Volume 1 Chapter 082 A Hair's Breadth Escape

  "Hehe, Qin Luoyi and Crown Prince Chuyifeng actually spent the whole evening together!"

  "The last emperor of Chu State was giving his third son a marriage gift... it turns out that he mistakenly matched the mandarin ducks."

  "Haha, it's also possible that the crown prince deliberately seduced his younger brother's woman. I've heard before that the crown prince and the third imperial son are not on good terms. The mother of the third imperial son, Noble Consort Xian, is favored by the emperor and has been trying to get her own son to take the position of crown prince. She's used many underhanded tactics to try to get the emperor to depose the current crown prince... Maybe the crown prince was just taking revenge on his younger brother."

  "It's very likely that I've also heard about this matter."

  "Alas, what a pity that this woman is leaving to join the Penglai Fairy Island and even cancelled her engagement with the Third Prince. Otherwise, the Chu royal family would have definitely put on a great show of fratricidal strife for us to see."

  ……

  Seeing Qin Luo's figure finally rushing out of the manor, the black-clothed person hiding in the farthest part of the manor first looked at each other in dismay, then burst into low laughter, with murmurs rising and falling.

  "Sir, Qin Luoyi has left. Let's rush in now." The black-clad man with a sturdy build and broad shoulders was an impatient one. He leaned forward, seeking instructions from the strongest among them, a lean and agile man.

  "Qin Luoyi has just left, let's wait a bit longer... it won't be too late to kill Chu Yifeng after she walks further away, we absolutely can't startle her into coming back." The lean man said thoughtfully.

  It's better to have one less thing to worry about. There are many opportunities to kill Chu Yifeng, but he doesn't want to confront Qin Luoyi and the forces backing her.

  For some reason, Qin Luoyi's cultivation was clearly inferior to his, but he always had a strange premonition that if Qin Luoyi heard any movement and turned back halfway, their mission this time would definitely fail...

  He didn't understand why he had such a strange feeling either, but his sixth sense had always been reliable, so he'd rather wait a bit longer than rush in.

  Turning back, he stopped the subordinates who were discussing and teasing each other, waited for a moment, then waved his hand to make an attacking gesture.

  In an instant, a group of people drew out long swords with cold light, their eyes gleaming with ferocity, and quietly surrounded the manor.

  "Bang!"

  "Bang!"

  "Uh..."

  The man in black was too powerful, and he had hidden his breath. The sky was still dark, and the fog was thick everywhere. The group quickly approached the outer perimeter of the mansion, and with swift sword strikes, they instantly killed several guards without making a sound.

  "Everyone be careful, try to kill the person before being discovered, avoid them sending signals and bringing more people to protect Chu Yifeng..." The black-clothed man leading the way reminded his subordinates once again before entering the villa.

  In order to meet Qin Luoyi, Chu Yifeng had apparently dispersed most of the guards around him, leaving only a few confidants behind. The guards in the manor were generally not highly cultivated.

  The later they alert Chu Yifeng, the greater their chances of success. After all, this place is still more than 50 miles away from the capital city. Those who receive the signal and rush to rescue also need a lot of time to arrive.

  "Your Highness, the entire manor is surrounded and all the guards have been killed!"

  Chu Yifeng's face was ashen pale, and his hands and feet still had no strength. He asked in a low voice across the room: "How many people came, do you know who sent them?"

  "All the people who came are wearing black scarves and masks, most of them are Zun-level cultivators, and there are several Grandmaster-level experts. It doesn't seem like they're from our Chu State." Palace Lian replied quickly.

  Chu Yifeng heard this and struggled to get up, but his hands had no strength. He managed to prop himself up a few inches before falling back down heavily.

  "Damn it!" He muttered under his breath, closed his eyes, and a hint of helplessness flashed across his face.

