Chapter 38

Caught off guard, the force of the blow caused the Third Prince to stagger backward. He turned around in a rage, only to hear the sound of a fist whistling through the air before being struck hard in the face.

No one expected Xue Jin'an to pull this stunt.

"Hiss—" That was the sound of the Fifth Prince gasping for breath.

"Ugh—" That was the sound of the Third Prince crying out in pain.

The Third Prince subconsciously released the whip in his hand, covered his face, and leaned back slightly due to inertia, staring blankly at Xue Jin'an who had thrown the whip away.

In the blink of an eye, he realized what was happening. Bloodshot veins appeared in his eyes, and veins bulged on his neck, forehead, and arms. His expression grew increasingly ferocious and terrifying in his rage, and his voice was almost squeezed out from between his teeth: "Seventh! Brother! What are you doing?!"

He lunged forward, trying to grab Xue Jin'an's collar, but Xue Jin'an, who had anticipated his move, easily dodged. With a light tap of his toes, he gracefully slid back a foot, then flicked his wrist, drawing the lotus sword from his waist, which, gleaming with a chilling light, was placed against the Third Prince's neck.

Unexpectedly, the Third Prince showed no fear and forcefully grabbed the blade. His palm was immediately cut open, and blood gushed out from between his fingers. However, he seemed not to feel the pain at all and tightened his grip even more, trying to disarm himself with brute force.

Xue Jin'an was not as strong as the Third Prince, so he naturally could not compare his weakness with his strength. Instead, he simply followed the Third Prince's force, slid down, twisted his body and flipped in the air, and kicked back, his whole body almost stretched into a taut bow.

The Third Prince was, after all, a mortal, and it was impossible for him to be truly immune to pain and injury. The sword blade, which was almost twisted into a pretzel, sprang from his palm, the thin blade making a "whoosh" sound as it cut through the air. He raised his arm to block the kick aimed at his chin, grabbed Xue Jin'an's leg with his other hand, and lifted him up into the air. Then, he grabbed Xue Jin'an's other hand as well, intending to twist him into a pretzel with a vengeful heart.

Xue Jin'an twisted his waist and swept his longsword backhand. The blood-stained sword was extremely fierce and went straight for the Third Prince's head. The latter did not dare to be careless and immediately leaned back to avoid it. The strength in his hand inevitably loosened, and Xue Jin'an immediately broke free, stepped on his arm and flipped him to the side. The sweeping leg was just about to hit the Third Prince's face.

Forced to kneel and lie down to avoid the attack, Xue Jin'an's leg still missed. He used one hand to support himself, leaped up, did a backflip, and landed nimbly. He flicked his lotus sword, and blood splattered out. The sword was once again a cold, sharp white.

At the same time, the Third Prince also sprang to his feet and assumed a fighting stance.

The entire exchange took only a short while; before many people could even react, the two were facing off from a distance.

The Seventh Prince was expressionless. If it weren't for the sword still in his hand, you would never have guessed that he had just been fighting.

The Third Prince grinned maliciously, his bloodied fist held out in front of him, and beckoned with his finger, "Seventh Brother, let's go again!"

Although it wasn't obvious, the Third Prince wasn't angry at all—well, he was angry when he was first punched, but after this brief and quick exchange, it all turned into a surge of fighting spirit. He just wanted to fight Xue Jin'an to his heart's content and no longer cared about being punched in the face.

The Third Prince even felt a sense of relief: as expected of the brothers he had chosen, they were indeed different from the others!

"Little Seven, I'll fight without using my inner strength!" the Third Prince called out to him.

"I refuse." Xue Jin'an's data analysis showed no opportunity, so he decisively refused, gracefully twirling his sword before sheathing it.

The third prince pursed his lips in displeasure, but surprisingly said nothing.

The fourth prince, who had been following Xue Jin'an slowly with weak legs, suddenly found himself in a daze when Xue Jin'an, fearless as ever, rushed over and started fighting with his third brother!

The fourth prince hurried over, but dared not get too close, and deliberately avoided approaching the fifth prince, who was almost at the scene. However, he also dared not be alone, so he squeezed together with the eighth prince, and even shrank back behind his eighth brother in a cowardly manner.

