Chapter 270: Unfortunate Guo Jing

. Ye Xiu quietly entered the An Mansion, silently avoiding the inspectors and even some hidden agents.

Ye Xiu's movements appeared calm. This was partly due to the intelligence he had gathered about the An family from Ruyan and Ji Yaohua. It was also partly due to Ye Xiu's increased strength, which greatly enhanced his spiritual perception, allowing him to easily detect where people were.

Speaking of which, the An Mansion was truly enormous. Ye Xiu didn't quite understand the size and specifications of the mansions. He wondered if a merchant residence like the An Mansion would comply with imperial regulations.

However, this was a martial arts world, where force was respected. Even those who attempted rebellion were still around. Perhaps imperial regulations and residential area weren't that strict.

"Hmm?"

Ye Xiu suddenly noticed a stable within the An Mansion.

Inside, Ye Xiu saw over ten fine horses, and surprisingly, all of them were swift horses.

Each of the steeds looked incredibly beautiful and strong. Ye Xiu even felt that any of them were no less capable than his own.

And among the steeds, Ye Xiu spotted the most beautiful and handsome one.

It was a bay-red horse, its figure remarkably agile and graceful. Its extraordinary presence was evident at a single glance.

Although Ye Xiu didn't know much about horses, he had a vague feeling that this horse was the most powerful in the stable.

It seemed normal for a power like the An Mansion to possess such a magnificent steed, but the fact that there were so many of them at once was a bit strange.

Ye Xiu couldn't help but think of the An Mansion's previous arrests and even pursuits of riders of steeds. Ye Xiu's intuition told him that these steeds might have been brought to the An Mansion for this very reason.

Ye Xiu stood before the maroon steed, sizing it up. The horse seemed to know he meant no harm. Its large eyes simply stared at him, unfazed by any fear, not even the slightest hint of a neigh. Ye Xiu

reached out to pet the horse, but it took a step back, dodging his hand.

Then, Ye Xiu saw resistance in the horse's eyes—resistance to Ye Xiu's touch.

"Quite intelligent," Ye Xiu smiled.

Ye Xiu didn't have any particular fondness for horses. To him, a horse was simply a mount, a means of transportation. It was just that after riding the steed for so long, he'd naturally developed a certain affection for it.

But that didn't mean Ye Xiu fell in love with horses.

Ye Xiu saw the horse and wanted to pet it, but it was simply a desire, not a desire to possess it. Since the horse didn't want him to touch it, then he wouldn't.

Besides, Ye Xiu hadn't come here just for the horse.

Leaving the stable, Ye Xiu continued on his way.

The An Mansion appeared large, with numerous rooms, a sprawling compound with four or five entrances. However, Ye Xiu knew that An Shigeng didn't usually live in these rooms. This

was because there was another underground building beneath the An Mansion.

Many of the An Mansion's secrets lay within this subterranean structure.

For example, divine weapons crafted with secret Western techniques, as well as most of the treasures, were stored there. Many more shameful items and possessions were also stored there.

Even Ji Yaohua and Ruyan had come to see An Shigeng in that underground structure.

Soon, Ye Xiu arrived at the entrance to the underground structure Ji Yaohua had mentioned. It looked like a perfectly ordinary place, nothing special, just an ordinary wall.

Ye Xiu quickly identified the brick, extended his palm inward, and then lifted it outward. The brick popped out, and Ye Xiu grabbed it and twisted it.

"Crack!"

A one-meter-wide hole appeared in the ground, and Ye Xiu dived right into it.

Ye Xiu had barely landed when he saw four guards. The moment they saw Ye Xiu, they were about to raise their voices in alarm, but Ye Xiu whirled around, circling the four men and pinning them all down.

A passageway stretched ahead, with three forks leading to different locations.

Ji Yaohua had also told Ye Xiu that the middle passage led to a large hall where An Shigeng resided.

The passageway to the left housed the Western Regions' magical weapons, crafted using the mystical techniques of the Western Regions.

These weapons were crafted from human corpses, using secret Western techniques and incorporating various medicinal herbs to create puppets that were impervious to pain and fearless of life and death. These weapons were virtually flawless; whether you chopped off an arm or pierced its heart, it wouldn't cause fatal damage, and it was unlikely to even affect its combat effectiveness.

However, Ye Xiu knew that the Western Region Divine Weapon's weak point was its Baihui acupoint. A golden needle was sealed at the Baihui acupoint, the central control point for the Western Region Divine Weapon. A single strike at the Baihui acupoint would force the needle out, and the weapon would instantly vanish into dust.

Ye Xiu believed this weapon was only suitable for eliminating small soldiers; against even slightly more powerful opponents, the Western Region Divine Weapon would be useless.

As for the final passage, it was a cage used to imprison the enemies captured by An Shigeng and his men.

