Chapter 395: Encircled

Inside Among the White Clouds, it was as though they were demolishing the place. Anywhere a person might be hidden, if it could not be opened, it was smashed apart by force. More than a few walls were simply broken through.

Before long, the interior of the money-devouring den had been wrecked into a ruin.

"Out of the way!"

An angry shout came from the end of the street. Soldiers blocking the intersection were shoved aside as Hao Yunsheng limped toward them, accompanied by his retainer cultivators.

Faced with the Prince of the Western Court, the soldiers found themselves in an awkward position without explicit military orders. This was His Majesty's own younger brother. They did not know whether to stop him or let him pass, and none dared offend him lightly.

When Hao Yunsheng saw the scene before him, his face shifted between light and shadow in the torchlight. The fury in his eyes was impossible to hide.

"Your Highness, we've been wronged!"

"Your Highness, you must uphold justice for us!"

At the sight of their great patron arriving, one courtesan suddenly scrambled up from where she had been kneeling, shoved aside the soldier guarding her, and dropped to her knees in the center of the passage to cry out her grievance.

Once she began, several more courtesans climbed out of the kneeling rows and blocked the way together, crying for justice.

The other painted beauties immediately burst into tears and joined the chorus. One after another, they turned and knelt toward Hao Yunsheng. Pleas and sobbing rose all along the street.

The men kneeling on the other side merely stole glances over and remained quiet. Some even exchanged looks, ready to enjoy the spectacle.

Hao Yunsheng swept a cold gaze over the people kneeling before him, then shouted angrily, "This is a lawful business! Who gave you the authority to act so recklessly? Is there no law left in your eyes? Have Huyan Wuhen come see this prince!"

The words had barely left his mouth when clusters of archers suddenly appeared at the windows lining both sides of the street. Bowstrings snapped. A rain of arrows came down without warning.

Hao Yunsheng was startled. The retainer cultivators on either side of him flashed forward and cast their arts to protect him.

Yet although the arrows were flying toward Hao Yunsheng's side of the street, none was aimed at him. Instead, screams erupted from the people kneeling in front of him.

"Ah..."

The dozen or so courtesans who had just rushed out to cry injustice collapsed amid shrill screams. One after another, they were shot full of arrows and fell instantly into pools of blood.

After the burst of bowstrings and screams, the street dropped into utter silence.

The painted beauties who had been weeping and echoing the pleas only moments ago now trembled where they knelt, their souls almost frightened from their bodies. Not one dared make another sound.

The men kneeling on the other side hunched their heads in fear. Their faces had gone ugly as well, and all thought of watching the excitement vanished. Now they were wondering whether the Valiant Cavalry might simply begin slaughtering everyone.

Even Hao Yunsheng had truly been frightened. For that brief instant, he had thought someone was taking advantage of the chaos to kill him. A figure had appeared at some point in the torchlit passage ahead.

For a moment, Hao Yunsheng thought his eyes were deceiving him. Only when the man slowly approached and his face became clear did Hao Yunsheng's pupils contract.

Zha Hu walked over and stopped on the far side of the corpses. He glanced at Hao Yunsheng's crippled leg.

"A dignified prince personally appearing in public to stand up for a brothel is neither seemly nor sensible."

Hao Yunsheng swept a sleeve toward him and shouted, "You move an army without authorization inside the capital. Are you trying to rebel?"

Zha Hu said, "Don't throw accusations around. Naturally there is a reason for mobilizing troops. Your Highness has no authority to interfere in military affairs. Unauthorized obstruction of military operations is a capital crime. Please leave at once."

Hao Yunsheng said, "Have Huyan Wuhen come see this prince!"

Zha Hu folded both hands over his abdomen and said slowly, "Your Highness, the Supreme General has given an order: anyone who dares obstruct military affairs is to be killed!"

As he spoke, his cold gaze moved over the retainer cultivators beside Hao Yunsheng. One brow gradually lifted.

The instant those words fell, the archers at the windows on both sides nocked arrows again and drew their bows. The surrounding blades and spears also turned toward Hao Yunsheng.

Hao Yunsheng's retainer cultivators exchanged two glances with Zha Hu, then seemed to lose some of their confidence. One leaned close to Hao Yunsheng and murmured several words into his ear.

In the end, Hao Yunsheng flung out his sleeves, turned, and left with an ugly expression.

There were times when imperial clansmen fought for the supreme position not merely because of power itself, but because the people beneath power were too realistic. Without power, there was no dignity. Hao Yunsheng left with his heart full of humiliation and rage. Being publicly disgraced was not pleasant.

Ding!

A bell rang. This time even Yuan Gang heard it clearly. They had vaguely heard bells before. Su Zhao had mentioned them, but after finding nothing unusual, they had thought it might have been an illusion.

The two of them, galloping beneath the stars, urgently reined in their horses. After exchanging a glance, both jumped down and headed toward the place from which the bell had sounded to search. Before long, they found a small bell attached to a low plant. The bell itself was nothing. What mattered was the fine thread tied to it. Yuan Gang immediately followed the thread and soon found a broken end.

Su Zhao released a Moon Butterfly at once and searched in the direction the broken thread had led. Before long, she pulled another severed thread from the grass on the opposite side and followed it for more than a hundred zhang without reaching the end.

She did not dare waste too much time. She followed the thread back.

The two brought the broken ends together, looked at their horses, then turned and looked back in the direction from which they had come. The answer was obvious.

