Chapter 52 – Fog

The Second Prince left the Moon Embracing Mansion, his face somewhat strangely cold. Regardless of what kind of information he had acquired during this conversation, and how much he trusted and feared Fan Xian’s tenets, the facts of this night had proved much. His power in the capital had been uprooted by Fan Xian without mercy, and now there were only two paths before him, one was to firmly rely on the side of the Eldest Princess, and the other was to honestly withdraw from the war to seize the throne, just as Fan Xian had thought.

Without strength, what to fight for? But the second prince also understood in his heart that as things went on like this, if Fan Xian didn’t sweep his forces away tonight, then in the near future, either the Kingdom of Qing would be thrown into a turmoil, or he would be ruthlessly purged.

But he wouldn’t feel the slightest bit of gratitude towards Fan Xian, because Fan Xian had forced him onto a desperate path.

After speaking with Fan Xian for a few moments, the eldest prince also left the Moon Embracing House with a worried look on his face, taking the third prince with him at the same time. The conversation between the several brothers of the royal family wasn’t very pleasant, and since the oldest three was going back to the palace, it was more appropriate for him, as the commander of the forbidden army, to take him back along the way.

At this time the night was getting deeper and deeper, and if there weren’t those thick snow clouds in the sky, one would definitely be able to see the moon move to where it should be in the middle of the night.

Fan Xian did not leave the moon building, he sat alone for a long time, let the building to fix a pot of clear soup lamb slices ate, ate a little hot, and drank a few cups of wine, before slowly stood up, walked to the window to look down two eyes.

Outside the window a dead silence, Kyoto House and the guard division of the people have withdrawn, hold the moon building closed today, the girls also went to bed early, only left a few smart people in the wait for him.

Inside the building, red candles stood still. Fan Xian let Shi Qing’er prepare a bucket of hot water and comfortably took a bath.

After the bath, he rubbed his somewhat reddened cheeks and asked, “Did the Grand Prince go to Sheep Onion Lane in the past two days?”

Shi Qing’er listened from the sidelines, knowing that the Big Boss was talking about that Hu Clan Princess, shook her head, and was about to go forward to serve him in his clothes, but he waved his hand and called him out.

Not a moment later, Sang Wen came in, this warm and gentle boss of the Moon Embracing House, slightly squatting, carefully put on his close-fitting underwear, his fingers slipped from the surface of his well-proportioned muscles, could not help but be slightly stunned, but did not dare to make more movements, and carefully tied the concealed crossbow, which was only three fingers wide, to the small arm of his left hand.

Putting on his boots and inserting the slender black crossbow head into them, Sang Wen stood up and put the final touches on Fan Xian’s garments, protecting the black Supervisory Authority official uniform that covered every side of his skin that could be harmed, before nodding his head.

Fan Xian smiled faintly in appreciation, and after confirming that no pills were missing from his body, he patted Sang Wen’s head and headed out of the room.

Sang Wen said with a slight start, “Sword, my lord?”

Fan Xian turned back. Looking at the Great Wei Heavenly Son Sword held in Sang Wen’s hand, his expression was calm, but a hint of confusion flashed in his eyes, and after a long time, he said, “This sword is too bright, so it’s better not to take it, just leave it here for now.”

The triple leather curtains of the Moon Embracing Building were lifted, and a group of principals respectfully escorted Fan Xian out of the doorway, who by now had lifted the back hood of his lotus garment and placed it over his head, allowing the shadows to cover his clean-cut face. Stepping down the stone steps outside the building, he couldn’t help but look up at the dreary night, as if to make sure it would snow later.

As the carriage pulled up, he shook his head, signaling that he was going to walk for a while, and then took the lead and traveled towards the east.

Today, the Moon Palace held a banquet, he did not bring tiger guards, and the entire force of the Supervisory Yuan in Kyoto, has already taken advantage of the night to conduct countless raids, and even the force of the Qi Nian group have thrown in, at this time, following him around, is only a few guards of the Fan House as well as a carriage driver.

The people knew about today’s banquet at the Moon Embracing Tower, and had also heard about the commotion within Kyoto this night, they all thought that the young master was trying to walk and think, so they didn’t dare to come forward to disturb him, and just let the carriage follow far behind.

Not much farther to the east, a turn into a straight street, long street.

Straight long street.

Dressed in a lotus dress, he suddenly stopped in his tracks, seemingly listening to something, and then he waved his hand, signaling the car behind him not to follow, while he himself stepped towards the middle of the street.

At this time the night is already deep, stop snow in Kyoto streets and lanes suddenly emerged a strange fog, the fog is heavier than the air gradually heavy, from all directions convergence, gradually filled in the long street above.

Slightly white fog, in the night street of Kyoto without lights is not how colorful, but effectively blocked people’s eyesight, people open eyes like blind, can not see five fingers.

The carriages following behind had not dared to let Fan Xian travel alone in this night, nor were they prepared to listen to his arrangements, but at this point they still had no choice but to stop.

