“Crack!”

The extremely faint sound of a blade piercing through!

Faster than light, faster than thought, faster than the swiftest reaction speed a person could possess!

Aimed directly at Qin Chang Ge’s spine beneath the woodshed!

“Thud!”

“Crack!”

The latter sound was slightly muffled, carrying the subtle resistant noise of penetrating flesh and bone.

As if piercing through some body, then pinning it down.

Thick fresh blood dripped down the sword tip, spreading into a small stream, silently dripping into the straw pile below, disappearing along those smooth pathways.

Qin Chang Ge bit the corner of her lip in the darkness.

But Xiao Jue smiled with extreme relief.

Without changing expression, he withdrew his palm, forcibly pulling it from the long sword that had pierced through it. His muscle made the chilling sound of steel edge scraping against flesh and blood on the sword. Blood gushed like a spring, yet his gaze blazed frighteningly bright.

With a swish, he pulled out his pinned palm. Xiao Jue immediately struck back with his elbow without thinking. With a snap, the steel sword broke in two. A section of the brilliantly gleaming blade was knocked flying, drawing a beautiful white arc in the dark air, embedding in the roof beam with a hum, still trembling slightly.

With a long laugh and arms spread wide, the soft sword hidden in his belt rose like a swimming dragon, supple and vigorous. His black robes flashed as the roof exploded with a boom. Amid flying wooden fragments, Xiao Jue kicked through the roof and flew out like a dragon, roaring, “You who ambush, stand firm! In this lifetime, I’ll make you never dare ambush again!”

His three motions of withdrawing his palm, breaking the sword, and drawing his sword flowed as one continuous movement, all happening in the same instant. Before Qin Chang Ge could react, this fellow who was always brave and combative had already leaped onto the roof.

Sighing helplessly, Qin Chang Ge secretly cursed that middle-aged man’s cunning—leaving and returning, with excellent lightness skills, silently thrusting down with one sword. His killing intent was extremely ruthless. If not for Xiao Jue’s alertness, suddenly pushing her aside at the critical moment and substituting his own palm, she would certainly have had a hole pierced through her back now.

Their tracks could no longer be concealed. The sword entering flesh and drawing blood proved there were people below with considerable martial arts. How could the opponent let them go? Worse still, tonight seemed to involve two opposing forces—the middle-aged man’s group against the Colorful Gu group. The two of them had inadvertently waded into muddy waters. Even worse, both sides seemed to be their enemies. Even worse still, Yunhua and that half-fairy, half-ghost woman had both seen Xiao Jue’s face. Once they met face to face, the consequences would be unthinkable.

Qin Chang Ge secretly regretted that she had gone to take an exam, so many useful things like masks and rockets weren’t brought along. However, there seemed to be one or two items left?

She jumped down from the roof, grabbed a bundle of straw. Blood immediately dripped from the straw onto her robes, dotting and staining them like fresh plum blossoms. She stared at those plum blossoms for a second, lost in thought.

Then she very clearly pulled out a bottle from her bosom, scattered the powder inside randomly, then lifted her leg and suddenly emerged from the hole in the roof.

On the roof ridge, the middle-aged man’s sleeves fluttered as he silently fought with Xiao Jue. His graceful form in the night showed extremely diverse and vast martial arts knowledge, like an ocean. What was particularly special was his extremely precise movements—as if he wouldn’t take one extra step or move one extra inch. Every strike was calculated with hair’s-breadth precision, so his movements gave the impression of reading a perfectly regulated poem by a learned scholar.

Though his demeanor was relaxed and his control precise, the middle-aged man couldn’t help but inwardly marvel at his opponent’s fierce courage. Injury seemed not to weaken him but to further stimulate him. His fighting spirit and energy reached their peak after being wounded. Moreover, this stimulation wasn’t like some fierce people who had no method or restraint, fighting wildly and quickly becoming exhausted. His opponent was the type who became more inspired the more he fought, performing better and better—truly rare.

