The chirping of cicadas in the forest suddenly became silent.
Jiang Songyi's hand, gripping the reins, was sweating, and her Rouge Horse pawed its front hooves nervously. Xin Yidao's dark arrow sleeve brushed the back of her hand, startling her with a slight shiver.
"Your Highness." She was about to speak when she saw a wry smile ripple across the crown prince's lips. That smile was even more fragmented than the light spots filtering through the shadows of the trees, and it pricked her throat and tightened.
Xin Yidao raised her hand and broke off a dry branch: "Miss Jiang, are you going to use the Yongding Marquis' Mansion as a bet?" The dry branch broke into three pieces in her palm and fell into the pine needles on the ground.
"It's a bargaining chip." Jiang Songyi pointed at the hawk circling in the sky with her whip. "Your Highness, have you ever seen a falcon trained?" The image of blood splattered at Xuanwu Gate in her previous life flashed before her eyes. She clenched the whip tightly. "Only the most ferocious falcon is worthy of the golden wire."
Before he could finish his words, a cold arrow suddenly pierced the silence of the forest. Xin Yidao reined in his horse and swayed sideways. The arrowhead grazed the white jade crown, still humming as it lodged into the ancient cypress tree behind him. Jiang Songyi drew his arrow with a smooth, backhanded movement, and the golden-feathered arrow pierced the air, cutting the hidden arrow in half.
"Protect the emperor!" The clang of Jiang Jinzhao's unsheathed sword and the dull thud of the assassin's fall to the ground exploded simultaneously. Over twenty dark figures leaped from the treetops, their scimitars reflecting the golden sunlight.
Yanzhi raised her horse's hooves and neighed loudly, dragging the prince off the saddle. She didn't care about the dead branches digging into her palms, and with her backhand, she drew the short blade from the saddle. "Three hundred steps to the east, there's a hunter trap!" Before she finished speaking, the assassin's blade had already cut through her hairband.
Xinyi Daoyi suddenly grasped her bladed hand. Warm blood splashed onto the cinnabar mole between his eyebrows, reminiscent of the arrow that pierced the clouds when the city was breached in his previous life. He guided her hand and thrust the short blade into the assassin's heart, whispering a bloody whisper into her ear: "Miss Jiang's bet, I'll take it."
A sharp whistle suddenly rang out from the forest. Jiang Songyi's pupils constricted—the tune echoed exactly like the horns used by the rebels during their previous life's siege. She dragged the prince into the bushes, not caring that her gold-embroidered shoes got stuck in the tree roots. The whining of her rouge-colored horse mingled with the muffled thud of her scimitar piercing flesh.
"Southeast!" She snatched the trigger from the assassin's crossbow, and three hidden arrows, arranged in a triangular pattern, were driven into the tree trunk. The pursuer stepped on the mechanism, and the snap of the trap closed, mixed with the screams that startled the crows.
Jiang Jinzhao, bloodied, fought his way out of the encirclement, a half-severed finger still lingering on the tip of his sword. He caught a glimpse of the bloodstains on his sister's bare feet, his throat pounding but ultimately, no sound came out. Jiang Songyi was even more formidable now than she had been on that day of the hunt, her eyes ablaze with fire.
"Help!" Jiang Songyi suddenly pushed the prince toward his brother. Xin Yidao stumbled half a step, his dark brocade robe ripped, revealing the bright yellow soft armor underneath. The assassin leader's pupils suddenly constricted, and the scimitar went straight for his throat.
At the critical moment, Jiang Songyi leaped forward. As the scimitar pierced his left shoulder, the short blade in her right hand pierced the assassin's waist. Hot blood splattered on the crown of the crowned prince, forming a strange red coral.
"You." Xin Yidao caught her limp body. The little girl in his arms trembled in pain, but a smile played on her lips: "I said, if you want to gamble, let's gamble the biggest."
Suddenly, the rumble of horse hooves echoed from outside the forest. Jiang Songyi's dilated pupils reflected a hail of arrows—the Black Iron Cavalry of the Yongding Marquisate! She finally released her grip on the crown prince's collar, and vaguely heard the death knell of her past life transform into the triumphal bell of this one.
The last flicker of light before she passed out was Xin Yidao's bloodstained fingertips caressing her brow. The warmth of that kiss was strikingly similar to the farewell kiss on the city wall in her previous life, yet it was clearly wrapped in a new, fiery vitality.
.
The fragmented light in the forest was as mottled as blood.
Jiang Songyi wrapped the reins around his wrist, the rouge horsehair brushing against the back of Xinyi Daoyi's hand. He suddenly unhooked the dagger from his waist, the scabbard still stained with wild fruit juice.
"I've peeled seventeen pears." Xin Yidao put the dagger into her palm, "It's time to see blood." The residual body heat from the handle made Jiang Songyi's fingertips numb. She seemed to see him handing her the poisoned wine on the city wall in her previous life.
The sound of arrows piercing the air suddenly rang out. Xinyi Daoyi suddenly pulled the quiver from her back, and the moment three feathered arrows were nocked onto the bowstring, Jiang Songyi could hear her heart beating like a drum—this was the starting gesture her master had loved to use when teaching her archery in her previous life.
“Head down!”
As Jiang Jinzhao swung his sword to deflect the stray arrow, he caught a glimpse of the prince drawing his bow in the same exact manner as his sister. As the arrowheads pierced the throats of the two assassins, he felt a sudden prickling of an old wound on his wrist—the one he'd received while protecting Jiang Songyi during the autumn hunt the previous year.
"Brother! Southeast!" Jiang Songyi's shout faded away with the sound of horse hooves. Jiang Jinzhao wiped the blood from his face, feeling a pang of wet cotton stuffed in his chest as he watched his sister charge forward without even turning back.
As the forest mist thickened, Jiang Songyi suddenly reined in her horse. Yanzhi's front hooves kicked up, breaking the morning dew as she dragged the prince into the bushes. The assassin's footsteps drew near. Xinyi Daoyi caught a whiff of jasmine in her hair, mingled with the scent of blood, a scent reminiscent of their farewell in a past life.
"Close your eyes." Jiang Songyi bit his fingertip and drew a talisman on his palm. As drops of blood dripped onto the dead leaves, a thick fog suddenly rose in the forest. The assassin's curse suddenly distorted: "Where is the man?!"
Xin Yidao peered through the mist and saw two men in black stabbing their companions' chests with swords. Jiang Songyi's pale lips curled into a sneer. This illusion was a forbidden technique she had exchanged ten years of her life in her previous life for.
"Next." She suddenly tossed a lucky charm to her brother. When Jiang Jinzhao caught it, his palm felt something hard—the breastplate his mother had given him before she died. His sister's inner voice boomed in his ears: "Brother, please don't really die!"
The sound of horse hooves approached again. Jiang Songyi was about to activate the formation when a cold flash of light broke through the mist. The arrowhead struck Xin Yidao between her eyebrows. She instinctively turned to block it, but was instead slammed into a warm embrace.
The dull sound of flesh tearing, mixed with the stench of blood, filled the air. Xinyi Daoyi's palm was pierced by an arrow, blood splattering on her eyelashes. As he carried her down the slope, the arrow shaft broke in two amidst the rubble.
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