She had publicly claimed that she was returning to her hometown.
The Qi family had quietly seen her off with minimal fanfare. Even the Eldest Princess had not come to bid her farewell, much less the Wang family relatives.
It could be said that she left without attracting any attention.
As for Xie Ying, there was even less reason for anyone to notice.
Although he was a Provincial Examination First-Place Scholar, he was currently at a critical stage of preparing for the upcoming imperial examinations. Other scholars would have been delighted if he neglected his studies. When he left, hardly anyone paid attention.
So who would specifically use sleeping gas on them in the middle of the night?
Along the journey, they had neither flaunted wealth nor offended anyone. They had traveled cautiously and kept a low profile.
Therefore, there was only one possibility.
Someone knew her identity. And someone knew why she had come. That person wanted to prevent her from obtaining whatever Wen Mingfeng’s mother and that maidservant possessed.
The more this happened, the more it proved that those two women truly had something important in their possession.
And from this, another conclusion could be drawn. Those two women were probably fairly clever and had not yet been found by their enemies.
Otherwise, there would have been no need to deal with her and Xie Ying.
After all, Xie Ying was a Jieyuan. If something happened to him in Jinling, the repercussions would not be small.
To force the other side into taking such desperate risks…
Tsk, tsk.
She smiled slightly and glanced sideways at Xie Ying. “Young Master Xie, when the fighting starts later, hide somewhere safe.”
“…”
Xie Ying immediately blushed all the way to his neck.
She was looking down on him too much!
After all, he had studied under the same master as Xiao Yunting!
While he wasn’t as formidable as Xiao Yunting, he certainly wasn’t some frail scholar who would explode on impact the moment he got into a fight.
How could Miss Qi look down on him like this?!
But this wasn’t the time to argue. The sleeping gas continued drifting for a while. Then, with a soft creak, the door slowly opened a crack.
Someone rolled over to the bedside and, using the light from a fire starter, whispered: “No one’s here!”
“How is that possible?!” Another man looked suspicious. Without wasting time questioning further, he hurried over to check. Sure enough, the bed was empty. He frowned in irritation. “I clearly saw them return to their rooms after dinner and never come out again. So where did they go?”
His face was full of annoyance and impatience. “Forget it. Since Xie Ying isn’t here, let’s deal with that woman first.”
What a pity.
Originally, they had planned to capture Xie Ying and use him to threaten Qi Yuan.
That woman was truly terrifying. Practically a demon.
But under the circumstances, they had no choice but to target Qi Yuan first.
The man felt uneasy, but he couldn’t help reassuring himself.
It’s fine. It’s fine. There had been enough sleeping gas to knock out a bull. Qi Yuan couldn’t possibly be tougher than a bull, could she?
A breeze suddenly blew through the room.
Bang!
The door slammed shut from the inside.
The intruders nearly jumped out of their skins.
The man standing by the bed was the most frightened.
He immediately shouted: “Who’s there?! Who closed the door?!”
The men stationed by the doorway to provide support were equally confused. They looked at one another and hurriedly shook their heads.
“It wasn’t me!”
“Not me either!”
At that very moment, a light suddenly appeared overhead.
At the same time, a huge shadow was cast across the floor by the lantern light. The figure looked like a monstrous ghost baring its claws and fangs. The man by the bed nearly died of fright.
“My mother!” he cried out before instinctively looking upward.
There, sitting on the roof beam with a lantern in hand and casually swinging her legs, was Qi Yuan.
Their eyes met.
Qi Yuan smiled at them. “What a pity. If you wanted to deal with me, why would you use sleeping gas first? If I were you, I’d have simply set the inn on fire. Wouldn’t that have been better?”
The group stared at her in stunned silence.
Liu Jiajun, however, had never intended to burn down the inn. Putting aside the consequences such a fire would cause, which he couldn’t afford to bear, even if he did burn the inn down, there was no guarantee Qi Yuan would actually die.
Wait.
He had been led astray by her words!
Killing intent flashed in his eyes. He suddenly whipped out his nine-section whip and lashed it forward with incredible speed.
Supporting herself on the roof beam with one hand, Qi Yuan hurled the lantern downward. The lantern shattered. Sparks flew everywhere. The people below immediately raised their arms to shield their eyes, afraid embers would fly into them.
And at that exact moment, Xie Ying silently approached the man who had been standing by the bed.
He grabbed the man’s throat and then struck the back of his neck hard.
Watching this unfold, Liujin rolled his eyes.
Babao couldn’t help blurting out: “Martial Uncle Xie, are you forbidden from taking lives or something?! At a time like this, you’re still worrying about that?”
It was literally a matter of either killing or being killed. Yet Xie Ying had merely knocked the man unconscious.
Unbelievable!
Before Xie Ying could even respond, Liu Jiajun had already swung his nine-section whip with a fierce whistling sound. The whip wrapped around a roof beam. Using it for leverage, he launched himself upward and immediately engaged Qi Yuan in combat.
Only then did Xie Ying begin to panic. He hurried forward to help. But the other attackers had already reacted. Without hesitation, they rushed forward to support Liu Jiajun.
Xie Ying was immediately entangled and unable to break free.
Liujin, Babao, and Han Ding quickly charged into the room. To their surprise, they discovered that their opponents were far stronger than expected. Not only were their martial skills excellent, but they also possessed formidable weapons.
Leaving aside Liu Jiajun’s nine-section whip, one of the men was actually wielding an axe. His attacks were so fierce that no one could get close.
Only then did Babao begin genuinely worrying about Qi Yuan.
Miss Qi didn’t even have a proper weapon!
In close combat, she was bound to be at a disadvantage!
But it quickly became clear that he was worrying unnecessarily.
Liu Jiajun’s nine-section whip suddenly wrapped around Qi Yuan’s calf. As she lost her balance and fell from the beam, she hooked one arm around the beam. Then she smiled faintly at Liu Jiajun and raised her other hand. “Didn’t anyone ever tell you? When dealing with me, why sleeping gas should be used first?”
Before she had even finished speaking, a sleeve arrow mechanism in her hand snapped open. An arrow shot forward like a meteor.
Liu Jiajun immediately threw himself backward. He nearly fell from the beam. Instinctively, he retracted his nine-section whip and prepared to react. But it was already too late.
Qi Yuan’s second arrow followed almost instantly.It slammed into his shoulder. He immediately lost his balance and crashed heavily onto the floor.
Bang!
Everyone was startled.
When they realized that the person who had fallen was Liu Jiajun, his companions immediately cried out: “Boss!” They glared fiercely at Qi Yuan. Then they became even more desperate. One of them even pulled explosives from his clothing.
If they couldn’t escape alive, then they would drag Qi Yuan down with them.
That was the absolute order handed down from above. There could be no mistakes whatsoever.
Otherwise, not only their own lives, but the lives of their families, and many of their sworn brothers as well, would all be forfeit.
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