A disciple that left with Zhang Anying to look for food was running towards them. He looked panicked. “ Oldest senior brother , we need back up.” he managed to spit out while panting.
Zhou Zilong and Yang Changtian stood up immediately, “ Be clear , what happened ?”.
The disciple stood straight and told them that when he along with Zhang Anying and the others went to gather food , they saw a group of people pass through , after a while they heard the sound of swords clashing , so they went to investigate. They saw that a group of masked people were attacking the group.
“ They seemed outnumbered so senior Zhang decided to lend them a helping hand , but the masked assailants just keep coming. Senior instructed me to run back and get back up.”
Yang Changtian and Zhou Zilong looked at each other , then turned to Mo Ling . “ Mo Ling , stay here to protect your senior brother , we will lead the remeing disciples to provide support.”
Mo Ling nodded, “ Brother Yang , take the members of our sect too , they’re specially trained in hand to hand combat so they will be helpful ,” before Yang Changtian could refuse , Li Cheng turned to the disciples of the Bihou sect , “ Heed my orders ,” the disciples stood straight alert and bowed “ Give us your orders oldest senior brother.”
‘Why can't our disciples be as well behaved as their disciples?’, Zhou Zilong thought sourly. ‘ They’re like well behaved soldiers , while our disciples sometimes act like animals.’
“ Go provide support for the Guanghui sect.” Li Cheng instructed them with a firm voice.
The Bihou sect disciples all bowed again before scattering to grab their weapons.
“ Li Cheng ….. Thank you. “ Yang Changtian then turned to Zhou Zilong, “ Zilong stay behind with Mo Ling to protect Li Cheng. “
Zhou Zilong nodded in acknowledgement.
The disciples came back and formed a line. Yang Changtian then asked the disciple who was sent to get back up to show them the way. They all mounted their horses and left .
The wind was blowing fast , brushing against Yang Changtian’s face , while he looked calm , internally he was conflicted. A group of people passing through this forest ? This road was only used by people who were heading to the northern territories. And now a group of formidable assailants are attacking them , the disciples from the Guanghui sect are trained in a vary of combat skills , they’re skills are far better than that of the bandits , they shouldn't have any problem taking down hundreds of them , but they were pushed to the point of needing backup. They can't be simple bandits. The group they're attacking surely aren't normal people either. We have to be careful.
His train of thoughts was interrupted by the sound of clashing swords. He immediately redirected his horse to the direction the clashes came from. Soon enough he found himself facing a bloody fight, he spotted Zhang Anying fighting with a masked man in black , he then spotted another black man trying to attack Zhang Anying from behind.
“ Anying lookout ! “ Yang Changtian was far away to do anything , he could only watch , hoping Zhang Anying could evade him . Zhang Anying heard Yang Changtian’s warning, he killed the man he was fighting by slashing the neck and wanted to turn around and beat the other masked man too, but he was too late to react , he saw the masked man’s sword coming down towards him . Suddenly Yang Changtian noticed 2 small daggers flying towards the man one after the other , one struck the man's knife , knocking it away while the other struck the man directly in the neck killing him instantly, he expected the man’s blood to drench Zhang Anying but to his surprise he wasn't bleeding , now that he think about it , the area barely had blood , even though the degree of violence in the fight was evident, the only blood seem to come from their own injured , not the assailants.
Yang Changtian immediately swirled around to spot the person who threw the daggers. He saw a young man , his hair pinned up using a gold crown , wearing deep blue robes with white embroidery. He was fighting alongside another man in red robes. From one look Yang Changtian knew this person was from a privileged background. The cloth used to make his robes were extremely hard to come by , only a few yards were produced every year , so it was scarcely used , even by the very wealthy. Yet here this man was , decked out in a whole robe made from it. What was a person like this doing here? Yang Changtian had an uneasy feeling in his heart , but he didn't have time to dwell upon it. The young man in blue made eye contact with Yang Changtian and nodded before resuming his fight , he was accompanied by a few people also engaging in their own battle , 2 other people caught Yang Changtian’s eyes , one was also likely a young man , but his feminine and soft features brought that into question, this person was wearing a black robe , the other person was a tall and rugged man with a scar across his cheek giving him a dangerous look , he was wearing a brown robe. All three of them seemed to be well trained in combat skills . The androgynous looking young man turned to Yang Changtian , “ They aren't human , they're clay puppets so the easiest way to kill them is to slash them in the neck.” Yang Changtian could only nod. He soon turned to the disciples and instructed them to target the necks.
Then another group of masked people appeared, “ They just keep coming like ants attracted to sugar Senior brother. One of our disciples already lost their life , 2 are seriously injured.” Zhang Anying reported.
“ You did well, Anying , let me handle this now.” Yang Changtian said before entering the fight leading the disciples he brought along. Yang Changtian and his sect’s disciples were taught to fight with the long sword, while robust and domineering , this weapon has its limitations attributed to its large size and inflexible nature.
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The disciples from the Bihou sect pulled out short curved sickle like swords , Yang Changtian was surprised to see them , these swords were developed by Hei Jingyou and Huang Baihua together a few years back, they named it the crescent moon sword , and while it operated in a way similar to a short sword , the curved nature of it made it faster and sharper. In addition to that it could be used as a throwing weapon , instantly able to decapitate a man. The only limitation to this sword was the compulsory need to have a good aim , but from what he was seeing , the disciples from the Bihou sect were all extremely well trained in handling this weapon.
