Nan Yun never expected that, as soon as she arrived at the inn, she would discover that her Commandery Princess had been carried away by someone. She was rather surprised.
Not knowing what Xi Qingyue had in mind, Nan Yun did not act rashly. Instead, she followed behind Xi Qingyue and the others toward the Shifang Teahouse.
The waiter remained inside the teahouse, still greeting every customer with a smile. Meanwhile, the two burly men split up, each taking several people in a carriage toward a different direction.
After a quarter of an hour, Xi Qingyue and her sister were brought to the back entrance of the Shifang Teahouse.
The moment Xi Qingyue was carried off the carriage, she struck. Holding Xi Weilan in her arms, she flung off the quilt covering them and landed steadily on the ground.
She shouted in one direction, “Nan Yun, go to the front entrance of the teahouse. Don’t let a single person from the Shifang Teahouse escape.”
Hearing the fury in her voice, Nan Yun knew that she was truly enraged. She immediately flew toward the main entrance.
The burly men were stunned by what they saw. One of them pointed at Xi Qingyue, his face full of disbelief. “You weren’t affected by the knockout drug? How is that possible?”
Xi Qingyue sneered. “With that pathetic drug of yours, you actually thought you could knock me out? You must be dreaming.”
As soon as she finished speaking, a pistol appeared in her hand. She aimed it at one of the men beside her. At the same time, Xi Weilan, whom she was holding, slowly woke up.
Xi Weilan rubbed her eyes, looking confused. “Elder Sister, where are we? Weren’t we sleeping?”
Xi Qingyue set her down and smiled. “That inn was a black-market establishment. They wanted to drug us unconscious and send us to the Guangling Pavilion.”
She did not mention the Shifang Teahouse. Xi Weilan probably did not know what it was, but she would understand immediately if Guangling Pavilion was mentioned.
The next moment, Xi Weilan drew the pistol from her waist and aimed it at another one of the men.
After their initial shock, the burly men became furious. They did not believe that two young girls could cause them any trouble.
The bearded leader snorted coldly. “So what if the two little brats weren’t drugged? Take them inside.”
Xi Qingyue glanced toward the teahouse’s front entrance. Judging from how long it would take Nan Yun to clear out the customers, she figured the time was about right.
The next instant, a gunshot rang out.
A bloody hole appeared between the bearded man’s brows, and his entire body fell backward. His eyes were still filled with disbelief.
Before the others could even make a move, a single bullet blew each of their heads apart. The gunshots echoed far into the distance.
Xi Qingyue had deliberately used a pistol without a silencer. She was sending a message to Mu Jin’s side, telling them that they no longer needed to hold back and could act without restraint.
She glanced at the corpses on the ground and walked toward the back entrance of the Shifang Teahouse. “Lan'er, let’s go. We’ll block the back entrance while Nan Yun blocks the front. The Guangling Pavilion deserves to be wiped out.”
Since she was destined to be unable to keep a low profile, she might as well be as high-profile as possible. At worst, she would frighten some people into hiding their true intentions in front of her. But sooner or later, they would reveal their flaws.
At the front entrance of the Shifang Teahouse, Nan Yun had just led several people inside with their pistols drawn.
Seeing that the teahouse was nearly full, she frowned slightly. There were too many people. If she did not drive some of them away, there would inevitably be casualties. Most of them appeared to be ordinary civilians, and they could not simply kill them indiscriminately.
She smiled at the customers inside the teahouse. “Everyone, we’ll be taking over this teahouse today. Your tea is on us, so please do us the favor of leaving.”
Her words immediately caused a commotion inside the teahouse, but most of the customers left without hesitation.
For some people, saving the cost of a single pot of tea was quite worthwhile. They had nothing to lose.
However, a few young masters and ladies remained. They were all from wealthy families and did not care about the price of a little tea.
A young man in blue let out a disdainful snort. “Do you think we care about the price of tea? Who do you think you are? We don’t need you to treat us.”
