The Emperor and His Thief - Chapter 23

As the Imperial Palace had calmed down, so does the citizens. Before, the streets and taverns would be filled with gossips. Which ministers were replaced, which ministers were removed from their court’s position, which officials were arrested for which crimes, there are no less of such gossips for a few months.

Time continues to pass by and slowly, people started to forget about the topic and things proceeded as usual. Lives continued without any more major incidents and before anyone noticed it, two cycles have passed, and it is once again the season of spring.

Over these two years, Lin Xiao had gotten used to living in the cave with Long YinLian and the three tigers. He even managed to differentiate between Wang Lan, Wang Fan, and Wang Zan.

Wang Lan likes to act like the big brother out of the three. He would be the first to bring his brothers along when it is time to look for food. He is also the largest amongst the three.

Wang Fan, on the other hand, prefers to laze around. He would sleep and eat the whole day if he could. Its favorite past time was swimming in the lake near the cave they are staying. What shocked Lin Xiao the most about Wang Fan is the fact that among the three tigers, he is the fiercest. He remembered how he ran into them hunting while picking up herbs for Long YinLian and he also remembered how he had shivered in fear as he watched how ruthless Wang Fan was.

On the other hand, Wang Zan is the one that Lin Xiao is fonds of the most. Rather than a tiger, Wang Zan reminds Lin Xiao more of a domestic cat. He likes to be pampered and spoiled. He likes to play around and whenever he saw Wang Fan swims, he would drag Long YinLian and Lin Xiao for a swim too. This usually ends up with all of them, including Wang Lan to play in the water for several hours.

Out of all of this, it was Long YinLian that gave Lin Xiao the biggest shock. It was not long after Lin Xiao had made his full recovery when he saw Long YinLian practicing with his sword. Lin Xiao couldn’t take his eyes off the blind male. Each movement was precise and concise. It was as if Long YinLian was not visually challenged at all.

Of course, Long YinLian also noticed that Lin Xiao had been staring at him for a while now. Any martial arts practitioner would’ve been able to feel that burning gaze locked on you. So, after he was done with his practice, he turned to Lin Xiao and asked if Lin Xiao wanted to learn, to which Lin Xiao immediately accepted in his excitement. Since then, Lin Xiao had learned a lot from Long YinLian.

Currently, Lin Xiao sparred with Long YinLian and no matter what he did, Long YinLian always seems to have a counter for it. One particular move sent the wooden sword flying from Lin Xiao’s hand and soon after, the tip of Long YinLian’s wooden sword touched Lin Xiao’s neck. “Xiao-er, you still have much to learn,” Long YinLian said with a smile on his face. “But compared to when I first train you, you have improved a lot.”

“Shizun is just too strong,” Lin Xiao answered with a smile of his own. Although he always loses to Long YinLian, Lin Xiao never once feel downhearted. In fact, he felt proud to have such a master teaching him. The tip of the wooden sword moved away, and Lin Xiao bowed to Long YinLian as a show of respect.

Just then, Wang Zan came over and went to Lin Xiao’s side. He nuzzled against the male and Lin Xiao’s hand instinctively went to pat on the tiger’s head. “Zan-er, want to play?” Lin Xiao asked, and the tiger’s eyes immediately shone with excitement. Seeing this, Lin Xiao chuckled before turning to Long YinLian. “Shizun, I’m going to take Zan-er for a quick walk.”

“Alright. Just be cautious, and don’t stray too far. You remember, right? The last time we went to the village, they told us how the bandits seem to have become more daring lately,” Long YinLian reminded him.

“Shizun does not have to worry. Lin Xiao remembers. We will be back before it gets dark,” Lin Xiao informed Long YinLian before he turned to Wang Zan. “Come on, Zan-er!” Lin Xiao got on top of the tiger and started to ride him further into the forest. They usually just patrol around the perimeter of their cave to make sure no bandits found out about them. This was kept as a secret from Long YinLian, and the reason why Lin Xiao decided to do this was that he found about Long YinLian’s secret stash of gold one day.

