Clouds and Moon Shadow

Chapter 56 The Miners!?

As soon as she entered the courtyard, Gu Qingyue easily spotted the handsome young man, Mu Yun Chu, among a group of officers.

Although his face was slightly dirty, his entire being exuded a strong aura of menace, giving his beauty a chilling and oppressive quality.

Feeling a burning gaze fixed on her, Mu Yun Chu looked up and immediately saw Gu Qing Yue standing at the courtyard gate, her brows furrowing.

Standing behind him, Mu Nan immediately noticed his master's gaze and saw Gu Qingyue.

Mu Yun Chu turned her head slightly: "Go and bring him here."

Mu Yun Chu looked at Gu Qing Yue as she approached, her voice carrying a hint of sharpness and a touch of doubt, "What are you doing here?"

Gu Qingyue was very perceptive; she immediately understood the source of the person's displeasure.

"I came to rescue my senior brother and just happened to run into you," Gu Qingyue said, looking at the officer next to Mu Yun Chu.

"Are you here to rescue people? I know where those miners are," she said, and then felt a figure approaching from behind.

Turning her head, Gu Qingyue saw that the young bandit had also come over. She was slightly surprised, but that was all. His identity was already obvious.

"Miners?" The handsome eyes of the officer beside Mu Yun Chu narrowed into a dangerous arc.

"What miners?" Suddenly, a young boy appeared behind the officer. Who else could it be but that annoying kid named Yuan En?

"What are you doing here?" Gu Qingyue was startled by Gu Yuanen and couldn't help but ask.

"None of your business," the young Gu Yuanen said arrogantly.

Gu Qingyue rolled her eyes and turned her face away. Childish! Who cares about you, you little brat!

"Quickly, tell me, where are the miners?" The officer didn't bother to ask her why she knew Gu Yuanen and hurriedly pressed her for an answer.

"They hid the miners at the cliff behind," Gu Qingyue replied quickly, realizing the gravity of the situation.

Mu Yun Chu and the young officer exchanged a glance, both seeing a hint of seriousness in each other's eyes.

"How did you know they were miners? Take me to see them!" Gu Yuanen couldn't help but speak first.

"Yuan En, you go back with Headmaster Lin first. It's not safe here," the young officer raised his voice, clearly annoyed by his younger brother's unruly behavior.

"Third Brother!" Gu Yuanen turned his face and said with dissatisfaction.

"Listen to me, protect Chief Lin," the young officer declared decisively.

Gu Yuanen's shoulders slumped, he glanced resignedly at Gu Qingyue with a look full of resentment, and then turned and walked into the back room.

Gu Qingyue: ...What did she do? Why is she looking at me like that?

However, it's clear from his voice that the tall officer in front of me is the third brother of the boy named Yuan En. Are they brothers? The styles are quite different.

In other words, the officer in front of him is the person the scarred man wants something from?

After Gu Yuanen entered the room, the young officer and Mu Yun Chu turned their attention to Gu Qingyue.

At this moment, Gu Qingyue felt immense pressure. The oppressive aura emanating from these two people who had emerged from mountains of corpses and seas of blood was overwhelming. Gu Qingyue felt the hairs on the back of her neck standing on end, as if the two might draw their swords against each other at any moment.

But the two people in front of them didn't care about any of that.

When they first broke through Tiger Peak Village, they sent troops to rescue people from Prison Cliff based on the intelligence provided by Gu Chao. The centurion in charge of the search said that the people imprisoned inside had been released. Because there were many bandits in the village, they only ordered them to continue searching for those who had been captured, and did not pay special attention to the situation at Prison Cliff. They would wait until all the bandits were eliminated before making a decision.

Unexpectedly, the people imprisoned in the cliff were miners!

What was even more unexpected was that the centurion in charge of the situation at the prison cliff lied.

Mu Yun Chu turned around and gave Mu Nan a look, "Find the centurion who just came to report. If he resists, kill him."

After he finished speaking, Mu Nan leaped up and disappeared into the night.

"Bring a junior officer over here, I need to question him," the young officer said to Gu Chao beside him as Mu Nan left.

"Yes," Gu Chao accepted the order, and before a cup of tea had been brewed, he brought over a bandit.

Gu Qingyue took a look and laughed. Wasn't that the scarred man?!

They were so arrogant before, but now they're tied up like dumplings.

"Tell me, where did those miners go?" the young officer asked in a low voice, his eyes filled with a bloodthirsty coldness.

