Even if Cao Wei knew where his martial brother had gone, he would not easily reveal it. He took a deep breath and forcibly gathered his energy to stand up, holding his blade horizontally. “I do not know what nonsense you are spouting. Do you know the consequences of attacking an imperial official?”
These words confirmed his identity beyond any doubt.
The expressions of Yu Qing and the other two turned extremely ugly. They had never imagined they would spend money to jump into a pit. They truly wanted to cut the other party down with a sword, but they also feared what he had said. Attacking an imperial official was indeed a great taboo, touching upon a massive interest group that was not something ordinary people could afford to provoke.
Moreover, this area happened to be near where the army was stationed.
The masked woman said, “Save your tricks. I only ask, will you speak or not?”
“Attack an imperial official… Even if I speak, will you let me go?”
Cao Wei let out a cold laugh, his meaning clearly showing disbelief. His blade suddenly swept across the ground, shooting out a pile of broken soil and flying stones. At the same time, he flipped over and darted into the wild grass on the other side of the road.
The three martial brothers and the masked woman waved their hands to sweep away the incoming soil and stones. When they looked again, Cao Wei’s figure had already disappeared into the wild grass.
Their gazes fixed on the movements in the grass, but they found nothing. They believed he had not run far and were about to search when suddenly a “whoosh” sounded, and a spot of light rose into the air from somewhere in the grass.
A signal! The three martial brothers immediately thought something was wrong. Without much thought, they could guess it was a signal Cao Wei had sent to the nearby army.
But the masked woman moved as fast as a shadow. She swept her hand across the quiver behind her shoulder, and in one fluid motion she had nocked an arrow and drawn the string. A sound like an explosion rang out, and with a “swoosh,” it seemed to stir the nearby air into vibration.
The three martial brothers had only just noticed she was moving. Before they could fully turn their heads to look, their peripheral vision had barely caught a glimpse, and her entire set of movements, practiced who knew how many times, had already ended as smoothly as flowing water, without the slightest delay.
At this moment, the three of them discovered the masked woman held more than one arrow in her hand. With a wave, she had pinched three arrows between her fingers. She had already released one, and two remained pinched between her fingers, not yet on the string.
But with a flick of her fingers, another arrow was instantly nocked and shot out. The bowstring exploded with sound, and the arrow shot through the middle of the three men towards the distant grass. The series of movements was clean and crisp, so fast it was dazzling.
The light spot that had just risen into the air had not yet had time to explode and signal before it was extinguished, struck out with some sparks, erased by a single arrow.
In the dim light, obvious movement appeared in the distant grass, and a patch of grass seemed to be pressed down.
Without much thought, the three martial brothers could guess that the fleeing Cao Wei had been hit by an arrow. But that feeling made them feel as if they had also been struck, and they could not help but feel their hearts jump. In this light, with such perception, they had heard that master archers had excellent eyesight, and today they had truly experienced it firsthand.
Especially Nan Zhu and Mu Ao Tie. When Yu Qing had gone to the capital for the imperial examination and encountered danger, he had at least witnessed the terrifying killing power of a master archer. That was an existence that could stand in a line and block thousands of troops.
And the third arrow had also been flicked onto the string by the subtle movement of her fingers. But the bowstring was not drawn. The masked woman suddenly leapt into the air, soaring over the three martial brothers from above, flying through the air, landing on the tips of the grass and drifting along, quickly disappearing into that patch of seemingly flattened grass.
The three martial brothers exchanged glances. Yu Qing suddenly said, “The money!”
He flew off first, and Nan Zhu and Mu Ao Tie hurriedly followed.
When the three arrived at the target location, Cao Wei had already been pulled up. The bow was already pressed against his neck, and the masked woman stood with one leg split, one foot pressed against Cao Wei’s back, one hand pulling the bowstring, warning, “Speak or not?”
With his neck pressed by the bow, Cao Wei made “wu wu” sounds from his mouth, unable to speak, and no one knew what he meant.
The masked woman sneered, “Do you think I cannot find him if you do not speak?” She released the bowstring she was pulling.
Bang. The bowstring exploded with sound, and Cao Wei’s head also exploded, his neck actually cut off in an instant by the bowstring. Hot blood sprayed out from the severed neck.
Who knew what technique of force she had used. That bow actually whipped around half a circle on Cao Wei’s shoulder, and the masked woman reached out and grabbed the bow as it swung back.
There was not a trace of blood on the bowstring, shaken clean by its own vibration.
Cao Wei’s limbs trembled, and after struggling for a moment, he fell to the ground twitching.
The three martial brothers were stunned for a moment. Yu Qing then stepped forward to search the corpse, looking up cautiously at the masked woman’s reaction, and offered a reasonable explanation. “This place is near the army camp. If a person disappears, it will definitely arouse suspicion. Once the corpse is found, the traces of being killed by bow and arrow are too obvious. One examination and it will be known. For someone who uses a bow like you, it will be hard not to be suspected. We must bury and clean up the aftermath properly. This kind of rough work, we can do it on your behalf. Do not dirty your jade-like hands.”
Nan Zhu and Mu Ao Tie broke into a slight sweat, discovering that this old fifteen was truly not afraid of death for the sake of money. He had not even understood what she meant before he hurriedly went to search the corpse. Moreover, if she dared to kill, would she need you to worry about dirtying her hands?
Then again, it was not their money that was lost. Even if the money was recovered, it would not be shared with them, so their positions were different and their thoughts were different. If it had been their own money, thirty thousand taels, their reactions probably would not have been much better.
