Xiyashan
The snow was so deep that the cold wind whipped up snowflakes that clung to their clothes. When Yang Hui led Zhou Yanzhi to a cliff, the hems of their robes were inevitably covered with snowflakes, which now hung heavily on their garments.
From the military camp across the cliff, shouts of private soldiers training echoed through the thick fog, startling several birds in the forest into flight. They hovered in the air, their cries cutting through the silent woods.
Zhou Yanzhi stopped and stomped his boots into the soft snow, making the snow on his feet more compact.
Hearing the sound coming from the other side, he turned to look at Yang Hui, who was about ten feet away. He casually pointed to the military camp on the other side of the cliff and smiled lightly, "Lord Yang... have you taken the wrong path?"
Upon hearing this, Yang Hui caught a glimpse of an assassin's clothing flashing in the shadows out of the corner of his eye, and the anxiety that had been gripping him since he came up the mountain finally subsided.
With heavy snow and thick fog, and no one in the deep cliffs, this place is indeed a good spot for murder and dumping the body.
He suddenly dropped the tension on his face and gave Zhou Yanzhi a sinister smile: "Lord Song is joking. I have not gone astray. Today's journey is the road to the underworld that I have paved for you, Lord Song!"
As soon as he finished speaking, dozens of masked men in black suddenly emerged from the depths of the woods, each wielding a long sword whose blades gleamed with a chilling light under the reflection of the snow, clearly having been coated with deadly poison.
Zhou Yanzhi paused slightly, his face showing no sign of panic. Instead, he asked knowingly, "What does Lord Yang mean by this?"
Now that things had come to this, Yang Hui was too lazy to pretend anymore. He revealed a sinister expression and said coldly, "Lord Song is always intelligent. I don't think I need to explain the details further. You can rest assured and continue on your journey."
Having said that, he slightly raised his hand, and the dozen or so men in black pounced on Zhou Yanzhi like arrows released from a bow.
Meanwhile, outside Yangqu City Gate, feeling a gentle tap on her shoulder, Jie Xiangsi quietly slipped out of the crowded throng after finishing a bowl of porridge and followed the person to a secluded spot.
The person turned around, revealing a face she knew all too well.
She whispered with delight, "Monsoon?"
Before she could say anything, Ji Feng grabbed her wrist and asked urgently, "Where is the young master now?"
“West Cliff Mountain, Horse Ranch,” Xie Xiangsi replied quickly.
Upon hearing this, Ji Feng's face darkened, and he pulled her along, running quickly towards the corner of the city.
There was a carriage that had been prepared long ago parked there, with some mud still on the shafts. Ji Feng said, "In that case, please go to Jizhou first, Miss."
Knowing that she couldn't help much by staying, Jie Xiangsi quickly got into the carriage, turned around and grabbed Ji Feng's sleeve, saying, "You must bring my cousin back safely."
Ji Feng responded with a heavy "Okay" and continued, "Miss, rest assured, I will protect you, young master, even at the cost of my life."
Upon hearing this, Jie Xiangsi said no more, lowered the carriage curtain, and signaled the driver to hurry up.
However, neither of them noticed that a figure in black flashed past the moment the carriage curtain was lowered.
The carriage rumbled through the filthy snow, speeding towards Jizhou.
Watching the carriage disappear into the distance, Ji Feng took out a token engraved with the character "Zhou" from his waist and turned to walk in another direction.
The situation in Yangqu needs to be resolved.
...
The cold wind whipped up the falling snow and crashed against the carriage curtain, lifting the thin fabric high. In an instant, the chill filled the entire carriage.
Suddenly, a horse neighed loudly from ahead, and the entire carriage stopped abruptly. Caught off guard, Xie Xiangsi stumbled forward, her elbow slamming heavily against the carriage wall.
She instinctively reached out to lift the curtain to see what was happening, but just as she raised her hand, a chill suddenly pressed against her neck.
It has a sharp edge; it's a dagger.
"Don't move."
The voice of the person who came from behind came from behind. The voice was a little hoarse, as if it had been smoked by charcoal fire.
Jie Xiangsi's fingertips trembled slightly, her hands, hidden in her sleeves, clenched tightly as she asked in a low voice, "Whose person are you?"
Could he be one of Yang Hui's men?
The thought of this possibility made Jie Xiangsi's heart clench instantly, and she even paused for a moment.
If he really is Yang Hui's man, then what is he like now?
But the next second, as if guessing what she was thinking, the blade pressed gently against her neck, and the newcomer's voice was so indifferent that it had no warmth at all, "Don't think about it, I'm not anyone's person."
He gently pressed the blade against her neck, leaving a faint bloodstain. A slight pain spread along her skin. Only then did he casually add, "Just someone who came to kill you."
Upon hearing this, Xie Xiangsi's heart skipped a beat, but she forced herself to calm down. Feeling the sharp blade that was just a hair's breadth away from slicing her neck, Xie Xiangsi said firmly in a deep voice, "You won't kill me."
"oh?"
The newcomer chuckled softly, his hoarse voice mingling with the howling wind outside the car, like a strange sound from a mountain stream in the dark night, sending chills down one's spine.
He slightly lowered his wrist, and the blade pressed inward halfway in an instant. The sensation of his skin being cut became instantly clear. A scarlet line slid down the side of his neck, seeping into his collar, carrying a warm, itchy feeling.
"And now?" he said mockingly, "Do you still think I won't kill you?"
Feeling the warmth flowing down her neck, Jie Xiangsi's Adam's apple bobbed, but she didn't back down an inch. Instead, she became even calmer and said, "I think if you wanted to kill me, one stab would have been enough. But you didn't, which means I'm still useful to you."
