Zhang Yajing was stunned for a moment, then quickly realized the other party was here to save her. She opened her mouth wide and wailed.
"Help! I'm going to die! Is anyone there! Father! Mother! Big Brother Li, I'm sorry I let you down! Wuwuwu..."
Her voice was sharp and long, piercing the eardrums.
Rong Zhi dug at her ear.
This girl had good lungs.
She casually found a thick branch nearby, intending to use it as a shovel to dig out the dirt. Just as she picked up the branch, two large hands suddenly grabbed their collars, one for each, and yanked them out of the ground like scallions.
Xia Yunting also had his face covered. He struck Li Zhao from behind, causing Li Zhao to suddenly stick his head out and spit out a mouthful of dirt, coughing violently.
"Cough cough cough cough..." After finally catching his breath, Li Zhao looked at the two of them.
"You are..."
"Don't speak, go back where you came from."
Rong Zhi stopped Li Zhao from speaking and waved him away.
He nodded quickly.
"Eldest Miss, let's go quickly!"
"No!" Zhang Yajing suddenly refused sternly.
"These people must be up to something. I need to investigate thoroughly before I leave."
Li Zhao was both shocked and anxious.
"Eldest Miss, how many lives do you have to waste on such reckless behavior? We can't beat them at all. If you die, how will I explain to the Master?"
"Then you go back. I'll go in by myself. Even if something happens to me, it has nothing to do with you."
Saying that, she turned to leave.
"Miss..."
"You go ahead."
Before Li Zhao could finish speaking, Rong Zhi suddenly moved aside and made a "please" gesture to Zhang Yajing.
"..."
Zhang Yajing did not expect this and was somewhat surprised.
Rong Zhi crossed her arms and said indifferently, "I was following them earlier and saw them bringing someone in. The person inside said they needed someone to practice martial arts. Judging by the tone, the person sent inside is definitely not going to have a good time. Since you're going in, you'll just be sending them another head. I never thought the daughter of the dignified county magistrate would be so eager to do the bidding of bad people."
"I... I didn't!"
Zhang Yajing could not tolerate being misunderstood like this and quickly retorted.
"Then let me ask you, can you beat them? The two of you couldn't even beat one of them just now. There are at least five of them, and who knows how many are inside. If you're not going to your death, what are you doing? If you really want to investigate the truth, then keep your little life and come back when you have a chance to win. If you really die here, I'll go out and shout that the county magistrate's daughter is as dull as a pig, rushing into danger when she knows it's a death trap."
"You!"
Zhang Yajing's face turned red, but after thinking carefully, she felt Rong Zhi had a point.
"Alright then, Li Zhao, let's go."
"Where are we going?"
A roar sounded, and five people suddenly rushed over from five directions. The short man let out a triumphant cackle.
"Let's see where you can hide this time!"
It turned out they had gone back but hadn't relaxed their vigilance. They had been paying attention to the movements outside. Although the few of them had deliberately lowered their voices when speaking, Zhang Yajing's commotion had made them discover something.
The cripple, the blind man, and the short man all charged towards Xia Yunting. The other two dealt with Rong Zhi. No one paid any attention to Zhang Yajing and Li Zhao, probably thinking they were no threat given their pathetic state just now.
In an instant, the two groups began to fight.
Although these five people were disabled, their fighting techniques were extremely fierce. The cripple, despite having lost a leg, had a powerful fist wind. Every move carried a strong killing intent. The blind man seemed to fight without any pattern, but every attack from Xia Yunting was easily dodged. The short man crawled on the ground like a centipede, attacking the lower body. The three of them cooperated seamlessly.
Xia Yunting's face darkened. He wielded his iron fists with great power. His speed was extremely fast, and his punches blurred into afterimages. However, his opponents were like flies, buzzing away only to return. Moreover, there was a saying that one cannot fight against many. He was unable to defeat them for a moment.
On the other hand, Rong Zhi did not engage the other two head-on. She saw the mute charge at her, ducked under the punch, then flashed behind the deaf man and kicked him.
Although this kick had little offensive power, it only made the deaf man stumble. It successfully caused the mute's fist to hit the deaf man.
The entire process took less than a second, not the speed one would expect from a normal person.
"Mute, why did you hit me?"
The mute wanted to explain, but he couldn't speak. He could only attack Rong Zhi again.
However, what happened next was as if something supernatural had occurred.
No matter how the mute attacked, his fists and feet would end up hitting the deaf man. Rong Zhi weaved between the two of them. Although she never attacked, she prevented either of them from gaining an advantage.
She simply used the loopholes in their moves to make them attack each other.
Once or twice was fine, but after repeated incidents, the deaf man also got angry.
"What the hell is wrong with you!"
With that, he kicked out, and the mute fell to the ground with a bang, almost creating a large pit.
His expression also changed. He got up and attacked the deaf man, completely ignoring Rong Zhi.
The three who were still fighting Xia Yunting noticed the anomaly.
"What's going on with that woman? She seems very familiar with our moves."
Xia Yunting's eyes grew deeper. He had also noticed this, and at the same time, he knew how to break through the attacks of these three.