Of course, no matter what, injury would ultimately drain physical strength. He didn’t need to waste much effort with him. It was just that earlier there had clearly been two people’s breathing sounds under the eaves—where was the other one? Had they run away? How disloyal!

“This straw is non-toxic—do you believe it or not?” Someone suddenly shouted crisply. In the moonlight, a thin figure in green suddenly shot out from the hole, facing him directly and throwing a handful of straw. With a rustling sound, golden light flashed as it scattered down like a blanket, faintly mixed with pale green powder.

Almost without consideration, like water flowing thousands of miles, he retreated several zhang. The middle-aged man’s gaze slowly fell on the straw.

Qin Chang Ge grabbed Xiao Jue and ran.

Glancing at the powder on the roof tiles, the middle-aged man smiled.

“It really is non-toxic… Unfortunately, no one dares believe it… If you had said this was poisonous grass, I might not have bothered… Saying it this way… quite cunning…”

He raised his eyes, looking at the two people who had become small dots, smiled lightly again, then raised his hand. In the night sky, cold light faintly flashed. Immediately, over ten black shadows in the distance pursued the two.

“Ow… hiss… Why did you dig into my wound just now? It hurt like hell…”

“If I didn’t make you hurt instead of soft, could I have dragged you away?” Qin Chang Ge, who understood Xiao Jue very well, was not in a good mood.

This guy was famously the “Marshal of No Retreat.” If you wanted to pull him from battle, you might as well just knock him unconscious first.

So Qin Chang Ge mercilessly dug into his wound when scattering the straw, taking advantage of Xiao Jue’s moment of pain-induced weakness to drag him away, saving herself from wasting words.

Looking up at the sky, she didn’t know when the moonlight had hidden away. The sky was gloomy, with layers upon layers of dark clouds covering half the sky. It looked like rain was coming.

Qin Chang Ge was about to express her worried opinion about the weather.

Rumble! Thunder crashed!

Qin Chang Ge’s worried words were drowned out by the sudden thunderstorm before they could leave her mouth.

Giving people almost no time to react, bean-sized raindrops mercilessly pelted down, first as dots, then lines, finally becoming walls of rain thrusting straight down from the sky, fiercely blocking the path ahead.

It was actually raining!

The weather had been so good during the day! The moonlight had been so good just now!

Qin Chang Ge sighed while also feeling grateful that it hadn’t rained when she scattered the straw earlier, otherwise they couldn’t have escaped the opponent’s sight.

However, heavy rain had its benefits—at least it could wash away the traces of their escape.

With a rip, she tore a section of her robe hem and quickly bandaged Xiao Jue’s palm wound. Puncture wounds were extremely prone to infection—if something went wrong, it would be no joke.

Xiao Jue casually wiped away the rain, surveying the empty village with a bitter smile. “Everyone’s been killed, right? This village is isolated on all sides—perfect for massacre.”

“Village west, village east… the two women staying at Aunt Liu’s house in the west…” Qin Chang Ge ran while watching the black shadows splitting up to pursue them, pulling Xiao Jue. “Let’s hide at Aunt Liu’s house!”

“Good!” His usually fearless Imperial Majesty immediately agreed. “The most fiercely fought place should also be the place least likely to be noticed—that’s where we should go!”

“Wait,” Qin Chang Ge pulled him back. “That middle-aged man didn’t come chase us—he probably went to find the half-faced master. If we don’t choose our moment well, it’s equivalent to seeking death. We need to deal with these people first before we can escape… Of the people pursuing us now, how many do you think you can handle?”

“There are several skilled fighters among them. If I weren’t injured, I could probably handle them generally then escape. Now it’s hard to say.”

“Mm… There’s a river ahead. I have a plan, but we’d need to go into the river… No, your wound can’t be soaked in water.”

“Let’s go!”

“Huh, where did they go?”

