A Pawn's Passage

Qi Xuansu only knew this information because Madam Qi told him. At this time, he only regurgitated Madam Qi’s words to Zhang Yuelu to make his identity more mysterious.

Since Zhang Yuelu did not know his background, she was wary of him. That was because the information she received was different from what he told her.

Hearing Zhang Yuelu’s question, Qi Xuansu asked back, “Is it really a secret? I thought the Daoist Order’s secret is the mastermind behind the scenes, as mentioned by Sage Donghua.”

He was so sarcastic that Zhang Yuelu was rendered speechless.

The major Jiangnan case had indeed gained great publicity, but in the end, it was not completely solved as they did not find the mastermind.

Zhang Yuelu took a deep breath and seemed to have made up her mind. “Can I trust you?”

“Of course, you can trust me.” Qi Xuansu was sincere. “We have the same attitude toward dealing with the people behind the Jiangnan case.”

The two of them were still walking slowly in circles. Zhang Yuelu had been trying to force out the Bliss Needle from her body. Qi Xuansu could tell, but he did not act rashly.

Although he knew that Zhang Yuelu’s Amorphous Paper could withstand the Dragon Eye Bullet, he did not want to take any chances. Even if he fired a shot and missed her on purpose, he knew that it would not be able to scare Zhang Yuelu. Instead, he would only infuriate Zhang Yuelu further.

With her temper, if she decided to use the Cihang Sword Sequence and the Amorphous Paper on him, he would be dead meat.

From the beginning, Qi Xuansu used various means to restrain Zhang Yuelu. The main reason was that he could not defeat her, so he had to outwit her to maintain this tie.

Just as Qi Xuansu was at a loss for what to do, a sharp scream interrupted them.

The scream was followed by the sound of horses galloping.

Qi Xuansu’s expression changed dramatically when he saw at least several hundred people approaching them.

It was such a big commotion.

Qi Xuansu did not recognize the leader, but Zhang Yuelu did. She had a bad feeling when she saw that it was Yuan Shangdao.

Yuan Shangdao howled, “My dear son!”

Previously, Qi Xuansu had thrown Yuan Fengchan to the ground before fighting with The Inn’s assassins and had no time to check on that arrogant young master.

At this time, Yuan Fengchan was found dead, blending in among the many corpses of the assassins all over the place.

Qi Xuansu was so focused on Zhang Yuelu and Liu Hu that he did not pay attention to the corpses. He only thought that Yuan Fengchan would have taken advantage of the chaos earlier to escape.

Yuan Shangdao glared at Qi Xuansu, Zhang Yuelu, and Liu Hu with hatred.

He commanded his army. “Don’t let any of them go!”

Zhang Yuelu finally knew why she felt uneasy.

It did not make sense for the Yuan family to risk everything by killing a Deputy Tiangang Hall Master because of Yuan Fengchan’s death. After all, big and prestigious families like them always had more children, so the loss of one child would not have invoked such rash behavior. 𝘙ÀŊՕ𐌱ЕŚ

That was why Yuan Shangdao’s behavior was seen as abnormal, especially when Zhang Yuelu was the special envoy of the Daoist Order.

This gave Zhang Yuelu flashbacks of her last experience as a special envoy at the Jiangnan Daoist Mansion. The people there were sinister and duplicitous, trying every means possible to kill the representatives from Jade Capital.

This was almost the same experience—they wanted to silence her.

These thoughts flashed in her mind. Zhang Yuelu immediately came to a decision. “Quick! Help me force out the Bliss Needle from my body!”

Qi Xuansu did not hesitate at all. He tossed the Divine Dragon Pistol to Liu Hu and came behind Zhang Yuelu, pressing his outstretched hands on her lower back to transfer some innate qi to her.

Zhang Yuelu was close to forcing out the Bliss Needles from her body earlier. Now, with Qi Xuansu’s help, two Bliss Needles shot out almost instantly.

The next moment, a row of guns was aimed at the two of them.

When Liu Hu caught the Divine Dragon Pistol, she quickly jumped on Bu Yue’s back. The experienced old horse knew that the situation was awry, so it rode into the woods for cover, with Liu Hu on its back.

While Qi Xuansu was transferring innate qi to Zhang Yuelu, she doubled the size of the paper umbrella to shield them.