The car of the Fan House guards will die of wind lanterns dialed more bright some, but the dark yellow light, only see the front fog, like the head of the pale mountain cloud breath, but can not explore how far, has long been invisible in the black lotus dress in the back of the lonely.

Above the long street, the white fog gradually filled, can only hear Fan Xian’s faint footsteps, with an extremely calm and fixed rhythm, other than that, there is not a sound, it seems that there is no living creature on this street.

It seemed that the people that the Supervisory Yuan wanted to kill this night had already been killed, and the people that they wanted to arrest had already been arrested and put into the Heavenly Prison, under the custody of the Seven Prisons. The people of Kyoto who were not yet aware of these things were coveting warmth under their blankets, the powerful nobles who had been traveling at night had long since returned to their homes in alarm, the people on watch were slacking off, and the officers and soldiers of the Thirteen City Gate Departments were simply watching the gates of the city.

The footsteps kept moving forward, then seemed to sense something and paused in the white mist. A winter night wind blew through, blowing the fog on this long street slightly thinner, and the end of the long street could be vaguely seen.

There should be no one at the end of the long street, but it always felt as if someone was guarding it. Dressed in Lotus Clothes, he stopped in his tracks and raised his head, his eyes calmly staring straight ahead, as if he wanted to see who was actually there.

Then he saw someone.

That person was stout, with shoulders like iron, like a mountain standing there at the end of the long street, with a longbow behind him and a quiver of arrows on his back, with thirteen arrows in the quiver.

The wind stopped and the fog thickened, not to be seen again.

Tonight was the moment for Fan Xian to have the Supervisory Court launch a general attack on the Second Prince’s lineage, but he seemed to have forgotten one thing, when you attack the most fiercely, it is often also when your own defenses are the weakest, and at this time, he had no one else to lean on by his side, only himself. He was taking revenge for the valley sniping, revenge for no reason at all, but he forgot that a certain Grand Metropolitan Governor also had to take revenge for the death of his only son.

Can he dodge that bow across the street?

Two years ago he had been shot down from atop the palace wall by this bow, all but helpless, and that bow had become one of the biggest gaps in his martial arts cultivation.

So he stopped behind the fog.

On the side of the white fog, Yan Xiaoyi slightly lowered his eyes, feeling the aura of the person behind the fog, making sure that the other party would not be out of his control.

On this side of the fog, there was no sign of movement.

Yan Xiaoyi, the former Grand Commander of the Forbidden Army, now the Grand Governor of the Northern Expedition of the Kingdom of Qing, and one of the few ninth grade superpower of the Kingdom of Qing, naturally wasn’t a madman, and he knew what it meant to assassinate Fan Xian in the middle of the long streets of Kyoto.

However, he still didn’t force down his will to fight and his bloodlust, because when he saw Yan Shenduo’s corpse in the tent of Yuan Tai’s camp, he had already made up his mind, what is the purpose of a life? Even though he will unite the world’s soldiers and horses and fight for this whole country, to whom will he entrust it?

So he is not crazy, but already crazy.

Tonight, Kyoto is not calm, no one thought Fan Xian will be so strong to sweep, at the same time, no one will think, the hall of the northern conquest of the great governor, actually will give up all the concerns, back to the original hunter’s mind, indifference to observe Fan Xian, watching Fan Xian, waiting for Fan Xian, has been patiently waiting for Fan Xian until the death of the middle.

Although the long street was foggy and could stop one’s sight, it could not stop Yan Xiaoyi’s arrows, which were originally made without the use of the eyes.

Tonight, he brought 13 arrows with him to ask Fan Xian what he meant by the phrase “Thirteen Langs” on one of the posted notices. If Fan Xian was dead, it was fine not to ask this question – no matter how much Fan Xian had progressed over the years, and how much of a genius he was in terms of martial arts cultivation, Yan Xiaoyi was somewhat indifferent and believed that he could definitely kill the other party.

This matter had nothing to do with seizing the throne, nothing to do with the world, not for the sake of public justice, not for the sake of profit, just a personal vendetta that could not be resolved.

Qi was already locked, the two of them were on the street, one in the middle of the street, there was no other way but to face each other head on. Fan Xian was silent behind the fog, seemingly assessing whether he should fight or retreat.

After a long period of silence, Yan Xiaoyi took a step forward, and the murderous aura he carried caused the white fog in front of him to shake, revealing an open space in front of him, and the air was suddenly cold again.

However …… his feet immediately retracted, the corner of his eye glanced toward the eaves of the house on the upper left, frowned slightly, and used the stone beasts on the eaves of the house to block his body.

Using his body and the stone beast as a line, he felt that at the end of that line, there was an unusually terrifying killing machine waiting for him.

This was a sensation that did not make sense, he had grown up in the forest since he was young, and had dealt with wild beasts, yet he had also developed a sensitivity like that of wild beasts, and would always judge the existence of danger in advance.

At this moment, the longbow was already in his hand, but the arrows were not yet strung, Yan Xiaoyi slightly lowered his head, feeling the strange movements around him – just who was ambushing who?

