Under the escort of over two hundred Eastern Palace guards and five hundred Embroidered Uniform Guards, Zhu Helin spurred his horse northwest toward Linqing.
As a bustling canal-side prefectural city, Linqing had enough ships to carry the seven to eight hundred people.
The rain-soaked roads were slippery, and after two hours of continuous riding, the horses tired. The group stopped at a ruined temple by the roadside to rest, drink, and eat.
Su Yan’s hand had mostly healed over the past ten days, so he no longer rode with Shen Qi. He rode a gentle mare alone. Shen Qi, still somewhat uneasy, had Shi Yanshuang ride beside him to keep watch.
Inside the ruined temple, the crown prince, Shen Qi, Su Yan, Eastern Palace guards commander Wei Liangzi, and Shi Yanshuang sat around a fire. Su Yan took a water bag from Shen Qi, drank cold water, and nibbled on dry rations, frowning. “Something doesn’t feel right…”
Shi Yanshuang, knowing this young lord was precious to his superior, asked attentively, “What’s wrong? The bread too salty? Too hard? I have ‘pieces’ here; we can boil them.”
Su Yan smiled and thanked him, then turned to the crown prince. “The Wang brothers’ night attack on Tangyi was no ordinary raid, they are aiming straight for Your Highness. My concern is whether our previously planned route back to the capital has been exposed. If not, it means the enemy has had guidance from a skilled hand, able to predict our path from the places we passed.”
The crown prince frowned slightly and nodded.
Shen Qi said, “The batch of Embroidered Uniform Guards I brought is reliable.”
“The Eastern Palace guards are even more reliable,” Wei Liangzi said incredulously. “Are there really such formidable experts?”
Su Yan casually said, “Have you forgotten Mr. He?”
“No matter who the enemy is, if we go along the canal next, won’t they be able to guess exactly?” Wei Liangzi drew a curving line in the dirt with a stick to represent the canal, marking Linqing and Tangyi. “At such a short distance, it’s not hard to figure that after we escape Tangyi, we’ll likely board ships at Linqing, it’s the optimal choice.”
“Optimal choice?”
“The best of the best.”
Su Yan poked the point representing Linqing with the stick. “Taking the canal is the fastest, but also the riskiest. If the enemy plants water demons to sabotage the boats at night, we could all end up feeding the fish in our sleep.”
That was indeed a major problem.
“Then we just continue overland?” Wei Liangzi suggested.
“Too obvious,” Su Yan shook his head. “My suggestion, repair the plank road openly, cross via the hidden path secretly. We still take the canal, but the enemy must believe the crown prince is on the ship.”
Wei Liangzi thought for a moment. “I’ll take the Eastern Palace guards on the ship. Everyone knows we’re the crown prince’s personal guards. I can find another guard similar in build to His Highness to disguise himself, maybe that will draw their attention.”
Su Yan looked him over and nodded. “I think it can work. Your Highness, what do you think?”
Zhu Helin looked at the commander of his personal guards, who he was with day and night.
Wei Liangzi spoke before Zhu Helin’s worried gaze fell on him. “Your Highness, don’t worry. I’m a strong swimmer, if the boat capsizes, I can get my men back to shore safely.”
After careful consideration, Zhu Helin finally agreed, and they split into two groups.
Estimating that the fleet had gone far, Shen Qi, Su Yan, and Zhu Helin waited in hiding for another hour before resuming the journey north.
For the next two to three days, the weather was poor, with intermittent rain, but fortunately, they were not attacked again. Perhaps the enemy mistook Wei Liangzi’s group for the crown prince and followed the canal instead.
As they approached the capital’s outskirts, passing Hejian and Baoding Prefectures, the exhausted and tense Embroidered Uniform Guards finally exhaled in relief.
Then came the darkest pre-dawn hour, a razor-sharp, perilous, bone-deep assassination.
Nearly a thousand black-clad assassins, fed secret drugs to induce bleeding eyes, surrounded and attacked their temporary camp under cover of night.
