This dagger was identical to the one the Princess of Zhennan had used to wound her that day. Was this an assassination attempt ordered by the Prince and Princess of Zhennan to kill her and avenge Pei Fengji?!

Many people knew she was Feng Suzhen, but how could the news that she was still alive have leaked to the Wei Kingdom?

But now wasn’t the time to ponder such matters. She couldn’t die before her parents’ tombstone—she couldn’t let them defile her family home!

The circle of more than ten people in front, both men and women, all looked like skilled fighters.

What made her blood run cold was that after one of them brandished a dagger with blinding blade light, the rest followed suit and drew their daggers!

At this moment, each person raised their head, faces ghastly pale with red rouge dotting their features.

They looked just like those paper effigies of boys and girls used in funeral rites.

She couldn’t help but shudder with horror.

Damn it, she should have known better than to refuse Lian Yu’s “kind intentions”!

Seeing them step closer to her, she suppressed the panic in her heart and suddenly spoke: “Who are you people? Enemies seeking revenge for my past verdicts? Cowardly in death after being wicked in life. Don’t you even dare state your names?”

“Li Huaisu, there’s no need for provocation to buy time. This Princess will make you die convinced of your guilt.”

That voice from behind the tree rang out again. It was a woman’s voice, each word dripping with malicious hatred, as if she wanted to drink her blood and devour her flesh to satisfy her vengeance—sinister and unfathomable.

Immediately, a person slowly emerged from behind the tree, and those red-clothed men and women quickly dispersed their circle formation, pressing toward her.

“It really is you?!” Suzhen retreated to the side, crying out in shocked trembling.

In the dark twilight, the Princess of Zhennan’s mouth turned downward, “Capture her and slice off her flesh piece by piece. I want her to suffer the agony of a thousand cuts before dying!”

The two leading men and women nodded, their five fingers like vicious claws reaching toward Suzhen. Suzhen’s face changed color. The Princess of Zhennan sneered coldly, but suddenly saw this person retreat halfway into the grape garden, then leap into the air, bouncing to mid-height—

In the Princess of Zhennan’s memory, this person was just a scholar. She hadn’t expected her to spring up with such agility, her martial arts seemingly quite decent. She couldn’t help but be furiously shocked, and before she could give orders, those red-clothed men and women had already deployed their lightness skills, immediately giving chase!

How was Suzhen able to rally at this critical moment? It wasn’t because her trash martial arts had suddenly leveled up, but because she had deliberately retreated into the grape garden while talking with the enemy, gripping the rope of a swing with one hand, pulling it back, then flashing onto it and using that desperate swinging force to launch herself over the wall.

As soon as her body hit the ground, she immediately deployed her lightness skills, racing toward the riverbank. Behind her, she could hear the pursuing soldiers close at her heels!

“Shaqi Ma, carry your big sister away!”

Under the starlight, the skinny horse was leisurely wiggling its rear while munching on coarse grass by the river. Hearing her voice, the ugly horse actually changed its usual behavior—its four hooves like lightning, galloping toward her—

Suzhen’s eyes filled with tears of emotion. She had been so afraid their understanding wasn’t sufficient, or that this skinny horse simply wouldn’t care about her, but now…

A sharp blade suddenly sliced through the night sky. She started in alarm, hearing only a fierce neighing as the skinny horse’s hooves slipped and it tumbled to the ground.

Suzhen’s eyes blazed with fury—someone had thrown a dagger and wounded the skinny horse. Blood spurted from its front leg, and she trembled with fear. Hearing cold laughter from behind, just then she saw the skinny horse kick back with its hind legs, actually leaping up. Suzhen was both shocked and delighted, but then saw it turn its head, neigh once, and… run away.

“Damn it!” Suzhen’s emotions soared and plummeted, but she understood—if the skinny horse carried her, the result would only be dying together. That it could escape with its life, she was also pleased about.