  "Your Highness, they have already gone to meet them with the wind, but in my opinion, there are too many people coming and their cultivation is too high. They may not be able to hold on for much longer... Your Highness, you should follow me and leave this place first." Gong Liu suggested somewhat urgently.

  But in his heart, he knew that this group of people must have had their eyes on them for a long time. Otherwise, why didn't they make a move earlier or later? Why did they choose to act at this particular moment when the prince's guards were the least prepared? The timing was just too perfect!

  "Your Highness, we can't delay any longer." There was no sound from inside the house, and Gong Liu became anxious, urging him on. The corner of his eye caught sight of someone already breaking into this innermost courtyard.

  Two bodyguards rushed out but failed to stop the ruthless assassin. A flash of cold light, and both their heads were cut off in an instant, with blood splattering everywhere.

  "Damn it!" Gong Liu drew his long sword, stepped forward with a fierce expression, and rushed towards him quickly. While fighting, he kept glancing anxiously at the house where Chu Yifeng was.

  I don't know why, but Your Highness still hasn't come out... If it wasn't for the voice that spoke earlier being indeed Your Highness', he would have suspected that Your Highness was no longer inside the house.

  "Ah!"

  One sword killed the assassin, Gong Li couldn't care about anything else anymore, and rushed over, pushing open the big gate.

  Chu Yifeng stood in front of the bed, his hand grasping the hilt of his long sword, his face pale, and the sweat on his forehead dripping down drop by drop.

  "Your Highness, what's wrong?" Gong Liu was shocked and hastily stepped forward to support him, asking: "Have you been injured?"

  Since the assassin arrived, he rushed straight to the crown prince's residence without any delay, so there shouldn't be any assassins who have entered before... The crown prince doesn't have any obvious wounds on his body. Previously, the only one with the crown prince was Qin Luo Yi.

  I also thought that when Qin Luoyi left earlier, the crown prince was clearly furious but didn't chase after him... Could it be that Qin Luoyi had hurt the crown prince?

  The more I think about it, the angrier I get. Your Highness found that incredibly powerful hermit from years ago for the sake of that woman and even personally went to plead with him to take in Qin Luoyi, who had always been known as a good-for-nothing. And yet, when she was leaving...she actually ended up injuring the Crown Prince.

  How can this be!

  "That woman is really asking for it, actually hurting Your Highness... Once we get out of here, I'll make sure she gets what's coming to her!" No matter if she's the daughter of the Town South King or a disciple of the Xiao Yao Sect, daring to hurt His Highness, he'll kill her without hesitation!

  "Gong Liu!" Chu Yifeng furrowed his brow and rebuked him, saying: "That's Princess Anping, how dare you speak to her like that?"

  Although he was also angry with Qin Luo Yi for drugging him, now that he had encountered these assassins, he still wouldn't allow Gong Liu to be so careless around her.

  "Your Highness?" Palace Liou's face was filled with confusion, unable to understand why that woman had hurt Your Highness so badly, yet Your Highness still protected her like this.

  "Alright, I'm fine, just a bit weak in the limbs, give me a moment and I'll be okay. Let's go, let's get out of here first." After saying that, Chu Yifeng lifted his foot and headed towards the door.

  Just as he said, there was really no strength in his body. He had exhausted all the strength he had to put on his clothes and take a step forward, staggering as if he was about to fall down. In an emergency, he quickly used his long sword to support himself on the ground, barely stabilizing his body.

  Gong Liu saw the situation and finally came back to his senses, hurriedly stepping forward to support him. Looking at the prince's appearance, he suddenly had an idea in his mind - the prince was probably drugged by Qin Luo Yi.

  With Gong Liu's support, Chu Yifeng felt a bit more at ease. Adding to that, the effect of the medicine in his body began to wear off, and he slowly regained some strength in his limbs.

  After killing two more assassins who rushed up, the two left the mansion with a strong smell of blood and stepped onto another hidden path.

  Gong Liu supported Chu Yifeng, all the way not daring to be careless, on the one hand fully guarding against, and on the other hand calling over the sweat-blooded precious horse of the palace.