Ye Xiu had initially intended to ignore the Western Region Divine Weapon and the cage, but inexplicably, he remembered the maroon horse he had encountered earlier. This

changed his mind, desiring to see who was imprisoned within the cage, perhaps finding something unexpected.

Ye Xiu turned and slipped through the passageway leading to the cage. Soon, he arrived at the prison.

A vast space filled the air, then a densely packed prison cell, all constructed from cast-iron cages, making escape impossible for the average person.

Of course, within the cell were cages, prisoners, and, naturally, guards. However, to Ye Xiu, these guards were nothing.

Ye Xiu's figure was like a wisp of breeze. By the time he settled, the guards and cell bosses had been pinned down one by one by Ye Xiu, unable to move or utter a single sound.

Only then did Ye Xiu have time to examine the prisoners within.

The inmates ranged from the elderly, middle-aged, and young. Most were listless, their faces sallow, and most bore visible injuries.

They seemed to have their powers sealed, sitting limply on the ground or leaning against the railings. Upon seeing Ye Xiu, most of them showed no reaction, and no one called for help.

In reality, Ye Xiu's unassuming presence had been mistaken for someone from the An Mansion, the same force that had imprisoned them.

At first, they would resist, shout, and beg for mercy,

but every time they would be scolded, cursed, or even whipped. Gradually, these people stopped talking and dared not make a sound.

Ye Xiu surveyed the area, finally settling on a young man with a simple, honest look. He paused in front of the young man's cage. "Why were you brought here?"

"Hmph!" the young man snorted in anger at Ye Xiu's question, refusing to answer. Instead, he glared at him with those large, dull eyes.

A man in a nearby cage, however, had his eyes lit up at Ye Xiu's question. He quickly approached, grasping the bars. "You're not from the An Mansion?"

"How do you know?" Ye Xiu looked at the man. He looked a bit gaunt, but his eyes were bright. He bore a few scars from whipping, though not many.

"If you were from the An Mansion, you wouldn't be asking why he was captured," the gaunt man said, glancing at the guards nearby. He noticed that they were standing still, motionless, like statues. The gaunt man's eyes lit up.

"You're not from the An Mansion?" the seemingly honest young man Ye Xiu was questioning asked hastily after hearing the conversation between Ye Xiu and the skinny man.

"I never said I was from the An Mansion," Ye Xiu said with a smile.

"Then hurry up! There are many powerful masters in the An Mansion. It would be terrible if they found you," the honest young man urged.

"Hey, big idiot, didn't you see those guards standing still? They've clearly been hit. This guy is a powerful master," the skinny man couldn't help but say to the honest young man.

"Huh?" The honest young man was stunned for a moment, then looked at the guards and saw that they were indeed standing there motionless, all of them.

"Why were you captured? When were you captured?" Ye Xiu asked with a smile.

"Oh, don't mention it. I'm just unlucky. I finally stole a thousand-mile horse, but before I could make a move, the An Mansion people inexplicably captured me," the skinny man said with a gloomy look on his face.

Upon hearing this, Ye Xiu thought to himself that this man was arrested because of the Thousand-Li Horse incident.

"I was arrested because of the horse, too. I had just arrived in the Great Song from the Mongols, and was inexplicably captured," the simple-minded young man said with a distressed look.

"The Mongols?" Ye Xiu was stunned.

"Although I grew up in the Mongols, I am a Great Song native. My mother and my master have always taught me so. I came to the Great Song to fulfill a promise to fight my sworn brother, Yang Kang, but I was unexpectedly captured. I don't know when they will let me go, otherwise I might miss my appointment with my sworn brother." The simple-minded young man sighed.

"Yang Kang? What's your name?" Ye Xiu felt a little puzzled.

"My name is Guo Jing."

"Guo Jing—" Ye Xiu was a little lost for words. He hadn't expected to run into Guo Jing here.

But it seemed all right.

The An Mansion's men were looking for someone riding a Thousand-Li Horse, and Guo Jing's mount was a Ferghana horse, capable of traveling a thousand miles a day.

So Guo Jing was indeed within the range of those the An family wanted to capture.

However, Ye Xiu hadn't expected Guo Jing's fate to turn out so drastically—Ye Xiu didn't know what to say.

In a single-story world, Guo Jing would have met Huang Rong after arriving in the Song Dynasty, then traveled to the Jin Kingdom, where he absorbed snake blood at Prince Wanyan's mansion, greatly increasing his internal strength. With Huang Rong's help, he would have learned the Eighteen Dragon Subduing Palms from Hong Qigong and become his disciple. Later, with Huang Rong's help, he would have learned the Nine Yin Scriptures, gradually reaching the pinnacle of his life.

But now, Huang Rong had escaped, gone to the Ming Kingdom to play with Ye Xiu. And then, Guo Jing, unluckily, was captured by An Shigeng. Ye Xiu even wondered if he hadn't intervened and dealt with An Shigeng, Guo Jing would have died there.