A black-clad man in the storm fiercely wiped the rain from his face. Water droplets flew as he said harshly, “I just saw shadows around here—where are they now?”

“They probably crossed the river,” everyone sounded like they were shouting curses in the pouring rain. “This river isn’t wide—anyone could step across!”

The sky had darkened to pitch black where you couldn’t see your hand in front of your face. The rain remained urgent and dense, covering everything from sky to earth, making it almost impossible to open one’s eyes. Wind whipped the dense rain in waves against people, as if wanting to knock them down with each gust.

Raindrops hitting the river water constantly splashed up bubbles, making it look like many people were swimming inside.

“This damned weather!” Someone cursed. “They say our homeland has too much rain and bad climate, but I think it’s much better than here!”

“Shut up!” The black-clad man suddenly turned around, glaring angrily at the speaker. “Do you want to die?”

Silence fell, leaving only the continuous rumbling rain, like the drums of heaven, beating without rest.

“Half cross the river to search, half circle around to look! Each person takes responsibility for an area. If you find anything, don’t act—signal first!” The black-clad man finally gave orders, waving his hand. “Master won’t allow any survivors. Everyone be serious!”

More than ten people scattered like birds, continuing to search in the rain.

“Why is there a sleeve on the ground?”

Black-clad man A was responsible for searching an area east of the river. Looking for people in heavy rain was very taxing on the eyes. He had almost checked every blade of grass and every stone, not forgetting to flip over even palm-sized rocks—his manner looked more like hunting rats than searching for living people.

After searching for a long time, he finally had a discovery—hanging on a slanted branch by the riverbank was a small piece of torn cloth, looking like it had been torn from clothing during hasty escape.

Black-clad man A excitedly rushed over.

“Whoosh!”

His foot suddenly slipped. Somehow the riverbank below this branch was a slope, made sticky and slippery by the rain turning the yellow mud. He had rushed too fast and couldn’t control his slide toward the river.

Feeling his boots already entering the icy river water, in great alarm he reached out to grab the branch, about to flip himself up.

His ankle suddenly tightened.

The feeling was as if steel shackles had suddenly clamped down—cold, hard, with absolutely no possibility of breaking free.

That irresistible force dragged him down. In the blink of an eye, his lower body was already in the water.

Black-clad man A was quite quick to react, immediately reaching into his bosom to pull out a signal rocket.

“Swoosh!”

Something in the water seemed to swing in a circle, swift and fierce. In just the time it took for a raindrop to fall, that motion was already finished.

The water surface quieted, then immediately bloomed with large patches of red—red so intense and bewitching that even in this storm, on the river water, it still couldn’t be washed away.

The upper half of the black-clad man’s body lay on the riverbank, his wide-open, unseeing eyes staring blankly and palely at the heavy night sky.

His lower half remained forever in the water.

“Why didn’t you warn me this sword was so fast!” Qin Chang Ge, who had underestimated the effect of the peerless blade and been too harsh in killing, was sickened by the internal organs that suddenly gushed out from the bisected human body. She stood dripping wet in the water, constantly retching.

“How could anything I use be inferior?” Xiao Jue’s voice was very low. In the deep black night, only his eyes burned bright as starlight.

“Are you tired? Why is your voice so low?” Qin Chang Ge reached up to touch his forehead. “Are you alright?”

Tilting his head to avoid her touch, Xiao Jue said, “You seem to be getting stupider. We’re being pursued—should we shout our conversation to invite people to catch us?”

Raising an eyebrow, Qin Chang Ge wasn’t angry at all. “Yes, being with you for a long time is indeed contagious…”

…

The two of them, in the storm, in the cold river water mixed with blood, beside the bisected corpse, in the urgent state of being pursued, quite inappropriately bickered.

This was partly because both had strong wills, but more because these two who had walked through mountains of blades and seas of blood on a hundred battlefields shared combat experience and tacit cooperation. They both understood most clearly that the more tense the situation, the more disadvantageous to them, the more they needed to learn to relax.