Nan Yun repeated, “Everyone, we have some matters to deal with. You may stay if you wish, but you’ll be responsible for the consequences.”
The shopkeeper frowned unhappily when he heard this, but he did not think much of it. He assumed that Nan Yun and the others had come to cause trouble, and there were plenty of people in the teahouse’s rear courtyard. They had nothing to fear.
“Miss, if you want to drink tea, we still have private rooms upstairs. There’s no need to drive everyone out, is there?”
As soon as he finished speaking, a strange noise suddenly came from the direction of the back entrance. The shopkeeper sensed that something was wrong and quickly took a hidden weapon into his hand, preparing for any eventuality.
Hearing the gunshot, Nan Yun glanced at him and suddenly smiled. Then she raised her pistol and shot the shopkeeper.
Caught completely off guard, the shopkeeper fell backward with his eyes wide open, not even knowing how he had died. The hidden weapon in his hand fell to the floor along with him.
The customers who had not yet left immediately screamed in terror. Some of them hurried toward the door.
The young masters and ladies also ran for their lives, clutching their heads as they fled. They regretted not leaving sooner. In their rush to reach the entrance, someone stumbled, and the entire group toppled over one another in a heap.
The teahouse workers grabbed their hidden weapons the moment the shopkeeper fell, preparing to launch a sneak attack. But Nan Yun and the others had been prepared for this. Hidden weapons could never match the speed of their pistols, and in terms of martial skill, they were even stronger than the people from the Guangling Pavilion.
Before long, many corpses were sprawled across the teahouse floor. Two of the workers had been knocked unconscious and tied up.
The people who had fallen into a heap at the entrance were too terrified to move. They were afraid that one careless motion might get them accidentally killed.
In the rear courtyard of the teahouse, Xi Qingyue and Xi Weilan stood in the middle of the yard. Not far from their feet lay a field of corpses—more than twenty people in all. Every one of them belonged to the Guangling Pavilion. Only three had survived, though Xi Qingyue had broken their hands and feet, leaving them lying on the ground barely alive.
“Who exactly are you? Why are you killing us?” one of the men in blue demanded furiously.
The Guangling Pavilion had always kept a low profile, and very few people knew about its existence. Most people in the martial world did not even know the details of the organization. How, then, had they managed to hire assassins?
Xi Qingyue gave a mocking smile. “The Guangling Pavilion has tried to kill me repeatedly. Is there anything wrong with me killing you in return? I even killed the Inspector of Xinzhou. Why do you think I’m killing you? You’d better behave. Otherwise, I’ll make you wish you were dead.”
As she spoke, she moved her finger slightly, and the three men immediately lost consciousness.
At that moment, Nan Yun brought two people over from the front. They happened to be carrying the three unconscious men to the front of the teahouse, while Xi Qingyue led Xi Weilan there as well.
After the slaughter, only five people from among the shopkeeper and workers of the entire Shifang Teahouse remained alive. The commotion inside the teahouse had also alarmed the people in the street.
Many nearby residents fled in terror, while the soldiers patrolling the streets quickly learned that something had happened and hurried over.
By the time Xi Qingyue and Xi Weilan came from the rear courtyard to the front of the teahouse, the people who had fallen at the entrance had already scattered. However, several of them had been knocked unconscious when others fell on top of them, and they were still lying motionless on the ground.
Xi Qingyue swept her gaze over them before looking away. She frowned as she examined the only five surviving captives.
There were too many of them left alive.
At that moment, Xi Qingyue felt that it would have been better if more of her guards had stayed by her side. If Lu Jinshuang and the guards assigned to her and her sister had all been there, handling matters would have been much more convenient.
She walked over to a table and sat down, then turned to Nan Yun. “Nan Yun, Lan’er and I will wait here. You go with the others to check on Mu Jin’s side—it might be a bit chaotic over there.”
With that, she glanced around the teahouse. Other than the few people who had passed out, only their own people remained.
She immediately took out several Gatling guns and placed them on the table. “Take these with you and go have a look.”
