After figuring all this out, Li Zhu stopped in his tracks. He sensed the impending danger, but the Marquis had not yet returned. Facing assassination alone, he was truly unsure how to handle the situation…

After hesitating for a moment, Li Zhu felt it was safer to return to the palace to hide for a while and wait for the Marquis to return before going back to the East Palace!

But he had only taken one step back when a knife flew straight at him…

As the knife hurtled towards him, Li Zhu realized his guess was right; the Second Prince had indeed prepared a backup plan. He just didn't know where these assassins came from, or how they could be mobilized so quickly…

He dodged the flying blade by shifting his body to the side, but before he could regain his footing, several men in black suddenly appeared. One of them slashed directly at the spot where he had dodged, forcing Li Zhu to turn his body and avoid being attacked from both sides by two blades...

Who goes there?

Li Zhu shouted loudly, but these men in black gave him no time to breathe, attacking his vitals with knife after knife, forcing Li Zhu into a life-threatening situation. Facing experienced assassins, his military boxing skills, which he had practiced for a few days, were really no match for them!

Li Zhu was unarmed and could only desperately dodge the relentless attacks...

"The one who'll take your life..."

One of them replied coldly, and it was this one sentence that made Li Zhu recognize the northern accent. It was obvious they were from Youzhou. If he wasn't mistaken, these people were definitely Shi Jingtang's men. He had been ambushed by Shi Jingtang's men before, and after the failure, these people disappeared without a trace. Li Zhu had searched for them, but without any clues...

After killing Shi Jingtang, Li Zhu learned through investigation that the man had brought guards with him, and these guards were all battle-hardened veterans. Together, they were capable of killing people far stronger than themselves; these were the elite of the elite…

Swoosh...

The sound of arrows whistling through the air forced Li Zhu to dodge hastily, his steps faltering in his haste…

He was caught off guard and one of the men in black slashed his shoulder with a knife. The expected sound of a sharp weapon piercing flesh didn't come, and he felt no pain whatsoever…

This made Li Zhu look at his shoulder in confusion, and he found that his clothes had been torn, and at the same time he saw the dragon tattoo that had just disappeared under his clothes...

Dragon Ring?

Li Zhu was somewhat bewildered. Two things he couldn't understand so far were time travel and the dragon ring turning into a tattoo on his body…

The fact that this tattoo now has a defensive function is something Li Zhu never expected...

The man in black was also stunned, and his attack paused for a moment. He hadn't expected that his strike would fail...

"He has soft armor; attack his head and legs..."

After turning around, the man in black immediately gave instructions to the others, which made Li Zhu roll his eyes at him, thinking to himself, "You think you're so smart, you can even tell I'm wearing soft armor? I didn't even know I was wearing soft armor myself..."

However, the situation is becoming increasingly dire. The men in black are killing him with every strike, leaving him no room to maneuver, and there are also people shooting arrows from afar. If this continues, he'll be dead sooner or later...

These men in black were well-trained. Upon hearing their leader's warning, the others immediately joined forces and launched a fierce attack on Li Zhu's head and legs. Li Zhu, who was already struggling to hold on, was now in even greater distress, feeling that he would not be able to leave here unless he gave something up...

A sudden burst of flute music rang out. Li Zhu and the men in black assumed it was reinforcements from the other side, so one desperately tried to escape while the other launched a frenzied attack. The battle instantly intensified. Li Zhu nearly had his ankles severed several times; had he not been agile enough to dodge, he would have perished there…

"There's a snake..."

Suddenly, one of the men in black cried out in surprise, his attacks faltering. Li Zhu seized the opportunity, snatched the knife from his hand, and then, with a soft thud, the man in black's head rolled to the ground...

The others were terrified by this scene, and the dense attack suddenly created an opening, giving Li Zhu a chance to catch his breath. With a weapon in hand, he could defend himself against the enemy's attacks and was no longer forced to retreat continuously just to avoid the attacks of the men in black...

Before either side could determine a winner, rustling sounds came from the surroundings. Li Zhu glanced around out of the corner of his eye and almost jumped out of his skin...

I've never seen so many snakes before. They're comparable to the snakes in that old Hong Kong movie, the one where it's a battle between humans and snakes…

Startled, the man touched Li Zhu, his movements slowing by a fraction of a second. Seizing the opportunity, the man in black swung his sword at Li Zhu's neck, intending to dismember him as well…

But just as he raised his knife, a snake bit his buttocks. The bite made Li Zhu wince, and a certain part of his body even tensed involuntarily, as if he thought the snake was incredibly sharp...

How could Li Zhu miss such a good opportunity? With a swift stroke, he killed another person. He noticed that the snakes seemed to be helping him; none of them attacked him, but instead targeted the man in black...

Ding ding dong…

The sound of clashing machetes rang out continuously, interspersed with the screams of men in black, who had been bitten by venomous snakes. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Li Zhu ruthlessly dealt with his opponent!

With the help of the venomous snake, Li Zhu quickly dealt with all the men in black, leaving only those who had fired the arrows. Naturally, Li Zhu wouldn't let these men escape, so he immediately turned and headed straight for the direction from which the arrows had come...

"No need to go..."

A snake raised its head and flicked its tongue at Li Zhu, saying...

Li Zhu stopped in his tracks, staring in shock at the snake on the ground, and asked uncertainly.

"Is that you speaking?"

"If it wasn't me, then who else would it be? I just saved you, and you're not even going to say thank you?"

Upon hearing the snake's reply, Li Zhu was immediately shocked. He could communicate with snakes? He had this ability?

The thought filled him with excitement, because it meant he could possess a power that no one else could even imagine…

"Thank you, how can I repay you?"

Li Zhu also chimed in!

"Yes, will you marry me..."

The snake's head bobbed up and down as it spoke!

"What?"

Li Zhu was shocked. He thought to himself, "I'm not Xu Xian, how could I sleep with a snake? And how could I, a virgin, just offer myself to a snake?"

"You don't want to marry me?"

The snake's voice turned cold, and the surrounding snakes swarmed around it, as if to say, "If you don't agree, we'll all bite you and see if you can get away with it..."

"It's not a matter of whether I want to or not. You're a snake, and I'm a human. We can't get married..."