Chapter Thirty-Three: Interrogation

With her keen intelligence, Pei Ye was well aware that there must be hidden reasons behind her father’s death in battle. The moment she heard the visitor was Lin Yukong, she made up her mind to take him alive.

There is little need to recount the details of the fight. Pei Ye’s graceful martial arts left the five Yan clan officers, all accustomed to the open brutality of the battlefield, utterly unprepared; she dispatched them one by one with ease.

Just as she sent Lin Yukong’s broadsword flying, seized him, and mounted her horse to leave, Lin Yufei, having heard his younger brother had gone out to provoke the enemy, was already leading troops this way. He arrived just in time to witness Pei Ye capturing Lin Yukong.

“Who are you, brat? Release Yukong, and I’ll leave you a whole corpse!” Lin Yufei’s voice rang out, still at a distance with his troops, halting Pei Ye in her tracks. She turned her horse to face him.

“I am Pei Ye, son of Ye Linhui!”

Lin Yufei, upon hearing this, bellowed again, “It was by my spear your father fell! If you seek vengeance, come for me—let my brother go!”

At these words, Pei Ye’s eyes flared blood-red; she spurred her horse forward, ready to strike.

From behind, Yue Zhe urgently gathered his inner strength and shouted, “Ye Zi! Get back! Interrogate Lin Yukong first, then decide!”

The shout, carried on a wave of force, jolted Pei Ye back to her senses. She glanced at the few hundred men behind Lin Yukong, dismissed the notion of immediate revenge, thrust the Divine Radiance Spear into the ground, pulled three arrows from her quiver, nocked and loosed them in quick succession, then, without a backward glance, reclaimed her spear and returned to Luoshui City.

By the time Lin Yufei knocked aside the three deadly arrows, the gates of Luoshui City had already closed.

Weighing the few hundred men he had hastily rallied, Lin Yufei could only depart in fury, preparing for the next siege. Even if he could not take the city, he was determined to find a way to retrieve Lin Yukong—after all, time was running out for the Yan clan.

Inside the city.

Lin Yukong was now bound hand and foot to a chair, with Yue Zhe standing before him, a dagger between his teeth.

“Young hero Yue, perhaps we should be the ones to interrogate…” a scout from the Ye army suggested, entering the room.

“No need,” Yue Zhe replied, but even before he finished, Pei Ye’s voice rang out from outside. She entered, leaning casually against the table. “Just stay by and record everything.”

At this moment, neither Pei Ye nor Yue Zhe realized that another unexpected visitor had arrived in Luoshui City.

Yue Zhe lowered the dagger, pressing it to Lin Yukong’s throat. “You know what we want to know. Speak now—if I have to torture you half to death before you talk, that would be a waste.”

Lin Yukong, born into privilege, had never experienced such treatment. Yet, used to arrogance and having heard tales like this, he thought he should act tough. Chin held high, he declared, “If you have guts, kill me! I’ll say nothing!”

“Oh? Then I’ll just…” Yue Zhe, annoyed, was about to call for the torture implements, but Pei Ye stepped past him, seized the dagger, and drove it into Lin Yukong’s belly.

“I’ll kill your second aunt’s grandmother. Speak.”

The soldiers and Yue Zhe stared, stunned. None had ever seen such an interrogation—what if she killed the prisoner outright?

But Pei Ye remembered Mu Piaoyan telling her Lin Yukong’s skills were not bad, able to hold his own against Meng Huaicheng. This stab was unlikely to be fatal; even if mortally wounded, he’d outlast an ordinary man.

“Ah—you—my Lin clan—” Lin Yukong screamed in agony, never expecting Pei Ye to stab him without warning. Wasn’t there supposed to be a menacing sneer first, to give him some mental preparation? In shock, he tried to invoke the Lin clan’s name as a threat, but—

“Lin clan what?” “Slash.” “Aaaah!”

Another stab, this time to his leg.

“I said… my Lin clan…” he tried again.

He hadn’t finished before Pei Ye’s cold voice interrupted, “What’s so great about the Lin clan?” Another stab to his leg.

Lin Yukong realized Pei Ye wasn’t deaf; she was simply ignoring him. Gritting his teeth, he clamped his mouth shut and refused to speak.

But—

“I’m asking you a question. The Lin clan what?”

Another stab.

“Aaah—you little demon… I—” Lin Yukong never imagined that this youth, who couldn’t be more than twenty, would be so ruthless.

“Spare me the nonsense. Speak.”

Another stab.

Lin Yukong was almost in tears. With Pei Ye stabbing him, her face as pale and indifferent as a terminally ill patient, he couldn’t bear it.

“General Pei Ye…”

“Don’t try to get friendly. Speak.” Another stab.

Yue Zhe, standing by, was numb, his mind echoing with the repeated sound of “slash, slash, slash.” Glancing at the soldiers recording, he saw the same stunned expressions on their faces.

“My brother…”

“Still rambling, are you?” Pei Ye glanced at Lin Yukong’s biceps. “Let’s try this.”

“Aaah—” Lin Yukong was now drenched in blood, his screams growing weaker.

