Translator: Myuu Editor: Myuu
Mo Ziye left.
After burying her senior martial brother, Mo Ziye bade farewell to Yan Liqiang and left the forest alone. She told him that she had to rendezvous with a few of her fellow disciples from the Wise Ruler Sect before returning to the sect together.
She and her late senior martial brother made up one of the smaller groups. There were still eight other disciples from the Wise Ruler Sect who were shouldering the same mission in this wilderness. The other eight people were grouped into three smaller groups too. They were either scouting or concealing themselves like hunters somewhere within a radius of a thousand kilometers from their current location.
With the Sacred Flame priest killed, Mo Ziye and her party accomplished the mission that was given to them this time. They had to return to the sect now to make a detailed report to their sect’s elders regarding the operation.
Yan Liqiang left too. He picked Goldie up, collected about ten arrows, and made his way back to the Hui Clan Gathering using the same path he had taken last night.
He didn’t have to rush like he did last night. Yan Liqiang didn’t have to hurry back because he knew Sun Bingchen and the rest wouldn’t be leaving the Hui Clan Gathering today. The bodies of the dead guards still needed to be taken care of, and the people whom Sun Bingchen had deployed to Gan Province to request for reinforcements had not returned yet. The Blackwind Bandits were still covertly watching them on the sidelines. With all these factors, Sun Bingchen would still have to stay at the Hui Clan Gathering for at least another day.
Since Yan Liqiang wasn’t in a hurry, he walked very slowly. Along the way, he had enough time to think and figure things out.
Yan Liqiang didn’t understand the tacit understanding and agreement between Sun Bingchen and the Wise Ruler Sect. Obviously, if Mo Ziye didn’t lie to him, then Sun Bingchen was already clearly aware that there were Blackwind Bandits and a priest from the Shatu Alliance’s Sacred Flame coming after their lives when they left Gan Province.
This was a dangerous game. While Sun Bingchen used himself and his people as decoys against the Blackwind Bandits, the party from the Wise Ruler Sect was searching for the person behind those Blackwind Bandits — the priest from the Sacred Flame of the Shatu Alliance.
Mo Ziye clarified that their objective in searching for that Sacred Flame priest was to ‘verify certain information’.
Naturally, that piece of information must have been extremely important, enough for both Sun Bingchen and Ye Tiancheng to be used as decoys. Therefore, Yan Liqiang could deduce what exactly they wanted to verify.
From Aligujin’s position among the Blackwind Bandits, he could determine that the Blackwind Bandits and the Shatu Seven Tribes were closely affiliated. It might even be possible that the Blackwind Bandits were formed by people from the Shatu Seven Tribes. On the other hand, the Sacred Flame held the power in the Shatu Alliance. In the past, the Shatu Seven Tribes and the Shatu Alliance had always been on hostile terms with each other due to historical reasons. This was also the reason why the Great Han Empire had taken in the Shatu Seven Tribes under her wings in the first place. But now, a priest from the Shatu Alliance’s Sacred Flame was leading the Shatu Seven Tribes’ Blackwind Bandits, and together they wanted to eliminate someone who might upset someone important upon his arrival at the Imperial Capital. What did this mean?
The Shatu Alliance and the Shatu Seven Tribes had begun to merge. Not only that, but they were also colluding with some important figures from within the Great Han Empire’s Imperial Capital. Just thinking about these key points was enough to make one shudder. Perhaps this was the news and information which Sun Bingchen, Mo Ziye, and many other people wanted to verify.
Yan Liqiang knew that someone like Sun Bingchen wasn’t simple, given the fact that he could reach his current position out of the millions of people. Political struggles were always cruel, so it was inevitable that one would have to scheme and pull some tricks. However, Yan Liqiang still couldn’t wrap his head around the fact that Sun Bingchen had led his party on despite knowing the danger that lied ahead of them. If he hadn’t done that, perhaps those guards from yesterday wouldn’t have been sacrificed in the battle without a cause.
Recalling Sun Bingchen’s reminder from yesterday, it seemed as if Sun Bingchen already clearly knew what they were about to face. That was why he said those things to him.
Sun Bingchen bestowed enough benevolence and generosity on him. However, he was almost callous toward the other ordinary guards.
With such conflicted feelings in his heart, Yan Liqiang journeyed back to the Hui Clan Gathering.
By the time he arrived at the Hui Clan Gathering, it was already noon and the sun was high up in the sky. The Blackwind Bandits who wreaked havoc outside the Hui Clan Gathering last night were nowhere in sight. The entrance was tightly shut and the number of patrols on top of the mud wall had significantly increased compared to yesterday.
When Yan Liqiang was still a thousand meters away from reaching the mud wall, the huge door opened. Yan Liqiang then saw Liang Yijie and a few other guards swiftly riding toward him on their rhinodrake steeds.
If Yan Liqiang could see the people on the mud wall, the people up there would have been able to spot him too.
It only took a brief moment for the rhinodrake steeds that rushed out from the Hui Clan Gathering to reach Yan Liqiang.
“Liqiang…!” Liang Yijie was even more worked up than usual when he saw Yan Liqiang. When the speeding rhinodrake horse was more than ten meters away from Yan Liqiang, Liang Yijie immediately halted his mount, jumped off, and quickly strode toward Yan Liqiang. He tightly grabbed Yan Liqiang by his arms and took a good look at him from head to toe. “Are you alright?” he asked with a concerned expression and a voice that was overflowing with emotions.
Yan Liqiang’s clothes were tattered and he had wounds all over him. He looked no different than a soldier who had just returned from the battlefield. Even the shoes he wore were completely ruined, his toes exposed to the air. “Brother Liang! I’m fine!”
Yan Liqiang smiled. Apart from feeling a little physically weak because he hadn’t completely recovered yet and a few minor injuries, Yan Liqiang felt fine.
“About last night…”
Yan Liqiang licked his chapped lips. “Brother Liang, let’s return first and then we’ll talk. I’m starving…!”
“Alright, we’ll go back first. Get on the steed…” Liang Yijie waved and the other guard pulled a rhinodrake steed over.
Yan Liqiang didn’t refuse either. He put Goldie on the saddle first before climbing on and riding back to the Hui Clan Gathering along with Liang Yijie and the other guards.
From the expressions on Liang Yijie and the other guards’ faces, Yan Liqiang could tell that they probably knew what he had done last night. They might not have seen him sneaking out last night, but everyone saw Aligujin who was killed by an arrow, which was then followed by the Blackwind Bandits’ panicked retreat. As long as they gave some thought to it, anyone could probably guess that it was Yan Liqiang’s handiwork after realizing that he was missing.
When Yan Liqiang arrived at the entrance of the Hui Clan Gathering, he discovered many of Sun Bingchen’s guards lined up on either side of the entrance. Everyone was silent, but they were all looking at him with admirable gazes as he rode past them.
The old chief from the Hui Clan Gathering, Lu Chang, and a group of fierce-looking men were also standing on either side of the path. Their eyes widened as they stared at him in amazement.
Yan Liqiang really felt as though he were a lone hero returning home in triumph.
The rhinodrake steed beneath him slowed down a little as soon as it entered the Hui Clan Gathering. A guard standing at the entrance immediately came over. He took the reins of the rhinodrake steed and walked in front to lead Yan Liqiang…
Yan Liqiang never expected to receive such treatment.
Yan Liqiang didn’t make it too far before he heard a bunch of men in the Hui Clan Gathering erupt into exclamations without turning his head around.
“I didn’t expect there to be such a hero by Lord Sun’s side! It only took him and his bow alone to make several hundred Blackwind Bandits piss their pants in terror…!”
