Chapter 060
Chapter 60: Flower-Picking Bandit
Outside Marquis Cang Yuan’s mansion.
In a sleek suit of night-black clothes, Guan Shan Xue swiftly emerged from a nearby alley and gracefully leaped onto the branches of a locust tree.
She silently gazed down at Marquis Cang Yuan’s mansion. The whole residence lay quiet, lit only by a few dimly glowing lanterns along the courtyards and corridors.
[How could the security of Marquis Cang Yuan’s mansion be so lax?]
Under the hazy moonlight, Guan Shan Xue observed the mansion carefully, noticing neither patrolling guards nor servants moving about.
[Something’s not right. Marquis Cang Yuan’s family has close ties to the Tai Yin Primordial Sect. There must be experts guarding this place. I cannot let down my guard.]
Guan Shan Xue slightly furrowed her brows. Before capturing Cang Yin Yue hidden within, she absolutely could not risk being caught by the mansion’s experts. If she failed tonight, she would not be able to wash away her past humiliation.
Thinking of this, Guan Shan Xue quickly ran along the mansion’s outer walls until she reached an obscure corner behind the garden, far from the main house. With a swift leap, she scaled the high wall.
She thought sneaking in from such a remote spot would avoid the eyes of any hidden experts.
However, something unexpected caught her attention. A shadowy figure, similarly clad in black night attire, suddenly appeared in the rear garden of the mansion.
Taking advantage of the darkness, the figure swiftly passed through a corridor using impressive lightness skills, climbed over the rear wall, and vanished outside.
Perched atop the wall, Guan Shan Xue crouched low, concealed by shadows from nearby trees.
She watched closely as the figure quickly disappeared into a nearby alley, her delicate brows knitting gently.
[Secretly leaving Marquis Cang Yuan’s mansion at night… Could it be Cang Yin Yue?]
Today, she had heard from a constable of Six Gates that Cang Yin Yue had suddenly become unreasonable, inexplicably backing out of her engagement to Fu Yu. The whole thing was strange indeed.
Sneaking away at night might indeed be an attempt to escape marriage.
Guan Shan Xue glanced once more at the mansion. After a brief moment of hesitation, she ultimately decided to quietly follow in the direction where the shadow had disappeared.
[I’ll see who it is first. If it truly is Cang Yin Yue, I’ll catch her and give her a good beating. Marquis Cang Yuan might even thank me.]
A faint, cold smile appeared on Guan Shan Xue’s graceful face.
Her exceptional lightness skill, learned from Divine Constable Guan Tian Qian, was called “Golden Wild Goose Thirteen Forms.” With footsteps silent as whispers and movement graceful as startled geese, it was among the highest-tier martial techniques in the Martial World.
Thus, despite starting late, it didn’t take her long to catch up. The shadow ahead remained unaware of her pursuit.
In Zhu Yan Ward.
At the end of a small stone path in a mansion’s rear courtyard stood a charming and elegant pavilion, surrounded by blooming flowers and lush green trees.
On the second floor of the pavilion, candlelight gently flickered. At a window framed in crimson wood, a graceful young woman held a sandalwood comb, carefully smoothing her silky black hair in front of a bronze mirror atop her dressing table.
Her face was small and exquisitely delicate, her bearing gentle like a refined lady from a noble household. The fragrance from an incense burner filled the room. Drapes hung softly around a carved wooden bed, gently swaying as a cool breeze drifted through the translucent curtains by the window.
“Young miss, it’s time for bed,” whispered a maid, lowering her head slightly. She glanced outside briefly before reaching to gently close the window.
The room’s scene soon faded from view, leaving only blurred figures moving faintly behind paper screens.
Not long after, the candle was extinguished, plunging the pavilion into darkness.
At this moment, a masked, black-clad figure arrived silently, landing lightly upon a treetop outside the pavilion.
With a subtle flick of his wrist, he threw something small through the window, releasing a thin trail of pale smoke inside.
Moments later, the figure leaped gracefully from the tree. A silent gust from his palm shattered the second-floor window without a sound, and he slipped quickly inside.
[Wait… something’s wrong here!]
Guan Shan Xue, observing from behind, instantly sensed something amiss.
Cang Yin Yue certainly wouldn’t sneak into another lady’s room at night, let alone use knockout smoke.
This person was clearly a flower-picking bandit!
Suddenly, Guan Shan Xue remembered rumors she’d overheard among Six Gates constables. Recently, an immoral thief had been plaguing three wards of Shang Yang City, attacking innocent young maidens.
Not only did this villain ruin the innocence of these girls, but he also cruelly murdered them afterward, using eerie claw techniques to pierce their skulls. His brutality was truly horrifying.
Realizing this, a chilling intent to kill flashed across Guan Shan Xue’s eyes.
Without hesitation, she stepped forward, soaring gracefully like a wild goose, directly into the pavilion after the shadowy intruder.
At the same time, icy Qi quickly gathered in her palm, immediately unleashing her killing move—“Frost Ice Divine Palm.”
Frost Ice Divine Palm was the renowned technique of the Flying Snow Sect, famed across the Martial World. Its power was extraordinary, said to freeze rivers solid at its peak mastery.
Clearly, Guan Shan Xue intended to kill this flower-picking villain outright with one strike.
Boom!
In the darkness of the pavilion, a loud crash erupted. The shockwaves shattered windows and doors nearby.
But the flower-picking villain reacted quickly, immediately sensing danger from Guan Shan Xue’s sudden attack. Turning swiftly, he met her palm with his sinister, ghostly claw.
The two clashed fiercely in the pitch-black room.
In that moment, one half of the pavilion became cloaked in frost, while the other side radiated chilling, sinister energy.
Unfortunately, the villain was stronger. Guan Shan Xue was hurled backward several yards, barely stabilizing herself atop a nearby tree.
“Frost Ice Divine Palm? You must be Guan Shan Xue.”
A cold voice echoed from the darkness. The villain quickly circulated his Qi to remove the lingering chill from his fingers, staring sinisterly toward Guan Shan Xue.
Guan Shan Xue let out a soft groan, blood trickling from the corner of her mouth. She looked down at her palm, noticing tendrils of sinister blue Qi lingering there.
His martial arts clearly surpassed hers. If it hadn’t been for the formidable power of Frost Ice Divine Palm, combined with her surprise attack catching him off guard, she would surely have suffered severe injury from his claw.
“You’re Cang Yu Ning?” Guan Shan Xue narrowed her eyes slightly.
Cang Yu Ning was Marquis Cang Yuan’s third and only surviving son, well-known among the noble families of the Imperial Capital. Due to his mother’s close connections to Consort Ji in the Imperial Palace, Guan Shan Xue had encountered him several times, enabling her to recognize his voice.
Hearing this, Cang Yu Ning’s eyes flashed murderously. His identity was exposed; thus, his only choice was to silence her permanently.
But at that very moment, another shadow quietly landed behind Guan Shan Xue.
With gnarled, claw-like fingers wrapped in sinister Qi, the shadow lightly tapped Guan Shan Xue’s back. Guan Shan Xue instantly rolled her eyes and fell unconscious.
“Good thing the young miss instructed this old servant to secretly keep an eye on you, young master. Otherwise, there could’ve been trouble,” spoke the old crone with a withered face, hoisting Guan Shan Xue effortlessly into her grasp.