Peerless ( Meng Xi Shi )

It was precisely because she parted her lips to speak, that Qiao Xian and Zhangsun naturally leaned forwards slightly; however Lady Miao raised both her sleeves suddenly, and two slender arrows flew out from them, their tips coloured with something blue and black as if tipped with poison.

Both of them received a shock and immediately leapt away. Zhangsun's reflexes were swift as he shot out a bead, intending to stop Lady Miao, but the latter was more agile than he had imagined. Drifting into the air, she rapidly disappeared from where she stood, and in the blink of an eye, she was already a few miles away.

"Stop her!" Qiao Xian urged.

Without needing to be told, Zhangsun Bodhi flew over and threw a palm, infusing all of his power. Lady Miao's back was facing him, so she was wide open. The palm that Zhangsun threw, containing a hundred per cent of his strength, hit her square on her back, but surprisingly she did not fall; instead, she continued forwards.

Zhangsun's attack failed, so he caught his breath again to give chase once more, but he had lost the opportunity. The other was already out of his sights.

"What happened?!" swiftly, Qiao Xian rushed to him.

Everything happened in an instant, but both of them never thought that something they thought was already in their hands would just fly off like that.

"Just now she was hiding her true strength," Zhangsun said in a low voice. Ever since the other took his palm just like that, he had already guessed the reasoning behind it.

"It cannot be!" Qiao Xian said without even thinking twice, "If that is the case, why could she not win against the assassin?"

"There are two reasons. First, she knew about our presence and wanted to bait us into exposing who we are and our origins, and who sent us to save her, so there was no need for her to be afraid. Lastly, we can be conversed with, and that we are not here to take her life, so she would have leftover strength to escape from us."

It was rare to see Zhangsun speaking so much, but Qiao Xian would rather him be scarce with words. At least they would not have to watch such an essential lead running away like that.

But since Lady Miao ran away, it would be even more challenging to look for her.

"Now we can only report back to the Commander." Qiao Xian said.

Zhangsun remained silent because he did not have a better plan.

He said, "Just now she took a hit from me, although she had escaped, she is certainly injured."

Qiao Xian, "Even if she wanted to slip out of the city, it would not be easy. If we wanted to arrange soldiers to patrol the city, we would need to relay our identities to the Jiejian Bureau. It would affect the Commander's scheme."

Zhangsun Bodhi, "It would not."

Qiao Xian, "And why is that?"

Zhangsun Bodhi, "I heard that Khan Ishbara's number one fighter, Fo Er, came here. He unmistakably came for the Commander."

Of course, they did not know that just tonight, minutes before, Fo Er and Feng Xiao had recently fought a battle.

Qiao Xian, "Then we need to protect the Commander!"

Zhangsun Bodhi, "No need. With the Jiejian Bureau present, the Commander should be safe. But with Fo Er present, the Khan's men would have also arrived. We cannot give more trouble to the Jiejian Bureau."

Qiao Xian inhaled sharply, "You mean that—"

The Jiejian Bureau and the Zuoyue Bureau had always minded their own business. This time there would not be an exception. Since Cui Buqu brought people from the Zuoyue Bureau to the City of Six Crafts; naturally, he had no intention of getting in the way of the Jiejian Bureau. On the other hand, it was only after hearing of the murder of the Khotan ambassador and the jade's disappearance, did Cui Buqu changed his plans and got involved in Feng Xiao's investigation. If the Zuoyue Bureau could find the jade, then they would have earned another score in their book.

However, ever since Fo Er's appearance, there had been a change of situations. The pressing matters needed to be prioritized, and the jade could be briefly set aside. Although Lady Miao had escaped, this was still a lead. Instead of letting the Jiejian Bureau walk around in circles, Cui Buqu would positively choose to use this piece of information to trade terms with Feng Xiao and earn his cooperation.

What Zhangsun Bodhi meant was that, with Cui Buqu's cunningness, it would be unquestionably more beneficial for the Zuoyue Bureau.

Qiao Xian nodded, "Then we should send word to the Commander."

Zhangsun Bodhi raised his head and saw wisps of grey clouds screening the luminous light of the moon.

Dark shadows concealed their faces.

In front of them, their mission lay. Without speaking further, they went their separate ways.

...

There were very few people who could wound Feng Xiao. It was shocking that Cui Buqu, who did not know any martial arts and might not even have the same strength as an ordinary person, could accomplish such a feat. It made Pei Jingzhe open his eyes.

Feng Xiao could ignore whether Cui Buqu was hungry or not, but he could not ignore the fact that he would be going with such a stain on his clothes. In the end, he had no choice but to send Pei Jingzhe ahead to the Lu manor, while he brought Cui Buqu back to the Qiushan manor to change into a set of clean clothes.

On the way, Feng Xiao's footsteps were seemingly floating in the air, as if he used all the skills he had learned in his life to rush back. He was not even so determined back then when battling with Fo Er.

The gengfu prepared to hit the gong only saw a black shadow passing by. He had not even managed to see clearly, and it was already gone, leaving him shocked and astonished, feeling like he had just seen a ghost.

Cui Buqu also did not feel any better. Just now he was held hostage by the Yu Xiu Monk, earlier he had half his shoulder numb, and now he was held on his other side as they rushed on the road. He practically lost all feeling on his other shoulder.

But in this kind of situation, being able to disgust Feng Xiao, Cui Buqu felt that it was worth it.

"Looking very happy about yourself, aren't you, Master Cui?" Feng Xiao smiled stiffly as his voice floated into his ear.

