Seeing Ruoxi stumble to her feet, the older guard quickly stepped forward to support her and advised, "Miss, we don't need to go."
Upon hearing this, Ruoxi turned around in surprise, looking at the older guard's expressionless face. She froze for a moment, and a bad premonition suddenly welled up in her heart. Confused, she asked him repeatedly:
"Why? Why don't we have to go? What happened? How long have I been unconscious? Could it be... that I've been unconscious for too long, missed the appointed time, and the villagers have already suffered..."
Seemingly unable to bear thinking any further, she clenched an angry fist and slammed it against the tree trunk beside her, shaking her head repeatedly and muttering to herself, "Impossible, impossible, those were vibrant lives! How could they just kill them like that? How could they be so cruel? How could they do this... It can't be..."
Seeing that Ruoxi was already excited based on her own speculation, the older guard quickly picked up the water bag that he had specially gone out to fill for her and stepped forward to hand it to Ruoxi from the side, saying with concern, "Please have some water, young lady."
However, Ruoxi didn't even glance at the water pouch, and just shook her head weakly, saying, "I don't want to drink it."
As soon as he finished speaking, he slowly spread out his palms with a somber expression and stared blankly at them.
Thinking back on everything that had happened in the past few days, he suddenly realized how weak he was. He couldn't help but mutter to himself in frustration, "So, I'm so powerless in the face of those people. I can't do anything. I've even caused them to suffer because of me. I can't even protect them, so how can I talk about protecting Western Qin or this world? Am I really such a cowardly and incompetent guardian?"
Seeing the deep sorrow that seemed to never dissipate between her brows, and her disheartened and discouraged appearance, the older guard couldn't help but feel a pang of heartache.
So he sighed softly, walked around to her, and encouraged and comforted her, saying, "Girl, you've done very well. At least no matter how difficult it was, you never gave up on anyone. You must believe in the power of the Guardian; it must be very mysterious. You just need time to seek its true secrets, like your bracelet... You must strive to become stronger."
Upon hearing this, Ruoxi silently stroked the bracelet on her wrist, repeating blankly, "Make yourself stronger..."
The older guard nodded to him, paused, and then said, "Actually... those villagers, they didn't die. They're all unharmed and alive!"
"What? What did you say?" Upon hearing this, Ruoxi's eyes lit up, and she suddenly raised her head to come back to her senses. She stared wide-eyed at the face of the older guard and asked him in disbelief.
The older guard thought for a moment and said quietly, "Because the King of Qin of Western Qin suddenly appeared and stopped Long Ye, the villagers were spared a catastrophe. Even the leader under Long Ye was beheaded by the King of Qin's deputy without anyone noticing and was executed on the spot."
As the older guard was speaking, he suddenly turned to the side and shouted sharply into the bushes, "Hurry up and come out!"
"He is..." Ruoxi asked, puzzled, as a tall, burly man in red from the Xiaolong Society suddenly emerged from behind the bushes in the darkness.
"While the girl was unconscious, I went to the river to find water and saw that Long Ye's group had returned from the direction of the village, but Long Ye himself was nowhere to be seen. So I secretly rescued the person who was following at the back of the group. After questioning him, I learned all this from him."
As soon as the older guard finished speaking, he kicked the trembling, burly man in red hard in the back of the knee, forcing him to his knees. He roared, "Why don't you tell me everything you know?"
So the burly man in red obediently recounted to Ruoxi everything that had happened in the village, as if in a dream...
After hearing everything the burly man in red said, Ruoxi stared at his face in astonishment, secretly relieved that the people had such a timely prince. Before she could think of anything else, she suddenly realized and asked him, "What about Long Ye?"
"Long Ye seemed to be no match for the swordsmanship of the Qin King's deputy general and fled. The Qin King's deputy general also gave chase," the burly man in red replied.
After hearing this, Ruoxi slowly turned around, staring blankly at the shimmering river surface under the moonlight for a while, then suddenly frowned and turned around sharply to look at the face of the older guard, exclaiming in alarm, "Oh no! Long Ye must have escaped back to the Xiaolong Society's lair! They're in danger! Go back quickly!"
With that, he strode over and mounted his horse, spurring it on. Enveloped in the pale moonlight, he rode back towards the Xiaolong Society with all his might, braving the chilly night wind.
As the night grew darker, the ethereal mist that had permeated the vast, silent lake outside the Xiaolong Society's stone gate began to dissipate in wisps. The light of dawn seemed eager to burst forth, as if it could no longer contain itself and was impatient to pierce through the thick clouds at any moment.