And in this brief moment, those red-clothed men and women had already surrounded her.

The night was pitch black as ink. Suzhen abandoned thoughts of escape, standing with her hands behind her back. She quickly surveyed her surroundings—though the neighboring houses had no lights, there were still occupied homes a bit farther away. However, she quickly dismissed the thought of calling for help. With expert fighters surrounding her, bringing people over would only harm innocent lives. She couldn’t do that. She would feint conversation with the Princess of Zhennan, buy time, and find a way to kill at least one or two assassins before dying…

In that instant, countless thoughts flashed through her mind, but what remained at the end was surprisingly—why hadn’t she… spent a little more time with Lian Yu earlier?

She was startled by this thought of her own. Just then, her hands and feet suddenly ached terribly. She cried out softly and fell to her knees.

Four red-clothed men and women had brushed past her with blades, blood droplets falling from their weapons.

Another group of four approached her with blades—this time it looked like they intended to cut other parts of her body!

“Li Huaisu, you have this day too? Kneel before my son and repent.” From behind, the Princess of Zhennan laughed coldly, her eyes showing both grief and ferocity, “Feng’er, do you see? Mother has avenged you. You were sentenced to beheading by this despicable person—Mother will make her repay with a hundred times the pain!”

Suzhen broke out in cold sweat from the pain. She knew at this moment there was almost no possibility of survival. Though she had “died” once before, fear still trembled in her heart. But kneeling on the ground, enduring that piercing agony, she didn’t beg for mercy. Instead, she laughed heartily: “That scum Pei Fengji deserved to die! Repent? I only regret not slaughtering that little beast sooner!”

The Princess of Zhennan flew into a rage, “Death by a thousand cuts! Cut the flesh from this despicable person’s body just like the lingchi execution!”

“Yes!”

The four blade-wielders awaiting orders leaped forward—two toward Suzhen’s cheeks, two toward her abdomen. Suzhen gritted her teeth, about to jump up in a desperate dodge, but was held down by the shoulders by two more people who rushed up from behind.

Suzhen knew this woman intended to strip her down to a skeleton. Bold as she was, a wave of acidic cold rose from her stomach and abdomen—

She squeezed her eyes shut. The blade scraped across her cheek, and a strong wind rushed past. Her collar was suddenly grabbed from behind as she heard the Princess’s fierce shout: “Who dares interfere with my business!”

She opened her eyes in surprise to see a masked man in white robes holding her half in his embrace, wielding a sword against the surrounding assassins.

At their feet lay two men and women who had fallen—the very two who had been holding her shoulders.

Each had a blood spot between their eyebrows.

Excellent skill!

She cheered inwardly, greatly relieved. Looking up for a glimpse, in the dim darkness of night, the other person had eyes like gems, gleaming with cold light. They seemed somewhat familiar. She instinctively called out: “Brother…”

“I am not your brother!”

The other person coldly interrupted. This voice—was it deliberately disguised or—it also seemed somewhat familiar, yet she really couldn’t place who it was.

She had intended to try “Leng Xue,” but the other person seemed to see through what she was thinking and spoke first: “Shut up! I am no one to you.”

Suzhen wasn’t angry at being scolded—having someone save her life already filled her with gratitude. How could she care about giving the other person’s service attitude a good or bad review? This person was also truly formidable—holding her while dodging, flashing, stabbing, and slashing, he had already brought down three more people in the blink of an eye!

“Kill them both for me.”

The Princess of Zhennan was beside herself with fury, hissing out orders.

The remaining seven or eight people all attacked together. However, this situation wasn’t very good—though the white-robed man had superior martial arts, carrying her hindered his performance. He frowned, holding her while suddenly changing his fighting style to pure offense with no defense. His strategy was to ignore non-vital injuries to both himself and her.

After he took a sword to the shoulder and Suzhen took swords to her shoulder and arm, he had dispatched four more people. Though he showed complete disregard for Suzhen’s feelings, Suzhen was still quite excited, patting his shoulder: “Keep it up!”

