“Wu Gang?”

“Inside.”

Mu Huanqing immediately strode towards one of the rooms. Once inside, the scent of blood became very strong.

She saw the injured Wu Gang lying on the wooden bed. His face was pale with a deep stab wound in his abdomen. It was a serious injury and Mu Huanqing’s face darkened.

The group of thieves not only stole her horses but also injured her people. This debt must be recovered. As for how, she would take her time thinking about it.

She turned her head to look at the doctor. “No matter the cost, even if it’s 10,000 gold, you must heal him.”

Doctor Wu heard that the master of this stable had heroism up to the clouds and placed heavy importance on loyalty. Not only did she value talent but she also did not care about status.

This Wu Gang was not a Han person but a foreigner from the other side of Kunlun Mountain. He was tall and had a dark complexion with a square face and thick lips. His appearance was very different compared to people from the Central Plains. Therefore, he had always been rejected by the Han. This master happened to pass by when he was gravely injured by someone in the past and saved him.

Doctor Wu had heard about this stable’s Master from other doctors but didn’t expect her to live up to the rumours. She actually wanted to save a Kunlun slave’s life no matter the cost. As a doctor, someone who believed in saving everyone, he couldn’t help but admire her.

“Understood. This humble one will do his best to treat it.” Doctor Wu cautiously said. It wasn’t difficult to save Wu Gang but the medicine needed was expensive. A slave’s life was not valuable, Kunlun slaves were even more disliked by normal people. No one would even mention buying rare, hard to get medicinal materials.

But these people were carefully selected by Mu Huanqing. In other people’s eyes, they might be nothing but in her eyes, they were talents.

For example, in spite of his appearance, Wu Gang was a hard worker and was the type who knew how to be grateful. If others treated him well he would repay them ten times over.

Today Wu Gang was injured. Naturally, she had to save him. Money can be earnt again but there was only one Wu Gang.

With no time to lose, Mu Huanqing entrusted Wu Gang to Doctor Wu’s care and immediately gathered her other subordinates to the meeting room. She spread out the map and studied the location of the robbery.

Among the several stallions they were transporting, there was a prized steed. As soon as the deal was done, the horses were stolen halfway to their destination. She suspected that it was an inside job.

After secretly discussing it with Hao Qi and her subordinates, they had a plan. She gathered fifteen comrades who were all good at riding and shooting. Under Mu Huanqing’s orders, they all spurred their horses and dashed off.

Of course, He Guan continued to follow along but at this moment, Dou Dou tugged on him.

“Uncle, I’m hungry.”

He Guan stopped and looked at Dou Dou. He almost forgot that this little thing was human. Demons received their vital energy from the essence of the sun and moon, heaven and earth, and all living things. Once they ate enough, they wouldn’t need to eat again for a month. But humans needed to eat three meals a day, every day.

Mu Huanqing’s group had already set off so He Guan said one sentence. “Endure it, eat later.”

“But I’m hungry.” She rubbed her stomach with a miserable expression on her face. Her big watery eyes revealed her innocence like she couldn’t endure having a hungry stomach and was about to cry.

When He Guan saw this, his eyelids twitched. He impatiently wanted to chase after Mu Huanqing but he couldn’t ignore the little thing. Seeing the suffering on her face, his mood was also affected.

“Tsk. Annoying!”

Although he said that, he still rushed towards the meal room. The earthen stove in the room just so happened to have two freshly baked flatbread. He swept them away with his black mist.

The cook was occupied with a bowl of soup and was prepared to get the flatbread when he saw the empty plate. He recovered and began to yell.

“Sh-t! Which bastard stole my flatbread?!”

He Guan took the flatbread out and stuffed it into Dou Dou’s hand. “Here, eat it!”

Dou Dou was very hungry. She was suddenly given a big flatbread and began to eat. But the bread was hard to swallow without porridge or soup so she once again tugged on He Guan.

“Uncle. I’m thirsty.”

“Endure it.”

“So thirsty…”

“Endure.”

Little Dou Dou’s eyes began to water and the aggrieved appearance made her look like the sky was about to collapse.

The corner of his eye twitched again. She stared at him with those eyes that were wet but not crying yet and his heart seized inexplicably.

“Tsk! Children are troublesome. Wait!”

He Guan increased his speed and flew towards one of the men. He stretched out his hand and turned it into a long, thin black mist. The mist hooked around the man’s leather canteen that was in his horse bag and fished it over.

“Here! Drink!”

Dou Dou’s hands were once again stuffed with the leather canteen. She wanted to open it but it was closed too tightly. She was small so her strength was also small. She tried for half a day but still couldn’t open it. He Guan couldn’t continue to watch and once again helped her. He pulled out the cork before handing it back and Dou Dou began to sip the water.

The groups finally arrived at the location the horses were stolen. Mu Huanqing ordered everyone to stop.

“Li Yuan!” She shouted.

Li Yuan stepped forward when he heard her call. He nodded while listening to her quiet commands and began to search the ground for any clues.

Mu Huanqing and the others began to rest on the spot and let the horses graze. Although they were resting, they still arranged for several people to guard and patrol nearby.

