573. Spin-Off – Oddity (1)

Translator: DragonRider

As expected, the wedding convoy was still on the street. Those people had just reached East Street and were progressing at a gentle pace.

The bridegroom was flushed with delight, and his bride was sitting in the bridal sedan chair, a large trousseau-delivering team following in their wake, the whole street seething with onlookers.

Yuwen Yue was too short to see much, so Yuwen Qi lifted her bodily up and perched her on his arm. Thanks to his years’ kung fu practice, his strength was much greater than that of common people, which proved quite helpful on this occasion. Squeezing his way through the crowd with his sister on his arm was not at all difficult for him.

Yuwen Lin had been staying close to them all along, not daring let them out of his sight. Wherever Yuwen Qi went, he always followed on his brother’s heels for fear of losing him.

The whole place was swarming with people. This was Yuwen Lin’s first time getting so close to so many people, and he was rather unaccustomed to this situation, grimacing occasionally because of the jostle.

“Have you two looked your fill? If you have, let’s get out of here!” Yuwen Lin yelled at his brother and sister ahead of him.

Yuwen Qi and Yuwen Yue were having such a fun time they did not hear their brother’s voice at all. Yuwen Lin had no choice but to call out to them once again.

Yuwen Qi glanced at the rapturous Yuwen Yue sitting in the crook of his arm before he twisted his head around and said to Yuwen Lin, “Just a little while longer.”

Yuwen Lin sighed, “There are too many people here. It’s not safe, and it’s so crowded.”

Being jostled around made him feel very uncomfortable, and the mixed smell in the air was not very pleasant. Yuwen Lin wrinkled his nose, only too anxious to leave.

At this time, the wedding convoy was about to process out of East Street and turn into South Street. Yuwen Qi, carrying Yuwen Yue, was edging along with the crowd. Yuwen Lin, for fear of losing them, gripped the back of Yuwen Qi’s overgarment, their guards following in their wake, all their faces beaded with perspiration.

“Childe Qi, Childe Lin, Lady Yue, we should get back. There’re too many people here. It’s not safe,” cautioned the captain of the guards.

Yuwen Qi twisted his head back to look at his sister. “Crescent, we need to get back. It’s too crowded. You could easily bump into something and get hurt. If Daddy or Father finds out, we’ll be punished.”

Yuwen Yue wanted to keep going and see more of it, but seeing that both her brothers were against the idea and probably would not budge on the issue, she said with a grudging inclination of the head, “Okay.”

The guards, protecting the three of them, tried to lead them out of the crowd, but there were too many people heading their direction, and it was next to impossible to get out of the place against the tide of rubberneckers. In fact, they were being pushed backward one pace after another by the throng pressing along with the intention to follow the wedding convoy to South Street.

“Step aside or there will be consequences!” The guards whipped out their sabers fastened to their belts.

At the sight of the blades, everybody in the vicinity was startled and, no longer daring squeeze their way towards them, hastily moved to the sides.

“Get out of the way or we will make you!” shouted the guards. The onlookers were disgruntled, but the guards’ forbidding and serious faces deterred them from protesting.

They were just about to walk out of the crowd when something unexpected happened among the wedding convoy turning into South Street behind them. A sudden commotion burst forth from the crowd. Yuwen Qi and the others had no idea what was happening. They only saw that some people behind them started running in their direction.

Yuwen Qi frowned, held Yuwen Yue tightly in his arm, grasped Yuwen Qi with his other hand and then the three of them began to streak forward.

“What’s happening, Qi?” piped Yuwen Yue, clinging on to him with alarm.

“I don’t know, but with that many people running this way, we could easily get hurt. We must stay ahead of them!” said Yuwen Qi aloud.

Clearly the guards were thinking about the same thing. If the flood of people caught up with them, they could easily get trampled underfoot.

Some citizens ahead were standing motionless on the spot, unaware of what was going on.

Knowing that they must not stop to explain to them, Yuwen Qi gripped Yuwen Lin and, carrying Yuwen Yue, swiftly navigated through these people and eventually they forced their way out of the throng, tearing towards the other end of the street, but many of the guards got separated from them, only four still on their heels.

“Guards!” cried Yuwen Lin, jerking his head back.

Yuwen Qi, still gripping his arm, tossed a backward glance at the citizens scuttling around in alarm and said seriously, “It’s okay. There are secret bodyguards nearby. We can’t go back. We need to leave this street as soon as possible.”

Nobody knew what had happened. Those onlookers had suddenly turned and started fleeing as though some cacodemons were chasing them.

The two brothers, having been practicing kung fu for years, ran faster than most others. After reaching the less crowded section of the street, they promptly sprinted towards the area where there were few people and soon left those citizens behind.

It was only then that Yuwen Qi felt a slight sense of relief and said to Yuwen Lin, “There’s no doubt something happened back there. With so many people running for their lives, some of them might get trampled to death. We need to get the City Patrol here straight away.”

