For Gao Qing, this night was even bloodier than the one at Feilai Temple.
He had never imagined that the greatest difficulty he would face wouldn’t come before entering Jiangxi, but after stepping into his own territory.
Yet the reality was, waves of government soldiers were flooding into the post station at Jinxian County.
And the people by his side were dying one after another.
Eventually, even the four old maids responsible for carrying Qi Yuan along the journey had to retreat into her room, shivering with fear.
The young maid, hearing the chaos outside, shouts, cries, screams, and the constant metallic stench of blood in the air, curled up into a trembling ball and cried, asking the maids: “Mama, what on earth is happening out there?”
She had just heard that Old Liu, the kindest one to her, had already been killed.
Why were those people trying to kill them?
Were they going to die too?
But the maids were already too panicked to answer her or scold her.
It was just an ordinary night, on the surface, but for them, it was turning into the most terrifying night of their entire lives.
Would they even survive to see the morning?
Just then, a thunderous shout came from outside: “Lord Gao!”
Lord Gao?!
The young maid stared at the maids in terror; the maids trembled even harder.
Even Lord Gao Qing was in trouble?!
If that was true…
Wouldn’t they be dead for sure too?!
The only answer was a loud bang, the door to the room was kicked open, sending a crashing sound that made everyone nearly jump off the floor.
Gao Qing collapsed onto the ground, a sword wound in his lower abdomen, but still clutching at a soldier with all his might, gritting his teeth and growling: “You… You dare defy the Prince’s orders… you will die miserably!”
The officer sneered and kicked him away.
A group of men rushed into the room, their gazes immediately locking onto the bed.
Yes, their target was this woman.
As long as they killed her, their mission would be complete.
As for burning and sealing off the village afterward, that would be someone else’s job.
Once they got back, promotion and wealth would be theirs for the taking.
It was now, or never.
The first three charged forward, raising their blades without hesitation.
Several men rushed up to the bedside, and yet, Qi Yuan still did not move!
Gao Qing, pale as a ghost, struggled to prop himself up against the door and, seeing the scene unfold, couldn’t help but close his eyes in despair.
But the next sound he heard was, a man’s scream.
A man?
His eyes snapped open, and he saw a scene he would never forget for the rest of his life:
Qi Yuan, using the bed curtain as leverage, had launched herself onto the ceiling beam, then used the momentum to dive down and kick the front attackers flying.
Then, from the beam, she pulled out her hidden sleeve darts, and fired without hesitation, killing five more attackers instantly.
At such close range, the darts’ lethality was devastating. And with deadly accuracy, her shots were nearly impossible to dodge.
Within moments, the room was littered with bodies.
Gao Qing collapsed back onto the ground, no longer feeling relief, only utter disbelief and shock.
She wasn’t unconscious?
She had been awake all along?
How had she endured all the tests along the way?
Endured being carried up and down by the maids, wiped and cleaned by the little girl, fed water and food?
This woman…!
Gao Qing felt a chill surge up from the soles of his feet and rush to his scalp.
For him, the fact that Qi Yuan had been fully conscious all along was even more terrifying than Eunuch Xu’s plot to kill them.
If she had been conscious, then she had come to Jiangxi on purpose.
Not only that, she had deliberately approached the prince.
What was she planning?
If not for this sudden assassination attempt at the post station, she would have kept up the act all the way to the Prince’s mansion.
Then what would have happened?
But Qi Yuan had no interest in Gao Qing’s internal crisis. She had already exhausted her sleeve darts, so she slipped them into her belt, pulled out a wooden hairpin (taken earlier from the little maid), and leapt down from the beam.
She stabbed the last officer in the neck without hesitation.
Gao Qing’s expression turned blank with shock.
He stared at the corpses scattered around the room, at the thick, oozing blood, and felt nothing but a bone-deep dread.
Absolute terror.
And he wasn’t alone.
Downstairs, a few officers who had been ready to come up and finish the job now stared at Qi Yuan in horror, pale-faced and disbelieving.
Qi Yuan, dressed in blood-stained red, wiped her cheek casually and looked at them with a smile: “Lying around for too long… Your clumsy kung fu really wasn’t enough to help me stretch.”
…
In the dark night, Qi Yuan, still wiping blood from her face in her red robes, looked like a demon.
The soldiers who had been so arrogant with Gao Qing and his men now, for some reason, felt a deep fear rising from within as they faced Qi Yuan.
Qi Yuan gave a breezy smile: “Lord Gao, thank you for bringing me to Jiangxi. Let me give you a little gift in return.”
Gao Qing nearly coughed up blood from sheer rage.
What kind of gift was this?!
This devious, cunning woman!
He gnashed his teeth and glared at her: “You were conscious the entire journey! You let me carry you into Jiangxi on purpose! And just now, you watched as we exhausted ourselves, only stepping in at the last second!”
They had eaten the food from the post station, it must have been poisoned. Plus, the enemy outnumbered them.
That’s why they were losing ground and dying in droves.
But Qi Yuan hadn’t eaten anything.
And yet she had just laid there, totally relaxed, until the very last moment, when she had no choice but to act.
What kind of willpower did that take?
What had he delivered to the Prince?!
Qi Yuan let out a whistle, sharp and distinct in the night.
Then she crouched beside Gao Qing, smiled sweetly, and said: “Why so upset, Lord Gao? Weren’t you testing me the whole way? If you couldn’t figure it out, maybe that just means you’re incompetent. Besides, weren’t you the one who arrested me? Did I ever owe you any obligation to protect you?”
Liujin gave Gao Qing a sidelong glance, thinking this was just the beginning.
What a fool.
After finishing off the last few officers, they looked toward Qi Yuan and said in a low voice: “Miss, all targets eliminated. The sentries around the area have also been taken care of.”
Qi Yuan gave a soft “mm” and grinned at Gao Qing.
She reached down and pulled his command token from his belt, waved it in front of his eyes, and said: “Lord Gao, thank you for all your help along the way. I’ll be sure to repay your kindness properly.”
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