Chapter 307: His Majesty was coerced

"You can't tell me, ah?!” Ning Xiaoyao looked at the young man sympathetically. She smacked her lips and said, "I knew there must be a story behind this scar."

The young man looked at Ning Xiaoyao and said nothing. The burly man next to him whispered, "Young Lord, what on earth is this punk talking about? How come I can’t understand his speech?”

The young man still did not speak because he was also unable to understand Ning Xiaoyao.

"Let me guess!" Ning Xiaoyao enthusiastically exclaimed.

"It was a knife wound," the young man crisply stated, "I was stabbed by an official soldier."

"Was it during a fight, ah?"

"If not, how do you think it came about? I would cut myself for no reason?"

Ning Xiaoyao looked at the scar at the corner of the young man’s mouth. Initially, she had thought that the young man left the scar there on purpose because there was a special meaning to it. Who would’ve thought that it was caused during a fight? "Then why are you keeping it?" Ning Xiaoyao was curious.

The burly man standing next to the young man muttered, "What are you talking about? Who has the ability to get rid of this scar?”

Pa! Ning Xiaoyao slapped her forehead. She made a fool out of herself again. Common colds were enough to kill people in this world. How the heck would they be able to remove scars?

The two men stared at Ning Xiaoyao. Not only does this person speak gibberish, his actions are also difficult to grasp. What's wrong with him? Does he regret saving them?

After scolding herself repeatedly for being a fool, Ning Xiaoyao decided to forget this matter. She looked at the young man, "You are here to help Grand Preceptor Xie?"

The young man's cheeks trembled.

"Who are you?" The burly man questioned Ning Xiaoyao.

"How could you aid such a bad man?" Ning Xiaoyao demanded.

While the young man kept his silence, the ground beneath his feet suddenly began to slant downward. He was about to slip, but by the time he came to his senses, they had been pulled to the back of the hillside. In addition, Ning Xiaoyao was in the midst of a conversation with his companion.

"You called me a punk?" Ning Xiaoyao had one hand on her waist, while her other hand was pointing at the burly man. "Is this your attitude towards a life-saving benefactor?"

The burly man blushed when he heard Ning Xiaoyao’s words. He couldn’t think of a counter argument but didn’t want to lose face either. So, he loudly rebutted, "Did I ask you to save me?"

"Aiya!" Ning Xiaoyao was shocked, "So you don't want to live? Go ahead, jump down then.”

The big man flushed with embarrassment and kept mum.

“Tsk, you’re still glaring at me?” Ning Xiaoyao widened her eyes at the bulky man, "You wanna beat me up or something?"

“Danian, withdraw.” the young man opened his mouth.

The beefy man retreated. He felt relieved that he no longer had to talk to this guy.

After looking at the burly man and then at the young man, Ning Xiaoyao rubbed her chin and proudly stated, "There’s one thing I can confirm though. Young Lord is not your name, but your status!"

The young man: …

The bulky man: …

Who would name themselves as Young Lord?

"Aiyo! Well dang!" Ning Xiaoyao circled around the young man. "I know the leader of the rebel forces is Xiang Nong. Who are you?”

Instead of answering Ning Xiaoyao's question, the young man cupped his fists in a greeting. "Many thanks for saving our lives, younger brother*."

"Don't change the subject," Ning Xiaoyao puffed her meat-bun cheeks, "Why did you save Grand Preceptor? Do you have any idea how many pots of congee that rat shit has ruined? How could you save him?”

"I-I didn't know that he was Xie Wenyuan." stammered the young man. A frustrated expression crossed his face.

Ning Xiaoyao stared at the young man. "Do you think I'm a fool, ah? If you weren’t here to save people, why would you bring people here for?”

The young man lowered his voice, "I didn't know the person I was responsible to save was Xie Wenyuan. Please believe me. I...I also hate Xie Wenyuan."

“Where is Grand Preceptor then?" Ning Xiaoyao asked.

The young man stopped responding.

"Tell me a location and I’ll go after him."

