Xia Qingsheng showed a look of shame and said, “Not yet. The thief has superb martial arts skills and escaped very quickly; we lost track of him. General, in the future, you must always bring guards with you when you go out; otherwise, it’s too dangerous.”
Duan Xu is not fond of bringing followers with him, and this is well-known in Nandu. For a young master of his wealth, it’s already considered modest to bring four or five servants with him when going out, yet he always prefers to travel alone.
According to him, he had once been robbed by bandits, and the servants who had taken care of him for many years tried their best to help him escape, but they all died at the hands of the bandits. Remembering this painful experience, he is reluctant to hire new servants.
Once this story spread in Nandu, it gave Duan Xu a reputation for being sentimental.
“Superb martial arts skills… The position he chose on the watchtower was very concealed; to be able to aim at me from such a distance, he is indeed a master.” Thus, Duan Xu simply ignored Qingsheng’s advice and said softly.
“Even if you were by my side, you might not have been able to detect the assassin.”
Duan Xu smiled gently.
Let alone an “ordinary” girl who doesn’t know any martial arts?
As the moon rose high in the sky, Xue Chenying woke up from a nightmare only to find that his little sister was not in her room. He called out a few times but got no response, so he took the candlestand and searched the yard again, still without finding her.
He stood there stunned for a long time, as the scenes from the nightmare seemed to reappear before his eyes. Chenying gradually became panicked. Holding the candlestand, he ran out onto the street, shouting, “Little sister!”
Where had his little sister gone?
Could it be that she left him behind because he ate too much?
Chenying’s eyes gradually became wet with tears, and the streets ahead of him blurred. He thought of his mother, father, and all the loved ones who had passed away; they all disappeared one day after he woke up and never returned. It seemed like some kind of ominous metaphor.
The people he couldn’t see when he opened his eyes might never be seen again in this lifetime.
Because it had snowed all day, a layer of ice had formed on the ground. Chenying walked while crying and accidentally fell.
The candlestand hit the ground with a “pfft” sound, and the flame went out, emitting a faint wisp of smoke.
Just as the light went out, a gentle female voice sounded, somewhat blurred and indistinct.
“What’s wrong, child? Why are you crying?”
Chenying looked up. On the desolate and cold street, ten steps away from him, stood a young woman wearing a green cloak.
The snowflakes, which had just stopped falling, began to drift again. Standing in the shadows, he could only see her delicate and exquisite silhouette; jade pendants hung from her ears, and she held a large jar with black and white patterns on it.
Chenying staggered to his feet, looked around to see that there was no one around, and then stood there somewhat awkwardly.
“I’m looking for someone,” he said softly.
The woman then took a step forward; her footsteps were silent on the snow.
“Who are you looking for?”
As she came closer, her bright red lips, with a smile at the corners, became clearer.
Shen Ying hesitated for a moment, but then still replied to her, “I’m looking for... Sister He Xiaoxiao. Do you know her?”
“He Xiaoxiao? I know that person very well; I know where she is. Your mother will take you to find her.” The woman took another step closer to Shen Ying.
Shen Ying unconsciously stepped back, feeling like a wild animal that instinctively sensed danger. Confused and cautious, he said, “My mother passed away a long time ago, and she doesn’t look like you at all. Why do you claim to be my mother?”
The woman fell silent, the smile on her lips slowly fading. It was eerily quiet around them; only the cold wind blowing through the street’s banners and signs made a loud rustling sound.
The woman took another step forward, this time coming into the light. It was then that Shen Ying noticed her eyes were completely black, without any white. The jar she held in her arms was covered in bloodstains.
Her delicate, jade-like hands, holding the jar, were stained with fresh blood, which dripped down from her palms along the jar’s body, falling one by one onto the snowy ground.
The silence around them was so profound that one could almost hear the sound of each drop of blood hitting the snow.
As if she didn’t notice anything amiss, she blinked her pitch-black eyes and smiled gently, coaxing, “Not yet, but it won’t be long. Come here, quickly come to your mother.”
Shen Ying stared at the woman, trembling all over with fear.
Out of his most primal fear, he wanted to turn around and run, but his legs instinctively became limp and unresponsive to his commands. Shen Ying could only shout in vain, “You… don’t come closer! I want to find Sister Xiaoxiao! She can… she can perform magic!”
Magic clearly was of no use in exorcising evil, but Shen Ying no longer knew of any other ability that could be more frightening.
The woman continued to approach with a smile, but suddenly a loud cry came from somewhere, scaring the crows perched on the rooftops away.
“Commander Meng, it’s her! She’s truly unholy! She violated the curfew and even injured several of our men!”
A group of soldiers patrolling the streets appeared from a side street; five or six of them stood between Shen Ying and the woman, with Meng Wan leading the way.
She turned to look at Shen Ying, wondering if this wasn’t He Xiaoxiao’s brother. Then she turned back again, drawing her sword towards the strange woman before her.
The woman had stopped moving forward, her face showing displeasure.
Meng Wan looked into her pitch-black eyes; she had never encountered such a bizarre situation before. She gripped her sword tighter and asked, “Is this woman possessed?”
“If you don’t want to die, get out of the way! Give me that child!” The woman’s face turned ferocious as she let out a howl almost like that of a wild animal. Her nails quickly grew longer, and she opened her mouth to reveal sharp fangs.
Meng Wan’s hand trembled; she wasn’t sure what to do. As the woman lunged at her, she bravely raised her sword and shouted, “Lao Xu, Lao Wang, quickly take this child away!”
Trong chốc lát, người phụ nữ này đột nhiên mở to đôi mắt, há miệng ra; đôi mắt đen thẫm ấy tràn ngập sự không thể tin được. Hết thảy sự hung hãn trong cô ấy đều biến thành nỗi sợ hãi khủng lồ. Khoảnh khắc tiếp theo, đôi chân cô mềm nhũn, cô quỳ gục xuống đất. Những chiếc răng nanh sắc bén và lớp giáp cứng cáp biến mất hoàn toàn; cô bò trườn trên mặt đất, run rẩy như một con cừu sắp bị giết.
