SEHE Chapter 121

Charging Through the Slaughter

“Tangxi!” Pei Yanci rushed to the window, his gaze urgently searching through the chaotic, screaming crowd below, unable to find him anywhere.

“Big Brother, we should hide first.” Wuli went over and pressed his head down, quickly closing the window with sharp reflexes.

“Let go!”

Wuli was about to say more when he caught sight of the cold, murderous intent in Pei Yanci’s eyes.

His limbs went numb, and he immediately froze in place.

That’s right—if it weren’t for bringing him and Wushu inside to hide, if it weren’t for him being too fat and getting stuck in the window, wasting so much time, Tangxi Zhui would have jumped in long ago and closed the window. Whatever those bandits did on the streets—burning, killing, and plundering—would have been none of his concern.

“His martial arts are very good, and he’s so capable, nothing will happen…” Wuli mumbled, his fingers anxiously fidgeting together.

“Just because his martial arts are good, nothing can happen to him? Just because he’s capable, you can take it for granted that he should save you?” Pei Yanci said coldly. “I don’t care how lazy and gluttonous you are normally, but if you cause Tangxi to be harmed, I’ll kill you to accompany him in death.”

Wuli’s entire body stiffened, as if he’d fallen into an ice cellar.

“You’re shouting about killing me over some neither-male-nor-female eunuch? I’m your brother!” Wuli broke down, yelling, “How can you favor outsiders over your own family!”

“Big Brother, can you and Brother Wuli please stop fighting? There are still bandits outside, I’m so scared.” Wushu began sobbing.

“Who’s your brother? Never was.” Pei Yanci said calmly, standing up with a cold, sharp expression, about to walk outside.

Wushu hurriedly grabbed him, tears finally breaking free. “Big Brother, where are you going? Don’t leave me behind.”

Wuli also reached out to block his path, the flesh on his face trembling violently. “Make this clear—you never considered me a brother? If not, then why did we not get along at first, but you still righteously pulled me out of the river…”

“I never planned to save you at all,” Pei Yanci pushed him aside, his eyes as gentle as always, without any ripples. “If it weren’t for seeing that your fat body had some use—untying the stone from your feet would let you float, and when my strength gave out in that vast river I could lean on you—do you think I wanted to save you?”

Wuli’s lips trembled, tears welling in his eyes.

Having followed him for so long, how could he not know that everything Pei Yanci said was true?

“So it was all my wishful thinking. Acknowledging you as big brother, circling around you, and you always had that lukewarm expression. My feeling wasn’t wrong—you looked down on me.”

“Yes.” Pei Yanci said. “So, can you please stop bothering me?”

He shook off Wushu’s hand, shouldered past Wuli’s body, and ran outside.

Behind him came Wushu’s flustered, helpless crying, and Wuli’s furious roar.

“Why cry? Don’t forget, we came here because we listened to him, and now he’s going to find that pretty-boy lover. We’re the ones who’ve been truly ruined by him!”

Pei Yanci’s footsteps paused, then he ran downstairs at an even faster pace.

The innkeeper had long since hidden somewhere. The helpers and staff curled up in corners as the thick wooden boards transmitted heart-stopping impacts and creaking sounds. Many people, both men and women, had begun crying.

“Are the bandits around here all this fierce?” someone asked with a trembling voice—judging by the accent, also an outsider.

“Very vicious,” the inn’s staff member said.

But Pei Yanci felt they weren’t ordinary bandits.

When he’d taken that last glance at Tangxi Zhui from the window, he’d noticed that most of the bandits outside rode sleek, strong, tall horses—at least a hundred of them. Just buying and raising horses would be a substantial expense.

A small town that wasn’t particularly prosperous, frequently raided by bandits—anyone who could leave would have left long ago. How could it support such formidable bandits?

Several more torches were thrown inside, seemingly trying to burn the building and force the people out. Pei Yanci ducked to avoid the torches and picked up a few flying arrows.

The arrowheads were brand new, the shafts smooth and round, the iron tips sharp. Limited by the darkness, he felt them over carefully but found no markings.

