Chapter 327 Cold-blooded
Ren Shun was taken aback. Duan Wei's knife came one after another, forcing him to focus on fighting the burly man in front of him.
On the other side, Xiao Jue, who was fleeing in a panic with his younger sister, was also exhausted several times.
In a mere hundred feet or so, he had to dodge the frenzied Yue soldiers, be careful of the Qi soldiers wielding their swords recklessly, avoid the servants and dowry women who were fleeing in all directions, and the wounded warhorses that were jumping around wildly. Most importantly, he had to protect his younger sister in his arms.
At this moment, Qi Yuxuan, who had been half-dragged and half-carried by him, had regained her senses and, no longer wanting Xiao Jue to suffer, started running on her own.
Finally, the entrance and exit are right in front of us!
"Whoosh whoosh whoosh—" Several arrows whizzed past her from behind, grazing her ears, and landed squarely on the ground just as Qi Yuxuan was about to step on.
The two of them gasped for breath.
Before she could turn around, Qi Yuxuan suddenly heard a faint muffled sound.
"What's wrong?!" She was startled and hurriedly turned her head to look at Xiao Jue beside her.
Xiao Jue's expression remained unchanged. He supported her back and pushed her forward, gritting his teeth and shouting, "Don't look back, run!"
They raced past countless fallen people, and Qi Yuxuan began to taste blood in her throat, her chest aching terribly from the intense running.
But she dared not stop for even a moment. The sound of arrows whizzing through the air continued to ring out. She just wanted to run farther and farther away, until she was out of the valley and everything would be over.
The entrance was right in front of her, but she couldn't get there no matter what she did. Her legs felt like they were made of lead, so heavy that she couldn't take a step several times.
However, no matter what, a large hand steadily supported her from behind, preventing her from falling due to exhaustion.
Qi Yuxuan pursed her lips. She knew that if Xiao Jue abandoned her, he would definitely be able to get out faster than her.
But he wanted to stay by her side and help her escape.
"Lord Xiao, you go first. I... I really can't run anymore."
She knew her own body well; she hadn't fully recovered to begin with, and she hadn't practiced martial arts to strengthen herself. All the strength she had accumulated had been used up on the way here. If she continued like this, she would only be a burden to Xiao Jue.
She claimed that once she left the Xiao family, she owed them nothing. Now that this was her own fate to face this calamity, she accepted it whether she lived or died, and she didn't want to owe Xiao Jue anything.
"We'll go together!" Xiao Jue gritted his teeth so hard they almost broke. "I'm your older brother, how could I abandon you at a time like this?!"
"Pull yourself together! You are now Princess Chang Le. The marriage alliance between Qi and Yue has failed, and you don't have to go to another marriage alliance. Are you just going to die in a place like this?!"
"Let me tell you, Qi Yuxuan, don't think that dying here will shield you from the court's judgment. If you—"
The sound stopped abruptly.
Instead, there was another tearing sound of flesh snapping.
Qi Yuxuan turned around in horror. What did she see?
Xiao Jue, who had been shielding her, had actually been hit by two arrows in the back!
The air was thick with the stench of blood. One arrow had struck his waist, and the other his shoulder. Although they had avoided vital organs, the bloodstains on his skin suggested how painful it must have been.
"Die, you dog!" A fierce shout rang out, and a Yue soldier spurred his horse and charged forward, his sword flashing, his killing intent like a rainbow.
Qi Yuxuan's pupils contracted slightly. She didn't know where the strength came from, but she pushed Xiao Jue, who had already been hit by two arrows, to the side. Then, she used the momentum to fall backward, avoiding the iron hooves of the warhorse that could crush human bones.
Seeing that his first attack had missed, the Yue soldier turned his horse around, his face full of ferocity, and prepared to strike again. In the next instant, his body was suddenly lifted into the air and he fell off his horse.
He looked down blankly and saw the long sword piercing through his chest.
Qi Yuxuan hissed as a sharp pain shot through her right ankle, aggravating an old injury she had sustained last year from a fall on the back mountain of Jici Temple. If she wasn't careful, she would sprain it repeatedly, and even the imperial physicians were helpless.
"Chang Le!"
A clear and melodious shout came from the entrance of the valley.
The black tallow tree's hooves trampled the grass and trees, and the young crown prince on horseback was dressed in black riding clothes and armor, with a majestic and imposing presence.
Beneath those sharp, sword-like eyebrows, the arrogance in his starry eyes was tempered into a cold glint, as still and imposing as a deep pool, a gem hidden within.
Qi Yuxuan thought she was having a death hallucination.
How could Qi Junyuan, who is in the capital of Qi, thousands of miles away, appear in Tianque Valley here?
Before she could react, she sensed something amiss beside her. Upon closer inspection, she saw the Vietnamese soldier whose chest had been pierced. His face was stiff, as if he were oblivious, and he was leaning on his body, holding a dagger, ready to kill her!
Qi Yuxuan's hands moved faster than her brain; a split second before the dagger could strike, she pulled the gold hairpin from her hair and plunged it fiercely into the man's throat—
In an instant, icy blood splattered all over her face.
With trembling hands, she used all her strength to pull out the gold hairpin, then slowly raised her hand to touch the sticky, rusty smell on her face.
It wasn't her imagination; the blood really was cold.
But how could that be?!
"Yu Xuan!" Another low roar brought Qi Yu Xuan back to her senses, and she looked up at the figure riding towards her at high speed.
At this moment, Xiao, enduring excruciating pain, tried to get up from the ground, exclaiming in alarm:
"Your Highness the Crown Prince?!"
She wasn't hallucinating; the prince, who should have been thousands of miles away, had indeed appeared before her.
Behind Qi Jun were thousands of well-trained Qilin Guards. They might not be good at troop deployment, but they were absolute experts when it came to killing.
Looking at the young girl in front of him, dressed in a wedding gown but with her face covered in blood, her hair disheveled, and her expression blank, Qi Jun felt a pang of pain in his heart.
It's all his fault for being a step too late.
Heaven knows that when he saw the Vietnamese soldier's ruthless movements, raising his knife straight at her, Qi Jun felt as if his heart was being squeezed tightly, and even his breathing stopped.
"Yu Xuan, give me your hand!" Qi Jun rode up to her and bowed as he called out.
Qi Yuxuan looked up and subconsciously reached out her hand. The next moment, she was forcefully pulled onto the horse's back by the other party.
"Sit still, I'll take you out first." He threw his sword from a distance, stabbing the Yue soldier off his horse. He then noticed her furrowed brow and saw her gaze fixed on her right ankle, which was clearly sprained.
"Go and take Lord Xiao out!" he ordered again, then, with the still-shaken little girl in his arms, he turned and rode his horse out of the valley.
Sitting on her horse, Qi Yuxuan suddenly realized that even without her and the two generals' conspiracy, Qi Jun was originally going to lead his troops to ambush the marriage ceremony.
Having figured this out, she felt a little resentful:
"Why did you come here? The border is dangerous; you shouldn't have come in person!"
Qi Jun frowned: "So you expect me to just stand by and watch you marry into the Southern Yue?!"
The tallow tree was fast, and in a short while it ran out of the valley.
The valley was filled with carnage, shouts and cries of pain were everywhere, and only a very few people saw the strange sight at the entrance.
The crown prince of Qi, who should never have been here, actually led thousands of soldiers into the valley.
Wherever they went, the Vietnamese soldiers were immediately killed, their bodies torn apart, without even a chance to struggle.
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