The Ninth Young Master looked toward the people on the yacht with a smile. “I am the Ninth Prince of the current dynasty. I happened to be traveling through this area and heard that two Commandery Princesses had arrived, so I came to pay them a visit. I also hoped to ask the Commandery Princess about a few matters concerning the capital.”
He wore a gentle smile and held a folding fan in his hand, looking every bit the dashing, carefree nobleman.
Nanxing glanced at him and decisively shook her head. “Everyone knows that the Commandery Princess is at the Governor’s Residence. Since you heard she had arrived, didn’t you also hear what happened outside the Governor’s Residence? The authenticity of your identity as the Ninth Prince has yet to be confirmed. None of us have met the Ninth Prince before, so we have no way of verifying it. If you wish to see the Commandery Princess, go to the Governor’s Residence. The Commandery Princess said that no strangers are allowed aboard this vessel.”
Nanxing had actually recognized the Ninth Prince, but she pretended not to. She had no intention of acknowledging his identity as a prince.
The smile on the Ninth Prince’s face stiffened. He had not expected Xi Qingyue’s guard to question his identity. Shouldn’t they have respectfully invited him aboard the moment he announced that he was a prince?
The burly man behind him flew into a rage and was about to step forward, but the Ninth Prince raised a hand to stop him. He then put on that fake smile again. “Du Cheng, stand down.”
Only after hearing his order did Du Cheng retreat, though he continued to glare at Nanxing and the others with hostility.
The Ninth Prince removed the jade pendant symbolizing his identity from his waist and held it up. “This is my imperial jade pendant. If you don’t believe me, take a look. As guards of the Commandery Princess, you should recognize it, shouldn’t you?”
With that, he tossed the jade pendant toward Nanxing, having already seen that she was the leader among them.
He was intensely covetous of the concealed weapons in Nanxing and the others’ hands. He was afraid that forcing his way aboard might lead to an accident. If he could get onto the vessel and attack them at close range, he was confident he could seize the weapons. Once he killed them, the weapons would be his.
If he took them away and had people study them carefully, then manufactured them in large quantities, he would become invincible. Why would he still need to rely on Prince Kang? By then, he could even claim the throne himself.
With the jade pendant proving his identity, he refused to believe that they would still deny a prince access to the boat.
At the thought of this, his spirits soared. He had already begun planning his glorious future.
Just as he thought his plan was about to succeed, Nanxing accidentally dropped the jade pendant into the water.
“Oh dear, I’m terribly sorry. I hadn’t even gotten a good look at it before I dropped it. Why didn’t you warn me before tossing it over? I caught it too quickly and couldn’t hold on to it.” Nanxing looked at him apologetically, her eyes full of innocence.
The Ninth Prince nearly coughed up blood from anger. He cursed inwardly, “They’re all martial artists. What are they pretending for? How could she possibly fail to catch a piece of jade? If her skills were truly that poor, would I have bothered negotiating with them?”
This time, he did not stop Du Cheng. Furious, Du Cheng lightly touched the tips of his toes against the ground and shot toward the yacht.
Nanxing showed no mercy. She raised the Gatling gun and opened fire.
Du Cheng twisted in midair, attempting to evade the bullets, but Nanxing and the others fired at the same time. No matter how good his qinggong was, he could not withstand such a dense barrage of bullets.
With a splash, he fell into the water, which was instantly dyed red.
Nanxing spoke coldly. “The Commandery Princess said that no one is allowed aboard. Anyone who trespasses will die!”
The Ninth Prince’s expression darkened instantly. His guard had actually been killed right before his eyes. It was utterly infuriating.
He knew Du Cheng’s qinggong better than anyone. Even if Du Cheng was not as skilled as he was, the difference was not great. How had he died so easily?
His hand moved to his waist as he considered drawing his flexible sword and flying over to kill them. He could not swallow this insult. However, acting rashly would be too risky. Compared with his life, his pride was not worth much.
