Yu Qingyu saw his younger sister suddenly stand still, head tilted up as if looking at the lanterns, but her eyes were darting around. She wasn't really looking at the lanterns; she was observing their surroundings.
Hearing her whispered "Stay calm," his heart skipped a beat. His previously relaxed mind instantly tensed, and he began discreetly scanning the area.
With his experience, he hadn't detected anything unusual, but the three brothers still silently directed the guards to form a protective circle around the sisters.
They were completely surrounded by crowds at that moment, which was indeed very dangerous.
"Fuguang, how about we go rest at the tavern up ahead?" Yu Qingyu asked his sister, his eyes still fixed on the passersby around them.
"Good, good, I really am a bit tired," Yu Ningxuan chimed in before Yue Fuguang could say much more, nodding in agreement.
She even hooked her arm through Yue Fuguang's, pulling her close to shield her.
Yu Boming wanted to say he wasn't tired, but a sharp glance from his sister stopped him.
Her intuition had always been sharp since childhood. Right now, she felt extremely uneasy, her hair standing on end, instinctively sensing danger approaching.
The other members of the Yu family, especially the young ladies, were on such a long outing for the first time and were genuinely tired, so they all nodded, wanting to go to the tavern for a late-night snack.
Before the Yu family could move towards a less crowded area, the sound of sheng and xiao flutes suddenly rose. From a distance, they saw a dragon dance troupe parting the sea of people, heading straight in their direction.
Golden scales churned in the ocean of light, and wherever the dragon pearl passed, cheers surged like waves.
Thousands of lanterns connected into a Milky Way in the night sky, even turning the icicles on the eaves into a crystal curtain.
Amidst this brilliant sea of lights, the faces of the revelers on the street were all adorned with smiles. Yet, within these smiles, a flash of blade light passed by, causing some to instinctively close their eyes, dazzled.
Yue Fuguang only heard the sound of something cutting through the air behind her. Alarm bells screamed in her mind—was this attack aimed at me?
'Little Pearl!'
[Master, I'm here!] The system, distressed, hastily raised a protective shield, enveloping all the siblings inside.
Immediately after, Yue Fuguang heard the clashing sounds of weapons coming from behind them.
A fight had broken out!
With guards holding the line around them, Yu Qingyu and the others protected their sisters as they moved towards the shops ahead. Many others had the same idea, and the area instantly became congested.
The assassins were dumbfounded. The person they wanted to kill was behind layers of human walls. She couldn't get out or run, and they couldn't get in or catch her!
The more ruthless ones thought about cutting their way through, but... there were simply too many people. They couldn't kill them all, absolutely impossible!
"Hua Jiu, take those with good qinggong and fly in!" the leader in black commanded.
Their earlier arrows had all been blocked. If they didn't send reinforcements inside soon, the few who had infiltrated the innermost area would quickly be captured.
[Master, the paper-cutting artist's scissors are coated with a deadly poison.]
'You can't neutralize it?'
[A mere mortal's poison? Wouldn't even require half a detox pill.]
[That dough figurine seller is quite skilled with hidden weapons, a pity he's about to die. It's good Master didn't buy wontons from that stall, otherwise he would have surely put the poison in the broth.]
'I'm not stupid. Once I saw they were suspicious, why would I buy their food to eat!'
Yu Qingyu really wanted to ask his sister how she had spotted these people as suspicious. He hadn't detected at all that these street performers were actually assassins.
Yu Ningxuan felt the same. They had even wanted to buy dough figurines to play with earlier!
Yue Fuguang: Having watched too many modern detective novels and videos, I can't claim to be Sherlock Holmes, but I tend to be more observant and sensitive to details than others.
Putting other things aside, the weakest point of these people was their disguise. The dough figurine maker was clearly a young man but insisted on disguising himself as an old man—at least he should have taken care of his neck and hands!
Opposite to the dough figurine maker, the paper-cutting artist was clearly a woman in her thirties but insisted on making herself look eighteen. She should have at least toned down that 'killing intent' born from having seen countless people!
[Master, why are these people trying to assassinate you? Did you offend someone?]
Yue Fuguang: Wouldn't you know better if I've offended anyone? In the past few months, the two of them have sent nearly a thousand people to prison.
In the Danyan court recently, every few days a high official disappears and a new one replaces them. Where did those people go? They've all gathered in prison.
As for those who have reported to the King of Hell, inside and outside the court, there are at least a hundred people combined.
But these were all done covertly. As for overt offenses, she counted on her fingers—over the last two or three months, she had indeed offended quite a few!
She, a lazy person, really wasn't the type to pick fights! The mission made the first move!
She made a bold guess and cautiously sought confirmation. 'Are these people from the Night-Blooming Cereus?'
[The personnel composition is a bit complex. The old man and the paper-cutter are one group, the wonton seller and the customer are another, and those few onlookers are yet another.
If your grandfather hadn't assigned the Yu family's top martial artists to accompany you, someone might have truly gotten hurt.]
Yue Fuguang: !!!
So many people wanted her life?
This was the first time she realized she was so hated. Looking at those people, desperate to charge over yet blocked layer by layer, she suddenly understood the satisfaction in that saying: "I just love the look on your face when you can't stand me but can't do anything about it."
She looked around. Indeed, the Yu family guards currently had the upper hand. 'Give these guys extra chicken legs when we get home!'
[Careful, someone's about to fly in!]
'These bobbing heads are going to become their stepping stones! No good, there are too many people here, easy to cause collateral damage.'
"Big brother, let's move back, draw these people away!"
Yu Qingyu saw her point immediately and ordered the protective circle to retreat, moving away from the crowd, while simultaneously firing a distress signal.
"Big brother, you had this thing? Why only use it now?" Yu Ningxuan asked curiously.
"I wanted to buy more time, afraid they'd run if they saw us calling for reinforcements."
Since the assassins were targeting Fuguang, they needed to capture as many alive as possible. Otherwise, if they all escaped, they wouldn't even know who was behind the attack. How could they retaliate?
Over the past few months, subtly taught by the Yu family men, Yu Qingyu and his brothers were clearly racing down the path of being wolves in sheep's clothing.
[Master, do you have any guesses about the masterminds behind these groups of assassins?]
'Among those I've offended who have the capability to do this, Prince Qi and his faction count as one, the foreign tribal high priests and shamans count as one, and if we're stretching it, the Sima family counts as one.
I suspect they found out about me warning the Bao family that assassins would try to kidnap the bride.
The incident with the Ling family today was too sudden. Even if we offended that 'Virtueless Brother,' their retaliation wouldn't come this fast or this urgently.'
While Yue Fuguang was still making various guesses, the situation outside had changed dramatically. Wei Ping and Cai Xian each led a team of men running over from two different directions.
Seeing them sweating profusely in the cold weather showed how urgently they had rushed.
Wei Ping, Cai Xian: How could we not be urgent? Hearing that the Junior Preceptor was assassinated at the lantern festival nearly scared our souls out of our bodies!
Who had such audacity? This was going to cause an earth-shattering uproar!
If the Junior Preceptor got even a scratch, being stripped of our official robes would be the least of our worries.
