A Clash of Gods - Chapter 98

Chapter 98 An Attacker behind the Battlefield
Yang Ning was clear that the pills in the bottle must be poison, so he smiled faintly and asked, “It seems that I have no choice, but I don’t understand something. Can you tell me?”

“What do you want to ask, Your Excellency?” Zhao Yuan knew that everything was under control, so he wasn’t anxious.

Yang Ning asked, “Forty percent of the grain was collected as the tax in the fiefdom, and it is not false, so the account books the third lady has checked must be fabricated.”

Zhao Yuan replied, “Right. In fact, it won’t take much time to make false accounts.” He smiled. “Those account books have been made to welcome you. I know that Gu Qinghan would surely check the accounts, so I was prepared in advance.”

“To welcome us?” Yang Ning’s heart sank. “Did you know earlier that we would come?”

Zhao Yuan chuckled. “Your Excellency, why don’t you think it over? We sent the tax silver to you in the past few years successively and have never stopped. Why did we choose this time? You came back to Jiangling, which was a part of our plan, so we naturally prepared the fabricated account books earlier.”

Yang Ning frowned. “You were so confident and thought that we would come back?”

Zhao Yuan stated at leisure, “We firmly believed it. The marquis’s family was in short of money, and the tax silver wasn’t sent to you. What’s more, the people you sent didn’t go back to report, so you would come eventually.”

Yang Ning felt terrified and thought that the tax silver hadn’t arrived and the marquis’s mansion sent some people to inquire about it, but none of them returned to report, so they thought there was something wrong. He furrowed his brows. “Were all the people sent here killed by you…”

“Your Excellency, you know what it was but deliberately asked.” Zhao Yuan grinned. “They died on the way before they reached the old house. Of course they couldn’t go back to report.”

“Do you mean that you have spies in the marquis’s mansion and know about their whereabouts?” Yang Ning asked. “You have planned everything from the beginning?”

Zhao Yuan laughed. “Your Excellency, you will know many things after taking the pills.”

Yang Ning grabbed the bottle and stated, “I want to know what you want me to do to cooperate with you. You try every means to control me and I should know what I need to do.”

Zhao Yuan responded, “In fact, you don’t need to do anything, Your Excellency. If you did something immoral with Gu Qinghan, with the scandal, you might not have the face to inherit the title of the Marquis of Honor…”

Yang Ning suddenly realized something and asked angrily, “It’s Qi Yu? Do you work for Qi Yu?” He remembered that Qi Yu, who was a concubine’s son, cast covetous eyes on the title of the Marquis of Honor. The mother and son always wanted to fight for the title in secret. It seemed that Zhao Yuan intended to threaten Yang Ning and force him to give up the title. If Yang Ning couldn’t inherit the title, the next one who could have a chance was only Qi Yu. Did these people work for Qi Yu?

Zhao Yuan said with disdain, “Oh? Is Qi Yu you mentioned the concubine’s son in the marquis’s mansion? You overestimate him. We don’t work for him, but he is a pawn that we can control.”

Yang Ning was shocked and thought that these people had something to do with Qi Yu as expected, but judging from Zhao Yuan’s tone, it was obvious that he didn’t take Qi Yu seriously. Yang Ning also believed that Qi Yu didn’t have the ability to set such a trap. Zhao Yuan said Qi Yu was just their pawn, and it must be true.

These people controlled the old house and tried to threaten the heir of the Marquis of Honor with a scandal they planned. They wanted Qi Yu to inherit the title and made use of him as a pawn. They did everything step by step with no hurry, and it was hard to imagine what their final purpose was.

Yang Ning was clear that if he took these pills, his life and death would be under their control. Then his legs stiffened and he thought of the movements of the Easy Travel.

They had fought in Luwang Village and knew that the two burly men behind him were easy to deal with as they didn’t have powerful martial skills. The key was Zhao Yuan with a bow and arrows.

He knew something about this kind of weapon, which could be shot quickly. He was only several steps away from Zhao Yuan. If Zhao Yuan shot the arrow from the bow, it would be difficult for Yang Ning to dodge, but once he could avoid the arrow, he might have a chance to take the initiative and stop being forced.

The movements of the Easy Travel were mysterious, but there were withered vines and old trees around, and he couldn’t start it.

When Yang Ning was wondering if he would take a risk, Zhao Yuan said, “Your Excellency, there is much time. You take the pills first, and then I will tell you what you want to know even if you don’t ask.”

Yang Ning uncovered the bottle and the stink overwhelmed. While smelling it, he knew that the pills inside were not something good.

While Zhao Yuan grabbed the bow and aimed at Yang Ning. He seemed to be on guard against Yang Ning who might play a trick.

At this time, something suddenly flew down from the midair and it coiled around Zhao Yuan’s wrist in an instant. Zhao Yuan felt it icy and smooth. As soon as it wound around his wrist, it started to wriggle. He was shocked and shrank back his arm, to see that it was a horrible snake with cyan and red spots.

