Chapter 78: Misunderstanding Resolved Between Brothers + Prince Yong's Enlightenment + Offense...
The rubbing sound on the floor suddenly intensified for a moment, as if Jia Ruzhen had suddenly exerted force, and the old man was lifted up.
The cane fell to the ground with a series of dull thuds...
Prince Yong forcefully raised his hand upwards!
Aches and pains coursed through his entire arm, aggravating Ying Dang's numerous wounds. The answer to the mystery that had perplexed Prince Yong was now right before his eyes.
He looked up at the solid, impenetrable floor tiles above him. He opened his mouth, but his lips were dry, and the tightness in his throat made it almost impossible to breathe.
The old man replied, "Outside, there is chaos and war, and I have come here alone to seek refuge. I have not seen anyone else."
A flash of silver light appeared on Jia Ruzhen's sword, and the short sword pierced the old man's abdomen. The excruciating pain turned the old man's face deathly pale, and he was already nine-tenths dead!
Large amounts of fresh blood dripped down.
It seeped into the cracks between the bricks beneath their feet.
Blood dripped and flowed around the dark compartment.
Ying Xi gritted her teeth fiercely, her lips filled with the taste of rust.
He held Prince Yong in a daze, his hand touching the wall, his fingernails making a soft sound as they rubbed against the soil.
However, when she used the sword, Jia Ruzhen aggravated her internal injuries!
His face was a sallow yellow, with a pale undertone. He pursed his lips tightly, preventing himself from spitting out the blood.
He asked in a tone as sharp as if it were poison, almost enunciating each word clearly: "Where is Ying Xi?"
But his desperate attempts to conceal his true feelings couldn't fool the doctor who had practiced medicine for decades. The old man felt a surge of vengeful pleasure amidst his excruciating pain, and he hid that sense of gratification.
A ruthless gangster who disregards human life.
The old man recalled the fleeting image of Ying Xi picking up medical books and prescriptions. He knew the common people had a hard life, and what had they done to deserve such treatment?
The governor of Guangling is no match for the emperor of Jiangbei!
Blood flowed from the old man's abdomen. He knew this was a torturous technique. Those struck by the sword would not die quickly, but would feel overwhelming pain and despair, only begging the murderer for a quick death, and would answer any question asked.
When faced with the most wicked and evil people, not yielding is tantamount to resistance.
The old man was resolute.
Yet it burst into a hoarse scream, enough to send shivers down the spine of anyone with a conscience.
More blood droplets spilled out, turning the dark compartment into a crimson prison.
Ying Xi and Ying Dang of Jiangbei were of unparalleled nobility.
The two brothers are now underground, while the old man on the ground protected them with his life. That helpless scene is so similar to when they first entered Chang'an ten years ago.
Countless drops of hot blood splattered onto Ying Xi's forehead.
Crimson blood filled Ying Xi's eyes.
Jia Ruzhen showed no pity whatsoever.
He twisted the sword hilt menacingly.
The old man's screams grew louder and louder!
Jia Ruzhen exuded a suffocating sense of threat, a feeling that Ying Dang found increasingly familiar, as if this person had once haunted him like a ghost.
Where is Ying Xi???
The old man tilted his head back and murmured something.
Jia Ruzhen's brows furrowed, and her beady eyes flashed with a fierce look: "If you refuse to talk, I'll cut you into a thousand pieces!"
"The emperor is heading east...to escape...and rendezvous with the army outside the city..."
"The imperial army... is about to seize the East Gate... You, who have committed many injustices—your death is imminent!"
Jia Ruzhen: "Then you go die first!!!"
The old man's emaciated body crashed down heavily.
At the same time, Jia Ruzhen was consumed by rage, and dark purple blood gushed from her mouth. As she vomited blood, her disciples surrounded her, and the noisy chatter instantly filled Anren Pharmacy.
The apprentices, fearing the loss of their leader and sensing the impending doom, were all speaking in trembling voices.
"Master, Master, please calm down."
"Master, please take care of yourself."
Jia Ruzhen said fiercely, "Chase them."
The rebel army had been locked in a stalemate with the imperial court for several days, and now that they had missed a golden opportunity to turn the tide, it was hard not to think that fate had intervened.
