If those people's target is Emperor Qianlong, letting him leave first would be extremely dangerous; it would be safer to let Yongqi leave first.

After Xiao Yanzi told Emperor Qianlong her idea, he thought about it for a moment and then agreed.

At this moment, Xiao Jian was bandaging the person who had saved Qing'er, while Yongqi had already stood next to Xiao Yanzi.

"Little Swallow is right, Yongqi. You should set off back to the capital first thing tomorrow morning. As Little Swallow said, don't let anything go wrong in the court or the palace."

Seeing the resolute looks in Xiao Yanzi's and Qianlong's eyes, Yongqi knew he couldn't refuse. "Yongqi obeys!"

Emperor Qianlong originally intended for everyone to relax and unwind at Black Dragon Pool, but he never expected things to turn out this way. "Little Swallow, Yongqi, what are your thoughts?"

Both of them shook their heads. This time, all they saw was countless arrows shooting towards them and heard a woman's laughter. Apart from that, there were no other clues, and they couldn't even find anything useful on the arrows.

As the sun was about to set, Fu Erkang and the others gathered torches and sat around the fire. Qing'er looked at the injured man lying on the ground, then at Xiao Jian, "Xiao Jian, he shouldn't be dead, right?"

Xiao Jian comforted him, "Don't worry, he wasn't seriously injured. If all goes well, he should wake up this morning or tomorrow morning."

The man was fair-skinned and clean-cut, with no calluses on his hands like a martial artist, and he wasn't carrying any lethal weapons. It was strange that such a person would shield Qing'er from a knife...

Shuangxi was taking care of the injured person when she suddenly noticed something and quickly called out, "Master, come and see!"

Upon hearing Shuangxi's voice, Qing'er was the first to get up and go over, followed by Xiao Jian, Xiao Yanzi, and the others. Qing'er asked, "Shuangxi, what's wrong?"

“Master, look here…” Shuangxi pointed to the back of the injured man’s neck, somewhat shocked.

Qing'er and the others followed Shuangxi's hand and saw that the person had the character "Qing" carved on the back of their neck!

Xia Ziwei said softly, "Qing'er... he... could it be that he likes you and that's why he followed you here?"

When Qing'er saw the words on it, she was stunned. Hearing Xia Ziwei's words, she quickly denied it, "How could that be? I was brought into the palace by the Empress Dowager when I was five years old. I spent most of my time by the Empress Dowager's side. How could anyone like me?"

It's impossible that he'd been watching her since she was five years old, right? That would be terrifying.

"Besides, 'Qing' in the picture doesn't necessarily refer to me. Maybe it's just that his sweetheart's name has that character in it..."

Fortaire questioned, "That's not impossible, but how do you explain how he, who is completely defenseless, dared to step in and save you?"

Most people would run far away if they saw an assassination attempt, and even if they tried to help, they would never risk their lives!

"Brother, what do you think?" Xiao Yanzi, who hadn't spoken for a long time, looked at Xiao Jian, wanting to know what he thought.

After a moment of silence, Xiao Jian spoke, "We don't know his background, so all our speculations are likely false. We'll only know why he shielded Qing'er from the sword once he wakes up..."

"Although what he said at that time may not have been the truth, as long as he was willing to say a few words to us, we could glean some information from his words and actions."

“Xiao Jian is right. Shuangxi, I’ll trouble you to look after him tonight. We’ll all take turns resting and keeping watch.” Yongqi said last, and assigned the people to take turns keeping watch. Then he walked up to Qianlong and said, “Father, please get some rest. We’ll take care of everything.”

Originally, Fuheng and Emin disagreed with having Yongqi and Xiaoyanzi participate in the night watch, but Yongqi insisted, and they had no choice but to agree.

Therefore, the personnel were distributed as follows: each group formed a circle, with the resting people in the middle and the people on the outside keeping watch. When it was time to change shifts, people would move into the circle.

Yongqi, Xiaoyanzi, Fu Erkang, and Xia Ziwei, along with Fu Heng and other guards, kept watch for the first half of the night, while Xiao Jian, Qing'er, and others kept watch for the second half.

The unexpected happened just as they were about to change shifts.

At the second quarter of the hour of Chou (1-3 AM), just as they were preparing to change shifts, another sneak attack came.

"Everyone be careful." Xiao Jianqing'er and E Min walked to the front to protect everyone.

"Fifth Prince, you've made some good arrangements, but I wonder if your arrangements can withstand this round of attacks..." The speaker was the woman who had laughed yesterday.

"You're too ugly to even speak? Are you too ashamed to show your face?"

Hearing Xiao Yanzi's words, the woman was angry inside, but she didn't show it on her face. "Princess Fei Yan's mouth is really sharp. I wonder if she can stand it later..."

Everyone thought they would face human adversaries, but who would have thought they would face animal adversaries.

"Hiss..." The first crawling animal appeared, and some people who were afraid of snakes started screaming.

"Hahaha, you're already getting scared? I haven't had enough fun yet!"

"I forgot to tell you, these little monsters are all poisonous. If you get bitten, you'll die instantly!"

"Xiao Jian, what should we do?" Qing'er's legs went weak when she heard the snake crawling and hissing.

Although they brought realgar wine, which snakes are afraid of, it was not enough to deal with such a large group of snakes!

As the snake drew closer and closer to them, the woman grew increasingly delighted. "Hahaha, you can enjoy yourselves!"

However, she was too happy too soon.

As soon as she finished speaking, Xiao Jian took out his flute and began to play a tune. Then everyone saw that all the snakes turned their heads away. The people who had been surrounded were relieved. Shuangxi sat down on the ground, still a little scared. "My God, that scared me to death!"

"How is that possible?" The woman simply couldn't believe that Xiao Jian could actually drive away the snake.

Emperor Qianlong and others also couldn't understand why Xiao Jian could drive away these snakes by playing the flute.

Standing behind Xiao Jian, Xiao Yanzi explained, "Under normal circumstances, snakes don't bother us. The fact that so many snakes are swarming out now can only mean that someone is controlling them from behind. Either they're using the same method to make the snakes come towards us, or they've poisoned them..."

“My brother’s skills are even better, so he can naturally make the snakes return the way they came.”

Everyone was relieved; otherwise, they would have really become the snake's meal.

"So what if you drive the snakes away? What you're about to face won't be so simple!"

No sooner had the woman finished speaking than the roar of a tiger echoed through the canyon. Xia Ziwei's face turned pale. "How come there's a tiger?"

"Brother, can you tell where that woman is?" Little Swallow asked, getting a little impatient. "If we can find her, we'll catch the leader first!"

Once that woman is dealt with, all this trouble will be over!

However, Xiao Jian couldn't pinpoint the person's location. "She's clever; she deliberately chose a place where she could amplify her voice..."

"Little Swallow, there are so many tigers, how are we going to fight them?" Xia Ziwei, supported by Fu Erkang, looked anxiously at Little Swallow. "Won't we get eaten by the tigers?"