Lin Chong's Women's Cuju Team

Chapter 173 Ning Zhanyan Captured by the Wolf King

Ning Zhanyan saw that the waiter was not afraid of him and was a worldly man. He knew that his official robes could not hide his true identity, but he did not want to disturb the inn's guests. He wanted to secretly investigate the palace maid, so he casually replied, "I just saw a suspect at the entrance of your inn. Have you seen a tall and slender woman with a round face and a bit big glasses?"

Seeing Ning Zhanyan gesturing with his hands as he spoke, the waiter didn't dare to be negligent. He merely tilted his head to think for a moment, then shook his head to indicate that he had never seen this woman before. Ning Zhanyan, of course, didn't believe the waiter's words and insisted on going to the second floor of the inn to check the rooms.

The waiter quickly stepped forward and said a few kind words, then took out the guest registration book for Ning Zhanyan to look through. Ning Zhanyan glanced at it, then threw the book back into the waiter's arms and said to him in a stern tone, "Waiter, I must go up to the second floor to check the rooms today. I advise you to save your breath."

As soon as he finished speaking, Ning Zhanyan drew his sword and rushed to the guest rooms on the second floor. He hurriedly checked each room. Suddenly, as he opened the door to one of the rooms, he saw a familiar figure sitting at a table. It was a middle-aged man, dressed in the magnificent clothes of the Jin people, and wearing a fox fur felt hat.

"My dear nephew, it's been a long time!" The middle-aged man from Jin turned around and greeted Ning Zhanyan loudly, while gently blowing on the tea foam in his teacup.

Ning Zhanyan knew he had fallen into a trap the moment he saw the man. The palace maid had deliberately lured him out of the palace, and the Jin man before him was none other than the Wolf King. Ning Zhanyan's face turned pale instantly. He stepped forward respectfully, bowed, and said to the Wolf King, "Uncle, it's been a long time! How are you?"

"Heh heh," the Wolf King chuckled coldly twice, then said meaningfully, "Lord Ning, no! You should be called Commander Chen now. I heard you've recently improved the manufacturing technique of the Nether Sphere. Could you show the blueprints to your uncle?"

Ning Zhanyan was taken aback. He hadn't expected that the Wolf King's spies had discovered his efforts to improve the craft of the Netherworld Ball while he was hiding in the palace. No wonder the Wolf King had lured him out of the palace. He figured the Wolf King had come today specifically for the blueprints of his improved new generation of Netherworld Balls, but he absolutely couldn't hand them over. Last time, the Wolf King had even soaked the Netherworld Ball in crystal water and used it to create a fire during the Imperial Cuju (ancient Chinese football) match, burning down the palace's Cuju field. Now, he was definitely up to something else with the Netherworld Ball.

Seeing that Ning Zhanyan didn't answer him, the Wolf King knew he wouldn't hand over the blueprints for the Nether Sphere. So he slammed his teacup to the ground. At that moment, the men in black who had been lurking on the rooftop outside the door appeared. These thugs rushed forward and fought Ning Zhanyan, who wielded his sword and fought them back.

The Wolf King's henchmen were all highly skilled in martial arts, and Ning Zhanyan, outnumbered, was captured. The Wolf King immediately ordered Ning Zhanyan to be imprisoned in the inn's dungeon. After being tortured and coerced, Ning Zhanyan was already covered in wounds, but having served in the Ministry of Justice, he had seen all kinds of torture methods. These were nothing to him; he was a tough guy who would rather die than reveal the whereabouts of the Underworld Sphere blueprints.

As dusk fell, seeing that Ning Zhanyan remained defiant, the Wolf King had no choice but to personally interrogate him in the dungeon. The moment Ning Zhanyan saw the Wolf King, he roared, "Uncle, is this how you treat your nephew? You want my improved Nether Sphere blueprints? I'll tell you, I'd rather die than tell you! Use whatever torture methods you have left, I'm not afraid of you!"

The Wolf King's face turned red with rage. He stepped forward and grabbed Ning Zhanyan's chin, saying, "Do you know how much I hate your father? If it weren't for your father, my junior sister wouldn't have betrayed me. After I forced your mother to divorce your father, I returned to the Jin Kingdom, where she died in despair. I'm going to hold you and your father accountable for this!"

"Your father abused you, so I taught you to poison him. I even helped you become the Vice Minister of the Ministry of Justice and manage the Underworld Cave for me. I was training you to be a traitor. And your sister, Ning Zhanshuang, I trained her from a young age to be a spy for the Jin Kingdom, to kill for me, and to poison her. But none of this is enough to quell my hatred!"

