A Clash of Gods - Chapter 97

Chapter 97 The Dead Body
The snake hunter raised the steel fork, and the burly man was still alive with his body struggling in the air. The hunter looked ferocious and laughed in a low voice, as if it was a great pleasure to see others die.

Yang Ning had cold sweat on his back. He had thought this was merely an ordinary snake hunter, but now it appeared that this man was not a good person. He just rushed out of the brushwood, and he was fat and strong, but he was nimble and took actions quickly. He penetrated the burly man’s throat at one blow, which was not what an ordinary snake hunter could do.

Yang Ning looked at the hunter’s clothes and found that he wore a headcloth. He suddenly thought of King Shu’s heir he had met in the capital. This man’s headcloth was similar to that of his attendants’.

He knew that it was a common outfit in Ba Shu, but it was Jingnan here, not Ba Shu, so he didn’t know why this man showed up on the Xia Mountain.

After the burly man struggled several times, he became powerless gradually, and his limbs lowered feebly. Then the snake hunter shook the steel fork gently and made the burly man’s dead body fall on the ground. Afterward, he inserted the steel fork into the ground next to him and reached out his hand to take out something from his pocket. Yang Ning couldn’t see clearly in the dim environment and just saw that the snake hunter poured powder on the dead body. He was confused and wondered what the snake hunter was doing after the burly man died.

The snake hunter poured some powder on the dead body and then put it back in his pocket. Afterward, he walked over to cut the rest snake into several parts before throwing them into the leather bag.

The stink assaulted Yang Ning’s nostril and he was surprised. Then he found that there was white smoke over the dead body suddenly, and the smoke was light, but he could see it clearly.

Obviously the snake hunter often hunted snakes and was highly skillful in cutting the snake. In an instant, he finished cutting the whole big snake. Then he stood up with the steel fork in one hand and the leather bag in the other and turned to leave, without giving a glance at the dead body unexpectedly.

After confirming that the snake hunter went far away, Yang Ning approached it and almost vomited after only a glance. He saw that just a small part of the burly man’s dead body was left, his skin and flesh ulcerated and bones revealed, and his upper body with the skin and bones had disappeared, with merely a pool of blood on the ground. The remaining half part of the body was still decaying quickly, and the stink was from this dead body.

Yang Ning covered his nose and had a shiver down his spine. Although this burly man was not a good person, that snake hunter killed him easily and made his dead body disappear. The snake hunter was so cruel and vicious. If Yang Ning didn’t see it, who would think that a person would disappear from this world in such a short time, with no skin or bone left?

Suddenly he heard a low and deep chirp from the sky. He raised his head, to see a big bird like a goshawk passing in the dark sky above his head, while its sound was like a beast’s roar.

Yang Ning knew that the malicious snake hunter was on the mountain, so he should be more alert, thinking, “That snake hunter lurked first and then launched a surprise attack before asking, and I should be more careful, in case that he attacks me abruptly.”

Looking in the direction where the snake hunter left, he was confused about the guy’s background, but he was chased by others and didn’t need to follow him to cause more trouble, so he walked in another direction.

The old house of the Qi family was under the control of some people even for several years, but the marquis’s family in the capital far away knew nothing about it, which was shocking.

What surprised Yang Ning more was that after these people made use of Qi Cheng and controlled the old house, they still sent tax silver to the capital in the past three years. Because of that, the marquis’s family didn’t suspect from the beginning, but why did they do so? They stayed here persistently for three years. If they had plots, it must be something significant.

The leader of these people appeared to be the accountant Zhao Yuan who was called Judge, but Yang Ning felt that there might be another person behind the scenes.

The family of the Marquis of Honor was an aristocratic family who did outstandingly meritorious deeds for the empire and had an honorable position. Even the high officials at the imperial court probably didn’t dare to take actions against the Marquis of Honor randomly. Zhao Yuan and the others dared to control the old house and even set a trap to harm the heir of the Marquis of Honor. Of course, ordinary people didn’t have the nerve to do so.

They set a trap in the warehouse and used the aphrodisiac to force Gu Qinghan and him to have sex. It was such a dirty trick, but it was not just a beginning.

Zhao Yuan had made it clear that they would make a fuss about this issue to control Yang Ning, so they certainly had a bigger conspiracy later.

If Yang Ning could escape, he would surely kill all these people, but he knew that they had prepared for several years here and must have their force. If he had only courage without discipline, he couldn’t wipe them out but would probably be harmed by them, so before he took actions, he needed to transfer more people. The best way was to transfer cavalrymen and horses from the governor of Jiangling and then besiege them.

He thought it was not difficult for him, the heir of the Marquis of Honor, to ask the governor of Jiangling to transfer cavalrymen.

When he was considering where he should go after he escaped, he heard the strong wind next to him all of a sudden, and a sharp blade was about to chop him.

Yang Ning reacted rapidly and didn’t dodge but bent down slightly, leaning in the direction of the strong wind abruptly and bumping into a man. He moved swiftly and obviously that man didn’t expect him to do so. Yang Ning bumped into him with all his strength, and that man shouted “Ouch”. The man was strong, while Yang Ning was thin. After the knock, that man moved two steps backward, but he didn’t fall on the ground.

