(5) Friend or Foe

"Guo Fourth Sister?" The man in pale blue's brow furrowed slightly, some unreadable thought passing through his mind, before he tapped his folding fan lightly against his palm and said with a smile, "How interesting." He glanced up toward the rooftop once more, then seemed to arrive at some realization. "You've really gone and kicked a hornet's nest this time. This Guo Fourth Sister has considerable nerve—just look at how badly the Magistrate's wife has already been frightened, huddled in her room, trembling with fear, and yet this one still has the courage to come out here and look for herself. Those fighters up there, whose skills are hardly weak, are almost certainly here for her sake, not for Magistrate Cao's at all." Then a flash of malice crossed his eyes, and he glared fiercely at the masked men in black, snapping, "What exactly have you useless fools been doing with yourselves? Can't even manage to keep this under control—what use are you to me at all?"

His smile turned to fury in the blink of an eye, faster than the turn of a page.

The four masked men in black immediately dropped to their knees, heads bowed, saying in unison, "We are deeply ashamed. We beg the young master's forgiveness."

Watching this exchange play out between them, Guo Huilian realized that not a single one of her three earlier questions had actually been answered by the man in pale blue. Summoning some inexplicable, reckless courage from who knew where, she snapped angrily, "Stop putting on this little act. Who exactly are you? What is it you actually want from capturing us?"

The man in pale blue had already gathered his strength into his palm, channeling it straight through his folding fan, his hand raised, poised to strike down at the crown of one of the masked men's heads—but hearing Guo Huilian's sharp "instruction," he slowly withdrew that murderous intent instead, turning to look at Guo Huilian with a wickedly charming smile. "There are plenty of bold souls in this Chang'an, but none quite so bold as you, Guo Fourth Sister—standing your ground so firmly even before me, the one they call the 'Jade-Faced Rakshasa.' Now that's genuinely interesting..." As he spoke, he looked her up and down with careful attention, taking slow, deliberate steps toward her. He walked with a leisurely, graceful gait, his wide sleeves and the hem of his robe swaying gently with each movement, a faint, elegant fragrance drifting from him and reaching Guo Huilian's nose. His steady approach sent her heart racing for no reason she could name, a flush rising in her cheeks, and she quickly lowered her head and stepped back several paces, silently cursing herself for being so useless—the man was, after all, nothing more than a pretty face, so why on earth was she letting herself feel so flustered?

Noticing Guo Huilian's obvious embarrassment, Yu Shurong found himself all the more inclined to tease her further. "Weren't you just wearing such a fierce, menacing expression a moment ago? How is it you're blushing now?" He closed his folding fan and used it to gently lift Guo Huilian's lowered chin, only to have her slap his hand away sharply. She felt a flash of real irritation—this man before her, however extraordinary his looks, was clearly no gentleman of good breeding; proper decorum called for men and women to keep their distance from one another, and this gesture of his was, without question, far too forward and presumptuous.

"How interesting..." Yu Shurong's interest only grew keener still. Every woman in Chang'an who ever laid eyes on him found herself utterly captivated, unable to walk away—all of them hoping only that he might spare them a lingering glance, a moment's attention. And yet here was a young lady so thoroughly annoyed with him that she'd actually slapped his fan away in irritation?

"Yu Shurong, offering Fourth Sister my apologies here." He bowed to her with deliberate formality, then straightened up slowly and flicked his folding fan open again, fanning himself gently—only to find, to his surprise, that Guo Huilian's brow had furrowed further still, and she had taken yet another step back. At that moment, Lady Liu, who had remained inside the room, emerged slowly at the sound of voices, and upon seeing Yu Shurong, found herself privately marveling at his appearance as well—her own husband, she thought, couldn't hope to compare, not by a long shot; she suspected it would prove genuinely difficult to find anyone else in all of Chang'an whose looks could even rival his.

"Fourth Sister, this is quite a considerable misunderstanding. Whether the two of you ended up here through abduction or invitation, neither has anything at all to do with me. I simply happen to know these men by coincidence, and happen to live right next door besides—being disturbed day after day, unable to get any peace, I came to look into the matter, that's all there is to it." Yu Shurong continued to fan himself gently as he spoke, unhurried and composed, every movement carrying an air of leisurely, effortless grace.

