Chapter 111
Chapter 111: Let’s See If I Don’t Chop Off Your Claws
If she could control him, then naturally she could also control the others and have them send her back. Yet she had not done so. Aside from not having played enough, Yun Wan Ye could think of no other reason.
Hearing his words, Yun Zheng and Yun Wan Chen finally relaxed.
“It’s fine if nothing happened, but we still need to find Little Fourth quickly, otherwise your mother will be worried sick. Let’s go.”
Yun Zheng glanced toward the other end of the hidden chamber and strode forward.
“Wait, Father.”
Yun Wan Ye quickly caught up, grabbing his father’s arm to stop him.
“What is it?”
Yun Zheng turned, frowning in confusion.
Drawing the soft sword from his waist, Yun Wan Ye said seriously, “You walk behind me.”
They were completely unfamiliar with this tunnel, unsure whether traps or ambushes lay ahead. If Father went in recklessly and met danger, that would be disastrous.
“I’m not yet at the age where my son needs to protect me. Get behind me.”
Yun Zheng saw his intent at a glance. Though moved, he pushed his son behind him. He did not know how other fathers acted, but he could never hide behind his son in such a moment.
“But—”
Before Yun Wan Ye could finish, his father cut him off without mercy.
“You think you’re the only one who knows caution? I, your father, crawled out of piles of corpses on the killing fields. If I can live to this day, how could I have no vigilance?”
“Don’t worry. I won’t come to harm.”
As he spoke, Yun Zheng’s fingers moved slightly and a crisp metallic sound came from within his sleeve. On the backs of both his hands, a pair of strangely shaped blades sprang out.
Wrist blades!
Yun Wan Ye’s gaze flickered, and he finally set his mind at ease. His father had indeed made thorough preparations. If he was not mistaken, there was armor beneath his clothes. Father was far more cautious than he was.
There was nothing more to say. Yun Wan Ye pressed his lips together and followed behind with confidence.
The tunnel was narrow, dark, and winding. Holding a night pearl, Yun Zheng led the way with care.
Before long, they came to a fork.
Looking at it, Yun Zheng spoke earnestly to his two sons, “You brothers stick together and be careful.”
“Father, I can manage on my own. Let big brother go with you so you can watch each other’s backs.”
Yun Wan Ye immediately objected. He knew Father was well prepared, but still felt uneasy letting him go alone.
“Enough talk. You two stay together. Even if you meet more forks, you must not split up. Make clear marks. Search one path before taking another.”
“No matter whether you find Little Fourth or not, you must meet your Seventh Uncle at dawn. Understood?”
Rejecting the suggestion, Yun Zheng gave one last reminder, then headed into the right-hand tunnel.
Watching his retreating back, Yun Wan Ye couldn’t help craning his neck to call quietly, “Father, you must be very, very careful.”
Yun Wan Chen: “…”
Honestly, Father was far more cautious than they were. Tonight’s matter was nothing to him. On the battlefield, he had faced far worse.
“All right, Ye’er, let’s go.”
He patted Yun Wan Ye’s shoulder and took the left-hand path. Yun Wan Ye hurried after him.
“Big brother, you be careful too, don’t walk so fast.”
“It’s fine…”
…
Inside the hidden chamber—
Yun Wan Ning could not stand seeing the black-clad men so at ease. When she realized Yun Wan Ye might lose their trail, she threw back her head and wailed again.
“Waaah…”
The moment her cry rang out, the men all jolted, nerves taut, faces pained.
“Boss, this little girl’s crying is so loud it’ll reach the surface. If it draws Duke Ning’s people here, we’ll be in trouble.”
One man rubbed his brow in frustration.
The leader’s face darkened like the bottom of a pot. With venom in his voice, he said, “All day long it’s cry, cry, cry. Cry yourself to death! If I didn’t have to find out what use you are to the master, I’d smash you to death right now.”
[…]
[Wow. You actually want to smash me to death? Vicious, far too vicious.]
[I’m just a baby, you know. I haven’t had milk all day and I’ve been stolen away by strangers. Crying is normal. Not crying would be strange.]
[Clearly you’ve never cared for a child. Even one day would teach you better than to say something so stupid.]
[And another thing—try laying a hand on me and see if I don’t chop off your claws.]
The angrier she grew, the louder she cried, as if she might lift the roof right off the chamber. The men grew increasingly tense.
“No, we can’t let her keep crying. Give her to me.”
The leader’s eyes glinted viciously, as though he might tear her apart. Yun Wan Ning’s gaze shifted slightly.
[Oh? You look so fierce yet still want to hold me. Could it be you really do mean to kill me?]
“Boss, calm down! This is Duke Ning’s daughter. If you harm her, Duke Ning will hound us to the death, and the master won’t spare us either.”
The man holding her passed her over, reminding him nervously.
The leader shot him an irritable glare. “I know. Don’t worry, I won’t kill her.”
Hearing this, the man sighed in relief.
Soon Yun Wan Ning was in a new pair of arms, and she cried even harder. Using all her strength, her tiny face flushed bright red.