The masked woman naturally saw Yu Qing’s movements of groping all over the corpse, and she could not help but frown.
Yu Qing also felt something was wrong, and hurriedly explained, “The heroine speaks nothing but the truth. We were also deceived. This bastard said he could get us into the ‘Chao Yang Assembly’ to watch the excitement, and swindled us out of over a hundred thousand taels of silver. We must get this money back.”
Over a hundred thousand? Nan and Mu’s eyelids twitched upon hearing this, roughly guessing Yu Qing’s intention.
Yu Qing then roared at the two, “What are you staring at? Hurry up and dig a hole. If we do not quickly clean up the traces, do you want to wait for the garrison to discover and investigate? Once the heroine falls into the hands of the garrison, we may not fare well either.”
Nan and Mu immediately became spirited. If they helped, they would naturally have an excuse to share the money later, and they immediately busied themselves assisting.
Of course, while the three were working, they remained vigilant towards the masked woman. Although she had not shown any intention of attacking them before, they dared not let their guard down.
Before long, Yu Qing stopped moving. After searching the corpse, he only found some scattered silver and a few small-denomination silver notes, adding up to only about three or four hundred taels. That was far too little compared to his thirty thousand taels.
How could he be satisfied? Could silver notes have grown wings and flown away?
He then removed Cao Wei’s shoes, not caring about the strange smell coming from inside, and reached in to feel around. He pulled out both insoles, still not satisfied, and then forcibly tore open the boot shaft to check.
The masked woman nearby watched, and her brow, which had just relaxed, furrowed again. There was suspicion in her eyes. Then she watched as Yu Qing picked up Cao Wei’s head, quickly untied Cao Wei’s hair, and grabbed that head to rummage through it.
Yu Qing finally threw the head away, walked to the corpse, and kicked it several times, looking very angry.
Nan Zhu, who had quickly dug a pit, walked over and asked, “Did you miss somewhere?”
He was afraid Yu Qing was hiding something. When Yu Qing was searching earlier, the corner of his eye had been quietly watching, and he knew Yu Qing had not found much money.
After speaking, he also knelt on one knee beside the corpse and conducted another round of searching. The sky was so dark it was almost impossible to see.
The result was the same. After standing up, he let out a surprised sound. “Where did the money go? He did not go anywhere. We watched the camp coming and going. Could it be he really took the money into the camp to bribe people?”
Yu Qing said irritably, “Bribe my ass. He already exposed his identity. They are on the same side. Does he need to bribe anyone?”
Nan Zhu rubbed his chin. “Then it is strange. He could not have scattered all the money into brothels in such a short time, could he? Which prostitute is that expensive? Even one inlaid with gold would not be worth that much money.”
This topic was somewhat vulgar, and the masked woman nearby could not bear to listen anymore. She could not help but question, “What are you doing?”
Nan Zhu hurriedly smiled apologetically, then kicked the corpse and head into the newly dug pit with a few kicks. Together with Mu Ao Tie, they scraped up bloodstains, weeds, and other things to bury them.
But Yu Qing could not smile at all. Previously, when he said they had been swindled out of over a hundred thousand taels, he wanted to take the opportunity to seize all the money on Cao Wei for himself. Who would have thought he would not get a bargain, and even lost his own thirty thousand taels of capital? He found this very hard to accept.
Especially seeing Nan Zhu’s indifferent attitude, he became even more unable to bear it, and immediately cursed, “Old seven, did you not say your jianghu experience was reliable? I said this person was suspicious, but you insisted I rest assured. Now look. Who does that money count against?”
Just thinking about it made him furious. At the time, he had clearly felt something was suspicious, something was wrong, but he had been talked out of his doubts by his own people. In the end, he fell into the pit. What was this about?
Nan Zhu immediately argued, “Old fifteen, that is not how you say it. According to common sense, this kind of problem should not occur. I was already very careful and cautious. I never dreamed the garrison was fishing. Something unexpected, something beyond the scope of prediction, even this heroine’s martial brother fell for it. What could I do?”
Yu Qing snorted coldly, “Anyone can talk lightly. In any case, this is your fault. This sum of money is temporarily recorded against you, and will be deducted when there is a chance in the future.”
Hearing this, Nan Zhu was not happy. He shifted the large gourd on his back, “Old fifteen, saying such words is heartless. What do you mean it is my fault? Whose fault is the hidden danger on me and old nine’s bodies? Did we calculate money with you? How much money would it take to compensate for that?”
They could live and die together without issue, and could even fight for each other with their lives. But once money was mentioned, that would not do. It was a hurdle they could never get past, and immediately there was a tendency to fall out.
The reason he carried a large gourd on his back was to store the fruit of the golden orchid.
Since he knew the miraculous effects of the golden orchid fruit, he did not want to waste it by carrying it with him. So he got a gourd, filled it with sand, and buried the golden orchid fruit inside, wanting to produce a gourd full of golden sand.
Yu Qing was almost left speechless by his retort, and then flew into a rage from embarrassment, waving his large hand, “One matter is one matter. Money is money, affairs are affairs. Do not mix them together.”
Nan Zhu was about to retort when the masked woman spoke, “Are you finished or not? The garrison is moving out. Go!” With that, she flashed away.
The three martial brothers were stunned, quickly quieted down to listen, and indeed heard the rumbling of a troop of men and horses approaching from beyond the mountain.
The three dared not stay any longer, and also used the cover of the tall reeds to quickly escape.