Just then, the cripple leaped up, preparing to punch down from above. Xia Yunting pretended to block him. His peripheral vision caught the blind man sliding a dagger from his sleeve, and the short man grabbed his ankle.
Just as Xia Yunting was under attack from three sides, at a critical moment, he suddenly gave up resisting. The short man exerted force, and Xia Yunting's body suddenly sank downwards, his height reduced by a foot. The cripple, who was punching down from above, missed. At the same time, the blind man's dagger poked his arm.
"Ah!"
With a scream, the cripple fell to the ground. The blind man also realized he had stabbed the wrong person and shouted in the confusion.
"Where is he?"
Suddenly, he stepped on empty air and fell into the pit.
Xia Yunting, who had just been forced into the ground by the short man, was already standing intact five steps away.
The short man's eyes widened.
Just now, he had seen this person break free like a loach. His speed was so fast that he couldn't capture it at all.
This was the first time a prey had escaped.
Before he could react, he found another person in the pit.
"Why are you joining the fun?"
"Ouch! Who hit me?"
"My arm!"
Thus, the team that had been as synchronized as one person began to show signs of disintegration after being disturbed.
Xia Yunting seized the opportunity, grabbed the cripple by the back of his neck, and lifted him up. Just as he was about to exert force, he heard Rong Zhi shout, "Don't fight, run quickly!"
He hesitated for a moment, then quickly dropped the cripple and turned to run.
Seeing that the other three had suffered losses, the deaf and mute men finally stopped their internal conflict and prepared to attack Rong Zhi together. Rong Zhi reached into her怀 and threw out a handful of powder.
The two men felt their vision blur. Their eyes burned as if on fire, and they rolled on the ground clutching their eyes.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Rong Zhi also leaped away.
Only Zhang Yajing and Li Zhao were left at the scene. They were already scared silly by the fight they had just witnessed.
Now that all five of these people were injured to varying degrees, and Rong Zhi and Xia Yunting had escaped, they were even more furious.
After the cripple tore off a piece of cloth to bandage his hand, the short man pulled the blind man out of the dirt, and the mute and deaf man supported each other as they walked over. All of them glared menacingly at Zhang Yajing.
Zhang Yajing felt a chill down her spine, but it was too late to run.
When Zhang Chu arrived, he felt a sense of dread.
Yanzi Mountain was part of Changping County. He had never known that there were so many courtyards and so many people within it. All he knew about were those human traffickers.
From afar, he heard screams, clearly from Zhang Yajing.
Jia Dabao's face changed slightly. Just as he was about to say something, he was slapped by Zhang Chu.
"You scoundrel! Let my daughter out quickly!"
Jia Dabao's mouth twitched, and he had no choice but to step forward and knock on the door.
A moment later, someone inside said something to him, and soon, there was another "slap." Jia Dabao's other cheek was also slapped. He came out from inside with a dark expression, bringing out two people. Both were covered in mud, their hair disheveled, and their faces already bore obvious wounds. They could barely stand.
Zhang Chu was so frightened that his soul almost left his body.
"Daughter!"
The constables behind them quickly helped Zhang Yajing and Li Zhao over and took them back to be treated.
Jia Dabao rubbed his swollen cheeks and looked puzzled.
How did Zhang Chu know his daughter was here? Even he didn't know.
Of course, he didn't know that before Rong Zhi and Xia Yunting left, they had personally knocked on Zhang Chu's door, leaving only a sentence, "Your daughter has been captured and taken to a courtyard in the deep mountains to the east," before quickly leaving.
The two of them had evaded everyone's sight and had now reached the foot of the mountain.
"Xia Yunting, call Xiao Hei out."
Xia Yunting put his hand to his mouth and whistled. A black horse emerged from the woods. The two of them leaped onto the horse. Rong Zhi sat in front, kicked the horse's belly, and left this area.
Yanzi Mountain behind them slowly became a dot in the dark night. On the road, there was only the sound of dense hoofbeats. Neither of them spoke.
By the moonlight, Xia Yunting noticed a wound on Rong Zhi's neck. The blood had already clotted. He suddenly remembered the scream she had let out before she was about to go in.
He reached out to touch the wound, but Rong Zhi slapped his hand away.
"Take care of yourself. You're covered in injuries. Are you planning to be bait and not come back alive?"
Xia Yunting paused. From her words, he inexplicably detected a hint of questioning.
This was truly... strange.
He had been on the battlefield for so many years, facing life and death and taking risks more than once. No one had ever questioned him like this. Was she... worried?
"I have confidence that I can come out alive."
"..."
Rong Zhi shouted "Giddy up" again, increasing their speed, and stopped speaking.
She was somewhat helpless. When would this Xia Yunting ever learn to cooperate?
When they returned to Yunshui Village, it was already dawn. Fortunately, Xiao Hei was fast and galloped back to the haunted house without being seen.
As soon as they dismounted, Rong Zhi said to Xia Yunting, "Go back to your room and lie down. I'll take Xiao Hei back to Uncle Yu's place first."
Xia Yunting nodded. After Rong Zhi left, he also returned to his room. As soon as he entered, he saw two big men inside. One was lying on the bed, his upper body naked, while the other was sitting by the bed, touching him.
Xia Yunting: "..."