Yinshan Record

Chapter 185 The Unruly Guest Who Blocked the Way
The crimson lanterns illuminated the bluestone path before them, and galloping horses circled back and forth in front of and behind the caravan. The horses' hooves made a pleasant clattering sound on the bluestone, which, together with the crisp sound of the horn bells, pierced the desolate night.

The night deepened into the water, the cold permeated the entire sky, and the pale starlight pierced through the thick evening clouds.

Riders carrying torches and bearing bright red banners painted with dragons paraded continuously in front of and behind the convoy.

Inside the carriage, a pair of slender hands rested against the gilded brazier on the animal's foot, using its heat to warm her palms.

"lady."

A maid with her hair in a bun held up freshly brewed fragrant tea. She had bright eyes and white teeth, and her dimples were shallow when she smiled.

"It's getting late, you'd better not have any tea."

The lady looked to be no more than thirty years old. She wore a sandalwood hairpin and held an ancient book in her hands. She smiled slightly and looked at her close maid with her narrow phoenix eyes.

The night is long; how can one get through it without some tea?

"How many days have we been out of Jiankang?"

"Since leaving the capital, we have been heading east for four or five days."

“The capital is the capital, and Jiankang is Jiankang.” She smiled and shook her head. “The capital of my Great Liang is Luoyang, and Jiankang is the temporary capital. It doesn’t matter if people outside get them confused, but if you get it wrong, people will laugh at you.”

The head maidservant was sharp-tongued.

"Let them laugh at us. They're only laughing at the Wang family; they can't laugh at our Xie family."

"These words should only be spoken in this carriage." The lady said seriously, "I'll just listen and leave it at that. Don't go around talking about it outside. The Wang and Xie families are one family."

She tilted her ear and listened for a moment.

"The sound of horses' hooves has become chaotic. Xu'er, go outside and ask what's going on."

The eldest girl nodded, took out a plain white fox fur coat from the side of the carriage door, draped it over her shoulders, and carefully walked out.

The carriage was drawn by six horses and had wide spokes. Inside, there were brocade couches and bookshelves, and the furnishings were extremely luxurious. A small red clay stove was boiling with hot water.

She always loved simplicity and elegance, but with her husband's family having such a tradition, she could not escape the allure of wealth.

Not long after.

"Madam, there's some filth ahead. The team is busy cleaning it up."

The maid named Xu'er squeezed in from outside, bringing with her a chilling aura.

"What filth? Are those the corpses of refugees who froze to death?"

"Ah."

"You don't need to tell me these whitewashing words."

The lady sighed.

When I left the capital, I heard people say that something had happened in Cizhou. I never expected it to be so tragic.

They came along the official road, a road scarred with devastation and filled with refugees fleeing famine. If that were all, it wouldn't have been so bad, but the weather grew colder day by day.

Winter arrived earlier and more fiercely than usual. Along the official road, besides refugees, frozen corpses could be seen everywhere.

My wife has lived in Jiankang since childhood, and the so-called human suffering has only been read about in books. Recently, what she has seen and heard is particularly shocking.

The wheels creaked and groaned, but then slowly came to a stop.

"What a hassle, why did it stop again?"

The eldest maid muttered a few words of dissatisfaction, picked up her fox fur coat, and was about to go out again.

"Never mind, let's wait."

The lady spoke up.

"Something may have come up that forced us to stop."

They had encountered a zombie apocalypse a few days ago.

Perhaps due to the condensation of resentment, for some unknown reason, the entire village turned into living corpses, impervious to swords and spears, bloodthirsty, and searching everywhere for refugees as food.

Perhaps their brains weren't sharp enough after turning into zombies, because they actually ambushed their convoy, only to be wiped out by the iron cavalry and killed cleanly, which also wasted half a day.

"It's like this every day; I don't know when we'll reach Cizhou Prefecture."

Do you really want to go to Cizhou?

"I've heard that it's one of the most prosperous ports in Daliang. Countless treasures from the East Sea are on the market there—pearls the size of bowls, corals as tall as a person, and even cultivators from the East Sea..."

The lady smiled as she listened.

When she was little, she went to the East China Sea a few times with her elders and saw the scenery there.

I was deeply moved at the time, but when I looked back on it later as an adult, I always felt a little awkward.

"Madam, there are two extremely troublesome individuals ahead of us, and we are dealing with them."

A knight rode back and announced the news in a low voice from outside.

"Is he a practitioner of spiritual cultivation?"

"I don't know the approach."

The lady inside said, "Thank you for your hard work."

A strong horse, a bamboo hat.

Su Che rode a sturdy, dark horse, holding the reins as he watched Lu Bai communicate with the group ahead.

Since leaving Guobei County half a month ago, Su Che has not slept a wink for a single night.

Besides the endless hordes of hungry ghosts and evil spirits, there are countless refugees waiting for rescue.

"Stop."

Lu Bai's complexion was even worse than Su Che's. He was riding a yellow horse, with a sword hanging on the left saddle and a bow hidden on the right, and he was also wearing a tattered bamboo hat.