The Embroidered Uniform Guards fought fiercely, but against such overwhelming numbers and the blood-eyed assassins’ feral madness, it was hard to cope. One misstep could fall under the influence of their nightmare techniques, causing severe casualties.
Supplies were nearly exhausted, and even Zhu Helin himself joined the fight.
Shen Qi, distracted by Su Yan’s safety, heard Su Yan shout, “Don’t worry about me! Go help the crown prince! I have Shi Qianhu here!”
Shi Yanshuang, having received a death-order command from his superior before the battle, ignored everything else. His squad stayed close to Su Yan, ensuring his safety.
The Embroidered Uniform Guards covered the crown prince and the others, fighting while retreating.
Su Yan leaned forward on horseback to dodge flying blades, resting the small scorpion crossbow in his right hand on his left arm and pulled the trigger.
The iron bolt shot true, knocking a blood-eyed assassin off his horse.
This personal crossbow had been gifted by Yu Wang. Modified personally by him, it was more compact, more precise, sacrificing some range but deadly at short distance. Su Yan had carried it on his second trip to Shaanxi last year but never used it. This time in Nanjing, it proved invaluable.
Even without martial skill, Su Yan’s extraordinary accuracy allowed him to kill several blood-eyed assassins in succession, greatly relieving Shi Yanshuang’s burden.
“They cannot entangle us. They are monsters who feel no pain or fatigue. We must find a way out!” Shen Qi shouted to Zhu Helin.
Zhu Helin cut the throat of a blood-eyed assassin lunging at him and asked Shen Qi, “Too many enemies… which way do we break out?”
Shen Qi kicked an assassin aside, leapt to the treetops, surveyed the area, and landed back on the ground. “East!”
Under the cover of the Embroidered Uniform Guards’ mounted troops, they finally shook off the assassins. Soon after breaking out, the road split into three forks.
Left, right, or middle? Before Zhu Helin could decide, Su Yan pointed, tapping each fork in turn. “The prince comes down to review the troops— take the right one!”
Zhu Helin was a little stunned. “What… basis is this?”
Su Yan pulled him toward the right fork. “Metaphysics.”
Luck did not favor Su Yan this time. Not far down the right fork, the mare he rode stumbled into a hole, breaking a hoof.
Shen Qi and Zhu Helin both leapt from their horses to save him. Shen Qi, closer, caught him just in time.
“Any injuries?” they asked simultaneously.
Su Yan moved his limbs and panted, “No… Your Highness, lend me your Chixiafei. Sorry to make you ride with Shen Qi.”
Zhu Helin immediately agreed. “Alright!”
Su Yan added, “Your Highness, I’m soaked and freezing. Can you lend me your cloak?”
Without hesitation, Zhu Helin stripped off his cloak, half-armor, and six-petal domed iron helmet with red tassel, putting them on Su Yan. “This armor is light but strong, made by master craftsmen by order of the emperor, able to stop arrows ten steps away. You’ll be safer in it.”
Su Yan smiled.
The rain drizzled again. He mounted Chixiafei, wiped rain from his face, and shouted, “Embroidered Uniform Guards, cover me as I charge out!”
“You—” Zhu Helin grabbed the stirrup, both shocked and annoyed. “Get down! Give me back my armor!”
Shen Qi reached out to grab him from the horse. Su Yan clutched the reins tightly, but Shen Qi yanked him down anyway. Gritting his teeth, Shen Qi tore at Su Yan’s cloak and armor.
Su Yan held onto his gear with all his strength, refusing to let go.
Shen Qi shouted, his voice harsher than ever: “Give it to me! I’ll draw the assassins away! You go with the crown prince!”
Su Yan retorted, “Commander Wei and Shi Qianhu are leading the troops behind us to hold off the enemy. If I go with the crown prince, he protects me, but who protects him? Qilang, listen to me—”
Shen Qi’s tone turned even more ruthless. “I don’t want to hear it! And I won’t accept it! No room for discussion!”
