Upon hearing this, the man in black turned even paler.
The pain in his abdomen caused him to fall to the ground and roll around, but because his body was bound by ropes, he twisted in pain and let out low growls.
Li Xi looked at the man in black struggling in pain, but felt no pity whatsoever.
"Tell me! Where have you taken them?"
The man in black stretched out his finger and pointed forcefully in a certain direction.
His voice trembled uncontrollably from the excruciating pain, each word seeming to be squeezed out from between his teeth: "They... went... out of the city..."
Seeing this, Li Xi stepped forward.
He reached out and pinched the man in black's chin, forcing him to open his mouth, and then quickly stuffed a pill into his mouth.
Then, Li Xi coldly snorted and warned, "This is the antidote, but it will only last for one hour. If you want to avoid further suffering, then you'd better obey me!"
Just then, the sound of horses' hooves came from afar, growing louder as they approached.
It turned out that Prince An had led a group of men and rushed over.
Previously, the guards had successfully escorted the Empress Dowager to Prince An's residence. When Prince An learned that Meng Zhelan had been kidnapped, he did not hesitate to leap onto his horse and gallop anxiously towards the location.
At the same time, Lu Yi led Jingwei and followed closely behind Prince An.
Upon seeing Prince An arrive, Li Xi immediately handed him the antidote and the man in black, and hurriedly instructed, "They have already fled in the direction of leaving the city, and I must go ahead and pursue them."
Before she finished speaking, she mounted her horse, cracked her whip, and galloped away, her figure quickly disappearing into the dust.
By this time, the city gates had already closed. When Li Xi arrived near the city gates, she found the sachet that Meng Zhelan had dropped. It was a mosquito repellent sachet that she had made herself.
She then leaped up the city wall with agile movements and quickly chased after it outside the city.
Meanwhile, Meng Zhelan, who had been acupunctured, lay limply in the carriage, cursing his ancestors for eighteen generations in her heart.
Unexpectedly, she was carried on the shoulders of a child who looked to be only about ten years old.
The child looked young, but possessed extraordinary strength and agility.
The child carried her over the city wall and then shoved her into a carriage that had been prepared beforehand.
Then, the carriage sped off like an arrow, rushing towards the outskirts of the city.
The wheels rolled, kicking up a cloud of dust. Meng Zhelan heard the creaking of the axle and knew they had abducted her from the city.
She didn't know if Xi'er could see the sachet she had thrown down; she was unable to move at the moment.
She could only pray silently in her heart, hoping that Li Xi could find her as soon as possible.
The carriage traveled for a long time, and they didn't know how much time had passed before they finally stopped in a remote village.
Meng Zhelan was taken to a dilapidated courtyard and then thrown to the ground.
At this moment, her acupoints had been released, but she felt weak and sore all over, and could only sit on the ground.
She looked up and saw several burly men standing in the courtyard, the leader of whom was a middle-aged man with a face full of scars.
The man's eyes were sinister as he stared at her for a long time before finally speaking, "You are Doctor Meng?"
Meng Zhelan's heart tightened, but she forced herself to remain calm and said, "I'm not you. You've got the wrong person."
The middle-aged man sneered, "You have no right to talk nonsense about that."
He placed the knife against her shoulder. "Go inside."
With a helpless expression, she had no choice but to comply. She struggled to her feet, her body swaying, and slowly walked into the house.
Upon entering the room, she was horrified to see a man lying on the bed, his body covered in blood.
The middle-aged man's face was ashen, his eyes icy cold. He uttered a harsh threat: "Save him! If he dies, you little brat won't escape with your life either!"
Meng Zhelan's heart sank.
Faced with this situation, she could only obediently comply and step forward to carefully examine the man's injuries.
At this moment, she had nothing of value; all the items she could use for self-defense had been taken by the child.
Now that things have come to this, the only option is to comply with his wishes.
Meng Zhelan squatted down, first gently checking the man's breath, and then feeling his pulse.
She gently lifted the man's collar and saw a deep knife wound on his chest, from which blood was seeping out and staining his collar red.
There was some scattered hemostatic powder nearby, indicating that ordinary hemostatic powder could not stop the bleeding from his chest.
Having no other choice, she had to ask them to bring her own needle case.
The child came in with her needle case and saw Meng Zhelan squat down to examine the man's injuries.
A hint of doubt flashed in his eyes, but he didn't say anything more, simply handing over the needle case silently.
She quickly took out several silver needles and inserted them around the man's chest to seal the blood vessels and slow down the blood flow.
She then began cleaning the wound and applying simple herbal remedies to stop the bleeding.
Throughout the process, she was skilled and composed, as if she had experienced such a scene countless times.
The child watched in stunned silence.
But the man on the bed remained unconscious, his eyes tightly closed, as if he had fallen into an endless sleep.
The middle-aged man glared at her menacingly and uttered a harsh threat: "If you can't wake him up, I'll chop off your feet right now!"
A wave of fear washed over her. She had been hoping to stall for time and wait for a chance to escape, but she hadn't expected the other party to be so alert and see right through her.
At this moment, she had no choice but to resign herself to her fate and pick up the silver needles again.
After all, the life of this man in front of her was in her hands, and if she didn't rescue him quickly, she might really be in danger of being killed.
The only way to save this man's life is to use the Thirteen Deceptive Needles technique.
This is an extremely profound and mysterious acupuncture technique; only those who have mastered its essence can use it with ease.
However, for her, it was just a matter of expending some energy.
"Go and prepare some food for me. I won't have the energy to keep going if I'm not full."
She placed the silver needles accurately on several acupoints on the man, then looked up at the middle-aged man beside her.
He nodded to the child, and the child walked out.
It seems these people know them very well, not only their whereabouts but also their acupuncture skills.
Were they spying on me all along? Or was someone pulling the strings behind the scenes?
Thinking of this, Meng Zhelan felt a chill run down her spine.
She realized that things might be far more complicated than she had imagined.
However, now is not the time to think about these issues; the most important thing right now is to treat the man as soon as possible.
Half an hour later, thirteen silver needles had been inserted into the man's body.
Each needle was precisely placed on a key acupoint, and as the needles penetrated deeper, the man's pulse gradually began to stabilize.
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