghosts or demons.
Since the bloody incident from the Yandang Estate, everything that had happened was beyond their expectations. Not long ago, Zhou Laoqi's corpse seemed to be giving off a sense of foreboding, and although they have chosen not to remain due to Cui Buqu's insistence, everyone was unable to feel at ease. Pei Jingzhe could not stop himself from feeling like something was about to happen.
Firstly, his heart jerked upwards, and then it was like something heavy had been lifted, before the feeling of a sudden realization sinking in.
When trouble came hitting at one's door, it was always better than having trouble waiting for them outside.
Everyone else also realized it. They looked around and finally finished searching this region.
At a single command from Pei Jingzhe, the convoy stopped.
"My Lord, Commander Cui, let us wait for the fog to disperse before continuing—"
Before his words could fully make their way out, a shriek seemed to sound at the same time, overpowering Pei Jingzhe's voice completely.
He abruptly turned around!
Amid the fog, a black shadow revealed itself from the trees and in the blink of an eye, it appeared right in front of an eaglerider of the Jiejian Bureau.
The other was abruptly pulled down from his horse and dragged into the depths of the fog!
Pei Jingzhe was taken aback. He didn't hesitate before dashing forward.
But Feng Xiao was even quicker than him!
Pei Jingzhe couldn't even get a clear look of him unleashing an attack. The black shadow was forced to release the eaglerider and then cruelly cast him to the ground.
"A play of the devil!" Feng Xiao gave a cold snort. He dropped, drawing a pained cry from the black shadow before he fainted dead.
Pei Jingzhe gave him a thorough glance and realized that the other was only wearing a nightgear. They had neither turned ashen mist and smoke nor were they moving underground.
It really was a play of the devil.
What quickly followed were a few black shadows appearing in the fog, coming from all directions and as they surrounded the convoy.
Pei Jingzhe also quickly realized that these people's martial arts were only above average. Qin Miaoyu, himself, and a few more eagleriders from the Jiejian Bureau and guards from the Zuoyue Bureau would be enough to take all of them on.
"These people are from the Crimson Sun Group. Their martial arts techniques originated from the Jinhuan Group." Cui Buqu said.
The Jinhuan Group was the head of the Nine Groups of Caoyun, with its Group leader Ning Shewo as the Group Leader. Although the Nine Groups of Caoyun were an alliance, the other Group leaders were not puppets guided by strings. Among the nine groups, only the Group Leader of the Crimson Sun Group rose to his position with the help of Ning Shewo, and so he listened to every command of the Jinhuan Group.
In the last battle at the tavern, the Jinhuan Group's Young Master Leng Dou brought a batch of Jinhuan elites to forfeit their lives. Feng Xiao had annihilated all of them alone.
But without Leng Dou, there was still Ning Shewo.
That old sly fox Ning Shewo refused to show himself. Instead, he had sent someone else to be his meatshield.
So, naturally, these black-robed people were not his match.
Pei Jingzhe was still concerned about something.
Even if the Crimson Sun Group and the Jinhuan Group came at once, would they have been able to thoroughly annihilate the Yandang Estate completely?
Didn't the old coroner say those fifty or so people died from madness and killed each other?
If the murderers weren't them, then who else was there hiding in the fog and watching their every move?
In the midst of their struggles, one person descended from above. As his figure wavered, a wave of attack was shot at the horse carriage at the centre of the envoy!
It was Cui Buqu's carriage!
The attack blew off the roof of the carriage.
But that person had failed to shatter Cui Buqu's body into thousands of pieces.
Because Feng Xiao had come!
Both of them fought in the air. Within a blink of the eye, they have fought from the roof to a few zhang away into the treetops. Onlookers could not even tell their movements clearly.
Feng Xiao did not even need to see the other's true face. Once they fought, he immediately knew the other's identity.
"Old Yuan, could it be that your love for me is already so deep-rooted, that you had to find the chance to die by my hand only to be satisfied?"
