One lash hit his cheek, another his shoulder. He caught one of them and pulled the young man towards him with a jerk. The man stumbled and looked at him, briefly confused. Apparently, he hadn't reckoned on there being someone to catch his whip.
But he didn't let go. He pulled on it and Xiao Xiang yu allowed himself to be pulled a few steps forward. The young man narrowed his eyes when he realized his mistake, but before he could let go of the whip and run, Xiao Xiang yu had already turned the tables.
He used the young man's weapon against him and wrapped it around his body a few times.
"You're playing dirty!" the man swore. Xiao Xiang yu tied his hands behind his back before rolling up the whip and stowing it on his own hip.
"You can tie me up, but I won't surrender to you willingly!" the young man said firmly. Xiao Xiang yu hit him hard on the back of the head.
"No more of this nonsense," he said angrily. 'Where do you come from that you only talk such nonsense?' snorted Xiao Xiang yu.
The young man narrowed his bright blue eyes and scrutinized Xiao Xiang yu from top to bottom. It was the same look that had been haunting him since yesterday. Again, an uneasy feeling overcame him. The young man shrugged.
"You don't look so bad, well built. Maybe I would forgive you for one or two indecent acts," he suggested. In a conversational tone, as if he were talking about the weather.
"I'm not interested, for the last time, what are your names and where do you come from?" Xiao Xiang yu shouted, seething with rage.
To disparage him like that. He himself had punished many of his men harshly when they dared to harass women at the borders during the war, and now he was being accused of something like that himself.
"Zhixin," the young man grinned, scrutinizing him with his blue eyes.
"How did you..."
"I'm not telling," he replied quickly.
"What are you doing here? Why are you following me?" Xiao Xiang yu asked instead. Zhixin's eyes darkened briefly, then he shrugged.
"I'm not telling!" he repeated. Xiao Xiang yu tugged at his bonds and pulled him towards him with a jerk. Normally, this way of behaving made him look intimidating. But Zhixin only pursed his lips silently and licked over the wound on his cheek that he had caused.
Xiao Xiang yu pushed him away again and vigorously wiped the traces of his face.
"What's going on? Are you completely insane?" He asked in disbelief.
"Maybe a little!" Zhixin admitted and laughed.
"If you don't tell me what you're doing here immediately, you'll wish that a few humiliating acts were the only thing I could do to you," Xiao Xiang yu hissed angrily. Zhixin grinned from ear to ear.
"I'm begging you," he laughed smugly. When he saw the furious look on the general's face, he backtracked. He had already had one or two unpleasant experiences.
In Duifang, you took what you wanted, and if you weren't careful, that could easily be a body. Especially ghosts that still had a human face and were new to Duifang were often victims of rape.
No matter if man, woman or child. Although the master's puppets were allowed to defend themselves, there were occasionally packs that gathered to assault the human dolls.
Even though Zhixin himself belonged to the more powerful ghosts and kept a mortal face, there was a time when he couldn't defend himself against it.
But when he looked at the tall, muscular fighter, he could suddenly understand that kind of hunger well. He cleared his throat as his thoughts drifted away.
He was looking for the Ghost King, but he'd better not say that out loud. It was not good to spread panic, which would ultimately drive his master Weijiezhu further into paranoia.
"Uh... I followed a few corpses," he replied slowly. Xiao Xiangyu looked him in the eye, making Zhixin blink.
"Are you going to kiss me?" he asked, perplexed. Xiao Xiangyu pushed him away. He didn't know what to think of the young, unusual man named Zhixin. Where did he come from, what was he doing here? Following a couple of corpses?
"What corpses?" Xiao Xiang yu asked sharply. Zhixin had landed in the dirt and was getting up again with his arms tied. He shot him a dirty look from the dust before standing up again awkwardly.
"Some of the looters were attacked and robbed, which I found interesting. So I followed the trail," he answered and blew the tangled strands of his hair out of his face.
"I found the remains of the carriages and on your colorful scrap of paper there is a vague description that leads to a cave where you find a bunch of corpses. But that's not even the interesting part," he started chatting.
"When did you find all this out?" Xiao Xiang yu asked in between. Zhixin paused briefly.
"Yesterday, after I found the corpses and the notes, I went to Chaisang. After all, someone would probably come for whom they were originally intended. But do you know what's really interesting? When I followed the tracks further, I found another barbarian camp that had been raided... all dead," he wanted to make a sweeping hand movement, but the ropes holding him back held him back, and he just swayed back and forth like a drunk.
"About half a day's march from here, there's a whole mountain on fire. It must have been burning for a while, but the fire is not dying down. In front of the entrance lie what? Exactly, even more bodies of barbarians." Zhixin laughed as if it were all incredibly funny.
"Seems like they've got competition. I mean, wiping out a whole caravan? It seems as if both parties want to be on the safe side, and...'
'Did you see the body of a blond man in white on the way here?' Xiao Xiang yu asked, interrupting him. He couldn't make sense of all this. Things had gotten far worse than normal robberies. Zhixin thought about it.
"Maybe," he answered and grinned mischievously when he shot a sidelong glance at Xiao Xiang yu. 'Maybe not!' The general had reached the end of his tether and pulled the ropes tighter.
"Ouch... I mean, go on, pull as hard as you like," Zhixin laughed.
"Have you or have you not seen the body of a blond man dressed in white?" he asked loudly and emphatically.
He had completely forgotten all decorum and was speaking informally to the man he had captured. Anyone else who had seen them would probably have thought they were comrades arguing about trivial matters. Zhixin laughed and let his eyes slowly wander from Xiao Xiang yu's face to his white neck, broad chest and slim hips.
"What do I get if I tell you?" he whispered.
"Speak voluntarily or I'll make you talk," Xiao Xiang yu threatened.
"Torture?" Zhixin asked, sounding pleased. 'Isn't that a bit too intimate? I mean, we just met. Shouldn't we get to know each other better first... au damn it!' Tired of his prattling, Xiao Xiang yu lashed him to the broken carriage and unfolded the note.