Zhao Yuan turned pale and loosened his hand, shaking it hard. He tried to shake off the wounded snake, but it wound tightly and seemed to be a part of his arm. He couldn’t shake it off anyway.

Seeing that, Yang Ning thought that God helped him. He took the chance and rolled on the ground before grabbing the Cold Blade. He knew that he must capture the leader of the enemies first, so he rolled to Zhao Yuan.

Zhao Yuan reacted swiftly. His arm was coiled and couldn’t release the arrow. Seeing that Yang Ning rolled to him, he stepped backward immediately and got close to a big tree. He severely knocked his arm with the snake on the tree, and it was effective. As soon as he knocked hard, the middle part of the snake was crushed, and it loosened.

The two burly men came back to earth and roared in a low voice. Then they waved their broadswords and tried to chop Yang Ning.

After they ran only two steps, one of them shouted in astonishment involuntarily, “Snake… Snake!” He didn’t dare to move forward as he saw more than ten snakes fall from the midair like raining.

Yang Ning wanted to take the chance to capture Zhao Yuan, but he also felt that some snakes fell on him from the midair, so he forgot Zhao Yuan and waved the Cold Blade in his hand to cut two falling snakes into halves in an instant.

The snakes came surprisingly, and Yang Ning stopped approaching Zhao Yuan but dodged to one side quickly.

Zhao Yuan had killed one snake, but unexpectedly, more than ten snakes fell from the sky, and three or four of them fell on him. All of them coiled around him instantly. Some of them were around his arm, and some were around his neck.

The two burly men gasped with astonishment and didn’t dare to step forward. Suddenly one of them jumped up as if he got an electric shock. He threw away the broadsword and reached out his hand to touch his vest from his collar and jumped with both feet aimlessly, shouting in surprise, “No. A snake is on me. Help me get it out.”

His fellow next to him didn’t dare to help him but retreated. Then he suddenly screamed and turned to run away. After taking only two steps, he saw a tall and big figure stopping him in the front. Soon he found a man with a three-tined fork in hand walking to him.

This burly man was stunned but didn’t stop. He raised the broadsword and tried to chop the comer, who lifted the fork with three prongs to stab him quickly and it arrived earlier although he started later. The burly man was about to cut the fork, but he saw that it spun and came to under his wrist. Then the fork was uplifted and entered his wrist. The burly man felt a severe pain and the broadsword dropped from his hand.

The comer waved the fork effortlessly and used it to pull the burly man close to a big tree. He lifted it and made the burly man’s arm higher than his head. Then he inserted the fork into the trunk and nailed the man’s arm to the tree. The burly man shrieked miserably and his voice spread everywhere.

Yang Ning knew that it was weird and wanted to dodge to one side. When he ran for just a few steps, a tall and strong figure also showed up in front of him. At a glance, Yang Ning recognized that this man’s outfit was the same as that of the snake hunter he had seen before. He knew that this man was heartless and didn’t show mercy. Seeing that the comer tried to stab him with the fork, Yang Ning didn’t dodge but waved the Cold Blade. With the clatter, he cut off all the three prongs of the fork in a flash unexpectedly.

The snake hunter was stunned and suddenly roared like a beast. He waved the fork with no prong and tried to hit Yang Ning.

The snake hunter had powerful strength and pushed the fork with strong wind. Yang Ning found that this man was tall and he could only see the man’s chest horizontally, so he couldn’t fight at close quarters. He took two steps backward and avoided the fork. Suddenly he felt the pressure on his arm and a snake fell on it from the sky. Yang Ning reacted soon but the snake was not slow. It coiled around his arm, as if it had been trained. Without hesitation, Yang Ning waved the Cold Blade. With the blade light flashing, he chopped off the head of the snake around his arm.

He thought the snake hunter would seize the chance to rush to him, but that man moved backward. Yang Ning was surprised and then heard a buzz from behind. He was scared and turned around, to see a group of insects flying here and there. Judging from the sound, they were wasps apparently.

It was easy to cut a snake but it was difficult to drive away the wasps. More than ten poisonous wasps flew to him in the front, and he wanted to cut a piece of cloth to cover his head, but it was too late. He felt the pain on his neck, and he had been stung by a wasp.

At the moment, there were seven or eight snakes on Zhao Yuan’s body, and he tried hard to struggle, but it was in vain. The other burly man was rolling on the ground and three or four poisonous snakes were on his body.

Suddenly a clear sound was heard, like the sound of a whistle with bamboo. All the poisonous wasps flying everywhere headed to the midair. Yang Ning looked in the direction where the wasps left and saw a person sitting on a branch of a big tree and swinging the legs, with a bamboo tube in hand. Those wasps swarmed to that tube.

Yang Ning checked carefully and found that it was a young girl at the age of sixteen or seventeen sitting on the branch unexpectedly. Although it was at night, two legs were fair-skinned and the large parts of two arms with nice skin were revealed. The teenage girl said in a melodious sound, “These losers are useless, and I can’t even watch a good play. All of you deserve to die!” She spoke with an accent of Ba Shu.