  That horse is extremely fast and can rival a Grandmaster-level expert. With the horse, Your Highness's chances of leaving safely will increase greatly.

  Soon, the sweat-blood horse was summoned, but behind it, several black shadows were faintly following.

  "Damn it! The horse actually brought the assassin too!" Gong Liu was shocked, the surprise on her face disappeared, and she quickly pulled Chu Yifeng to hide behind a large tree.

  "You leave first, the sweat-blood horse has a keen sense of smell, it's familiar with the aura on me, no matter where I hide, it can find me." Chu Yifeng's face didn't look good either: "We can't be taken down by someone in one pot."

  "Your Highness." Gong Liu hesitated, although the strength on His Highness's body had recovered a lot, it was still far from his usual state. He wasn't by His Highness's side, and if he couldn't provide timely aid in case of an emergency... He felt another surge of resentment towards Qin Luoyi.

  "Run fast!" Chu Yifeng shouted in a low voice and pushed him away with one hand.

  Gong Liu gritted his teeth and turned around, slipping away in another direction, quietly flanking to the assassin's rear.

  The sweat-blooded horse indeed ran towards the big tree where Chu Yifeng was standing, let out a happy low cry, and also gave a loud snort.

  Chu Yifeng narrowed his eyes, gripping the long sword in his hand tightly, his whole body tense, his eyes scanning the six paths and his ears listening to all eight directions, closely paying attention to his surroundings.

  Following behind the Sweating Blood Horse, there were at least five people, among whom four were cultivators of the Zun level or higher, and one was a Grandmaster.

  Chu Yifeng's mind sank to the bottom of the valley in an instant, and after weighing it, he knew that if they fought hard, their chances of winning were not great. Even if he hadn't been secretly calculated by Qin Lao Yi, he wasn't their opponent, and Gong Liu was only a beginner in the Zun stage, while the other side had a Grandmaster.

  "Hmph, Your Highness the Crown Prince, you'd better come out yourself... that way, we might still let you keep your whole body!" The Grandmaster sneered, gazing at the back of the tree.

  The other four sages each occupied a favorable direction and also closed in on him.

  Chuyifeng patted the horse's hoof, and the sweat-blooded horse finally sensed that something was off and walked out. Junyan's face was icy cold as he sneered, "You think you can kill me... just with these few people? I'm afraid it won't be enough."

  "Hmph, just a martial artist's disciple, anyone here can crush you to dust!" The black-robed cultivator with the highest cultivation sneered.

  Chu Yifeng's expression didn't change, and after a moment, he had fully recovered his strength. He activated his heart method, and the spiritual energy inside his body quickly circulated: "Who sent you?"

  "Hmph, you don't need to know that. If you want to know who's going to take your life, go ask King Yanluo in the underworld!" one of the men in black said coldly.

  "You dare to come and kill me, but you don't dare to reveal your name. Hmph, it seems that the master and the servant are the same, they are all things that can't be seen in the light!" Chu Yifeng's eyes fell on their faces, with a sarcastic tone that seemed to be pointing at them.

  The faces of the black-robed monks changed, their eyes fell on Chu Yifeng like knives, as if they wanted to slash him thousands of times.

  "Haha, don't think we don't know, you just want to stall for time here and wait for someone to come and rescue you, right? Don't dream on, no one will come to save you!"

  "Let's just kill him together and be done with it, no need for so much nonsense!"

  "He's just a martial artist, killing him is like squashing an ant. The little girl in Chunghwa Building, with her delicate skin and tender flesh, is still waiting for me to go. Let's get rid of this kid quickly so I can meet up with that chick early today."

  A group of five people with contempt in their eyes, holding long swords, surrounded him.

  "Ah!"

  The man who just said he was going to meet the peach blossom girls at Chunhua Building was suddenly struck by a long sword in his chest, let out a miserable cry and fell to the ground.

