Chapter 85

It was Qing Feng! Xuanji was caught in her surprise when she suddenly heard Yuzhi yell, “Brother Duan, snatch the embroidered ball back for me!”

Quickly thereafter, a white shadow fleeted across the air, landing in front of Xia Sang. It was indeed Duan Yuhuan, the Commander of the Imperial Guards. His swift arrival had been unexpected to say the least.

Duan Yuhuan furrowed his brows at Yuzhi’s sudden request. Seeing this, Yuzhi immediately blinked her eyes and said, “Ninth brother wants it.”

Hearing that it was for Long Fei Li, Duan Yuhuan wordlessly jumped forward and began fighting with the ‘man’ in blue for the embroidered ball. After exchanging several moves, the ‘man’ in blue was once again startled, suspicions swelling as ‘he’ thought, In such a little town as Taoyuan, how come there are so many experts, this man’s martial skills were on par with the man he fought prior!

“Yuzhi, stop making trouble,” Xia Sang scolded.

“You don’t treat me well so I’m not talking to you,” Yuzhi angrily rebuked.

Xia Sang was both stunned and furious by her words. With the way he treated her, how could she say such things to him? He put on a chilling smile and replied, “It was this slave that had offended you. Upon our return, to hit or scold this slave, it is up to you.”

“Xia Sang…” Yuzhi stiffened, unable to say another word upon hearing the frostiness of his tone.

On the other side, Duan Yuhuan was just about to land another attack when he suddenly withdrew his hand and said, “Young Lady, you are from the Yue Family in the Imperial Capital?”

Taken aback by his abrupt question, the ‘man’ in blue smiled in return and said, “Young Master, you have a good eye!”

She wasn’t an unreasonable person, since the other party was willing to concede, so was she.

In the Imperial Capital, the Yue Family was a military family serving the Imperial Court. General Yue was a Deputy General for General Rong, one of the three generals stationed at the borders. A number of General Yue’s sons were also in the army, some working under Duan Yuhuan and so he was able to recognize the Yue Family’s martial arts style.

Duan Yuhuan’s travel this time was supposed to be confidential so he could not reveal his identity. He thought for a moment before proceeding to say, “My surname is Duan, I’m a family member of Duan Yuhuan, the Commander of the Imperial Guards. I’ve worked under him and several Young Masters of the Yue Family are my colleagues.”

The ‘man’ in blue nodded and replied in a low voice, “No wonder you are so skilled. I’m Yue Jingying, General Yue’s third daughter.”

Duan Yuhuan was slightly startled but proceeded to smile and say, “So it turns out it’s the third young lady of the Yue Family, the famous female constable of the Imperial Capital’s yamen.”

(t/n yamen is one of the governmental offices, usually deals with solving criminal/civil cases. I kind of equate it to the modern police station)

Somewhat surprised, Yue Jingying asked, “Duan daren knows me?”

(t/n daren= Sir)

“Young Lady Yue is a heroine amongst women. I have long admired you.”

Yue Jingying smiled without the slightest hint of bashfulness. She replied, “Duan daren is overpraising.”

Duan Yuhuan asked in low voice, “May I ask, are people from the yamen also here? Are you here to handle a case?”

With a solemn expression, Yue Jingying replied in a low voice, “Yes, more than ten of my colleagues are here, spread across the area. They snuck into Lord Yu’s residence when I went to compete for the embroidered ball. It’s believed he has his hands on Qing Kun.”

(t/n I’m not really sure what Qing Kun is exactly. The direct translation of Qing Kun is Heaven and Earth or Ying/Yang but I’m not sure what that means in this context. I guess we will just have to see once the story progresses :))

Duan Yuhuan nodded and looked at the embroidered ball in her hand. Yue Jingying was clever and asked, “Duan daren do you want this embroidered ball as well?”

Frowning, Yue Jingying was about to step forward to fight for the embroidered ball but the man in black smiled coldly in return, his gaze inadvertently passing by Xuanji. Yuzhi had run over to her and Xuanji was holding her hand. In that moment, her sleeve had fell back ever so slightly, revealing a pale, slender arm.

Seemingly spotting something, the man’s expression took a rapid change, his hand shooting out to grab Xuanji’s arm.

Alarmed, Qing Feng furrowed his brows and pulled Xuanji behind him to intercede the attack.

But the attack had not followed through when the man suddenly leapt into the air. He sidestepped Qing Feng as his claw-like hand charged at Xuanji at rapid speed.

Stunned by the man’s powerful moves and strange martial style, Qing Feng had been careless and was unable to stop his attack in time. Xia Sang was also taken aback but he was farther from Xuanji than Qingfeng was and would not make it in time to intercede the attack.

Xuanji was petrified, seeing the man’s claw-like hand about to tear away at her sleeve when all of a sudden, several silver needles pierced through the air, shooting at the man’s acupoints, aiming directly at his head, eyes, and chest.

“Measly skill!” the man in black sneered as he raised his hand and used the embroidered ball to intercede the 3 silver needles. But a mere moment later, a low growl escaped his lips as a fourth needle pierced into his wrist. Though released at the same time as the first 3 needles, the fourth needle was fired with less force so that it would arrive a second later. The man in black did not realize this and was unable to block the attack.

The embroidered ball fell from his grasp.

With a furious scowl, the man in black looked straight ahead, his gaze piercingly sharp as he watched the man dressed in white move to stand in front of the juvenile in purple. He had a striking appearance but the look in his eyes was awfully chilling.