Chapter 142

It was dusk when Luo Huali hurried to Muzhou, and it was not yet quite dark yet. However, as he could not wait to find Zixiu, he sneaked into Prince Mu’s Mansion without changing into a black suit.

When he and Lingxiao finally got out of the formation, found their master, Yan Ke, and returned to the Cirrus Valley the other day, they saw nobody in Liu’s house. To their surprise, all the rooms were covered with cobwebs and thick dust, as if no one had lived there for years! If his master hadn’t told him that it was the warning sign his Uncle Liu had deliberately left them, Huali almost thought everything that had happened in the Cirrus Valley after he came here was just an illusion.

It was clear that Uncle Liu and Zixiu had realized the danger. By disguising the house as if no one had lived in it for years, they were trying to tell them not to worry about them and leave right away. But they all turned a blind eye to it. Liu Wuyi and Zixiu were not martial arts practitioners. How come they stand by and let them get into danger?

Following the footprints in the snow, the three of them arrived at a broken cliff at the end of the field behind Liu’s house. However, it was too late. They saw nobody, and there were two hemp ropes tied to a gnarled tree. From the neat fracture surface at the other end of the ropes, they could tell that they were cut by someone with a sharp blade. Seeing the messy footprints on the ground, they thought Liu Wuyi and his son must be in danger. Therefore, they parted to look for them. Following the route that their Uncle Liu had told them to take, Huali and Lingxiao got out of the valley, while Yan Ke climbed off the cliff with his bare hands. When Lingxiao and Huali came to a villager’s house at the foot of the mountain, they saw the open gate and doors, as well as blood-stained snow in the yard! Again, it seemed they had come too late! There was no one in the room!

What had happened? Where were Uncle Liu and Zixiu? Feeling that something had happened to Zixiu and his dad, Lingxiao and Huali grew even more restless. If they had insisted on staying in the Cirrus Valley, Zixiu couldn’t be missing! At the thought of this, they couldn’t help but feel guilty. Fortunately, their experienced master, Yan Ke, did not lose his composure. As he thought it must have something to do with Nangong Du, he immediately decided to go to Prince Mu’s fief to investigate.

The three of them headed for Muzhou even without resting at night. However, as they suddenly heard halfway that Princess Liuxu had been found, Yan Ke once again decided to split the team into two groups. He and Lingxiao returned to Luanzhou, while Huali went on to Muzhou.

Huali quickly searched all the rooms in Prince Mu’s Mansion in Muzhou, but he did not find Zixiu until the moon had come out. Feeling anxious, he threw all caution to the wind. Jumping down from the roof, he stopped a passing male servant with a lantern. “Where’s Prince Mu?”

The servant was struck dumb when he suddenly felt a pair of cold hands grab him by the neck. With his legs shivering, he even forgot to shout for help out of fear!

Huali’s patience began to grow thin. He had once taken extreme measures, like killing a guard more than half a year ago, and then replaced him by changing his own appearance before he sneaked into Prince Mu’s Mansion and stayed there for days. As far as he was concerned, those guards in Prince Mu’s mansion were all bullies who threw their weight about, so killing them could be considered as punishing them for the common people by god’s will.

“Tell me right now!” He gave the servant one last chance.

The male servant calmed down a little when he finally saw clearly that the one in front of him was a man, not a ghost. As a servant with the lowest status in Prince Mu’s Mansion, he did not even know what his personal guard looked like since Nangong Du had been made Prince Mu, so he had no reason to sacrifice his own life for his master, who was said to be brutal and had many enemies. “Prince Mu went to the capital city!” he replied honestly.

“The capital city?!” Huali’s eyes suddenly shone brightly. If Nangong Du had once come back, Zixiu might be safe now! He was sure that the person who had lit up a paper roll in the jungle that night was Nangong Du, and he must have returned to the Cirrus Valley.

“Where’s Prince Mu’s bedroom?” He thought he might find some clues in Nangong Du’s bedroom.

