Both of them intended to scare the assassin away.
Whether it was an enemy of the Imperial Residence, or an enemy of the House of High Dukes, they did not want to meet the assassin at all, with the current situation, should the both of them get into even the slightest accident, Prince An would probably take the opportunity to exterminate them and blame it on the assassin.
However, they could not call or shout out loud, so they could only scare the assassin with their appearance.
The assassin was just an Innate Master, once he faced two Grandmasters, his odds of winning would be none, so presumably, he would not show up.
“Tss!” A soft sound was heard, their eyes suddenly widened.
They watched as a jet black sword shot out abruptly from the ground, and pierced through one of the Protector’s throat.
Followed by that, a dark shadow came out from the ground, like a trail of smoke, it grabbed the black sword that was pierced through the Protector’s throat, then swooped past the other two Protectors in an oddly swift movement, and slit through their throats with the sharp black sword.
The three Protectors pressed on their throats and fell to the ground at the same time, he was extremely quick with his sword.
“How dare you!” Lu Donglou shouted out loud, and waved his palm.
Zhao Qingshan scoffed in a deep voice too, “Who are you!”
“Don’t let him get away!” Meng Zhi dashed towards them like a galloping horse as he yelled out loud.
He was secretly following behind Zhao Qingshan and Lu Donglou to watch over them, as he wanted to know if the two of them colluded with the outsider and cooperated with that assassin, he thought that if there was no collusion between someone from the inside and that assassin, it would be unlikely for the deaths of so many Protectors to be soundless and silent.
Once they were found to be colluding with the assassin, His Highness would have an excuse to execute them.
“Hu…” The palm energy of Zhao Qingshan was like a tempestuous tide beating against the shore, it was hit towards the man in black.
The man in black dodged the attack with his slender physique, which was uncommonly nimble, he went behind a tree then disappeared and reappeared again behind another tree, he was quick and agile, the three of them could not surround him so they could only chase after him.
While chasing, Zhao Qingshan shouted, “Commander Meng, do you think he’s trying to lure us out by his stratagem to move us out of the campsite?”
“Even if it’s luring us out with his stratagem, we must kill this man first!” Meng Zhi sounded ruthless as he said that, he chased after the man ferociously.
The Light-Body Technique of the man in black was extremely good, only after ten over miles in one shot, the three of them could surround the man in black.
Zhao Qingshan and Lu Donglou were helpless, now that they had come this far, they could not just kill Meng Zhi.
Moreover, they were clueless about the exact details of the assassin, for all they knew, it might even be Prince An’s desperate measure, according to Prince An’s somber mind, he could definitely sacrifice a few Innate Masters to beat up the two of them who were Grandmasters.
“Attack!” Meng Zhi yelled and attacked with a fist.
He was afraid of the opponent’s remarkable swordsmanship, furthermore, since the three of them were attacking together, it would be better to put his safety first, so there was no need for him to risk himself by getting to close.
No matter what, a Grandmaster also had bodies of flesh and blood, if they were hit by a sword, the Essential Energy Barrier would shield them for a moment, but it would not be able to shield them completely, nonetheless, it would be enough for them to dodge the attack, so a Grandmaster would be hard to kill.
However, regardless of how difficult it would be to kill them, there was still a risk, so each dodge would count, as for someone like Meng Zhi, he would treasure his life even more.
Zhao Qingshan and Lu Donglou attacked with their fists and palms continuously, their palm energy and fist strength shrouded over the swordman in black like a fierce wind.
With one slip, the swordsman in black arrived swiftly before Meng Zhi, he wielded his black sword and was about to pierce it through Meng Zhi’s throat.
The inner energy of Meng Zhi blocked off the sword that was right before his throat, it was like a invisible hood.
He immediately tilted his head to avoid it, which also scared him as he broke into cold sweats, then he instinctively attacked with his palm.
“Bam!” The swordsman in black took a hit from his palm and flew away.
He flew high and far away, but with the assistance of that palm energy, he used his Light-Body Technique and disappeared from their sights with an oddly fast speed, and entered the forest.
“Chase!” Meng Zhi scoffed angrily, he stared at Zhao Qingshan and Lu Donglou ruthlessly, “Is he one of yours?”
Zhao Qingshan and Lu Donglou quickly shook their heads.
Meng Zhi fluttered in the air and sneered as he said, “I can tell that the two of you were attacking half-heartedly, how can three Grandmasters fail to hold one Innate Master down, so embarrassing!”
