Chapter 489: Searching in all eight directions (1/2)
Chapter 489: Searching in all eight directions
Long Feiye was amazed to see Chu Xifeng, but the latter was equally stunned.
“Your Highness, you’re injured!” Chu Xifeng was shocked by the sight of Long Feiye’s pale face and the blood at the corner of his lips. His Highness Duke of Qin must have suffered a severe internal injury to be left like this. When Chu Xifeng saw that Duanmu Yao was able to take Long Feiye away, he was certain it had something to do with the Celestial Mountain Sword Sect. But he never expected to see Long Feiye so hurt!
If it’s not the old elder who dotes on His Highness that came, then who could it be?
Long Feiye’s cold eyes were starting to burn with impatience, so Chu Xifeng stopped asking questions and brought out the crossbow arrow he’d taken with him. Then he told Long Feiye all about Qin Wangfei’s visit to the Gu Estate and the assassination attempt there. Moreover, the imperial guards had turned on them and a commotion later broke out in the red-light district as well. He hadn’t even finished speaking when Long Feiye crushed the crossbow arrow to pieces. His cold face was frigid enough to drip ice.
“Your Highness, as this subordinate sees it, it’s probably the work of the Chu Clan. Chu Tianyin would have been the only one capable of asking Duanmu Yao for help.”
Chu Xifeng had been repeatedly reviewing the details. Beforehand, they had discovered the Western Zhou royal family’s seven-colored signal flares in Su Xiaoyu’s hands, but the Western Zhou imperial family had no hold in Tianning’s capital. In contrast, the Chu Clan held more influence, so most like they had gotten the flares from Duanmu Yao or her brother. One year ago, Duanmu Yao had left for Celestial Mountain Sword Sect after the Western Zhou emperor cast her aside. Now she had suddenly come down to seek out Long Feiye. Without a doubt, she was cooperating with the Chu Clan to lure him out of his den so forces could target esteemed wangfei.
Long Feiye realized it after some thought as well. But he could take care of those people later—right now, the most important thing was to track down Han Yunxi!
“Transfer all of the Hidden Pavilion guards to the red-lantern district and search the houses one by one for your lordship!” As soon as he barked out the orders, Long Feiye left at a frightful pace, so fast that Chu Xifeng couldn’t even keep up on his horse. But barely time enough to brew a cup of tea had passed before he was forced to stop on a tree branch and spit up another mouthful of blood.
Who was Cang Qiuzi? The second highest ranked member of the Celestial Mountain Sword Sect! Although Cloud Realm Continent’s wulin circles didn’t rank their fighters, Cang Qiuzi’s strength would definitely qualify as number two. Long Feiye had bore the power of his three strikes through sheer willpower. Chu Xifeng finally caught up and saw that His Highness was in a worse state than he thought.
“Your Highness, treat your injury first. Leave the rest to your subordinates!” Chu Xifeng urged.
Instead of replying, Long Feiye suddenly dropped down from the tree. Chu Xifeng immediately yielded his horse to him and watched his master gallop in the direction of the capital city’s south gates. After listening to Chu Xifeng’s description, Long Feiye believed that there was an 80 percent possibility that Han Yunxi was still in the red-lantern district.
Those crossbow archers had used agents to make the imperial guards turn traitor as well, showing that they were determined to kill their target. But choosing to move in the cover of the secluded Gu Estate, then withdraw their forces once their target reached the red-lantern district, proved that they still dreaded the might of the true imperial guards. Perhaps it was better to say that they dreaded Emperor Tianhui and didn’t want to cause a row with the personal assassination of Han Yunxi. They weren’t willing to escalate things to a level where the civilians or imperial palace would get involved.
After the black-robed assassin had charged into the brothel, nothing else much had happened. Either Gu Qi Sha and Han Yunxi had been kidnapped by him in the brothel, or the duo were still hiding amongst its rooms! Long Feiye had never thought much of Gu Qi Sha, but right now he dearly hoped that he had protected Han Yunxi well. Currently, all four city gates of Tianning’s capital city had been sealed off. Without express approval of Emperor Tianhui or the head of the imperial guards, no one was allowed in or out. By the time Long Feiye made it to the entrance, it was already dark.
Long Tianmo and Mu Qingwu had spent half the day promoting panic by circulating the crossbow arrows around the capital and fabricating reports on the enemy’s status to Emperor Tianhui. Emperor Tianhui could tell that the two were seizing the chance to exaggerate things, but the gunpowder explosion at the black markets had truly made him uneasy, so he had ordered the entire capital to be on the alert for assassins. When the watchtower guards saw His Highness Duke of Qin approach, they all fell to their knees. However, no one dared to open the gates.
“Open up immediately!” Long Feiye shouted in rage.
The leader of the guards shouted back from his knees, “Your Highness Duke of Qin, we’ve already sent a message to His Majesty. He’ll return right away, so may Your Highness keep calm!”
Would Long Feiye bother wasting words with the likes of him? Obviously not. He leapt up from his horse and flew towards the walls. Before any of the guards could react, he had already landed inside the city. Behind him, Chu Xifeng had caught up in time to witness the sight and quickly flipped over the wall himself to head for the red-lantern district. Less than an hour later, news of the Duke of Qin’s return had spread throughout the city. Very soon, there were reports that he’d sent a large group of black-robed guards to search the entire red-lantern district.
His Highness Duke of Qin wouldn’t have picked the wrong spot!
As a result, Emperor Tianhui forwent denouncing Long Feiye and sent a large group of men to the district as well. Long Tianmo and Mu Qingwu, who were about to leave, retraced their steps and added reinforcements to the search party. The various other imperial princes, old established families, dukes, marquises, the Baili Clan, capital officials and even the justice courts sent out representatives to scour through the brothels. Some of them genuinely wanted to find Han Yunxi, others wanted to claim credit in front of Emperor Tianhui, while still more just wanted to gain His Highness Duke of Qin’s favor. No matter the case, forces converged from all eight directions all for the sake of one woman. It had to be said that a capital had never been so tense besides Cloud Realm Continent’s historic attempts to steal the throne. Neither had so many eclectic forces gathered together in the history of any of its brothels.
Everyone was feeling like they were on tenterhooks. The entire Tianning capital had begun to seethe with excitement all because His Highness Duke of Qin had returned!