At this point, the Wolf King went berserk and lashed Ning Zhanyan with his whip a dozen times. Ning Zhanyan bit his lip until it bled, but he remained silent. He knew that he and his sister had been coerced and manipulated by the Wolf King all along, but only today did he realize the real reason why the Wolf King hated them: the Wolf King loved his mother but could not have her.

"Heh! Wolf King, you're pathetic! My mother doesn't love you, so you vent your hatred on my siblings and me, but what can that change? My mother can't come back to life, and she can't love you. She only ever loved my father." Ning Zhanyan loudly mocked the Wolf King.

Upon hearing Ning Zhanyan's words, the Wolf King lashed Ning Zhanyan with his leather whip a dozen times. His guards hurriedly advised him, "Lord Wolf King, stop hitting him! He'll faint if you keep hitting him. If he faints, how will we interrogate him about the Nether Sphere? We also need to know how to manufacture boots that specifically counter the Nether Sphere, so that we can ensure everything goes smoothly on the battlefield."

After hearing his guard's words, the Wolf King threw the whip aside, stepped forward, pinched Ning Zhanyan's chin, and said to him in a sarcastic tone, "Good nephew, have you forgotten what day it is today?"

Ning Zhanyan frowned and thought for a moment, then a sudden sense of foreboding washed over him. Tonight was the night of the full moon, the day Chen Jinhuan's love potion would take effect. Even worse, Emperor Huizong had specifically requested Consort Luo to serve him tonight. If he couldn't return to the palace tonight to detoxify her, she might die from the poison. Therefore, Ning Zhanyan had no choice but to soften his tone and ask the Wolf King, "Uncle, I must return to Qixia Palace tonight. Huan'er is waiting for me to go back and save her. Please let me go back."

"Oh? Lord Ning, even heroes can't resist the charms of a beautiful woman. In that case, tell me quickly where you hid the blueprints for the Underworld Sphere. As long as I have someone find the blueprints, I will let you return to the palace," the Wolf King said to Ning Zhanyan with a fake smile.

Ning Zhanyan gestured for the Wolf King to come closer, then whispered in his ear the location of the hidden Netherworld Orb blueprints. Upon hearing this, the Wolf King immediately sent men to the Zhenyuan Escort Agency to search for the blueprints, and they indeed found them.

The Wolf King kept his word and indeed ordered Ning Zhanyan to be released. Ning Zhanyan, covered in wounds, left the inn and immediately used a coded message to contact the Zhenyuan Escort Agency, asking them to take him back to the agency to change his disguise and treat his wounds before rushing back to Qixia Palace.

When Ning Zhanyan returned to the palace, the moon was already high in the sky. Dressed only in casual black attire, he entered Consort Luo's bedchamber in Qixia Palace. As he cautiously approached the door, he heard the sounds of a woman sobbing and a man's heavy breathing coming from inside. His heart sank. Was he truly too late? Had the Emperor already begun to favor Consort Luo?

Ning Zhanyan gritted his teeth, about to draw his sword and rush into the hall, when a pair of slender hands pressed down on the back of his hand. He quickly turned around to look behind him and saw Chen Jinhuan wearing only a thin garment, her face pale, silently shaking her head at him. He quickly pulled the woman away, but when they reached the corner of the corridor, Chen Jinhuan collapsed into his arms.

Ning Zhanyan reached out and checked the woman's breath in his arms. He found Chen Jinhuan's breathing to be weak, and when he picked up her wrist, he saw a dark line. He knew that Chen Jinhuan must have been suffering from the Gu poison for a while. So he picked her up and quickly carried her into the artificial hill in the Qixia Palace garden. Inside the artificial hill was a cave that he had modified, a small, secret chamber that he had specially made. Although the cave was not large, it was just big enough for two people.

Chen Jinhuan was in a daze, constantly calling out Ning Zhanyan's name:

"Sixth Brother... save me!"

"Sixth Brother, don't abandon me..."

Looking at the pale-faced woman, her forehead covered in sweat, Ning Zhanyan lowered his head and kissed her pale lips. These past few days, Chen Jinhuan had been busy training in Cuju (ancient Chinese football) and discussing the Cuju match with Du Shiniang and Lin Chong; they hadn't been intimate for a long time. As they were entwined, Ning Zhanyan suddenly felt a tightness in his chest, turned his head, coughed, and spat out a mouthful of blood.

He guessed that the old injury had been aggravated by the torture he had just suffered from the Wolf King's men, but he didn't have time to recuperate. He had to help Chen Jinhuan detoxify first.