An overly taut string would first cut one’s own fingers.

The harsh natural environment itself had the potential to make people panic and confused—otherwise, how would that black-clad man have lost his composure, scattering his men to search and thus giving them an opportunity?

Snapping her fingers with a weak sound, Qin Chang Ge smiled. “Continue!”

Behind a pile of rocks, a pale hand was exposed.

Raindrops pattered on that hand, which didn’t move at all, showing no signs of life.

Black-clad man B had been searching for a long time without success and was getting agitated when he spotted the hand. His eyes lit up.

This one was also cautious, immediately thinking of the word “trap.” With a sinister smile, he shot out an iron dart.

The dart hit flesh. The hand didn’t move. After a while, a little bit of pale blood flowed out.

Anyone could tell that except for a corpse, no living person would bleed like this.

The black-clad man frowned. Huh, really a dead person?

Earlier, one of those two was injured—could he have died?

The black-clad man flew over. His flying goose-like form dipped in mid-air, not landing near the corpse but swooping down to grab the body while suspended, intending to fly up.

Suddenly felt something wrong.

Why was it so light?

In mid-air, he looked back in shock, only to see he was dragging just half a human body. His companion who had been alive and kicking just moments ago now stared at him coldly with dead fish eyes.

A brilliant flash of lightning!

Those eyes seemed to suddenly turn toward him, mocking him in a line of pale, snake-like flickering electric light!

Just in that moment of shock.

Lightning flashed again.

This time the lightning didn’t come from above but rose from below, coiling up from the ground. Its swift brilliance was in no way inferior to natural lightning.

Magnificent light like a ribbon, a soul-devouring ribbon!

A sword thrust from the tailbone, then flicked upward with a ripping sound, splitting open his spine!

“Thud!” The black-clad man fell heavily like a dead dog, splashing mud everywhere.

The electric light vanished in a flash. Behind the rock pile, Xiao Jue, his face somewhat pale, coldly kicked the corpse aside.

East bank, west bank, behind rock piles, beside grass clumps.

Luring kills, ambushes, swords rising, swords falling.

In the storm, blood quietly flowed into the river without even raising a ripple, silently merging. Rainy nights were good for lurking and committing crimes—killing like mowing grass without a sound.

The two people hiding in the river with hollow grass tubes cooperated extremely skillfully. Soon they had cleanly eliminated the scattered black-clad men searching along the riverbank, except for the leader-like black-clad man who had been standing in place waiting for news.

Selecting two with similar builds from the corpses and stripping their clothes to change into, Xiao Jue chuckled low, “It’s been a long time since I’ve had such a satisfying fight. Being emperor has made me rusty.”

“I’ve never seen an emperor as unlucky as you, having to personally kill people,” Qin Chang Ge bent down to examine the corpses. “Deep eyes, hooked nose—look like people from Nanmin.”

Looking down, Xiao Jue also frowned. “What’s going on? Nanmin people against Nanmin people? This is really complex.”

While speaking, they changed clothes. Xiao Jue and Qin Chang Ge each dragged a corpse dressed in their clothes toward the black-clad leader.

The black-clad man stood with hands behind his back in the storm, head slightly raised as if pondering something. Seeing the two approach, joy flashed in his eyes behind the mask as he came forward saying, “Found them? Killed them?—”

Before he could finish the sentence, he saw the person walking in front suddenly swing the corpse in his hands horizontally, regardless of everything, smashing it toward him!

Using the corpse as a club, striking horizontally!

Carrying blood, wind sounds, and large mirror-wall-like sheets of rain water violently stirred up by the fierce motion, all smashing over together!