The remaining few were much easier to handle, but the man had clearly expended considerable internal energy. Sweat from his forehead dripped into Suzhen’s eyes, and his breathing was slightly labored.

“This humble one advises Madam to take her people and leave. Otherwise, when I finish off the rest, there will be no one left to escort you.” The man’s gaze passed over the last few men and women in front, landing indifferently on the Princess of Zhennan.

“You—” The Princess of Zhennan was so angry she laughed instead, “Fine! Where there are green hills, there is no fear of lacking firewood. I will have this revenge eventually.”

Suzhen breathed a sigh of relief, but the man’s arm around her suddenly tightened.

“Not good.” He suddenly spoke in a low voice. Suzhen was alarmed to see over ten masked men in black leap from the wall of the Li family’s great house next to the Feng residence. One of them stood on the eaves, eyes flashing with sinister light. Suddenly, he waved his hand, and those ten-plus people simultaneously jumped down, attacking them.

The Princess of Zhennan laughed long and loud, “It seems I’m not the only one who wants you dead, Li Huaisu. You have quite a few enemies indeed. Now I can rest assured.”

Suzhen cursed inwardly as the man’s brows sank—

What followed could be described as somewhat brutal. He was severely drained—after killing only two people, he had already taken three sword wounds. The other two were just scratches, but one sword had struck right at a vital point in his lower abdomen. Though it didn’t appear too serious, it had injured his internal organs. Suzhen was secretly alarmed and was about to speak, telling him to leave alone—this life-saving grace was already more than she could ask for.

But the man suddenly made a feint, spinning upward through the enemy’s sword formation while holding her, landing before the Feng residence.

“Find a way to hide for half an incense stick’s time. I’ll go get reinforcements. If you can’t hold out, then there’s nothing to be done. I cannot die here with you.” As he spoke, he looked at her deeply and suddenly threw her upward.

Suzhen was an extremely clever and agile person. As soon as her feet touched the courtyard ground, she immediately ran wildly to the front of the house, kicked the door open, leaped inside, and immediately locked the door securely from within. Then she pressed heavily on one side of the door, then with several jumps and bounds, passed through the corridor and came to her parents’ former bedroom.

Her frantically pounding heart finally calmed down a bit.

She curled her lips. How she wished that no matter what situation she encountered, life or death, there would always be one person who would never abandon her.

But this person had already done more than enough—it would be wrong of her to demand more.

She limped to the bed and covered herself with the quilt from her parents’ bed. The room had been empty for a long time, and the bedding was covered with dust mites, but her parents’ scent still seemed to linger faintly, making her feel at peace.

Screams rose continuously from within the house, and she raised an eyebrow with a smile—

If not for those red-clothed people blocking the way earlier, she might have fled here too, because her house was equipped with deadly mechanisms!

These had been set up by her father while alive. At the time, she had only thought them interesting, but later realized that Feng Meiren had installed them to defend against sudden changes. However, in the end, he hadn’t used them to take anyone’s life. Unexpectedly, tonight they temporarily saved her life.

She became suspicious again. This person should be quite familiar with her, even knowing this house had “traps.” Otherwise, an ordinary residence couldn’t stop anyone with just front and back encirclement and searching!

She thought of someone, yet felt it shouldn’t be him.

But this wasn’t the moment for such contemplation. These mechanisms were deadly, but to break them… wasn’t difficult either!

Very simple.

A thick smell wafted to her nose.

Damn… as expected! She gritted her teeth, clutching the quilt corner.

The inn.

Lian Yu came downstairs urgently, startling Lian Jie and the others in the lobby with his appearance.

“Sixth Brother, what’s—” Everyone rose to their feet, all with heavy questions, not knowing what other matter could move this Son of Heaven.