[Won’t kill me? Then what will you do—gag me or knock me out?]
[I remember you told your men to do just that earlier, but ended up knocking yourself out with your own powder.]
[Now that plan failed, you must have another in mind. But it still doesn’t involve feeding me.]
[And your baby-holding skills are terrible. One star. Very uncomfortable.]
Just as she expected, the man raised a hand, clearly intending to knock her out.
[So you really do want to knock me out. Well then, I won’t be polite either. Let’s see whose hand is heavier.]
[Don’t worry, I won’t kill you.]
Striking first was better than being struck. Yun Wan Ning would not give him the chance.
With a thought, her spiritual power surged forth, forming an invisible giant hand that slapped his face hard.
“Pa-pa-pa…”
Crisp slaps rang out in the empty air.
His black headscarf flew off, revealing a face rapidly swelling on both sides, each marked with clear red handprints. Blood trickled from his mouth and nose.
Everyone froze in shock, staring at him. Even the man himself was bewildered.
The chamber went utterly silent except for the sound of slapping.
“G-ghost! There’s a ghost!” someone screamed suddenly.
The others instantly recalled how all their masks had fallen off earlier, and fear gripped them. Their skin crawled, chills running down their spines.
Never in their lives had they seen anything so strange.
Terrifying—utterly terrifying!
The men scattered in panic, while the one being struck shivered uncontrollably, too stunned to react.
Who was hitting him? Could it really be a ghost?
Yun Wan Ning found their reactions hilarious. Her mood instantly lifted and she stopped, sparing the leader further torment.
[Ahahaha…]
[Look at them, thinking they’ve met a ghost.]
[To be fair, ordinary people can’t see my spiritual power. It is pretty scary if you’re not expecting it.]
[Hmph, he wanted to knock me out, and now he’s the one with a pig’s head.]
[This is what happens when you ignore me asking for milk. How’s that feel?]
[And scaring someone to death doesn’t even carry the death penalty. Keep being rude to me and I might just do it.]
Some were still lost in fear, slashing wildly at the air or shouting threats at the “ghost.”
Yun Wan Ning simply stopped crying and lazily enjoyed the sight of their panic.
When no further strange events occurred, the group slowly calmed down. Still, they remained on guard, standing back to back.
One man looked at the leader holding Yun Wan Ning and nervously suggested, “Boss, this place isn’t clean. Let’s get out of here.”
The night’s string of bizarre incidents had badly shaken even these hardened men. None wanted to linger a moment longer.
The leader was shaken too, but did not agree at once.
“No. If the Duke Ning household searches for her, the surface will be dangerous.”
Given Yun Zheng’s power, even hiding in the imperial palace would not keep them safe for long. Only underground offered security.
“Without new orders from the master, we can’t move on our own.”
This sparked mutters of discontent.
“Boss, the surface might be unsafe, but it’s safer than here. What if more strange things happen?”
“At worst we could leave her in an alley for Duke Ning’s people to find. Then they’d stop chasing us. The master would understand.”
But the leader refused flatly. “No. We went to great trouble to take her. Returning her now would waste our efforts and offend the Duke Ning household—not worth it.”
Yun Wan Ning frowned, irritated by their bickering.
[They keep talking about this ‘master.’ Who is it?]
[Must be an enemy of my father or my family. But why didn’t this happen in the original plot?]
[Could it be… Su Qian Xue?]
The thought flashed through her mind like lightning.
[No way… could it really be Su Qian Xue?]
[If it is, why would she do this? Let me guess—she’s been failing missions, and blames my family for it.]
[And with the system, she must have read the original scene at Xiangming Teahouse with Pei Yu. But the drugging there didn’t go as planned.]
[Plus the dog-hole incident outside Prince Qi’s manor—she likely guessed it was Second Brother who ruined her plan.]
[Knowing that, she’d expect him to keep sabotaging her missions. And since she knows my sister is the new heroine, she’s made my family her main enemy.]
[So to keep us busy and out of her way, she’d create trouble for us. And what better trouble than kidnapping me?]
Her speculation only grew more certain.
…
Outside the hidden chamber—
Moving carefully through the narrow tunnel, Yun Wan Chen and Yun Wan Ye suddenly heard faint sounds from within the wall.
They stopped at once, trading glances. Yun Wan Ye pressed an ear to the wall, focusing his inner power to listen.
[Wait… Su Qian Xue already has her own force? That’s not in the original plot.]
[Originally, she started as a merchant, growing her business until others grew jealous and picked fights with her. Only then did she spend heavily to build a private force.]
“…Big brother, I hear little sister’s heart voice. She’s inside.”
He looked at Yun Wan Chen and spoke through inner power, pointing at the wall.
“There’s a secret room here. Should we break the wall down?”
“No.”
Yun Wan Chen shook his head. “We have no idea how many people are inside. If they panic, they might hurt her.”
“…But her spiritual power is strong. They can’t harm her.”
“Even so, what if there’s an accident? And she doesn’t know we know about her spiritual power. If we break in recklessly, she might think we don’t care about her safety. That would hurt her.”