Chapter 419: Kidnapping

Deep in the mountains and great marshes, everything was lush and green. A sheer cliff faced the rising sun. Beneath an ancient pine, Guan Fangyi sat on a swing, drifting back and forth with her skirts and ribbons fluttering, utterly at ease. Not far away, Niu Youdao sat cross-legged facing the morning sun in meditation.

Gongsun Bu skimmed up the mountain and called from a distance, "Master Dao!"

Hearing him, Niu Youdao slowly concluded his exercise, opened his eyes, and rose. Only then did Gongsun Bu approach.

"The fighting in Nanzhou is almost over. They're already mopping up. Barring some accident, Nanzhou falling into Tianyu Sect's hands is now a foregone conclusion."

Niu Youdao shook his head slightly, deeply moved. "I thought they'd be fighting for a while. I didn't expect it to end this quickly. Looks like the plan has to be moved forward. Notify Monkey's side. Tell them to act."

"Yes!"

Gongsun Bu accepted the order and floated back down the mountain. Guan Fangyi, still sitting on the swing with one leg crossed over the other, let the swing carry her forward, then drifted off it and landed beside Niu Youdao.

"What exactly are you planning?"

Niu Youdao said, "Some things don't need to be asked. Even if you ask, I won't tell you. When it's time for you to know, you'll know naturally. Just make sure nothing goes wrong with your people."

Guan Fangyi rolled her eyes at him. "Relax. Uncle Chen personally took the men. They'll follow your big red-faced fellow's orders."

Jinzhou. A carriage accompanied by a dozen or so attendants, all dressed simply and traveling without ostentation, left through the eastern city gate. Inside the carriage, Xiao Tianzhen seemed to have grown considerably taller. Color had returned to his face, and he looked much more mature than before. Only an occasional shadow passed through his eyes. From time to time, his gaze shifted toward Yuan Gang, who sat beside him. Yuan Gang rested with his eyes closed, expressionless. He knew Xiao Tianzhen was studying him.

After learning of the connection between Yuan Gang and Hai Ruyue, Niu Youdao had quietly sent him to Hai Ruyue's side. Once Yuan Gang arrived, however, something unexpected happened. Xiao Tianzhen repeatedly hinted in private that he wanted a chance to speak with him alone.

Yuan Gang had ignored those overtures until now. After receiving Niu Youdao's message, he finally agreed and accompanied Xiao Tianzhen out on a hunting trip.

The group traveled several dozen li beyond the city and entered a stretch of mountain forest. Once the carriage could go no farther, everyone dismounted. Xiao Tianzhen and Yuan Gang changed to horses, slung bows and arrows over their backs, and rode into the vast mountains.

Yuan Gang carried a bow but showed no interest in hunting. Xiao Tianzhen, on the other hand, loosed several arrows and managed to hit a rabbit. Whatever could be said of his archery, compared with the frail body of years ago that could not endure strenuous movement, his health had improved beyond recognition.

It was only one rabbit, yet Xiao Tianzhen was in excellent spirits. He had Yuan Gang clean and dress it while he gathered dry branches and lit a fire on a small hill. Yuan Gang returned from the stream with the dressed rabbit and, at Xiao Tianzhen's gesture, set it over the fire to roast.

Sitting beside the flames and turning the rabbit, Yuan Gang glanced around. Xiao Tianzhen had already sent his guards some distance away to watch the perimeter of the hill. Yuan Gang had no idea what the boy had gone to such lengths to discuss with him. When he looked over, he found Xiao Tianzhen staring at him as well, something meaningful in the young man's eyes.

"Does the Inspector have something to say?" Yuan Gang asked.

"Inspector?" Xiao Tianzhen replied. "Brother Yuan, do you think I'm truly qualified to call myself Inspector of Jinzhou?"

Yuan Gang did not understand what he meant. "Aren't you the Inspector of Jinzhou?"

"I'm nothing more than a puppet in name. The person who truly controls Jinzhou is my mother."

