Damn it, that little girl Yong Xue really got it right.

It really was a trap.

Jing Hengbo had never imagined there could be such a devious trap in the world.

The teleportation destination point wasn’t solid ground at all, and once she teleported, she couldn’t possibly change her landing trajectory.

This was equivalent to tricking her into jumping off a cliff herself.

In that flash of lightning, she understood the scheme.

They had her lead out Gong Yin, then deceived her into teleporting into empty air. Since she unhesitatingly rushed toward the space above the cliff, Gong Yin naturally wouldn’t think she would teleport herself into nothingness, so he would naturally pursue at full strength. Combined with the pouring rain obscuring vision, then…

Then Gong Yin would also fall off the cliff, falling into the trap Yélu Qi had set.

As for her…

She was just bait and a scapegoat.

Time-travelers often had to melodramatically jump off cliffs, but she seemed to be the only one who jumped in such a deceiving way.

The thought flashed through her mind in an instant, and Jing Hengbo’s rage nearly burned the heavy rain dry.

However, there was no time for her to harbor resentment—she plummeted straight down through the howling wind.

Behind her came the sound of someone sweeping through the air, and faintly through the storm, a low shout, as if someone wanted to reach out and grab her, but then she could hear nothing more.

Unable to teleport while in mid-air, in that life-and-death moment she was certain of only one thing—there were definitely people at the bottom of the cliff.

She didn’t know if these people would kill Gong Yin, but whether they would save her still depended on herself!

Jing Hengbo screamed, her voice seeming to shatter the water droplets all around.

“Secret!”

She only had time to shout these two words.

The wind howled fiercely, rain poured like buckets, thunder was deafening—she wasn’t even sure if the two words she shouted with all her strength could be heard, but she could only let go and fall, entrusting herself to fate.

The life-and-death torment of that moment seemed long in description, but was actually brief.

Almost as soon as her voice fell, there was a sharp splitting sound from the ground below. A long black whip like black lightning cleaved through the rain curtain and wrapped around Jing Hengbo’s waist.

Jing Hengbo only felt her waist tighten, then her whole body flew horizontally. Rain pelted her entire body head-on, stinging painfully. She forced her eyes open and saw raindrops being torn and scattered all around. She was like a kite, being pulled diagonally toward the ground, and at the end of the kite string was Yélu Qi.

His black figure ran in circles on the rainy ground below the cliff, instantly dragging her horizontally for ten zhang, forcibly neutralizing the impact force of a human body falling to the ground.

Just as Jing Hengbo was about to rejoice, she suddenly heard a “whoosh” sound. Her waist tightened again, then something heavy pressed down on her.

Below, Yélu Qi seemed to curse something.

Jing Hengbo looked up and saw Gong Yin flying above. Gong Yin also held a thin black line in his hand, and the other end… was also around her waist.

Jing Hengbo almost let a crude curse burst from her lips.

Damn it!

One after another, they all think this old lady is so easy to fly?

Yélu Qi was pulling her like a kite while running to neutralize the impact force, but who knew this Gong Yin would also use a rope to tie around her waist and spin in circles together. Yélu Qi was essentially flying two kites at once, one of whom was someone he wanted to kill—would he agree to that?

If he let go, wouldn’t Jing Hengbo turn into minced meat?

“Gong Yin, you’re going to get me killed!” Jing Hengbo cursed furiously.

Her waist suddenly loosened—sure enough, Yélu Qi had let go. Jing Hengbo looked down and seemed to see his grinning, regretful expression through the rain curtain.

Then she felt something heavy on her body. With a thud, something crashed into her, and a pair of strong arms embraced her waist as the two of them fell straight down together.

In that instant, from the corner of her eye, Jing Hengbo seemed to see something with silver light flashing on the ground.

Another muffled sound, and Jing Hengbo felt she had crashed into something soft yet resilient. Her body sank down, and if there wasn’t still someone pressing down on her from above, she probably would have bounced back up.

Her body ached from being pressed, so she opened her eyes to look. Sure enough, she had fallen into a large net.

The net was very resilient and gleamed with silver light. It must have been made of special materials, otherwise it couldn’t have caught people falling from a high cliff.

However, Jing Hengbo found it strange that since Yélu Qi wanted to kill Gong Yin, why would he prepare a life-saving net?

Something heavy was still pressing down on her body, preventing her from moving. She reached out to feel around, and judging from the fabric texture, it was Gong Yin.

This guy still dragged her down with him after all. Fortunately, Yélu Qi’s kite-flying session had neutralized quite a bit of the impact force, and the final falling distance was less than one-third of the cliff’s height.

The large net shook, and voices called from all sides as people converged toward the center. Soon the large net was folded up, and Jing Hengbo and Gong Yin, like two soaked rice dumplings, were tightly bound by the net and hung from a tree.

