Xu Yi was, after all, a young lady of noble birth. She still preserved a final shred of dignity for the old man, leaving him in a moon-white undergarment rather than stripping him completely naked. Still, there was likely nothing else hidden on the old fellow anyway.
Wei Yuan packed all the miscellaneous items into chests and sealed them, then looked toward the Zhao general.
A chill ran down the general's spine. He hurriedly said, "Sir hero, you had best leave some dignity for Zhao and for the Princess! Otherwise, today shall end only in death!"
"The moment you dare make a move, the Princess will have no dignity left," Wei Yuan retorted. "With so many witnesses gathered here, it will be known that you, General, disregarded the Princess's safety and the dignity of the royal family all for your own pride." Such tricks of pinning blame were rampant throughout history books, so the accusation rolled effortlessly off Wei Yuan's tongue.
The general was stunned. Seeing Wei Yuan walk toward the carriage, he cried in grief and indignation, "What do you really want?"
Wei Yuan replied indifferently, "Just do as you are told. Do you think you have room to bargain? Frankly speaking, seeing how you hesitate even now, it seems your loyalty to the King of Zhao amounts to very little."
The general's face turned green and white. He knew that if such words truly reached the King of Zhao's ears, there was no telling what His Majesty would think. By now, his standing in the Princess's eyes had surely plummeted as well.
Gritting his teeth until they nearly shattered, he could only say, "As long as you do not harm the Princess, I will do whatever you ask!"
"I want the horses, armaments, and personal valuables. You may keep the royal banners."
The general ground his teeth, turned around, and barked, "Dismount! Strip your armor!"
Only then was Wei Yuan satisfied. At that moment, a voice called out from inside the carriage: "Sir hero, would you care to board the carriage for a word?"
The door of the boat-carriage swung open on its own. The interior was pitch-black and deep; nothing could be seen. Evidently, this boat-carriage was an extraordinarily high-grade magical treasure.
Wei Yuan pondered briefly, gave a snort, and said coldly, "Board it then. What have I to fear?"
Words aside, Wei Yuan first took out a fistful of pills and swallowed seven or eight in a row to restore his dao power. Next, he produced a small jade vial and held it under his nose, sniffing it for quite a while—an antidote against poisons and curses. Finally, he grabbed two bowl-thick steel-tube guns from his men, slung them at his waist, and only then cautiously boarded the carriage, vanishing within.
The interior furnishings were contrary to Wei Yuan's expectations. There was no extravagant luxury; instead, it resembled a general's field tent. Seated opposite him was a young woman, dressed very casually in robes practical for movement.
At first glance, she simply appeared very pretty, nothing overwhelming. But the longer one looked, the more captivating she became. Set against the backdrop of swords and blades filling the carriage, an easy, dashing aura clung to her, making her stand out from the ordinary.
Seeing Wei Yuan, the young woman covered her mouth and giggled. "So the general fears death this much."
Wei Yuan did not feel the slightest embarrassment. In the few months he had spent traveling down the mountain for his worldly tempering, if nothing else, he had thoroughly trained his thick skin.
Of course, he could not admit to fearing death. Fortunately, he was well-read, and excuses filled entire scrolls. Thus, Wei Yuan declared with righteous indignation, "A gentleman does not stand in perilous places. I must preserve my capable self to bring blessing to the common people. How could I fall for your clumsy provocations?"
The young woman blinked, then laughed even more merrily. "Then why didn't you send one of your subordinates up?"
Wei Yuan froze. That was right—why hadn't he sent a subordinate to scout?
Accustomed to charging first in battlefield clashes, he simply hadn't thought it through in this situation.
The girl suddenly asked, "Did you just want to see what the Princess looks like? Well, what do you think of me?"
Wei Yuan scrutinized her seriously and praised, "Not bad."
The girl was taken aback, then flared up in anger: "You full of... wait, could there actually be someone around you better looking than me?"
