Chapter 8: An Arrow from the Sacred Capital |
“County Lord has specifically instructed that Madam should also bring ‘that item’ along, lest it fall into the hands of the rebel bandits.”
Within the small courtyard, the puppet Li Shun kept his head lowered deeply, his tone both respectful and urgent.
“That item?”
The enchanting woman paused for a moment, but a flicker of understanding quickly passed through her eyes.
Her brows knit slightly. The soft, charming tone she carried just moments ago turned abruptly cold.
“Wait here.”
Without waiting for Li Shun’s response, she turned sharply and strode into the inner chamber.
Moments later, she stepped out once more.
But now, clutched tightly in her arms, was a long, narrow brocade box. The box appeared neither wood nor jade, its surface faintly coated in a thin layer of frost.
Even through the peculiar sealing material, Li Shun could still sense a trace of incomparably pure energy emanating from within the box, one that shared the same origin as Lengshan Grass.
Lengshan Venerable!
“Madam, there are bandits running rampant outside, and too many eyes watching. Carrying it so openly would draw far too much attention. It would be better to entrust it to me for safekeeping.”
As he spoke, Li Shun calmly took out a piece of coarse gray cloth from his robes and presented it with both hands.
The woman halted mid-step. A trace of suspicion flashed through her eyes.
In the end, she shook her head and said coldly, “No need. This item is far too precious. It’s safer if I carry it myself. Give me the cloth. I’ll wrap it on my own.”
Li Shun obediently lowered his head, showing not the slightest sign of insistence. He simply extended both hands forward, offering the gray cloth.
And at the very instant her fingers reached out and barely brushed against it—
A chilling light burst forth in Li Shun’s previously downcast eyes.
His stiff, puppet-like arm suddenly lashed out like a venomous serpent, seizing the long brocade box with an angle and speed that defied belief!
However…
The box did not budge in the slightest.
The woman’s reaction was just as swift as lightning. She clamped down on the other end of the box with a death grip.
“I knew something was off! That heartless man is selfish and cold. In a life-and-death situation, when has he ever cared about me like this?!”
The alluring woman shouted sharply, a not-insignificant aura erupting faintly from her body.
“You little thief—”
Just as she was about to strike, her breath suddenly hitched.
Without warning, the sky above her seemed to dim in an instant.
She instinctively looked up—
And saw a dazzling golden streak of light, so brilliant it stabbed at the eyes, tearing through the sky from the very edge of the heavens as it hurtled forward with terrifying force!
Its radiance, in that moment, completely overwhelmed the blazing sun above. Under such extreme contrast, all other colors in the world seemed to drain away, plunging everything into a strange dimness.
The streak crossed thousands of miles in an instant, arriving above Lengshan County in the blink of an eye!
“This is…”
Even catching a glimpse of it from the corner of her eye made her soul tremble. A suffocating sense of impending doom surged in her heart, as if she would be crushed into nothingness in the next moment.
Boom!
The golden light exploded directly above the county office, scattering into a rain of golden brilliance before vanishing.
Shaken by that overwhelming force, the woman snapped back to her senses—only to feel her hands suddenly grow light.
Her heart lurched as she looked down.
Empty.
There was nothing in front of her.
That ill-intentioned “thief,” along with the long box of Lengshan Venerable she had been gripping so tightly, had vanished without a trace.
All that remained was a coarse gray cloth, fluttering down through the air like a withered leaf, spinning slowly as it descended.
Like a silent mockery.
“Where is he?!”
The woman was utterly horrified. She hurriedly scanned her surroundings, even circulating her aura to sweep across the entire courtyard, yet she could not detect the slightest trace of his departure.
She stood there, completely stunned, as if she had seen a ghost in broad daylight.
“How is this possible?!”
Everything felt so absurd it was as though the thief had never existed in the first place.
Still unwilling to give up, she searched the entire courtyard and even the rooftops, but found no clues whatsoever.
Standing motionless in the courtyard for a long time, her expression shifted violently again and again.
At this moment, the thunderous cries of battle and chaos that had filled the county city were dying down at an astonishing pace. It was as if that band of ferocious rebels had been suppressed in an extremely short span of time.
The woman took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down.
A trace of resolve flashed through her eyes. She turned and swiftly darted back into the house. Moments later, when she pushed the door open again, she was no longer just cloaked and carrying a pack. Even her once charming and alluring face had transformed into that of an utterly ordinary middle-aged woman.