Zhu Helin’s face flushed with anger as he stepped forward and gripped Su Yan’s shoulder. “Su Qinghe, do you think I’d agree to let you act as a decoy to lure off the pursuers? I’d rather kill you myself!”
Su Yan yelled, “—Shut the f*ck up, all of you!”
The outburst stunned both Zhu Helin and Shen Qi.
Taking a deep breath, Su Yan addressed Zhu Helin: “Right now, you’re thinking with your feelings, only caring about my safety. But I’m thinking about how to make sure everyone survives! If you fall here today, even if Shen Qi and I survive by chance, what good would it do? Careers ruined, and the entire Great Ming might have no foothold left! Your survival ensures ours. If you insist on arguing here, are you trying to die together with me?”
Zhu Helin understood the logic, but he couldn’t bear to watch Su Yan take the risk alone.
Su Yan, not giving him a chance to reply, continued: “Your Highness, what you must do now is reach the capital within three days as the crown prince, stabilize the situation, then deploy troops south to meet me and the Xiaoling Guards.
“I value my life, so I made this decision after consulting locals. This fork leads to a forest called the ‘Labyrinth Woods’, complex terrain. With the abilities of the Embroidered Uniform Guards, we can maneuver through it for days without issue.
“That’s all. If either of you starts whining like children, I, Su Qinghe, will look down on you, so move! Now!”
Zhu Helin was momentarily speechless.
Shen Qi’s face was cold and severe. “I am not the crown prince. I have no duty to save the world. I don’t care about careers or life or death, I only won’t let you risk yourself alone. If we’re truly going to die together, then so be it!”
Su Yan sighed helplessly, stepped forward, and cupped Shen Qi’s face in his hands.
Rain lashed against their cheeks and hair. In front of the crown prince, Su Yan pressed his lips firmly to Shen Qi’s.
Zhu Helin’s eyes widened in shock, then shifted to anger, but he didn’t immediately move to pull them apart. Perhaps it was because the kiss conveyed such intense grief, longing, silent trust, and desperate resolve that it felt like a vortex, rooting him to the spot.
“Listen to me, Qilang…” Su Yan parted his lips slightly, breathing heavily. “I’ve never asked anything of you. Today, I do, not for the crown prince, but for all of us… I beg you to escort the crown prince safely to the capital and preserve your own life.”
“We’ve confided in each other. You know my desires without words. Qilang, if you can’t fulfill this, who else can?”
Shen Qi’s face was soaked, his expression hidden by rain.
His stiff fingers moved to press against Su Yan’s shoulder, then he leaned forward, forehead touching Su Yan’s brow.
“…I’ll fulfill you. As you wish, as you ask,” Shen Qi said hoarsely. “If, when I return, I can’t find you in the world, I’ll come after you. You must wait for me. Don’t break your promise and go alone.”
Rain ran down their brows. A faint, bittersweet smile curved Su Yan’s lips. “Alright, I promise.”
Shen Qi looked at him deeply, then resolutely let go and turned, pushing Zhu Helin onto the horse. “Move!”
The tense vortex broke. Zhu Helin gritted his teeth. “Shen Qi, you’re insane! This is ‘fulfillment’? This is indulgence! If he dies, all your wishes mean nothing, who will they matter to?!”
Shen Qi forced him onto the horse and swung up himself, sitting behind the crown prince. One whip cracked on the horse’s rump.
The horse yelped in pain and surged forward.
Zhu Helin struggled to leap off.
Shen Qi grabbed the crown prince’s wrist with one hand, pressing with all his strength. “He must reach the capital in three days. Even an extra hour is my failure!”
Wind and cold rain whipped their faces. Zhu Helin seethed. “If Qinghe is harmed… Shen Qi, I’ll cut you into 3,600 pieces!”
Shen Qi’s voice was icy. “You won’t get the chance, I’ll do it myself.”
Zhu Helin stopped struggling, fingers clutching the reins. Faster… faster! Fly to the capital with wings on your back, and bring the army to fetch him!
