“Tang Tang, go and get reinforcements quickly! I’ll stall them here!” Duan Tianrao exclaimed.
Ye Qingtang appeared to be in a panic, but her eyes remained dispassionate.
The black-garbed men managed to circumvent Duan Tianrao’s attacks, though they were unable to put a scratch on him. Duan Tianrao thought his opponents could not fare against him and even took a chance to flaunt his swordplay.
Ye Qingtang watched their perfunctory fight with a cold-eyed gaze and when Duan Tianrao did not notice, she gestured to the black-garbed men to attack without constraints.
Those men, who had qualms at first, immediately went on the offensive once they saw her gesture.
Duan Tianrao, who managed to fight on par initially, became overwhelmed and suffered injuries in an instant.
The clashing of their steel intensified and its commotion emanated throughout the estate. Ye Qingtang swept her gaze across the corridors and noticed several lights approaching from the direction of the main hall. Evidently, the commotion had already attracted people’s attention.
With that in mind, the dispassionate look in her eyes was replaced by tension.
Duan Tianrao had no idea why his opponents suddenly exerted an immense power and he sustained more injuries from the fight. He could no longer keep up with appearances and struggled desperately to fend off their attacks. From the corner of his eyes, he caught a glimpse of Ye Qingtang ‘frozen in fear’ and shouted: “Tang Tang! You must escape! These people are here to kill you!”
Ye Qingtang seemed to ‘come to her senses’ at his words and finally turned around to escape.
However, Ye Ling and the guests in the main hall had long noticed the commotion from their fight and had since arrived at the entrance to the courtyard, where they happened to bump into the ‘escaping’ Ye Qingtang.
“Tang Tang! What’s going on?!” Ye Ling rushed forward to check on her and after ensuring she was unharmed, he heaved a breath of relief.
“Father! There’re assassins trying to kill me! Mr Duan’s fending them off!” Ye Qingtang answered in a ‘panic-stricken’ state.
Everyone became startled once they heard that.
Who had the nerve to attempt an assassination on Miss Ye, right in the middle of the Ye’s residence?
Ye Ling was shocked by her words as he was reminded of the previous assassination attempt on his own life, orchestrated by the Great Elder. Was this his doing again?
“The nerve of them! I’ll have their heads on a pike!” The Second Elder grunted and rushed towards the courtyard in the next instant.
Ye Ling and Ye Qingtang, together with the rest of the guests followed behind.
A heavy and festering scent of blood wafted throughout the courtyard, as the carnage between Duan Tianrao and the black-garbed men came into plain sight under the moonlight. Duan Tianrao obviously could not match his opponents as his attire was already drenched red with blood!
“Back off!” The Second Elder bellowed as he cut in between them with a single leap, while the guards gathered shortly thereafter and repelled those men.
Duan Tianrao heaved a deep breath after reinforcements finally arrived, his whole body was soaked in cold sweat.
“Mr. Duan, are you all right?” Ye Ling furrowed his brow as he attended to his injuries.
“I’m okay, those bastards wanted to kill Tang Tang. Uncle Ye, you’ve got to arrest them.” Although Duan Tianrao put up a tough front, he was actually gritting his teeth in pain from his injuries. But he did not forget to keep up with appearances while he gazed at Ye Qingtang with affection in his eyes, saying:
“As long as Tang Tang’s safe, I’ve no regrets.”
Ye Qingtang regarded his act with amusement discreetly.
His act had proved rather efficient in portraying the situation without having her to relate the whole incident personally. That saved her a lot of trouble.