18 King Hunter, Zhan Beiye (1/2)
Why wasn't he guarded then? The men Qi Xunyi had sent to trail him had long been taken away by his own guard, and he had even diverted Qi Xunyi's attention and troops, so why have these two appeared here?
Yuan Zhaoxu unsealed the man's acupuncture point and started interrogating him. After some time he found out that Sir Fang was obsequious, and hence, a well-liked subordinate of Qi Xunyi. He had caught his master casting an unusual glance at Meng Fuyao in the day and had taken it into his own hands to plan a surprise. He had contacted the subordinate awaiting their arrival from Qi mansion in secret, via pigeon post, and had plotted to ambush Meng Fuyao on both routes between the Mystic Essence Mountain and Yanjing.
Yuan Zhaoxu's guard had focused his energy on diverting those at the back and hadn't expected more to be waiting at the front.
The man's explanation had infuriated her, and she gave him a good hard kick in return before mumbling hesitantly, ”Eh, he doesn't deserve a death sentence, but it's going to be troublesome if I spare him. What to do?”
Yuan Zhaoxu smiled and leaned over, his fingers giving the top of the man's head a light flick. ”All done.”
”Huh?”
He explained in a voice as weightless as a cloud, ”His memories of tonight will all be in disorder so don't worry. He's not going to report what he's unsure of.”
Meng Fuyao stared at him, aware that he had just dealt the man's all-knowing acupuncture point a heavy blow to permanently disrupt his memory. The technique seemed simple but was, in fact, superlative – any less or more force to his flick would've produced opposite results. While she could probably do it upon reaching the sixth level of ”Cleaving Nine Heavens”, that degree of lightness was something she couldn't achieve for sure.
The more they spent time together, the more mysterious he seemed.
She turned her eyes toward him as if trying to figure him out, but he was already walking over to the man in gray. A few steps later, however, he added, ”Very beautiful.”
”What's very beautiful?” Meng Fuyao asked expressionlessly.
Yuan Zhaoxu and Lord Yuan Bao exchanged glances, the latter revealing his big, snow-white teeth and raising his stumpy leg up for her to see.
At the same time, Yuan Zhaoxu answered casually, ”I meant the thighs.”
”Peeping Tom! You peeping Tom! Peep? How dare you peep? I'm going to throw a punch so hard that you'll fly a kilometer away. I'm not going to stop until I see blood.”
Just like that, the unlucky man in gray became a sandbag with which she practiced her punches on. The locust tree, to which he was tied to, had also fallen victim to her endless curses.
As if lacking in shame and guilt, the tree simply stood tall and still.
The man in gray was quickly woken up by her attacks, and started screaming the moment his eyes shot open, ”I didn't steal! I didn't steal!”
”I know you didn't steal,” Meng Fuyao eyed him coldly. ”But your belongings have been stolen by me.”
Without holding back, she picked out the valuables from a messy pile of items and kept them for herself. Upon seeing that the man in gray turned pale. He pled after some time, ”Now that you've gotten all the stuff, please let me go. I need to run for my life!”
”Run for your life?” Meng Fuyao asked in surprise. ”Your sneaky behavior had nothing to do with us?”
”Where am I supposed to find the time to raid you guys?” he glared at her, the veins on his forehead popping. ”Do you have the money? Do you have the body? Do you have anything that's worth stealing? I'm the master of Godly Palm Sect after all.”
Meng Fuyao looked at herself and then Yuan Zhaoxu, and felt that they should be considered good-looking. 'Are his eyes even working? How strange.'
”Eh, Sect Master. Why were you squatting in that corner earlier then?”
The man in gray spat, ”What bad luck!”
After a whole exchange, Meng Fuyao finally understood that the man in gray had been accused of stealing an item that belonged to the emperor's attendant, Sir Ye Buqi, and was being pursued by people from Tiansha Nation. He had fled from Yanjing and been trying to shrug them off this whole way but to no avail.
”Bah, how wretched of me. I had contacted An Mei for help and arranged to meet him here, but he's nowhere to be found.”
”An Mei? World's number 1 killer?” Meng Fuyao asked in astonishment. ”You managed to hire him? Amazing, but then again, what have you stolen from Sir Ye? Judging from their relentless pursuit, it must be a treasured object.”
The man's expression changed, hesitation evident in his face. After a brief pause, he continued, ”I did not contact An Mei. He agreed to help, in order to repay a favor that my friend had done him in the past. As for the treasured object... I heard that it's a medal to enter national borders .”
The last few words made Meng Fuyao's heart skip a beat.
She subconsciously reached into her clothes but retracted her hand halfway.
As if unbothered by her action, Yuan Zhaoxu smiled. ”You didn't steal it?”
”No!”
”Oh,” Yuan Zhaoxu expressed before going over to hold Meng Fuyao's hand. Turning around to leave, he added, ”You can relay that to Zhan Beiye when he gets here. Hope he'll believe your story.”
At that, he pulled Meng Fuyao away without looking back. The man's face changed again and again. When he saw that they were really about to leave, and remembered that he was still being tied to a tree and was at a dead end, he swallowed his saliva. He lifted his neck and shouted, ”Wait, wait!”
The two continued forward as if they had both gone deaf.