Looking down at Zhan Ri Fei, who still stood calmly below as though he was in no hurry to leave, Huo Xiao Di couldn’t help but say, “Since we’re parting ways, shouldn’t you leave quickly—”
But his words abruptly stopped.
It was as if someone had cut them short with a pair of invisible scissors.
—His voice had ceased because a sudden numbness struck the mute acupoint on his neck, leaving him unable to speak.
Moments later, a sharp pain pierced his back, and his entire body froze, unable to move!
Two faint sounds followed—“tap, tap”—as two tiny pebbles fell softly to the ground.
—Who had subdued him in secret?
Huo Xiao Di felt his entire body turn cold.
There was no one else in the granary.
It had to be him.
—Why had he done this? Why had he ambushed him?
—Was Zhan Ri Fei a friend or an enemy?
Huo Xiao Di’s heart was now filled with sorrow, pain, anger, and humiliation.
—Had he trusted the wrong person after all?!
Zhan Ri Fei’s voice remained calm as ever: “Brother Huo, forgive me. Your acupoints will release naturally after three hours.”
His breathing was labored, as though even this sudden ambush, carried out while Huo Xiao Di was off guard, had sapped what little strength he had left.
Huo Xiao Di, immobilized on the beam, noticed that Zhan Ri Fei hadn’t left the granary either.
Zhan Ri Fei seemed to be waiting, almost as if he were expecting someone.
—Why wasn’t he leaving? Did he already have complete confidence in the outcome?
—How could he, having not even seen their pursuers, be so certain of victory?
—He had spoken of parting ways to head to the capital separately and had given Huo Xiao Di the yellow silk. So why was he still here?
Zhan Ri Fei fell silent. It seemed even speaking drained the last of his strength.
He leaned against one of the granary walls, unmoving, almost like a statue in meditation. Only the occasional faint sound of his uneven breathing indicated that he was still alive.
Huo Xiao Di suddenly noticed something odd about Zhan Ri Fei’s breathing—it alternated between long and short, sometimes shallow and other times deep.
This irregularity sent a chill through Huo Xiao Di’s heart. An unsettling thought, one that had been nagging at the back of his mind, now surged to the forefront, impossible to suppress.
—Could it be that Zhan Ri Fei truly had reached the limits of his strength, his severe injuries leaving him unable to move?
—If that were the case, why had he waited until Huo Xiao Di was on the beam before expending his energy to subdue him?
Time passed, though neither Huo Xiao Di on the beam nor Zhan Ri Fei below could say how long. It felt like an eternity.
Huo Xiao Di’s mind churned with questions. Who is he waiting for?
Finally, faint and distant, the sound of hoofbeats reached their ears, shaking the ground with their rhythm.
The hoofbeats were accompanied by sharp whistles and the piercing shriek of signal arrows. The distinct sound of the arrows matched those of the riders they had encountered earlier.
The pursuers had arrived much faster than expected!
But—who exactly were these pursuers?
—If they were the Xiang Yang Prince’s imperial guards, their uniforms should bear the distinctive insignias of the royal guard.
—If they weren’t the Prince’s guards, how had they come to possess the prince’s portrait-scroll?
Before long, the hoofbeats stopped just outside the granary.
Suddenly, the whistling calls and the sharp screeches of the signal arrows ceased entirely. The horses stopped moving, and only the sound of footsteps and the faint clinking of swords and blades grew louder, steadily approaching. Yet, there were no voices.
The ones who had arrived were clearly highly trained warriors.
Then, all the sounds stopped completely.
Huo Xiao Di, holding his breath and focusing his energy, heard the rhythmic sound of someone’s heavy boots—clack, clack, clack—approaching from outside.
The person walked slowly, each deliberate step echoing like a drumbeat on Huo Xiao Di’s heart.
Judging by the weight and rhythm of the footsteps, the person must have been tall. Yet as the figure finally appeared through the broken door of the granary, silhouetted against the light, it turned out to be unexpectedly short.
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