27: Chapter 27 The Captain of the Prince of Xiushan's Mansion

Chen Fan shouldered his ghost-head broadsword and turned back toward the rear corridor.

Trouble.

An eighth-rank against an eighth-rank, at best a fifty-fifty split.

If Zhang Shan really came looking for him, he wouldn't be able to fight or run, which would be disastrous.

It seemed that if he really didn't want that to happen, he should die at someone else's hands before Zhang Shan arrived.

The soldiers of that Prince of Xiushan down the mountain, or the imperial army, sounded like a good option. If he could use Possession on a general, that wouldn't be bad either.

As Chen Fan plotted his own "funeral arrangements," he pushed open the stone door belonging to the bandit Chief.

The stone chamber was brightly lit.

The clamor and the stench of blood were shut out, leaving only the faint scent of cosmetics.

Honge and Cui Qiao were chattering away as they compared newly looted fabrics, discussing what kind of new clothes to make.

Only Yun Niang sat alone on a low stool in the corner, holding a needle and thread, but she hadn't made a move for a long time, just staring blankly at the lamp.

"Chief!"

Seeing him enter, Honge and Cui Qiao immediately greeted him with coquettish smiles, hanging onto him from left and right.

Chen Fan imitated the style of Black Wind Demon, roughly kissing both of them on the face, which drew a round of coy protests.

His gaze, however, fell on the quiet figure in the corner.

"What is wrong with you?"

He walked over to Yun Niang, his rough voice making her tremble as if startled.

She hurriedly stood up, lowered her head, not daring to look at him, and whispered, "No... nothing."

"Nothing?" Chen Fan pinched her petite chin, forcing her to look up.

Two lines of clear tears hung on that gentle, beautiful face.

"Homesick?" Chen Fan asked on a whim.

Yun Niang's body stiffened abruptly.

She could no longer hold it back; tears flooded out, sliding down her cheeks and dripping onto the back of Chen Fan's rough hand, feeling somewhat scalding.

She just cried, not daring to make a sound.

Honge and Cui Qiao also stopped their playful laughter, watching her with some sympathy.

They had come from the world of prostitution, fatherless and motherless with nowhere to go, so they naturally didn't understand this kind of homesickness.

But Yun Niang was different; she was a proper girl from a good family who had been abducted up the mountain.

Chen Fan fell silent.

He had only regarded Yun Niang as one of the trophies of his career as a mountain king, an accessory to this identity.

He had forgotten that she was also a living, breathing person.

Keeping someone who desperately wanted to leave by his side was meaningless.

"If you want to leave, then go."

Chen Fan let go of her hand, speaking in a flat tone.

The stone chamber instantly fell into a deathly silence.

Yun Niang's crying stopped abruptly.

She lifted her tear-streaked face, looking at the man before her in disbelief.

Honge and Cui Qiao also had their mouths wide open, as if they had heard some incredible tale.

Release her? The Chief would actually release someone? And a beauty like Yun Niang, one in a hundred?

"I... I..." Yun Niang's lips trembled, and for a moment, she didn't know what to say.

"Tomorrow, I will send two sharp people to escort you down the mountain."

Chen Fan dropped this sentence and turned to walk toward the large stone bed, as if he were just speaking of some trivial matter.

That night, Yun Niang took the initiative to climb onto Chen Fan's bed.

She didn't speak, but used all her strength, using everything she knew, to respond clumsily yet passionately to the man who had changed her fate.

This was both gratitude and a farewell.

Chen Fan did not refuse.

He could feel the trembling and devotion of that delicate body beneath him.

That night, the commotion in the stone chamber was louder than it had ever been.

The next morning, Chen Fan selected two relatively honest bandits, gave Yun Niang a heavy bag of silver, and let her go down the mountain.

Watching that slender figure looking back every three steps on the mountain path, Chen Fan felt nothing special.

He was just a passerby.

Yun Niang was also just a passerby in this bandit life of his.

After sending Yun Niang away, life on Black Wind Mountain continued as before.

Half a month passed in a flash.

Iron-Armed Monkey led people down the mountain to "open for business" twice more, and the stronghold's granary and treasury were full to the brim.

The reputation of "robbing the rich to help the poor" spread further and further.

However, the imperial army that Chen Fan had anticipated never arrived.

This caused his heart, which had been prepared to "die heroically" and experience the identity of a general, to gradually lose interest.