After only a moment’s consideration, the Ninth Prince made his decision. He turned around and flew away, unwilling to remain there for even another moment.
When Nanxing saw him leave, she did not fire. Killing a prince in broad daylight, under the eyes of so many people, would be far too brazen. If he had insisted on forcing his way aboard, they could have fired without hesitation. But now that the Ninth Prince was fleeing, killing him would be difficult to justify.
After all, there were still many people at the pier watching their yacht.
She could only shake her head regretfully. “What a pity. If only he’d had a little more courage.”
“Nanxing, do you think the Commandery Princess would have let him get away if she’d been here?” Xia Han asked curiously.
Nanxing smiled and shook her head. “I wouldn’t know. The Commandery Princess’s personality is rather difficult to predict.”
At that moment, Xi Qingyue had already arrived in Kuncheng. Without wasting any time, they headed straight for the Guangling Pavilion’s outpost in Kuncheng. It was located in an inconspicuous teahouse.
The moment Xi Qingyue and the others arrived, they attacked. Naturally, the people from Guangling Pavilion were not willing to surrender without a fight. They took out concealed weapons and prepared to hurl them indiscriminately, but with a wave of Xi Qingyue’s hand, every weapon fell to the ground.
Only then did the townspeople realize that the teahouse was not an ordinary one. Terrified, they scattered in all directions.
“Who exactly are you? Why have you come to kill us for no reason?” The teahouse keeper lay on the ground, barely clinging to life. His eyes were filled with anger, but even more so with unwillingness and confusion.
Xi Qingyue sneered. “There aren’t many people I would make a special trip to kill. If I hadn’t been afraid that you would get word and escape, making you impossible to find, I truly couldn’t have been bothered to come here. Don’t people from Guangling Pavilion deserve to die? You capture children everywhere and send them to the Governor of Xinzhou, who then passes them on to Prince Kang for alchemy. You even sent people to Liucheng to kill me. I’m merely here to wipe out my enemies.”
As soon as she finished speaking, she made a slight movement with her finger. The teahouse keeper’s eyes bulged open, and he died without closing them.
Afterward, Xi Qingyue went to Sucheng, Jiangcheng, and Haiyue City. The people from Guangling Pavilion in each of those places were slaughtered to the last.
By the time news reached Xinzhou City, Guangling Pavilion no longer existed. They had not even been given a chance to escape.
She did not go to Xin’an City. That was Lu Qianning’s fief and also the place she intended to visit. She planned to leave it for last.
The people of Xinzhou City still did not know that Xi Qingyue had already left the Governor’s Residence. Every day, people came to the residence carrying all sorts of food and drink. They thanked Xi Qingyue for helping them avenge their loved ones and for ridding Xinzhou City of a great scourge.
Of course, several aristocratic clans were secretly discussing how to kill Xi Qingyue. Their children had been killed amid the chaos.
The major clans blamed everything on Xi Qingyue. If not for what she had done in Xinzhou, their children would never have died.
Inside the Governor’s Residence, Nan Yun knew all about the clans’ schemes. She was not worried in the slightest.
Standing in the courtyard, she murmured to herself, “The Commandery Princess should be back soon, shouldn’t she? She’s been gone for two days already.”
Nan Yun had ridden Xi Qingyue’s speedboat before. It was much smaller than the yacht but considerably more nimble, and its speed was astonishing. Killing a few people would not take Xi Qingyue long. She had probably gone to buy food along the way again.
Meanwhile, the major clans had gathered at the Gao residence to discuss their plans.
Their purpose this time was simple: they intended to go to the Governor’s Residence that night and wipe out Xi Qingyue and the others in one fell swoop.
Patriarch Gao said with a face full of hatred, “Damn that girl. If it weren’t for her, everything in Xinzhou City would have been perfectly fine. Tonight, we’ll make sure she pays.”