"Who are you, daring to block our carriage?"

The knight at the front, clad in armor, reined in his horse and shouted at Lu Bai.

"Don't block the way, be careful, swords have no eyes."

"The Imperial Guards are on duty."

Lu Bai held up a black iron waist token: "Still not stopping?"

"The Imperial Guards?"

The knight at the front glanced at Lu Bai and spat angrily on the ground.

"The ones we fought the most in the capital were the Imperial Guards."

"Then you can give it a try, fight in Cizhou as well."

Lu Bai gave a cold snort. "If you're going to make a move, then hurry up. I don't have time to waste with you."

"what happened?"

A knight clad in black armor rode up, and judging from his attire, he was likely the leader of the group. "These two men claim to be imperial guards from Cizhou, saying there's something wrong with our group and they need to stop us for inspection. I guess they're just short of money to buy wine."

The rider yelled at the top of his lungs, "It's the same inside and outside the capital, all they care about is money and all they care about is alcohol..."

"Didn't ask for advice?"

The lead knight reined in his horse and bowed to Lu Bai.

“According to the laws of the Great Liang, when the Imperial Guards are on duty, they only reveal their identity, not their names.” Lu Bai waved the waist token in his hand. “You know the rules better than I do.”

I met a very serious person today.

The leading knight glanced at Su Che behind Lu Bai, and then pointed to the Dragon Banner behind him.

"Only one family can use the Dragon Soaring Crimson Banner, brother, do you know that?"

Although the laws of the Great Liang Dynasty were not particularly strict and there were often instances of overstepping the bounds, the dragon pattern was still strictly controlled, especially the flags, which could not be used by anyone other than the royal family.

In the Great Liang Dynasty, only one family was allowed to use a dragon-shaped banner, and that was the Langya Wang Clan.

"You are in danger."

"We have a benefactor in our team, please be lenient and help us."

Lu Bai glanced at the leading knight and slowly shook his head.

“The laws and decrees of the imperial court are not written down and used as waste paper.”

Su Che spurred his horse and charged into the ranks.

"There are assassins!"

"Protect the lady!"

The guards of the Langya Wang clan were thrown into chaos.

Su Che gripped the reins with his left hand and the hilt of his sword with his right, drawing the longsword from his waist.

"Crazy man!"

The guards tried desperately to stop him, but Su Che flicked his longsword and sent them staggering.

There isn't even a seventh-rank official.

Su Che charged straight at the most luxurious of the carriages, his sword flashing and its energy soaring through the air.

With a single sweep of his sword, he killed all six strong horses pulling the cart.

Sheath the sword.

Su Che spurred his horse and rode back the way he came.

"Old Lu, let's go. Don't waste your breath on them next time."

The horses' hooves clattered as the two galloped off in another direction into the deep night.

The guards of the Langya Wang clan could only watch them leave.

"This humble servant is incompetent and has disturbed you, Madam."

The lead knight turned and knelt before the magnificent carriage.

"This matter must be reported to the patriarch; we cannot let this imperial guard be allowed to escape like this..."

"Look up."

The knight looked up and saw that the beautiful lady with bright eyes and white teeth was standing in front of the carriage, wearing a crimson fox fur coat.

"It wasn't me, it was over there."

She raised her chin, and the maid beside her looked on in fear.

The lead knight turned his head to the side.

What lay on the ground were not the remains of six horses, but six blue-faced, fanged demons, each with four arms and covered in blue scales, which had already been shattered by the sword energy.

"Among the hungry ghosts, there is one called the cunning one, who is skilled at transforming into living beings and likes to absorb vital energy in their dreams." The lady said, "That should be it."

The leading knight swallowed hard.

When did these evil spirits infiltrate my own convoy? I had unwittingly committed a grave dereliction of duty.

"Madam, even so, those imperial guards who just rammed my Langya Wang clan's convoy must be punished..."

"I said forget it."

The lady listened to the sound of horses' hooves gradually fading into the deep night.

"Yes."

The lead knight lowered his head again.

He knew that this lady was usually gentle, but she was truly capable of making decisions.

"Go and change the horse. Be careful, so that this doesn't happen again."

Say it.

The lady turned and went back to her car. She picked up the cup of tea she hadn't finished and slowly sipped it, then resumed reading the ancient book in her hands.

"Madam, do you know that person from earlier?"

"do not know."

"Don't lie to me, the way you look at him is different from how you look at a stranger."

"is it?"

"of course."

She turned the page.

It has indeed been a long time since I've seen it.

“I’ve seen him a few times before in the palace.”

"Ah, is he my father-in-law? What a pity, he's quite handsome..."

"Just treat him like your father-in-law."

The lady glanced at the maid.

"He is now the Deputy Commander of the Judicial Bureau in Cizhou, and we will inevitably have to deal with him in the future."

"Then he's not your father-in-law?"

"It will be good for you to treat him like your father-in-law."

The lady closed the book and said nothing more.

(End of this chapter)