Yuwen Lin was panting heavily from the running. He did not have as much stamina as Yuwen Qi did and the running was clearly a challenging task for him. He looked around for a moment before he pointed in the direction of a high building ahead and said, “Let’s get there first.”

Yuwen Qi inclined his head, rushed into that tavern, the others at his heels, and directly charged onto the third floor. They were so quick that the waiters downstairs failed to stop them. After the guards behind produced their ID plates, the waiters were further deterred from asking any questions. At this time, there were people running for their lives everywhere in the street. The customers in the hall on the ground floor were all baffled as to what was going on, peering out apprehensively.

“He’s killing people! The bridegroom suddenly went crazy and started hacking people at random with a saber. He even slashed at the bride!”

“Many of those in the vicinity failed to dodge in time and were hacked to death.”

“My goodness. How come he suddenly lost his mind?”

“Who knows? He’s still attacking people back there. You guys had better run as far away as possible!”

To prevent accidents, the taverner decisively had the waiters shut the doors. “Close all the doors! Hurry!”

The waiters, along with the customers, closed the tavern doors, leaving only a window through which they were now stealthily peeping, trying to find out what was going on outside exactly.

At this time, Yuwen Qi, who had just dashed onto the third floor with Yuwen Yue in his arm and Yuwen Qi in his wake, randomly forced their way into a room with a window facing the street, startling the customers inside. “What are you doing?!” demanded one of the customers.

“Shut up.” Yuwen Qi produced his ID plate. The customers were taken aback at the sight of it and tremulously got on their knees with the intention to pay their respects.

“Be quiet,” instructed Yuwen Qi, cold-faced. Then he hurried to the window and craned out of it, looking down. Now he could see the whole street.

A man in red, none other than the bridegroom who had been oozing rapture and contentment on horseback only a few moments ago, was slaughtering people with a saber. Apparently he knew kung fu and was pretty good at it. None of those in the vicinity was capable of stopping him. Moreover, there seemed to be something wrong with his mental state. His eyes were crimson, and his face was hideous with blood. Like a lunatic, he seemed unable to control himself, leaving a trail of common citizens lying on the ground in his wake, all of whom had been hacked by him.

Yuwen Qi saw that some quick-witted ones, probably knowing that they would not be able to outrun the man, directly flung themselves flat on the ground. The demented bridegroom ignored those feigning death on the ground and went after those still running away from him.

“Any secret bodyguards here?” shouted Yuwen Qi.

“Childe Qi!” Six secret bodyguards leapt inside through the window.

“Can you restrain that guy?” asked Yuwen Qi.

“We can give it a try,” said one of the secret bodyguards, who had also seen what had happened on the street.

All secret bodyguards were kung fu masters and, theoretically, should not have taken such a conservative attitude, but the problem is that the demented bridegroom down there was also a kung fu master, one who seemed to be suffering from Chi-Disorder.

“Go and stop him. Do not let him kill any more people!” commanded Yuwen Qi.

The secret bodyguard in charge nodded and assigned two men to stay protecting the princes and the princess. The other four leapt out of the window, drawing their weapons from their belts, flying towards the demented bridegroom.

Some of the guards separated from Yuwen Qi and the others, having noticed the dementia of the bridegroom, were trying to overpower him. The secret bodyguards joined them and instantly surrounded the bridegroom.

Seeing this, the citizens in the vicinity hastened to take advantage of this opportunity to flee.

It was after the guards and secret bodyguards intercepted the insane bridegroom that Yuwen Qi felt relieved and put down Yuwen Yue whom he had been carrying all along.

“Keep a close eye on my sister,” he instructed the guards that had just caught up with them.

The guards nodded.

Yuwen Yue was shocked, her face slightly pale. However, born bolder than others girls, she did not appear terrified.

“I’m okay, Qi. Will the secret bodyguards be able to stop that man?” Yuwen Yue asked.

Yuwen Qi, watching the fighting down there, said, “I think so.”

The two secret bodyguards in the room looked outside and then one of them said, “Don’t worry, Your Highness. That man has been intercepted already.”

“What on earth happened to that bridegroom? Why did he suddenly go crazy?” Yuwen Lin was bewildered.

Yuwen Qi shook his head. “He seems to be suffering from Chi-Disorder, but his symptoms are far more severe than those of Chi-Disorder. It was like he lost his sanity in the blink of an eye.”

Yuwen Yue standing on the side had an odd expression on her face, not daring believe that a very handsome bridegroom, who had been on horseback only a short while ago, had suddenly turned into a mass murderer for no reason. Previously it had struck her that the bride sitting in the sedan chair had a happy life ahead of her, but now that thought had disappeared. Now she only felt that the bride was so unlucky, because the man she was marrying had gone crazy without warning.

“I wonder what happened to the bride,” said Yuwen Yue.

