Upon hearing those "three words," the man in black hesitated for a moment, but only briefly before continuing his charge. Soon after, a bloody melee erupted along the narrow mountain path.
"Your Majesty, please remain seated. This servant is worried that some reckless individual might shoot arrows in." Liang Jiugong and several sedan chair bearers, lacking martial arts skills, could only shield Kangxi's sedan chair with their bodies. The Fourteenth Prince and fifty soldiers had all joined the fight, but their numbers were clearly outnumbered by the men in black. Gradually, people began to die and be wounded, and red liquid began to stain the ground and the trees. A series of chilling groans began to echo through the quiet mountains.
Gradually, the men in black began to gain the upper hand. The Fourteenth Prince, leading his remaining dozen or so men, began to retreat step by step until they surrounded Kangxi's imperial palanquin. Looking around, the ground was littered with the corpses of men in black and a few soldiers. They were fighting with a ruthless, death-defying style. The Fourteenth Prince was beginning to falter and urgently said, "Eunuch Liang, quickly help Father Emperor out. Leave immediately."
"Don't even think about escaping! This is where you'll all die today. Brothers, if we kill this Emperor Dazi and his son today, we'll have rendered a great service to Chief Hong. Quickly, let's wipe them all out in one fell swoop!" The man in black roared, his appearance as terrifying as a mountain demon. His gleaming knife was now slightly bent, and it was stained with glaring blood.
"Who is Master Hong?" Kangxi suddenly shouted from inside the sedan chair. Even in a dangerous situation, his imperial aura remained undiminished.
"You dog emperor, come out and face your death!" The men in black refused to say anything more, each brandishing their knives and closing in. Just as the blood-stained blades drew ever closer, a swift arrow, seemingly appearing out of nowhere, struck one of the men in black. He fell to the ground, his eyes wide with disbelief. Because the arrow had come so suddenly, the men in black began to look around in panic. They saw more and more people appearing from a direction they had never expected—from the direction of the hot spring from the previous night.
"Eighth Brother!" The Fourteenth Prince spotted the Eighth Prince sitting on a white horse, his face now filled with a cold, murderous intent. It was he who had just shot that arrow.
Faced with this sudden appearance of men, the leader of the group in black shouted sternly, "Did you come here on purpose? Was Pei Ning's identity already exposed?"
Kangxi still did not get out of the sedan chair, and replied, "If you can surrender, I can give you a way out."
Upon hearing Kangxi's words, the man in black knew he was trying to sow discord among the troops. He immediately said to the man in black beside him, "Don't believe him. He's waiting to capture us before executing us by slow slicing. Everyone knows that assassinating the emperor is a capital offense punishable by the extermination of nine generations of one's family."
Sure enough, some of the men in black wavered when they heard Kangxi's words, but when they heard the leader say this, their wavering resolve turned as cold as iron.
"Hmph, if you don't surrender, I, the Prince, will unleash a massacre," the Eighth Prince said coldly.
"Brothers, that's all the men they have. We're one against three. Now's the time to serve our master. Show them the determination to fight to the death. It's either them or us who perish here. Kill!" The leader of the men in black threatened to kill, and it did have some effect. These men in black seemed like vicious dogs that had been raised in captivity for a long time. They attacked vital points from the start, showing no regard for their own lives.
Another round of chaotic fighting began. Eighth Master commanded his soldiers to surround the men in black, aiming to defeat them one by one.
"Try to keep them alive!" Kangxi said to Liang Jiugong outside the sedan chair.
"Eighth Master~" Liang Jiugong made a throat-slitting gesture towards the Eighth Master, then stopped. The Eighth Master understood perfectly, so he said to the soldiers around him, "Keep those who can be kept alive."
Immediately, Eighth Master's men began to hesitate, which ironically gave the men in black an opportunity to counterattack. They were fearless, but Eighth Master's men, concerned about leaving survivors, ended up retreating further and further as the fight progressed.
Seeing this, Liang Jiugong became anxious and immediately said to Kangxi in the imperial sedan chair, "Your Majesty, those people are all reckless at the moment, which is actually hindering the Eighth Prince."
Kangxi slightly opened the sedan curtain and looked at the scene outside. A dozen soldiers stood densely packed around his sedan chair. The men in black had already been divided into several pieces by the Eighth Prince's men. He only said, "To catch the thief, catch the king first!" before lowering the curtain.
After receiving the order, Liang Jiugong looked at the Eighth Prince, but he dared not directly shout out Kangxi's instructions, for that would be a warning to the men in black.
The man in black stared coldly at his comrades, whose eyes were filled with nothing but bloodlust. He only needed to hold on a little longer; the men from the other side of the mountain would arrive soon. The outcome was still uncertain, so he never considered the possibility of dying here with them.
At that very moment, a cold, iron feather suddenly flew towards him, striking him squarely between the eyebrows. One moment he was thinking about how to escape, and the next, he had lost his most precious life!
Seeing that their leader had fallen, the others indeed lost their will to fight and retreated more and more as they fought. In the end, they were forced into a small area by Eighth Master's men, and gradually some of them put down their weapons.
Eighth Master stared at the arrow that had struck the enemy leader squarely between the eyebrows, wondering who it could be, when he saw Fourth Master, dressed in a royal blue robe, standing on the opposite mountain path, also looking in their direction.
How could it be him! Didn't he go to Jinan?! He was the one who shot that arrow just now!
Eighth Master thought bitterly, "Damn it! He stole this credit again!"
With the enemy leader "killed in action," the rest of them were no longer a threat. After their attempts to resist proved fruitless, they all laid down their weapons.
On the other side of the mountain road, the Thirteenth Prince used his overwhelming numbers to wipe out another group of assassins, among whom Consort Hui was.
When Kangxi and the others returned to the imperial tent, he dismissed everyone and ordered Liang Jiugong to call the Fourth Prince in alone.
"Your subject greets Your Majesty!" The Fourth Prince knelt on one knee and bowed deeply to Emperor Kangxi.
"Why did you come back?" Kangxi gestured to Liang Jiugong to bring a stool for the Fourth Prince and signal him to sit down.
"Your Majesty, I am deeply concerned for you. I cannot rest easy unless you return in person," the Fourth Prince said honestly. He knew that Emperor Kangxi often suffered from headaches and that his eyesight was failing, yet even so, he still risked his life to lure out the enemy leader.
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