Their mounts had tripped the thread as they passed and snapped it, triggering the bell.

That meant the bell Su Zhao had heard earlier had not been imagined either. The only difference was how far each broken section of thread had been from its bell. Some had been close enough to hear clearly, while others had not.

Neither of them knew how many such threads their horses had broken along the way.

Forget seeing something so thin at night. Even in daylight, who would notice a fine thread hidden in the grass after a horse's hoof had already snapped it? Yuan Gang quickly realized the principle.

The grasslands were vast. Finding people in them was difficult. This was very likely one of the Valiant Cavalry's military methods for locating a target.

Animals and other travelers might interfere with the system, but the Valiant Cavalry would certainly have its own way of distinguishing useful signals from false ones.

"They've probably discovered the general direction we're heading," Yuan Gang said gravely.

The reasoning was simple. Anyone trying to arrest them would not scatter such things randomly across the boundless grasslands without purpose. Even a simple system would require impossible manpower if deployed blindly everywhere.

Su Zhao asked, "How can you be sure the military placed it? Could someone else have done this?"

Yuan Gang remained alert to the surroundings as he replied, "It looks simple, but a small group couldn't make it work. It doesn't matter how high a cultivator's cultivation is either. For this to function as an early-warning system, it requires an organized network operating across a wide area. This is definitely a military warning method. Other people don't have the manpower or organization to do it."

Su Zhao nodded thoughtfully. Now she understood why he was certain it was the Valiant Cavalry: the Huyan family. Still, she could not help giving Yuan Gang several more looks.

"Put away the Moon Butterfly. We change direction. Move!"

At Yuan Gang's command, the two ran back to their horses, mounted, wheeled around, and galloped away in another direction.

"No wonder you could fool Huyan Wuhen's eyes. Even I almost thought you really came from the army. You put a great deal of effort into approaching the Huyan family," Su Zhao remarked as they rode side by side.

It was not only because of what had just happened. Throughout their escape, in order to shake pursuit, she had already noticed that Yuan Gang possessed considerable understanding of military methods. Yuan Gang did not explain.

About half an hour later, the expressions of both riders changed slightly as they raced through the night. They looked back. The thunder of many hooves could be faintly heard behind them. The sound grew rapidly louder. The two charged up a hillside and looked back.

Under the moonlight, a long black dragon of riders was sweeping after them, accompanied by the glow of Moon Butterflies.

With this many cavalrymen, it was difficult not to believe they belonged to the Valiant Cavalry.

Yuan Gang immediately pointed in one direction. "You go that way. Once you reach Qingshan Commandery, tell Master Dao what happened. He'll judge right from wrong and arrange things properly for you. He won't mistreat you."

Su Zhao panicked. "I'm not leaving. If we go, we go together."

Yuan Gang said, "You leave first and find a way to contact Master Dao. If Master Dao intervenes, there may still be a chance to rescue me. I'm their target. If you stay with me, neither of us will get away."

Su Zhao refused flatly. "I'm not leaving!"

In her eyes, Yuan Gang was only an ordinary mortal. If she remained, she could at least help and protect him. She could not accept abandoning him and fleeing alone. That brief delay cost them their chance to leave.

The riders behind them were superb horsemen, far beyond the pair's skill. Before long, the cavalry caught up, carrying such overwhelming momentum that it seemed capable of sweeping across the boundless earth.

The large force abruptly changed formation and split in two, forming a V-shaped pincer.

From one wing, a unit of more than a hundred riders suddenly accelerated ahead.

In the darkness, it almost seemed as though only the horses were galloping and the riders had vanished. Every man had flattened himself against his mount's back. Even at such speed, they managed to ignite fire arrows. Bowstrings cracked. A sheet of flame hissed in from one side.

Although the arrows did not strike Yuan Gang or Su Zhao, they forced the pair to lash their horses and change direction again and again. The fire arrows kept herding them onward. Before long, Yuan Gang understood. The cavalry was not trying to run them down and kill them. It was forcing them toward a particular location. By the time he realized it, it was already too late.

Ahead in the darkness, several Moon Butterflies could be seen fluttering. Beneath their glow stretched long rows of black shapes, like a wall blocking the night.

Pinned between the two cavalry wings, Yuan Gang and Su Zhao had little choice but to be driven toward it. The black wall suddenly lit up as a mass of torches rose. Dense ranks of cavalry barred the way ahead.

Among those blocking riders, large numbers raised bows and drew strings, arrows aimed toward the approaching pair. A rain of arrows could fall at any moment. The cavalry pursuing from both sides gradually slowed. At last, they stopped.

Caught in the force and rhythm of that enormous formation, Yuan Gang and Su Zhao found even the tempo of their escape being controlled by the army around them.

When the two were finally forced to halt, they looked around and discovered that they had already been completely surrounded. Every direction was filled with torch-bearing cavalry. The cavalry commander raised a hand. The drawn bowstrings eased, and the arrows aimed at the pair lowered.

Several retainer cultivators stood around the commander. From their clothing, they were plainly cultivators from the three major sects of the State of Qi. Yuan Gang brought up his Saber. Su Zhao drew her sword. Both remained wary of every direction. Yet the cavalry surrounding them showed no intention of attacking. Nor did they intend to let them leave. No one spoke.

It seemed the army meant only to keep them trapped, as though waiting for someone. They did not wait long. The heavy thunder of hooves came from the distance once more. More than a hundred riders were galloping toward them through the night.

[End of Chapter 395]