Return of the Swallow

” Qin Yining hissed, “and run!”

The doors crashed to the ground right after she spoke.
Masked attackers wielding blades charged in.
They slew the two granny servants closest to the door with one thrust each, spraying blood everywhere.

Qin Yining’s pupils contracted violently and she sprinted away, dragging the closest eighth miss away with her. They really are here to wipe us out!

Jiyun, Qiulu, and Songlan followed close behind.
The sixth and seventh miss bolted frantically with Qin Huining.

But there were too many robbers.
Even with some guards hastily rushing in to protect the Qins, a few of the attackers still broke through.

The servings girls and maids were better off.
They had a decent amount of daily exercise and their feet weren’t bound.
But that wasn’t the case for the Qin misses!

Loyal maids protected their mistresses by keeping to the rear.
They ate a slash whenever a robber caught up.
Several serving girls and granny servants fell in quick succession.

Seeing this, Jiyun unfurled the soft sword wrapped around her waist and grabbed Qin Yining.
She ignored everyone else and sprinted for the back of Venerable Study Hall.

“Jiyun!”

“Miss, I can’t fight that many!” There were too many! She only had two hands and orders from the prince to protect the Qin fourth miss.
She had to harden her heart and leave everyone else.

Qin Yining ran a little faster with Jiyun dragging her along.
She turned back as she ran, her other hand was still holding onto the eighth miss.

She saw the seventh miss, trailing at the rear, take a blade to her stomach.
Cold brilliance reflected fiery sparks into the girl’s eyes when the sword was pulled back out.

She saw Qin Huining, about to be overtaken, push out the sister running in front of her — the sixth miss.

The sword’s edge arced across the sixth miss’ neck, sending up a spray of blood several feet tall.

Tears blinded Qin Yining.
She thought she’d shrieked loudly in horror, but only a soft grunt came out of her mouth.
Everything was happening too quickly, making her feel like she was moving in a nightmare.

Blazing light filled the skies while corpses littered the ground.
The yard had turned into Shura’s hell.
Perhaps slaughtering a group of women and children was too easy? The robbers started guffawing as they chased and killed.

“Isn’t one of you the Qin fourth miss? Has the Great Yan capital been destroyed yet? Why is your home ruined first?”

“Hand over the fourth miss and I’ll give you all a quick death!”

Qin Yining widened her eyes.
They were here for her? Anyone who was here because of that rumor would be someone from Great Zhou!

Qin Huining was about to be run down again and frantically pointed at the fourth miss when she heard this.
“That’s the fourth miss!”

Her words had the desired effect.
The assassins skipped past Qin Huining and Qiulu, making a beeline straight for Qin Yining.

Jiyun grit her teeth and shoved the miss behind her, brandishing her soft sword to stop the people charging at her.
“Go, miss!”

With the guard holding off the attackers, Qin Yining backed up, hating her own incompetency with every step she took.
She had no other choice but to run!

There were too many assassins.
One of them circled past Jiyun in the blink of an eye and brought his sword down on the Qin fourth miss.

Qin Yining gasped and turned sideways, but she was too slow.
Heat seared her right shoulder and blood spurted out as she pitched forward.

Next to her, the eighth miss and Songlan cried out in horror.
The maid grit her teeth and pounced forward, holding tightly onto Qin Yining and protecting her mistress with her own body.

The assassin followed up with another stroke and the blade bit deeply into Songlan’s back.

“Songlan!” Qin Yining finally sobbed when she felt the weight on her body and the warmth of fresh blood.

The assassin yanked his weapon out, ignoring the blood that sprayed onto his face and kicked Songlan aside, raising his sword for another strike.

Jiyun has rushed over by this point, but she was a beat too slow.
She could only scream with panicked dread, “Miss!”

A dirk shot into the assassin’s arm in the nick of time, making him drop the sword.
Qin Yining took advantage of this to roll to the side and rose to see five silver-masked figures dressed in black descend from the sky, stoutly standing in front of the survivors.

It’s the Silver Masks!

The five were obviously highly skilled and blocked off the oncoming eight robbers.
One of the Silver Masks called out, “Men from the Warden’s Office will be here shortly! Protect the miss!”

One of them came forward and hauled up Qin Yining, who was still clutching Songlan.
“Let’s go!”

Jiyun brought up the rear, fighting off more assailants as they left.
The remaining eighth miss, Qin Huining, and Qiulu were hot on their heels.

If you want to support us, please download our awesome cultivation game Taoist Immortal!