Yuan Sansi's face blackened at being called 'Old Yuan' by Feng Xiao.
Enemies. Really. Walk. A. Narrow. Road!
Last time, he had retreated with heavy injuries which have not fully healed even at this moment. He dared not go full out, and thus only fought while he plotted to escape.
Although Feng Xiao's martial arts have far surpassed his at present, it wasn't an easy feat to kill Yuan Sansi on the spot if he was deliberately not trying to fight a serious battle.
However, Yuan Sansi very quickly felt his pressure decreasing.
Because two more people had joined the battle.
One of them was the Group Leader of the Jinhuan Group, Ning Shewo and the other was the Group Leader of the Crimson Sun Group, Hong Li.
Ning Shewo was a sly enough fellow; last time in Tiannian Mountain, once Group Leader Ning saw that the situation had turned unfavourable, he had vanished quickly and was naturally spared from the same fate that befell Yu Xiu. Returning to the subject, even if his martial arts weren't one of the top ten beneath the Heavens, he would easily be a top-tier martial artist solely by the fact that he led the Nine Groups of Caoyun and had roamed the Wulin of the South for many years. If he had joined forces with Yu Xiu back then, they might have succeeded in defeating Feng Xiao.
The Crimson Sun Group was akin to the younger brother of the Jinhuan Group. However, the Group Leader Hong Li was known for his barbaric Iron Palm Technique.
When the three of them joined forces and surrounded Feng Xiao, not only did Yuan Sansi have hopes of escaping alive, even if Feng Xiao desired to kill Yuan Sansi, it would no longer be so easy.
The battle outside was also in progress.
The chicken and ducks that Qin Miaoyu had used to test for poison had been 'kidnapped' onto the journey as well, to see how long it takes for the poison to act up within them. And now, no one knew how they had escaped from their imprisonment and were all wildly quacking as they ran about. They didn't even turn back as they ran into freedom.
Cui Buqu stood next to the horse carriage as he observed the battle. Suddenly, he heard some movement behind him.
He turned around, only to see that someone else was behind his carriage.
The other's face was pale, with a pair of eyes filled with blood vessels as they looked at Cui Buqu with a stoic expression no different from those who are looking at something dead.
Cold, yet frantic.
Cui Buqu knew him.
"Lu Ming."
He happened to be the missing scout of the Zuoyue Bureau from the bloody incident of Yandang Estate.
Hearing his own name, Lu Ming showed no reaction. He seemed to have failed to recognize even his own superior. Reaching out, he grabbed at Cui Buqu.
His right hand crooked into a claw, fast and cruel, aiming for Cui Buqu's neck.
At the same time Cui Buqu took a step back, he realized Lu Ming's footsteps were uneven and hesitant.
As he watched his prey escaping, Lu Ming didn't hesitate moving forward to go into a chase.
Qin Miaoyu quickly came to his aid. She struck Lu Ming's chest with a sword. The latter hesitated, then reached out to grab the sword and pulled it out of his chest.
This wasn't something a normal person could do, Qin Miaoyu was dumbstruck.
Recalling the appearance of Zhou Laoqi that morning, and now at Lu Ming, one could make a lot of terrifying connections.
"He isn't dead. He's drugged with some poison that sends one into madness!" Cui Buqu exclaimed as if knowing what she was thinking about.
As her mind spun, Qin Miaoyu swung the sword in her hand and sent Lu Ming's head flying into the air!
Fresh blood sprayed everywhere!
Qin Miaoyu, after all, preferred beauty and cleanliness. She was afraid that she would get blood on her robes, and so pulled Cui Buqu to stand behind him.
Lu Ming's head flew into the air, rolling to a place not far off by Pei Jingzhe's feet.
"What is this?!" The black-robed man fighting with Pei Jingzhe shouted.