He originally thought that Xue Jin'an's martial arts skills were only slightly better than his own, and that he would definitely be overwhelmed when facing his third brother. However, he never expected that the two of them would fight back and forth. With his eyesight and martial arts skills, he couldn't understand how the two of them were fighting. He could only hear the sound of fist wind and sword blade cutting through the air.

However, judging from the result, Xue Jin'an was unharmed, while Third Brother's hands were covered in blood. Was Third Brother actually at a disadvantage?! He opened his willow-leaf eyes wide into cat eyes in disbelief, and when he heard that Third Brother had been beaten but did not seem to blame Xue Jin'an at all, he couldn't help but open his mouth wide and poke the person next to him.

The Eighth Prince, who had been poked, came to his senses and could tell what the Fourth Prince was thinking from his face. He was simply wondering why his Third Brother, with his bad temper, had let Xue Jin'an go so easily. Perhaps he had been cursed or something.

The Eighth Prince hadn't expected things to turn out this way. Even though he thought he understood the Third Prince, he couldn't comprehend what the Third Prince was thinking. He pursed his lips and remained silent, his expression towards Xue Jin'an complex and unreadable.

The Fifth Prince is much simpler. Judging from his tireless efforts to secretly hone his martial arts skills even at the cost of stopping his medication, he has a talent for it and enjoys it. He usually doesn't even go to the martial arts arena, but instead burys himself in his training under his master's guidance, so he rarely has the opportunity to watch such high-level one-on-one duels.

The Fifth Prince, unusually, cleared his mind, his eyes following their every move. After it was over, he mentally reviewed the events, wondering what he would have done if he were the Third Brother, or the Seventh Brother…

The Fifth Prince stared intently at Xue Jin'an, his thoughts wandering.

Xue Jin'an ignored the gazes and thoughts of the three princes over there, only glancing at the pitiful little eunuch kneeling on the ground, staring blankly at them, and asked the third prince, "Why did you hit him?"

The Third Prince immediately became furious upon hearing this, and with a swift kick, he knocked the nearest eunuch to the ground. Then, pointing at them, he turned around and complained to Xue Jin'an, "Seventh Brother, these people are guilty of embezzling imperial horses and committing a heinous crime!"

"No, absolutely not!!" The eunuchs of the Imperial Stables immediately knelt down. Seeing that Xue Jin'an could control the situation and that his intervention to stop the Third Prince could be considered as standing up for the eunuchs, they boldly cried out their grievances.

It turned out that the Third Prince looked around but couldn't find a horse he liked, so he questioned whether they had sold all the good horses and left behind this bunch of mediocre ones. He even threatened to beat them to death without saying a word.

"We are innocent, Your Highness the Seventh Prince!" they cried mournfully, their shrill voices singing a winding, zigzagging folk song.

—Actually, the horses in the Imperial Stables weren't as bad as the Third Prince made them out to be. In fact, the horses that were selected for the Imperial Stables were not inferior. It's just that the Third Prince didn't want any of them.

Sure enough, the Third Prince sneered, "You dare to claim you're wronged? The little wild horse I had my eye on, Black Cloud Treading Snow, is gone. You dare say I've wronged you?"

The young eunuch, who had been beaten half to death, finally seemed to regain his senses and struggled to explain, "Earlier, Consort De came and selected a batch of fine horses... They were all registered..."

"Why didn't you say that when I asked about the horse?" the Third Prince questioned irritably.

"This servant didn't... in time..."

Xue Jin'an and the Fifth Prince noticed the eunuch's suspicious behavior almost simultaneously. The difference was that the Fifth Prince sensed that the eunuch was plotting against the Third Prince, while Xue Jin'an felt a strong malice emanating from him, mostly directed at the Third Prince, but also extending to each of the princes.

Xue Jin'an also possessed this, and it was second only to the Third Prince.

As the two men were distracted by the young eunuch, the enraged Third Prince jumped into their verbal trap without turning back. "So you mean I hit you too quickly and didn't give you a chance to defend yourself? You mean I wronged you and forced you to confess? It's all my fault, is that what you mean?!"

