Chapter 172: Siege

Xiao Fen stood at the door in a daze. He suddenly thought that the person who told the Pan Family there would be an Immortal in this courtyard probably had bad intentions.

However, that night, coincidences piled up. When the Pan Family arrived, they met Xiao Fen, which led to many subsequent changes. The Pan Family members were not attacked by Filth Life and did not die on the spot, and Xiao Fen triggered a quest.

But regardless of the result at that time, at least one thing was certain: the person who told the Pan Family there was an Immortal in this courtyard at least knew what was inside. They likely also knew where the Pan Family wife’s illness came from.

In other words, this person likely knew the distribution of all the “plugs” in the Capital City, if not all, then at least the vast majority.

Thinking of this, Xiao Fen’s right hand slightly clenched, feeling happy about his new discovery. Just then, Daoist Yuan’s hand suddenly reached out from behind the threshold, grabbed Xiao Fen’s right arm, pulled him into the courtyard, and whispered: “Are you mad? Why stand there in a daze of all times?”

Before Xiao Fen could respond, Daoist Yuan continued: “Those Constables and Imperial Guard behind came too fast. It looks like they were prepared early. Plus that crossbow arrow earlier, the Imperial Army might be involved too. Don’t stay at the door too long. Let’s talk inside.”

Xiao Fen frowned again, realizing that in this Capital City, it wasn’t necessarily the Emperor first and the Eastern Depot second. The undercurrents were more numerous and complex than he imagined.

The two bypassed the screen wall and quickly walked through the first courtyard. Entering the second courtyard through the middle door converted from the main room, Daoist Yuan closed the big door behind him. He glanced at the door frame, nodded slightly, and said: “Just Constables and Imperial Guard, they shouldn’t be able to enter this courtyard.”

Before Xiao Fen could reply, Daoist Yuan had already retreated a few steps. He pulled out two huge stone lions from a nearby flowerbed. No one knew who moved these two stone lions from the main gate to this place. They looked extremely heavy, but such weight seemed like nothing to Daoist Yuan.

He exerted a little force with his hands, grabbed the lions, his fingers digging directly into the stone. Stone chips fell rustlingly from the lions’ heads.

Seeing this, Xiao Fen had thoughts in his mind again, but these thoughts had nothing to do with the courtyard or this Trial World. He was thinking that if Daoist Yuan went to the London Trial World and fought Jack, he wondered what the result would be.

While Xiao Fen was in a daze, Daoist Yuan had already stacked the two lions behind the main door. In this situation, let alone a few Imperial Guards, even if a large group came, without a battering ram, they wouldn’t be able to open this main door anytime soon.

After finishing, Daoist Yuan turned to look at Xiao Fen and said: “You go explore the back. I will watch here. If anything happens, I will call you. Remember, don’t cause trouble. Just watch with your eyes. At this time, we cannot afford to be attacked from both sides.”

Xiao Fen gave a bitter smile secretly. He wanted to say that he was a natural magnet for bad luck; even if he didn’t look for trouble, trouble would find him. But saying this now was useless. He nodded and said: “I’ll go explore. You be careful too.”

After saying that, Xiao Fen didn’t waste words. He turned and walked along the corridor toward the third courtyard.

The “plug” wasn’t necessarily in the back courtyard, but that small lotus pond was likely there. To find clues, he had to start from the small pavilion by the lotus pond.

Pushing open the unlatched small wooden door, Xiao Fen walked into the third courtyard. Just as he expected, not far along the corridor, there was a small pond. By the pond was the pavilion where he had stayed when he first arrived in this Trial World. Although it was daytime, the Windproof Lanterns hanging at the four corners of the pavilion were still bright. It was unknown how long these lanterns had been burning.

Although he knew the lanterns were strange, inspecting them would obviously take too much time. Xiao Fen did not enter the pavilion. He looked around it and indeed saw several rows of footprints. The heels faced the pond, and the toes faced the pavilion. They were wet. Although the sun was shining overhead, these footprints were in the shade of the trees and hadn’t dried yet. They remained on the bluestone steps, and it was unclear when they were left.

Xiao Fen didn’t bend down to look closely. He just sniffed with his nose. Sure enough, these footprints emitted a very strong smell of blood, exactly the same as the smell emitted by those Hell Creatures. Clearly, the footprints hadn’t dried not just because of the shade, but likely because of the bloody aura in them.

Thinking of this, Xiao Fen turned his head to look at the lotus pond. After one look, his head suddenly felt dizzy. For some reason, he actually saw a pool of viscous blood floating under the shimmering water surface. This blood was so heavy that it had been sinking at the bottom without floating up.

It was because of this bloody water that this pool was so withered. Xiao Fen looked carefully again. The dizziness in his mind felt heavier, but he vaguely saw that where those scattered lotus stems existed, floating on the water surface were human bones.

