AWB Chapter 285: A new threat
Chapter 285: A new threat
As soon as the shadow finished speaking, Wu Tao and Hu Bugui's faces changed. There were more than 30 people, but no one could match him? Who on earth could have such powerful martial arts?
"Do you know the other party's identity?" Hu Bugui asked in a deep voice, with a hint of solemnity in his tone.
"I was incompetent and failed to find out the truth." The black shadow lowered his head, his tone full of self-blame.
"Get up, it's not your fault." Wu Tao said gently. She knew that the opponent's strength should not be underestimated as he could leave thirty well-trained guards helpless.
"This matter is of great importance. I need to go to the palace and report to my father." Hu Bugui said, turning to look at Wu Tao, his eyes full of worry, "Taotao, stay at home and wait for me to come back."
"No, I'll go with you." Wu Tao said firmly, "I'm worried about your safety, and I'm even more worried about those innocent people."
Hu Bugui wanted to say something else but was interrupted by Wu Tao, "Don't worry, I can take good care of myself. Besides, Xingchen is here." As she said this, she looked at her son who was standing quietly beside her, her eyes full of trust.
Xingchen is the son of Wu Tao and Hu Bugui. Now he is a handsome and tall young man. He has inherited the excellent genes of his parents. He is not only skilled in martial arts, but also resourceful.
"Don't worry, father. I will protect mother." Xingchen nodded solemnly, his tone full of confidence.
Seeing this, Hu Bugui no longer insisted and just reminded: "Be careful in everything."
The next morning, Hu Bugui went to the palace to meet the emperor, while Wu Tao and Xingchen, along with several guards, disguised themselves and quietly left Chang'an City.
Along the way, they passed many villages and saw traces of war: houses were burned down, fields were barren, and the air was filled with a sickening smell of blood.
"How could this happen?" Looking at the tragic scene before him, Wu Tao's heart felt like it was being cut by a knife. What did these innocent people do wrong to deserve such cruel treatment?
"Mother, look!" Xingchen pointed to a tree not far away. On the trunk of the tree, there was a black feather arrow stuck, and the tip of the arrow was stained with dried blood.
Wu Tao walked closer and took a look, his expression suddenly became more solemn. The style of this feather arrow was very special, not used by the Tang army, but more like...
"It seems to come from the Western Regions." Xingchen said in a deep voice, with a hint of coldness in his tone.
"Could it be..." A terrible thought suddenly came to Wu Tao's mind. Could it be the remnants of that mysterious organization? But, hadn't they been eliminated?
"Don't jump to conclusions yet. Let's go to the village ahead." Wu Tao suppressed the uneasiness in his heart and continued to move forward with Xingchen.
However, before they reached the entrance of the village, they heard the sound of fierce fighting.
"Oh no! Someone is coming!" Wu Tao's face changed, and he quickly drew out the soft sword from his waist, and rushed towards the direction where the sound came from with Xingchen.
I saw a man in black being surrounded by a group of villagers. Although the man in black was very skilled in martial arts, he was outnumbered and had suffered many injuries.
"Stop!" Wu Tao shouted, flew up, and forced back the besieging men in black with a sword.
"Who are you? Why are you attacking him?" Wu Tao asked coldly, his eyes scanning the surrounding villagers.
The villagers looked at each other, and finally, the village chief stood up and said tremblingly: "My lady, we...we have no choice..."
"What's going on? Tell me slowly." Wu Tao slowed down his tone and signaled the village chief not to be nervous.
The village chief took a deep breath and slowly explained the whole story. It turned out that a few days ago, a group of unidentified people suddenly came to the village. They were all highly skilled in martial arts and cruel. They not only robbed the village of food and property, but also killed many villagers.
"Those people are dressed like him!" The village chief pointed at the man in black, his eyes filled with anger and fear.
Wu Tao frowned, turned to look at the man in black, and asked in a deep voice: "Is what he said true? Who are you?"
The man in black didn't say anything, just looked at Wu Tao coldly, and then... The man in black didn't say anything, just looked at Wu Tao coldly, and then suddenly threw a smoke bomb on the ground. Suddenly, white fog filled the air, blocking everyone's sight. When the fog dissipated, the man in black had already disappeared.
"Damn it! He got away!" Xingchen stomped his feet angrily. Before he could make a move, the other party ran away.
Wu Tao patted her son's shoulder comfortingly, "It's okay, he's injured and can't run far." She looked around and found that the villagers still had expressions of fear on their faces, so she said softly, "Don't worry, we will find out the truth and give you an explanation."
The villagers looked at each other in bewilderment. Finally, the village chief plucked up the courage to ask, "Girl, who are you? Can you really help us?"
"I am the current princess, and this is my son Xingchen." Wu Tao briefly introduced herself and her son, and then said in a firm tone, "I promise you that I will bring those evildoers to justice!"
When the villagers heard Wu Tao's identity, they were stunned at first, and then they showed surprise and hope on their faces. Although they were ordinary people, they had heard of the reputation of the current princess and knew that she was a good princess who cared about the people.
At this moment, a clear voice came from outside the crowd, "Your Highness, please forgive me for disturbing you."
Everyone looked in the direction of the voice and saw a young man in a green shirt, holding a long sword, walking over in a dashing manner. He had sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, looked heroic, and had a confident smile on his face.
