Chapter 137
Because of this face, he chose to give himself away. By entrusting himself to a loyal subject, even in death, he could say he had repaid his debt.
He raised his hand to Qin Sang: "Let's go, girl."
Qin Sang understood what he meant, stepped forward to help him, and walked towards the route he remembered.
The Prince of Ning'an marked the route on the map for her. As long as she followed the route, she would be safe, as someone would be secretly protecting her.
The old emperor was used to walking slowly, and even now, with his life at stake, he remained unhurried. Qin Sang didn't dare to urge him, fearing that he might anger the emperor and refuse to move.
She was still hoping he would live to the end so that Prince Ning'an could be made crown prince.
"I heard you used to live in Li County. What kind of place is that?" The old emperor asked as he walked, his interest piqued.
Qin Sang thought to herself, "My goodness, is this the time for idle chatter? This is the time to run for your life! Run for your life!"
"Uh, it's just a very remote little town in the southwest. It's not worth mentioning."
"So, how have you been all these years?"
"……fine."
"Have you been hungry, beaten, or bullied?"
"...No." Not only that, she was living a rather comfortable and pleasant life. If she hadn't come to Kyoto for a mission, she would have liked to stay in that tea garden.
"That's good. Thank you for treating you well."
Upon hearing the emperor mention Prime Minister Xie, Qin Sang's heart skipped a beat.
"His weakness is both his greatest strength and his greatest weakness. If he hadn't taken in the princess of the fallen Night Owl Kingdom, he wouldn't be in this predicament now," the old emperor sighed deeply.
Qin Sang listened silently, recalling what Xie Xiao had told her, and thought to herself that if it weren't for your abandonment of her after starting something, the old prime minister wouldn't have had to clean up your mess.
The group walked along the passageway between the palace walls. Midway through, Qin Sang took out a map to look at, and the old emperor, uninterested, let her lead the way.
The walk didn't actually take long; they just wandered around for about half an hour before finally stopping in front of two wooden doors with peeling paint. In some corners of the doors, rats had gnawed holes, showing how long the place had been abandoned.
Actually, setting aside the detours they took, the palace gardens here are not far from the emperor's bedroom, but because they are completely blocked by a newly built palace wall, they have to take a long detour.
The old emperor stared at the two characters "Nanyuan" on the lintel, his relaxed eyes welling up with a misty mist.
Everyone says that the person sitting in this position is the supreme ruler, standing at the highest point, able to see clearly all things in the world. But only he knows that, standing here, he is undoubtedly blind and deaf. Everyone's words are so reasonable and well-founded, everyone has their own grievances, everyone is telling him, pleading with him, hinting at him, misleading him... and his words are repeatedly analyzed, with people looking for opportunities to exploit him.
He stood atop a towering mountain, yet beneath his feet lay nothing but emptiness, an endless loneliness.
It seemed that only on the day he let go of everything would all the fog in front of him gradually dissipate.
The women he loved and the children he cherished were all killed by his own hands.
To forget the pain in his heart, he ordered a high wall to be built to isolate himself from this place.
But in the end, he still returned here.
Without anyone's help, he stepped onto the eaves and pushed open the door with all his might. The wooden door had been in disrepair for many years, and the hinges were stiff, requiring a lot of force to open.
He couldn't help but think that she was the one who wouldn't let him in, and he hated her for being heartless and angry at her for being blind.
He did indeed do many terrible things in those years, thinking that with the passage of time he could, like all other times, let go of this guilt, but he later found that it wouldn't work.
He began a secret investigation into the treasonous plot of years past. Even if he had to admit he was wrong, he needed to know the outcome. He simply wanted to prove that his beloved wife and children would not betray him.
Seeing the emperor's reaction, Qin Sang roughly guessed where they were and whispered to the chief eunuch, "Is this the palace of the former mother of Prince Su?"
The chief eunuch's expression remained unchanged, but he closed his eyes briefly.
Qin Sang understood and followed the footsteps inside.
Only a palace lantern in the eunuch's hand emitted a faint light, not enough to illuminate the whole scene, but even from the halo of light at his feet, it was clear that the place was overgrown with weeds. The plants in the garden were once covered by weeds and vines, which spread along the paving stones and almost covered the entire courtyard, climbing up the pillars and window frames... The entire palace was shrouded in this patch of shadow, like a giant monster.
"Turn off the lights, I know the way," the old emperor ordered.
"The moonlight isn't good tonight, let's light it up," the chief eunuch said cautiously.
Qin Sang bent down and blew out the candle inside the lantern: "Let's put it out, so as not to attract attention."
If we can escape the fighting outside here, we'll be able to greet the sunrise tomorrow morning. What's a moment of darkness? We can just endure it.
So, in the dark, the two followed the old emperor up the steps of the house, pushed open the wooden door, and went inside.
***
In the dim candlelight, Xie Sui'an's face was deathly pale, and blood was at the corner of his mouth. He used his sword to support his body, kneeling on one knee and panting. Seeing the commander of the Imperial Guards flying out, he reached out and grabbed him to slow his momentum. Then, he spun around and launched a sneak attack on Tan Bi without stopping for a moment.
Tan Bi smirked coldly: "Overestimating yourself."
In Xie Suian's view, whether it was overestimating their abilities or trying to stop a chariot with a mantis's arm, as long as they could hold out until reinforcements arrived, they would have won this battle.
In these exchanges with his opponent, he also improved, familiarizing himself with his opponent's moves, adjusting his strategies, and gradually approaching his opponent's weak points. Every martial artist has weaknesses; no matter how strong a martial artist is, there will be times when their strength is exhausted.
