About the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, Duanmu Shiqing walked out of the woods at a slow pace, turning back for one last look before leaving.
Not far outside the south gate of the city lay a grove of trees. The woods were dense with foliage. Beneath the thick canopy of a massive tree, three men sat directly on the ground. For a long time, none of them spoke. The atmosphere was as stifling and oppressive as right before a summer thunderstorm.
"What do we do now?" a low voice broke the silence.
"Rescue him, of course!" came another voice. The man who spoke made to stand up and head out.
"How?" The third man's face remained entirely expressionless—no sorrow, no anger, no anxiety. His right hand pressed down on the shoulder of the man who had just tried to rise. "The Mu Estate has tightened its security. Going in there now to rescue someone is no different from walking straight into a trap."
"Then what are we supposed to do? Just sit here and wait?! You can wait if you want, but I can't!" The man pinned beneath the hand wore an anxious expression and tried once more to get up, only to be held firmly in place.
"Just waiting isn't a solution either. If we keep waiting like this, I'm afraid number two will be in real danger." The first low voice sounded again, its owner frowning slightly with worry written across his face.
"There's no need to worry about his life. I'm just afraid our second brother is in for a severe beating." The expressionless man spoke with absolute certainty.
"Just because his life isn't in danger doesn't mean we shouldn't rescue him! A blow to our eldest brother is a blow to me, your fourth brother! You guys might not feel the pain, but I do!" The man who called himself the fourth brother glared hard at the third brother holding him down and roared furiously.
"Go ahead and try, then. If you go in and can't get back out, don't blame your two older brothers." The third brother's voice was icy, his hand still pressing down firmly on the fourth brother's shoulder without the slightest intention of letting go.
This raid had been planned for a very long time.
"Number two was far too careless, letting that punk Mu Tang catch him like that. When I get my hands on Mu Tang, I'm going to skin him alive," the eldest brother said viciously.
"Right! We'll catch Mu Tang, skin him alive, rip out his tendons, and chop him into pieces to feed the wolves in the valley!" The fourth brother chimed in, full of anger, though his temper cooled somewhat at the eldest's outburst against Mu Tang.
Imagining the brutal torture their second brother must be enduring, the three men fell into a heavy silence. No one spoke.
All three brothers desperately wanted to rescue number two.
The woods were too dense for their voices to carry. Furthermore, the three men were speaking in a foreign dialect, so even if anyone had been standing nearby, they wouldn't have understood a single word.
"The Cult Master has sent another message urging us on," the eldest brother blurted out.
"Damn it! Pressuring us day in and day out, all they ever do is push!" Fourth brother was already impatient, and hearing this only made him more irritable as he swore out loud.
"We originally planned to sneak in and steal the item by surprise. Now the item is still missing, and second brother is trapped inside. There's no way we can get our hands on the target anytime soon. We'd better send a reply to the Cult Master first," the third brother said, his brow furrowed in deep dissatisfaction with the current state of affairs.
"What if the Cult Master calls us back? Number two is still trapped in there!" The eldest brother's anxiety deepened.
"Without a reply and without the treasure, the Cult Master will recall us anyway and send someone else in our place. We should write back asking the Cult Master to grant us some more time so we can rescue number two and retrieve the item," the third brother reasoned, weighing the pros and cons.
"Let's do it that way then." With that, the eldest brother let out a sharp whistle. Moments later, a carrier pigeon flew down and landed on his hand. He tied the reply securely to the bird's leg, raised his arm, and sent the pigeon soaring into the sky.
As dusk began to fall, the third brother turned to the other two and said, "Let's go find something to eat."
The three brothers walked out of the woods side by side. A group of men mounted their horses and galloped off into the distance. The dust they kicked up hung heavy in the air, enveloping the three brothers in a billowing cloud that made them want to cough.
The horseman riding past was Commander Ling. Thus, their very first encounter brushed right past them like this.
"Whoa!" Commander Ling, riding at a full gallop, suddenly hauled back on the reins, bringing his mount to an abrupt halt.
A carrier pigeon was flying past directly above him toward the distance. The appearance of this particular pigeon was highly suspicious. Without a second thought, Commander Ling nocked an arrow to his bow. With a sharp twang, the arrowhead flashed with a dazzling light as it streaked straight toward the bird.
The pigeon was nimble, however. Spotting Commander Ling drawing his bow from high above, it beat its wings frantically. The arrow grazed the right side of the bird's tail feathers, slicing a long, bottom-up gash. Blood began to gush immediately. Stunned by the pain and losing its balance, the pigeon wobbled for a moment, looking as though it was about to plummet, before beating its wings with all its might and struggling onward.
With blood streaming continuously and its strength fading bit by bit, the already faltering bird pressed on with its remaining energy for about the time it takes to brew a cup of tea, until finally it could fly no longer, wavering and tumbling downward.
Seeing that the wounded pigeon had not dropped immediately, Commander Ling kept his grip on his bow, noting that the bird had flown some distance away. Even though it hadn't fallen on the spot, he figured a wounded pigeon wouldn't be able to go far.
"Hah! Hah..." Commander Ling urged his horse into a furious chase. On the ground, the horse raced; in the sky, the bird fought to fly. Finally, just as Commander Ling had fallen far enough behind that he was about to lose sight of it, he spotted the pigeon crashing down.
His riding crop whipped down against the horse's flank again and again. Commander Ling rode at breakneck speed.
In the distance, a group of riders was galloping straight toward them. This did not slow Commander Ling's frantic pace, but the moment he clearly recognized who was approaching, he hauled sharply on the reins.
Duanmu Shiqing was riding back toward the city. Deep down, a faint glimmer of hope stirred within him—hoping that Commander Ling might have uncovered some useful intelligence, or perhaps even captured an accomplice of the assassins. Duanmu Shiqing held onto this small kernel of hope.
Riding a swift brown steed, Duanmu Shiqing sat upright in the saddle, holding the reins in his left hand while his right hand swung the riding crop down from time to time. His torso leaned slightly forward, his dark hair bound by a coffee-colored silk ribbon that fluttered in the wind. A brown sash streamed behind him, highlighting his dashing and unrestrained bearing in every possible way.
"Whoa..." At Duanmu Shiqing's command, his brown steed came to an immediate and steady halt.
"Second Young Master." Commander Ling had already dismounted, bowing deeply and respectfully to Duanmu Shiqing. His attendants quickly dismounted and saluted as well.
"Did you find anything?" Duanmu Shiqing asked Commander Ling eagerly. Running into Commander Ling here on the road outside the city, he instinctively assumed the commander had made a breakthrough and rushed out to report to him.
"Second Young Master, when my men were questioning the grain shops, the shopkeeper of one store reported seeing four men acting suspiciously near his doorway. One of them left, while the other three lingered for a while before disappearing altogether. The shopkeeper said they spoke an unintelligible dialect and were not locals," Commander Ling reported concisely.
"Did you catch them?" Duanmu Shiqing frowned. This matter was turning out to be more complicated than expected.
"No. Once I received this intelligence and learned that the Second Young Master had left the city, I hurried right out to find you," Commander Ling answered truthfully.
"On my way here, I happened to wound a carrier pigeon as it flew overhead. I was in the midst of chasing it when I ran into the Second Young Master," Commander Ling added, remembering the bird.
"A carrier pigeon? Where was it heading?" Duanmu Shiqing's expression grew even more solemn.