Chapter 477 459: Silly Girl, How Could I Not Come Back for You?

"Lord Su, don't let this pretty boy fool you!"

A group of "townsfolk" armed with sabers, spears, and Crossbow Arrows emerged from the buildings where they had been ambushing Pei Yuhang and flooded into the street.

The middle-aged man in the lead, who had a hideous scar running across his cheek from the corner of his mouth, was none other than the same vendor who had given Little Yueqiu the candied hawthorns.

His bloodshot eyes stared fixedly at the calm-faced Pei Yuhang, dressed in white. A withered, trembling finger pointed at him as the man shrieked:

"Just look at this pretty boy!"

"He's fought so many masters in a row, how could he not be exhausted at all? He didn't kill the Sword King Pavilion's Pavilion Master and let the Abbot of Jinshan Temple and the others leave. That just proves he's at the end of his rope!"

"He must be at the end of his rope now!"

"That's right, Lord Su! Are you really going to stand by and let such a monumental achievement slip through your fingers?!"

The "townsfolk" all clamored at once, trying to give Su Ziheng—who had been scared witless by Pei Yuhang—the courage to fight again.

These "townsfolk," assigned to attack Pei Yuhang, were actually all bandits, fugitives, and prisoners held by the Zhao Kingdom. The Emperor of Zhao had promised them a general amnesty, erasing their status as slaves, if they killed Pei Yuhang and brought back Prince Ning's daughter.

If Su Ziheng retreated just like that, they would never be able to escape their lives as prisoner-slaves!

The candied hawthorn vendor shouted, "Lord Su! We brothers are all men with our lives on the line! This is our only chance to turn things around!"

His voice was filled with a desperate madness, and the muscles on his face twitched uncontrollably with agitation.

The disguised prisoners around them also began to show their savage natures. Some licked their chapped lips, others restlessly fiddled with their weapons, like a pack of starving wolves that had scented blood.

Su Ziheng's expression flickered upon hearing this. His hand on his saber tightened and loosened, his grip squeezing deep indentations into the leather of the scabbard.

His Adam's apple bobbed, and a flicker of struggle crossed his eyes, but it ultimately faded into bleak resignation.

CLANG! The long saber fell to the ground, kicking up a fine cloud of dust.

"I thought you would try your luck one more time."

Pei Yuhang's voice was as still as the water in a Cold Pool. It drew a bitter curve onto Su Ziheng's lips, and his chapped mouth trembled slightly.

"If I had tried my luck, what would the outcome have been?"

"I would have cut you down casually, then I would have found someone else to deliver the message to your Emperor."

Pei Yuhang's tone was terrifyingly calm. To Su Ziheng, it felt as if he were casually chatting with a friend, recounting how he'd kicked a stray dog out of his way earlier that night.

The shoulders of the former Martial Champion Scholar suddenly slumped, his once-straight spine seeming to bend under an invisible, heavy burden.

He raised a hand to wipe his face, his palm coming away slick with cold sweat.

"I said... I despise arrogant people."

"Right now, daring to draw my sword against you... would be arrogance. I am not that conceited."

"As for your message, I will relay it to His Majesty."

Although, Su Ziheng didn't know what was meant by the so-called "wicked old woman."

'Could it be that the order to capture Prince Ning's daughter didn't come from His Majesty, but from someone else?'

Su Ziheng frowned. He felt that this matter of capturing Prince Ning's daughter was not as simple as it appeared on the surface.

Especially Pei Yuhang. This white-robed Swordsman was so incredibly powerful, his martial arts and Swordsmanship surpassing his own understanding of a mortal's limits.

And yet, he had never heard of such a person before. It was as if... he had appeared out of thin air.

'Could it be that Immortals truly exist in this world?'

A horrified shiver ran through Su Ziheng.

He turned back to look at the group of prisoners, their faces full of venomous resentment and unwillingness to accept defeat.

"You are all prisoners who were scheduled for execution within the month. Today's mission to capture Prince Ning's daughter has failed.

Your crimes still stand. Tomorrow, soldiers will come to take you into custody. Don't even think about escaping to become bandits. This town has long been surrounded by the garrisons of my Great Zhao. You cannot escape."

After speaking, Su Ziheng spurred his horse and departed, not daring to glance back at Pei Yuhang even once during the process.

He left only a group of terrified prisoners behind.

Pei Yuhang paid no mind to the turmoil on the prisoners' faces.

He extended a hand and crooked a finger at the candied hawthorn vendor.

"I overpaid you for the candied hawthorns earlier. It's time to give me back my change."

Pei Yuhang's words instantly made the candied hawthorn vendor's sanity snap.

He shouted to the prisoners around him, "Brothers, we're dead either way! Do you really believe this pretty boy is some legendary Immortal? I don't!"

"If we kill him, we live!"

"Kill!!"

Under the cold Moonlight, dozens of weapons reflected a piercing, cold gleam. In the twilight, the prisoners' twisted faces looked like those of demons.

Seeing the prisoners rise up in revolt and raise their sharp blades toward him, Pei Yuhang shook his head in regret.

"It seems I'll have to take the silver myself."

...

...

A moment later, blood had soaked into every crack between the flagstones of the greenstone road.

Although Pei Yuhang's white robes were not stained with a single drop of blood, they now carried the stench of it.

Not wanting to see Little Yueqiu reeking of foul blood, he headed to the town's tailor shop and changed into a fresh, better-fitting white robe.

Once everything was in order, Pei Yuhang returned to the inn.

In front of the door, five figures bound by translucent chains lay slumped like heaps of mud.

They were the ones sent to abduct Prince Ning's daughter. They had thought they were just kidnapping a little girl, undertaking the easiest mission with the greatest potential reward.