Masquerade in Bridal Attire and Marry the Prince

232. A Gathering of Loyal Sect Members

Translator: Bryan

“No need.” Yuxing Tianrui stood motionlessly where he was, spear in hand, his eyes staring fixedly in the direction of the opposite encampment. His mind was no longer here. What did it matter if he caught cold?

Ada next to him tossed an apprehensive glance at Yuxing Tianrui. Du Chuxuan, before his departure, had told Ada that if things did go south, Ada must do everything he could to pacify Yuxing Tianrui. Ada had no idea why Du Chuxuan had been so composed at that time, but from the vantage point of the present, what Yuxing Tianrui was going to do next was clearly not what Du Chuxuan wanted him to do.

“Your Highness, there’s no need to concern yourself.” Ada took a step forward. “It’s true that something unexpected has happened over there, but His Highness has Luo Er by his side. If something does go wrong, Luo Er would definitely send out a signal.” He had hardly finished speaking when a large signal flare rose into the sky.

Yuxing Tianrui’s pupils abruptly contracted, his fingernails sinking into his palms. Blood was oozing out of them, but he was totally oblivious of it. Ada was at a loss for words, suspecting that he had just jinxed them. He knew better than anybody what that flare signal meant. It was a top-level distress signal. Sect members could only send it out when the situation was extremely dire.

Red meant that the signal was of the highest level. Only the sect chief and the three commanders could send it. Du Chuxuan didn’t know about the existence of that thing, which meant that it was undoubtedly Luo Er who had sent out the signal. Given that even Luo Er had been forced into sending out this signal, he and Du Chuxuan must be in deep trouble.

Ada was distracted for only a brief moment, but Yuxing Tianrui quickly took a stride forward, intending to leap down. Ada immediately reacted and flung his arms around Yuxing Tianrui. “Your Highness, calm down. Please calm down. Maybe someone else found that thing and sent it by accident.”

“That’s bullshit!” Yuxing Tianrui’s hoarse voice was imbued with helplessness, his eyes scarlet. “Only members of Sect Luo can send that signal! Who else in that encampment can send it?!”

Ada lapsed into silence, but he didn’t slacken his grip. For the sake of Yuxing Tianrui’s safety or Du Chuxuan or his own, he must not let go. Yuxing Tianrui struggled frantically, but Ada wouldn’t budge an inch, knowing that the crown prince had hung in there for so many years and was so close to victory.

Ada decided that he must not let the crown prince make any mistakes at this point in time. Ada and all other members of Sect Luo had all seen what Du Chuxuan had done for the crown prince, and they were all determined to serve Du Chuxuan wholeheartedly to repay him. However, Ada couldn’t bring himselt to let Yuxing Tianrui risk losing his life.

Having noticed that Yuxing Tianrui was losing his marbles, Ada had no choice but to knock him out by hitting his neck with a karate chop. Aer walked out of the shadows and said, “You went too far.” He glanced at Ada but didn’t know what else to say. A moment ago, Aer had had a fierce internal struggle. The reason why he hadn’t stopped Ada was because he was thinking the same thing.

Ada smiled mirthlessly, “His Highness is our master. We’ll survive only if he does. If we let any harm come to him, it’d be a crime punishable by death. Don’t say that I went too far. If His Highness wants to punish me, I’ll accept it all. But in these circumstances, if His Highness goes there, he wouldn’t be able to help them at all, and all their efforts would come to naught.”

Aer didn’t say anything and just took Yuxing Tianrui from Ada’s arms. “Such words are pointless. What’s done is done. Go and get those drugs prepared by Luo Qing. I remember one of them has sedative effect. He could use something like that.”

When a top-level distress signal was sent out, all members of Sect Luo who saw it must stop whatever it was that they were doing and go to the sender’s rescue. If the signal was a high-level one, sect members would be going there because it was their duty; if it was a low-level one, they would be going there because it was a moral thing to do. One night was more than enough for them to get there. Therefore, after merely one night, a lot of people gathered outside the Turkish encampment.

“Captain, all of us are here because we saw the top-level distress signal last night. I heard that the sect chief and Commander Luo Er had come here to help the crown prince subjugate Turk. Could it be that—” They met in a nearby wood. One of them asked the one of the highest rank about it.

There were very strict rules in Sect Luo. The more important the information was, the higher a member’s rank had to be to qualify him for access to it. Therefore, although they knew the sect chief and Luo Er had come, they were unaware of the purpose of the two of them. The one who was addressed as captain did some thinking and then sighed, “Last night our sect chief and Commander Luo Er went to the Turkish encampment.”

“Our sect chief’s kung fu is consummate. I saw it with my own eyes at the Wulin Assembly. I’m positive seldom anybody is his match. Besides, he has Commander Luo Er by his side!” All the others frowned, suspicious of the man’s explanation.

The captain let out another sigh. He couldn’t disclose anything else to them, even if he knew the truth. “You don’t have to worry about anything else. Today we’re going into the Turkish encampment and find out what happened exactly. All those of you who are good at sneaking into places or collecting intelligence, step out.”

Five people immediately walked out of the crowd. One of them, a petite woman, smiled and shook the bell in her hand. “I’m Luo Ling. I’ll do everything within my power to rescue our sect chief.”

Everybody in Sect Luo knew about what Du Chuxuan had been doing for Yuxing Tianrui. It was because Luo Yi and the others had spread news of it. They were working for Du Chuxuan because of their sincere admiration for him. That was why they were helping him rope in the other sect members. It was the only way to make sure that the tasks Du Chuxuan assigned would be properly fulfilled.

Another man who was so nondescript that people could hardly remember his face after a glance at him slowly said, “I’m Luo We. I also want to go there.” The other three undertook to do it as well. None of them refused.

“Good. The more men we got, the sooner we’ll be able to check out the lay of the land.” The captain consented to their requests. “Remember, you have only two tasks: find out what happened to our sect chief and Luo Er, where they’re locked, and how heavily it’s guarded, and then come back to report.

“Keep in mind that the Turks must’ve doubled the guard after what happened last night. One mistake and your lives will be in danger, and it’ll also make it more difficult for us to rescue our sect chief and Commander Luo Er.”

All five of them dropped to their knees. “Yes, captain! We’ll bring back the message, whatever the cost might be.” The captain nodded, and with that the five people took a flying leap and disappeared from view.

Gazing in the direction where they had gone, the captain sighed. The spies division always suffered the most casualties during an operation, but he had no other choice.