  "Up!"

  The leading man in black narrowed his eyes, and under his eyelids, he was actually ambushed.

  To avoid a long and tedious dream, he waved his hand and one of them rushed towards the dark assassin who was killing them, while he led the other two to pounce on Chu Yifeng.

  Distant place

  Qin Luo's clothes suddenly felt a jump in her heart, and she involuntarily stopped in her tracks, turning her head to look back at the estate they had just left.

  A blue blaze of fireworks burst open above the manor, and in the still dark sky, that blue blaze was especially dazzling. After a few gasps, the direction of the capital also burst into blue blazes.

  Something's gone wrong!

  Qin Luo Yi was stunned for a moment, then quickly came back to her senses and turned around to sprint towards the direction of the mansion. In her heart, she kept murmuring: "Chu Yu Feng, you absolutely cannot have anything happen to you, Chu Yu Feng, you absolutely cannot have anything happen to you..."

  Thinking of the medicine he had given him before leaving, he bit his lip and became even more remorseful... His footsteps quickened, and in a short while, he rushed back into the manor.

  The sky was gradually brightening, and the manor was filled with flying bloodstains, shouts and fighting sounds that came from time to time.

  Qin Luo Yi didn't bother with anything else and directly flew towards Chu Yi Feng's residence. Seeing the main gate open, and two headless corpses outside the house, her heart instantly sank to the bottom of the valley.

  She rushed into the house with a cold face, but didn't see Chu Yifeng's figure. Her heart suddenly relaxed, there was no sign of fighting in the house, and Chu Yifeng should have been taken away by someone.

  As she walked out of the house, she saw two black-clad men lying dead on the ground, and the strong smell of blood in the courtyard. Her heart, which had just calmed down, was racing again. Given Chu Yifeng's current physical condition, he probably couldn't walk much further. This morning when they left the manor, she had already noticed that there weren't many guards inside the manor.

  She picked up a long sword from the ground and rushed towards the direction where the fighting sounds came from.

  Mo Sui Feng and five other middle-aged men wielding long swords blocked nearly ten black-robed monks, the two sides fighting fiercely, sword energy and spiritual power flying everywhere, the surrounding houses and trees were chopped into a mess.

  Mo Sui and others were injured to varying degrees, but they continued to resist stubbornly, unwilling to retreat a single step. Those black-clad men, on the other hand, were ruthless in their attacks, each move aimed at killing. Their eyes showed impatience and anxiety, wanting to break through Mo Sui's defense and assassinate the prince, after all, that was their ultimate goal.

  "Ah!"

  The men in black accelerated their attack again, and Mo Sui was caught off guard. A silver-clad man let out a miserable cry, his body covered in blood as he fell to the ground, and in the blink of an eye, he had stopped breathing.

  The already fragile defense, after losing one person, instantly collapsed. Seeing that Mo Sui Feng and others were in danger, Qin Luo Yi quickly rushed over, raised her hand and threw out more than ten Seven-Stage Immobilization Talismans at the black-clothed assassin.

  The black-clothed assassin's movements stopped instantly, his eyes turned red, and he glared fiercely at Qin Luoyi.

  "Don't just stand there, quickly take care of them first. The cultivation level of these people is too high, I'm afraid my talisman won't be able to control them for much longer..." Qin Luo Yi's hand rose and her knife fell, swiftly taking down a black-clad assassin, then she turned around and shouted at Mo Sui Feng and the others.

  They had thought that the few people who were already in a precarious situation would be shocked to see Qin Luo suddenly appear, and then they were stunned when Qin Luo appeared again and threw out a lot of high-quality talismans, just like that day in the East Palace... In their confusion, they forgot about the assassins, but Qin Luo reminded them, and they came back to their senses, drawing their long swords and charging at the assassins.

  "Ah!"

  ……

  A series of miserable cries rang out one after another, and soon nearly ten black-clad assassins were all killed.

