That man!
That man stood right in the doorway, his fiery red riding garb hanging in tatters across his tall, powerfully built frame, his upper body nearly bare, the cloth wound around his shoulder faintly stained with blood, his black hair falling in wild disarray, his entire being radiating an air of untamed, dangerous ferocity.
His face was still handsome enough to provoke both gods and men alike, yet his expression was cold enough to strike terror into gods and men just the same—those deep, dark eyes looked as though carved from thousand-year-old black ice, coldly forbidding.
He was back—Jun Beiyue!
For a moment, everyone in the room froze utterly still, the room silent except for the child’s mournful crying. Jun Beichen’s crossbow dropped from his hand at once, clattering loudly to the floor.
Jun Beiyue hadn’t done anything at all yet—simply standing there was enough to overwhelm everyone present with the sheer force of his presence.
Ouyang Chi’s eyes lit up at once, too overcome to speak—he’d known it, he’d known his lord wouldn’t die so easily, that his lord would make it back in time!
For a long moment no one could gather their wits, until Jun Beiyue stepped over the threshold, and only then did Jun Beichen come back to himself, involuntarily stepping backward, nearly stumbling and falling!
General Ouyang hurried to steady him, his hands trembling with guilt he couldn’t hide. As Jun Beiyue advanced step by step, everyone with a crossbow in the room retreated right along with General Ouyang and Jun Beichen—forget attacking, none of them even dared to breathe too loudly.
Jun Beiyue came to a stop, narrowing his eyes at the wet nurse. Terrified, her legs gave out and she dropped to her knees at once, weeping and pleading, “Prince Yao, spare me, please spare me! This old servant was forced into it—they said if I didn’t bring the child, they’d kill my whole family!”
“Get out,” Jun Beiyue said coldly.
“Yes, yes, thank you for sparing me, Prince Yao, thank you!”
The wet nurse clutched the baby tight and fled as if for her life. Only then did Jun Beiyue turn his frowning gaze toward Ouyang Chi.
With the child gone, the vast hall fell so silent one could hear every breath. The tension stretched to its absolute limit; Jun Beichen gripped General Ouyang’s hand tightly, about to speak—when, to his shock, Jun Beiyue suddenly reached out and yanked the short bolt from Ouyang Chi’s body!
Jun Beichen was seized with alarm, his whole body tensing to its very limit before he finally managed to force out, “Fourth Brother, you—”
But before he could finish, the short bolt shot out sharply, flying straight at him. Jun Beichen’s eyes went wide with terror, nearly fainting from shock—and General Ouyang suddenly let out a muffled grunt, slowly lowering his head to look at his own chest, then cried out in alarm, “Ah—!”
The bolt had struck him square in the chest—had the force behind it been even the slightest bit greater, it would surely have pierced his heart and killed him instantly.
What did Jun Beiyue mean by this? Did he already know something?
“Fourth Brother, you… you… what are you doing?” Jun Beichen forced himself to demand loudly, bracing himself.
Jun Beiyue’s face remained cold and impassive, ignoring him entirely, striding straight toward them. Jun Beichen’s guilt only grew, his voice rising louder still, “Fourth Brother, what do you mean by this! We were acting on Father’s own orders—you know very well what the penalty for defying an imperial edict is!”
“That’s right, Prince Yao, we were carrying out His Majesty’s verbal command—”
Before General Ouyang could even finish speaking, Jun Beiyue seized him by the collar; he fell silent at once, and what little bravado Jun Beichen had left drained away entirely.
In full view of everyone, with dozens of well-trained crossbowmen standing right there, not a single one dared to intervene, letting Jun Beiyue drag the terrified, ashen-faced General Ouyang straight out the door.
Outside, Ziqing had already been loaded into a carriage, with Imperial Physician Gu anxiously tending to her wounds, and Yingzi personally driving the horses. He’d been on his way back when he heard the blood-sweating horse’s cry near the hunting grounds, and rushing over in alarm, had found his lord and the princess consort had returned—both of them covered in wounds. He’d reported the situation at once, and the three of them had rushed straight to the horse ranch.
The moment she saw Jun Beiyue dragging the arrow-struck General Ouyang out, Ziqing felt a flicker of surprise—General Ouyang was, after all, a general in his own right, and for Jun Beiyue to treat him like this, it seemed the Ouyang family would never find solid footing in Great Zhou again after this.