Thus, he made it a habit to take Wang Zan out to ‘play’ every day and if there are any bandits that managed to get close to their cave, they would immediately subdue the threat. Of course, Long YinLian knows nothing about this since they will always clean up before going back to the cave.

They had only patrolled the northern side of their cave when they heard a shout.

“Release me this instant!!” from the voice, Lin Xiao could assume that the voice belongs to a young maiden. He patted Wang Zan’s back and pointed at the direction where the voice came from. Wang Zan understood and began to quietly approach said direction. As they got closer, more and more voices could be heard.

“Ha! Even though her guards were killed right in front of her, she still acts defiantly!”

“The boss would love to break her first!”

“How much do you think we can get from her family?”

“Based on her carriage, it seems that she’s from a very wealthy family… huh? What’s this…”

By now, Lin Xiao and Wang Zan are already close enough to see the scene plays out before them. They continued to hide in order to gauge the situation before deciding on the best course of action. They watched as one of the bandits that were near the carriage held a long, red dress.

“Guys! Look! Isn’t this a wedding dress?! So, this lady is about to be sent off for marriage! We’ve strike gold!”

Then the bandits all laughed. Hearing the laughter, the young maiden’s eyes started to tear up but not from fear, but from humiliation. She held her fist and threw herself over to one of the bandits, hoping to take them by surprise so he could try to escape but of course, it was a futile attempt. The bandit noticed this and immediately hits her across the face.

“Heh, she even tries to fight back. This lady is really something. Maybe after we got our money, we can enjoy ourselves playing with her before returning her!”

Another bout of laughter filled the area and Lin Xiao felt that the young maiden has suffered enough. He covered the lower half of his face with a piece of clothing that he always wears whenever he deals with a rogue bandit. Once it was properly tied around his face, he signaled Wang Zan to go around before he went out of his hidings. His mannerism was relaxed as if the number of bandits he’s facing is not terrifying enough.

“Huh? Where did you come from?” One of the bandits noticed him and immediately asked.

“Whatever, we are feeling generous right now because we found such a good ‘merchandise’. So, hurry and scram off!” another said.

“Hey! What if he reports this to the authority before we can even get back to the family of this young lady?! That would be a disaster!” one more scolded the one who speaks up before. “Well, since we can’t let you go, we’ll give you a swift death instead.”

Lin Xiao simply ignored them and glanced at the young lady on the ground. “My lady, please close your eyes and wait for a moment. Ignore whatever you hear and no matter what, you must not move unless you wish for death,” he said in a calm voice. Once she did as she was told to, Lin Xiao smiled behind his mask.

After realizing that they were being ignored, the bandit’s face all turned ugly. “Are you saying you’re going to defeat us alone?!” one of the more short-tempered bandits sounded furious. “You don’t even have a weapon! And there are more than a dozen of us!”

Lin Xiao just chuckled when he heard this. “Say… Do you think I need a weapon to deal with the likes of you?” he replied smugly.

“You–!”

“Oh, and if you think that I am alone, then you are hugely mistaken…” Lin Xiao was smirking as he stared at the bandits with a hint of pity in his eyes. “Zan-er, it’s time to play!” Lin Xiao called out and with a loud roar, Wang Zan finally came out of its hiding place.

Seeing the tiger, the bandits became frozen in fear before they started to flee. Of course, if they were to work together, they could’ve killed Wang Zan. It was only unfortunate that Lin Xiao is around to disrupt any teamwork they try to cook up. In addition, these bandits are all spineless and have no sense of loyalty. As they ran, the one acting as the leader of the group pushed one of the bandits down to be served as cannon fodder while the rest of them ran.

“Zan-er! Leave that one and chase the rest! Don’t let them escape!” Lin Xiao told Wang Zan who is more than happy to listen. To the tiger, chasing those who ran is more challenging than those who were downed. Lin Xiao watched as Wang Zan did as told while he approached the abandoned bandit. “Now, how to deal with you…” Lin Xiao had a sadistic smile on his face though the bandit couldn’t see it due to the cloth covering his face.