Yue Zhe said, “You’d best talk now. Your wounds are still treatable as of now.”

Lin Yukong lifted his head, sneering, “Hmph… I, Lin Yukong, a true—”

Pei Ye shot Yue Zhe a glance. Noting Pei Ye’s pallid complexion and cold gaze, an idea struck Yue Zhe. “What’s wrong? I’m just being honest—he can still be saved.” He waved his left hand carelessly.

Pei Ye gave a cold smile, sliced through several ropes, and grabbed Lin Yukong’s right arm.

Lin Yukong forced a grin. “Afraid now, are you? My Lin clan is not—”

But Pei Ye’s blade flashed, severing his right arm at the elbow, the forearm dropping to the ground.

“Not what—aaah!”

Yue Zhe sighed, “Now he can’t be saved.”

Pei Ye’s patience was at its end. After slicing off Lin Yukong’s forearm, she pressed the blade to his throat, the edge already biting into his flesh.

“Make no mistake, Lin Yukong—I have other ways of getting at these secrets. I know there’s a traitor in my ranks, and I know who it is. If you die, even without evidence, I’ll arrest and interrogate him myself. Think carefully: if you don’t talk, you’ll never leave here alive.”

The countless wounds had long since shattered Lin Yukong’s resolve. Now, convinced Pei Ye knew of Chen Qingyue’s existence, he looked at her and said, “Fine. I’ll talk.”

Pei Ye set down the knife, walked to the table, and instructed the soldiers, “Record this.”

Once the interrogation was successful, the captive seldom held anything back. When Lin Yukong finished speaking, Pei Ye’s face remained just as pale, betraying no emotion. Beside her, Yue Zhe muttered, “Duan Xingyun had someone threaten Xiao Ming’s family to force him… No wonder… The Chen family… The Xia emperor… What kind of scoundrel becomes an emperor!”

Pei Ye replied coldly, “He was simply born into imperial blood. Bring Chen Qingyue to me.”

Before long, a few soldiers returned to report, “Major General, Chen Qingyue left Luoshui City not long ago, saying he was headed to the Yan camp to issue a challenge.”

Pei Ye narrowed her eyes. “How long has he been gone?”

“Not long. The others said that when he heard you’d captured Lin Yukong, he started spouting off about morale and went to challenge them.”

“Since that’s the case…” Pei Ye snatched up the dagger and, with a flick of her wrist, plunged it into Lin Yukong’s chest. She then seized his corpse and strode to the city wall. “Ready a ballista for me.”

Pei Ye quickly ascended the battlements, spotting Chen Qingyue already nearing the Yan camp. She bound Lin Yukong’s corpse to a ballista bolt, drew back the great bow, aimed, and fired at Chen Qingyue.

But she wasn’t skilled at this; though she’d hoped to kill Chen Qingyue with the shot, she missed, and the massive bolt thudded into the earth just behind him.

“Damn it.” Pei Ye cursed, slamming the wall.

She turned to Yue Zhe and said, “If only Shuichen were here.”

Before Yue Zhe could reply, a voice sounded from behind. “Then my timing is perfect.”

Pei Ye’s pale face brightened with rare delight. Pointing to the distant Chen Qingyue, she called urgently, “Shuichen, shoot him for me.”

Feng Shuichen took the powerful bow from his back, eyed the fleeing Chen Qingyue nearing the Yan camp, drew two arrows, and, his expression grave, said, “I’ll do my best.”

Feng Shuichen drew the bow, nocked both arrows, and released the first at a high angle. In the next second, he drew the bow even further and, in a flash, let the second arrow fly.

Even at such speed, the second arrow struggled to cover the distance to Chen Qingyue. Pei Ye, knowing how difficult the shot was, already looked resigned. Yet, the second arrow flew straight for the tail of the first; as the two touched, the second arrow veered off and fell, but the first, in a miraculous feat, accelerated and pierced Chen Qingyue’s heart.

Aside from Feng Shuichen himself, only Pei Ye and Yue Zhe, with their extraordinary eyesight, saw the feat clearly. The soldiers saw only that Chen Qingyue suddenly toppled from his horse in the distance, motionless, and attributed the shot and Pei Ye’s earlier leap from the wall to a single divine act.

“Well done!” For the first time since Ye Linhui’s death, Pei Ye’s emotion was clear in her voice—even if it was just one word.

Feng Shuichen, relieved by the result, cupped his hands to Pei Ye. “Subordinate Feng Shuichen, by order of His Majesty, has come from Xiyang to assist the Major General!”

Feng Shuichen, eldest grandson of Commander Feng Jing, was only seventeen and already a fourth-rank Colonel of the current dynasty, famed for his supernatural archery. Though he served in the military, he had not inherited his grandfather’s reckless fighting style. At fifteen, stationed at Xiyang City on the southern border of the Snow Kingdom, he was the first to uncover Xia spies and, alone in the forests, outmaneuvered and slew ten pursuers over the span of a month. In temperament, he could not have been more different from his grandfather—perhaps because his father was a civil official?