Perhaps not. After all, Guo Jing was the protagonist of a novel. Perhaps after An Shigeng's fake copper coin incident, Guo Jing would have been rescued by the Divine Marquis Mansion.

"Sir, I wonder why you've come here. Could you please release me? If you can rescue me from here, I'll follow your lead from now on."

As Ye Xiu lamented Guo Jing's fate, the unfortunate horse thief nearby spoke impatiently.

Guo Jing's eyes lit up at this, and he looked at Ye Xiu expectantly.

Meanwhile, the prisoners in nearby cages had overheard Ye Xiu's conversation and began to plead for help.

Ye Xiu looked at them. Some had been arrested for the Thousand-Li Horse incident, while others had not.

Among them were good people, like Guo Jing, and there might also be bad guys.

But to Ye Xiu, this didn't seem to matter.

However, Ye Xiu had a good impression of Guo Jing, even if he didn't mention the others. Letting Guo Jing remain imprisoned here? Clearly, Ye Xiu didn't want to do that, especially since it was a simple matter.

Since Guo Jing was being saved, why not save the others as well? It wouldn't take much effort anyway.

Ye Xiu snapped his fingers, and a wisp of sword energy erupted from his fingertips.

With a sharp, clean swish, the sword energy pierced the cage lock.

With a snap, the iron lock fell to the ground.

Guo Jing's cage was unlocked.

The others' eyes lit up at the sight, and they began to plead for help once again, some even shouting in their excitement.

Ye Xiu couldn't help but frown. "Guo Jing, I've already unlocked the cell door for you. As for the keys to the others' doors, they should be with the guards. If you want to save them, do so.

If not, forget it." With that, Ye Xiu vanished, leaving Guo Jing standing dumbfounded in the cage.

"Brother Guo, hurry, get the key, Brother Guo!" the skinny, unfortunate fellow shouted at Guo Jing.

"Oh!" Guo Jing responded quickly, then quickly stepped out of the cage and began to search for the key to save the others.

By then, Ye Xiu had already emerged.

Just as he emerged, Ye Xiu encountered a group of men. They seemed to have heard the noise from the prison and had come to investigate.

"Who are you—"

Upon seeing Ye Xiu, the men immediately drew their weapons.

Ye Xiu, however, didn't bother to waste time with them. He simply flicked his finger, and a stream of sword energy shot out from his fingertip. Though it was only a single wisp of sword energy, it was powerful enough to instantly pierce through the bodies of the men, who fell to the ground in a heap of corpses.

Previously, Ye Xiu had only tapped his acupoints, wanting to avoid making too much noise and alerting others.

However, the noise from the prison was clearly too loud to avoid alerting anyone, so Ye Xiu simply let go.

In any case, to Ye Xiu, the people from the An Mansion were likely no good. At least, those who appeared in this underground space were mostly privy to the An Mansion's secrets, and therefore deserved their death.

Just then, a burst of flames suddenly appeared, sweeping towards Ye Xiu.

Watching the flames, Ye Xiu's eyes flickered with surprise. He discovered something unusual about this flame. Its power was far greater than ordinary flames, and it was also incredibly agile and dynamic, even seeming to attempt to trap him within it.

Ye Xiu's figure spun, and the flames unexpectedly followed suit, charging towards him once again.

Ye Xiu twisted his wrist, reaching out and pressing down on the flames. Powerful Qi enveloped the flames, and his Tai Chi energy surged, seemingly attempting to contain them.

Then, the flames suddenly transformed, transforming into ice, attempting to freeze Ye Xiu.

The transition between fire and ice, though somewhat awkward and unsmooth, was a revelation to Ye Xiu.

The Tai Chi energy swirled, enveloping both the flames and the ice, making it impossible to break through.

The next moment, the two forces suddenly collided, unleashing a powerful repulsive force that shook Ye Xiu's Tai Chi energy away. The flames then quickly escaped Ye Xiu's control, transforming into a human figure not far from him.

This person was none other than An Shigeng. An Shigeng's face was flushed, with a trace of blood at the corner of his mouth. It was obvious that forcing ice and fire to collide and unleash super-strong power was still too much for him.

"An Shigeng? Western Region Ice and Fire Technique?" Ye Xiu asked.

"Who are you?" An Shigeng stared at Ye Xiu with a gloomy expression

. "Who am I? How should I put it, I'm an unlucky guy. After all, I was inexplicably and suddenly hunted down, and the reason was simply that my vehicle was a thousand-mile horse. In order to avoid being hunted down relentlessly, I had no choice but to solve the source of the problem." Ye Xiu said in a helpless tone.

Hearing Ye Xiu's words, An Shigeng's face became even gloomier.

He sent people to capture people riding thousand-mile horses, and captured quite a few people. Apart from getting more than ten thousand-mile horses, he gained almost nothing. He had no idea what the Divine Marquis Mansion wanted to do, and now he had provoked such an enemy because of the thousand-mile horse.