Wanyan Su was a bit surprised. Then he heard Leng Changxi saying indifferently, “Even kings can never have long hands. Fourth Prince, if you wish to be held by the informers of the Royal Court for the rest of your life, you can give them mercy. But what you have to know is that, in the end, when we find what we want, these people must also be dealt with. Rather than being unrighteous at that moment, it is best to find an excuse and kill them now.”
Wanyan Su gritted his teeth and immediately ordered the soldier beheaded. This soldier had offended the concubine of the Fourth Prince. No one would have said anything for him even if he was cut a thousand times.
The village in the distance was sparkling in the dark. Everyone had different expressions. Yasu, who was assaulted by the soldiers and frightened, nestled in Wanyan Su’s arms like a little rabbit. Wanyan Su was comforting Yasu softly. Look in his eyes, and you would be aware that they were deeply in love. Among the soldiers, Wanyan Su’s own soldiers and the cavalry assigned by Grand Khan of North Di had split into two factions. After the lessons taught by Wanyan Su, the soldiers with strong animal desires dared not do anything to the five palace maids, and inevitably their faces showed some disappointment.
Qin Yunuan and Leng Changxi were drinking water in an ox horn kettle with a calm expression. After finishing the scones, their stomachs were full.
Suddenly, a dark figure ran from the distance of the village. It was a small and thin man that resembled the young man they saw at the entrance of the village earlier. When this man approached, they found that it was him. He was panting, “Sir, it’s not okay. Of the two soldiers you sent, one fell into the well, and the other appeared to be crazy.”
“Crazy?” Wanyan Su was unconvinced. It had only been the burning time of half column incense. How come these two normal people had become like this?
Leng Changxi was calm. “Where is that crazy one?”
The young man took a deep breath and said, “He was stopped by some of the strong men of our village. Anyway, he had said a lot of strange things, such as gods and punishment. These people could bring us bad luck, sir. Please take them away quickly.”
Wanyan Su seemed to be hesitant. Leng Changxi, on the contrary, stepped ahead, “I’ll go and see.”
“I’m coming with you.” Qin Yunuan followed Leng Changxi and held his hand. The two of them had long believed that there was something wrong with this village. It would be a good idea to go and take a look. Leng Changxi was there with her, after all. Nothing bad could have happened if Leng Changxi was by her side protecting her.
Leng Changxi squatted next to one of the soldiers and said, “Amu, you go too.” The soldier slowly raised his head and glanced at Leng Changxi. His throat moved slightly and said, “Yes.”
Obviously, this soldier named Amu was Maomu, who was the only man that had come out of the Yeren Valley. Qin Yunuan and Leng Changxi had searched hard for him.
Together they formed a group of seven people. In addition to Wanyan Su, Leng Changxi, Qin Yunuan and Maomu, Wanyan Su also took three soldiers with the strongest bodies and skill of martial arts to protect them. Passing by those two stone tablets at the village entrance they had seen before, a stray, trembling wind blew out.
Besides the well in the middle of the village, the drowned soldier had been laid on the stone slab next to it. His wet clothes were dripping with water. The residents crowded around the well, keeping an eye on the excitement.
One of them, a man who was in his thirties, said with a click of the tongue, “It’s an extravagant way to die by drowning in the water-scarce Gobi Desert.”
“How he died should be identified only after checking his wounds.” Leng Changxi’s sudden sentence disturbed their interests.
Some elders even said angrily to the youngster who brought them, “Why did you bring outsiders into the village? They came to grab our water. Now that people are dead, what if they trouble us? There are so many of them. All of them have knives, which makes them no different from the bandits.”
Leng Changxi tilted his head and said, “Mister, if we want to occupy this village, why would we wait till night? You worried too much about us.”
The old man turned his head, telling people around how dangerous Leng Changxi’s people could be stubborn.
“You don’t know. Twenty years ago, there was such a group of people who came into the village with all kinds of strange things. They occupied the village as a base and kept sending people and things into the Yeren Valley. They’ve never been out. You are young and don’t remember what happened back then, but I do.”
“Okay, Grandpa Tam, you are getting old. Go back and rest.”
“Bah, you never believe me when I mention that. One day, you will pay for your carelessness. When the time comes, the fire will fall down the sky, and it will burn you, burn you to death.”
“Hurry up, take Grandpa Tam home.”