Until this day.

A group of uninvited guests suddenly arrived at the stronghold.

There were six of them in total, all wearing ordinary short, tight-fitting clothes, but each of them carried a long sword of the same standard issue, their backs were straight, and as they walked, there was an aura of military severity.

"Chief, the people down the mountain say they are captains from the Xiushan Princes Mansion!" Smiling Tiger trotted all the way over to report, his chubby face full of nervousness.

In Juyi Hall, Chen Fan sat on the tiger-skin chair, playing with a walnut in his hand.

They were here.

It was later and fewer than he had thought.

"Let them come up."

Soon, those six people were brought into Juyi Hall.

The leader was a middle-aged man with a square face and a cold expression.

As soon as he entered, his gaze locked onto Chen Fan, and he cupped his hands.

"Chief of Black Wind Mountain?"

"It is I." Chen Fan squeezed the walnut in his hand, and with a crack, it was crushed into powder.

The middle-aged man's pupils constricted slightly, but his face remained calm.

"I am Captain Li Zhong of the Xiushan Princes Mansion. I have come to investigate a case on the orders of the Prince."

"What case?"

"The case of the missing Princess."

Li Zhong's voice echoed in the cave.

Iron-Armed Monkey and the other bandits all instinctively gripped their weapons.

Chen Fan, however, laughed.

He imitated the manner of Black Wind Demon, laughing wildly and arrogantly.

"Hahaha! The Princess? What kind of precious person is that? She got lost, so why come looking in our poor mountain ravine?"

"Someone reported that the Princess might be at Black Wind Mountain," Li Zhong said, word for word.

"Bullshit!" Iron-Armed Monkey was the first to jump up. "Which bastard dares to slander us! We don't even know what the Princess looks like!"

Chen Fan waved his hand, stopping Iron-Armed Monkey's shouting.

He stood up, his burly body carrying a huge sense of oppression, and walked step by step to Li Zhong.

"Search."

He only said one word.

Li Zhong was stunned.

The captains behind him were also stunned.

They had anticipated all sorts of situations—either being hacked out by chaotic blades, or the other party flatly denying it, leading to a conflict.

But they had never imagined that this legendary, cold-blooded bandit Chief would be so straightforward.

"The Chief is generous." Li Zhong looked at him deeply. "Then we shall be rude."

He waved his hand, and the captains behind him immediately dispersed to begin searching the stronghold.

Chen Fan just stood in the center of Juyi Hall, carrying his sword, letting them rummage through boxes and cabinets.

Half an hour later, the captains all returned and shook their heads at Li Zhong.

Nothing was found.

"It seems the intelligence was incorrect." Li Zhong cupped his hands at Chen Fan again. "Sorry for the disturbance."

"Go slowly, I won't see you out." Chen Fan grinned.

Li Zhong led his men away.

Just as they were about to walk out of the cave entrance, Li Zhong's footsteps suddenly stopped.

He did not turn back, only leaving behind a warning.

"Regardless of whether the Princess's disappearance has anything to do with you, Xiushan Prefecture has not been peaceful lately. The rebel bandits of the Yellow Robe Army are running rampant, and the imperial army will be here soon. You, Black Wind Mountain, are caught in the middle. Take care of yourselves."

As his voice faded, their figures disappeared at the cave entrance.

Inside Juyi Hall, the bandits let out a long sigh, as if they had escaped a disaster.

Chen Fan, carrying his sword, walked to the cave entrance and watched those receding figures, lost in thought.

This was just a test.

The Yellow Robe Army's scheme to frame them, though clumsy, had ultimately worked.

They had already been targeted.

Just at this moment.

A bandit responsible for keeping watch at the foot of the mountain came scrambling up, rolling and crawling, his face filled with terror as if he had seen a ghost.

He even tripped over a stone at the entrance of Juyi Hall because he was running too fast, falling flat on his face.

"Ch... Chief! It... it's bad!"

Iron-Armed Monkey kicked him in the butt.

"What are you yelling about! Has the sky fallen?"

The bandit ignored the pain, scrambled up on his hands and feet, and pointed in the direction of the foot of the mountain, his voice changing pitch.

"A... a Daoist has come down the mountain!"

"A single Daoist scared you like this?"

"No... that's not it!" The bandit was about to cry. "That Daoist... that Daoist is alone, with a sword, saying... saying he wants to see our Chief, by name!"