“A lamb waiting to be slaughtered; without anyone to protect him, he would have been dead long ago.”
Zhou Prefecture
Yan Zhou’s head was ringing, his vision washed out in a blur of white, and his hands were bound behind his back with fine cord. Though he could see nothing, he could roughly sense that he was currently in a very open, desolate space.
“Awake?” A woman’s voice drifted clearly to his ears.
The voice was exceedingly alluring, making Yan Zhou, who had always kept his distance from women, shudder involuntarily.
The blindfold was removed. Yan Zhou hurriedly blinked his eyes open, and as expected, he saw a bewitching woman standing before him. She looked to be of advanced age, yet her skin was exceptionally well-maintained, and she was surrounded by a cluster of followers.
“Don’t be afraid, little brother. I am Hua Qianmi, the manager of Crimson Fragrance Village. I used to know your father.”
To say he wasn’t afraid would be a lie. After all, waking up to find oneself ambushed halfway, knocked unconscious, and dragged off to the middle of nowhere clearly spelled trouble.
“What, what do you want?” Yan Zhou didn’t know how to address this woman. Bound as he was, running away was entirely out of the question.
Her intentions were already crystal clear. With Ying Laixian heading to Yishui City, Crimson Fragrance Village naturally dared not pursue him there. However, sitting idly by and waiting to die was no option either. If anyone possessed even a shred of insight beyond the clues in Ying Laixian’s hands, it would likely be Yan Zhou. Thus, Hua Qianmi had gone to great lengths to abduct him. In the game of the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind, how could a mere Ji Tingzhong possibly stand against so many factions?
Hua Qianmi cast a seductive glance at Yan Zhou. “Little brother, don’t you find this place familiar?”
Only then did Yan Zhou seriously look around. Dilapidated houses and mottled surfaces met his gaze everywhere. It seemed this place had suffered a massive fire long ago, leaving behind ruins that remained to this day.
“Not really.”
Hua Qianmi pinched Yan Zhou’s chin, saying with a hint of regret, “Is that so? I thought you’d have at least some memory of the Longye Palace ruins.”
What?
Yan Zhou’s mind went blank. This was the former site of Longye Palace? Forget the fact that he hadn’t been here in years, it had been burned down to this extent, who could possibly recognize it?!
“My… my good lady! I honestly don’t know anything about any Longye Palace treasure! Those are just rumors!” Knowing Hua Qianmi harbored the same intentions as his previous captors, Yan Zhou hastily pleaded for mercy.
Hua Qianmi countered, “The old site of Longye Palace has practically been turned upside down. Everyone else assumes the treasure isn’t here, but I believe the more it looks that way, the more suspicious it becomes. Little brother, if you are willing to help me seize the Longye Palace treasure, we can split it fifty-fifty. How about that?”
How about that? Naturally, not at all! Yan Zhou felt these pugilistic martial artists must all have something wrong with their heads. He had already told them he didn’t know anything! Why were they still clinging to him like this?
“Haven’t you all already searched this place upside down? If there’s nothing to show for it, the treasure definitely isn’t here.”
Hua Qianmi remained unconvinced. “Longye Palace is massive. Who’s to say there isn’t a forgotten corner? Think carefully. When you used to come here, did you ever notice any hidden doors?”
Yan Zhou felt a splitting headache coming on. What could he possibly have noticed? Back then, besides running around laughing and playing, he would just daydream in the courtyard. The crucial problem was that no matter how much he told the truth, nobody believed him, it was an injustice he couldn’t clear his name of.
“That was more than a dozen years ago. Who remembers that?” Yan Zhou said, his voice lacking conviction.
“Manager, I doubt this brat wants to talk. We might as well kill him to prevent him from falling into someone else’s hands,” a nearby subordinate said coldly.
Yan Zhou’s face instantly paled with fright. He looked frantically at Hua Qianmi, who maintained her smile. “The Flower Pavilion and I have always enjoyed friendly relations, so naturally I won’t kill you. But slicing off an arm or cutting out a tongue—those are things I won’t hesitate to do. Little brother, don’t force my hand.”
The Flower Pavilion had always maintained friendly ties with all sects and factions, a fact Yan Zhou well knew. Yet it wasn’t outside the realm of possibility for these people to kill him right now and dump his body in the wilderness.
Moreover, this woman was clearly a smiling viper. Yan Zhou had no other choice; he couldn’t pin his hopes on the next Ji Tingzhong coming along. He had to rely on himself to escape.
“Ahem…” Yan Zhou put on a thoughtful expression. “I remember when I used to hang around the young master of Longye Palace, I heard him mention an underground treasure vault, though I honestly have no idea where it is!”
“Underground?” Hua Qianmi was half-skeptical.
A wealthy sect like Longye Palace would certainly possess numerous vaults. But given how formidable Longye Palace’s power had been back then, even if they wanted to guard against covetous outsiders, they wouldn’t have gone so far as to build their vaults underground.
A crowd of martial artists had stayed in Zhou Prefecture for a long time, and the ruins of Longye Palace had been ransacked countless times without yielding a single clue. If it truly lay underground, however, it wasn’t entirely impossible.
“Yes,” Yan Zhou affirmed firmly. “That’s right!”
“Manager, why don’t we just blow this place up?” another person suggested from the side. “Longye Palace is so huge, who knows where this vault is buried?”
“That won’t do,” another objected. “The commotion is too big. If those people return, all our efforts will go to waste.”
After pondering for a long time, Hua Qianmi said, “You should still remember the location of that young master’s chambers. Lead us there.”
Yan Zhou: “…”
Without untying him, Hua Qianmi ordered two men to grab Yan Zhou by the arms, one on each side.
