Volume 3, Chapter 356 – Night Escape and Ambush

“Young Miss, they are most likely coming for us,” Lin Xiu said. “What should we do now?”

Chi Xiyan furrowed her brows. She lifted the curtain and glanced outside.

Not far from them, a group of warriors dressed in black fitted clothing were sprinting across the rooftops.

It was the dead of night, and the carriage was traveling along a secluded back road. There was no one else on the entire stretch except for them. These mysterious warriors were undeniably coming for them.

The sight of it made Chi Xiyan’s expression turn grim.

The Chi family’s horses were all spirit steeds, extraordinarily fast, yet these mysterious warriors were keeping pace with them on foot alone. They were clearly no weak cultivators.

“Sister?” Lu Zhuxin clutched Chi Xiyan’s arm, her face filled with worry. “Are the Chi family’s people catching up to us?”

“I don’t know.” Chi Xiyan withdrew her gaze from the window. “I don’t recognize any of them, and I can’t make out their fighting style…”

She could tell that the warriors’ techniques were wildly varied, like a ragtag group hastily thrown together.

But in Beihe Commandery, who could possibly muster such a force?

The Chi family was the ruling power of Beihe Commandery. If any faction had that kind of reach, Chi Xiyan would have known about it.

Yet no matter how long she thought on it, she could not determine what faction these mysterious warriors belonged to.

“Sister…” Lu Zhuxin pressed her lips together. “If it’s not the Chi family, could it be Lingxiao Sword Sect?”

“In Beihe Commandery, they’re the only ones with a grudge against us, aren’t they?”

“Sister… will they drag us back?”

“They won’t, Muxue.” Chi Xiyan placed her hand over Lu Zhuxin’s. “I am the Young Miss of the Chi family of Beihe Commandery. A handful of people like these is nowhere near enough to take us.”

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With that, she called out to Lin Xiu at the front. “Uncle Lin, at the next junction, turn sharp right. Take the long way around and shake them off.”

“Understood.” Lin Xiu replied in a low, steady voice.

He never questioned Chi Xiyan’s orders.

The mysterious warriors behind them kept their eyes fixed on the carriage’s movements.

“They’re trying to lose us. Use the sword arrows!”

Inside the carriage, Chi Xiyan leaned against the door, and her expression shifted.

She immediately pulled out several talismans and slapped them against the walls of the carriage.

Blue mystic light wrapped around the cabin, shielding everyone inside.

Outside, a sharp chorus of things cutting through the air rang out, followed immediately by the sound of impacts hammering down like rain.

The entire carriage shuddered violently.

The spell Chi Xiyan had reinforced onto the carriage with her talismans rapidly dimmed under the relentless assault, the barrier flickering as though it might shatter at any moment.

Lu Zhuxin gripped Chi Xiyan’s arm tightly, her face pale with terror.

Seeing her expression, Chi Xiyan pulled her into her arms and held her close.

“It’s alright, little Xue’er. I will protect you. We’re going to be fine…”

“Mm…” Lu Zhuxin buried her head against Chi Xiyan’s shoulder, but her eyes gleamed with a quiet, dangerous light.

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Her Eighth Realm spiritual consciousness spread softly across the surrounding streets.

She was calculating. Calculating the right moment to break free.

“Sister…” A short while later, the assault outside paused, and Lu Zhuxin whispered, “Did we lose them?”

Chi Xiyan did not answer. Those people were no pushovers. They could not be shaken off so easily.

The lull was nothing more than the buildup to the next wave.

What Chi Xiyan could not understand was this. She had taken Muxue and fled the Chi family on a sudden impulse. By all logic, no one other than the Chi family should have been able to give chase so quickly.

Yet this group looked as though they had come prepared.

What was going on?

Who had sent these mysterious people?

Were they Chi Jingwen’s shadow agents?

Chi Xiyan knew that Chi Jingwen possessed a mysterious fighting force under his command. It had always been well hidden. She was aware of their existence, but knew nothing of the specifics.

So she could not be certain whether this group was the Chi family’s shadow agents or not.

Just as Chi Xiyan was unable to make sense of what was happening outside, a group of fully armed constables came rushing in from a branching road on the other side of the street.

The deputy had received Wei Qingyu’s orders and come to intercept the Chi family’s carriage.

He had never expected that besides the carriage, there would also be another armed force present.

“Halt! Who are you people!” the deputy shouted.

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At his command, the constables drew their blades in unison.

A killing intent swept through the street in an instant.

Faced with the Demon Suppression Bureau constables, hesitation flickered in the eyes of many among the mysterious warriors.

They had not expected to run into the Bureau’s people here.

Then, all at once, the warriors’ leader knitted his brows. He had received a new directive.

He turned to face the constables and shouted.

“They’re here to take her from us! We cannot let the Bureau’s people steal the Young Miss away!”

At their leader’s words, understanding dawned on the warriors’ faces.

So this, too, was part of the plan.

“Kill them all first! Then bring the Young Miss back!”

With that, the warriors surged toward the constables.

The deputy’s brow creased deeply.

He had come in a hurry, expecting only to intercept a single carriage, and so had not brought many men. Now, this unknown group of warriors had launched a sudden assault, catching the constables completely off guard.

In an instant, the clash of metal rang through the night sky, and the shockwaves of techniques reverberated down the street.

Chi Xiyan heard the commotion outside and asked in confusion, “What is happening out there?”

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“Young Miss, it looks like the Demon Suppression Bureau’s constables!”

“The Bureau’s people and those warriors are fighting!”

“The Bureau? Wei Qingyu’s people?!” Chi Xiyan’s eyes widened.

The Bureau had caught up this quickly.

That meant Wei Qingyu had been keeping watch on them all along, in addition to the mysterious warriors. Otherwise, the Bureau’s constables could not have given chase so fast.

Which confirmed what Chi Xiyan had suspected.

Wei Qingyu had indeed set her sights on Chi Muxue.

“Young Miss, now’s our chance,” Lin Xiu said. “We can use the chaos to break away.”

“Yes. Be careful, Uncle Lin. Stay out of their fight.”

The moment Chi Xiyan finished speaking, a sudden sense of danger exploded in her chest.

“Watch out!” She cried in a low, sharp voice and lunged toward the bewildered Lu Zhuxin beside her.

Boom.

A fierce, razor-edged sword qi erupted skyward.

The carriage, which had held firm against low-grade techniques, was torn apart in an instant.

In that moment of crisis, Chi Xiyan could only shove the girl beside her out of the sword qi’s reach.