Wei Yuan said, "Among the women I know, there are indeed some who fall short of you, though not many. Oh, but quite a few men are less attractive than you."
The girl was infuriated to the point of laughing. "Are you saying there are men better looking than me?"
Wei Yuan actually nodded.
Not to mention Xu Henshui—even if Xiaoyu put on women's clothes, he would outshine this girl by a hair.
"Get out. There's nothing more to discuss." The girl did not want to say another word to him.
Wei Yuan showed no intention of leaving. He said, "I came entrusted by someone to retrieve an item. I wonder if the Princess could tell me what it is that should be handed over?"
The girl was startled as well. She did not know what the item was either, and snapped in annoyance, "I don't know!"
Wei Yuan did not take offense and said, "If you refuse to say, then I'll have to search you myself. I am rather thorough when searching people, so I don't think it is necessary to go that far."
Gritting her teeth, the girl glared at Wei Yuan, then said, "Take off your mask and let me see your face, and I'll let you search!"
Wei Yuan felt his true appearance was no secret anyway, so he took off his mask. True to her word, the girl closed her eyes, thrust her chest forward, and said, "Come on then!"
Wei Yuan showed no hesitation. His hands first traced around her head, and her long hair tumbled down at once. All the ornaments in her hair, including her earrings, ended up in Wei Yuan's grasp. Even the thin layer of powder on her face and the rouge on her lips were wiped away a layer.
Certain treasures were finer than strands of hair and could easily be concealed in rouge.
Wei Yuan intended to continue, but stopped when he noticed a faint, smug look on her face, as though a mischievous scheme had succeeded.
"Why did you stop?"
"The item isn't on you."
"How do you know?" the girl blurted out. But as soon as the words left her mouth, she knew she had been tricked.
"I don't even know what that thing is! I only know someone was supposed to come and take it. Come on, keep going!" The girl brazenly stepped right up in front of Wei Yuan.
Wei Yuan took a step back and said, "We will meet again in the future. How about this: why don't you tell me what you wish to do, Princess? Perhaps I can lend you a hand."
The girl said, "I'm going to Western Jin this time for marriage negotiations. Who it will be in the end isn't settled yet—maybe Prince Cheng's grandson, maybe some imperial prince. But I heard all of them are insufferable, so I might as well give each of them a green hat to wear in advance. That way, no marriage alliance will happen. And if someone can actually swallow that, well, I'm out of ideas."
Wei Yuan quickly replied, "The Princess is truly formidable! But I cannot help with this matter."
A marriage alliance between two kingdoms was never as simple as a wedding between two people. Who knew what major affairs and political machinations lurked behind it? Wei Yuan was no fool and had no desire to get entangled in such a mess. Besides, marriage alliances in history books rarely brought anything good; unless pushed to absolute extremes, no one would resort to such a move.
The girl chuckled. "Anyway, the moment you boarded this carriage, you couldn't clear your name anymore. I will definitely say you already groped me all over. Why don't you actually try it? At least you wouldn't take the blame for nothing."
Wei Yuan cupped his hands immediately. "Farewell!"
He turned around and left the boat-carriage.
The Heaven-Battling Bandits had arrived like a howling tempest, but when they left, they were heavily encumbered, dragging along fully six to seven thousand captives. Of Yue Qilin's four thousand former subordinates, three thousand five hundred remained; combined with the three thousand private soldiers of the Xu family who had posed as horse bandits, these made up the harvest of this outing. Fortunately, Feng Tingyu hadn't forgotten to dig Wang Ziyan out of the dirt before departing; otherwise, the martial world would have had yet another promising youth cut down before his time.
Feng Lin and his personal troops were completely unscathed, though left with only their undergarments. Wei Yuan truly looked down on these soldiers Feng Lin had personally trained. Their physical frailty was secondary; the main issue was their host of vile habits, which made them difficult to shape into discipline.
