Taking advantage of the momentary absence of pursuers, Qin Yining once again took out the small medicine packet.

Regardless of what past the young man might have, or how many suspicious points surrounded his affairs, right now they both needed to survive.

Qin Yining gestured toward his wounds, lowering her voice to barely a whisper: “This is wound medicine. You’re injured and have lost too much blood—you must stop the bleeding immediately.”

After saying this twice, the young man’s expression changed from confusion to understanding.

He didn’t nod in agreement, but instead gripped Qin Yining’s wrist and stood up to continue walking.

His steps were already unsteady, yet he still refused to slow down. His grip on her hand remained tight, and he wouldn’t relax his hold on the bamboo blade either.

This person was so stubborn, and being deaf, Qin Yining couldn’t even try to persuade him with words. She could only helplessly follow his steps. The nighttime forest didn’t allow even half a thread of moonlight through, and Qin Yining walked stumbling and staggering. They hadn’t gone far when footsteps could be heard again from the foot of the mountain.

Qin Yining’s heart tensed, and her palms began sweating nervously.

Now she was certain staying by the young man’s side was safe, but the people of Danfu County were showing extraordinary tenacity in pursuing them.

This was easy to understand—eighty percent of Danfu County’s population came from three major families. Those who came to cause trouble at the government office today were definitely mostly from these three families, and as the young man cut his way out, most of those he killed were also from these three major clans.

They had aroused the hatred of these people, and moreover, the locals here despised imperial law, considering clan rules far more important.

Qin Yining could already foresee that they would be pursued relentlessly—these three major families would fight them to the death!

They kept fleeing, and when they couldn’t escape, the young man would face those pursuers head-on. But those people were no match for the young man, so wouldn’t he just kill more and more, making the hatred grow ever greater?

Qin Yining ran breathlessly, saying helplessly: “You can’t kill any more people, you really can’t kill any more people.”

But Qin Yining knew the young man couldn’t hear her.

He showed no reaction at all, simply leading Qin Yining through the forest toward an increasingly remote location.

At this time, in front of Danfu County’s government office, the crowd of people had grown considerably larger than initially. The earth-shaking clamoring mixed with painful wails pierced people’s eardrums.

“We only came to ask Prince Zhongshun to write a guarantee—why must we suffer such vicious treatment!”

“On what grounds did you kill my son! Give me back my son’s life!”

…

Pang Xiao hadn’t killed anyone, but the young man had indeed cut a bloody path to escape with Qin Yining. His strikes were ruthless and without restraint—killing people was no different from chopping melons and cutting vegetables, so few of the dead commoners’ bodies remained intact.

Although these people were stubborn and obstinate, they were still ordinary folk. Where had they ever seen such bloody carnage? Even bystanders couldn’t help but retreat in terror, and those who came to collect the bodies of their family members—those with weaker tolerance—had already fainted from shock at the mangled remains.

Pang Xiao’s anger was now on the edge of rage.

Qin Yining had been taken away. Although both Xie Yue and Xu Weizhi said Qin Yining would be fine, how could Pang Xiao not be anxious?

Yet these commoners kept questioning him incessantly, surrounding the place so tightly that not even water could leak through, with more and more people arriving.

An incident had occurred under his very nose. If he didn’t take a stance, even though he hadn’t ordered the killing of commoners, the blame would eventually fall on his head anyway.

Pang Xiao had to protect his reputation, because his reputation directly affected the success or failure of his and Qin Yining’s affairs. Once he failed, everyone close to him would have to pay with their lives.

Precisely because Pang Xiao understood these stakes, he had to endure, but his Sister Yi was missing! And now all his people were trapped in this sea of humanity.

“Your Highness, please stay calm,” Xu Weizhi said, his forehead covered in sweat. “This county has too many people—just conscripting laborers could bring three or four thousand, let alone ordinary civilian families. Now that this incident has occurred, you must think of a solution and absolutely must not act impulsively.”

Xu Weizhi spoke cryptically, but Pang Xiao understood immediately.

“Everyone, quiet down. This prince was nearly assassinated just now, and the princess consort was also abducted. This prince will certainly investigate this matter thoroughly. You have already gathered and caused trouble at the government office for half the night. That this prince hasn’t immediately arrested you all is because I see you are innocent commoners who were incited and implicated. Please, fellow villagers, be reasonable and think carefully—how is your troublemaking any different from treason? You’re committing treason against the court—do you really plan to drag down your entire families?”

“Stop threatening us! There are so many of us here—what is there to fear!”

“Right, we don’t need to be afraid!”

Some in the crowd echoed this, and others shouted loudly: “If you don’t write us a guarantee today, and if you continue conscripting laborers from Danfu County in the future, we won’t disperse! We cannot watch our children and grandchildren go to their deaths!”

“That’s an imperial edict! This prince is not the one issuing orders—how could I have the authority to sign guarantees? If you’re dissatisfied and unafraid of the crime of disobeying imperial orders, you’re welcome to go to the capital and ask His Majesty to sign guarantees for you! This prince is merely a subject who acts only according to His Majesty’s arrangements. For matters like writing guarantees, you’ve truly found the wrong person!”