Xiao Fen shook his head hard. His vision suddenly became clear again. The pond water was still shimmering with green waves. The lotus stems on the surface were as before, looking completely serene. Where was the bloody water and human bones?

Xiao Fen was secretly shocked. In the past, this kind of dizziness was a sign that he was seeing the Otherworld. This feeling had accompanied him for a long time. Until recently, when he frequently entered Trial Worlds, he thought this problem of seeing the Otherworld had disappeared. He didn’t expect it to reappear in such a Trial World now.

However, this feeling was like before: hard to come by. When he really needed this vision, he often couldn’t achieve it. He didn’t know when it would appear on its own.

Xiao Fen shook his head and looked carefully at the pool again. He turned around, looked around the pavilion once more, and then retreated. He had determined in his heart that this pool was likely the mission target when he first arrived in this Trial World. It seemed the mission hadn’t been triggered yet, so it remained until now.

However, Xiao Fen didn’t plan to trigger the mission here now. Although it was broad daylight and the intense light had a strong weakening and lethal effect on those Hell Creatures, perhaps without using Lux’s Gratitude, he could complete the mission here easily, but completing such a Main Quest would take at least two hours. And in those two hours, what might happen to Daoist Yuan at the middle door was something Xiao Fen couldn’t know.

Just as Daoist Yuan said, at a time like this, the most feared thing was being attacked from two sides. Even if the opponents on both sides were low level, once chaos ensued, it would make people panic and even lose their lives. Moreover, once the quest was accepted at the pond side, the monsters appearing would be at least Level 3 creatures. And the Imperial Guard and Constables at the middle door were likely not low level either.

The quest could be triggered anytime later. Safety was the priority now.

Thinking of this, Xiao Fen didn’t linger at the pavilion. He retreated a certain distance, searched the wing rooms and main rooms in the backyard briefly, found no more problems, turned and left the backyard, and returned to the middle courtyard.

He saw Daoist Yuan sitting cross-legged on a stone table from a distance. Xiao Fen walked over and asked: “How is the situation outside?”

“Not much. If you want to know, go up to the roof and see for yourself. Just don’t be surprised or scared.”

Xiao Fen paused, then without hesitation, stepped on the thick trees planted by the wing room. With a few jumps, he landed on the roof of the wing room in the middle courtyard.

Looking down, Xiao Fen couldn’t help but suck in a breath of cold air. In the front courtyard, it was densely packed with people. For a moment, Xiao Fen almost thought he had arrived at the Nine-City Patrol Office. However, looking at these patrols, occasionally there were people wearing the Flying Fish uniforms of the Imperial Guard. These people stood there, whispering from time to time, not daring to rush the wooden door in the middle, seemingly fearing something, and seemingly waiting for something.

“What do you think?”

Daoist Yuan was standing behind Xiao Fen at some point. Hidden by the tree canopy, the people in the front courtyard didn’t notice anything unusual for the moment. Their conversation wasn’t afraid of being heard.

“Good thing,” Xiao Fen suddenly said. “Guarding against thieves for a thousand days, there will always be negligence. Now that these people are gathered together, isn’t this the best opportunity?”

Daoist Yuan heard this and smiled slightly: “You are open-minded. But what did you forget? The Eastern Depot and the Imperial Army fought those monsters last night. Regardless of success or failure, their vitality was greatly damaged. Even if you want to wipe out the people in front of you, I’m afraid you can’t.”

Xiao Fen was quiet for a moment and said: “If the Eastern Depot can’t, and the Imperial Army can’t, there are always those who can.”

Daoist Yuan looked at Xiao Fen strangely and asked in a low voice: “Killing with a borrowed knife?”

Xiao Fen looked meaningfully at the courtyard behind and replied: “Exactly so. The Eastern Depot and the Imperial Army fought those monsters. This time, let others suffer casualties too, lest someone becomes too dominant.”

Daoist Yuan clapped his hands and smiled: “You act decisively and don’t stick to patterns. I really like you. If you stayed longer, I would be willing to spend some time with you. It would be refreshing.”

The two looked at each other and smiled. Just as they were about to speak, they suddenly heard several horses running outside the door. The Commandant running at the front shouted: “The Emperor has a decree. There are people in this residence spreading demonic words and doing unlawful things. Soldiers, flatten this residence. If you see the demon, execute him immediately. No need to speak.”

There was immediately a commotion among the many Constables. Someone shouted: “The Little Immortal from White Cloud Temple is also in this residence. Are you saying that Little Immortal is also spreading demonic words?”

The Commandant sneered, took out a token, and waved it: “Do you have anything to say? Dare to explain to the Emperor?”