Some of the rebels had seen Ying Xi on the banks of the Han River.
When they attacked Ying Xi, the sky was filled with thunder, a force far beyond the reach of ordinary people.
One of the disciples trembled and said, "Master, perhaps the young emperor is truly blessed with good fortune. The east gate of Guangling City has not yet been breached. If we surrender, it will still be considered surrender. Why not open the city gates and negotiate with the court?"
This suggestion was put forward, and others readily agreed.
Two or three apprentices couldn't contain themselves any longer and ran to the entrance of the pharmacy, waiting for Jia Ruzhen to make a decision and order all the sects to surrender.
Anren Pharmacy experienced a brief silence.
Then Jia Ruzhen suddenly attacked and stabbed the disciple who had suggested surrendering more than a dozen times.
Each strike penetrated to the vital points, so swift it was as if venting anger, or perhaps killing the chicken to scare the monkey, cutting off any future path for his disciples and followers who might try to be opportunists.
Jia Ruzhen stood up and shouted sternly:
"I killed Ying Xi's father, I killed his mother, I slaughtered the entire Yongning Prince's Mansion, and I monitored him for ten whole years!"
"I knew that once I was stained with the blood of the Prince of Yongning's mansion, I could not let him become the crown prince. I used any means necessary to make the late emperor despise him, and I made Ying Xi suffer a fate worse than death, walking on thin ice day and night!"
"We have an irreconcilable blood feud."
"Who can he let go of?"
"Anyone present who has even the slightest connection with me is undoubtedly the young emperor's mortal enemy!"
After those words were spoken, everyone at Anren Pharmacy changed their expressions and no one dared to mention the surrenderer again.
The rebel soldiers swallowed hard, their expressions resolute: "Chase—" "Kill Ying Xi before the fall of Dongcheng!"
The sound of footsteps echoed across the paved floor, a chaotic cacophony. Jia Ruzhen and his disciples rushed out of Anren Pharmacy, hurrying towards the east of the city.
Anren Pharmacy returned to silence.
Only the blood dripped from the tops of their heads.
Ying Xi suppressed the soreness in his throat and guessed that no one was above him. He tentatively poked the bottom of the floor tile with his fingertip.
His eyes stung and burned, and sticky tears trickled down his fingertips.
Ying Xi pushed the floor tiles away!
The air was thick with the stench of blood.
The flickering candlelight illuminated the old man's completely motionless body, and he could not express the respect and gratitude he felt for the old man.
His kingdom included subjects he had never met before, who were willing to die to end the war.
As the emperor, how could Ying Xi not be willing to take such a dangerous risk?
There was no time to collect the old man's body; Ying Xi glanced one last time at the hidden compartment.
Inside the hidden compartment, Yongwang Wang Yingxi opened his mouth.
The answers to those questions yet to be asked are self-evident: his elder brother had endured the deaths of their parents alone for ten years, suffering excruciating grief, forcing a smile to deal with the guards, and not wanting to bring any danger to him.
He was arrogant and self-righteous, causing his brother endless trouble! He even caused the death of an innocent life!
He believed that his brother, who had betrayed him, was the kindest relative in the world to him.
Ying Dang's five fingers were deeply embedded in the earthen wall of the hidden compartment.
"Brother..."
The anesthetic dulled his senses, making even pain less intense.
Prince Yong's phoenix eyes reflected Ying Xi, his arms pressed against the edge of the floor tiles.
The older brother wanted to hide himself, and all he could see in his vision was Ying Xi's increasingly smaller figure.
Prince Yong shouted, "Brother!!!"
Ying Dang's voice was swallowed up by the heavy floor of the dark compartment.
The romance system popped up in front of Ying Xi immediately.
A new button appeared in the lower right corner of the system interface. It had a bright purple background, flashed briefly, and then disappeared.
Ying Xi had no time to spare and summoned her system assistant: "Prepare a message by wild goose."
His voice was extremely cold.
Overwhelmed by the imposing presence, Tian Tong solemnly replied, "As you command!"
Yan'er appeared at the pharmacy.