In such a noisy environment, Leng Changxi calmly tore open the armor outside the drowned soldier. The velvet inside was crimson. Everything seemed to be usual, but the rusty smell floating in the air caught Qin Yunuan’s attention. She squatted down, leveled with Leng Changxi, and whispered, “It’s the smell of blood.”
That’s right. He bled a lot. Leng Changxi tore off the soldier’s clothes and saw that his well-knit body had several large holes on the waist and chest. The biggest hole was almost as big as the width of two fingers. However, the blood had clotted a long time ago. Touching the wound with his hand, Leng had found that it was somewhat colder than other parts of this soldier’s body.
“He didn’t drown.” Leng Changxi made a decisive decision. “He was stabbed to death.” Leng Changxi raised his eyes and looked around. Villagers surrounded him. When they heard what Leng Changxi said, their eyes were all avoiding his glance. Only one person stood up and said unwillingly, “What do you mean? Was it because the people in our village did it? How could you suspect us?”
“I didn’t suspect you,” Leng Changxi retracted his gaze. At a glance, he was already certain that there was no problem with the people present, and their only fear came from the worries about this huge army. “I’m suspecting this well.”
After Leng Changxi finished speaking, he turned towards the well. The well was dark, and no one could see its bottom. Only the upcoming vapor proved that there was water in it. Leng Changxi frowned slightly, reaching out towards the wall of the well. Sure enough, the wall got wetter as he went down, and the smooth touch made him feel a little puzzled.
“How many meters you go down this well to get water?”
The young man who had been with them said, “It’s the dry season now. I’m afraid it’ll have to be seven or eight meters down.”
“It’s only seven or eight meters.” After Leng Changxi said, he jumped down. With such a narrow well, Leng Changxi could reach the deepest point in an instant with ease. Although the well is dry, the walls inside were slippery, and even those with excellent light skills could slip. Once they fall into the water, they would lose half their lives even if rescued.
“Is he crazy?” The young man rushed to the mouth of the well, but unfortunately, he could see nothing but darkness in the well. Even Wanyan Su was a little surprised. He knew that Leng Changxi was very powerful, but he didn’t expect him to have such a reckless moment. Only Qin Yunuan seemed to be indifferent. She turned her head to a very kind-looking woman beside her and said, “I would be grateful if you could lend me a blanket. I was worried that my husband’s clothes would get wet in the well.”
After a while, a dark purple figure jumped out of the well and landed steadily. Qin Yunuan greeted him with a blanket, only to find that Leng Changxi’s body was not stained with a drop of water. Such powerful light skills made everyone present dumbfounded.
Leng Changxi looked around and suddenly opened his tightly clenched fist. Countless small pieces of ice fell out from his palm crackling. Each of them was cone-shaped and had the size of an index finger. Though the points were rounded by the well water, people could imagine how precarious the seemingly harmless, cone-shaped ice could be in this bottomless well.
Leng Changxi looked at the ice slag under his feet, “This was his real killer.”
Regardless of the fact that the temperature difference between day and night was extreme on the Gobi Desert, it was not cold enough to have ice pieces in the well. It was evident that they were deliberately set in the well. Their purpose was to get rid of the two men who came to fetch water. As for the soldier who had gone mad…
In the conversation, the mad soldier was escorted by two male villagers. He was tied up tightly with a cowhide rope soaked in sesame oil. His expression was perplexed, and his eyes drifted. He was constantly mumbling about the gods descending in the well. Those who wanted to forcibly enter the Yeren Valley will receive their retribution.
Wanyan Su looked at the soldier in the madness, only turning his head and asking the guards around him to pour him awake with a bucket of cold water. Before icy water came up, Leng Changxi slapped in the face of the crazy soldier.
The soldier was slammed onto the well, and the water vapor from the well rushed toward his face. The soldier looked at Leng Changxi with horror, but he immediately returned to a lunatic being.
Leng Changxi saw through his tricks quickly. He sneered and said, “Didn’t you say that there were gods in the well? But when I drove you to its mouth, you just looked at me angrily subconsciously. You didn’t seem to fear the well at all. You are not crazy. What are you pretending to be?”
The soldier acted as if he could not hear Leng Changxi’s words. He was still uttering his mantra-like curses. Qin Yunuan moved forward. Her eyes, bound with white gauze, looked weird in the dark night.
“Kill him.” Qin Yunuan said indifferently as if killing a person was as simple as trampling on an ant to her. “It’s useless to keep him anyway since he wouldn’t say anything. He did not have any value anymore.”
