Chapter 51 I Won’t
"Feel sorry."
Han Qingli rubbed her red wrist and pulled up her sleeve to cover it. Surprisingly, she didn't lose her temper. She stared into Du Huaizhi's eyes and asked, "Is this face of yours fake?"
Du Huaizhi's eyes flickered slightly, he neither answered nor denied.
The carriage was so quiet for a moment that only the sound of wheels rolling over stones could be heard. The two of them did not speak again. Du Huaizhi leaned against the wall of the carriage and continued to rest with his eyes closed.
Coincidentally, the destination of this trip was Cangzhou. Yes, the same Cangzhou where Wei Shan and I had robbed last time.
After this incident, the authorities sent the Dali Temple to conduct a thorough investigation, causing panic among the people. However, the result was the same as those of the assassinated court officials: nothing was found.
It was for this reason that Han Qingli specially assigned additional personnel to protect her when she went to the countryside to visit her relatives. In addition to the few people who accompanied her, there were many others hiding in the dark and following her all the way.
In this situation, not to mention assassins, even a mosquito couldn't get close to Han Qingli.
They stopped and started like this for two days and spent them safely. At midnight, the carriage entered the territory of Cangzhou.
Further ahead is where the accident happened. When planning the route, I felt that place was unlucky and was afraid of bumping into Han Qingli, so I chose to take a detour.
Except for Han Qingli, everyone on the coach knew about this matter, but strangely, the coachman did not choose to take a detour.
Du Huaizhi opened his eyes and keenly observed the movements around him. Han Qingli, not knowing the way, didn't notice anything was wrong and fell into a light sleep with her head resting on the soft pillow.
Du Huaizhi calmly lifted a corner of the curtain and glanced at the coachman's tense back. The carriage suddenly deviated from the official road and rushed straight into a dead forest.
The surroundings were eerily quiet; even the chirping of birds and insects had disappeared, leaving only the rustling sound of wheels crushing dead leaves.
A faint sound of dead leaves being crushed came from the darkness. Du Huaizhi lowered the curtain and covered the hilt of the knife with his hand.
Dozens of black shadows quietly jumped down from the tree, all wearing black clothes and masks, holding soft whips with barbs in their hands.
Du Huaizhi gently pushed Han Qingli to wake her up.
Han Qingli looked at her with sleepy eyes, confused, "What's wrong?" Before she could finish her words, the whip came through the air like a poisonous snake and entangled the shaft of the carriage.
The horses neighed in fright and the curtains of the carriage were torn open. This sudden change made Han Qingli wake up instantly and she met a pair of cold eyes head-on.
"Ah--" She screamed instinctively, but Du Huaizhi covered her mouth and they jumped out of the car together.
The moment he landed, Du Huaizhi twisted his body and swung his sword to block the whip. The accompanying warriors were already grappling with the men in black, but they were not the secret guards hiding in the shadows, so they must have been secretly dealt with by their men.
"Get behind the tree!" Du Huaizhi shielded Han Qingli behind her while she charged forward, facing the three whips. Sparks flew as the long sword and whips collided, and she used the momentum to spin and leap, kicking one man in the face and slashing the throats of the other two.
These people weren't particularly strong, but they were numerous, which was a real problem. She had brought Duanyun with her today, and if they wanted to escape, it would probably take some time.
Han Qingli stumbled and hid behind a tree, her hair a little messy, and her delicate lace skirt was covered with broken dead leaves.
However, she didn't immediately pay attention to these things. Instead, she said to Du Huaizhi, "Fifteen, be careful."
Du Huaizhi heard Han Qingli's trembling instructions, but did not respond distractedly. She whipped the tree trunk with a soft whip, sending wood chips flying. She dodged the whip that was aimed at her throat and slashed the black-clothed man's wrist with the blade.
The man let go of the whip in pain, and it fell to the ground. But at this moment, another whip wrapped around her ankle like a snake.
Du Huaizhi lost his balance and knelt on one knee. A flash of cold light flashed overhead, and three poisonous hidden weapons flew through the air.
At the critical moment, she yanked the whip around her ankle, using the force to pull the man holding it in front of her. All the hidden weapons sank into the black-clad man's back, and he collapsed to the ground with a muffled groan.
Du Huaizhi turned over and stood up, but suddenly felt a sharp pain in his back. He didn't know when a silver needle had pierced into his skin and the poison quickly spread along his meridians.
"Fifteen!" Han Qingli's scream tore through the night sky. She saw Du Huaizhi's figure sway, cold sweat seeping from his forehead, and his pale face became increasingly transparent.
In the shadows of the trees, the men in black once again formed a siege, and their whips intertwined into a net, trapping Du Huaizhi in the center.
"Let's go together and kill this dog from the Duke's Mansion!" The leading man in black grinned fiercely and swung out dozens of whips at the same time. Du Huaizhi swung his knife to block, but his arm was scratched by the whip, leaving several bloody marks.
The smell of blood stimulated her, and she forced herself to circulate her internal energy to suppress the poison. As she said before, she would never allow anyone to destroy her reputation. Even if she died today, she would get Han Qingli out safely.
Du Huaizhi's eyes fixed, and the Duanyun sword in her hand drew a strange arc. Wherever the sword light reached, the soft whips broke.
"Why do you have to be a dog for the Duke's Mansion when you can do something else? Brothers, come on!" The leading man in black saw that he could not take the city down after a long time, so he drew the long sword from his waist and joined the battle in person.
Han Qingli hid behind a tree, extremely anxious. She saw that Du Huaizhi's clothes were soaked with blood, and each time he swung the knife was slower than the previous one.
Han Qingli touched the tinder at his waist, stared at the dead trees around him, gritted his teeth, and smashed the tinder hard at the pile of dead leaves.
Flames erupted with a roar, and a heat wave, accompanied by thick smoke, rushed towards the group of men in black, temporarily separating them. The leader's pupils suddenly constricted, and he swung his sword to split the incoming flames, roaring, "Kill the girl from the Duke's Mansion first!"
Han Qingli took this opportunity to pull Du Huaizhi up and run away.
Du Huaizhi was dragged forward by Han Qingli. The poison attack made her steps weak and the stinging pain in her back spread like ant bites.
Behind them came the sound of men in black kicking away burning tree trunks. The leader's roar shook the dead leaves off the trees. "Catch them! If they're dead, I'll find them dead!"
"Don't worry about me..." Du Huaizhi stopped abruptly and pushed Han Qingli to another fork in the road. "Go east. There's an abandoned Taoist temple over there. You can hide there first."
Han Qingli's eyes were red as she grabbed her wrist tightly and said, "I won't!" Her skirt had already been burned to shreds by the flames, but she still stubbornly pulled Du Huaizhi and continued to run forward.
"We can't run forward anymore..." Du Huaizhi's weak voice was almost blown away by the wind, and Han Qingli turned a deaf ear to it.
"There's a cliff ahead."
Han Qingli stopped in her tracks, not because she heard Du Huaizhi's words, but because the cliff she was talking about was already right under her feet.
"Why didn't you say so earlier?" Han Qingli frowned.
Du Huaizhi: “…”
Looking at the girl's dusty profile, a bitter smile rose in her throat. Her pale lips moved, but before she could make a sound, she heard messy footsteps behind her.
"Run! Why don't you run anymore?" The leading man in black gasped and grinned, raising his hand to signal the people behind him to surround him in a fan shape.
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