RUN AWAY

"Aaaahhhh!"

A sword was crashing onto the ground. Wu Qi opened his eyes. And staring in astonishment at the magical sight he almost assumed as the scene in his dream.

Four silhouettes were jiggling before him, busy defeating the army. Some of them fought fiercely with Yan San, while the others blocked the attacks from other soldiers, or protecting Hu Nayin, or even approaching Wu Qi and stretching out his hand.

They were apparently the four young people he first met at the Center of Bai Lian Jiao.

"Wei Han!" Wu Qi grasped the hand of Wei Han - the most aloof person among the four of them. Wei Han then raised two blades with both his right and left hands, said seriously. "You've been badly injured Wu Qi, you won't be able to fight anymore. So, you must run away."

"Of course I must run away! But I must defeat all of them before escaping!..."

"Just leave it to us and run away!" After that, Wei Han took part in this fight.

"We won't fight them non stop, anyway. We'll try to escape while fighting them!" Xu Gechang - the newly-married man - shouted while beating up two soldiers at once.

"Damn Bai Lian Jiao! Don't you expect to run away!" Growling wrathfully, Yan San tried to hit Bao Mei since both of them were fighting fiercely. However it turned out that Bao Mei attempted to make Yan San overwhelmed. She was a small and thin young woman, it should be easy for him to defeat her, but he could not defeat her even until now, it made him explode in rage.

Bao Mei dodged, bowed down, and when she raised her head right in front of Yan San, the deputy commander gave a loud, agonizing scream.

Yan San's right and left hands were intertwined in an awkward position. The veins of his hands had twisted and they could not function properly. Bao Mei smiled in disdain.

"Good job, Mei!" Xu Gechang cheered. "We've knocked out the soldiers quite a lot. Let those remaining return to the palace and report to Zhou Wang. So Zhou Wang will understand the real power of his opponent, and at the same time, comfort our arrested fellows that, at least four of us are safe."

They rode their respective horses - Wu Qi was behind Xu Gechang and Hu Nayin was behind Ma Ya. They spurred their horses quickly, left the meadow which now emitted a fishy smell from the scattered blood soaking the earth's surface.

***

Apparently, only those four young people who managed to escape from San Hu Wei. All of Bai Lian Jiao members got arrested, and were now severely tortured in the palace hall.

"Confess it! Where do the traitors run away?!" A guard smashed the thorny swipe viciously against Wang Yue.

"I don't know.... aaauucchh!" Wang Yue screamed loudly as the whip smacked against his back. Fresh blood started to drip from it.

"You are truly such cruel humans!" A middle-aged Bai Lian Jiao member shouted, "You the Ming rulers are a bunch of heartless humans… including you, Zhou Wang! You treat us such cruelly just because of a woman! Blood is thicker than water, your father is a merciless man, and you are very much the same as him!"

He glared angrily at Zhu Su, who was sitting on his throne.

"Sucks! How dare you insult Fu Wang and Huang Ye Ye! I'll make sure that you'll get more severe punishment!" Hands on her hips, one of Zhu Su's daughters exclaimed angrily. "Pinch all of his toes!"

The guards immediately carried out their duties, and a moment later, the loud scream blared so agonizingly that it seemed to slice the heart for quite a long time.

Zhu Su himself, although he was watching all of the processes, but he was watching it with vacant stare. That was why, he who used to be lenient could act differently at this time. He just let his two daughters torture others ruthlessly, because, he had turned a blind eye to whatever happened.

In fact, he was not really there. What was there, was only a lump of the luxuriously-clothed body that had actually died.

"We don't like to see this anyway! So quickly confess, where do Hu Wang Fei and Commander Wu Qi go?! If you tell us, we'll get you released immediately!"

"We've said so many times, that we don't know!" Another younger man replied fiercely. "And even if we tell you, I don't believe that you will set us free!"

"Oh, well then! Don't expect to escape from this whip!" The princess looked away. The soldiers continued their lashes, and once again the screams of pain could be heard.

Yan San entered the hall. Actually he was ashamed to give such an embarrassing report, but he was forced to do it, otherwise, the punishment for him would definitely be more severe. "May I report, Your Highness Zhou Wang and Jun Zhu... we have found Hu Wang Fei and Commander Wu Qi..."

"Ah! Good job!" The princesses beamed. "Get them over here, quickly!"

"But... they managed to escape from us... and fled with four strangers..."

All of Bai Lian Jiao members looked at each other.

"It must be Xu Gechang and others!"

"They attempt to flee!"

"Thanks, Lord Buddha!"

"Shut up!" The princess was extremely irritated as the blush of joy appearing distinctly on the Bai Lian Jiao members' faces. "Hey, Guards! Don't be idle! Continue the whip!" She looked back at Yan San fiercely. "Aren't you equipped with highly advanced weaponry? How can you still lose?!"

"Well... we've tried to shoot them, but Commander is very agile..."

Suddenly, Zhu Su's expression changed. He even got up from his chair. "What did you say... whom did you shoot?!"

Everyone was dumbfounded by Zhu Su's shocking change. Especially Yan San. "E... err... Your Highness..."

"Whom did you shoot? Was she Nayin?!"

Having no guts to face Zhu Su's anger, Yan San bowed his head.

"How dare you! What if the arrows hit Nayin and kill her?!"

"Fu Wang?! How can you still worry with Hu Wang Fei? She has betrayed you... She has an affair with Wu Qi, she is a traitor! Don't care about her anymore!"

"Close your mouths!" Zhu Su screamed so loudly. His expression made such a shocking change, from someone like a semi-conscious man, to a wrathful madman with a horrible look. His daughters immediately fell silent. "You... and your sister... both of you are always looking for trouble! I'm already giddy with all the mess you are doing! I'm sick of it! Stop all of these!"

Zhu Su glared at his two daughters. Both of them were no longer able to move because their guts had shrunk. He jerked his robe away violently with an angry growl, then stepped out of the hall.