Dao Companion Crippled, Coveters Move

Chapter 469 454: An Amnesiac Yueqiu?

After vaulting the wall, he could clearly hear the weeping of the women in Prince Ning's Mansion.

Pei Yuhang didn't hear Yueqiu's voice among them, so he immediately prepared to search in another direction.

Though the women were pitiable, they were ultimately just illusions in a dream. No matter how kindhearted Pei Yuhang was, he wouldn't let these phantoms slow him down.

In a few powerful strides, he reached the highest pavilion in Prince Ning's Mansion. He scanned the surroundings, searching for the silver-haired, red-eyed girl of rumor—the one said to bring misfortune and disaster.

...

...

"Miss, we're almost out of here. You have to hold on."

The Maid's hushed voice held a slight tremor. She gripped the slender wrist of the girl beside her, her knuckles white from the force.

The two were huddled in the shadows behind a garden rockery. The Maid could clearly feel Miss Ning, who wore a hood and veil, in her arms. The girl's rapid breaths puffed against the side of her neck through the veil—hot and panicked.

She knew of a doggy door in the garden wall. Crawling through it would lead them to the Jade Bamboo River, which ran alongside Prince Ning's Mansion.

All she had to do was get the Miss into the river. If they followed the current downstream, they could surely evade the soldiers' encirclement.

Then, once they were out of the Zhao Kingdom, the Miss would be able...

WOOF!

WOOF WOOF!!

Three vicious barks suddenly rang out.

"The hounds are barking! Someone's still hiding over there. Go find them!"

The soldier's coarse shout made the Maid's back go rigid. She looked down at the trembling Miss Ning in her arms, her eyes flashing with a mix of despair and determination.

"Miss, go! Go now!"

She shoved the girl in her arms toward the doggy door with enough force to nearly knock her over.

Beneath her veil, the girl's blood-red eyes filled with tears. Her slender fingers gripped the corner of the Maid's tunic, refusing to let go.

"Don't..."

The girl choked out the word, but the Maid yanked her tunic free without a shred of hesitation. Her voice was barely a whisper, but every word was like iron.

"I'll lead them away! Remember, no matter what you hear, don't look back!"

With that, she turned without hesitation and dashed in the opposite direction, deliberately kicking over a loose rock to create a loud noise.

"Stop! Don't run!"

Sure enough, a few soldiers were drawn by the Maid. Leashes in hand, they set off with their hounds to capture her.

The hooded and veiled girl watched the Maid run off, choked back a sob, then clenched her small fists and carefully ran toward the doggy door.

"WOOF! WOOF WOOF!!"

A few barks erupted behind her.

A hound had found her!

"Damn it. I was wondering why that woman suddenly bolted out of nowhere. So there was another one hiding! You lot, go after that woman. The two of us will grab the one who's left!"

The two soldiers barked in anger, drew the cold-gleaming sabers from their waists, and strode toward where Miss Ning was hiding.

Realizing she'd been discovered, Miss Ning gritted her teeth and gave up on hiding. She straightened her petite frame and ran for the doggy door like a madwoman.

"It's a girl! She's making a break for it! Sic the dog on her!"

"WOOF WOOF—!!"

A foul-smelling wind gusted from behind her.

It was the hound. It had caught up!

The vicious barks were right at her heels. The girl could even feel the hound's hot saliva splash onto her leg.

Her concentration wavered, and in her frantic haste, she failed to see the raised tree root in her path.

"AHHH!!"

Miss Ning cried out as she fell to the ground. Her petite body tumbled over, her hood and veil scattering to the side, revealing dazzling silver hair and ruby-red eyes.

"It's Prince Ning's only daughter! It's Prince Ning's only daughter!"

Seeing the silver hair and magnificent red eyes clearly, the distant soldiers cried out in excitement.

Miss Ning got a clear look at the soldiers' fanatical eyes, gleaming with greed. They were somehow more terrifying than the hound at her heels.

She gritted her teeth, trying to get up and run, but her knee felt numb. Looking down, she saw a shocking bloody gash, and then a searing pain washed over her.