Taking advantage of the chaos before it had fully settled, she slipped into a dark alley and fled without a trace.
…
Time rewound to not long before.
Under the relentless bombardment of the eight-armed demonic god conjured by Xiong Jin, the defensive formation of the Lengshan County Office was already riddled with cracks. Its glow had dimmed to the extreme, as though it might collapse completely in the next instant.
At this critical moment.
The tightly shut gates of the county office were suddenly pulled open from within. County Magistrate Fang Xun, clad in a dark official robe, stepped out alone, his expression calm and composed as he crossed the high threshold.
Xiong Jin, hovering in midair, raised a brow slightly and halted his assault, looking down below.
“A mere scholar, yet you’ve got some nerve. Hand over the Lengshan Venerable, and I may show mercy and leave you an intact corpse.”
Fang Xun’s expression remained as still as an ancient well. His gaze locked onto Xiong Jin as he spoke calmly, “The Lengshan Venerable may be a rare treasure seen once in a century, but to an expert of your Grotto Mystic Realm, it holds no benefit whatsoever. You’re doing this for a junior?”
He flicked his sleeve lightly, his eyes gradually sharpening.
“For you remnants of the Xiang Kingdom to mobilize in such force, even daring to assault a Great Qian government office…”
“It seems that the junior who needs this Lengshan Venerable to break through must hold a very high position in your heart. Perhaps… a descendant of the Xiang royal bloodline?”
Xiong Jin’s expression changed drastically, his pupils shrinking in shock.
He had never expected that Fang Xun, from a single line of demand, could unravel the truth to such an extent in an instant.
“You’re courting death!!”
Xiong Jin flew into a rage. Crimson flames around him surged violently as the eight-armed demonic god formed seals in unison, preparing to erase the entire county office and Fang Xun from existence.
Yet at the very moment he was about to strike, he suddenly sensed something profoundly wrong.
There was not even the slightest trace of fear in Fang Xun’s eyes.
On the contrary, the seemingly frail scholar-magistrate was calmly watching him with the cold gaze of a hunter observing prey.
At the instant Xiong Jin hesitated, alarm bells ringing in his mind—A streak of golden light, carrying overwhelming heavenly might, shot across the sky from millions of miles away, arriving in an instant!
“An arrow?!”
Xiong Jin’s heart trembled violently. The thought had only just surfaced in his mind when, before he could even attempt to dodge, the golden arrow that had traversed the entire heavens of Great Qian pierced through the phantom of the eight-armed demonic god and struck directly into his chest.
There was no earth-shattering explosion, nor any spray of blood and flesh.
Instead, countless fine yet unbreakable golden threads erupted from the point of impact. Like living things, they wove together in an instant, forming an impenetrable golden cocoon that tightly sealed Xiong Jin within.
Inside the cocoon, all of Xiong Jin’s power seemed completely suppressed as he plummeted heavily from the sky.
With a sweep of his sleeve, Fang Xun signaled. Dozens of constables wielding specially crafted chains immediately rushed forward, surrounding the cocoon as if facing a great enemy, binding it layer upon layer.
At the same time, Fang Xun carefully adjusted his attire and bowed deeply toward the distant direction of the Sacred Capital, his voice ringing out, “Many thanks to Martial Uncle for the divine arrow, protecting the lands of Great Qian!”
“Keep him under strict watch. The Black-Robed Envoys will arrive tomorrow.”
A vast, majestic voice, devoid of emotion, seemed to ride along the lingering echo of the arrow, traveling from the distant Sacred Capital and resounding above the Lengshan County Office.
“This disciple understands.”
Fang Xun maintained his half-bowed posture until that abyssal voice completely faded from heaven and earth. Only then did he slowly straighten, a faint smile curling at the corners of his lips.
…
Lengshan Grand Prison.
Li Shun, suspended upon the net of chains, had just successfully withdrawn his primary consciousness from the puppet and securely stored the long box containing the Lengshan Venerable within the Fangcun space.
Just as he was about to examine it more closely, he suddenly heard the heavy, chaotic sound of chains dragging in the distance.
With difficulty, Li Shun forced open one swollen, bloodshot eye and looked toward the source of the noise.
His pupils contracted.
A group of constables were struggling to carry a massive golden cocoon bound in layers of chains. Panting heavily, they hauled it inside before throwing it into the deepest cell of the torture chamber.
Through the faint gaps in the cocoon, one could just make out the twisted face of Xiong Jin, the rebel leader of the Great Xiang, contorted with extreme humiliation and rage.
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