Translator: Myuu Editor: Myuu
Everything was not that much different than what he experienced last time. In just a short moment, the two rolls of leather goods that the Shatu man was transporting with the horse carriage were taken by the two servants into a room at the back of the courtyard. The rear courtyard door was shut once again and the Shatu man who had just completed his transaction climbed back onto his horse carriage, preparing to leave.
“What should we do?” Since this was the first time Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng had run into this kind of situation, both of their gazes fell on Yan Liqiang. However, Yan Liqiang’s calmness at this moment mysteriously and immediately calmed both of their nervous hearts down.
“Shi Dafeng and I will take down those Shatu men. Shen Teng, you watch over things on the roof. If something goes wrong, shoot the whistling arrow immediately. Guards have been patrolling everywhere in the city lately. As soon as you release the whistling arrow, someone will definitely make it here.” Yan Liqiang explained calmly.
Although Yan Liqiang hadn’t gone inside the small house, he was secretly estimating the time when those two servants inside the boutique would open up the tunnelway and deliver the two girls to Ye Xiao through there.
If he had to make a move, he couldn’t do it too early or too late. He knew the moment he made his move, those two Wanderers watching behind him would definitely rush inside the small house…
“Alright. Be careful, both of you…” Shen Teng said solemnly and grasped the bow in his hands tightly.
Yan Liqiang nodded. He signaled to Shi Dafeng with his eyes, then both of them silently climbed down from the roof and came down to the corner in the alley. One of them stood on the right and the other stood on the left.
Shi Dafeng had already taken out a knife at some point. His eyes shone as he licked his lips. He half-crouched like a panther and hid behind the wall while he accumulated his power, preparing himself for the action.
Don’t kill him. I will take the lead — Yan Liqiang gestured to Shi Dafeng.
Shi Dafeng nodded.
The sound of the horse carriage gradually drew closer. The Shatu man was driving the carriage out of the small alley and was almost at the end of it.
The horse came out first from the alley with the carriage behind it. So naturally, the horse had already spotted both Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng. Unfortunately, since horses didn’t speak, it didn’t warn anyone and just continued going forward.
The moment the horse completely came out from the alley, the carriage came into view. The Shatu man was still sitting in front of the carriage and driving it. He was completely relaxed and didn’t expect Yan Liqiang and Shi Dafeng to be waiting for him.
Yan Liqiang jumped out like a ferocious tiger in the darkness. Without even waiting for the Shatu man to react, Yan Liqiang landed a hard blow on his head, knocking him off from the cart and onto the ground.
With Yan Liqiang’s current fist strength, he could instantly blow the Shatu man’s brains out with his fist if he had intended to take his life. However, Yan Liqiang pulled back half of his punch. Even with that, he still managed to hit the man so hard that he saw stars, instantly making the world around him spin as he grew dizzy and collapsed to the ground, unable to react in time.
Shi Dafeng pounced on him like a cheetah next. Before the Shatu man could even react, the dagger in his hand had already mercilessly impaled his right shoulder…
The Shatu man already felt faint from Yan Liqiang’s punch. However, Shi Dafeng’s attack jolted him as though he was electrocuted. The intense pain caused that Shatu man’s eyes to widen as he nearly jolted upright from the ground.
Yan Liqiang immediately covered the Shatu man’s mouth. At the same time, he used his other hand to twist the Shatu man’s left hand around his back while he forcefully pinned him down.
The dagger in Shi Dafeng’s hand never stopped. He pulled it out from the Shatu man’s right shoulder, stabbed him again on his left shoulder, then again on his right thigh violently…
The Shatu man was akin to a prawn which had been tossed onto a red-hot iron plate. His body was trembling violently. Everytime Shi Dafeng stabbed him, it was as though his eyes were going to pop out from his sockets. However, he could neither yell nor move under Yan Liqiang’s brute force.
Shi Dafeng’s fourth stab landed on the Shatu man’s left leg. When his body was trembling with stiffness and his muscles were taut, Yan Liqiang grabbed his face and then heavily smashed the back of his head against the ground, finally knocking him out.
The entire process, from the moment Yan Liqiang made his move and until the end, lasted for only less than three seconds.
Yan Liqiang looked at the four bloody stab wounds that had been made on the Shatu man’s body in just a flash, then at Shi Dafeng who was holding the dagger. He couldn’t help but secretly break out in a cold sweat. He never expected the always cheerful Shi Dafeng to be this sinister and violent. He had nearly crippled the Shatu man’s hands and legs with these four stabs…
Shi Dafeng scratched his head, looking a little shy when he noticed the way Yan Liqiang was staring at him. “Well… I avoided the veins on this Shatu dog’s body and only destroyed his four tendons but I did not take its life… Do you think I’m unmanly for going too easy on him, Liqiang?”
