When Li Shuang regained consciousness, she found half her body sunk into muddy ground.
She tried to move her legs slightly but discovered that the more force she used, the deeper she sank into the mud. Li Shuang immediately calmed herself, not daring to move further. Darkness surrounded her, with only a faint light shining in from about ten zhang away. With this weak illumination, she vaguely saw someone lying nearby. The person lay flat on the muddy ground, with only their heavy-booted feet sunk into the marsh. Li Shuang called out softly: “Your Highness?”
The man let out a light groan, awakened by her call. He shifted slightly, and Li Shuang saw his body sink for an instant: “Don’t move!” she immediately commanded.
Sima Yang instantly grasped their current situation: “Quicksand?”
“Yes, it doesn’t seem natural—more like a deliberately set trap.”
Li Shuang looked up at the ceiling, seeing a large, dark hole above. They had presumably fallen through it, but now four or five thick wooden stakes blocked the opening. This was a man-made trap.
“I finally understand where all those felled trees went.”
So this was it—they had been used here to create traps. Not burned, not built with, not transported away, but used directly underground. But who would do such a thing, and why?
Thinking back to moments earlier…
She and Sima Yang had led their guards to investigate the forest. Li Shuang had intended to circle the outside—after all, with Sima Yang present, they couldn’t risk letting the Crown Prince enter the forest. If anything went wrong, no one could bear the responsibility.
However, unexpectedly, when they reached the forest’s edge, they faintly heard weak cries for help coming from within. Li Shuang never believed in supernatural things. She wanted the guards to protect Sima Yang while she investigated alone, but Sima Yang wouldn’t allow it. At his insistence, they both entered the forest with their guards.
Felled trees were everywhere, leaving behind a ravaged landscape of stumps. In the desolate deadwood forest, the atmosphere was even more eerie than before.
Following the cries for help, they went deeper and deeper. Li Shuang increasingly felt something was wrong—their path was drawing closer to where they had discovered that “risen corpse” old woman. Just as Li Shuang was about to order everyone to stop, a white figure suddenly attacked from the side.
Li Shuang drew her sword, but before she could counter, the person moved with unexpected speed, instantly seizing Sima Yang and pulling him forward. Li Shuang and the guards hurriedly gave chase, taking two or three steps before the ground suddenly gave way beneath their feet, sending everyone tumbling into an underground chamber.
In the stone chamber, bones were piled everywhere, though the nauseating stench had dissipated. Li Shuang’s gaze followed the white figure intently as the attacker dragged Sima Yang into a dilapidated cave behind the chamber. Li Shuang gave chase, but unexpectedly, these caves were like a maze. Not far in, several paths suddenly appeared ahead. Li Shuang ordered everyone to split up and search. She and one guard were about to investigate the right-hand cave when the white figure suddenly appeared.
It flashed past her side, instantly knocking down the guard. Li Shuang’s eyes narrowed as she raised her sword to block, managing to stop the white figure’s sneak attack and force the attacker to pause.
Looking closely, Li Shuang saw that what met her eight-sided heavy sword was an iron folding fan, and the person holding it was… that “spy”?
The well-dressed man who had escaped from Lu City’s prison?
It was him!
“My, General Li is indeed formidable.” He smiled softly as if greeting someone met by chance on the road.
Li Shuang demanded harshly: “Who are you? Where is His Highness?”
The man smiled, appearing harmless: “I’ll take you to him.” As his words fell, two whips suddenly shot out from the cave behind him. Li Shuang maintained her stance, withdrawing her sword to dodge one while Qin Lan, who had rushed back upon hearing the commotion, blocked the other.
As Qin Lan reached out to pull Li Shuang behind him, the man’s folding fan moved. The fan flew through the air, viciously cutting Qin Lan’s arm, and on its return, the fan’s ribs struck Li Shuang’s back of the head. This blow hit a vital spot—Li Shuang’s vision blurred, and she momentarily lost her balance. In her daze, she suddenly felt her arm tighten, and the scene around her blurred…
She tried to resist, gritting her teeth against the dizziness and planting her feet firmly on the ground. But just as she raised her sword to strike, her shoulder was violently pushed, sending her body falling backward uncontrollably, followed by a sensation of weightlessness as dizziness once again overwhelmed her senses.
When she awoke, she found herself in this predicament.
She didn’t understand why that person had thrown her and Sima Yang alone into this place. What about the others? Those personal guards who had come along—how would he deal with them? Moreover, that person… although Li Shuang couldn’t be certain, judging from his speed and some techniques, his martial arts seemed somewhat similar to the mysterious Black Armored person’s.
Were they connected? Perhaps disciples of the same master?
But clearly, there was no time for Li Shuang to contemplate these matters now. Her armor was extremely heavy, dragging her body slowly deeper into the mud. Earlier, the wet mud had only reached her waist, but now it was almost at her chest.