“Your Highness, just now someone said that the bride received a slash from the groom. There’s no telling whether she’s still alive or not,” answered a secret bodyguard dutifully.

Yuwen Yue gasped. “I can’t believe this. Wasn’t she his bride? How could he hack his new wife? That’s just horrible.”

Yuwen Yue was traumatized by this experience and got the impression that all bridegrooms could go crazy at any moment. And after she grew up, for a very long time she was scared of getting married. When Yuwen Qi and Yuwen Lin had come to know about it, the two brothers bitterly regretted having brought Yuwen Yue out of the palace on this day.

Of course, that’s another story. At this time there were many wounded citizens lying on the ground. The secret bodyguards, though having intercepted the groom, had not overpowered him yet, which was rather surprising. The main reason was that the man had very powerful internal energy. The secret bodyguards attempted to use hidden weapons covered with hypnotic drug to bring him down, but all the hidden weapons were deflected by the man’s internal energy which enveloped him like some kind of invisible shield.

“This can’t be happening. How come this man’s internal energy is so powerful? I’ve never seen anybody with such internal-energy prowess apart from Father and Daddy,” said Yuwen Qi, amazed.

The two secret bodyguards on the side were also somewhat bemused. One of them said, “If my memory serves me correctly, this guy is He You, the eldest son of He Shijing. His father is the owner of Nantong Chamber of Commerce, who has moved to this city from the south and settled down only earlier this year. Since he owns Nantong Chamber of Commerce, I’m sure His Highness has done some background check on him, but none of us has ever been informed his son has such kung fu prowess.”

The other one was also perplexed. “This is weird.”

Yuwen Qi and Yuwen Lin exchanged a glance, both feeling that there was something fishy going on.

“The City Patrol has arrived.”

The City Patrol showed up, accompanied by yamen runners. They quickly evacuated the nearby residents and transferred those lying on the ground to places where they could get medical treatment, though some of them might have already died. But the demented bridegroom was still fighting those surrounding him. It was as though he had inexhaustible stamina and internal energy, which made it very difficult to restrain him.

Fortunately the secret bodyguards were also not common people. Though killing the groom seemed to be impossible, on no account would they let him escape.

“Alas. Given the severity of this incident, Father would definitely be informed very soon. If it comes to his knowledge we slipped out of the palace and nearly got hacked by this maniac, he’d sure as hell go ballistic,” sighed Yuwen Qi, watching the fight down there apprehensively with the air of a man on his deathbed.

They had come out with the intention to please Ling Zhang and then claim merit for themselves in front of Yuwen Tong, but now, before they could do anything meritorious, they had got themselves into trouble.

Yuwen Lin, however, was much more composed than his brother on this occasion. “If we had not left the palace, nobody would have stopped this lunatic, and more citizens would have been injured. Don’t worry. We have sort of made up for our mistakes. Our punishment from Father should be no worse than being grounded.”

But being grounded meant that there would be no more trips out of the palace, which was clearly a severe punishment in Yuwen Qi’s eyes.

Yuwen Qi subconsciously looked at Yuwen Yue beside him, but after giving it some thought, he came to realize that though his sister was unscathed, he had brought her out and put her in danger, so it was evidently impracticable to ask her to intercede for him. ‘Alas,’ he sighed inwardly.

“Eek? Uncle Mao?” Yuwen Lin suddenly exclaimed, astonished.

Yuwen Qi and Yuwen Yue both immediately hurried to the window and looked outside. “Where is he?”

Yuwen Qi pointed in a direction and with that they spotted Ling Maomao accompanied by Ji Xiaocong. It seemed that they had specially come here after being informed of the incident.

“Uncle Maoooo!” called Yuwen Yue.

Ling Maomao and Ji Xiaocong both heard her, looked up in her direction and were amazed to see that the three of them were in a tavern. Then the two of them shifted their gaze to the guards and secret bodyguards fighting the madman, and with that their faces darkened somewhat.

At the sight of this, Yuwen Qi and Yuwen Lin flinched, realizing that they were toast.

A few moments ago Ling Maomao had been shopping with Ji Xiaocong on another street. After hearing about the incident, the two of them had specially come here to find out what was going on. They had not bargained on seeing Yuwen Qi, Yuwen Lin and Yuwen Yue, all of whom were supposed to be in the palace at this moment. At the thought that these three kids had been on the scene of the mass murder, Ling Maomao broke out in a cold sweat.

If anything happened to any of these three children, he could not imagine how devastated and angry his cousin would be. The whole imperial court would be shocked.

Ling Maomao’s face fell, which made him look rather intimidating. Ji Xiaocong on the side nudged him and said, “Let’s restrain that guy first.”

Ling Maomao took a deep breath, withdrew his eyes which had been glaring at Yuwen Qi and the others, and said, “That man seems to be suffering from Chi-Disorder, and his internal energy is quite powerful. How can we restrain him?”

Ji Xiaocong smiled, “I have an idea.”