Jing Yi gripped his long sword and, with a roar, charged forward.

Jingrong received his first strike.

The weapons collided, producing a sharp, ear-piercing sound. The flash of blades appeared before everyone’s eyes, the murderous aura permeating this thunderous, rainy night.

Two figures both attacked and defended, fighting desperately in the rain. Each sword strike was lethal, yet neither gained the upper hand.

If it weren’t for Jingrong’s order that no one was to interfere, Jing Yi would likely have been turned into minced meat by now.

At this moment, thunder roared loudly, and the rain grew heavier and heavier.

Countless pairs of eyes watched Jingrong and Jing Yi, who continued to duel. The latter raised his sword with strikes meant to kill, while the former was no pushover either—neither gained the upper hand.

Suddenly, Jing Yi’s toes touched the ground and his body rose upward. The sword in his hand seemed motorized as it thrust toward Jingrong. Jingrong immediately held his long sword horizontally to block the incoming blade. However, the force was too great, and he was pushed backward several steps in succession. Only after several meters did his feet stabilize and he steadied himself.

The two swords remained locked in a deadlock, forming a perpendicular shape.

One attacking!

One defending!

“Jingrong.” Ji Yunshu called out softly, preparing to rush over, but immediately restrained herself. She understood very clearly that wars between men did not allow others to interfere.

In any case, death or injury was inevitable.

The two men in the rain continued their deadlock, with hidden force between them.

Jing Yi seemed to have bloodlust in his eyes, ferocity rising in his features, his nostrils flaring much wider.

Suddenly—

Jingrong’s body shifted to one side, dodging aside. Jing Yi, following his own forward momentum, lunged forward. In the next moment, his arm was pierced. His palm loosened, and that brilliantly sharp sword fell to the ground.

With a “clang,” the sharp sword hit the ground, splashing up raindrops.

He spun around sharply. Before he could react, a sharp sword was already thrusting toward him, missing by mere inches from taking his life.

“You’ve lost!” Jingrong stood before him with raised sword. Rainwater fell from above, dripping rapidly from his hair, the tip of his nose, his jaw…

“You cheated!”

“A loss is a loss—why make excuses?”

Jing Yi now was like a startled bird. His arm was slashed, blood seeping out, staining his soaking wet clothes. The blood dripped from his fingertips drop by drop into the muddy rainwater on the ground.

A patch of bright red!

Utterly wretched!

“If you have the ability, kill me.”

“I don’t need to kill you. With the crimes you’ve committed, Father Emperor won’t spare you.”

Jing Yi laughed coldly, “Jingrong, if I die, you’ll never know the whereabouts of that fool.”

Eh!

Right, he still had one final chess piece.

Jingrong trembled, and the long sword in his hand quivered.

“If you don’t speak, I’ll kill you right now.”

“Then try it.”

Jingrong truly wanted to kill him right now, but he couldn’t disregard Wei Yi’s safety.

At this moment, Ji Yunshu rushed over, anxious and worried, demanding, “Where is Wei Yi?”

Her voice penetrated through the fine drizzle, somewhat muffled.

“You want to know? Fine. Let me go. As long as I safely leave the capital, he’ll be perfectly safe.” Jing Yi thought: where there are green mountains, there will be firewood—as long as he wasn’t dead, he’d still have a chance to start over.

Ji Yunshu’s mind was only on Wei Yi’s safety. She couldn’t care about anything else and said to Jingrong, “Let him go.”

A plea.

But Jingrong hesitated. If he truly let Jing Yi leave, it would be like releasing a tiger back to the mountains. Just as he relaxed his guard, Jing Yi’s body suddenly lunged forward, seizing Jingrong’s wrist. With force, he struck it, wresting the sword away. In the next moment, he swiftly restrained Ji Yunshu’s shoulders from behind, placing the sword at her throat.

Eh!

Immediately, the soldiers drew their sharp swords one by one, surrounding Jing Yi in the middle.

“You dare!” Jingrong roared furiously.

Jing Yi said, “Have your people move aside immediately. If I can’t leave the capital alive, I’ll take your woman with me to the Yellow Springs, and that fool will also die without a burial place.”

“If you harm even a hair on her head, I’ll tear you into ten thousand pieces.”

“Good!” Jing Yi raised the sword and slashed outward, cutting a thin line across Ji Yunshu’s neck.

Blood mixed with rainwater flowed down.

“Ugh!”

Ji Yunshu’s neck tightened, and her brow involuntarily furrowed.

It hurt!

Seeing this, Jingrong ordered, “Everyone stand back. Let him go.”

His voice seemed to penetrate the entire palace.

The soldiers stepped aside one after another, clearing a path.

Jing Yi said, “Prepare a carriage.”

“Fine.”

“Your men are not to follow.”

“Fine.”

Jingrong agreed to everything one by one.

Thus, Jing Yi held Ji Yunshu hostage as they passed through the crowd, moving little by little toward the palace exit.

Jingrong followed closely step by step, his hawk-like eyes brimming with overwhelming murderous intent.

Yet he restrained himself with great effort.

His reason told him that he absolutely could not lose this woman who was more important than his own life.

As Jing Yi took Ji Yunshu away while holding her hostage, he said in her ear, “Rest assured, if I can leave the capital alive, I won’t harm you in the slightest. Keeping you alive still has great use.”

Ji Yunshu held her breath, “If you harm Wei Yi, even if I die, I’ll drag you down with me.”

“As long as I can safely leave the capital, that fool has no more use to me.”

“Best if it’s so.”

The two gradually made their way from Fuyang Hall to the palace gates.

They were about to leave the palace.

The carriage was already prepared, waiting outside.

One step, two steps, three steps, four steps…

They were about to exit the palace.

Suddenly—

“Shu’er!” A voice called from the distance.

Eh?

Even though the sound of rain echoed in her ears, Ji Yunshu still heard that familiar voice.

She turned her gaze and saw the increasingly gaunt Wei Yi standing in the rain, completely drenched.

Although his robes were filthy and his hair hung down in disarray, those clean, bright eyes were like warm sunshine in winter, illuminating the depths of Ji Yunshu’s heart.

“Wei Yi?”

She was so moved that her eyes moistened with tears, a smile gradually blooming at the corners of her mouth.

The feeling of reunion after long separation was like coming back from the dead!

The gazes of the two, separated by dozens of meters, were tightly interwoven.

At that very moment, Jing Yi knew he had no way out. Wei Yi’s appearance sealed his fate—his life would soon end.

As expected, archers had already been deployed around the city walls.

In his cruel eyes, there was no longer any desire to survive—only thick murderous intent. He leaned close to Ji Yunshu’s ear and whispered a sentence.

“We’ll meet on the road to the Yellow Springs.”

Having said this, with a flick of his wrist, the long sword slashed toward Ji Yunshu’s throat.

A fierce cut instantly opened, blood seeping through bit by bit.

Pain!

Pain like burning fire!

“Shu’er!” Wei Yi shouted loudly, his eyes wide as bells, his face terrifyingly pale. He frantically ran toward them.

Ji Yunshu didn’t remember how she broke free from Jing Yi’s grasp. When her body was released, she fell toward the cold ground like a piece of paper.

She only remembered that scalding blood flowed from her neck, staining her clothes, the side of her face, the rainwater…