Chapter 71: Dealing With The Intruders II
Inside his private suite in the central wing, Lu Feng had been tossing and turning on the wide sandalwood bed for the past hour. His sharp sense kept subtly tugging at the edges of his consciousness, warning him that something in the ambient environment was off.
Yet, fatigue from the day’s back and forth and the mental strain of dealing with the city’s corrupt yet hidden features weighed heavily on his eyes. He pulled the silk quilt higher over his shoulders, willfully ignoring the faint prickle of danger and trying his best to sink back into a deep, uninterrupted sleep.
He had been fast asleep until a few minutes ago, when the temperature inside his bedchamber took a sudden, noticeable dip, dropping by another sharp degree. Even in his slumber, Lu Feng felt the subtle shift in the air, a familiar, biting chill that seeped through the wooden floorboards.
Still, he refused to open his eyes. He reasoned in his groggy state that Ye Chenxue was simply reaching a critical juncture in her secluded cultivation in the neighboring hall, her immense Ice Qi naturally leaking out and altering the estate’s local atmosphere.
However, just as he was finally drifting back into the soft folds of sleep, a sharp, strangled scream shattered the midnight silence, echoing through the empty corridors of the estate.
Before the echoes of the cry could even fade, it was immediately followed by a dull, horrifying bang. There was a wet, heavy sound that sounded suspiciously like a solid object smashing violently into a man’s skull.
Lu Feng’s eyes snapped wide open. The last traces of sleep vanished instantly from his mind. In a single fluid motion, he kicked aside the silk quilt and leapt off the bed, his feet silently touching the cold floorboards.
His body moved on pure instinct, instantly identifying the direction of the commotion. The source of those two distinct sounds was close—extremely close—and the location felt unsettlingly familiar.
He slipped out of his private chamber, moving as fast and as soundlessly as a shadow gliding through the dark hallway. Bypassing the central courtyard, he rushed toward the left wing, his hand resting lightly near his sleeve, ready to unleash a lethal strike at a second’s notice.
When he rounded the final corner and arrived at the doorway where the sounds had originated, the sight that greeted him made him pause in his tracks.
The room belonged to none other than Ye Chenxue. Inside the softly lit chamber, two men clad in dark infiltration suits were lying motionless on the stone floor. One of them was completely unconscious, sprawled out on his back, while the other lay beside him, barely conscious and groaning weakly through a bloody, mangled mouth.
A prominent, sickening dent was visibly caved into the left side of his face, his cheekbone entirely shattered beneath the sheer physical force of the brutal blow that had met it.
Standing proudly over them was Ye Chenxue, her posture straight, her robes immaculate, and her face as cool and unbothered as a frozen lake.
Lu Feng’s sharp mind worked at terrifying speed. Assessing the scene in a fraction of a second, he instantly pieced together everything that had transpired. These two men were clearly masked intruders who had breached the estate’s perimeter, likely aiming to search or loot the place under the cover of the night.
Unfortunately for them, they had chosen to enter Ye Chenxue’s private room while she was completing her seclusion. When one of them realized they were caught and let out an instinctual scream of terror, Ye Chenxue had delivered a swift, brutal punch directly to his face to shut him up, leaving a permanent cave-in on the man’s skull.
A long, silent sigh of genuine relief escaped Lu Feng’s lips. Though he could clearly see she didn’t have a single scratch on her, he still looked at her with concern.
"Are you fine, Chenxue?" Lu Feng asked, his voice steady yet warm.
Ye Chenxue turned her head toward him, offering a small, formal nod. "I am completely fine, Young Master Lu. These two simply chose the wrong room to enter."
As she spoke, she didn’t waste a single moment. Bending over with effortless grace, she reached down and grabbed both of the heavy, unconscious men by their ankles. Without showing a trace of exertion, she began dragging them across the stone floor like two heavy sacks of discarded grain.
Lu Feng blinked at the casually brutal sight, raising an eyebrow as he watched her haul the two intruding cultivators toward the hallway. "Where are you taking them?"
"I need to bring all three of them together," Ye Chenxue replied simply over her shoulder, her voice calm and matter-of-fact. "The third intruder is currently immobile in Han Lin’s room. It will be easier to monitor them if they are all in one place."
"I see," Lu Feng said, his eyes sharpening slightly at the mention of Han Lin.