The scarred man's heart skipped a beat. He suppressed the urge to collapse, glanced at the officer, and then turned his face away with feigned composure and contempt. "Don't bother. What miners? Don't try to frame us. We just arrested a few people, didn't we? We sold them out long ago."

Mu Yun Chu and the officer exchanged a glance, then narrowed their eyes. The next moment, a heavy punch landed on the scarred man's face.

"Zhou Yong, are you crazy! How could you associate with these soldiers? Don't you think about your mother?" The scarred man's head was knocked to the side by Gu Chao's heavy punch, and he felt dizzy.

"Say it!"

Gu Chao stared coldly at the scarred man, without even blinking.

"What are you saying? You surnamed Gu, isn't it just that you stopped us last time when we were carrying goods? You took everyone away, and you didn't suffer any losses, so why are you trying to wipe us out?" The scarred man saw that Zhou Yong didn't move, so he turned to the young officer and tried to argue.

The young officer gave him a mocking look, said nothing, and simply waved for someone to take him away.

As soon as the scarred man was taken away, Gu Chao knelt down on one knee, cupped his hands and said, "General, please allow me to immediately lead men to search. I failed in my duty and did not know that the prison was holding miners. Please give me a chance to redeem myself."

Upon hearing this, both the young officer and Mu Yun Chu looked towards Gu Chao.

In fact, Gu Chao was indeed wronged. Since entering Tiger Peak Village, his main task was to track down the whereabouts of Headmaster Lin and Fourth Young Master Gu Yuanen, as well as to investigate the terrain map and patrol situation inside Tiger Peak Village. He only knew that the prison cliff held many people captured from the foot of the mountain, but he had not had time to investigate in detail how many there were or what they did.

"How do you know they are miners?" Mu Yun Chu looked up and met Gu Qing Yue's calm and composed gaze, and asked.

Gu Qingyue didn't put on airs and immediately recounted in detail how she rushed into the prison cliff to save people.

The young officer and Mu Yun Chu were greatly surprised by what they heard.

Their initial purpose in planning to break into the mountain stronghold was simply because this band of bandits was so numerous that they had robbed and killed countless people at the foot of the mountain, causing great suffering to the local people.

However, due to the escalating war and the fact that the bandits' hiding place had not been found, there had been no opportunity to conduct an in-depth investigation. Little did they know that this bandit stronghold hidden deep in the mountains was hiding such a big secret!

After the two whispered and discussed for a while, Gu Qingyue saw Mu Yun Chu walk down the steps and walk towards her.

"Please lead the way, Young Master Qingyue, we'd like to take a look," Mu Yun Chu said, her tone tinged with urgency, but her sincerity was evident.

Gu Qingyue nodded.

When Mu Yun Chu led her people to the prison cliff with Gu Qing Yue, they saw a small group of soldiers looking around like headless flies.

Gu Qingyue nodded to Mu Yun Chu and led him straight to the easternmost passage to check it out. To be on the safe side, people were also sent to search the other two passages in depth.

Before entering the eastern passage, Gu Qingyue asked Mu Yun Chu to find someone to take Liu Feng and the other wounded to the village ahead for temporary accommodation.

She didn't want the person she had worked so hard to save to be killed as a bandit.

After walking for about 15 minutes, they found several elderly people and women abandoned on the road in the passageway. They had all died from hunger and injuries.

Seeing the tragic scene before her, Mu Yun Chu felt a chill run through her body, and Gu Qing Yue inexplicably felt the temperature around her drop several degrees.

Gu Qingyue was already mentally prepared. They had taken so many people with them, and with injuries and hunger, there were probably only a few left who could keep up with the bandits' pace.

After arranging for soldiers to collect and bury the body, the group quickly walked deeper into the cave.

Mu Yun Chu took the lead, holding a torch in one hand and a long sword in the other, walking beside Gu Qing Yue.

Although Gu Qingyue has grown quite a bit in the past six months and is no longer the tiny bean sprout she once was, he is still more than a head taller than her.

At this moment, clad in armor, he exuded a chilling aura, appearing both fierce and resolute. Gu Qingyue seemed to see a cheetah lying in wait, licking its paws and searching for prey in the grass.

Gu Qingyue had only one feeling: Mu Xiaoqi seemed to have become a completely different person.

The people who were once gentle, aloof, or serious seem to have suddenly disappeared.

Gu Qingyue looked around warily, and suddenly, she and Mu Yun Chu both stopped in their tracks.