Chapter 29: Nowhere to Run... What?

Gu Changqing slept for six hours before finally waking up.

A faint scent of powder still lingered at the tip of his nose.

The furnishings in this room were simple: a table, a bookshelf, a cabinet. On the table stood a small mirror, and a pair of swords hung on the wall.

A pink canopy draped over the wooden bed, and with the lingering fragrance in the air, it was clear this was a young woman’s boudoir.

Gu Changqing had noticed this upon entering. At that time, the maid had just finished cleaning and left; it seemed the room had not been lived in for quite a while, so Gu Changqing decided to take a nap here.

After all, at home one relies on parents, but away from home, on friends.

He owed his journey thus far entirely to the selfless help of friends from all walks of life.

Rising from the bed, he stretched lazily and cursed, “Hard as a coffin—nearly killed me!”

He walked to the bookshelf, pulled out a few volumes, and found that most were about monsters, ghosts, and sword immortals—those romantic tales of fox spirits and chivalrous swordsmen.

Gu Changqing snorted in amusement, flipped through a few, then took several travelogues and accounts of strange events, stuffing them into his bag and leaving one in hand to read while sitting at the desk.

He reckoned the Yu family must have nearly caught up to Pingyao County by now.

He wondered how they would search for him.

He read until nightfall, then stretched again and pushed open the window to look out.

With a nimble movement, he leapt onto the roof. Everything seemed normal around him, with the sound of strings and flutes and the distant singing of women.

Some hundred meters away stood the grand compound of the county yamen.

“They’ve waited this long... Seems the Yu family is not so capable after all!” Gu Changqing’s face bore a mocking smile.

By his calculations, it would be just over an hour before he could leave.

In fact, the Yu family had begun searching at dusk—they simply hadn’t reached this area yet.

Pingyao County, though only a middle-sized county, had a population of a hundred thousand, divided into sixteen wards.

The wards where commoners lived housed five to ten thousand people each and were the most complex.

The wards of the wealthy had only a few dozen or a hundred households.

At this moment, the county constable and Yu family martial artists were searching everywhere, starting with the commoners’ wards.

The constable commanded about a hundred yamen runners, each with several temporary assistants, totaling three or four hundred men.

The Yu family had over a hundred martial artists as well, so together they numbered five or six hundred.

Wherever they went, the ward would be sealed off, Yu family disciples stationed on the rooftops, and yamen runners and disciples would search door to door.

Meanwhile, in a tall building, Yu Wentao and Daoist Xu sat across from each other, a chessboard laid out between them.

After a while, Yu Wentao said, “Daoist Xu, your chess has improved! I’m no longer your match.”

“It’s not that my chess has improved, but that your mind is not on the board,” Daoist Xu replied with a gentle laugh.

“That man killed a disciple of my Yu family—he is brazen beyond belief. This time, he must pay in blood,” Yu Wentao said coldly, his eyes frosty.

Daoist Xu nodded slightly.

The Yu family’s ancestor was nearing his end and hadn’t appeared in a long time—no one knew if he still lived.

Now, the family’s greatest hopes rested on Yu Xuanzhen and Yu Xuanli. If either could attain Foundation Establishment, the Yu family would be protected for another three centuries.

Of the two, Yu Xuanli was the stronger, reaching the fifth level of Qi Refining before the age of thirty.

Yet on a journey, he was slain. No wonder the Yu family was so furious.

“Rest assured, I have stationed four disciples at the four corners of the city wall. As soon as that fiend appears, he will not escape!” Daoist Xu stroked his beard and smiled.

...

When the distant sounds of commotion finally reached him, Gu Changqing judged it was about time, so he took a fox-faced mask from his bag and donned it.

Currently, the Yu family still didn’t know what he looked like. He was even planning to find time to visit the local brothel and experience the customs and culture.

Shouldering his bag, Gu Changqing climbed out the window and landed in a narrow alley.

At the mouth of the alley, he found the way blocked by people holding lanterns.

In the distance, a large group was searching another ward; nearly two hundred men with torches were heading straight for him.

Gu Changqing grinned. Blood crept from his fingertips and slipped into the night.

The group approaching was mostly yamen constables, with a smaller contingent of Yu family disciples.

Many of the constables looked uneasy.

“Chief Zhou, if we don’t find that demonic criminal tonight, that’s one thing—but if we do...” one constable muttered bitterly.

Anyone who could make the Yu family mobilize such a force could hardly be an easy target.

They might lose their lives just for being in the wrong place at the wrong time.

“You think I don’t know? Let’s just take it one step at a time. Stay sharp,” replied the man beside him, and then he called out in a loud voice:

“Everyone, be alert! Surround Yuguifang! He wasn’t found in the last ward; maybe he’s here!”

In truth, he didn’t need to say it. The others already knew what to do—this wasn’t their first time. The yamen runners quickly spread out and encircled Guiyufang, ready to search as soon as the previous ward was finished.