“Exactly!” Xu Weizhi also raised his voice to shout: “Fellow villagers, villagers! Listen to this old man’s advice—everyone causing trouble here serves absolutely no purpose.”

Tang Xiu also darkened his face and grimly played the villain: “If you continue making noise, this general will first cut you all down! For treasonous people like you, never mind killing one—so what if we kill them all!”

As soon as Tang Xiu finished speaking, the Tiger Guards raised their blades. Previously they could only use scabbards, but now the bright silver edges flashed coldly in the moonlight, filling the commoners with fear and somewhat reducing their clamoring.

Seeing that Pang Xiao refused to relent, those leading commoners realized Prince Zhongshun was not an easy opponent to deal with. Several people hidden in the crowd conferred and made up their minds.

“We must keep watch here—today we absolutely must make Prince Zhongshun write a guarantee, but that wolf cub must also die. We must avenge our hundred-plus dead!”

“In that case, let’s split into two groups. A small portion stays at the government office entrance, and the rest go catch that wolf cub!”

With leaders coming up with plans, the others also had a backbone. Although the crowd surrounding the county office still wouldn’t leave, those near the outer edge of the encirclement had already begun discussing intercepting the “wolf cub.”

At the same time, Qin Yining had been pulled by the young man out of the forest.

It turned out that on the other side of the forest was a village. There weren’t concentrated buildings like in the city here, with only two main streets. This was obviously a village under Danfu County’s jurisdiction.

Looking into the distance, the village was pitch black, but with only one day until the Ghost Festival, the bright moon hung high in the sky, allowing the village’s outline to be seen clearly.

The young man’s steps had become increasingly unsteady, and his grip on Qin Yining’s wrist had somewhat loosened.

Qin Yining ran breathlessly, her breathing filled with the bloody scent from the young man’s body.

When they escaped the forest earlier, they had encountered another group of commoners blocking their path.

Qin Yining didn’t want the young man to kill more people and had just opened her mouth to try reasoning with emotion and logic, but the young man protected her, making his bamboo blade dance with flashing silver light.

His technique was fast and ruthless. After watching for a while, Qin Yining discovered his martial arts were different from Mu Jinghu’s.

Mu Jinghu’s movements were graceful—even when surrounded and attacked, he tried his best to remain untouched like a leaf in the wind.

But this young man completely disregarded whether he himself got injured, charging forward with his blade. If he could block, he used the blade to block; if he couldn’t, he would avoid vital points, trading less of his own blood for the opponent’s life. It could be said he was always operating on “wound the enemy one thousand, damage himself eight hundred.”

Such a ruthless person—ruthless to enemies, even more ruthless to himself, just like the wild beasts she had seen before. For a chance to survive, they would tear at each other, not hesitating even if covered in wounds.

Qin Yining looked at the young man’s back. Under the moonlight, his deep blue short jacket was full of chaotic tears, and bloody fabric strips fluttered as they ran.

Qin Yining was deeply worried.

How much blood could one person have? With this rate of bleeding, what person could endure it?

Finally reaching the village, Qin Yining’s legs were already sore and painful, her calves nearly cramping from exhaustion.

Yet the young man still wouldn’t slow down, his form unsteady, limping on one foot while desperately pulling her along.

In the darkness, it was more convenient for the two of them to hide.

But their pursuers behind them showed no concern about openly carrying torches and lanterns.

Qin Yining’s hearing couldn’t pick up the pursuers’ voices or footsteps, but as she frequently looked back while fleeing, she could clearly see the lights already approaching the village.

“They’re chasing us again,” Qin Yining panted, talking to herself.

The young man pursed his lips and looked back, obviously also seeing the lights approaching the village.

He pulled Qin Yining around looking for somewhere to hide. Unfortunately, the village’s structure was too simple, and with it being nighttime, all households had their doors tightly shut.

After running forward with great difficulty for another stretch, the young man pulled Qin Yining past the entrance of a wealthy family’s home, pushing her toward the shadows between the stone lions outside the gate and the corner of the wall.

He pressed Qin Yining’s shoulders, hiding her in the shadows.

Qin Yining understood—he wanted to hide her while he went to lead away the commoners pursuing them.

Qin Yining shook her head: “This isn’t a solution if it continues like this.”

The young man naturally made no response, slowly supporting himself with the bamboo staff as he stood up to face the enemy.

Qin Yining stood up worriedly: “You’ll die if this continues—come back!”

Just as her words fell, she saw the young man stumble forward a few steps before suddenly falling forward.

Qin Yining was shocked and quickly ran to his side, gently pushing his shoulder and touching something warm.

“How are you? Don’t die!”

With so many wounds and so much blood, Qin Yining felt it was a miracle he had managed to hold on until now before collapsing. Looking at their path, she could see a winding procession of lights approaching.

Her heart felt somewhat panicked, but she also knew that if she abandoned the young man now, when those commoners arrived, they would definitely butcher him immediately.

This person had gotten into such trouble because he tried to save her—Qin Yining couldn’t do such a thing.

So be it. She was a princess consort anyway—those commoners wouldn’t directly kill her, would they?

Thinking of this, Qin Yining gritted her teeth and tore her skirt hem to help bandage the young man’s wounds, to prevent him from dying from excessive blood loss.

Meanwhile, the pursuers were approaching the village and were about to catch them.