She paused, then added a touch of certainty to her voice: "At least for now, you don't want to kill me."
Upon hearing this, the person behind him fell silent for a moment.
Suddenly, the dagger at her neck loosened its grip. The next second, a wrist guard wrapped around her wrist, binding her hands tightly behind her back. The rough fabric rubbed against her skin, causing extreme discomfort.
The person behind him spoke again, his tone unusually cold compared to before, "That's right, so you'd better listen to me."
Upon hearing this, Xie Xiangsi pursed her lips and nodded. Then she suddenly felt her body lighten, and the next second, she was thrown onto the horse's back. Her stomach was painfully churning from the saddle.
Before he could adjust his posture, he heard a soft "whoosh" as a cold blade sliced through the horse and the rope binding its back snapped.
The newcomer immediately mounted his horse.
"drive!"
With a low shout, the horse's hooves slammed heavily on the ground, and it galloped away into the distance.
Jie Xiangsi lay on the horse's back, the cold wind stinging her cheeks. She tilted her head slightly to look up and only saw a corner of a black garment before she was suddenly knocked unconscious.
...
Xiya Mountain.
Blood dripped down the longsword, landing on the snow and blooming into red plum blossoms.
Feeling the blood-soaked, slippery hilt of the sword, Zhou Yanzhi's eyes narrowed. He reached up and pulled a piece of coarse cloth from under his torn clothes, quickly wrapping it tightly around his hand and the hilt of the sword.
That way you won't lose your grip on the sword.
But in the end, they couldn't withstand the overwhelming numbers of the other side.
Once again, he deflected the long sword thrusting towards him. The force was so great that Zhou Yanzhi felt a numbness in his tiger's mouth. If he hadn't already wrapped his hands with cloth, the sword would probably have slipped from his grasp.
He staggered back half a step, finally unable to hold on any longer, his knees slamming heavily onto the frozen ground. He could barely support himself by holding his sword.
Blood overflowed from the silver sword's blood groove once again, and crimson blood droplets slowly seeped into the ground.
Yang Hui stood not far away, looking at the corpses lying scattered on the ground, and then at Zhou Yanzhi, who was kneeling on one knee but still not letting go of his strength. He could not suppress the horror in his eyes.
Is Song Baiyu really just a civil official who can't even kill a chicken?
He suppressed his shock and composed himself.
Fortunately, there are many assassins today, so even if Song Baiyu is very powerful, he will still die.
With a cold laugh, Yang Hui raised his chin to signal the assassin to make way, then slowly strolled up to Zhou Yanzhi, looking him down at him. The tips of his snow-white boots brushed against the hem of Zhou Yanzhi's clothes that hung to the ground.
He then slowly leaned down, hooked his hand, and lifted Zhou Yanzhi's chin, clicking his tongue and saying, "What a pity, such a face... we won't see it again."
Feeling a stinging pain from his jaw, Zhou Yanzhi slowly raised his eyes, his gaze as cold as the ice and snow of Xiya Mountain: "Premeditatedly murdering an official of the imperial court, isn't Governor Yang afraid of the Emperor's wrath?"
"His Majesty is blaming me?" Yang Hui scoffed as if he had heard a joke, and said calmly, looking directly into Zhou Yanzhi's eyes, "What is His Majesty blaming? After today, the world will only know that Lord Song Baiyu accidentally fell off a cliff while inspecting the grain route. What does that have to do with me, the Prefect of Yangqu?"
He paused, as if suddenly thinking of something interesting, leaned down and whispered in Zhou Yanzhi's ear, his voice extremely low but carrying a hint of triumphant smugness: "Besides, I've served my master for so many years, and now that his grand plan is about to be implemented, do you think he would turn against me for the sake of a dead you?"
Upon hearing this, Zhou Yanzhi's heart skipped a beat, and the knuckles of his fingers gripping the sword hilt turned white from excessive force.
A grand plan?!
When will it be implemented?
...
Countless questions flooded his mind, but Zhou Yanzhi forced himself to suppress the shock in his eyes and said in a calm voice, "I am a close minister of the emperor. If His Majesty feels something is wrong and really suspects something, and sends people to investigate, Governor Yang, do you think... you can get away unscathed?"
"The Emperor?"
Yang Hui straightened up, looked up and laughed, his voice filled with undisguised contempt.
Thinking that since Song Baiyu was going to die anyway, it was better to let him die knowing the truth.
So he said slowly, "This time next year, the person sitting in that seat... may not be the same person as today."
They're going to make their move this year!
Zhou Yanzhi's heart skipped a beat. The thought had barely crossed his mind when he quickly recalled what Qi Minghua had said earlier: "His Majesty's illness is strange, his pulse is disordered, as if he has been poisoned."
They had already made their move against the Emperor!
Zhou Yanzhi's back instantly broke out in a cold sweat, and a chill crept up his spine.
Able to penetrate layers of palace walls and blockades,
Could it be someone from the imperial harem?
Zhou Yanzhi gritted his teeth, suppressing this shocking speculation in his heart.
"Alright, that's enough." Yang Hui took a few steps with his hands behind his back, then suddenly stopped and called out to Zhou Yanzhi, who was not far away, "Then... let's send Lord Song on his way!"
In an instant, the sounds of swords being drawn echoed all around.
Just as Zhou Yanzhi was preparing to use his lightness skill to jump off the cliff, a cloud-piercing arrow came flying through the air and pierced straight through the back of a man in black.
"The guards of Jizhou are here! You traitors, surrender at once!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