With no other choice, Yan Zhou had to treat a dead horse like a live one, buying as much time for himself as possible. Who knew, maybe someone would actually come to save him?
“I only remember the general location.”
In truth, Yan Zhou didn’t even remember the general location, but he could make it up. After all, nobody else knew either.
Thus, he led the group through a winding maze of paths until he finally stopped, thoroughly exhausted, in front of a dilapidated courtyard. “It should be around here.”
“Really?” Hua Qianmi doubted him.
Spouting nonsense, Yan Zhou claimed, “Of course! I even caught crickets with that young master in this courtyard before.”
“Leave a marker here,” Hua Qianmi instructed. “The rest of you, look around. There might be secret passages. Send another group to fetch tools; even if we have to hollow out this entire place today, I’m going to find that treasure.”
The men dispersed to carry out her orders.
Bound and helpless, Yan Zhou could neither escape nor do anything except stand there and stare blankly at Hua Qianmi.
“Don’t look at me like that, little brother. You look so much like your older brother, both of you so handsome. How has he been lately?”
Hua Qianmi was a full generation older than him, and Yan Zhou wasn’t foolish enough to think she shared some romantic entanglements with his brother. “He’s doing great, ha-ha-ha.”
How could Hua Qianmi fail to see right through his thoughts? She was a woman over fifty after all, well-versed in the ways of human nature. She had always heard that Yan Zhou of the Flower Pavilion was a good-for-nothing parasite relying on his older brother, but from any angle, this Yan Zhou seemed slippery as an eel.
Turning the place upside down would take a considerable amount of time. Hua Qianmi had stationed her people both inside and outside Longye Palace, and Yan Zhou felt certain he had flown right into a trap with no wings left to escape.
“Good lady, when can I leave? I really don’t know anything! I’ve already told you everything I know. If you let me go, I won’t tell my brother!”
Annoyed by his incessant chatter, Hua Qianmi suddenly sensed a wave of crushing pressure. She violently yanked Yan Zhou toward her just as a blade wrapped in piercing sword Qi tore through the empty air, striking the exact spot where Yan Zhou had been standing a second before.
The ground cracked open several inches deep!
“Who’s there?!”
Everyone scrambled for their weapons in a panic. Hua Qianmi’s expression turned grim as she looked from the weapon embedded in the ground to the terrified Yan Zhou.
Her people had completely occupied Longye Palace, yet this person had arrived without a sound, she hadn’t even captured a glimpse of their shadow! That alone showed how terrifying their strength was.
“Manager.”
“Let’s move,” Hua Qianmi said in a deep voice. “Move quickly. Leave a marker, and if we don’t find anything in half an hour, we pull back.”
“Understood.”
Yan Zhou’s heart was still pounding with lingering fear. If Hua Qianmi hadn’t saved his life just now, he would already be a corpse with his grievances unredressed.
“You brat,” Hua Qianmi remarked. “What kind of formidable character have you provoked?”
Yan Zhou had no idea either. Ever since he left the Flower Pavilion, he had never known a moment of peace, with people tracking him every step of the way. Who could know what kind of entity was tailing him?
“I don’t know,” Yan Zhou muttered. Never before had he felt so much like a piece of prime, aromatic meat that everyone wanted a bite of.
Hua Qianmi lowered her voice. “This person comes and goes without a trace, and their martial arts are even superior to mine. To try and kill you so blatantly means they hold Crimson Fragrance Village in complete disregard. You’re currently the prize everyone in the pugilistic world wants to snatch away, yet that strike was meant to take your life directly. Why do you suppose that is?”
Yan Zhou’s brain felt like it was lagging, unable to process the situation at all. Perhaps his past life had been too mundane; stepping out into the martial world alone made him realize his utter helplessness—he couldn’t accomplish a single thing.
A lamb waiting to be slaughtered; without anyone to protect him, he would have been dead long ago.
“It seems you aren’t completely useless after all.”
“What?”
Hua Qianmi explained patiently, “In the current landscape of the martial world, anyone who is single-mindedly bent on killing you must be connected to the annihilation of Longye Palace back then. In other words, you really do know something, which is why that person is in such a desperate rush to silence you. Although this is just my guess, it’s bound to be close to the mark.”
Though Yan Zhou knew little of martial prowess, Hua Qianmi was the manager of Crimson Fragrance Village, and her strength was undoubtedly high. Yet a person she considered beyond her ability to handle was currently hunting for his life, a thought that would wake him up in a cold sweat even in his sleep.
“But.” Hua Qianmi furrowed her brow in puzzlement. “Why did they leave without succeeding?”
Yan Zhou shook his head, feeling as though his life was about to slip away at any moment.
“I’ve already told you everything I know. Let me go so you won’t get dragged into this.”
Hua Qianmi smiled. “Let you go? You wouldn’t even know how you died. Stick close to me obediently for now, and I can at least guarantee your temporary safety. But if you try to run off, you’ll likely become a ghost under someone’s blade before you even reach the Flower Pavilion.”
Thinking it over from every angle, Yan Zhou figured Hua Qianmi might actually be right. If he fled now, he would either fall into the hands of other sects or be murdered by that mysterious figure. Staying put at least bought him more time to live. But after that? How was he supposed to send word back to the Flower Pavilion?
What about Ji Tingzhong, who had come to rescue him earlier? Where was he now?
A tangle of anxieties swirled in Yan Zhou’s mind. He couldn’t shake the feeling that this was a meticulously premeditated trap.
“Manager,” a subordinate stepped forward to report. “We found nothing.”
The earlier mishap convinced Hua Qianmi that lingering here today was too dangerous. “Fall back first. We’ll plan our next steps later.”