Mu Huanqing rubbed Lan Lan’s mane and discovered that she was staring at some point in the sky. She curiously tilted her head to look up and didn’t see anything.

“Lan Lan, what are you looking at?”

Lan Lan just answered by huffing. Mu Huanqing didn’t understand. She only thought that Lan Lan was acting a bit strangely recently but it was sleeping and eating well and was still energetic. She couldn’t tell where it was uncomfortable so although she thought it was strange, she was not too worried.

Lan Lan had no way of telling its master that the young master was currently sitting on a tree branch with the long-haired monster. The long-haired monster also stole water to give to the young master to drink. The young master was waving at itself with a smile.

After waiting for about an hour, Li Yuan came back. Mu Huanqing knew his abilities. He was a quick learner so she spared no effort in teaching him. Someone could study martial arts for ten years and not reach a certain level of skill. However, Li Yuan only needed four years to learn it all. He not only learnt it but had become an expert.

That’s the reason she had him go look for any tracks left by the horse thief. Li Yuan did not disappoint her. With his keen senses, he managed to pick up a trail within a near radius.

Mu Huanqing immediately gathered the others and, led by Li Yuan, they ran into the mountain forest.

He Guan didn’t follow behind them this time but flew towards the mount forest ahead of them. He wasn’t a mortal. Although the Six Consciousness level was higher than the average person, no matter how strong Li Yuan’s Six Consciousness was, it could not compete with He Guan.

He could smell blood as he passed by the scene of a fight in the forest. He hugged Dou Dou as he easily flew over a mountain peak. Corpses littered the ground as he saw what seemed to be the winner of the fight.

He Guan’s bewitching eyes flashed with demonic charm and the corner of his mouth curled into a nefarious smile as he stared at one of the men who was the leader of the group. The red string on his wrist pulled He Guan closer. Due to having just fought, the man was exuding a harsh aura.

The Zhenyuan Marquis, Fu Yanlin was leading a group of soldiers to suppress the bandits. They were counting the number of dead and wounded while the surviving bandits knelt on the ground at knifepoint. There was also a group of horses. The group of horses that were stolen from Mu Huanqing.

“Heh heh heh, interesting. Very interesting. It’s the destined reunion brought around by fate! Do you want to meet your dad, little one?”

He Guan laughed strangely but didn’t achieve any answer from Dou Dou. He involuntarily looked down and the sight stunned him.

Dou Dou had snuggled in his arms and was deeply asleep. She was even hugging the leather waterskin and unfinished flatbread in her arms. She was drooling from a corner of her mouth as she looked naive and innocent as if she wouldn’t be bothered by the sky collapsing.

He Guan stared at the little rascal with a face full of disdain. She was really content, huh? Going to sleep right after eating. She was even holding that flatbread that she had bitten all over with greasy hands. The clean doll had now dirtied her mouth and clothes in less than a day.

He Guan was a demon who loved cleanliness. He never admitted to his cleanliness obsession, just claiming that his standards were high and had strict demands. He restrained himself and so didn’t throw away the dirty little imp.

He took a handkerchief from Fu Yanlin and wiped the little one’s mouth with disgust.

Fu Yanlin suddenly furrowed his brows, his solemn face turned to one side like he sensed something but couldn’t spot anything wrong.

“What are you looking at, I’m helping your daughter wipe her mouth!” He Guan said angrily. Using her father’s kerchief to wipe the daughter’s drool was heaven’s law and earth’s principle! He was not dirtying his own silver-white robe.

At this point, a lieutenant stepped forward to make his report. “Lord General, the bandit leader confessed. The two imperial stables that were robbed last month in Bei An were done by them.”

Fu Yanlin coldly issued a command. “Round up the horses. Make an inventory and take them away.”

“Yes.” The lieutenant received the command and immediately turned to delegate the tasks.

The plundered horses numbered over thirty and every one was a first-class steed. There was even a prize colt in the mix, a black beauty.

He Guan stared at the black colt with a wicked smile. He floated in front of the horses and exhaled demonic energy towards it.

The black colt suffered a shock and immediately raised its hooves high in the air, neighing loudly. It began to vigorously pull against the rope around its neck. With a flick of his finger, He Guan cut the rope and the black colt shot off like an arrow.

“Crap! The horse ran away!”

“Careful! Quickly scatter!”

The soldiered shouted as everyone hurriedly avoided the horse, afraid of being trampled on. If they were trampled, even if they lived, they would be severely injured.

Naz's Interesting Note: Sometimes when Dou Dou speaks, she does it in a cute childish way. It doesn't translate well but basically you can repeat certain words to make them sound cuter or more childish. Like how mummy is the 'more childish' version of mum.

Actually that's the perfect example because 'mummy' in Chinese is just 'mum' repeated twice. When Dou Dou was complaining about being hungry, she says hungry twice. Anyway, she's just really cute and I wanted to talk more about her cuteness. Isn't she cute? XD

Anyhow, please let me know if you spot any errors. I did skim through proofreading but because I was late, I didn't do it as thoroughly as I would normally. >< I'll go through it again sometime in the future though, when I'm not dead tired...