Jun Beiyue tossed General Ouyang up onto a horse, then turned to look at Ziqing, saying earnestly, “Go back to the estate. Wait there.”
Wait there?
Wait for what? To settle accounts with her? She didn’t think she had any accounts to settle with this man.
Ziqing said nothing, only nodding. Jun Beiyue leapt onto his horse and galloped off toward the capital first.
“Princess consort, your wounds have been treated for now. Once we’re back at the estate, I’ll examine them more thoroughly. This old subject will go check on Commander Ouyang first,” Imperial Physician Gu said respectfully.
“Mm.” Ziqing nodded and left with Yingzi.
As they rode on, she leaned back against the high cushions, finally allowing herself a genuine sigh of relief—Jun Beiyue was undoubtedly taking General Ouyang straight to the palace.
Given how things stood now, Western Jing’s troop mobilization was likely nothing more than a diversion. The battle reports had all come from officers under General Ouyang’s own command—who could say how much of it was even true?
Once word got out that Jun Beiyue hadn’t died, even if Western Jing genuinely intended to go to war, they would surely have to pull back at once.
After all, Jun Beiyue had once, at just seventeen years old, personally led three hundred thousand troops to repel an invading Western Jing army without even a single battle—and that had been before his power had even fully matured. Now, if war broke out, Western Jing would gain absolutely no advantage at all.
As for Western Chu, though it appeared to have no part in any of this—Ziqing was still turning this over in her mind when the carriage suddenly jolted to a halt. Had she not reacted quickly enough, she would have been thrown right off her seat.
What was happening?
She threw back the carriage curtain at once and saw Yingzi standing guard in front, with ten shadow guards lined up ahead, facing off against a group of black-clad assassins.
She and Jun Beiyue had run into no shortage of assassins on their way back already—and now, even here!
By the looks of it, this group hadn’t been sent by General Ouyang at all!
“Princess consort, please be careful—these attackers are highly skilled,” Yingzi said.
The moment he finished speaking, the fighting broke out, blades flashing, swords clashing in a fierce melee.
The black-clad assassins were clearly no pushovers, but fortunately Jun Beiyue’s shadow guards were well-trained, more than capable of holding two attackers each at once—it was simply that none of them could be spared to break away.
Yingzi watched anxiously from beside the carriage, longing to throw himself into the fight, single-handedly taking on a hundred if he had to, yet he didn’t dare leave the carriage’s side for even a moment—regardless of the princess consort’s own combat skill, given her current injuries, even the strongest fighter would be unable to move freely.
Ziqing’s sharp eyes tracked the black-clad assassins’ every move. This group wasn’t the same as the ones from the hunting grounds that day—both in technique and in raw force, they were far more ruthless and merciless than that earlier group. The shadow guards, each holding off two attackers at once, were clearly starting to fall behind.
“Back to the horse ranch, now!” Ziqing decided at once. But at that very moment, a black-clad figure suddenly appeared out of nowhere, sword slashing straight at the carriage from the right!
Yingzi, startled, raised his sword to block—a loud clang rang out. He’d expected the opponent’s blade to be knocked aside, but instead the two swords locked together, neither giving way.
Yingzi tensed at once—this black-clad assassin was far more formidable than the others they’d faced.
But just as he gathered his strength to push back, there came another sharp clang—and his sword was snapped clean in two by sheer brute force!
“Who are you? You dare lay a hand on Prince Yao’s own people?” Yingzi shouted furiously, lunging forward with his broken blade, sweeping a leg out at the same time!
The black-clad figure sneered with contempt, striking down with a palm in a flash, instantly shattering Yingzi’s leg bone, then kicking him away hard—the movement so fast Yingzi couldn’t even track it, sending him flying far off to the side!
The black-clad figure didn’t pause for even a moment, throwing back the carriage curtain at once—just as Ziqing lunged forward, dagger striking straight into the assassin’s lower abdomen!
“Wretch!” the black-clad figure snarled furiously, seizing Ziqing’s dagger-wielding hand in a mad grip and yanking her forcibly out of the carriage.
A shadow guard who’d managed to break free came slashing in from behind with his sword; the black-clad figure dodged sideways, blood pouring freely from his abdomen, retreating rapidly all the while.
The shadow guard moved to pursue, but more black-clad assassins had already arrived, blocking his path with their swords, and in the span of only a few moments, the black-clad figure and Ziqing had vanished without a trace…