'This leg hurts too much. The slightest movement sends a piercing agony through me! I can't run...'

"WOOF WOOF!!"

And seeing its "prey" injured, the vicious hound only grew more excited.

It snarled, coiled its body, and sprang like a tiger, its foul-smelling jaws opening wide to bite down on Miss Ning.

"Wait, you stupid mutt, stop! She's a prize! If you damage her, ten of your miserable lives wouldn't be enough to pay for it!"

The soldier's eyes looked ready to split from their sockets, veins bulging on his temples and his dark face flushing crimson. He wasn't worried about Miss Ning's safety, of course, but that the dog would damage her—and ruin the appearance of the "gift" he planned to offer the Celestial Emperor!

Facing the fangs just inches away, Miss Ning shut her eyes in despair.

But—

The tearing pain she expected never came.

Instead, a crisp, clean fragrance enveloped her as gently as a March spring breeze.

The scent was like pine after a snowfall, or a newly blossomed winter plum. Her taut nerves unknowingly relaxed, and all her terror dissipated like a soft wind.

Miss Ning slowly opened her tear-filled eyes. What came into view was a tall, slender figure dressed in white.

His wide sleeves fluttered, making him look like a celestial being who had descended to the Mortal World. The sunlight cast a golden halo around him, yet it couldn't compare to the brilliant starlight glittering in his eyes.

And the ferocious hound that had been about to attack her now lay limp several yards away, blood trickling from its mouth and nose, lifeless.

"Yueqiu, I've finally found you... I'm sorry you were frightened."

Pei Yuhang glanced back at Miss Ning, his eyes filled with tender affection, his voice tinged with apology.

But Miss Ning was confused.

'Yueqiu... Who's Yueqiu?'

"Who are you?! How dare you attack soldiers of the crown!"

Seeing Pei Yuhang suddenly appear and kill the hound, the soldier first breathed a sigh of relief, then immediately bellowed.

"Do you have any idea who that is behind you? She's the one the Celestial Emperor himself has demanded—"

A cold light flashed.

With a flick of his wrist, Pei Yuhang's blade traced a silver arc through the air.

As he sheathed his sword, the ferocious expressions on the two soldiers' faces froze before they collapsed lifelessly to the ground.

Pei Yuhang turned back and offered his hand to Miss Ning.

"I'm sorry, Yueqiu. I frightened you."

"Who... who are you?!"

Miss Ning looked at the man before her, who had descended like a Celestial God to save her. Though her heart fluttered, she still shrank back warily.

She didn't know this white-robed young master at all.

'Why... Why does he call me Yueqiu?'

Watching this handsome, otherworldly man in white call her by another woman's name left a sour taste in Miss Ning's mouth.

'It feels like I was only saved because he mistook me for someone else.'

Pei Yuhang frowned, studying the girl before him.

She was clearly the daughter of a prestigious family, a well-bred lady through and through. Even dressed in plain clothes to hide her identity, she couldn't conceal the refined, scholarly air of nobility.

But, no matter how he looked at her...

She was Yueqiu.

It was impossible for Pei Yuhang not to recognize his own first disciple.

This was exactly how Yueqiu had looked when he first found her!

The Yueqiu he'd found had been a little beggar who had never read a book. She'd had a dazed, innocent look about her, a purity "unpolluted" by culture. It was a world of difference from the sharp intelligence and spiritual grace this Miss from the Prince's Mansion couldn't hide.

"Quick, it sounds like something's happening over there! Let's go see!"

The voices of soldiers grew closer.

Hearing the approaching footsteps, Pei Yuhang's expression turned grim.

Right now, he could only use the martial arts of mortals. He could handle a few ordinary soldiers, but being surrounded by a squadron of armored men with shields and spears would be troublesome.

Especially now that he had found Yueqiu.

"Yueqiu, our situation is complicated. I know you have many questions, but I'll explain everything to you later."

Without giving the silver-haired girl a chance to struggle, Pei Yuhang scooped her up under his arm, leaped into the air, and flew out of Prince Ning's Mansion.