Chapter 70: Dealing With The Intruders
Left alone in the quiet room, the remaining intruder paced the wooden floorboards with slow, deliberate steps. He kept one hand tucked behind his back while the other idly tapped the flat side of his bare dagger against his palm.
His dark eyes flicked continuously across the walls, the carved wooden pillars, and the ceiling beams, continuing to scan the chamber even though they had already thoroughly searched it.
Han Lin sat frozen on the edge of her bed, her hands clutched tightly in her lap, her heart hammering against her ribs.
"How long ago did you take ownership of this place?" the intruder asked abruptly, his voice a muffled, low rasp behind his black mask.
"We... we just bought it today," Han Lin began, her voice trembling slightly. "We settled the deed with Master Wei only a few hours—"
"Quiet," the intruder snapped, cutting her off instantly without turning his head. His eyes remained fixed on the wooden mantle above the unlit hearth. "Lower your voice. Speak softly, or I’ll silence you permanently."
Han Lin swallowed hard, taking a shallow breath before continuing in a hushed whisper. "We bought it today. We don’t know anything about the previous owner."
"What is your relationship with the old owners of this land?" he demanded, stepping closer to a decorative wooden panel and knocking on it with his knuckles, listening for a hollow echo. "Did they leave anything behind? A box? A key? A scroll?"
"Nothing," Han Lin whispered, her eyes wide with fear. "We met the broker, paid the gold, and moved our things in tonight. That is all."
The intruder paused, tilting his head slightly as he cast a sharp sideways glance at her. "And what do you know about the true power structures of Crimson Vale? Who backs you? Who sent you to buy this specific estate?"
"No one sent us," Han Lin answered quickly, her knuckles white as she squeezed her silk robes. "We are travelers. We needed a quiet place to stay and rest. We know nothing about the city’s powers."
"How many people are in this estate right now?" he asked, his tone flat and calculating.
"Just... just three of us," she replied softly. "Me, Young Master Lu, and Lady Ye."
Satisfied with her quiet compliance, the intruder turned his back to her entirely, returning his focus to inspecting the room’s foundation. He ran his calloused fingers along the wooden baseboards, almost completely ignoring Han Lin as if she were nothing more than a piece of furniture.
Noticing that his attention was entirely diverted, Han Lin subtly shifted her weight, attempting to ease herself further back toward the headboard to distance herself from him.
The moment her heel slid an inch across the floorboards, a sharp whistle cut through the air.
Thud!
A flash of moonlight caught the gleaming blade of the dagger as it zipped through the dark, stabbing deep into the solid wood floor right between her feet, mere inches from her toes.
Han Lin let out a sharp yelp, flinching back against the wall with a gasped breath.
The intruder turned slowly, a deep frown visible behind his mask. Reaching into his leather belt, he drew a second, longer dagger, its edge cold and dark. "Move again," he warned, his voice icy and devoid of patience, "and this one goes straight into your chest."
"What are you doing?" a calm, chilling voice suddenly echoed from the open doorway behind him. "And why are you even in here?"
The intruder’s spine went rigid. The sudden sound of a voice right at his shoulder sent a shockwave of terror through him. He spun around on his heel, raising the dagger to strike, but before his muscles could even complete the turn, Ye Chenxue clicked her tongue in mild irritation.
"Never mind," she muttered softly. "I’ll find out myself."
Before the man could react, Ye Chenxue stepped forward like a ghostly blur, placing both of her palms flat against his chest.
A wave of absolute, terrifying Ice Qi surged out from her hands, entering his body in a single violent pulse. The moment her energy touched the man’s abdomen, she targeted his Dantian, flooding his internal pathways with her freezing Qi.
The man’s eyes widened in horror as a deep, paralyzing cold spread through his veins. His muscles locked instantly, his blood sluggishly coming to a complete halt. Without making another sound, his knees gave out, and he collapsed heavily onto the floor, completely paralyzed from the neck down.
Ye Chenxue bypassed his stiffened form without a second glance, stepping over to the bed to lift Han Lin up by her arms. Pulling the shaken woman into a firm, reassuring hug, she patted her back gently. "Don’t worry," Ye Chenxue murmured softly. "No harm will come to you while I am here."
Han Lin let out a shaky sigh of relief, leaning into the hug for a brief second before pulling back. "Thank you, Chenxue... What did you do to him?"
"I froze his energy pathways," Ye Chenxue replied simply, glancing down at the motionless intruder on the floor. "He won’t be able to move a single muscle until break of day."
"There are two more of them," Han Lin urged quickly, her hand clutching Ye Chenxue’s sleeve. "They are searching the other rooms in the building right now. They’re looking for something, but I don’t know what it is."
Hearing that, Ye Chenxue’s brow furrowed into a tight frown. If those two made their way into the central wing, they would end up waking Lu Feng.
A sudden, quiet annoyance rippled through her. She had seen the mess Lu Feng left behind when he destroyed their carriage during their journey to Crimson Vale, and she really did not want to spend her first morning cleaning up dismembered corpses from their brand-new estate.
"Stay here and keep an eye on this one," Ye Chenxue instructed, her tone turning brisk. "I will catch the other two before they cause any more trouble."
Stepping out into the hallway, Ye Chenxue felt remarkably light. The three Ice-Blooded Blossom Pills had worked wonders—even though she hadn’t broken through to a higher major realm yet, her energy control was far more refined, making her movements effortlessly fast and fluid.
She glided down the corridor, relying on her physical senses to track the soft, subtle rustle of clothing. She found the remaining two intruders inside her own assigned training quarters, frantically prying open a floor tile near the back wall.
Before they could even turn around to register her presence, Ye Chenxue closed the distance. She struck the first intruder across the back of the neck with the edge of her palm, knocking him unconscious before he even realized someone had entered the room.
The second intruder reacted instantly, turning around with a short sword drawn. But Ye Chenxue caught his wrist in a iron grip, twisting it back. In his shock and agony, the man let out an instinctual, loud shout of pain that echoed sharply through the quiet halls of the building.
"Arghhhh!"
Ye Chenxue’s eyes narrowed in annoyance. That shout was more than loud enough to wake Lu Feng from his sleep in the neighboring wing.
Displeased by the noise, Ye Chenxue balled her fist, channeling a dense layer of physical force, and punched the man squarely in the jaw. "Keep quiet!"
Bang!
Crack!
The heavy impact echoed through the room as a portion of his cheekbone caved in under her fist. The intruder crumpled to the floor like a sack of stones, completely knocked out cold.
Even with his face partially caved in, Ye Chenxue knew he wouldn’t die—his cultivator body was tough enough to survive the blunt trauma, even if he would wake up with a ruined jaw.