Tan Bi naturally saw through the other party's delaying tactic. His eagle eyes flashed with ruthlessness. He raised his sword to block the other party's mid-air slash, and then drew a dagger from his waist with his other hand, sweeping it across.
Xie Sui'an's clothes were ripped open, and blood gushed from his chest. But he didn't change his moves. After landing, he took advantage of the brief pause his opponent made due to his injury and swung his sword to sweep the horse's legs.
The warhorse neighed and fell to the ground. Tan Bi reacted quickly, using one hand to push off the horse's back and leaping off.
Upon landing, Xie Sui'an clutched his chest, feeling a wave of dizziness. He wanted to look down at his wound, but feared it would frighten him. He tried to carefully sense the changes in his body to judge how much longer he could hold on.
A stick of incense? A quarter of an hour? Has Qin Sang hidden herself well? Will he ever see her again?
Many thoughts flashed through his mind in an instant, and his gaze toward Tan Bi turned icy.
Tan Bi hadn't tried to kill her earlier. Whether she was in a hurry to get rid of his entanglement or thinking of their childhood friendship, at this moment, after such a long entanglement, the other party finally lost patience.
Tan Bi knew that he couldn't leave unless he killed this troublesome person.
Dark clouds passed by, and a cold rain began to fall from the sky, fine and continuous, landing silently on the ground.
Tan Bi raised his sword, its light shattered by the raindrops. He moved his feet slightly and, without any warning, headed towards Xie Suian.
Xie Sui'an stared at the shadow that was approaching him in the blink of an eye. Just as the sword was about to pierce him, he seized the opportunity to move, narrowly dodging the attack while simultaneously slashing at the other's back.
Having landed a successful blow, the opponent didn't pause his swordplay and immediately spun around to continue attacking him. Tan Bi's sword slammed down fiercely, and Xie Sui'an's neck was jolted painfully when he raised his sword to block it, but the sharp sword still pressed down on his shoulder and cut into his flesh.
He gripped the sword with both hands and slid it towards the tip of the opponent's sword, where the force was weakest, and easily deflected the opponent's sword.
But Tan Bi had already swiftly delivered his second strike.
The old emperor settled down in the dark, dilapidated palace and then drifted into his long memories. Qin Sang gazed at the faint moonlight outside the window, feeling uneasy.
After enduring this unbearable discomfort for a while, Qin Sang was about to get up when she heard a tearing sound behind her.
Qin Sang turned around, and the old emperor tore off a piece of the hem of his dragon robe and laid it on the table, saying, "Light the lamp."
The chief eunuch paused for a moment, then took out a tinderbox from his robes, blew on it, and lit the lantern. A soft, yellow glow quickly filled the room.
Qin Sang frowned, looking worriedly towards the door, listening intently to the sounds outside, wondering what the old emperor was planning to do.
Then the emperor calmly took out a finely crafted dagger from the eunuch's sleeve.
"I knew you old codger would have something to protect yourself with." The old emperor chuckled, then opened the dagger and ran it across his right index finger.
"Hiss, Your Majesty, what is this...?" The chief eunuch was trembling with fear.
The old emperor began to write on the cloth with his finger, saying as he wrote: "Years ago, someone impersonated me and wrote a blood edict. Now this is a genuine blood edict. I wonder if anyone will believe it. There are too many things in this world that are true and false. Many times, even I cannot distinguish between what is real and what is fake. But, my Zhao family's empire cannot be taken away by outsiders. The crown prince is incapable of shouldering the responsibility, so let him be deposed and the Prince of Ning'an be made crown prince. If anything happens to me, you must send out this edict to help him succeed to the throne."
The chief eunuch immediately knelt down: "Your Majesty... please don't say such discouraging things, this servant is afraid."
The Emperor said, "What's there to be afraid of? Everyone has to go through this eventually, it's just a matter of time. What are you doing kneeling? It's pathetic."
Qin Sang: "..."
The old emperor finished writing the edict, folded it up, and handed it to Qin Sang. Qin Sang was puzzled, but the old emperor said earnestly, "Go, let him lead his troops to eliminate the traitors in a legitimate way."
Tan Bi's second sword strike was deflected by a dagger. An extremely agile black figure, as nimble as a cat that could climb walls, scurried up the city wall at lightning speed, said nothing, and ghostly approached Tan Bi's side to begin the fight.
Xie Sui'an finally managed to catch his breath, but the metallic taste in his throat was unbearable, and he finally spat out the mouthful of blood.
Seeing that his young master was about to collapse, Jinyun became anxious and hastily tried to retreat after exchanging a few moves.
Tan Bi's movements were strong and agile, which put him at a disadvantage against Jin Yun's elusive and unpredictable style. Seeing that his opponent had no intention of continuing the fight, he did not linger and seized the opportunity to lead his men forward.
"Young Master...Young Master! Young Master, you're injured, you're bleeding a lot!" Jin Yun touched Xie Sui'an's injured and bleeding chest and abdomen, and was so nervous and scared that she almost cried.
Xie Suian lost too much blood, and his vision blurred, but he kept staring at Tan Bi's back: "Stop him."
His voice was so soft.
Jinyun cried with tears streaming down her face and tried to pick him up: "No, I'll take you to see a doctor!"
"Listen to me," Xie Sui'an said weakly, "Stop him and wait for reinforcements."
"Reinforcements have arrived. I'll take you to a doctor first!" Jinyun was now only thinking about finding a doctor; he couldn't let his young master die.
"Then let's hold them off for a while. I can manage to hold on until reinforcements arrive, then we'll go find a doctor. Be good, listen to me," Xie Suian advised gently but helplessly.
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