His eyes were bright as stars, a smile playing at his lips. Just walking down like this, he drew the furtive glances of several young ladies in the inn.

Lian Yu slowly sat down, accepting the wine Ming Yan Chu handed him. Seeing everyone looking at him with strange expressions, he drained the wine in one gulp before responding indifferently: “She’s not with Quan Feitong.”

Everyone fell silent for a moment, then all exchanged joyful glances—this meant their elder brother, their master still had a chance!

“Master, how do you know?” Xuanwu was somewhat hesitant, “Don’t tell me you imagined it…”

At his words, everyone became somewhat uncertain, looking at him with doubt and suspicion.

Lian Yu thought of the opened letter left in his room and said indifferently: “I still have people around her. I just received word.”

Everyone suddenly understood. Qinglong said: “Master is indeed superior in strategy.”

“Are you going to find Huaisu yourself?” Lian Xin was the most delighted, bringing her head closer to ask.

Zhuque glanced at her and said indifferently: “Princess, even if he were to go, it probably wouldn’t be right now. She’s still angry.”

Lian Xin remained silent. Zhuque was her sixth brother’s shadow guard, rarely showing herself, unlike the other three attendants. She wasn’t familiar with this person at all, but strangely, she inexplicably harbored some… hostility toward her.

“Yes, it would be better for Sixth Brother to wait until time passes and the pain in her heart has faded somewhat before going.” At this time, Lian Jie also spoke.

“Sixth Brother, why don’t you personally craft a jade flute or something for her.” Lian Qin pondered briefly and spoke quite seriously.

Xuanwu said bluntly: “Magistrate Li isn’t such a shallow person. I think sending a cartload of valuable things would be most practical.”

“Master…”

“Tomorrow I’ll go bid her farewell, then we’ll set off back to the capital. I cannot be away too long.” Seeing everyone offering suggestions, Lian Yu cut off Ming Yan Chu’s about-to-be-spoken thoughts in the cradle. “Lian Xin, you’ll stay with her. I want to know her whereabouts at all times.”

Everyone saw his eyes bright as stars, his index finger slightly bent, lightly tapping on the table with his usual composure, as if he had everything under control, intentionally allowing some time to pass, first handling state affairs, then finding a way… Little did they know that Lian Yu’s heart was already in tumultuous waves, but fearing to frighten her, he would first endure the pain of longing, fight this hard battle first, then find a way… to get her back to the capital, to pester her daily.

No one knew that in an instant, countless calculations flashed through his mind. Only the wine cup, drained three times in succession, glimpsed that his heart, hardened by these years, was at this moment filled with tender feelings.

“Neigh!”—

“Is this horse mad!”

Just then, a horse’s neighing and people’s curses suddenly came from outside. Everyone was startled and about to investigate when a horse had already charged into the inn, knocking over several tables of guests near the door before falling down itself, but then neighing loudly and standing up again.

“I’ll slaughter you, beast!” Among them were jianghu people who immediately cursed and drew swords to stab.

But Xuanwu and Qinglong moved like arrows, leaping to intervene. This crazed horse that had burst in was Suzhen’s ugly horse!

Little did they know someone was even faster, already blocking those two jianghu men!

Those two men saw this person had noble bearing and commanding presence, and immediately softened, not daring to act rashly. The innkeeper and other guests also didn’t dare approach for the moment.

“Did Li Huaisu not feed you, so you’re looking for food and remembered my sixth brother, running here? Little thing, though ugly in appearance, your pathfinding ability is really not bad—”

“Ninth Brother, shut up! This horse’s front hoof is injured!” Lian Jie suddenly shouted to stop him.

At these words, everyone was shocked to see indeed a bloody mess under the skinny horse’s hooves—the injury was quite severe. Could it be—its eyes swept around urgently, suddenly biting toward Lian Yu’s direction. But Lian Yu had already noticed the skinny horse’s abnormality. His face changed, and before the others could react, he leaped onto the horse’s back, saying in a deep voice: “Take me to your master!”