Suppressing his grief and anger, he dipped the prescription paper from the pharmacy into the blood that had flowed all over the ground from the old man. His pen trembled slightly, and Ying Xi's back and shoulders trembled.
“The enemy is in the eastern city.”
Each word was bright red and glaring.
"Strengthen, attack, city, west."
He folded the blood-written letter, tied it to the goose's ankle, and then raised his arm to release the goose into the air.
As the wild geese flew into the night, they were about to quickly relay this military intelligence to Xie Qianli.
Ying Xi glanced back at Anren Pharmacy, pursed her lips, and ran towards the west of the city with all her might.
***
Guangling City was in complete chaos.
The city was bustling with noise.
All the teams within the city are in action.
The team leaders and squad leaders shouted in unison:
"The prefect has ordered: troops to proceed to the east of the city to provide support!"
"By order of Prefect Jia, all soldiers in the city shall immediately proceed to the East Gate. Anyone who delays the march shall be executed without mercy."
"Cavalry, head east of the city to search for spies!"
"Move the fortifications to the east of the city!"
“Kill anyone whose origins are unknown, kill anyone suspected of being a spy, and kill any soldiers you do not know.”
"Better to kill the innocent than let the guilty go free!"
"Kill! Kill! Kill!"
After breaking out of Anren Pharmacy, Ying Xi took off her blood-stained clothes and hid herself along the way.
If we can evade these waves of soldiers, the eastern city will soon be overrun with rebel troops, while the western city will be perfectly safe.
He watched from the shadows as more and more rebels headed east of the city. Once they had passed, he would advance westward. Guangling, the formidable obstacle to his southern campaign, would finally be removed.
He tripped and fell on the street leading to the west of the city. A sharp pain shot through his knee, and he couldn't muster any strength in his left leg when he tried to run.
Ying Xi steeled her resolve.
Despite the pain, she continued moving westward, helping up the body of a refugee along the way, and leaning him against a wall in the middle of the street.
The west gate was visible in the distance, and commotion could be heard from the city walls; the imperial army had begun its attack.
Behind them, the deep darkness of night painted the firelight.
Ying Xi became a tiny white dot amidst the overwhelming colors, stretching along the long street where he stood, leading to the other end of Guangling City—
Jia Ruzhen rode her horse so fast that it left a trail of afterimages!
He could no longer distinguish the scenery on either side of his body. He struggled eastward, charging recklessly at anyone who stood in his way. If any refugees blocked his path, they were instantly trampled into bloody mud.
His disciples were also charging forward behind him, like a swarm of ants.
But the reins tightened, the horse's hooves rose high, and Jia Ruzhen suddenly stopped. Her sallow face had lost all color, and her appearance suddenly became ferocious, like a ghost.
"Master, what is it? Why did you stop?"
"Prefect..."
Despite his orders, large armies continued to surge towards the east of the city.
The thunderous sound of horses' hooves echoed as wheelbarrows carrying defensive works rumbled along the road.
The extreme chaos contrasted sharply with the eerie silence of the eastern part of the city.
This scene was like a heavy blow to Jia Ruzhen's head!
His beady black eyes swept coldly around him, his mind replaying the old man he had just killed. The old man's face seemed similar, yet familiar. Had he seen him somewhere before? Was he an enemy?
He has no enemies like that.
Who is the old man?
who?
The old man's facial features overlapped with those of the physician he had killed in the back hall of the prefectural governor's mansion. It was the middle-aged doctor who had predicted that he would not recover for more than ten years.
They are family...
The old man tricked him.
The main army is definitely not in the eastern city.
Jia Ruzhen burst into a fit of violent coughing.
Black blood kept spilling from the corner of his mouth.
He bent down, gripped the saddle with one hand, raised his sleeve, and pointed with difficulty in the opposite direction, drawing all the surrounding rebels to look towards the west of the city.
The rebel soldiers asked, "What does the prefect mean?"
Jia Ruzhen threw out her riding whip, her eyes bloodshot: "Fight back...fight back to Xicheng. Xicheng is the main direction of attack for the Jiangbei army...the old man saved the young emperor."
Jia Ruzhen roared, "We've fallen into a trap!!!"
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