"Either way, the power is in the hands of you and your mother."

Xiao Tianzhen spoke as though casually. "I'm already an adult. By rights, I should be taking charge of military and civil affairs. But Mother refuses to relinquish power. Perhaps someone doesn't want me to take power."

The subject was becoming sensitive. Yuan Gang had not expected him to speak so openly to an outsider.

His brow twitched as he turned the roasting rabbit. "Who doesn't want you to take power?"

A gloomy look flashed through Xiao Tianzhen's eyes. Images of Li Wuhua and Hai Ruyue together, scenes he could barely bear to look at, passed through his mind. He took a deep breath and changed the subject.

"I've heard Commandery Prince Yongping has launched his attack on Nanzhou. The offensive has been fierce. Taking Nanzhou is already virtually certain."

Yuan Gang looked at him, still uncertain where he was going with this.

Xiao Tianzhen continued, "When cultivation sects hold too much control over secular affairs, whether it's the person presiding over Nanzhou or the one presiding over Jinzhou, life can't be easy. If the two sides were to join forces, however, there would be much we could accomplish. As I understand it, Niu Youdao has considerable influence over Shang Chaozong and has always helped him resolve his difficulties. Brother Yuan, I hope you can carry a message to Niu Youdao for me. I'd like him to find a way for us to meet and discuss matters."

Yuan Gang finally understood. The boy's hands were tied inside Jinzhou, so he wanted outside strength to help him seize power.

"All right," Yuan Gang said.

He pulled the Three-Roars Saber from his back. The blade turned in his hand and, with a casual extension of his arm, came to rest against Xiao Tianzhen's neck. Xiao Tianzhen went blank.

He stammered, "Y-you... what are you doing?"

Yuan Gang used the saber edge beneath his chin to force him to his feet, rising with him.

"How dare you!"

One of the guards below the hill spotted what was happening and flashed toward them with an angry shout. Yuan Gang casually hurled the roasting rabbit at him, seized Xiao Tianzhen with his other hand, and chopped the edge of his palm into the back of the young man's neck. Xiao Tianzhen's eyes rolled back and he collapsed unconscious.

In the blink of an eye, Yuan Gang had the unconscious Xiao Tianzhen in his grasp, the saber blade laid across his throat. Calm and unruffled, Yuan Gang left the cultivators rushing in from every direction afraid to act.

"Release the young master immediately!" one cultivator shouted. "Harm so much as one hair on his head, and we'll make sure you die without a burial place!"

The words had barely left his mouth when the group of cultivators was startled again. From the distant forest, a band of masked cultivators came racing toward them and formed up opposite the Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion men.

Yuan Gang barked coldly, "Move aside!"

He had a hostage in hand and reacted quickly, remaining alert for surprise attacks from every direction. The cultivators of Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion did not dare move recklessly. They had no authority to gamble with Xiao Tianzhen's life. Only when the saber edge pressed hard enough to draw blood from his neck did they finally give way and open a path. The instant Yuan Gang joined the masked cultivators, he threw the unconscious Xiao Tianzhen to one of them.

The band of kidnappers then withdrew rapidly into the depths of the mountains. The Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion cultivators immediately gave chase. As they pursued, a Goldenwing took flight with an urgent report for Jinzhou... Crossing mountains and rivers at great speed, the Goldenwing arrived above Jinzhou's provincial capital and plunged directly into the Provincial Inspector's Residence. Before long, the residence erupted into commotion.

A group of cultivators led by Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion elder Li Wuhua shot out of the compound. Ignoring how shocking the sight might be to ordinary people, they bounded over the rooftops of the city at great speed and rushed out through the city limits. Not long after they departed, a letter was delivered into the Provincial Inspector's Residence. It soon reached Hai Ruyue, whose beauty remained undiminished.

Her face taut with anxiety, Hai Ruyue was already mobilizing forces from every direction, preparing to seal the main roads and cooperate in rescuing her son. She had no patience for some random letter.

