Chapter 126 Choosing One to Live

Xiao Xuanyou's breath hitched, and panic surged in his heart.

He clenched his fists to calm himself down, his gaze sweeping across the scene inch by inch with a sharp, piercing look.

The footprints on the ground were not messy, the curtains were not damaged, and there was a very faint medicinal smell in the air.

He was standing not far away, and he didn't hear any screams or struggles.

The two must have been drugged and taken away.

Xiao Xuanyou frowned and ordered his men to search in all directions.

To abduct someone right under his nose, he must have come prepared. What exactly was that person's purpose?

"My lord, please come quickly!" one of his trusted men reported.

Xiao Xuanyou followed the trail he had found and looked closely. He saw a few drops of dried, dark red blood in the grass, which was covered by fallen leaves.

"It must be their bloodstains." Xiao Xuanyou summoned everyone from the other directions back and followed this clue.

Every ten meters or so along the way, a bloodstain could be found. It was very well hidden and required careful observation to find, but it never stopped and the amount was not much. It seemed that whoever left the trace must have cherished their blood and was afraid that the person who kidnapped her would find out.

Xiao Xuanyou couldn't help but picture Jiang Zhi's face in his mind.

They followed the trail of blood for a long time, until they passed through the outer edge of the dense forest and arrived at the edge of a cliff.

When he saw the view at the edge of the cliff, Xiao Xuanyou's pupils trembled.

On a crooked tree at the edge of the cliff, two women were bound by thick hemp ropes and suspended in mid-air on either side, with a bottomless abyss below them.

It was Jiang Zhi and Li Jinyan who had just disappeared without a trace.

Xiao Xuanyou instinctively wanted to rush up to save the person, but then he noticed a man in black standing between the two.

The man in black, whose face was covered, was tall and burly. He leaned leisurely against the old tree, tossing a sharp dagger up and down between his fingers and catching it steadily.

Xiao Xuanyou stopped in his tracks and raised his hand to stop his subordinates who wanted to step forward.

"I'm quite surprised that Your Highness has found us so quickly." The masked man's voice was hoarse, and his hawk-like eyes glanced sideways at Xiao Xuanyou in the distance.

Xiao Xuanyou felt that this person was completely unfamiliar, both in appearance and voice.

His gaze couldn't help but fall on Jiang Zhi.

Jiang Zhi's clothes were relatively intact, indicating that she had changed before being abducted. However, cold sweat was beading on her forehead, her lips were excessively pale, and her mouth was gagged, preventing her from speaking. She could only stare at him with her dark eyes.

Li Jinyan, standing next to her, was also unable to speak. She frowned, and although she looked disheveled, she seemed to be in good spirits and hadn't suffered any injustice.

Xiao Xuanyou took a deep breath, trying to calm the raging anger in his chest, and squeezed out his voice through clenched teeth, "Who are you? What do you want?"

The man in black sneered, "Your Highness, can't you see? I'm just giving you a choice."

He looked at Li Jinyan, the cold blade of his sword gesturing as he held her up on the rope, "One is the future Crown Princess of noble birth."

He then turned to Jiang Zhi on the other side, the blade flashing across her face, "One is the Princess of Qinghe, personally bestowed by the Emperor."

"His Highness the Crown Prince chose one to live, and the rest were cut by my ropes and fell off the cliff, their bodies never to be found."

Xiao Xuanyou clenched his fists at his sides, and his usually dignified and calm face now showed a rare, chilling ferocity.

"So who exactly are you? And what grudge do you have against those two?" he asked in a hoarse voice.

The man in black merely raised an eyebrow. "The one who has a grudge against me is not them, but His Highness the Crown Prince."

He paused and then added, "No, to be precise, it's my master who has a grudge against His Highness the Crown Prince."

Xiao Xuanyou's heart skipped a beat, and an idea involuntarily popped into his head.

The master mentioned by the man in black is very likely the one hiding in the shadows in the dream, the one who has kept him in the dark.

He calmed down, his voice carrying authority, "Since they are my enemies, these two are innocent. Why not release them and I will be your hostage?"

"Our master said that taking you as a hostage is not as interesting as taking them as hostages." The man in black was unmoved, only playing with the dagger in his hand. "Hurry up and choose, we don't have much patience."

Xiao Xuanyou then asked, "Then may I tell you what grudge I have against your master? If it is just a misunderstanding, please ask him to come out and clear things up. I will apologize to him in person. Why involve innocent people?"

The man in black shook his head and laughed, "Your Highness, don't try to test me. My master is not someone you can just see whenever you want."

He glanced behind Xiao Xuanyou, a knowing glint in his eyes. "Trying to deliberately delay for reinforcements? I advise Your Highness to give up on that idea."

"As a suicide squad member, completing the mission is more important to me than my own life. If anyone dares to approach, I will kill them both before I die. With two noble ladies accompanying me in death, my life will not have been in vain."

Xiao Xuanyou remained silent for a moment.

"I'll give you only a cup of tea's time to consider. If you don't make a choice, both of you will die," the man in black said quietly.

"May I speak with them for a few minutes?" Xiao Xuanyou asked.

"Since Your Highness has spoken, how can I refuse?" He said casually, stepping forward to tear the gags out of Jiang Zhi and Li Xiyan's mouths.

Having suffered a loss at the Jiang residence before, Jiang Zhi always carried a medicine pouch she had made herself. She woke up shortly after being drugged and found herself and the Crown Princess being carried on either side of a man in black, about to be abducted somewhere.

The Crown Princess remained unconscious. She could only endure the pain and quietly unwrap the bandages on her arm, letting the blood flow down as a marker so that reinforcements could find her.

"Are you all alright?" Xiao Xuanyou asked, trying to keep his tone calm.

Li Jinyan nodded. "I'm fine. I woke up to find myself hanging from a tree. But Princess Qinghe was already injured, and being tied up like this will definitely worsen her injuries."

Jiang Zhi said with a pale face, "I can hold on, but it's more important for His Highness to save the Crown Princess."

In any case, it was perfectly reasonable for Xiao Xuanyou to save Li Jinyan. If he had chosen to save himself, he would have been pushing himself into a fire pit.

The man in black next to him interjected, urging, "Hurry up and choose, the time it takes to drink a cup of tea will pass quickly."

Xiao Xuanyou was in a dilemma.

He would naturally not let Chanyi get into trouble, but he also couldn't let his own selfish desires harm the innocent Li Jinyan.

The best way is to take the man in black's life when he's not paying attention, so that both of them can be saved at the same time.

He secretly made a gesture to his trusted confidant beside him.

The confidant immediately understood and retreated back into the dense forest.