Thirty miles after the carriage left Yingzhou, the sky suddenly changed color.
The once clear autumn day was suddenly overcast, and the sound of horses' hooves like muffled thunder came from afar. Xin Jiuwei lifted the carriage curtain and saw a troop of black-armored cavalry galloping towards them like a dark cloud pressing down from the end of the official road, raising clouds of dust.
"Watch out, young lady!" The coachman had barely uttered the cry when an arrow pierced his throat.
Xin Jiuwei tumbled off the carriage, a dagger already drawn from her sleeve. Black-armored cavalrymen surrounded her in a fan shape, and the leader removed his iron mask, revealing a face covered in scars—it was Han Zheng, the commander of the Second Prince's assassins.
"Miss Xin, His Highness requests your presence."
He tossed over a black iron chain, its links engraved with the same runes as those on the back of Xin Xiyao's jade pendant. Xin Jiuwei's pupils constricted sharply—this was the Soul-Binding Chain of the former Yaotai faction!
"Click—"
Just as the chains were about to seize her wrists, a jet-black arrow pierced the air, shattering the lock with pinpoint accuracy. On a distant hillside, dozens of men in grey robes drew their bows, arrowheads uniformly gleaming with a ghostly blue—the Northern Guards Xiao Xun had left for her!
In the midst of the chaos, Xin Jiuwei's jade pendant suddenly became hot.
Blood droplets seeped from the phoenix pattern on the white jade, and the strange runes on the back floated up, forming a miniature landscape painting in front of her—the layout of the Yaotai Palace!
"Stop them!" Han Zheng suddenly roared, "That jade pendant is..."
An arrow pierced his throat. Xin Jiuwei seized the opportunity to leap onto the nearest warhorse, the jade pendant pointing northeast—the very location of the capital.
She suddenly understood the meaning of her mother's dying words. This jade pendant wasn't a talisman at all, but... a key!
While spending the night at the inn, the waiter secretly slipped them a sealed letter with sealing wax.
The letter was written in Xiao Xun's sharp handwriting:
The silver mask on Qi Huaiyu's face was a keepsake from the late Crown Princess.
A dark red fragment was still stuck to the back of the paper—Xin Jiuwei lightly picked it up with her silver hairpin, and the fragment turned into a wisp of green smoke, which condensed in the air into a blurry female face that looked seven parts like her!
A thunderclap boomed outside the window, and she finally pieced together all the clues:
The copper key left by her mother, the mask of the former Crown Princess, the shadowy figure that resembled her...
"I see..."
Xin Jiuwei crumpled the letter into pieces, her gaze towards the capital as cold as ice.
Around midnight, strange noises came from the stables of the post station.
Xin Jiuwei quietly approached and saw a hunched figure feeding the horse—the way he fed it was clearly the Xin family's unique "three-mixed grass" recipe!
"Old Zhou?" she asked in a low voice.
The man trembled and slowly turned around. In the firelight, it was clearly the groom who had disappeared last year! Only his left eye was now a hollow, and his right hand was missing three fingers.
"Miss, hurry..." He shoved a blood-stained strip of cloth into her hand. "Qi Huaiyu is in the inn's cellar...he's waiting..."
Before he could finish speaking, a hidden dart pierced his heart. Xin Jiuwei threw her dagger backhand, and a muffled groan came from the shadows.
The cellar entrance was located beneath the manger; lifting the hay, a strong stench of blood assaulted the senses...
The cellar was dimly lit by candlelight, and Qi Huaiyu stood with his back to the entrance.
The silver mask on his face swirled with eerie patterns in the firelight, and upon closer inspection, the patterns were exactly the same as those on Xin Jiuwei's jade pendant!
"You've finally come." His voice was hoarse, like sandpaper scraping. "You know what? This mask sucks human blood..."
The moment she turned around, Xin Jiuwei gasped – the edge of the mask had grown together with his rotting flesh, and blood vessels spread across the silver surface like a spider web!
"Disgusting, isn't it?" Qi Huaiyu laughed maniacally, "But thanks to it, I learned how the former Crown Princess died..."
He suddenly lifted the black cloth in the center of the cellar, revealing an ice coffin. The woman inside had a lifelike face, and a long, crimson arrow was stuck in her chest—the third Dragon Breath Arrow!
The most horrifying thing was that the woman's face... was exactly the same as Yu Zhui Yan Ying's!
The woman in the ice coffin had a peaceful expression, as if she were simply asleep. Xin Jiuwei, however, noticed that under her folded hands was a yellowed letter, its edges soaked with blood.
"Didn't your mother tell you?" Qi Huaiyu's voice came from behind the mask, carrying an eerie buzzing sound, "The great fire at Yaotai twenty years ago..."
He suddenly coughed violently, black blood seeping from the gaps in his mask. Xin Jiuwei seized the opportunity to draw her soft sword from her waist, pressing the tip against his throat: "Take off the mask."
"I can't get it off..." Qi Huaiyu laughed nervously, "It's already... ah!"
A flash of sword light, and the silver mask cracked open. What was truly chilling was that the inner layer of the mask was covered in tiny fleshy buds, mingling with his own skin and flesh!
Taking advantage of the brief moment when Qi Huaiyu was howling in pain, Xin Jiuwei quickly took out the letter from the ice coffin.
"Xun'er, if you see this letter, it means the Dragon's Breath Arrow has appeared. Remember, the true edict of succession is..."
The latter half was covered by bloodstains, but the signature was clearly legible: "Mother's last words".
Xin Jiuwei was struck dumb. The handwriting... was exactly the same as her mother's handwritten notes!
Countless thoughts flashed through her mind like thunderclaps, and Xin Jiuwei's heart pounded as she quickly began to think.
The next instant, Qi Huaiyu suddenly sprang up, his rotting hand grabbing at her neck: "Give me the letter!"
Xin Jiuwei quickly dodged, protecting the letter in her arms to avoid Qi Huaiyu's attack.
During their struggle, the ice coffin was knocked over. As the Dragon Breath Arrow rolled down, the dragon pattern on its shaft suddenly opened its blood-red eyes!
Almost simultaneously, the entire cellar began to shake violently, and foul-smelling black blood seeped from the cracks in the walls.
Qi Huaiyu abruptly abandoned Xin Jiuwei.
As Xin Jiuwei fled, the last thing she saw was Qi Huaiyu lunging at the Dragon Breath Arrow, and that arrow—actually stood upright on its own, its tip pointing straight at his heart!
This bizarre scene almost robbed Xin Jiuwei of her ability to think. Qi Huaiyu was no longer the elegant gentleman he usually pretended to be. Even after the truth was revealed, he was far less bizarre and terrifying than he appeared now.
Xin Jiuwei would not show him any forbearance or sympathy. Whether Qi Huaiyu was dead or a monster, the only thing that would never change was that he was Xin Jiuwei's enemy.
Without the slightest hesitation, Xin Jiuwei turned and ran away.
The moment she burst out of the cellar, a deafening roar came from behind her. The heat almost knocked Xin Jiuwei over; she stumbled to her feet and ran forward without stopping.
The main building of the post station was engulfed in flames. Suddenly, the steed with a white star on its forehead broke free of its reins in the stable and charged at her, biting her sleeve and dragging her out—it was Xiao Xun's mount, Zhu Yue!
A black ebony hairpin lay quietly in the saddlebag, its tip engraved with the small character "珣".
Xin Jiuwei gripped the hairpin tightly, leaped onto her horse, and from the collapsed post station behind her, the inhuman roars of Qi Huaiyu could be faintly heard...
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