“Err…” Yan Liqiang was choked by Shi Dafeng’s question. He didn’t even know what to say. “N-No, that was pretty good. It was really manly…”
“I can’t help it. Back home, my mother is always worried about me being too compassionate and that I will get the short end of the stick out there if I run into any bad guys…”
Yan Liqiang was totally speechless and had no idea on how to carry on the conversation with Shi Dafeng. He noticed the horse was a little agitated at the side, so he hurried over and held its reins.
Shen Teng jumped off from the courtyard wall with his bow and arrows.
“What should we do now? Should we take a look inside that courtyard…?”
This was probably also Shen Teng’s first time running into this kind of situation. He was a little nervous when he looked at the Shatu man who was lying on the ground, but he was mostly excited. Yan Liqiang carefully looked at Shen Teng and realized that he had already lost his usual cultured, refined, and gentle demeanor of a model student right now. His pupils were dilated, his face was flushed, and even his breathing had sped up from the way his nostrils were flaring. Shen Teng’s adrenaline was probably off the charts right now…
Yan Liqiang’s answer was actually unnecessary. The moment Shen Teng spoke, the sound of the wind came from the roof nearby. Two Wanderers had spread open the cloaks they were wearing. Like two huge birds, they treaded across the roof tiles and flew into the backyard of the boutique. In just the blink of an eye, the sound of a door being broken into could be heard in the rear courtyard.
“Wanderers…!” Shi Dafeng and Shen Teng were both shocked. Both of them had only realized there were Wanderers hidden around here when both of them made their moves.
“QUICK! Move this Shatu man onto the carriage and move it out to the streets!” While Yan Liqiang was instructing them he had already grabbed the unconscious Shatu man and tossed him onto the carriage. He then pulled the horse carriage and quickly rushed out of the small alley to the wide main street outside. He parked the horse carriage at the boutique entrance, removed the dog fur hat from the Shatu man’s head so his entire face was exposed, and tossed him in front of the boutique’s entrance.
The main street was deserted without anyone around, and it was extremely spacious. Wealthy clan manors lined the street.
“Hurry, release the whistling arrow!”
The instant Yan Liqiang urged him, realization instantly dawned upon on Shen Teng who was wondering why Yan Liqiang had led them to the main streets, exposing the Shatu man’s face. He hurriedly pulled out a whistling arrow, nocked it onto the bow, and released it towards the roofs in the distance.
There was a bamboo whistle attached to the whistling arrow. So when the arrow was released, air would flow through the bamboo whistle, hence emitting an extremely sharp whistling noise.
During such a cold night, everyone in the surroundings could hear the sharp whistling noise that rang out.
After releasing the first arrow, Shen Teng drew the second arrow out. Yan Liqiang took out a firestarter and instantly lit up the oil-soaked cloth on the arrowhead…
The second arrow instantly turned into a trail of fire and was shot into the air.
Compared to the whistling noise, this trail of fire could be seen from even ten li away. Not only that, it also accurately indicated their current location.
But that wasn’t the end of it. When Shen Teng released the second flaming arrow, another sharp whistling noise came from the backyard of the boutique. Something was suddenly shot up into the sky before it exploded into a burst of bright luminous flames a hundred meters above the small courtyard. Among the flames was the red image of a longsword which stayed in the sky for about twenty seconds before it gradually faded…
This was a signal from those Wanderers who had entered the small courtyard…
At the moment, Pingxi City was already like a pot of boiling oil. Although it appeared to be calm on the surface, it was already boiling beneath the surface and could be set ablaze at any moment. The three signals which had been released from the same place at the same time on a night like this was like splashing a scoop of water into that pot of boiling oil. All of Pingxi City instantly crackled…
The wealthy manors and huge courtyards in the surroundings were all immediately alarmed. Countless lanterns were instantly lit inside as the entrance doors opened one after another. A number of fully-armed guards from these wealthy manors and huge courtyards came out to gather information.
In just less than a minute, Yan Liqiang heard the tremors from the ground. A troop of two hundred fully-armed soldiers patrolling nearby, under the lead of a black-faced commandant who carried a bow on his back and a saber hanging at his waist, rushed to Yan Liqiang, Shi Dafeng, and Shen Teng with a murderous intent.
When Yan Liqiang saw the black-faced commandant, he wasn’t certain if this was destiny. The commandant was Commandant Su. He was the one who arrested the Shatu people when he had a conflict with them ‘last time’ at the city entrance.