The Third Prince clenched his fists in fury and strode forward with a ferocious expression.

The eunuchs trembled and kowtowed, saying they dared not, but the Third Prince grinned maliciously, "What else wouldn't you dare to do?"

Just then, the injured eunuch suddenly opened his mouth and vomited a mouthful of blood. The blood splattered on the bluestone floor, leaving behind a trail of tears and snot, which abruptly stopped the Third Prince from saying what he was about to say.

This is practically a picture of a tyrannical prince who treats human life like dirt.

The third prince abruptly stopped, his temples throbbing, and his eyes glared at them with a ferocious look, as if he wanted to devour them.

To be honest, the Third Prince wasn't afraid of killing people, otherwise he wouldn't have beaten them to death just now. After all, eunuchs in the palace weren't worth much, so what did it matter if a few died? But even the Third Prince, no matter how stupid, knew that there was a difference between executing someone with a reason and beating someone without a reason, and that killing one person was different from killing a group.

No matter how much hatred the Third Prince felt, he could only let it go for now.

"Very well! Very well!" He clenched his fists so tightly they cracked, and he was so angry he laughed. He said "very well" three times in a row. "Bring me the list of horses. I will go to Consort De's horse farm today and take a good look at them. If even one horse doesn't match—I will skin you alive!"

Amidst the chaotic heartbeats, Xue Jin'an clearly heard several unusually rapid heartbeats, including that of the little eunuch who had vomited blood.

It seems that the Third Prince's claim that he was embezzling imperial horses was not unfounded; there must be a reason behind it.

At first, Xue Jin'an didn't think anything was wrong. He just assumed that the people whose hearts were racing were afraid of being found out, so they were feeling guilty and scared.

Until the Third Prince pointed to the little eunuch who was spitting blood, and said, "Take the account book and lead the way."

"Yes, ma'am." The little eunuch struggled to his feet, his body swaying.

His heartbeat was steadily slowing down, without the slightest hint of panic or unease; on the contrary, it sounded quite relieved, as if... he had completed a major step in a mission.

Xue Jin'an listened to his stubbornly beating, intermittent heartbeat, and looked at his lifeless face, tilting his head in disbelief.

If the goal was simply to lure them to Consort De's territory, all that would have been needed was to say that Consort De had better horses, and given the Third Prince's temperament, he would have surely come. If the aim was to investigate the illegal sale of imperial horses, there were plenty of ways to do so; why provoke the Third Prince into this beating?

It couldn't possibly be liking someone, could it? — Well, it's not impossible... Maybe he's a masochist like Eunuch Wang Deming of the Imperial Kitchen.

Xue Jin'an gave up on trying to understand humans, but he had to admit that he had indeed become curious.

He paused, took out a power bank (containing pastries) from his cloth bag, and handed it to the little eunuch, saying, "Here you go."

"Me...?" The little eunuch was flattered. He wanted to reach out and take it, but when he saw his dirty hands, he quickly withdrew them. He frantically rummaged through his clothes, paused when he reached his chest, and then took out the cloud-patterned brocade handkerchief.

He carefully held the pastries up to his eyes and heard the Seventh Prince say in a calm tone, "Don't die." He should keep the power going, so he doesn't die before the mission is complete.

"Thank you, Your Highness, for the gift." The little eunuch's eyes widened slightly, and his hands holding the pastries trembled slightly. Although he was saying words of thanks, his expression looked like he was about to cry, and the faint malice that had been hanging over him disappeared.

Xue Jin'an glanced at him and looked away, but was suddenly called back.

"Seventh Prince, Consort De has a fondness for spirited horses, you..." The little eunuch seemed to have a lot to say, but in the end he only uttered one sentence, "Please be careful."

These words were like a switch being flipped, and several clues intertwined in Xue Jin'an's mind: Cuiyun, Ziyun, Blood Dragon Wood Bracelet... Finally, his gaze fell on the handkerchief containing pastries in the little eunuch's hand.

Fu Lu also had a handkerchief in his hand, which he used to wrap the crystal cake; it was plain brocade with cloud patterns.

It belongs to Cuiyun.