Not official arrows from Great Yu.

Not coming for them?

Just as Pei Yanci was thinking, the bandits outside let out a series of screams, falling into chaos.

Was it Tangxi Zhui?

He poked half his head out from the wall and indeed saw all the surrounding bandits’ attention drawn in one direction. Using his hands for leverage on the courtyard wall, he nimbly flipped over and jumped outside the inn. He covered a bandit’s mouth from behind and thrust an arrow into his heart.

He picked up the knife that had fallen from the dead man—it had some weight, wasn’t crudely made, and was still new.

The sound of the knife hitting the ground drew the attention of several people nearby. Pei Yanci spun around and slashed at the person beside him, kicked with his foot, and stabbed another person in the heart.

Blood splattered onto his cheek, neck, and clothes. His expression was surprisingly calm.

This was his first time using the techniques Tangxi Zhui had taught him to kill. It felt pretty good.

Pei Yanci gripped the knife tightly and lunged at a horse’s legs. As the horse fell, his hand like an eagle’s talon, he leaped up and pulled down the rider, slitting his throat with one stroke.

“This one also came from the inn! Catch him, dead or alive!”

More bandits came slashing at him. Two fists couldn’t defeat four hands. Pei Yanci blocked the seven or eight blades before him, then felt pain in his back—he’d been struck by a knife.

Fortunately, he dodged in time and wasn’t critically injured. He turned around, grabbed the horse’s tail and jumped onto the rider’s back, using him to block the incoming arrows. With a flick of the reins, the horse, in pain, broke into a gallop, trampling many foot soldiers and charging far away.

Pei Yanci sat on the horse, repeatedly charging through dozens of mounted bandits back and forth for half a street, blood flowing steadily from his blade.

Under the full moon, his indigo robe billowed fiercely. His posture was upright, sitting on a white horse stained red with blood, his crescent-moon eyes filled with scorn and mockery, brimming with cold, murderous intent.

The bandits couldn’t help but retreat two steps.

Pei Yanci seemed to see a familiar face.

“Kill him!”

Before he could look carefully, a group of bandits yanked their reins and charged at him again.

Pei Yanci gripped the knife handle. He’d never been strong in martial prowess—with today’s situation, he needed to escape quickly.

Before he could think further, he rode past corpses, leaning forward to dodge a blade from behind, spinning his hand to slash a bandit to the side clean off his horse.

Suddenly, his horse let out a cry and crashed to the ground. Countless blades and swords seized this moment and swung at him.

Pei Yanci jumped off the horse in advance, rolling neatly on the ground. Forcing himself to take blows to his waist and arm, he kicked a mounted bandit off his horse, seized his mount, and killed another dozen or so people.

Finally, he saw Tangxi Zhui.

Tangxi Zhui’s lake-blue bamboo-patterned thick silk robe was already stained with blood of varying shades—impossible to tell whose. Especially his two sleeves, thickly coated with blood plasma, blood dripping from the black fan ribs in his hand down to the ground.

He stood against a wall, his waist-length black hair hanging loose, floating in the night wind. The hair at his forehead was matted with blood and sweat, covering half his face. Black strands swept across his purple-tinged pupils, deep and coldly silent.

Whenever a bandit approached, he immediately raised his hand. No one could see how he moved—it seemed like just a fan flourish, and in that bewitching black motion, people immediately died before him.

Then he lowered his hand again, motionless.

The surrounding bandits all showed fear on their faces. They stayed one or two zhang away, never daring to approach, yet not daring to leave.

Suddenly, they heard a long neigh. Many became ghosts under horse hooves as a horse charged through the flashing blades and shadows. The rider leaned down and extended a hand toward him.

“Get on!”

Tangxi Zhui smiled contentedly and reached out, but grasped at air.

Pei Yanci didn’t notice and proactively grabbed him, pulling him onto the horse.

They galloped away in a cloud of dust.

