Chapter 80: The Discovery of the Mark

Updated: 2013-07-08

Hearing this, Yue Lingjun wondered inwardly—had he truly misjudged him? With suspicion lingering in his heart, Yue Lingjun nodded, an awkward expression surfacing on his face. He cupped his hands and said, “If I have offended you, Brother Qiao, I ask for your forgiveness.”

He then turned to Shan Feng, who was glaring from behind Qiao Zhi, and said, “Brother, my behavior was presumptuous. Forgive me.”

Qiao Zhi toyed with the jade fan in his hand, noting the shift in Yue Lingjun’s form of address, but replied indifferently, “No need to dwell on it, Brother Yue. Such things are only natural.”

Since Qiao Zhi was unconcerned, Shan Feng, though disgruntled, said nothing more. Yet the look he shot at Yue Lingjun and Qing Feng remained unfriendly.

“Your Highness…” Yue Lingjun was now truly at a loss, uncertain how to proceed.

“Since we’re already down here, I intend to search this forest. Why not let Shan Feng stay behind for the others, while we go ahead? What do you think?” Qiao Zhi offered.

Shan Feng immediately grew anxious and, before Yue Lingjun could reply, protested, “Your Highness, that will not do! Someone must remain at your side.”

Qiao Zhi understood Shan Feng’s concerns, but in his mind, their presence or absence mattered little. “You may consider this a direct order,” he said simply.

Shan Feng looked at Qiao Zhi’s retreating figure, his heart heavy with disappointment. Did His Highness still not trust his own personal guards? But since Qiao Zhi had called it an order, there was no room for negotiation. Shan Feng had no choice but to accept; all the while, the glance he threw at Yue Lingjun and Qing Feng grew even colder.

Yue Lingjun observed all this in silence, offering no objection to Qiao Zhi’s arrangement. He’d initially considered leaving Qing Feng behind, but, knowing his temperament, he doubted Qing Feng could get along with Shan Feng if left together.

“Let’s go,” Qiao Zhi said, striding into the woods.

Yue Lingjun followed, and Qing Feng, after casting a cool glance at the hostile Shan Feng, tossed out, “If you’re looking for a fight, I’ll be waiting,” before turning away without a backward glance.

Once they had entered the forest, Qiao Zhi stopped and turned to face Yue Lingjun, his peach blossom eyes earnest. “Brother Yue, rest assured—the royal family will give your family an explanation for what happened to your fourth sister-in-law. I am sorry she had to suffer.”

At the mention of his eldest sister, Yue Lingjun’s hand clenched at his side, veins bulging with tension. With Lian Yue’s disappearance, his sister’s ordeal would be delayed indefinitely. If he couldn’t find Lian Yue, he feared his sister would never forgive him.

Meeting Qiao Zhi’s gaze, Yue Lingjun was silent for a moment before asking in a low, steady voice, “Tell me—was what happened to my sister tacitly permitted by the imperial family?”

“No!” Qiao Zhi’s eyes flashed darkly as he denied Yue Lingjun’s suspicion.

Yue Lingjun relaxed his grip and, after a long pause, replied, “I hope you’re telling the truth.”

Qiao Zhi silently added in his heart: Elder Brother, do not let me down.

All the while, Qing Feng, scanning their surroundings, paused as his gaze landed upon a particular tree trunk. “Young master, look there!” he exclaimed.

Both men, their conversation interrupted, turned to where Qing Feng pointed. Yue Lingjun hurried over, examining the mark on the bark with delight. Sharing a glance with the equally elated Qing Feng, he let out a long sigh of relief.

Qiao Zhi, puzzled, asked, “Brother Yue, have you found something?”

Yue Lingjun stepped aside, gesturing to the mark that had so thrilled him. “Look at this sign on the tree, Brother Qiao.”

Qiao Zhi looked where he pointed and saw a patch of bark tinged brown, as if something had scraped it. His eyes brightened. “And this is…?”

“This must have been left by Yue’er! She’s safe—she really entered this forest,” Yue Lingjun, usually composed, now spoke with rare excitement, his eyes alight.