The armor-piercing projectiles and Grade-B Series Five Dragon Eye Bullets landed on the umbrella’s surface like rapid raindrops. Although the paper umbrella was unscathed, it was shaking violently in Zhang Yuelu’s hands, which trembled as well.

When the rain of bullets stopped for a while, Zhang Yuelu closed the paper umbrella and turned it into a large bow that was as tall as her. She held the long bow horizontally and nocked 12 arrows.

Twelve paper arrows shot out, killing more than a dozen people in one go, with some of the paper arrows piercing through multiple people’s vitals.

Qi Xuansu only had one cutlass left. His Phoenix Eye Bullets had long been used up, and he did not want to use his short sword, Qing Yuan, because Zhang Yuelu would recognize it.

Left with no choice, Qi Xuansu held out his hand. A black mist condensed into a ghosthead machete that seemed both illusory and tangible.

Qi Xuansu used the Dayan Spirit Blade Technique with the ghosthead machete. It became even more elusive than when he used the same technique with the two cutlasses.

With one strike, multiple heads flew up into the sky, all of them with horrified expressions on their faces.

Zhang Yuelu caught a glimpse of this scene out of the corner of her eye and could not help but feel a little surprised. She did not expect this man to hold back such a strong magical power when he was dueling with her earlier. If he had used this trick while she was unprepared, she would have suffered a big loss.

However, Yuan Shangdao’s army severely outnumbered them. So the death of more than 20 people was nothing to him. Yuan Shangdao had them surrounded in no time.

Zhang Yuelu turned the long bow into a paper sword while Qi Xuansu returned to her side after killing those people. They had their backs against one another so that they would not be vulnerable against their enemies.

The two of them moved so seamlessly that they looked like a well-oiled team to outsiders.

Yuan Shangdao sneered, “Mage Zhang, I didn’t expect you to collude with cult demons!”

Zhang Yuelu did not say anything. She did not even ask Yuan Shangdao why he was attacking her because she knew it had to do with the Yanqing Merchant’s Association.

However, there was one thing she did not quite understand. When she was at the reception banquet earlier, the Yuan family obviously had no intention of killing her. They did not even dare to threaten her. So they were clearly still testing the waters.

What could have happened in just a few hours to cause such a big change in the Yuan family’s attitude? Had the mastermind behind the scenes given the death order? Or did the mastermind reassure the Yuan family that the Daoist Order would not retaliate afterward? Who would have so much power?

However, Zhang Yuelu had no time to delve into the questions in her current situation. She understood that she would only be able to get to the bottom of this if she survived.

If she and Wei Wugui both died at the hands of the Yuan family, they would have blamed her death on the evil cult demon, whom they would have shot to death to "avenge" her.

The most pressing matter at this moment was living to tell the tale.

Due to the terrain, it was impossible for hundreds of people to swarm forward at the same time. Only a dozen or so people could attack at once, but these were all elite fighters hired by the Yuan family.

Three of them held sabers as they rushed toward Qi Xuansu at the same time. With a casual wave of his hand, the ghosthead machete chopped off all three of their saber-wielding hands. The three sabers clattered to the ground, and the three people screamed in pain while clutching their severed hands.

On the other side, eight people attacked Zhang Yuelu, clearly more wary of her. These eight people were holding long spears, stabbing Zhang Yuelu from all directions. However, since Qi Xuansu and Zhang Yuelu were back to back, they could only attack Zhang Yuelu in a fan-shaped formation.

The spears were aimed at Zhang Yuelu’s vitals—her chest, abdomen, shins, face, eyes, and ribs.

These eight people knew that Zhang Yuelu was extremely dangerous, so they dared not make a rash move.

Suddenly, Zhang Yuelu took a step forward and spun around like a rapidly rotating top. A golden wind stirred as her sword light formed a killing net.

All they could hear were the continuous clangs of metal and stone colliding as the spearheads were cut off. The shaft of their spears shook because their hands were dripping with blood, struggling to hold on to their weapon.

Zhang Yuelu rolled up her sleeves and shouted, “Let go!”

She forcibly grabbed the eight shafts and threw them with her backhand. These shafts shot toward the original owners and pierced through their bodies, their blood soaking the shafts and dripping down to the ground.

Whoever said that a shaft without a spearhead could not kill?

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