He was a supreme powerhouse of the ninth rank, apart from those four old monsters, Yan Xiaoyi did not have much to fear in this world, and even whenever he reached the peak of his condition, the idea of challenging a Grandmaster would always rise in his heart.

It was also because of this realm of his that he could clearly perceive that above the long street, there was only the two of them, him and Fan Xian, and that was why he dared to so indifferently embellish Fan Xian with his mind, always ready to send out a deadly arrow.

However, earlier, when he took that step, he discovered an extremely odd phenomenon.

The first and foremost thing was that unknown source of danger that was nowhere to be found, followed by the fact that when he took that step, he felt that the flavor of the mist behind him seemed to have changed somewhat.

It was the smell, not the taste.

It was the tiniest tactile change in the wind and fog, not the sensation behind the entrance.

Yan Xiaoyi knew, behind him, there had been an extremely powerful figure hidden behind him, this person’s martial cultivation was unknown to what realm exactly, but being able to conceal himself for so long, he must have the ability to injure himself.

He didn’t dare to move, because he knew that once he sent out an arrow, his long-stored essence would be drained, revealing some flaws. Once his mind and spirit were deficient, he was not sure that he would be able to retreat under the combined attack of the expert behind him and the danger in the distance.

The long street was so cold and silent, the person at the end of the fog could not move, Yan Xiaoyi at the end of the fog could not move either.

Can’t move their feet, but can move their hands.

Yan Xiaoyi took a deep breath of air, his entire figure appearing a little broader, his fingers slowly falling, seemingly unintentionally brushing over his bowstring.

His fingers were thick, but this action was gentle, like a soft brush sweeping across the drawing paper, green onion fingers brushing across the strings of a zither, orchids blooming slightly.

There was a soft buzz, and the bowstring trembled.

There seemed to be a strange magic power generated on his bowstring, the slightly trembling bowstring drove the surrounding air, twisting a faint white mist, gradually condensing into strength, cutting through the long street in front of him, and with this buzzing sound, it silently attacked towards the end of the mist.

Towards the person at the end of the fog.

A muffled grunt came from that end of the fog, followed by the sound of someone crashing to the ground.

Yan Xiaoyi calmly flipped his wrist, his longbow standing upright, without seeing how he moved, the arrow feathers were already on the string, the previous arrowless shot was already so powerful, let alone at this time he already had an arrow on the string!

But he didn’t send an arrow, he was just silent, because he clearly judged that the person at the end of the fog was not Fan Xian. Although he was puzzled as to when the other party had switched the bag when he had clearly watched Fan Xian exit the Moon Embracing Building, he understood that this night’s hunt had switched the roles of hunter and prey.

Yan Xiaoyi was not afraid, as long as his longbow was in his hand, even if two ninth grade experts came to ambush him, he would not have any fear, on the contrary, he had some long-lost excitement, ready to end a certain life with the arrow on his bowstring.

The bow and arrow in his hand was not aimed, but his mind had already locked onto the distant spot, only that the stone beast on the eaves of the private residence was spaced out on both sides, making it impossible for him to shoot an arrow.

Yan Xiaoyi still had a portion of his energies focused on the smell of the mist behind him that had once changed shakily and was now returning to normal.

No one would move first.

He did not know how long had passed, this strange fog on the long street still did not dissipate, Yan Xiaoyi’s mountain-like body still stood without the slightest hint of fatigue.

However, he was clear that the two people in the shadows were not tired either, or at least did not allow themselves to detect any slackening of the other party’s mind – to be able to compete with himself in terms of patience as well as perseverance, this was a remarkable thing, and Yan Xiaoyi recognized the other party’s realm and strength.

He understood that this long street sniping in the dead of night had reached a stalemate, he had used that stone beast to protect himself, yet he had also blocked himself, if this stalemate continued, it would only be dawn, and both parties would still be unable to move.

However, the other party could withdraw, but Yan Xiaoyi could not move, he knew that he had fallen into a disadvantage.

Another long time passed, Yan Xiaoyi still stood steadily at the corner of the street, just like a statue untouchable, long bow in hand, arrow on the string, motionless, with a very strange beauty.

Suddenly at this time, the long street filled with white fog suddenly came a cough.

Accompanied by this burst of strange coughing, a faint light is also reflected in the fog, the light gradually brightened up, approached the street corner, closer to some, only to find that it is two lanterns.

Lanterns are held in the hands of two small eunuchs, small eunuchs face frozen some white.

Behind the small eunuch is four handymen carrying a small sedan chair, coughing is from that small sedan chair kept ringing.

The sedan chair stopped beside Yan Xiaoyi, the curtain lifted slightly, revealing an old and tired face.

This face belonged to Eunuch Hong.

Eunuch Hong’s cloudy eyes blinked, and said softly to Yan Xiaoyi beside the sedan chair, “Enjoying the snowy night on the street, Da Dudu’s good mood, just that the night is already deep, it’s better to go back to the mansion, the old slaves will see you off.”