In the backyard of Ruoxi's house in the Xiaolong Society, under the dim light of a candle, Lanxiang was keeping watch by the cold and aloof man's bedside, resting with her eyes closed.
"Miss, come back, please don't leave Yan'er again, come back, come back..." In the center of the room, Yan'er stubbornly propped her chin up on a round table, unable to stop dozing off, her mouth occasionally uttering nightmare-like sounds, softly calling out to her beloved mistress again and again. Even though Lanxiang had persuaded her countless times, she still refused to go back to her room to rest properly.
Just then, a faint, somewhat noisy sound of footsteps came from outside. Lanxiang immediately opened her eyes alertly and muttered, "What's that sound?... Could something have happened?"
Suddenly, she stood up and walked straight out the door to investigate. Although her footsteps were extremely light, they still woke up Yan'er, who was standing nearby, so the two of them went out together.
"What's wrong with everyone? Why are they all rushing towards the outhouse, clutching their stomachs?" As soon as they stepped out onto the eaves, they bumped into several figures in red who were flashing past them. One of them suddenly turned around furtively as he passed by, exchanged a glance with Lanxiang, and then hurriedly ran off.
Lanxiang was wondering about his retreating figure when she saw the young guard rushing in from outside the archway, carrying a bundle. As soon as he got close to the two of them, he grabbed their arms and pulled them outside.
"What are you doing?" the two asked in unison, struggling in confusion.
The young guard, grabbing one person by each hand, hurriedly explained as he walked, "These are provisions for your journey. I used the same trick again, managing to poison the guards on duty with the same herb Ruoxi used. They're all poisoned now. You should take this opportunity to escape quickly. I've been feeling very uneasy, and after much thought, I think it's best to get you two away as soon as possible. Dawn is approaching, so you should leave while it's still dark. If it gets light, you might not be able to leave even if you want to."
"What about him? He's still not awake!" Upon hearing this, Lanxiang hurriedly turned around and glanced in the direction of the cold-faced man who was still left unconscious in the room, and asked worriedly.
The young guard said, "He's extremely skilled. Once he rests and wakes up, he'll easily escape. He'll be fine. You two young ladies should hurry and leave, or things will get worse!"
Unexpectedly, as soon as Yan'er realized what was happening, she forcefully broke free from his hand and ran back, stubbornly saying, "Yan'er is not going anywhere. Yan'er only wants to wait here for my young lady to come back. If I don't see my young lady, Yan'er will not leave even a step."
The young guard rushed back and grabbed her, scolding her harshly in a low voice: "Didn't your young lady tell you to go back first? She'll definitely find you. How could you be so stupid! Your young lady has been repeatedly drawn into danger because of you. Do you want her to be dragged down by you and die here before you're at peace?"
"I..." After hearing this tirade, Yan'er was clearly at a loss.
At this moment, Lanxiang thought about it carefully and stepped forward to persuade her, "Yan'er, he's right. Think about it, if it weren't for the few of us, Miss Yi wouldn't be in such a difficult and dangerous situation now. Let's listen to her arrangements and leave first!"
After hesitating for a long time, biting her lip tightly, Yan'er was finally persuaded by Lanxiang and nodded slightly.
After saying "Hmm!", just as the three of them started to take a step together, more than a dozen burly men in red clothes, wielding large knives, rushed out from all directions and surrounded them.
The three were tightly surrounded. The young guard immediately drew his broadsword from his waist and held it horizontally in front of them as a defensive stance. His eyes quickly scanned the surroundings, but it seemed that there was no chance of breaking out. Just as he was looking around in fear and still searching, he suddenly heard a mocking laugh: "Trying to escape? Not so easy!"
By the dim firelight, Lanxiang recognized the burly man in red who had approached her. Her eyes widened in surprise, and she exclaimed, "Aren't you the one who ran towards the outhouse just now? You... so you didn't exist at all..."
The burly man in red laughed loudly and said, "Hmph...that's right, none of us were poisoned. Everything just now was just to help you put on this show. Otherwise, how could the fox have shown its tail so quickly? Before the deputy leader left, he already knew that there must be something fishy in your courtyard, so he ordered us to keep a close watch on the East Garden from the outside to see what tricks you were up to. I didn't expect that you would be so cunning as to have a way to enter the secret prison to rescue people. The deputy leader really was right."
At this point, the three men suddenly realized what was happening. As they stared in astonishment at the tall, strong, and energetic men before them, the leader shouted, "What are you all standing there for? Capture them all now! If even one of them escapes, the vice-leader will skin you alive when he gets back! Attack!"
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