  "I've seen Princess Anping!"

  Mo followed the wind and wiped away the blood on his face, bowed slightly to her, and several people's eyes were filled with gratitude.

  Qin Luo Yi waved his hand and asked with a slight frown, "Where is the Crown Prince?"

  "The prince should leave with Gong Yu, we'll take care of blocking the assassins from behind." Mo Sui Feng said in a low voice.

  "Are all the assassins here?" Qin Luo Yi swept a glance around and asked again.

  "No, there are too few of us, and some of them have escaped. They're probably chasing after the lord." A hint of regret flashed across Mo Sui's face.

  "They're heading in that direction, let's hurry up and find them." Qin Luo Yi heard that several people had caught up, a look of anxiety appeared on his face.

  "This... At that time, the assassin came too suddenly, we hadn't seen the prince yet, and we confronted the assassin... The road out of the villa, except for the main gate, there are three other paths."

  "In other words, you don't know where they went either?" Qin Luo pressed her lips together.

  "Yes."

  "In that case... let's split up and search, we must find the young master as soon as possible." Qin Luoyi was actually very worried about Chu Yifeng in her heart. As she spoke, she took out a handful of talismans from her storage ring, all of which were high-level seventh and eighth-grade talismans, and generously distributed them to everyone.

  Including Qin Luoyi, there were five of them. Unfamiliar with the surroundings of the mountain villa, Qin Luoyi was accompanied by Mo Sui Feng, whose cultivation was slightly weaker. The others each chose a direction and chased after him.

  "Your Highness, they went this way!" A moment later, Mo Sui Feng found a dead body of an assassin on the small path. Upon closer inspection, the sword that had pierced his chest was the same one held by Gong Liang.

  "These are the hoof prints of a fine horse!"

  "There were several more corpses... also assassins!"

  ……

  They looked around and only saw the bodies of the assassins, but there was no sign of Prince Chu Yifeng or his personal guard Gong Yu. Both of them let out a sigh of relief at the same time.

  "Who killed these people? Following your lord, isn't it just Gong Yu?" Qin Luo Yi thought of Chu Yi Feng's current situation... and asked with some doubt. Tonight, the assassins who came to kill had a high level of cultivation, there were five corpses here, she didn't believe that Gong Yu could solve all five by himself with his cultivation.

  "It's all over." Mo Xiangfeng shook his head, his eyes gazing down at the corpses: "Except for the first body which was killed by Gong Liao, all the others were killed by Your Highness."

  "How is this possible?" Qin Luo's eyes flashed, and a hint of doubt crossed his face.

  "With your current cultivation level, it's naturally impossible to kill them. However, you have a secret imperial treasure on your person that can save your life once at a critical moment." Mo Sui Feng explained.

  "So that's how it is." Qin Luo Yi blinked, suddenly enlightened. The secret treasure of the Chu State imperial family was indeed very powerful, no wonder they had killed all these assassins.

  They didn't find Crown Prince Chu Yi Feng, but they still didn't dare to be too careless and continued to chase forward.

  After chasing for several miles, I finally saw Chu Yifeng. He and Gong Liao were facing off against a group of black-clad men, but they hadn't started fighting yet. It seemed like they had just run into each other.

  Qin Luo Yi and Mo Sui Feng exchanged a glance, then quickened their pace and ran past.

  "Your Highness!"

  Mo Sui followed closely behind Chu Yifeng, bowing his head in a salute.

  Seeing him rush over, a hint of joy appeared on Gong Liu's face, but when he saw Qin Luo Yi beside him, his expression turned very ugly.

  "Haha, what a great pair of wild mandarin ducks... you've arrived just in time, today we'll send you both on your way together!" One of the men in black saw that Qin Luo had actually run back, his pupils shrinking, his eyes filled with icy coldness and sinister intent, and he let out a cold laugh.

  Digression

  Thank you, Cherry Rain, for your lovely drill