"We'll wait here for Mr. Li to come out. You have to believe he can do it."
"That's right, Captain. Mr. Li is highly skilled, there's nothing he can't do. You shouldn't go in and interfere."
Several subordinates also chimed in to persuade her.
Murong Xue finally agreed to their request and did not go in to look for Li Yang.
Li Yang moved through the deep mountains at lightning speed, his figure as fast as a streak of light. In no time, he had ventured deep into the mountains. Listening to the cry for help from earlier, the sound seemed to be getting closer.
"Help! Master, save me!"
Qian Long's voice echoed again. Li Yang glanced towards the west and rushed forward with all his might.
Not long after running, Li Yang spotted Qian Long. He was lying in a deep pit trap, an iron saber stuck in his leg, bleeding profusely. He looked utterly exhausted.
"Qian Long, how are you? Are you alright?" Li Yang ran over, helped him up, and asked with concern.
"Master, you're finally here! Hurry and save me, my leg, my leg is injured! Help me pull out the saber."
Qian Long pointed to his leg, sweating profusely from the pain, and shouted.
"If I pull out the saber now, all your blood will drain out. Come with me first, and I'll help you pull it out in the car and stop the bleeding."
Seeing the severity of his injury, Li Yang dragged him towards the direction of the mountain's exit.
Just as he picked Qian Long up, his peripheral vision caught a glimpse of a sharp pair of eyes staring at him from a corner within the deep mountains.
He instantly shifted his gaze over, but the eyes suddenly vanished.
Even when Li Yang used his clairvoyant eyes to scan his surroundings, he found nothing unusual.
He couldn't help but wonder if he was hallucinating. There was nothing there at all.
"Master, what are you looking at? You must heal my leg. I don't want to become disabled at such a young age." Qian Long cried as he pleaded.
"Don't worry, you won't be disabled."
Li Yang comforted him and, without dwelling on the eyes he had seen, immediately helped Qian Long back to the security team.
Fortunately, everything went smoothly. Li Yang returned to Murong Xue's team in less than ten minutes. He asked the security team to look after Qian Long for the time being, and then the group, led by Li Yang, quickly arrived at the foot of the mountain.
The villagers outside the mountain were still waiting patiently beyond the cordon for the security team's return. When they saw the security team, their eyes widened, eager to see what had happened on the mountain.
When they saw the saber lodged in Qian Long's thigh and several gruesome-looking corpses, they all wore expressions of shock.
Before the security team could explain, rumors began to spread wildly among the crowd.
Murong Xue could see their concern. If she didn't explain today, she feared what kind of stories would circulate tomorrow.
So, she first had Qian Long and the bodies placed into the vehicles, then calmly walked to the crowd and explained, "Fellow villagers, please do not worry. Nothing serious has happened in the mountains. The injured person you see sustained his injury accidentally."
"The corpses in the mountains were also the work of wild beasts, which we have now eradicated. Thank you for your concern, everyone. Please return home and rest early."
"Officer, are there really no monsters in the mountains? We heard terrifying screams coming from the mountains earlier." an uncle asked curiously.
They had initially thought there was a fight in the mountains. But as the security team had been in the mountains for so long without emerging, and with people dead, they had all assumed monsters, or even demons, had appeared.
After all, the mountain was full of graves. Anyone venturing into the mountains late at night was bound to encounter something unclean.
Murong Xue assured the crowd with great certainty, "There are no monsters, only some roaming wild beasts. Please do not panic too much. Hurry back and rest. It's best to avoid going out into the mountains late at night in the future to prevent further danger."
"Oh, oh, if it's just wild beasts, then we are relieved."
The uncle, hearing Murong Xue's words, gradually began to believe her.
Before long, the crowd dispersed. Murong Xue immediately rushed back to the vehicle and saw Li Yang still treating Qian Long.
The saber in Qian Long's leg looked peculiar. It was made of bronze and intricately carved with an ancient design, resembling an old bronze saber.
However, only half of the saber was visible. Li Yang held the hilt with one hand and said earnestly to Qian Long, "Qian Long, bear with it. I'm about to pull out the saber. It might hurt a bit."
"It's fine, pull it out. I can endure it."
Qian Long responded decisively. Before he could react, Li Yang exerted force and pulled the saber straight out of his leg.
With a "噗" sound!
Blood spurted from his leg, and his screams echoed through the sky.
However, with Li Yang by his side, he quickly used a piece of cloth to temporarily stop the bleeding and used his internal energy to sustain Qian Long's life.
In a short while, the wound on his leg was treated, and his life was saved.
Murong Xue and the security officers were relieved to see that he was out of danger.
A moment later, Murong Xue looked at Li Yang curiously and asked, "Li Yang, what exactly did you encounter in the mountains? Why was there a saber in Qian Long's leg?"
"When I got there, he was already like this. You should ask him directly what happened," Li Yang said as he examined the blood-stained saber.
"I accidentally got lost in the mountains and then fell into a trap. There was a saber in the deep pit. I stepped into the void and fell, and the saber dropped from mid-air, piercing my leg."
Qian Long explained weakly. A surge of anger then welled up in him, and he slapped his thigh, saying, "It's all my fault for being afraid of death. If I hadn't gone down the mountain alone, I wouldn't have encountered such danger."
"Then why did you go down the mountain by yourself? Didn't Li Yang tell everyone to follow him?" Murong Xue asked sternly.
"I saw that the situation in the mountains was not right, and the fog was getting thicker. I became timid and wanted to return to the foot of the mountain to wait for you. But to my surprise, as soon as I turned around and walked a few steps, I lost my way and became lost in the mountains."
"I've failed Master, and I've failed all of you."
Qian Long was filled with remorse for his actions, thinking that if he hadn't retreated from the front lines, none of this would have happened.
Murong Xue was speechless. She had thought he was merely annoying with his words, but she hadn't expected him to be so cowardly at a critical moment.
Just as she was about to reprimand Qian Long, Li Yang suddenly said, "This is not your fault. The mechanism was faulty."
"What?"
Hearing this, Qian Long looked at Li Yang in surprise and asked, confused, "Master, you must have seen the mechanism. I suspect it was a trap set by the villagers to hunt wild beasts. There's nothing strange about it, is there?"