“Can’t let them escape! If they hide in the mountain forest, it’ll be like finding a needle in a haystack.”

“Chase them!”

“I told you to stop focusing on that woman and kill her. That one’s the person they want.”

“Boss, what do we do? They’ve left the town!”

“What do we do? Chase them! They’re all seriously wounded, they definitely can’t get far.”

****

Pei Yanci left the small town with his companion, spurring the horse another two li. The bandits behind pursued relentlessly. Fortunately, most didn’t seem particularly skilled at horsemanship, straggling behind in a disorderly fashion. However, his horse was also exhausted and he couldn’t shake them off.

The horse’s hooves caught on a stone. Pei Yanci groaned and fell uncontrollably toward the ground.

The person behind him was the first to protect him in his arms, bearing the full impact of the fall onto the sharp, weed-covered rocks.

“Tangxi?” Pei Yanci frantically helped him up.

“Won’t die.” Tangxi Zhui’s voice had shed its usual emotion, somewhat cold, somewhat weary.

Before he could examine him closely, the bandits behind had already caught up. Pei Yanci looked around and, holding the person, rolled down the slope.

The bandits quickly caught up and, seeing the mottled bloodstains around the wailing horse and the trampled weeds, said excitedly, “They’re nearby! Find them! Find them tonight and we’ll all live the good life tomorrow!”

Amid the cheering, Pei Yanci held his breath, not missing a single sound from outside for a moment.

After about an hour, those people finally gave up and gradually left.

All was quiet.

Only then did Pei Yanci relax. The severe pain throughout his body instantly flooded his mind, diluting his belated exhaustion.

So tired and in so much pain.

Who in his entire life had ever caused him such serious injuries!

Pei Yanci pouted, secretly frustrated. His shoulder felt heavy—only then did he realize that Tangxi Zhui’s head had drooped down.

“Tangxi, Tangxi?” He pushed at the person.

After quite a while, Tangxi Zhui finally came to his senses and lightly hummed in acknowledgment.

“Don’t sleep.” Only then did Pei Yanci realize his body was terrifyingly cold, his consciousness already unclear.

He carefully laid the person flat and tore open the blood-soaked clothing, finding he was seriously injured. His arms had several holes—all from those iron claws from before.

“Poisoned.” Tangxi Zhui said weakly, shaking his head and sighing. “Can’t believe I was calculated against.”

“Then what do we do? What kind of poison?”

Pei Yanci squeezed out the black blood from his wounds, clumsily wrapping them with cloth strips. Suddenly he remembered, “I brought some medicine with me this time.”

His trembling fingers pulled everything from his torn sleeves and stuffed over a dozen medicine pills into his mouth.

“It’ll be fine, it’ll be fine…”

In the midst of his frantic movements, his trembling hand was grasped by an even colder hand.

Tangxi Zhui struggled to swallow the mouthful of pills. “Stop stuffing them in. If you keep going, I won’t die from injuries—I’ll choke to death on your pile of medicine.”

“No good deed goes unpunished.” Pei Yanci glared at him with teary eyes.

Tangxi Zhui brought his cool fingertips to his lips and kissed them. His eyes brightened, like a child rewarded with candy. “I knew it—you’re not a heartless person.”

Then he revealed a reassuring shallow smile. “Don’t worry, I won’t die. I’ve suffered injuries ten times worse than this. This just looks scary—a little poison can’t do anything to me.”

“You do seem to be in better spirits.” Pei Yanci’s anxious heart finally began to calm down.

But perhaps his spirits had improved a bit too much.

At first he didn’t notice, but gradually Tangxi Zhui’s eyes began to redden, his brows furrowed, his complexion somewhat strange. He asked, “What medicine did you give me?”

“Just some antidotes and… um…” Pei Yanci’s voice grew quieter and quieter.

Under his gaze, the robe between Tangxi Zhui’s legs rose in an arc.

Pei Yanci silently looked at Tangxi Zhui.

Tangxi Zhui looked bewilderedly at Pei Yanci.

“It seems… there’s been a tiny little accident?”