A black-boned umbrella gracefully floated over. Under the umbrella was a face that was somewhat blurred in the rain curtain but still couldn’t hide its brightness. “Hey, my beloved Majesty, how are you?”

Jing Hengbo really wanted to gouge out Yélu Qi’s sparkling eyeballs and use them as marbles.

“And you, my respected Right State Preceptor.” Yélu Qi turned to Gong Yin with another grinning smile.

Gong Yin didn’t respond. Jing Hengbo suspected he had been knocked unconscious from the fall—after all, she had been kite-flown earlier so her impact was smaller, while Gong Yin had fallen straight down after that brief episode.

“Don’t look at me like that,” Yélu Qi smiled. “Actually, you should thank me for saving you, shouldn’t you? This net was originally laid flat against the ground. It was because you fell that I had them pull the net up and catch you.”

Only now did Jing Hengbo understand the net’s true purpose. Yélu Qi must have been extremely wary of Gong Yin, so in addition to using the cliff as a trap, he had also laid a large unopened net against the ground. This way, it would be best if Gong Yin fell to his death, but if he didn’t die and landed safely, this net would be the second line of defense to capture him.

These people played mind games and schemes like eating beans.

Beside Yélu Qi stood a young man, not very old, around fifteen or sixteen, wearing extremely luxurious brocade robes inlaid with gold and gems that dazzled the eyes. He stood to one side with his hands tucked in his sleeves, his manner casual, but his eyes kept rolling as they stared at Jing Hengbo’s chest, which was being pressed out even more prominently by the net’s binding. Several guards followed behind him, matching his every step.

“I won’t pursue the matter of you framing me before either,” Jing Hengbo glanced at him sideways. “If you let me out now, we can call it even.”

“No,” Yélu Qi immediately smiled and shook his head. “Once I release the net, what if Gong Yin escapes with you?”

“Are you all dead? Don’t you know how to stop him?”

“No, no,” Yélu Qi just kept shaking his head. “Our Right State Preceptor is very cunning. He’s best at saving himself in disadvantageous situations. Since taking the throne, he’s survived thirty-one assassination attempts, and to this day doesn’t have so much as a scratch on his body. But the people who tried to assassinate him—over three thousand have died, and when they died, they didn’t have a single piece of good skin left. So I won’t give him any chance to escape.”

“Coward,” Jing Hengbo reached out and viciously pinched Gong Yin’s waist. “Look! He’s already been knocked unconscious. I can torment him however I want, so what are you still afraid of? Are you even a man?”

After pinching, she rubbed her fingers with a longing expression. “Ah, nice feel!”

Yélu Qi looked steadily at her, his smile rather strange, as if somewhat sympathetic.

A group of guards stood at a distance, drawing their bows and nocking arrows, aiming at the net bag hanging from the tree. From their appearance, they really didn’t plan to get close—they intended to kill with a volley of arrows directly.

“Oh right,” Yélu Qi asked with seeming casualness, “when you were falling earlier, you shouted something about a secret. May I ask what secret?”

Only then did Jing Hengbo remember the desperate words she had shouted like a last resort earlier. She hadn’t expected those two words to actually have a life-saving effect. It seemed Yélu Qi was truly very wary of Gong Yin—even with victory in his grasp, he wanted to know more secrets about him.

“Want to know?” Jing Hengbo glanced at Yélu Qi and suddenly smiled calmly. “Then I demand treatment befitting my status.”

“Certainly. I’ll arrange a proper burial.”

“Then go dig for secrets in my imperial tomb,” Jing Hengbo smiled charmingly. “I hope you’ll be alive to go there by then. Don’t worry, I’m rather fond of you—when you die, I’ll definitely have you buried with me.”

“Your Majesty shows great character,” Yélu Qi praised highly. He actually stopped asking and stepped back, about to wave his hand to signal the archers.

“There’s a saying in the Central Plains: ‘Long nights bring many dreams,'” he smiled. “Besides, even if there were earth-shattering secrets, once you’re dead, there are no more secrets.”

“Hey! Hey!” Jing Hengbo became anxious. “That secret is really important… And you, Gong Yin, wake up, damn it! Stop playing dead dog—hey! Wake up! Quickly! If you don’t, I’ll squeeze your…”

Jing Hengbo was furious at Gong Yin. This bastard was not only playing dead but pressing down tightly on her, making it impossible for her to teleport out of this net bag.

What was even more infuriating was that when they fell earlier, he had grabbed her clothing, and after all the tumbling, her collar had been pulled open. Her neckline was already loose to begin with, and now most of her chest was exposed, being leered at by that half-grown boy with wolf-dog eyes. She felt like hooks were flying out of those eyeballs, pulling and tugging in a way that made her uncomfortable.

Yélu Qi slowly retreated, wearing a smile but keeping his eyes fixed on Gong Yin the entire time.

“Since that’s the case…” he said, slowly raising his hand.