The skinny horse seemed to understand what he said. Gathering its strength on all four legs, despite its serious injury, it was still remarkably spirited. With a neigh, it charged up, carrying him and bolting from the inn. The others gave chase, seeing only the long street in darkness, lights sparse, that man and horse disappearing in an instant under the starlight, condensing into a black dot.

“This is terrible! We must hurry after them!” Xuanwu shouted urgently, calling to everyone.

Smoke and fire attack.

Simply using fire would render even the deadliest mechanisms useless!

The heat and smoke coming from outside the bedroom made Suzhen cough violently. She smiled bitterly—she definitely couldn’t hold out until that person brought aid!

She believed that when her father installed these mechanisms, he must have also dug an escape tunnel somewhere underground in this room.

But Feng Meiren, to avoid implicating old friends, had ultimately chosen to die with dignity and hadn’t used it. And at the time, fearing it would arouse her suspicions, he hadn’t told her about it either.

Damn it, these people outside were determined to kill her at all costs! Even knowing that using fire might attract neighbors and officials, they didn’t hesitate!

She endured the pain and leaped down from the bed. Her injuries were severe, and with pursuers in the house earlier, there had been no possibility of searching around. Now, there was no time for her to look.

This was her home. In the back courtyard lay the remains of her parents and Hong Xiao. She couldn’t let them burn this place to ashes. She strode out of her parents’ bedroom. Earlier, she had pressed the mechanism trigger at the door, but knowing beforehand where all the traps were located, and having lived here for nearly twenty years, she could safely navigate with her eyes closed. Moreover, outside, flames were leaping.

Fire had already burned into the main hall.

Soon, she charged through the sea of flames and leaped out.

In the front courtyard, the Princess of Zhennan and the black-clothed leader stood on left and right. Several black-clothed men had built up firewood in the courtyard, flames blazing high. Seven or eight other black-clothed men and the few red-clothed men and women left by the masked man stood with swords surrounding the area.

Seeing her emerge, the black-clothed man suddenly ordered his subordinates to extinguish the fire.

Suzhen felt relieved—she had guessed correctly. If she came out, they still didn’t want to use fire to attract the attention of nearby people.

Who were these black-clothed people? They didn’t seem to be working with the Princess of Zhennan, yet seemed very aware of her actions. They had been hiding in the vacant mansion next door.

“Shall you handle this person, or shall we?” The black-clothed leader turned to ask the Princess of Zhennan, who slowly said “Thank you.” “Let me do it.”

Her eyes blazed with murderous light. To avoid complications, she ordered two red-clothed men and women: “Kill her!”

Watching the two men and women leap forward, eyes sinister, swords chopping down, fear filled her heart and her whole body trembled. But this time she absolutely wouldn’t close her eyes, looking proudly toward the Princess of Zhennan. However, what she saw was not only swords but also a… horse!

Wait, a horse?

Before her brain could react, she saw someone riding a horse leap over the wall. The rider pulled the reins, the horse neighed like thunder, and its hooves kicked viciously at the swords about to reach her face.

Amid the men and women’s screams, the horse seemed to lack strength and fell down. The rider on its back had intended to reach out and catch her, but seeing the situation, leaped down from the horse’s back and pointed to the wall: “You can no longer carry anyone—staying would only be a burden. You’ve shown loyal protection of your master and done enough. Your master will be left to my protection!”

The horse neighed once, seeming to understand his words. Its eyes bright, it glanced at Suzhen with rolling eyes, then with a stumbling leap, came and went in an instant, clearing the wall.

“Excellent! You’re here too!” The black-clothed leader suddenly laughed with excitement, saying fiercely: “Kill this man as well, and you will have achieved the greatest merit of your lives.”

Suzhen was greatly shocked. Under the glittering starlight, that person stood with sword raised, blocking in front of her.

31, No. 1