"Young Master Yu, you carry yourself like a proper gentleman on the outside, and yet every word out of your mouth is pure nonsense. Trying to distance yourself from all this—do you take me for a fool?"

As Yu Shurong drew closer, step by step, Guo Huilian kept retreating, pulling Lady Liu back along with her, until at last there was nowhere left to retreat to, and the two of them found themselves standing there, hemmed in and helpless.

"I would never dream of treating Fourth Sister like a fool. Every word I've spoken has come straight from the heart—every single one of them true!" Yu Shurong closed his fan once more, twirling it idly between his fingers, the very picture of careless, worldly indifference.

"Such glib, oily words..." Guo Huilian was thoroughly unconvinced, her expression full of open disdain.

Rather than growing angry at this, Yu Shurong only stepped closer still, raising his fan to tap lightly against Guo Huilian's arm. She reflexively raised her own hand to knock it aside, but Yu Shurong swept his wide sleeve up at that very moment, and, seizing the opportunity, slipped a dagger into Guo Huilian's hand. Before she could even register what had happened, he pulled her suddenly into his arms, and, leaning in close under the pretense of this embrace, whispered directly into her ear: "Take me hostage."

Guo Huilian froze completely. This Yu Shurong, for all his flippant, provocative manner at first glance, seemed to be hiding some scheme she couldn't quite fathom—telling her to take him hostage, of all things, while pressing a dagger into her palm? But why would he possibly want to help them at all? Could it really be true, as he claimed, that this whole abduction had nothing to do with him? Or was there some other calculation behind his actions entirely? Otherwise, why would he go out of his way to help them at all?

Guo Huilian stared at Yu Shurong with utter disbelief, her mind racing all the while. She realized that Yu Shurong now stood some distance from the four masked men in black, and with his back turned to them besides, his wide sleeve sweeping up as it had—forget the four men in black, even she herself hadn't caught exactly what he'd done in that instant of passing the dagger to her; had the blade not settled so unmistakably into her own hand, she likely wouldn't have realized what had happened at all. Her instincts told her that Yu Shurong genuinely seemed to want to help them escape—though she had no idea why he would want to, nor did she understand the logic of capturing them one moment and freeing them the next. But there was no time to waste on such questions now; she immediately kicked the back of Yu Shurong's knee, sending his body pitching forward from the sudden jolt of pain, then swiftly applied the basic grappling technique her adoptive father had taught her, wrapping his arm, pinning his elbow, and locking his throat in a reversed grip, pressing the blade of the dagger against his throat.

"Let us go," Guo Huilian commanded the four masked men in black.

"You're actually serious about this..." Yu Shurong hadn't expected Guo Huilian to actually follow through with such a move; the sharp pain shooting up from his leg twisted his jade-smooth face into a grimace, and privately he cursed her for having absolutely no regard for the unwritten rules of the martial world—here he was, extending real goodwill to help her, and this seemingly delicate, unassuming young woman, who didn't look the least bit trained in combat, turned out to be so utterly ruthless?

The four masked men in black, seeing Yu Shurong taken hostage, stared in open horror, and Lady Liu, too, was thoroughly shaken—she never could have imagined that Guo Huilian, a mere delicate young woman, would actually possess both the nerve and the skill to take Yu Shurong hostage like this.

The masked men in black exchanged uneasy glances with one another, every one of them wearing a look of genuine difficulty, though their covered faces hid it from view. Yu Shurong, his face contorted with fury, looked as though he wanted nothing more than to flay them alive, snarling, "You lot are truly something else, aren't you? Standing by and watching me face death without lifting a finger—don't bother letting me live, then, because I'll be the one to finish you off myself."

No sooner had Yu Shurong finished uttering this threat than the four masked men in black felt a chill run straight down their spines. To men like them, death itself held no real terror—it could come for them at any moment, after all. What truly terrified them instead was a fate worse than death. They knew this particular young master's temperament all too well; when he said "I'll finish you off myself," the emphasis lay not on the "finish," but on the manner in which he'd carry it out. In all of Chang'an, when it came to the art of "finishing people off," Yu Shurong might not claim to be the very best there was, but no one else would ever dare claim that title over him either. He spoke with an icy, bone-chilling menace, enough to raise gooseflesh on anyone listening, and the four men in black no longer dared put up any resistance at all. They could only bow their heads and lower their stance, saying meekly, "Please, ladies, come this way with us."