“Sigh…” Zhao Qingshan shook his head and said, “That man has a bizarre body movement technique, his swordsmanship is extraordinarily good as well, we really can’t treat him as an Innate Master.”
“He is an Innate Master!” Meng Zhi humphed coldly, “If we really can’t tie him down, I will humbly apologize to the Royal Highness for our wrongdoing, you won’t escape from that too!”
The faces of the two of them changed.
His trick was quite a relentless one, once he would admit and apologize for their wrongdoings, if Prince An conveniently agreed to it, the two of them would be sinners too, then it would be up to Prince An’s span of a single thought to punish them, even if they would not die, they would at least be skinned.
“Chase!” As the both of them thought about that, they could only work even harder, they secretly sighed about the how this man from the Imperial Residence was plotting against them, indeed, his measures to scheme against them were something, if Chief Chu entered the Imperial Residence, they were afraid that it would be anything but reassuring!
Although the swordsman in black had a swift body movement technique, he was injured, so he was fast for a moment but it did not last long, soon enough, the three of them managed to change up.
He was about to be surrounded again, this time, Zhao Qingshan and Lu Donglou must not show mercy anymore, they must not let him go even if it would be ruthless of them.
Suddenly, a white shadow fluttered towards them and swooped past them, it went towards the swordsman in black, then held his shoulder and they flew away, only a clear and cold laughter was heard in the air when they left, “Three Grandmasters, but are powerless against an Innate Master, the Imperial Residence of Prince An and the Yi Public House are really like a family, you’re all idiots!”
“Lu Yurong!” Meng Zhi had a great memory, once he heard that voice, he knew at once who that white shadow was, so he shouted out loud, “Lady Lu, the Royal Highness will not just let this go!”
“I won’t let this go either!” Lu Yurong’s ethereal voice was heard from the sky, until it became so soft that it could no longer be heard, clearly they went far away.
The three of them stopped abruptly.
Meng Zhi turned around and sneered, “Definitely a monkey business from your House of High Dukes, right?”
Zhao Qingshan scoffed, “Commander Meng, how can you say that! The Ren Public House and our House of High Dukes are sworn enemies, are you saying that we colluded with them, Commander Meng?”
“What about the previous event!” Meng Zhi humphed, “Didn’t she give the House of High Dukes a helping hand?”
“Commander Meng, you’re a wise man, how can you be so silly, do you think she’s really helping out public house?” snapped Zhao Qingshan, “She only wants to take advantage of the situation, but was seen through by Chief Chu, so she has no choice but to help us, moreover, the reason she did that was not to help us, but to frame us up, she wants you to think that we’ve colluded, how can you not even notice small tricks like that, Commander Meng?”
Lu Donglou sneered, “I think it’s not that Commander Meng can’t through it, he wants to use this as a pretext to make a fuss!”
Meng Zhi scoffed, “Whatever it is, this must be related to the House of High Dukes!”
He made a firm decision to involve the House of High Dukes into the matter, or else, he would be guilty of a serious dereliction of duty, so once he blamed it all on the Yi Public House, should the Royal Highness be outraged, he would only bear grudges towards the House of High Dukes, not himself.
“Then we have to let the Royal Highness know about the truth!” Zhao Qingshan said, “Commander Meng will resort to every conceivable means just to get rid of his negligence of duty!”
“Shut up!” Meng Zhi scoffed, then turned around and walked away.
——
At that moment, Chu Li and Siao Shi sat in a pagoda, Lu Yurong fluttered towards them and threw the swordman in black in the pagoda, then she said faintly, “You with the surname Chu, you owe me one, don’t forget to return it!”
Chu Li did a closed fist salute, “Thank you so much, Lady Lu!”
Lu Yurong scoffed, “If I’m ever in danger, or if my eldest brother is in trouble, you must save us no matter what!”
She had already found out that Chu Li had the ability to revive one from the dead, and had tricks to move heaven and earth.
Chu Li smiled and said, “I’ll do my best.”
After Lu Yurong took a glance at Siao Shi, she flew away.
Siao Shi frowned and asked, “How did you ask her for help?”
Chu Li replied to her, “It would be inappropriate for me to do it myself, in case Prince An has a chance to launch an attack, … the Fourth Young Master.”
The swordsman in black removed his black scarf, and revealed an extremely good-looking face, he was as pale as white paper, it was Siao Baihe.