At this moment, the beefy dude spoke up, "Young Lord, the landslide has stopped."

"It has stopped for a while now," Ning Xiaoyao yelled at the big man called Danian and rolled her eyes at him. What a waste of a pair of big ears! The sounds have stopped for so long and he only realized it now? A human that hasn’t evolved well! Tsk! (Author: Hey, don't be like that ~)

Danian felt suffocated by Ning Xiaoyao‘s words and stopped talking again.

"Your Majesty?" Someone called out from the other side of the hill.

Ning Xiaoyao sucked in her breath and listened to the movement on the other side of the hillside. Second Young Master Pei had came back to find her.

The way the young man and his companion looked at Ning Xiaoyao instantly changed. A soldier was shouting for His Majesty. There were only the three of them here. They were the rebel forces. So, the emperor could only be the person in front of them.

"Shut up!" Pei Yan stepped on the knee-deep mud and angrily snapped at the soldiers beside him. "Don't shout His Majesty!" By shouting out His Majesty, aren’t they revealing the emperor’s identity? What if the bandits were still alive?

The solddiers no longer dared to utter another word after Pei Yan’s scolding. But if they can’t call out His Majesty, what other titles could they use?

"Anybody there?" Pei Yan screamed loudly as he struggled to get up the hillside.

The young man raised his hand and stopped Danian from rushing forward. He asked Ning Xiaoyao, "You are..."

Ning Xiaoyao kept running, and in the blink of an eye, she ran past the two men.

Danian whispered, "Young Lord, is he really the current emperor? His martial arts’ level is very high. Can we kill him?”

The young man looked at Ning Xiaoyao and hesitated.

Ning Xiaoyao ran behind a boulder and rescued a fox caught in a trap. She took the red-brown fox into her hands and weighed him in her arms. She mumbled, "Why are you so thin? Are you hungry? "

The red fox grinned, "This benefactor is a fool. Isn’t it raining? When we furry animals are drenched in the rain, don’t we all appear thin?"

Ning Xiaoyao: ...

The red fox and Ning Xiaoyao looked at each other, and suddenly the hair all over its body stood up. "Y-you can understand animal speech?" it stuttered.

"I think I'm a very famous human. My name is Ning Xiaoyao."

"Benefactor" cried the red fox.

"You have just insulted my intelligence." Ning Xiaoyao said with a wooden face. The red fox attempted to innocently gaze at Ning Xiaoyao with wide opened eyes.

"It's no use acting cute," replied Ning Xiaoyao, still with a wooden face. "I feel hurt."

"Then what do you want?" The red fox had no other way but to ask Ning Xiaoyao. This person is the emperor, but still demands a fox to give a gift of gratitude?!

"Did you see Xie Wenyuan?" Ning Xiaoyao asked.

"Nope," said the red fox, shaking its head.

"Well," Ning Xiaoyao placed the red fox on the boulder, "Remember, I'm not a fool." The red fox nodded but in its mind thought that this conversation was silly.

"He's talking to the fox?" Danian whispered to his Young Lord. "Why do I think he’s so abnormal? Is he really the emperor?"

Suddenly the young man shouted at Ning Xiaoyao, "Your Majesty?"

Ning Xiaoyao subconsciously turned her head.

Danian was horrified. This person really is the emperor!

Pei Yan stood on the top of the hillside, his whole body was soaked with mud. When he saw the young man heading towards Ning Xiaoyao, he hollered at Ning Xiaoyao, "Kill him!"

Ning Xiaoyao blinked. What’s happening now?

When the young man heard Pei Yan’s shout, he suddenly strode toward Ning Xiaoyao. The blade in his hand was directly placed on Ning Xiaoyao’s neck.

Ning Xiaoyao (⊙＿⊙；). Can somebody tell her what’s going on?

When the soldiers reached the top of the hillside, they were all covered in mud. They saw a bandit pressed a blade around His Majesty’s neck. Those with bows and arrows hurriedly attached their arrows to the bows and aimed at the young man and Danian.