The masked men in black had only just begun to move when a tremendous commotion suddenly erupted from the rooftop, growing rapidly louder as it drew closer, sweeping in like an unstoppable force. The men in black froze mid-step, and everyone present turned as one to look up toward the roof. A voice rang out, booming like thunder, bellowing sharply: "You pack of rats, too cowardly to face the light of day—get down here now!" No sooner had the words left his mouth than the masked men in black began tumbling down from the rooftop, one after another, and the deadlock that had persisted for days now shattered in an instant beneath a series of overwhelming, crushing waves of force. Those who crashed to the ground were in such pain they couldn't even get back up, let alone summon the strength to avoid being crushed by their own comrades falling on top of them, and anguished cries rose up from every direction.

"It's Father!" Light flashed in Guo Huilian's eyes. She had heard it with perfect clarity—that was unmistakably her father's voice. Tenth Brother, Han Jin, the seven Yue-disciples, and the Eight Guards—any single one of them, taken alone, would already be more than capable of overwhelming a whole crowd of skilled fighters, and yet here was her father, single-handedly facing down all fifteen of them at once, moving with the same effortless ease as an autumn wind sweeping away fallen leaves. Who else could possibly command such an overwhelming, unstoppable presence, standing alone against ten thousand, besides her own father? But her father was supposed to be traveling with the merchant caravan—by rights, he shouldn't even be back in Chang'an yet. Could it be that, upon learning of her disappearance, he had rushed back to Chang'an at breakneck speed, riding through day and night?

Yu Shurong had no idea who this "Father" Guo Huilian spoke of actually was, but he understood clearly enough that whoever had arrived was no ordinary figure. That single, thunderous shout alone carried tremendous, deeply cultivated internal power; and though not a drop of blood had been spilled, every one of the masked men in black who had come crashing down from the rooftop had clearly suffered serious internal injuries, leaving them utterly unable to break their own fall even from such a height. Startled by this turn of events, Yu Shurong realized at once that he now found himself at a distinct disadvantage, and so, with practiced efficiency, he tucked his folding fan back into his belt, spun around in a single fluid motion, and wrenched the dagger back out of Guo Huilian's hand, pressing it instead against her own throat.

"Circumstances have changed drastically—forgive me for this," Yu Shurong murmured, his voice low, close against Guo Huilian's ear.

Yue Heng had, by now, swept every last masked man in black clean off the rooftop and down onto the ground below; the moment he caught sight of Yu Shurong holding a dagger to Guo Huilian's throat, fury surged up within him without restraint. He drew a stone from the small pouch at his waist and hurled it, in an instant, straight at the hand with which Yu Shurong held the blade against Guo Huilian—Yu Shurong, struck by a sharp jolt of pain, couldn't help but loosen his grip on Guo Huilian at once. And in that very same moment, Tian Xu and Yueying vaulted over the courtyard wall together, converging on Yu Shurong from both flanks at once, four fists and four feet trading blows back and forth in rapid succession, forcing Yu Shurong to abandon Guo Huilian entirely and throw every ounce of his strength into fending off Tian Xu and Yueying with both hands alone. Tian Xu and Yueying were both formidably skilled fighters in their own right to begin with, and with the two of them working together in perfect, practiced coordination, facing him two against one, it took only a few short exchanges before Yu Shurong found himself thoroughly outmatched, visibly struggling to hold his own. Just as Tian Xu spotted an opening, with Yu Shurong momentarily unable to defend himself in time, he struck a single decisive palm strike straight to Yu Shurong's chest, then, in the same fluid motion, turned and gathered Guo Huilian into his arms, carrying her swiftly away from the scene of the fight. Yu Shurong, his chest struck hard by Tian Xu's palm, coughed up a mouthful of blood and was swiftly seized and subdued by Yueying; the four masked men in black had, likewise, already been effortlessly subdued by Yue Heng, who had leapt down from the rooftop moments before. In the blink of an eye, complete control of the situation had fallen entirely into the hands of Tian Xu and his companions.

"The lot of you, ganging up against one man—hardly a fair fight, hardly honorable at all." Though wounded and now held captive by Yueying, Yu Shurong showed not the slightest trace of fear, glaring coldly at Tian Xu with open disdain.