Upon hearing this, Lanqin knew that he was doing it for her own good, and that perhaps even the Fourth Master would have said the same thing if he were alive. But how could she possibly go back on her own now?
"You don't need to say anything more. I'm definitely going with you, and I promise I won't cause you any trouble," Lanqin said in an unwavering tone. The burly man leading the group, seeing the resolute look on the face of this delicate young princess—a determination rarely seen even among men—he hesitated, unsure what to do. He had never seen such a woman before, so fearless in the face of men and danger.
Seeing his hesitation, Lanqin further persuaded him, "If Fourth Master punishes you, I will take responsibility for you. Don't worry about it."
Having said all that, the burly man in the lead could no longer refuse.
Each person in the group performed their duties, and Lanqin led her people to ride off in the direction Fourth Master had gone.
Meanwhile, Fourth Master led a few men into the dense forest, where they gradually began to hear the roars of wild beasts.
"A bear!?" Fourth Master reined in his horse and listened carefully. The others also seemed to hear the bear's roar and stopped, not daring to advance rashly.
Suddenly, a flock of birds flew out of the woods ahead in a flurry of activity, followed by screams from people.
Fourth Master's horse seemed to sense the danger ahead and began to roar, involuntarily trying to turn back, but Fourth Master forcibly held the reins, preventing it from moving. The others were also frightened by the cries and began to feel uneasy.
"You are all Manchu warriors, it's time to show your skills. If anyone dares to desert now, it will be a disgrace to the warriors!" Fourth Master suddenly said sternly. "Come, let's go see!"
What happened just now was merely a natural human reaction. These people had been carefully selected since childhood and had undergone countless trials and tribulations before they had the opportunity to enter the princes' residences or estates as guards. Moreover, they were all Manchus. Encouraged by the Fourth Prince, even those who were somewhat afraid mustered their courage and no one retreated anymore.
Fourth Master kicked the horse's belly, and suddenly drew a gleaming sword from his waist.
The group moved like a sharp sword towards the scene of the accident. Before they even arrived, a man came running out, shouting, "Help! Help! Bear!"
The Fourth Prince took a closer look and recognized the man. He was a guard brought by the Fourteenth Prince. Now that he was not by his master's side, he dared to run away alone. He was really unworthy to be a prince's guard.
Fourth Master ignored him and immediately ran wildly in the direction the man had come from.
A group of people came running from the opposite side, and in the middle was the Fourteenth Prince. When he saw the Fourth Prince, his eyes lit up with joy, but in the blink of an eye, he was startled by the roar of the mad bear behind him and ran towards the Fourth Prince and the others like a madman.
"Fourth Brother, turn around quickly! That beast behind us has gone mad; no one can stop it!" The Fourteenth Prince ran desperately toward the Fourth Prince. The others, disregarding everything else, scattered like birds and beasts.
"Prepare the crossbows!" Fourth Master shouted in a deep voice.
The burly men with bows and arrows immediately drew their bows and shot, and a dark creature, about seven feet tall, emerged from behind the crowd.
Before Fourth Master was even surprised, the horse he was riding was the first to be startled.
Suddenly, a horse stopped, seemingly wanting to turn around and run away, but its owner held the reins tightly. It could only let out a long neigh, stand on its hind legs, and raise its front legs to the sky in a loud roar.
The crazed black bear had several arrows stuck in its legs and front paws. It was in a frenzy, which gave it several times more strength and energy than usual.
Everyone was so intimidated by the black bear's desperate struggle that they lost all will to fight, which is why they were chased to the brink of defeat by the beast.
"Whoever can defeat this black bear will be rewarded with a hundred taels of gold. I will certainly give him an important position in the future." Fourth Master hurriedly made this solemn promise.
In such dangerous situations, besides loyalty and courage, the eternal lure of self-interest is also needed as a motivating factor.
Sure enough, just as the Fourth Master uttered those words, several arrows flew out with a whoosh.
The Fourteenth Prince and his guards had already fled to the Fourth Prince's side, while the Black Bear was suddenly struck by a hail of arrows, which drove it into a frenzy.
It was about to pounce.
"Brother, let's retreat quickly. This beast is too big; we probably won't be able to kill it in a short time. If it catches us, we'll either die or be seriously injured." The Fourteenth Prince was still just a sixteen-year-old boy, and his mind was not stable. Faced with this situation, he was already terrified by the black bear that had lost its composure. He only knew to run away as quickly as possible and had no intention of continuing the fight.
"I'm afraid it will keep chasing us. But this black bear is already injured, so let's shoot a few more arrows to provoke it into a rage. That way, it will bleed out faster and eventually bleed to death," Fourth Master said.
Upon hearing this, the crowd immediately calmed down. In a time when everyone was at a loss, someone suddenly uttering such logical and reasonable words was enough to instantly stabilize their emotions.
And so they stood facing off against the half-mad, half-crazy black bear.
Meanwhile, Lanqin and the group of strong men who went to the rescue were running around in the woods, having actually diverged from the direction Fourth Master had gone.
"Princess Niu, we're probably going the wrong way. I wonder how Master is doing?" The burly man leading the group looked exhausted. Their aimless wandering was causing them great anxiety. And with Lanqin with them, they were worried something might happen to her; how would they explain that to the Fourth Prince?
Lanqin looked up at the dense forest around her. It was already dark. She remembered the situation a few days ago when she and Fourth Master were alone in this dark forest. At that time, she said: I will never let Fourth Master and me be in such a situation again.
"Let's fire an alarm. See if anyone's around." Lanqin's heart began to race; she felt something tugging at her mind, preventing her from calming down.
The alarm flare rose into the dark sky once again. Lanqin and the others waited in place for a moment, and then they heard the sound of horses' hooves and trees shaking from one side of the woods.
"Cousin! What are you doing here? Where is Fourth Brother?" The Tenth Prince was already preparing to return. Although he had seen the alarm flare earlier, it was too far away for him to rush over. This time, the one Lanqin fired was less than a kilometer away from him, so he rushed over to check, only to find it was Lanqin.
"Tenth Prince, the Fourth Prince is currently missing. I wanted to take some men to help him, but we got lost and are stuck here," Lanqin said hurriedly. She wanted to tell the Tenth Prince to hurry up and find the Fourth Prince, but it was already dark, so how could the Tenth Prince and his men find him?
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