“Huh?!” The servant screamed in fear when he realized that the assassin showed no intent to let him go. Ever since he was poisoned in Luanzhou, Prince Mu had always slept in different places at night. As where he slept every night was a secret, there was no way that a low-rank servant like him could know about it. However, at this moment, he had to think about how to survive first. Though he was in tension, in the hope of muddling through, he told Huali about a place Prince Mu used to visit that he overheard those high-rank servants mention. “The Orchid…Orchid Pavilion!”

Huali could tell that the servant’s status was low and he could not get more valuable information from him. However, when he heard that the Orchid Pavilion was located in the south of the mansion, where there was no security guard, he couldn’t help but feel suspicious, so he decided to go there to have a look. He had arrived at the Orchid Pavilion a moment ago, but there was not a guard or even a trace of light around it, except for a dark wooded area, so he did not get into it!

As soon as they entered the dense woods, he stuck the acupoint of the servant, who had been forced to lead the way, and walked towards the Orchid Pavilion alone with the lantern in his hand.

The Orchid Pavilion was deep in the dense woods with an independent small courtyard. In the dark, it looked eerie and gloomy. Moreover, the structure of the houses in this courtyard was completely different from those in Prince Mu’s Mansion and even most of the buildings in the Nan Kingdom. Though the houses seemed strange to Huali, for no reason, he felt they were well-coordinated and even pleasing to the eye!

Of course, he did not have time to enjoy the scenery. As the gate was not locked, he pushed it open and walked into the courtyard. Next, holding his breath, he slowly approached the window of a room.

After taking only a few steps, he suddenly heard a faint rustling sound coming from the room. The next second, he stopped, as he seemed to have smelled the unique fragrance of the Valley of Fallen Blossoms.

Zixiu was indeed here!

He was so excited that without investigating his surroundings, he leaped into the room through the window at once!

“Swoosh!” A tiny weapon flew to him.

Fortunately, Huali reacted quickly. He sidestepped the tiny weapon, which then hit the wall behind him, but instead of going into the wall, it fell to the floor.

“Gosh!” Zixiu was shuddering under the table. Of course, it wasn’t him who had thrown out the tiny weapon. He was in tension because Yueying told him that someone had hired some killers to assassinate him!

“Zixiu!” As the fragrance was getting stronger, Huali was certain that Zixiu was in the room. Besides, he was certain that the internal force of the one who had attacked him was very weak.

Zixiu froze for quite a while. He held his breath and did not dare to make a sound. Did he mishear it? This voice sounded so familiar! Was his senior brother coming?

“Zixiu, where are you?” Huali looked around, lifting the lantern in his hand. Now Zixiu could assert that he had not misheard just now!

Yueying, who was hiding in the darkness, closed her eyes and breathed a sigh of relief after he had seen clearly the face of the intruder.

“Senior Brother!” Zixiu crawled out from under the table, shouting excitedly, “Senior Brother, I’m here! I’m here!”

Zixiu did not think that much. He had had a narrow escape with Nangong Du, and now he was completely free from danger! He threw himself at the source of light and hugged Luo Huali. “Senior Brother! I’m so glad to see you again! It was so terrifying! I was so scared that I broke out in cold sweat… ”

“Zixiu, what happened? Are you all right?” Huali gently pushed Zixiu half a meter away from him and sized him up in the light of the lantern.

“I… I’m fine!” Zixiu was so excited that he couldn’t help but try to hug Huali again. He had been fighting alone for so long, and suffered a lot because of Nangong Du! Therefore, to him, the arrival of his senior brother was like what the Bible called the coming of the Gospel. A suffering civilian finally got reinforcements! “Senior brother! Senior Brother, I’ve been waiting for you for so long!”

“Zixiu…” Infected by his enthusiasm, Luo Huali could not restrain his rolling emotion anymore. He hugged Zixiu tightly as well. “Zixiu, I was worried sick too. I thought I would never…”

“Ah!” Before Huali could finish his words, Zixiu suddenly remembered why he was still here. “Senior Brother, someone got poisoned and he needs your help badly!”