—
After a brutal fight, Shen Qi bore several deep new wounds. He leapt off his horse and stood in the middle of the road, nearly exhausted, holding the embroidered spring knife, its tip angled toward the ground.
The assassins lay dead around him, but many more blood-eyed attackers, their drugs still potent, kept charging.
Shen Qi killed another without turning, shouting to Zhu Helin on horseback: “Move, Your Highness! Another hundred li and we reach the capital outskirts, cross the boundary marker and you’ll be completely safe!”
Zhu Helin glanced at his back, hesitation, resentment, and far deeper, complex emotions hidden in his gaze.
“—Move!” Shen Qi shouted, fighting as he went. “Take power! Dispatch troops! Meet them!”
Zhu Helin drew a deep breath, flicked the reins, and spurred his horse toward the capital.
Shen Qi bit his teeth, slashing down four or five more, blood-soaked, until his embroidered spring knife slipped from his grasp. His leg muscles trembled violently.
Exhausted, he leaned back and sat on the wet mud, legs apart, proud and defiant.
He grabbed the knife from the ground, rested the blade across his knees, coughed up blood, and hissed at the few remaining blood-eyed assassins: “Next.”
Sword wind cut through the air. Shen Qi’s pupils contracted; the embroidered spring knife in his hand felt impossibly heavy, as if pressing down on him like a mountain.
Suddenly, a sharp arrow shot from behind. Shen Qi didn’t dodge, the arrow grazed his hair and pierced the charging blood-eyed assassin.
Zhu Helin drew his bow, firing arrow after arrow with deadly precision, killing the last assassin on the spot.
The horse stopped beside Shen Qi. Zhu Helin said in a low voice: “…Mount up.”
Shen Qi turned his head and looked up at him, but said nothing.
Zhu Helin realized that this leader of the Embroidered Guards, who had been fighting relentlessly for three days and nights without sleep, had exhausted the last of his strength.
After a brief hesitation, the crown prince on horseback, who had always been wary, resentful, and jealous of him, reached out a hand: “Mount up!”
Shen Qi’s expression remained unreadable. He moved his cracked lips slightly: “If you want to kill me, now is the best opportunity. Say I died at the hands of the blood-eyed assassins, Qinghe wouldn’t even suspect.”
Rage suddenly flared in Zhu Helin. “Do you think I don’t want to kill you?”
Shen Qi closed his eyes, coldly: “Hurry! Don’t delay his mission.”
Zhu Helin raised and lowered his sword again and again, then gritted his teeth, sheathed it, leaned forward, grabbed Shen Qi’s wrist, and pulled him onto the horse behind him.
The added weight pressed down sharply; the horse swished its tail in protest but ran obediently.
Shen Qi’s eyes still held a trace of surprise. He frowned. “You clearly despise me, why save me instead of killing me?”
Zhu Helin’s lips pressed tight, then after a moment, he ground out between his teeth: “What I think and do is none of your business! Who gave you the right to tell me what to do?”
Shen Qi remained silent for a long while.
The city gates of the capital appeared at the end of the official road.
The galloping horse didn’t slow. The guards, startled, raised their weapons. One leader shouted: “Who goes there? How dare you approach the city gate without dismounting!”
Zhu Helin shouted back: “It’s your Highness!”
The guards looked at the two dusty, muddied figures on horseback, unable to see their faces. No attendants were nearby. Moreover, everyone knew the crown prince was in Nanjing guarding the mausoleum, where would a “young master” come from? They closed ranks, weapons ready, shouting: “Which fool dares impersonate the crown prince! Seize them!”
Shen Qi pressed down on Zhu Helin’s arm to prevent any rash action, and with his other hand, he flung an ivory waist badge far ahead. It landed in front of the guards.
“Northern Surveillance Bureau, Embroidered Guard Tongzhi, Shen Qi!”
The infamous Life-taking Qilang, whose reputation in the capital could quell even a child’s nighttime cries. The guard who picked up the badge’s legs went weak, clutching his spear.