Cui Buqu and the others turned around to look, and saw, from the spot where the neck was cut, there was a long black worm as thick as a finger squiggling out!
Qin Miaoyu picked up a piece of rock and tossed it over. Before the worm could move, it was smashed into a bloody pulp.
"There is a third force at play here." Cui Buqu coldly said.
Qin Miaoyu was still a little oblivious at first, but upon being reminded, everything fell into place.
From the reactions of those black-robed people, Lu Ming and the worm had nothing to do with them.
This means that they were most likely being lured here as well.
The enemy wanted them to fight among themselves so they may reel in the final catch.
Other than the Thirteen Pavilions of Yunhai, who else were they against?
Qin Miaoyu's heart sank. Suddenly, she felt that today would not be an easy day to pass.
After Yuan Sansi fought with Feng Xiao for a moment, he realized that Feng Xiao had never intended to take his life.
Feng Xiao suddenly asked: "Are you people the ones behind the Yandang Estate's incident?"
Yuan Sansi snorted but didn't answer him.
Ning Shewo asked instead, "Wasn't it you people who did it?"
Feng Xiao snorted coldly: "Stop fooling around with me!"
The four of them seemed to synchronize. Feng Xiao suddenly stopped, Yuan Sansi and the others also retreated into different ways.
Ning Shewo knew that his side was weaker compared to the enemy's, and so there was no advantage they could have taken, thus he gently said: "Commander Feng was mistaken. We originally came for the Little Sword-Sparring Competition but heard about the massacre at the Yandang Estate, which left us astonished. Afterwards, we heard about Commander Feng and his company's arrival in Luoyang to handle the case. With Commander Feng and Commander Cui here to deliver miracles upon solving cases, no one would need to worry that this case wouldn't be solved. So we were prepared to leave in reassurance, but hadn't expected to run into Commander Feng and your company here."
To think two parties who couldn't tolerate each other would cast aside their prejudices and engage in a civil talk, this was truly a miraculous sight.
He chattily said a bunch of things, but it all went back to a single point: They were not the murderers behind the Yandang Estate's massacre, neither were they tailing Feng Xiao and his company.
As if Yuan Sansi could no longer stand his chattiness, he immediately said, "A few of our subordinates had gone missing. When we pursued our way here, we run into you people."
Once these words came out, all four of them came to realize that they were intentionally brought together.
Feng Xiao's expression changed all of a sudden. Ignoring the three of them, he turned around to rush back from where he came from!
His speed was incredibly fast, arriving at the same place where the company stopped just now.
But other than those three horse carriages and a few horses, everyone had gone missing.
"Cui Buqu! You surnamed Cui!"
Feng Xiao shouted a few times. In the vast and empty forest of wilted trees, only the vast sea of fog answered him.
He inhaled deeply as if he smelled a faint scent of a fragrance.
The fragrance of wood.
But in such wintry weather, from where would the smell of forest wood come from?
Even if Cui Buqu was kidnapped, there was still Ming Yue and the others. It was impossible for them to disappear soundlessly just like that!
From the corner of his eyes, he saw a smudge of red.
Feng Xiao lowered his head and saw blood.
It looked like blood that dripped from wounds, bleeding over the ground continuously before it stopped, then bleeding again. In the long stretch of land in front of them, it led into the fog.
Following the bloody trail, he walked over step by step.
The scent of blood grew thicker.
Thick like there was a mountain of corpses waiting ahead.
But Feng Xiao did not see a mountain of corpses. He saw Cui Buqu lying down in front not far off, and Qin Miaoyu was on top of the other's body, biting down on his flesh.
Hearing his movement, Qin Miaoyu turned around with a face full of fresh blood!
White bones have already revealed themselves from Cui Buqu's arm.
Feng Xiao's heart stopped.
This was an instinctive reaction.
The expression on his face changed, and he rushed forward without a second thought!
At the same time, there was a black shadow closing up on him from behind, soundless and breathless.