Of course, Yang Ning wouldn’t give the opponent the second chance to use the blade. Under the situation, if he was tolerant to his enemy, he would commit an offense to himself. He reached out his arm and the Cold Blade had entered the man’s heart.

He was quite familiar with the vital parts of the human body. Although in his anxiety, he easily found the vital part of the other party and stabbed the man’s heart with the Cold Blade. Then he pulled it out at once and dodged to one side. That man stood shakily and then leaned forward to fall on the ground. Judging from his clothes, Yang Ning knew this man sided with Zhao Yuan.

Then he heard a sneer all of a sudden. “Your Excellency, you are awesome, but you have no way out.” It was Zhao Yuan’s voice. Yang Ning raised his head, to see a figure standing several steps away from him in the front. The man had something in his hand. Yang Ning checked it carefully and found that it was a bow with an arrow aiming at him.

“Your Excellency, you are from a military family and must know what it is.” Zhao Yuan smiled faintly. “As long as I release it gently, you will lose your life here.”

Yang Ning felt scared and heard sounds from behind. He looked back, to see two men staring at him coldly, each grabbing a broadsword, with one man on the left and one on the right.

“You are Qi Ning?” One of them was surprised to see Yang Ning’s face and then grinned hideously. “You turn out to be the heir of the Marquis of Honor. I didn’t expect that we would meet again so soon. The other day, you were arrogant in Luwang Village, and even Steward Luo’s ankle was stabbed by you and he can’t stand anymore. You are surprised as you are in our hands, right?”

Hearing that, Yang Ning knew that this man must be one of the attendants brought by Steward Luo to Luwang Village.

Zhao Yuan said, “Oh.” Then he looked Yang Ning up and down, continuing with a smile, “It turns out that you injured our men in Luwang Village? It’s better to see you than to hear about you. I just thought that the heir of the Marquis of Honor was really an incapable and ordinary person. Now it appears that you have hidden your real strength.” He took two steps forward. “You are much smarter than I expected… The short blade in your hand must be the sharp weapon which broke the wall, right? You can break the wall in a short time with this blade and go out, and it is really horrible.”

“Zhao Yuan… Oh, no. I should call you Judge.” Yang Ning looked into Zhao Yuan’s eyes, but he was alert as the two men behind him might attack him surprisingly. “You set such a trap. What on earth do you want?”

Zhao Yuan pouted his lips at the Cold Blade in Yang Ning’s hand. “Your Excellency, you put down the blade first.”

“You three people are here, and you have the bow and arrow in your hand. Would you be afraid of me?” Yang Ning sneered. “You even dare to control the old house of the Marquis of Honor, and I thought you are bold enough.”

Zhao Yuan smiled. “You are too cunning. I do everything cautiously and won’t bring trouble on myself. The blade is in your hand, and I am still worried.” He pushed the bow and arrow forward. “Your Excellency, you’d better listen to me. Otherwise, when I am anxious, the arrow would be shot out by accident.”

Yang Ning laughed coldly and threw the Cold Blade to the ground next to his foot. Then Zhao Yuan sighed. “Your Excellency, you don’t need to try so hard to escape. If you had sex with Gu Qinghan in the warehouse as we told you to, you might stay alive, but now I can’t be sure.”

“Oh?” Yang Ning laughed. “You don’t have any evidence against me to threaten me, so you want to kill me here?”

Zhao Yuan responded, “Your Excellency, you seem to be smart and have got the point at once.”

“I am just curious. Since you have the drug, why did you make effort to lure me to the warehouse beside the Hongsha River?” Yang Ning asked. “You have controlled the old house. Isn’t it more convenient to set a trap in the house?”

Zhao Yuan replied with a smile, “I have said that I try to do everything with no risk at all. I might be able to make you sleep with Gu Qinghan in the old house, but then I can’t find an excuse to let many people see you two. If no outsider sees it, it would be difficult to achieve the desired effect. Moreover, the people you brought are not simple. So we need to make sure that nobody can find anything wrong with this matter.”

Yang Ning expressed, “You really designed it with effort. The people in the old house knew that I went out to look for the third lady. How did you make all of them shut up?”

“Your Excellency, you underestimated us. These years, they haven’t seen anything amiss, but they fear Qi Cheng. To be frank, Qi Cheng’s words in the house are more powerful than yours.” Zhao Yuan was calm. “In fact, we don’t need to talk about what happened in the past. Your Excellency, now you should think about how to keep alive.”

Yang Ning laughed loudly. “The arrow is in your hand, and I am bare-handed now. If I want to keep alive, I certainly have to do as you request.”

“Whoever understands the signs of the times is a great man.” Zhao Yuan also laughed. “Your Excellency, you have this awareness, and it seems that we can discuss.” He suddenly raised his arm and threw something to Yang Ning. Yang Ning caught it, which was a small porcelain bottle. Zhao Yuan added, “There are two pills in it. As long as you swallow them, you can stay alive, Your Excellency.”