"You are..." Wu Tao looked at the strange man in front of him, his heart full of doubts.
"My name is Li Xiaoyao, and I'm a knight-errant." The man bowed and saluted, his tone humble and polite, "I heard that Her Royal Highness the Princess is investigating a case here, so I came to help."
Wu Tao looked Li Xiaoyao up and down, and seeing that he was dignified and did not look like a bad person, he nodded and agreed to his request.
After Li Xiaoyao joined, they continued to track down the whereabouts of the man in black. Li Xiaoyao was highly skilled in martial arts and experienced, and soon found some clues.
"It seems that they are heading west." Li Xiaoyao pointed at the messy footprints on the ground and analyzed, "And there should be quite a few people."
"The west?" Wu Tao frowned slightly, feeling slightly uneasy. "Could they be related to the Western Regions?"
“No matter who they are, we must bring them to justice!” Xingchen clenched his fists, his eyes flashing with determination.
At the same time, thousands of miles away in Chang'an City, Yueying was anxiously waiting for news. She and Xingchen were in tune with each other and naturally knew that her parents were in trouble.
"No, I can't just sit there and wait for death!" Yueying secretly decided in her heart that she would do her best to help her parents.
Yueying used her special ability to collect intelligence, hoping to find clues about the mysterious force. After some efforts, she finally made some discoveries...
"Mother, look! There's a letter here!" Xingchen suddenly found a secret letter from the body of a man in black. Wu Tao took the letter, opened it, and his face suddenly became extremely solemn. There was only one sentence in the letter: The plan has changed, return to headquarters quickly.
"Headquarters..." Wu Tao muttered to himself, his heart filled with doubt and uneasiness, "Where exactly is their headquarters?"
Li Xiaoyao looked at Wu Tao's solemn expression and asked, "Princess, what's wrong?"
Wu Tao took a deep breath and handed the letter to Li Xiaoyao, "Read it for yourself."
Li Xiaoyao took the letter and read it carefully, frowning, "It seems that we have encountered a difficult situation."
"No matter what, we have to find out the truth!" Wu Tao said firmly, with a determined light in her eyes. She had a hunch that this matter was definitely not as simple as it seemed...
At this moment, a burst of rapid horse hoofbeats came from afar, and a bloody guard fell off his horse. He used up his last bit of strength to say, "Princess... be careful... they... they..."
The guard took his last breath before he could finish his words. Wu Tao's heart sank suddenly, and an ominous premonition came over him.
The guard's words were like a heavy hammer, hitting Wu Tao's heart hard. An ominous premonition quickly wrapped around her heart like a vine, making her almost unable to breathe.
"What happened?!" Hu Bugui asked anxiously. He dismounted from his horse and helped up the guard who had fallen to the ground, but his eyes were hurt by the shocking wounds on the guard's body.
"Prince...Princess...be careful...they...they..." The guard used up his last bit of strength and spoke intermittently, but he was still unable to fully express the message he wanted to convey.
"Who are they? Tell me clearly!" Xingchen asked anxiously, but was stopped by Wu Tao. She gently put the guard on the ground, closed his wide-open eyes, and said in a heavy tone: "Let him rest in peace."
The sudden appearance and bizarre death of the guard made the already tense atmosphere even more tense. Wu Tao carefully observed the surrounding environment, trying to find the answer from subtle clues.
"Princess, what should we do next?" Li Xiaoyao looked at Wu Tao, waiting for her instructions.
"Let's go back to the village first." Wu Tao made a prompt decision. She realized that the most important thing now was to ensure the safety of the villagers.
After returning to the village, Wu Tao immediately organized people to strengthen the village's defense, and sent people to pass the message back to Chang'an City to request support.
At the same time, Hu Bugui and Li Xiaoyao tried to piece together the full picture of the incident based on the few words left by the guard before his death and the clues they had collected before.
"It seems that we have underestimated the strength of this mysterious organization before." Hu Bugui looked at the several locations marked on the map with a frown.
"What the prince means is..." Li Xiaoyao already had a guess in his mind, but he still wanted to hear Hu Bugui say it in person.
"There may be a bigger conspiracy behind this mysterious organization." Hu Bugui said solemnly, "Their purpose may not be as simple as revenge."
Just as they were preparing to conduct an in-depth investigation, a sudden piece of news broke the peace - a messenger from Chang'an City brought a shocking news: the leader of the remnants of the mysterious organization was not dead, but was secretly planning a bigger revenge plan.
"What?!" Hu Bugui stood up suddenly, and the letter paper in his hand was crumpled into a ball. "How could this happen? He clearly..."
"It seems that we have all been deceived by him." Wu Tao's face turned very ugly. "This guy is more cunning than we thought."
"What should we do now?" Li Xiaoyao asked, "Should we rush back to Chang'an City immediately?"
Wu Tao pondered for a moment and shook her head. "No, it's not the right time yet." She raised her head and looked into the distance with a determined gaze. "We have more important things to do."
At this moment, a burst of rapid horse hoofbeats came from afar, and a soldier covered in blood fell off his horse. He used up his last bit of strength to say, "Princess...be careful...they...they have joined forces..."
The soldier lost his voice before he finished speaking. Hu Bugui and Wu Tao looked at each other, and both had an ominous premonition.
"Oh no, Chang'an City is in danger!"