Without another word, the two of them set off down the main corridor toward the eastern wing, with Ye Chenxue casually dragging her two half-dead victims behind her, their heavy boots scraping loudly against the polished wood. Lu Feng intentionally picked up his pace, walking a few yards ahead of her. Even though Ye Chenxue had already assured him that the third intruder was neutralized and that Han Lin was unhurt, he wanted to reach the room first with his own eyes to confirm her safety.
When Lu Feng reached the doorway of Han Lin’s chamber and pushed the door open, he was met with an extraordinarily unexpected scene.
The third intruder was still pinned to the floor in the exact spot where Ye Chenxue had paralyzed him earlier, unable to move his limbs. However, his black cloth mask had been roughly torn off, revealing a bruised, swollen face underneath. Standing a few paces away from the helpless man was Han Lin. She was breathing heavily, her silk sleeves rolled up slightly, and in her hands, she tightly clutched a thin, long metal bar—a brass curtain rod she had apparently ripped straight off the wall.
Several fresh, reddish-purple welts were prominently stamped across the intruder’s exposed cheekbones and forehead, clearly the fresh work of that thin metal bar.
Lu Feng stopped at the threshold, taking in the hilarious yet bizarre sight. Right at that moment, Ye Chenxue arrived at his side, dropping the legs of the two unconscious men onto the floor with a loud *thud*.
Surveying the bruised face of the paralyzed man and the metal rod clutched firmly in Han Lin’s trembling hands, Ye Chenxue spoke first, a hint of genuine curiosity in her voice. "Han Lin... what are you doing to him?"
Han Lin flinched at the sudden voices, quickly turning her head toward them. When she saw Lu Feng and Ye Chenxue standing together at the door, she let out a long, shuddering breath, though her grip on the metal bar did not loosen in the slightest. She pointed the tip of the rod accusingly at the paralyzed man on the floor, her eyes flashing with a mix of leftover fear and lingering indignation.
"He... he was threatening me!" Han Lin declared, her voice rising slightly as she vented her frustration. "The moment you left the room, Chenxue, he started muttering through his teeth! He swore that the moment the paralysis wore off at break of day, he was going to skin me alive and throw my body into the lotus pond! He wouldn’t shut his mouth!"
Han Lin took a deep breath, her chest heaving as she gestured wildly with the metal rod. "I couldn’t stand listening to his vile threats anymore! I knew he couldn’t move his arms or legs, so I took matters into my own hands to force him to be quiet!"
Hearing Han Lin’s frantic explanation, Ye Chenxue couldn’t help but let out a soft, amused chuckle. A rare, playful grin spread across her usually cold and icy face as she looked at the shaken woman.
"You know, Han Lin," Ye Chenxue added in a light, teasing tone, "with the way you were swinging that metal bar, your blunt force probably would have helped stimulate his frozen blood circulation. If we hadn’t arrived just now, you might have accidentally helped him break out of my paralysis technique early so he could keep beating you."
Hearing Ye Chenxue’s playful warning, Han Lin froze mid-breath. Her eyes widened in genuine, sudden alarm, and she reflexively took another big step backward, looking at the metal bar in her hands as if it had suddenly turned into a poisonous snake.
"I... I was stimulating his blood flow?" Han Lin gasped out, her face going slightly pale before she quickly tried to recover her composure, clearing her throat nervously. "Well... luckily, you two arrived in time! Yes, very luckily!"
Seeing Han Lin’s flustered, dramatic reaction, both Lu Feng and Ye Chenxue couldn’t suppress their smiles, a light chuckle echoing through the room.
Internally, Lu Feng felt a deep sense of appreciation for Ye Chenxue’s quick wit. He silently commended her playful banter—her lighthearted teasing had instantly shattered the heavy, terrifying atmosphere that had hung over the room, successfully easing the lingering trauma of a woman who had spent the last hour trapped alone with a ruthless cultivator who wanted her dead.
Lu Feng stepped further into the room, walking past the bruised, whimpering intruder on the floor to stand right beside Han Lin. He reached out, gently taking the heavy metal bar from her white-knuckled grip and setting it safely against the wall.
"You showed remarkable bravery, Han Lin," Lu Feng said, his voice soft, steady, and full of genuine respect as he looked into her eyes. "To stand your ground and defend yourself against an enemy cultivator takes true courage."
He smiled warmly at her, his mismatched eyes gleaming under the dim lantern light. "After everything you’ve been through tonight, and after seeing how fierce you can be when pushed... I think I definitely need to get you a proper gift tomorrow."