SES Chapter 178 Part 1

Chapter 178

How could someone be knocking on the door?

The main gate was securely shut. This was the Master’s room. If someone was knocking on the Master’s door, that meant they had already passed through the main gate and entered the inner courtyard.

It couldn’t be Master or Senior Brother—if they were in their own courtyard, there would be no need for such restraint.

Holding the phone, Mu Dai walked slowly toward the door, confusion rising in her chest.

Luo Ren’s mind exploded. His words tumbled out almost incoherently. “Mu Dai, don’t open it. Hide, or run—get out of there now.”

Mu Dai stopped short, partly because of Luo Ren’s words, and partly because—

The master’s room had wooden lattice doors. Because the carvings were dense, the inside was backed with thick mulberry paper. From where she stood, she could clearly see the shadow cast on the paper from outside.

Slender. Graceful.

It was a woman.

Mu Dai silently backed away, her eyes sweeping the room as she searched for the nearest usable weapon. In a voice so low it was nearly a whisper, she asked, “Leopard?”

On the table sat Master’s teacup. The wheelchair was parked beside it, a brocade coverlet hanging quietly over the armrest.

“Mu Dai, leave right now. I’ll explain everything later. Try not to alert the person outside—go, now… I’m begging you.”

Mu Dai softly replied, “Okay.”

She didn’t know what had happened, but if Luo Ren was saying this, there had to be a reason.

With someone at the front door and needing to “avoid alerting them,” her only option was the second door. Mu Dai held her breath, pulled open the side door of the canopy bed, slipped into the narrow passage, and then turned to close it behind her gently.

With that barrier between them, she felt a little safer. She hurried to the end, reached out to slide the bolt, and pushed the door open.

It didn’t budge.

Her heart tightened. She tried again, harder—still nothing.

There was only one explanation: someone had blocked the back door from outside.

The passageway was dark and cramped; even her breathing sounded thick and heavy. Mu Dai returned to the side door of the canopy bed and opened it a crack.

The knocking continued—unhurried, unpressured. It paused briefly, then resumed. Whoever was outside knew she was in there and had the confidence to wait for her to open the door.

The call was still connected. Luo Ren’s breathing was in her ear. Mu Dai asked quietly, “Is Leopard very skilled? Luo Ren, I’ll have to fight my way out.”

She stepped back into the room. For no clear reason, her nerves were stretched taut when she heard Luo Ren say, “Don’t hang up. Strike first. Hit hard. Assume she has a gun.”

Mu Dai gave a soft “Mm,” slipped the phone back into her pocket, grabbed the coverlet, and with a quick flick, twist, and pull, turned it into a cloth staff. She strode to the wall and yanked down the lamp cord.

Instantly, the room was plunged into darkness.

The knocking stopped, but the person didn’t leave. Mu Dai bit her lip and held her breath. A few seconds later, there was a thunderous crash—the intruder tried to break the bolt. The door was too old. Instead of breaking the latch, it split at the hinges, and both panels slammed inward.

In that instant, by the faint light, Mu Dai saw a clear silhouette. Without hesitation, she snapped her wrist. The cloth staff lashed out like a whip, sending the teacup on the table flying.

The lid, the cup, and the saucer split into three trajectories—high, middle, and low—striking toward the person’s head, torso, and legs with fierce momentum.

Mu Dai had practiced this move before: one strike, multiple points of attack. It was one of Plum Blossom Ninth Lady’s signature techniques. Mu Dai had never mastered it well and often missed—but this time, her timing and control were perfect.

A smile flickered at the corner of her mouth. With another flick of her wrist, the slack cloth snapped taut again. She already had her next move planned: Leopard would surely be caught off guard. Mu Dai would step off the wall, leap forward, smash her over the head with the staff, then escape.

She didn’t know why Luo Ren was so insistent that she run. Leopard might not be her match. Even if she did have a gun, in the dark, Leopard wouldn’t necessarily gain the upper hand.

Porcelain shattered. The lid, cup, and saucer hit their marks almost flawlessly, breaking apart. In the darkness, white ceramic fragments scattered, streaking through the air like fine lines of light.

The person was still standing there.

Not moving.

A strange sensation rose in Mu Dai’s chest. Her mouth suddenly felt dry. Uneasy, she licked her lips. One hand clenched the cloth staff; the other slipped into her pocket and wrapped around her phone.

The person raised a hand—no gun, no sudden attack—but slowly, deliberately, removed something from her head.

From the outline of the silhouette, it was an eyepatch.

After the lights went out, the space beyond the door had been a faint black, the figure a deeper shade of black. Now, with the eyepatch removed, there was color.

One of her eye sockets glowed red—blood-red, living red—like fire burning, or like a lone lantern hanging far, far away in an endless wilderness.

Mu Dai slowly raised the phone to her ear.

Luo Ren’s breathing was still there—strained, uneven. Mu Dai asked softly, “Luo Xiaodao, where are you?”

She had seen that red eye the night before.

That night, she and Plum Blossom Ninth Lady had followed the silver-eyed bat flying through the air, hurrying into the mountains. Everything nearby felt too close—perhaps because of that strange bat, perhaps because of what her master had told her. Mu Dai felt tense, several times sensing someone following behind them.

She lowered her voice and told Plum Blossom, Ninth Lady. Her master smiled. “I’m with you. What are you afraid of?”

She was right. Mu Dai wasn’t afraid of night robbers. Not in Youwu Town, not anywhere in the greater Southwest—few people could take both her and her master down.

Still, she worried. Once, she turned her head and let out a soft gasp.

Far behind them was a point of red—flowing red, like a flame burning. It vanished the instant she cried out. When she looked again, there was only thick fog.

Turning back, she saw her master looking in the same direction, brows slightly furrowed—but smiling.

That smile carried many meanings: disdain, eagerness, calm confidence, readiness to meet force with force.

Plum Blossom Ninth Lady patted Mu Dai lightly on the back. “Go, Mu Dai. Remember what I told you to do. Your master needs to loosen her joints.”

At the time, Mu Dai hadn’t thought much of it. She truly believed it was just a malicious night prowler. As she hurried to catch up with the silver-eyed bat, she even felt a trace of regret—thinking it had been years since she’d seen her master fight.

Now she finally understood.

That red point hadn’t been her eyes playing tricks on her, nor some laser-like beam of light.

It had been an eye.

Luo Xiaodao, where are you? Are you nearby?

Luo Ren sat on the bed, his forehead pressed hard against his knees, the phone scorching against his ear. He heard himself answer mechanically, “I’m in Lijiang.”

Oh. So he was in Lijiang—so many miles away. No matter how worried he was about her, he couldn’t come back. He couldn’t reach her.

Mu Dai found it strange. In that moment, she didn’t feel like crying. She looked at that eye, smiled faintly, and said into the phone, “Luo Xiaodao, I might not be able to beat her.”

Luo Ren couldn’t remember exactly what he said after that—something about her needing to stay alive, something about him finding her no matter what. Mu Dai seemed to reply with a very soft word.

“Okay.”

Then there were a few seconds of silence. Suddenly, fighting erupted. Luo Ren listened—wood splitting, furniture overturning, someone slamming heavily to the floor.

Breathing came through the phone.

It wasn’t Mu Dai’s.

From beginning to end, Mu Dai made no sound. She must have lost—but she didn’t shout, didn’t curse, didn’t cry, didn’t even cry out in pain.

Luo Ren’s heart clenched so tightly it hurt. His vision blurred.

Then he heard Leopard speak. “Luo.”