Bandits were bandits; when they looted, they were ruthlessly thorough, scraping everything clean. Yet having kept their lives, Feng Lin and his subordinates had no complaints. After all, once their money was gone, they could always extort more from the common folk.
As soon as the Heaven-Battling Gang left, Feng Lin rushed before the carriage, threw himself onto the ground, and wailed, "The Princess has been frightened! This humble general failed in his duty—even dying ten thousand deaths would not atone for my sin!"
In terms of mournful sorrow, the Zhao general could not match even a fraction of his performance.
A cold voice issued from inside the carriage: "Get lost! I don't want to see you."
Feng Lin's heart turned cold, but he dared not disobey. Hearing the strange tone in the Princess's voice, the Zhao general asked tentatively, "Did that man... do something?"
"Everything that could be done was done," the Princess replied, her voice icy, tinged with sorrow and indignation.
The Zhao general was loyal, but he was not an idiot. He remarked with some suspicion, "That... seems a bit too fast."
From the moment Wei Yuan boarded to when he stepped off, hardly any time had passed. They had merely exchanged a few words; in such a brief span, one probably wouldn't even have finished undressing.
Inside the carriage, the Princess ground her teeth and snapped, "The fellow was in such a rush, yet all show and no substance—he finished in just three thrusts! Do you want me to describe it in greater detail?"
The Zhao general was struck speechless. Beside him, Feng Lin had pricked up his ears and heard every single word.
The envoy convoy reorganized its ranks and set out on the road again. The young woman still sent someone to inform Wei Yuan that the item could not be too far from the ground nor moved too quickly. As it happened, Wei Yuan could not move fast anyway while dragging a massive horde of captives, so they journeyed slowly westward.
Feng Lin led his remaining troops back toward the commandery seat in disgrace. Halfway there, a sudden realization struck him with terror. Returning with his own troops completely unharmed—wasn't that ironclad proof of cowardice in battle? Although Yue Qilin's four thousand men had been wiped out, not a single one of his own two thousand had died. No explanation could possibly justify this. His patron had plenty of political enemies who would never let slip such an opportunity for impeachment.
Furthermore, with the Princess having been robbed, he could not escape the charge of failing to protect her. If cowardice in the face of the enemy were added to that, he couldn't even hope for exile into penal military service.
Feng Lin hurriedly looked left and right, wondering if he ought to execute some of his men. Besides, having none of his officers killed looked rather fake as well.
Yet the commandants around him had served under him for some time and knew his character all too well. Seeing him glance over, every one of them glared back with murderous, hostile eyes. A chill struck Feng Lin's heart. He instantly realized that if he mishandled this, they would likely behead him, their commanding general, first!
These commandants saw through the situation clearly: upon returning this time, Feng Lin's post was definitely gone, so there was no need to walk on eggshells around him anymore.
Left with no recourse and knowing this was Wei Yuan's open trap, Feng Lin could only curse repeatedly: "That cursed Three-Thrust Wei! Serves you right you couldn't manage a fourth thrust! May you never manage a fourth thrust in your entire life!"
The officers were all seasoned veterans of brothels and pleasure quarters, the kind of villains seen in popular romance novels. Though they hadn't heard what the Princess said, by connecting the clues before and after, they pieced together nearly the whole picture. Bizarre smirks surfaced on every face, and much of their jealousy toward Wei Yuan melted away.
Hanyang Pass, a quiet, secluded courtyard.
An old scholar opened an urgent dispatch. With just one glance, he trembled with rage and fumed, "Outrageous! Utterly outrageous! How is this a demonstration of strength? He is clearly defecating right on our heads!"
The old scholar was so furious that his language lost all refinement.
A middle-aged scholar took the dispatch and read it carefully, then handed it to the maid beside him. With a faint smile, he said, "He wants to test our foundation, it seems. Heh, very well. This marquis shall go meet him."
The old scholar spoke again: "As for the Princess..."
The scholar cut him off: "Nothing happened to the Princess."
Chapter 256