Lin Xiao eyed the bandit before his eyes landed on a dagger strapped on his waist. “Oh? This dagger, I will be taking this,” Lin Xiao said as he reached out to take the dagger. Only then did the bandit realize what Lin Xiao was doing and he tried to snatch back the dagger away. Unfortunately for him, Lin Xiao was quick to react and with one swift movement, he cut off the bandit’s hand. The bandit screamed out in pain as he held his now amputated arm, looking at it with tearful eyes as if willing his hand to grow back. “Ah, my apologies. My hand… slipped.”

After saying this, he looked over at the distance where Wang Zan is having fun with the rest of the bandits. But slowly, he saw that Wang Zan is being overpowered. Thus, he decided to go and help the tiger.

Both human and tiger worked together seamlessly. It looked as natural as breathing. Whenever the dagger in Lin Xiao’s hand found it’s mark, it would never fail to take the life away. Each time he made a move, he always targets the most vulnerable place. Sometimes, the bandits couldn’t even let out a scream before finding out they are now dying with a deep wound on their throat.

Moments later, Lin Xiao returned to the bandit who was abandoned before. The rest has already turned to corpses on the ground and he was the last one alive remaining. Lin Xiao squatted before the bandit and plays with the dagger in his hand. “We’re done over there, so now it’s your turn. Do not blame me. Blame your luck for running into me today,” Lin Xiao said before he held the dagger to the bandit’s throat and swiftly killed him.

After he was done, he walked over to the young lady’s side and knelt beside her. “My lady, you can open your eyes now,” Lin Xiao said as he too removed his mask.

When the young lady opened her eyes, she couldn’t believe what she sees. The bandits were completely wiped out and she stared fearfully at the man before her.

“Are you going to kill me too?”

“What? What makes you say that? After all the trouble I went through to save you, why would I kill you after?” Lin Xiao felt wronged. Just because he’s ruthless, does not mean he’s heartless. To be misunderstood by a fair looking young lady makes any gentleman feels hurt.

“I… umm… then, thank you for saving me,” the young lady said, and she finally had a good look at Lin Xiao’s face. Only then did she find how attractive her savior is. In fact, based on look alone, he could compete with the top-ranked attractive men within the whole of Qin Empire.

“Miss…?” Lin Xiao noticed that he had been stared at and can’t help but feel slightly uncomfortable. “Are you feeling alright? Let me escort you to the nearby village. We can find more help there,” Lin Xiao said before he turned to face Wang Zan. “Zan-er! Come and help carry the young miss over,” Lin Xiao called the tiger who then walked over to them. “This is Wang Zan, don’t worry. He won’t bite,” Lin Xiao introduced the tiger to the young lady.

It seems that the state Wang Zan is in is too stimulating for her. Wang Zan’s maw is covered in blood and when Wang Zan opened its mouth to let out a low growl, her face turned white before her pupils rolled to the back of her eyes. Lin Xiao immediately caught her before she fell to the ground.

“Zan-er… Did she faint? I have yet to find more information about her. Maybe she experienced too much today,” Lin Xiao sighed before he picked her up and placed her on top of Wang Zan’s back. “Oh well, since we can’t do anything else now, let’s just carry her home first.”

After saying that, Lin Xiao looked around the area and decided to bring some of her stuff along, especially the wedding dress and other things that he deemed important. As for the dead bodies of the guards and servants, though Lin Xiao felt pity, he did not have the luxury to bury them. “Well, I’m really sorry. But since your Young Miss is safe now, I hope you will find peace,” Lin Xiao offered them his prayer before he left the area with Wang Zan who is carrying the young lady. This time, Lin Xiao decided not to clean up. After all, he must tell Long YinLian about the young lady and that means, he needs to tell him about the bandits too.

After he left, a bird of prey lands on the nearby tree. It was an adult falcon, and though it has yet to reach its full size, it was already big enough to fly off with a rabbit. This time its gaze followed Lin Xiao and the rest. Whenever the three are about to leave its sight, it would spread its wings and with few flaps, it will choose to land on a nearby tree. This continues on all the way until Lin Xiao and the rest reached their dwellings.