When the black-clad man had approached, he was somewhat on guard. He was a battle-tested killer by origin, familiar with various killing, lurking, assassination, and disguise techniques. It was just that when the two walked over, both were carrying corpses with both hands, obviously having no weapons. And when Xiao Jue and Qin Chang Ge had fled earlier, one could see that one was injured and the other had mediocre martial arts—how could they possibly have moved his well-trained subordinates?

Unfortunately, he hadn’t seen Xiao Jue’s fierce martial prowess in fighting the middle-aged man, didn’t know his war god origin’s fierce killing spirit. Though Xiao Jue ruled over all directions, his martial arts never slackened for a day. The combat experience and killing techniques forged through a hundred battlefield battles, plus this storm’s weakening effect on the opponent, made every killing move a fatal strike.

Like now—a killing move!

A killing move with a trap!

The corpse-club swept horizontally, but the black-clad man’s response was remarkably swift—immediately swooping up like a hawk, flying backward!

But Qin Chang Ge, the moment the corpse-club swept, immediately pushed the corpse in her hands horizontally to the ground and kicked it forward hard!

The corpse slid extremely fast in the muddy rainwater, sliding several zhang in one go.

When it stopped, it was precisely the moment when the black-clad man’s backward flight exhausted its force and he landed!

The cooperation between Xiao Jue and Qin Chang Ge was exquisite to the utmost! Qin Chang Ge’s calculation of the black-clad man’s martial arts reaction was precise and exquisite to the utmost!

Swing corpse-club—force black-clad man to fly—kick corpse—landing right within his retreat range!

The black-clad man’s foot came down with a “squelch.”

The sound of stepping through something.

He looked down and immediately saw his companion’s corpse with its abdomen broken open by his step, revealing red and white innards—quite horrifying!

Generally speaking, no matter how tough a person is, stepping through their companion’s corpse and belly doesn’t feel good.

But the black-clad man was even tougher than tough. He gave a cold laugh and immediately lifted his foot to kick, planning to kick the corpse away without any sentiment.

However, he couldn’t kick it away.

Something inside that belly seemed to suddenly hook his foot.

He was startled.

Immediately wanted to retreat again.

His response was quite fast, but still too late.

Cold light flashed horizontally. Xiao Jue, who had swung out the corpse, immediately rose up violently like an angry dragon. Just a gleam of cold light, appearing and disappearing, but suddenly the sky filled with countless star-glints, like snowflakes, like flying catkins—graceful, profound, marvelous, stern, light and powerless yet resounding with killing intent, like meteors crossing the sky, like moonlight catching up to footsteps, sinking into his chest.

Several gurgles from his throat, fingers clawing at his chest, the black-clad man seemed to want to say something, do something, but couldn’t manage it in time. He could only fall backward reluctantly and unwillingly into the flowing rain and blood water.

As he fell, Xiao Jue also staggered.

Qin Chang Ge immediately reached out to support him, frowning. “Why did you use the Star-Gleam Sword Technique? This is extremely draining of true force—how can you handle it now?”

“This guy’s martial arts were high, cold enough. If I couldn’t kill with one strike, we would be… doomed…” Xiao Jue’s last three words were spoken so low they were almost inaudible. But Qin Chang Ge had already sensed something wrong. After being drenched in this storm for so long, why was his body still so hot? Reaching out to touch his forehead, her expression changed as she said angrily, “You have a fever!”

Before her words ended, Xiao Jue gasped lightly and collapsed heavily against her.

“Showing off… showing off… told you not to show off…” Qin Chang Ge struggled to support Xiao Jue while muttering, retrieving her steel wire from the corpse with the broken belly—she had placed it in the corpse’s abdomen earlier, tripping the black-clad leader’s foot and hindering him for that crucial instant to make the ambush successful.

She only had two things on her—the powder scattered earlier and the steel wire now. Qin Chang Ge was always cunning, cunning to the point that the defensive items she carried were almost always different. This was a habit from her previous previous life—because she had too many enemies, for protection, her methods of killing enemies were always endlessly creative, constantly updated, never giving her enemies a chance to become familiar with her response and killing techniques.