Li Shuang carefully raised her hand and unfastened the armor on her chest and shoulders. She glanced at Sima Yang beside her.
His situation was somewhat better than hers—he lay flat on the muddy ground, almost floating on its surface. Except for his overly heavy combat boots sinking his legs deep into the quagmire, the rest of his body could still move freely. However, he couldn’t move, because any movement would change the points of force, causing him to slowly sink as well.
The only solution was to give him a point of leverage—if he had something to step or push against, he could safely jump out of the quicksand.
“Your Highness,” Li Shuang called to him, “do you still have strength?”
“Yes.”
“My arm is here—you can step on it to escape the quicksand.”
Sima Yang fell silent: “If I step on your arm, once I apply force, what will happen to you?”
“This subject will find a way…”
“What way?”
Faced with Sima Yang’s pressing question, Li Shuang remained silent.
She had no solution. In their current situation, if anyone was to be saved, she could only save Sima Yang. If they didn’t act, as time passed and they sank deeper, even if Sima Yang wanted to step on her to escape, it would be impossible—they would both die here.
Sacrificing the piece to save the king was a natural decision for Li Shuang as a general.
“Your Highness, we subjects are meant to serve and protect you to our utmost. You absolutely cannot come to any harm here in the Northern Frontier.”
“Li Shuang.” Sima Yang finally called her name, as he had in their past days of intimate friendship. “You want me to save myself by killing you?”
Li Shuang paused for a moment: “This is the only way to save Your Highness. If protecting you requires my death here, I beg Your Highness… do not let past feelings disrupt the greater situation.”
The greater situation she spoke of—they both understood. In the current court, the Third Prince had the Prime Minister’s support and coveted the throne. If anything happened to Sima Yang here today, allowing the Third Prince to ascend the throne, the Empress, the General’s Manor, and all the Crown Prince’s trusted allies in court would meet with disaster.
“Your Highness, this subject has lived in the frontier for many years. Occasionally news from court reaches me, and I hear Your Highness now has an heir, and court matters are increasingly stable…”
“Li Shuang.” Sima Yang interrupted her words. “When we parted three years ago, you left me to think of you for three years. Now, do you want me to think of you for a lifetime?”
Li Shuang’s eyes flickered slightly, but then she forced a smile: “This subject boldly risks everything to save the Crown Prince today, actually hoping that Your Highness will grant me a wish in the future, lest someday my direct speech brings trouble I cannot protect myself from.”
“With me, no matter what you say, there will be no trouble.”
Li Shuang concealed her gaze, struggling to move closer to the Crown Prince, curling her arm that was sunk in the quicksand and extending it under Sima Yang’s combat boots. “Your Highness.”
Sima Yang remained silent for a long time, making no move. Li Shuang also fell silent. Finally, Sima Yang let out a light breath: “Li Shuang, when you get out of here, whatever wish you have, I will grant it.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
Sima Yang suddenly rose. His body sank slightly, but his feet found purchase on Li Shuang’s arm. Using it as leverage, he pushed off with great force. Li Shuang felt herself sink completely into the quicksand as Sima Yang leaped into the air, his armor shedding mud everywhere. In an instant, he landed on solid rock ground three zhang away.
When he turned back, Li Shuang had already disappeared into the quicksand.
The mud showed little disturbance, calmly covering the previous ripples. Sima Yang, covered in mud, clenched his fists. He stood there for a while, seeing nothing nearby that could be used to retrieve someone. Gritting his teeth, his expression grave, he turned and strode toward where the light was coming from.
The sound of heavy armor striking stone grew increasingly distant.
But he didn’t see that after he left, a bubble slowly rose in the quicksand.
Then with a “thud,” someone broke through the wooden boards above the black hole, bringing with them a body wrapped in icy wind, diving into the murky quicksand with an almost desperate expression.
Moments later, sudden movements came from within the quicksand. The mud seemed to be pushed apart from within by an enormous force. With a “boom,” the entire quicksand pit exploded, splattering mud everywhere, covering the entire cave walls. The mud clung to the walls, slowly sliding down toward the lower areas. At the bottom of what had been the quicksand pit, a half-naked man tightly held Li Shuang in his arms.
She had held her breath, and no mud had entered her nose or mouth, but from holding her breath too long, her entire face had turned black and blue, and her breathing almost stopped.
Jin’an held her, desperately compressing her chest: “No, you can’t.”
Clear tears fell from his blood-red eyes, dropping onto Li Shuang’s blackened face with each of his words.
“I forbid you to die, you cannot die.”
Each word was uttered with the utmost despair.
She could do anything—love another, marry another, belong to another—but she couldn’t die. If she died, even his pain would lose its meaning.