Pei Yan looked at Ning Xiaoyao. His Majesty is usually very good at fighting, ah! Why isn't he doing anything?

Ning Xiaoyao asked the young man, "What do you mean by this?"

"Get your people to withdraw," the young man ordered.

"Let him go!" Pei Yan furiously shouted at the young man.

"Your people wants to kill us," the young man whispered to Ning Xiaoyao. "Make them withdraw, and I won't hurt you."

But Second Young Master’s people clearly came to find her, ah. They do not want to kill people, ah!

Ning Xiaoyao was completely vexed. In the rebel forces, was she, the emperor, seen as a damned bastard? This didn’t make sense. These rebels could forgive and even help Grand Preceptor Xie, but are determined to kill her?

Pei Yan's hand reached the blade on his waist.

"Back off!" the young man fiercely roared.

The archers awaited Pei Yan's orders with their ears perked up. Pei Yai was still staring at Ning Xiaoyao. Why aren’t you making a move?

Ning Xiaoyao was also staring at Pei Yan. She saw Second Young Master Pei wink at her. What’s that supposed to mean?

"I repeat, step back," the young man threatened Pei Yan as he began to retreat with Ning Xiaoyao, "Otherwise, I'll kill him!"

Pei Yan was itching to yell at Ning Xiaoyao to start fighting. Second Young Master Pei looked grave. Could His Majesty be hurt?

Ah! Ning Xiaoyao suddenly thought she understood Pei Yan’s meaning. The rebel forces may be hiding Xie Wenyuan. Second Young Master wants her to be obedient and act weak so she could follow these two rebels?

(Author: You two know each other too well...)

"Go," the young man shouted at Danian. Danian ran down the hill.

The red fox called Ning Xiaoyao, "Xiaoyao, do you want me to help you bite this man to death?"

"No!" Ning Xiaoyao cried out hurriedly. Don't destroy her plan to catch Grand Preceptor Xie ah! Besides, this fox was tiny. Between the fox and Young Lord, who’s biting whom to death?

"Don't talk," The young man's hand pressed the blade against Ning Xiaoyao's neck all of a sudden. Ning Xiaoyao stopped talking.

"Don't follow me, or I'll kill him!" When Pei Yan’s people inched forward, the young man threatened again.

Pei Yan had to raise his hand to keep the soldiers still.

At this time, Lou Zigui had arrived on horseback outside the woods. Most of the trees in the woods have been washed away by the landslide. It was still raining heavily and made it incredibly difficult for anyone to take a single step.

When Lou Zigui got off the horse, the mud came up to his knees.

"Supreme Commander?" a military officer shouted. He could not find a good spot to dismount and the mud had reached up to his thighs.

"Let’s go," Lou Zigui said.

Little Gyrfalcon flew in front of Lou Zigui, and from time to time he wailed "Ao" at Lou Zigui.

Lou Zigui did not understand what the falcon was trying to tell him, but he believed that it was taking him to find Ning Xiaoyao.

The young man “coerced" Ning Xiaoyao to go down the hills. From out of nowhere, Danian came back with two horses. The young man carried Ning Xiaoyao in his arms and put her on the horse.

Ning Xiaoyao made eye contact with Pei Yan, who was currently too afraid to move on the hillside. Don't worry, she will find Grand Preceptor Xie!

“They’re gone," one of the deputy generals said to Pei Yan, "What should we do?"

"I won’t be able to hit them with an arrow anymore," said another deputy general.

The young man started to head east with Ning Xiaoyao.

"Chase after them!" Pei Yan ran down the hill. Don't tell him that people can't outrun horses. Even if he breaks his legs, he must catch up to the bandits today!

“The people at the top of the hill are men from Nine Gate Infantry Commander’s estate!” a soldier pointed to the hilltop. The soldier was currently standing in the mud.

The soldiers atop the hills shouted and rushed madly down the hill. All the people down in the forest suddenly felt uneasy. Something must have happened over there!

*They’re completely unrelated but it is common courtesy in Chinese to call people brothers and sisters even if they’re unrelated to you.