Moreover, she was also skilled at using geographical environment and various factors to kill people. In her previous previous life, someone had analyzed Empress Ruiyi’s few recorded actions and believed that if she became an assassin, she would equally excel.

Qin Chang Ge had no time to think about killing people now. She struggled to lift Xiao Jue, tied him with the steel wire, and used all her strength to walk toward the village.

There was no way to hide in these open fields on all sides. They could only return to the village. She had originally planned to rush to Aunt Liu’s house, slip in during the chaotic fighting—the most dangerous place being the safest. Now carrying an injured person, how could she take such risks?

She’d better find a random house to rest first. If they stayed out any longer and that group searching across the river returned, the two of them would really be in deep trouble this time.

Xiao Jue’s collapse was also within expectations… injured and bleeding, hiding underwater, fighting all the way, plus that final all-out strike, post-injury physical exhaustion—it would be strange if he didn’t collapse.

Honestly, his ability to persevere until now was already remarkable, thanks to the good constitution built up through years of uninterrupted martial arts practice.

Braving wind and rain, completely soaked Qin Chang Ge struggled with deep and shallow steps through the storm, occasionally turning her head to feel Xiao Jue’s breathing with her skin. His breathing was still scorching hot. The skin touching his neck was burning hot—that kind of heat made Qin Chang Ge truly worried it might make his brain, which she already considered not absolutely brilliant, even stupider.

Struggling to test Xiao Jue’s temperature, Qin Chang Ge silently sighed. Saying she wasn’t worried would be false. In this era without anti-inflammatory drugs, the consequences of wound infection leading to sepsis—even she dared not think about it.

Her gaze fell on Xiao Jue’s injured hand. The hastily bandaged cloth strips had long since fallen off somewhere. The wound had been soaked in water for a long time, with all the flesh turned outward, pale and frightening.

It must be very painful, right?

But just now, he hadn’t even groaned once.

Though she had never taken the emperor’s status seriously, Qin Chang Ge also knew that once a person ascended to that position of ruling over all under heaven, they were easily changed by different positions, perspectives, and angles, leading to gradual changes in feeling. Most in high positions were like this—when sharing hardships, they would hate not to split even a mouthful of water in half with you. After becoming wealthy, they would resent why you didn’t give him all the water to drink back then? Making this lord of ten thousand chariots drink your saliva—disgusting—such humiliation of me—find an excuse—kill him!

Changes in status, redistribution of interests, shifts in circumstances leading to mental changes—clarity turning to gloom, kindness turning to cruelty, humility turning to arrogance, approachability turning to haughtiness—such reversals were everywhere. Qin Chang Ge understood this well and found it unsurprising.

However, this emperor, master of the world’s greatest empire, equally precious as gold that must not be exposed to danger, ruler whose single command could cause millions of heads to fall, could still rise up to kill for the woman he loved, regardless of his own safety, not considering his incomparably precious life more important than hers, simply wanting to be a man who protected the woman beside him.

Qin Chang Ge looked up. The storm washed over her beautiful face like a torrent. Her expression was sorrowful and her gaze profound and flickering, like starlight hidden by cloud-like hair.

Gritting her teeth and carrying the heavy Xiao Jue, Qin Chang Ge didn’t dare walk outside too long and directly hid in an empty house in the east of the village.

Calling it empty was only because the owners had been killed.

This village, including those who went outside the village to fight over gold, had probably all been killed, right?

The torrential rain had washed away the thick smell of blood. Qin Chang Ge used her shoulder to push open the door. Confirming no one was there, she sighed in relief and stumbled into the house, found a bed, and carefully laid Xiao Jue down.

Just as she was about to look for clean cloth to re-bandage Xiao Jue’s wound, she suddenly heard a faint sound.

Qin Chang Ge spun around sharply.

“Who?!”