Originally, two burly men were standing at the entrance, and they leaned forward slightly, clearly poised to take action if that customer dared to say anything more.
Seeing their stance, the customer did cower, realizing that the few people in front of him were not those he could afford to provoke. With effort, he got up, dusted himself off, and left dispiritedly.
Then those helpers swiftly returned to their original positions.
Mo Jiuye and Mo Chuhan exchanged a glance.
"Eighth brother, let's go check out another Jingxian Building."
Mo Chuhan nodded, and the two leapt onto their horses and left.
The other Jingxian Building was slightly better, but only in the attitude of the helpers. The decor was almost identical to the first one they saw.
There were similarly few customers inside, and judging from their expressions as they ate, they did not seem very happy.
Mo Jiuye beckoned Mo Chuhan, "Eighth brother, let's go in and sit for a bit."
The two brothers walked into the lobby, and it was a long while before a helper came to greet them.
Mo Jiuye chose a seat by the window and casually ordered two dishes.
As martial artists, their hearing was naturally sharp.
While the brothers were waiting for their food, they heard over a dozen synchronized footsteps coming from the direction of the back kitchen.
Mo Jiuye could even judge that these footsteps belonged to martial artists.
In order not to stir up trouble prematurely, the brothers showed no visible reaction and continued waiting for their dishes as if nothing had happened.
Nonetheless, they kept listening intently to the sounds coming from the back.
When the helpers brought out their dishes, the footsteps had gradually faded away.
Having lost their appetite, the brothers imitated the other customers by taking a couple bites and feigning dissatisfaction before asking for the bill and leaving.
Once outside, they headed straight for the backyard of Jingxian Building, as that was where the kitchen was located and also the direction from where those earlier sounds came.
This property was a stand-alone building that opened onto the main street, so its facade could be considered one of the courtyard walls.
The other three sides were surrounded by 10-foot high enclosing walls, with a side door on the west side.
As soon as the brothers circled around to the west side of the courtyard, a man dressed like those helpers came up to block their way.
"This is private property. Loiterers please go around."
Mo Jiuye deliberately played dumb.
"But this is clearly an alley. How has it become private property? We want to pass through here. So you're telling us we have to take a detour?"
Seeing his words had no effect, that man was visibly impatient.
"I already told you this is Jingxian Building territory. Now scram!"
The more he talked like that, the more determined the brothers were to get to the bottom of this.
Mo Chuhan had already walked around to the front of Mo Jiuye and strode purposefully toward the inside of the alley.
"I insist on passing through here. What can you do about it?"
As they spoke, the brothers had already advanced a dozen or so steps, now barely an arm's length away from that helper who was trying to drive them away.
Seeing the two were impervious to persuasion, that helper instantly lost his temper.
"I'm telling you to get the hell out of here! This isn't a place you should be. Take one more step forward and don't blame me for getting rough with you."
Within two sentences, that helper had revealed his true nature.
As he spoke, from out of nowhere he pulled out a short leather whip and pointed at the brothers, yelling
"Leave this instant!"
Mo Chuhan had always had a fiery temper. Especially when dealing with people possibly opposed to his family, how could he possibly compromise?
Before he even had a chance to react, three or four men dressed like that helper suddenly burst out from behind the courtyard gate, surrounding the brothers.
Without further ado, they were poised to attack.
The brothers were even faster to react than them. As those men swung their fists at them, Mo Jiuye and Mo Chuhan almost simultaneously struck back.
The brothers' four hands securely caught the four fists swinging their way.
Four cracking sounds ensued as the wrists of those four helpers were snapped.
Perhaps those four had underestimated them, seeing what looked like ordinary commoners before them. They thought intimidation alone would be enough to scare them off. Little did they expect these two men to actually be martial artists, as evidenced by the mere move of breaking their wrists.
If they had been regular people, having their wrists snapped would surely elicit blood-curdling shrieks.
Yet those helpers made no sound. Exchanging glances with each other, they proceeded to use their uninjured hands to pull out daggers from their waists and hold them up against Mo Jiuye and Mo Chuhan.
At the same time, the commotion outside seemed to have also alerted those inside the courtyard. People started jumping out one after another to check things out.
Unlike the helpers, those emerging from the courtyard were dressed uniformly in grey, looking more like guards of wealthy households.
Gripping obvious broadswords, they raised their weapons towards Mo Jiuye and Mo Chuhan as soon as they grasped the situation.
The brothers had witnessed such a spectacle countless times and were not the least bit intimidated.
In a flash, those broadswords hacked at them in unison.
Unhurried, Mo Jiuye and Mo Chuhan dodged backwards before leaping behind that group of people. Within the blink of an eye and a few somersaults, they had kicked the entire group to the ground.
Seeing this, the helper who had ordered them to leave earlier yelled loudly towards the courtyard,
"Come help! There's troublemakers here!"
Right after, over ten people jumped out from behind the courtyard wall charging at the brothers in attack.
From their moves, Mo Jiuye and Mo Chuhan instantly recognized that these people's martial arts were no trivial matter and absolutely incomparable to those earlier men with blades.
Still, the Mo brothers defeated them swiftly all the same.
Admittedly, facing such experts made combat not as effortless as imagined.
From their lethal moves, it was evident those men were akin to the deathsworn nurtured by the wealthy and powerful families of the capital.
Moreover, with Jingxian Buildings being a Xue Family property, their ulterior motives in the northwest were only to be expected, including the stationing of deathsworn.
While the brothers were lost in thought, some of those deathsworn they had restrained had already broken the poison pills in their mouths, bleeding from all seven apertures as they died a swift death.
"This is bad! Quick Eighth Brother, capture them alive!"
Mo Chuhan also realized instantly. The two dashed forth, each grabbing hold of one deathsworn by the cheeks with the intention of preventing them from crushing the poison pellets.
With perfect coordination, the brothers finally preserved the lives of two deathsworn.
That helper who had been so arrogant with them earlier was now scared stiff, continuously shuffling backward.
Those family guards were equally dazed, staring blankly at the brothers, completely at a loss on what to do next.
Mo Chuhan stepped forward nimbly, using their belts to tie up those guards along with the dead deathsworn bodies before chucking the lot out the side door into the courtyard.
After all, this was an alley along the bustling main avenue. Any prolonged activity risked attracting public attention.
While the situation in the backyard of Jingxian Building remained unclear, they certainly couldn't interrogate them openly there and then.