The Yu family disciples leapt to higher vantage points, hawkish eyes scanning the surroundings.

In the darkness, a wisp of fresh blood crawled up a wall, then split into several blood threads and shot toward five Yu family disciples perched high above.

The five hadn’t even reacted before the blood threads bored into their noses and ears.

“Over here!” someone shouted, but then a ghastly feeling seized him as something burrowed into his belly. He screamed and fell from the roof.

In the distance, Yu Xuanzheng and other Yu disciples dashed across rooftops toward the commotion.

Arriving, they found several men writhing on the ground, their bodies slowly dissolving into pools of blood.

The Yu disciples’ eyes blazed with rage.

“He’s nearby! Search every house!” Yu Xuanzheng roared, his gaze darting rapidly about.

Then he saw the pools of blood on the ground shrink and split into more than a dozen blood threads, which shot out toward the surrounding Yu disciples.

“Careful!”

Yu Xuanzheng shouted again, but it was already too late.

Another dozen or so disciples screamed and tumbled down, the rest leaping away in terror.

“Scatter!”

“You sneak in the shadows—dare to harm others but not show your face?” Yu Xuanzheng bellowed, unsheathing his blade in a flash. He became a blur of steel, crashing through the roof below and bursting through the wall into another building.

Though this was the district of wealthy merchants, the Yu family paid them no heed.

Even if innocents were hurt, it could always be blamed on the demonic criminal.

As Yu Xuanzheng crashed into another building, Gu Changqing crouched in a woodpile, still gripping his bag, several hair-thin blood threads weaving through his fingers.

Yu Xuanzheng thought he was hiding in the building, but Gu Changqing was right under the noses of the Yu family, in a spot from which he could watch several rooftops at once.

Yu Xuanzheng, enraged, rampaged through several buildings, the sounds of destruction and the occasional shriek of women echoing out.

The dozen or so Yu disciples dissolved into puddles of blood, which quickly vanished and reformed into even thicker blood threads.

At Gu Changqing’s gesture, the blood threads flew back to the woodpile.

Just then, a cold male voice rang out, “So you’re here!”

On a rooftop a hundred meters away, Yu Wentao finally spotted Gu Changqing.

A cold smile curled Yu Wentao’s lips as nine pitch-black, unreflective daggers shot from his sleeve toward the woodpile with lightning speed.

These nine obsidian spikes were a set of magical weapons from the Yu family’s treasury, razor sharp and capable of piercing through ordinary protective artifacts—and even wounding the soul.

“Demonic thief, tonight you couldn’t escape even if you had wings—!”

Yu Wentao’s eyes narrowed sharply, his words cut short.

The nine spikes struck the woodpile, which scattered to the ground—yet inside, it was empty.

The spikes burrowed silently into the earth and shot out in another direction.

No one was hiding beneath the woodpile.

“My apologies for making you laugh,” Yu Wentao frowned, then flushed red.

“No need for apologies, Yu,” Daoist Xu replied with a laugh, glancing in another direction.

There, a cold-faced young woman stood atop the wall, a green light slipping back into her sleeve.

At the instant Yu Wentao attacked, she had appeared, ready to intervene.

“Miss You, what is the meaning of this?” Yu Wentao asked with a frown; he was deeply displeased by her presence.

It was while Yu Xuanli traveled with her that he met his death.

If not for her lofty status as a disciple of the Azure Cloud Sect, the Yu family would have long since taken their anger out on her.

“This man is vicious beyond belief—death would be too easy for him. I have some questions to ask him myself, so I only intervened for that reason—not to thwart you on purpose.” Her demeanor was poised, her voice cool.

“I see,” Yu Wentao nodded slightly, though his gaze grew more penetrating.

This man had hidden so long, and now revealed himself so suddenly...

Something was amiss.

“Still, he must be nearby. Let’s find him first,” Daoist Xu said with a light smile.

“With the three of us here, he cannot possibly escape.”

Soon, the entire area was cordoned off and searched thoroughly.

The original residents were all herded into the courtyard, eyes filled with fear and anxiety.

The young woman dropped down by the woodpile, inspecting it carefully before frowning.

...

As dawn streaked the sky, the Yu family was still searching, having turned Pingyao upside down.

Yet not a single trace had been found.

Yu Wentao’s expression grew darker and darker, his gaze finally settling on the one place yet unsearched.

The county yamen.

Especially since the place where nearly twenty Yu disciples died was only a hundred meters away from it.

Everywhere else had been combed over— even the deputy magistrate and the county constable had led men to search their own homes.

Yu Wentao stood atop a roof, gazing long at the county yamen, suppressing his urge.

The Yu family’s power in the Yuanhe region was great—even the magistrate had to give way to them.

But the yamen represented the imperial court, and though the county magistrate had no cultivation, he was protected by imperial authority.

After much consideration, Yu Wentao decided to pay a visit to the magistrate.

At the same time, he recalled the Yu family disciples stationed outside the city, ordering them to guard the exits—no matter what, the criminal must not escape!