The tide , which was initially against them due to the sheer number of masked men , was slowly tuning to their favour.
The fight was silently observed by 2 men hidden in a tree , also masked. One of them clenched his hand , he turned to the other , “ Tell them to withdraw for now , they’re too strong , any further assault will result in major losses to us, we’ve already exhausted our clay puppets.” The other man bowed before jumping down to pass on the order.
The remaining masked man , likely the leader of the assailants, heard a sharp whistling sound , he turned just in time to have a dagger graze his cheek, cutting his mask. The dagger embedded itself neatly into the tree centimeters away from him. His eyes widened , he whipped his head to look at the person who attacked him , only to encounter a young man staring directly at him , a small smirk evident on his lips, he was clearly concealed by the tree , but it felt as if the youngster could see him hidden amongst all the foliage. He felt chills go down his body, this young man isn't sometimes easy to mess with . He was no longer safe here , he had to escape. The young man clearly had the ability to kill him , yet he didn't , it was almost as if he was mocking him and sending him a clear message. It’s been a while since he felt threatened , but his senses never betrayed him , he quickly jumped down the tree and escaped , cursing the man who assigned them the task of ambushing and killing the young man and his group.
Yang Changtian slashed another in the neck , and the man fell to the ground dead. The constant wave of assailants stopped.
Yang Changtian saw the puppets stopping in their tracks before turning around and fleeing , some disciples wanted to give them a chase but Yany Changtian stopped them. He soon heard a sharp sound cutting through the air , he whipped around to see the young man in blue throw a knife into a tree. In the next moment a man dressed in black jumped down from the tree before escaping. Yang Changtian could’ve sworn he saw the young man smirking at the tree coldly , but in the next second , his face was back to being emotionless , making Yang Changtian almost doubt his eyes. ‘ This person isn't someone simple’ Yang Changtian repeated in his mind for the hundredth time.
The young man in blue and his companions approached Yang Changtian and the others. The androgynous looking man bowed and introduced himself first.
“ Greetings sirs , My name is Jin Wei , the big man here is called Da Xiong , “ Zhang Anying, despite being injured , almost burst into laughter after hearing their names. Yang Changtian gave him a warning look. So Zhang Anying choked back his laughter.
‘... and this here is Liu Ying.’ Jin Wei introduced the person in blue , now that they’re closer , Yang Changtian noticed that though this person was tall , she was a female. Her fox-like eyes seemed to be able to see through everything.
Jin Wei kept saying, “ We really don't know how to thank you kind sirs, who would've thought that we would come under these people’s attacks. Allow us to thank you , please accept this small token , you can hand this to the Imperial Investigation department , the officers there will reward you handsomely. “
Yang Changtian silently took the token and observed it. The Imperial Investigation department huh , Yang Changtian remembered his master mentioned them not long ago. 10 years after the disappearance of Sun Xiandong and Hei Jingyou , the current king followed the ideas of the previous king to establish this sectrevie department.
It was and still remains extremely secretive, in fact it was so secretive that the Guanghui sect had no intel on this department , these people appearing here wasn't so simple after all , they must be under the orders of the king to also investigate the crazy killing disease. He was lost in his thoughts while studying the token , it had a carving of a dragon roaring.
“ Jin Wei dont bother , that’s Yang Changtian the chief disciple of the Guanghui sect. And from the weapons they're holding , they should be Guanghui and Bihou sect disciples.” a cold voice sounded , interrupting Yang Changtian’s thoughts.
Yang Changtian raised his head only to see the fox-like eyes of the girl in blue gazing at him.
Yang Changtian pulls his sword out and points it at her. “ You know me ?”
Before the girl could answer , the big guy , Da Xiong, stopped in front of her covering her , “ She knows everything , she’s the archive manager of our department. She manages the gathering and storing of data. “ His smooth voice rang out. Everyone was surprised as they had expected him to sound similar to his looks , gruff , but his voice was calming and soft.
“ Mr. Yang , I must ask you to put your sword away. You are currently pointing your sword at 3 core members of the king's personal investigative department.” Da Xiong was staring directly into Yang Changtian’s eyes.
After a while , Yang Changtian put his sword away. Zhang Anying could finally breathe again , the big guy was right , while Yang Changtian himself was in a high position , standing in front of them were people with a similar status , who can only be dispatched by the emperor’s direct orders , they shouldn't be messed with.
Yang Changtian wasnt afraid of them, but he didn't want to clash with the emperor's people , Wang Jinlong was still under the suspicions that he wanted to usurp the throne , so he didn't want to clash with these people and create any problems for his friend. In addition to that , he sensed that they don't have any ill intentions , so he decided to drop it for now.
“ So it turns out to be Mr. Yang .” Jin Wei spoke out, “ what a perfect coincidence,” his tone light and friendly. “ His Majesty the emperor heard about the mysterious illness spreading in the north that drives people mad , he was greatly alarmed to know that his precious citizens were suffering so when he heard that his Highness prince Jinlong dispatched a group of people from the 2 great sects he personally dispatched us to come and join you.”
Jin Wei pulled out a scroll with golden dragon patterns. Zhang Anying’s eyes almost popped out from their sockets, he quickly rushed towards Yang Changtian , “ Senior brother Yang thats… thats…..”.
“ Yes …..it's a royal decree.”