She waved toward steward Zhu Shun. "Set it aside for now!"

She was genuinely furious. Yuan Gang had actually exploited her feelings toward him to kidnap her son. Otherwise, an ordinary person would never have been able to get close enough to Xiao Tianzhen to seize him, much less carry out the kidnapping so easily from within their own defenses. Zhu Shun was just as anxious. He held up the envelope so she could see the writing.

"Madam, I think you should read this."

Hai Ruyue focused on the envelope. Two lines were written across it: The young master is safe.
For the Grand Princess's eyes only. In the next instant, Hai Ruyue snatched the letter from his hand, pulled out the contents, and unfolded them. There were only a few lines:

I felt an immediate affinity with the young master and have missed him greatly. I have invited him away for a brief gathering and will certainly return him safely in due course. Do not mobilize large forces, do not publicize the matter, and do nothing to disturb the harmony between us. Respectfully,
Mr. Ming, disciple of the Ghost Doctor The moment she saw that name, Hai Ruyue looked as though she had been struck by lightning.

Her face went white. She staggered backward several steps as her mind instantly returned to the recuperation prescription Mr. Ming had left behind years ago.

When she first saw that prescription, it had frightened her badly. She could still remember the scene when Han Bing of Ice and Snow Pavilion arrived. Years had passed. The matter had always hung over her heart, but nothing had happened. She had hoped it would simply remain buried forever. Yet the thing she feared had finally come. The sword hanging above her head had at last fallen. Once she steadied herself, Hai Ruyue gritted her teeth so hard the words seemed to squeeze between them.

"Niu Youdao! You bastard. Despicable, shameless little villain..."

If she still could not guess who had stood behind that so-called disciple of the Ghost Doctor all those years ago, she would have to be an idiot.

She had suspected Niu Youdao even then. But Niu Youdao had refused to admit anything, she had possessed no evidence, and she had not dared spread word of the matter, leaving everything murky and unresolved. Now Niu Youdao's trusted subordinate Yuan Gang had personally kidnapped her son, and immediately afterward a letter from the Ghost Doctor's disciple had arrived. If Niu Youdao was not behind this, then ghosts truly existed.

Zhu Shun's expression was grave. "Madam, why would Niu Youdao kidnap the young master?"

He was not surprised that she had concluded Niu Youdao was responsible. Yuan Gang had kidnapped Xiao Tianzhen, after all. But Zhu Shun had no idea how much lay behind this. On their side, Hai Ruyue alone knew about the Scarlet Yang Vermilion Fruit used to treat her son. Hai Ruyue did not answer his question. Instead, she obeyed the warning in the letter and suppressed the commotion she had been preparing to unleash... Deep in the vast mountain forests, figures skimmed swiftly through the trees.

Yuan Gang and the others fled at speed while Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion cultivators pursued closely behind. With Xiao Tianzhen in the kidnappers' hands, the pursuers were wary and did not dare attack recklessly. That did not mean they would simply let the kidnappers escape. Ahead, wisps of mist gradually appeared among the trees, hanging thickly between the slopes without dispersing.

As they approached, Yuan Gang and the others quickly took out small green leaves and placed them in their mouths. One was also slipped into the mouth of the unconscious Xiao Tianzhen. These leaves came from the place where Meng Shanming and the others had once lived in seclusion.

The villagers had named them "Clearheart."

And the hidden village buried deep within the mountains was exactly where Yuan Gang and the others were headed. From the method used to kidnap Xiao Tianzhen to the planned escape route afterward, every step had been prepared in advance. The group plunged directly into the mist-wreathed mountains.

"The Poison Miasma Lands!"

One of the pursuing cultivators shouted an urgent warning. The cultivators from Myriad Caves Heavenly Mansion dropped to the ground one after another and stopped outside the rolling mist. None dared venture farther. They could only watch helplessly as Yuan Gang and the other kidnappers vanished into the miasma.

[End of Chapter 419]