Cui Buqu took back the curl at the corner of his lips, "I am simply happy for Commander Feng. You have found a new lead on the case, needless to say; it will be solved soon."

Feng Xiao snorted and felt lazy to pay him any more attention.

But to Cui Buqu, the snort sounded like it could mean a few meanings.

First: Once I have changed my clothes, I will have my revenge.

Next: Now that you are in my hands, how dare you do this, are you tired of living?

Lastly: I will make you beg for death and cry for your parents, and make you regret that you rambled in the mortal world.

But so what?

Cui Buqu smiled lightly, not feeling the slightest bit afraid.

Once they arrived at the Qiushan mansion, Feng Xiao threw him aside and quickly rushed into the manor to shower and change his clothes.

Cui Buqu did not know any martial arts, possessing merely a sickly body; indeed if he wanted to escape, he could not go far. Additionally, there were patrols of the Jiejian Bureau within the manor. Feng Xiao did not even need to worry that Cui Buqu would be so foolish as to try to run away — Cui Buqu, of course, would not escape either. He went back to his own room, washed himself and asked for some dumplings from the maids.

The fire was already put out, so it would be difficult to start another fire. However, it was simple to make a few dumplings. The maids were swift and skilled, and soon she brought the dumplings as well as a piece of information for him.

"The lead you gave, Lady Qiao and the rest were unable to catch the person; please give us new orders on what to do."

The maid was called Tang Li. It was after she joined the manor that the housekeeper changed her name. Incipiently, she was called Lady Tao. It suited her looks, one that did not make her stand out among the others.

After Feng Xiao was sent by the capital to escort the Khotan ambassador, Cui Buqu could speculate that the Country Magistrate Zhao would empty this manor for Feng Xiao to use. So Tang Li also feigned poverty and was conveniently sold into the manor to serve as a maid.

At first, she was not the maid for Cui Buqu, but because the maid that usually took care of Cui Buqu had stomach pain and vomited to the point of not being able to leave her bed, the housekeeper reassigned Tang Li, who was always dutiful and obedient, to Cui Buqu.

As to whether she was loyal and obedient only in front of the housekeeper, or whether she had always been dutiful and obedient, was no longer relevant.

Feng Xiao and Pei Jingzhe were busy investigating the case; they would not have paid any attention to meticulous matters such as a change of servant, so Tang Li could effortlessly bring news from Qiao Xian to Cui Buqu.

As Cui Buqu contemplated, an ice-cold glimmer reflected on his face, as if the news was quite attractive to him.

Tang Li only spared a glance before lowering her head.

Although the guests that came to this manor were elegant and graceful, compared to thousands of phoenixes or peacocks, she had instead found that people like Commander Cui were more pleasant to the eye.

Although he looked a little sickly on the face.

"Did you sustain a wound? Do you want me to fetch some medicine?" Tang Li asked.

Cui Buqu, "Do you know how to massage? Both my shoulders are a little sore."

Tang Li, "I can try."

As she walked behind Cui Buqu, she tried to press her fingers lightly on different spots of his back.

"You hurt your tendons, as for your bones, they are alright. The massage would hurt a little bit."

"You only need to massage. I will take care of standing the pain." Cui Buqu said in a relaxed voice.

Tang Li did not hesitate and began to massage for him as she relayed the report.

She reached the point where Lady Miao said something strange to Qiao Xian and Zhangsun, before figuring out that they did not understand and switching to Chinese when Cui Buqu told her to pause.

"What did she say, did she tell you?"

"She did." Tang Li nodded her head. People who can become a member of the Zuoyue Bureau were intelligent to a certain extent, so she repeated the words that Lady Miao had said. Although the sentence had been passed from Qiao Xian to her, she managed to repeat almost eighty to ninety per cent of it.

Cui Buqu suddenly straightened his back, even when Tang Li accidentally pressed too hard he had simply ignored it.

"Commander?"

"That is the language of Goguryeo." Cui Buqu said, "Qin Miaoyu is a Goguryeon, and the Jade of Heaven's Lake is definitely with her."

Why would he think so?

Tang Li was very curious, but she did not continue asking, because everything Cui Buqu did would have a reason, and if it was not her place to ask, she would not ask in the first place.

Cui Buqu did not continue speaking. On the other hand, Feng Xiao had finished showering and sent people to call for Cui Buqu. After Cui Buqu ate a few dumplings and felt better about his shoulders, he stood up and headed to where Feng Xiao was.

But Feng Xiao's face did not look any better just because he had changed into a new set of clothes.

He held a letter in his hand and a token. In the letter, only a few words were written, mentioning that Pei Jingzhe was held hostage and wanted Feng Xiao to head to the Huyang Forest. The token was something carried by all members of the Jiejian Bureau; the same one Pei Jingzhe took with him at all times. If the token was lost, then it could only mean that the other party was not lying.

It was quite apparent that the enemy's target was not Pei Jingzhe, but Feng Xiao, and perhaps even the Jade of Heaven's Lake.

"Never mind about failure, this is giving me trouble!" Feng Xiao could not help but scold.

"Fo Er?" Cui Buqu offered.

"Perhaps." He swirled his fingers, turning that letter into dust and let it disappear in the wind.

Cui Buqu, "You are planning to go?"

Feng Xiao, "Why not?"

Cui Buqu looked surprised, "Lord Feng you certainly don't look like someone so benevolent; who knew, you would even care about the life of a subordinate!"

Feng Xiao, "His father saved me once."

Cui Buqu shook his head, "It still does not seem like you."

Feng Xiao, "Then what should I do according to you?"

Cui Buqu, "Write a reply: If you want to kill him, do it."