Qiao Zhi’s own gaze shone all the brighter as he studied the mark, then asked, somewhat hesitantly, “How can you be sure this was left by your sister? Does this sign have special meaning?”

Qing Feng quickly explained, “Your Highness, this is the mark my lady has used since childhood. Look—two sharp ends and a curve in the middle, like a crescent moon.”

Qiao Zhi looked again, and indeed it bore resemblance. His spirits lifted. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s hurry after her!”

But as the excitement faded, Yue Lingjun’s mind grew uncharacteristically calm. “No, we must turn back the way we came.”

Now it was Qing Feng and Qiao Zhi who were perplexed, both waiting for him to elaborate.

“Yue’er would never have entered the forest alone—she must be waiting for me to rescue her. Since she did enter, she cannot be alone, and this mark is so obvious that her companion would surely spot it,” Yue Lingjun analyzed calmly, making Qiao Zhi feel a little abashed. “In that case, the three of us pressing on alone would be too risky.”

Qiao Zhi considered and nodded in agreement.

Having reached consensus, the three returned the way they had come, rejoining a rather surprised Shan Feng at the cliffside where they had first descended, and waited there anxiously.

Meanwhile, beneath the tree where Yue Lingjun had found the mark, Thirteen stood with a dark expression, glaring at the un-erased plus sign left by Seventy-One and Sixty-Nine. Furious, he cursed, “Useless pair!”

“Thirteen, they’ve already been discovered. The mark can’t be erased now. What should we do? Seventy-One and Sixty-Nine must have been careless,” a black-clad man beside him tried to excuse his comrades.

Thirteen shot him a glare. “Careless? Such an obvious mark, and they overlooked it. I bet those two fools still haven’t realized there’s a mark at all! It seems that after being tossed into the valley all those years ago, the only thing they remembered was to always carry their ‘Ape’s Hand’ climbing tools—they’ve forgotten everything else.”

“We should focus on a solution. When this mission’s over, we can punish them if we must. At least this time, they did succeed in their main task,” another black-clad man interceded.

After all, fewer than fifty of their generation remained. They were assassins, yes, but after decades together, there was still a bond of brotherhood. Like Sixty-Nine, who, despite finding Seventy-One irritating, was still willing to partner with him. Their generation of a hundred assassins had been split into four groups; of the fourth, only Sixty-Nine and Seventy-One now survived.

Thirteen’s curses were more for show than anything else—and everyone knew it.

“Let’s go. Check how far to the next mark. Forty-Two, Forty-Three, you two take to the trees and follow the trail Forty-Seven left. The rest of you, watch the trunks below,” he ordered.

At his words, two men in black leapt into the trees to blaze the trail, while the others followed below, keeping a sharp eye on the bark as they went.

Whether in the branches or on the ground, their movements were eerily swift and left no trace, not unlike the skills of Sixty-Nine and Seventy-One.

As Thirteen expected, Sixty-Nine and Seventy-One were rapidly closing in on Yu Wen Lingxi and Yue Lianyue by following the marks left by Forty-Seven. They had just passed the site where Yu Wen Lingxi had fought the wild boar. Fortunately, Forty-Seven was reliable—while scouting ahead in the trees, he always took time to erase any tracks left by Yu Wen Lingxi and Lianyue.

The direct result was that Forty-Seven had had to deal with countless animal corpses. Don’t ask how he managed it; like Yu Wen Lingxi, he carried bottles and jars aplenty. Just now, he had killed another charging wild boar with one stroke, then produced a dark porcelain vial, sprinkling a little powder onto the animal. In the blink of an eye, the boar’s body turned to a wisp of green smoke and vanished without a trace.

Catching his breath, Forty-Seven leapt into the trees, scanning his surroundings as he pressed on, grumbling to himself about how slowly Thirteen and the others were moving.

By now, Thirteen and his group had found the second mark. This time, Thirteen didn’t even bother to curse. Even after erasing, traces remained, and they couldn’t very well make the tree disappear.

After a moment’s silence, Thirteen said to his companions, “Luckily, there’s a full li between the two marks. All we can do is slow down those following us. Nineteen, Fifty-Four, you two add a few identical marks between the plus signs—let them take a few detours first.”