"Your Highness! The thieves escaped through the blasted hole! They just left! There are carriage tracks leading out of the city!" A soldier covered in blood shouted hoarsely, pointing to the messy hoofprints and ruts outside the hole.
"Chase!" Xiao Xun's eyes flashed with cold light. Without the slightest hesitation, he grabbed Xin Jiuwei and rushed towards the cave entrance!
"Your Highness, be careful!" You Ye's exclamation suddenly rang out!
A ghostly black shadow, like a bat blending into the night, silently darted out from the shadows of the collapsed ruins! The target wasn't Xiao Xun, but Xin Jiuwei, whom he was protecting! The person's face was covered with a black cloth, revealing only a pair of venomous eyes, and in their hand, a dagger gleaming with a chilling blue light, was aimed straight at Xin Jiuwei's back! The speed and the angle were so precise; it was clearly premeditated, calculated to capitalize on Xiao Xun's eagerness to pursue and his momentary lapse in guard!
This is a fatal blow!
Xin Jiuwei could even feel the chilling, deathly wind emanating from the dagger! She wanted to dodge, but her weakness and the excruciating pain from her wounds slowed her reaction by a fraction of a second!
In the blink of an eye!
"laugh--!"
A dull thud as a sharp weapon pierces flesh!
Warm liquid splashed onto Xin Jiuwei's face!
The expected excruciating pain did not come.
Standing before her was Xiao Xun's tall and imposing figure! At the critical moment, he had used his left arm to shield her from the fatal blow! The sharp dagger pierced deep into his forearm, and a ghostly blue poisonous light spread rapidly through the wound!
"Ugh!" Xiao Xun groaned, his face turning pale instantly, but his movements didn't stop at all! The long sword in his right hand was like a poisonous dragon emerging from its cave, carrying the force of thunder and the raging fire, fiercely stabbing towards the black-clad man who had launched the sneak attack!
The man in black clearly hadn't expected Xiao Xun to so fearlessly shield Xin Jiuwei from the knife, nor had he anticipated such a fierce counterattack from him even while injured and poisoned! He hastily tried to dodge, but it was too late!
"Pfft!"
The longsword pierced the black-clad man's chest with pinpoint accuracy, pinning him to the broken wall behind him. The black-clad man's eyes were filled with disbelief, shock, and resentment; his head lolled to the side, and he died.
All of this happened in the blink of an eye!
"Your Highness!" You Ye and Xin Kui cried out in alarm and rushed forward.
Xiao Xun abruptly drew his longsword, letting the black-clad man's corpse slide limply to the ground. He didn't even glance at his own left arm, bleeding profusely and rapidly turning a dark purple-black; his gaze, like burning ice flames, was fixed on the tracks of the carriage fleeing out of the city. His voice was hoarse and distorted with the poison and rage:
"Order... seal off the four gates! Chase! At all costs... bring them back to me!" He swayed, and a black aura quickly crept up his cold, hard face.
"Your Highness! You've been poisoned!" You Ye exclaimed in horror as he watched the blackening and purple discoloration rapidly spreading across Xiao Xun's arm and lips.
"The antidote! Quick, get the antidote!" Xin Kui rushed to the black-clad man's corpse and frantically searched for it.
Xin Jiuwei stood there, stunned, her face still wet with the warm blood splattered from Xiao Xun's wound. She stared at Xiao Xun's back as he stood in front of her, at the deep, bone-revealing wound on his arm, glowing with an eerie blue light, at his face rapidly turning ashen from the poison… An indescribable, overwhelming shock instantly washed over her!
He... took a knife for her?!
Knowing it was highly poisonous?!
In both her past and present lives, no one has ever so unhesitatingly protected her, shielding her from a deadly blade with their own flesh and blood! Qi Huaiyu's betrayal, manipulation, and slaughter... were a stark contrast to this scene before her!
A complex mix of shock, bewilderment, disbelief, and sharp pain washed over her like a tidal wave, shattering the icy wall of "contract" and "exploitation" that had formed within her. The cold calculations she had once made now seemed utterly pale and laughable.
"Xiao...Xiao Xun..." Her voice trembled uncontrollably as she instinctively reached out to support his swaying body.
Xiao Xun abruptly slapped her hand away, his eyes somewhat unfocused due to the poison, but his undeniable authority and ruthlessness remained undiminished: "Don't worry about me! Chase...chase Qi Huaiyu..." Before he could finish speaking, his body swayed violently and he fell straight backward!
"Your Highness!" You Ye and several guards rushed forward in alarm to catch his falling body.
"Quickly! Send it back to the Prince's Mansion! Ask Judge Lin! Hurry!" You Ye's voice was filled with sobs and desperate shouts.
The scene was chaotic. Some soldiers frantically chased after the carriage tracks, while others hurriedly carried the unconscious Xiao Xun and ran towards the prince's residence.
Xin Jiuwei stood rooted to the spot, the cold wind carrying the stench of blood and gunpowder assaulting her senses, chilling her to the bone. She looked at the pool of dark red blood on the ground, belonging to Xiao Xun, tinged with a ghostly blue-poisonous light, and then at the warm blood of his on her own fingertips. She felt as if an invisible hand were gripping her heart tightly, the pain making it hard to breathe.
Qi Huaiyu escaped once again.
As for Xiao Xun... in order to save her, he was poisoned and his life hangs in the balance.
The cold wind howled, like a mournful cry. Xin Jiuwei slowly crouched down, picking up the dagger from the ground, stained with Xiao Xun's blood and stained with a ghostly blue poisonous light. The cold metallic touch made her fingertips go numb. She gripped the dagger tightly, her knuckles turning white from the force, her eyes filled with an unprecedentedly cold flame and a resolute determination to perish together with her.
Qi Huaiyu, if I don't kill you, I, Xin Jiuwei... swear I will never be human!
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
