One side launched a fierce attack, while the other side was restrained. By the time Hebi Weng finally exhausted his inner strength and fainted, Hua Cai and the other had already disappeared.
When Zhao Min and Xin Ran sent people to search the area, they found nothing except for the flattened grass on the slope that proved someone had indeed come down.
"Find him! Dig three feet into the ground, find him for me!" Zhao Min panicked.
It was common knowledge that Zhao Qiang had followed her all the way out. If the Seventh Prince knew that Zhao Qiang's fate was unknown, the entire Ruyang Prince's Mansion would be in deep trouble.
One day later.
In a dense forest not far from Bright Peak, Hua Cai lay unconscious in a pile of grass, large patches of blood on her body and face already congealed.
Two meters away, next to a wooden stake, Pillow had already skillfully broken the vines tied to its back with straw and was now feasting. The unconscious Zhao Qiang on its back was still lying steadily, which was much better than Hua Cai's situation.
After chewing a couple of mouthfuls of hay, Pillow snorted in dissatisfaction and cautiously walked over to Flower Picker.
Pillow was quite unhappy with Hana's order to take it through the dense forest.
Such a handsome horse should belong to the vast grasslands, not to a place where one cannot even roam freely.
After finally reaching Hua Cai's side, Pillow raised one of its front hooves and gently poked Hua Cai's arm.
"Who!" Hua Cai woke up instantly, sitting up abruptly. Before she could even see the world around her, a heart-wrenching pain shot through her chest.
"Whew~" Seeing that Hua Cai had woken up, Pillow excitedly sneezed, splashing saliva all over Hua Cai's face.
Now she was completely awake. She reached out and wiped her face with obvious disgust, then covered her chest and got up from the ground.
The Xuanming Elders were both top-tier masters in the martial arts world. Even though the two blows they received only looked frightening, they were actually not very powerful. As an ordinary person, she would still feel extremely uncomfortable after taking them.
Holding her breath, she got rid of Zhao Qiang and told Pillow to find a place with lots of trees to crawl into. Hua Cai could no longer hold on and fainted. She didn't even know when she fell off the horse. Her mind was blank.
Seeing that Hua Cai had finally woken up, but was sitting there in a daze, the pillow got impatient and let out two more whimpering cries. It ran to the tree to rub against the bundle on its back, and then happily slipped back to Hua Cai's side.
The rope tying the package is different from the vines of the grass bundle; it's impossible to untangle it.
Hua Cai remained silent, reached out and untied the package, opened it, stretched out her head, and picked up the water bag inside.
After a night's rest, she felt much better than yesterday. Hua Cai found a large leaf and slowly poured water into her pillow to drink. She also popped a piece of pastry into her mouth and quietly thought about what to do next.
She had planned to ride straight to Tibet after coming down from the cliff, before either side had time to make arrangements. However, Hebi Weng's two palm strikes were much more powerful than she had imagined, and she ended up unconscious for a day, missing the best time to evacuate.
Xinran's sword was coated with medicine, just ordinary muscle relaxant powder, which was not a big deal and saved her from needing an injection. However, the stab was too severe, and excessive blood loss was a problem.
Hua Cai rummaged through the package. Inside were several small porcelain bottles filled with dried medicinal powder, which she had smuggled from the batch of medicinal herbs at Green Willow Manor. These highly nourishing powders could come in handy.
However, this is not a long-term solution.
Hua Cai looked at the several large bumps on the back of Zhao Qiang's head and felt somewhat melancholy.
Don't hit your head too hard; it wouldn't be good if you not only lost your memory but also became mentally challenged.
Why did you have to hit Xinran so hard?
Hua Cai complained.
"Boss, I have to speak up for someone." The system flew out of Zhao Qiang's sleeve and said, "Ren Xinran only wanted to make two moves, but you were holding the target and then Hebi Weng slapped you like that. You aimed at the tip of the sword and crashed into it. No wonder it was a fatal blow."
The system laughed out loud, quite unkindly: "Hahaha—you didn't notice Xinran's eyes at the time. She was definitely suspecting that you and Zhao Qiang had some irreconcilable feud, and that you were willing to die together."
"Shut up." Hua Cai said with a dark face, putting the half-eaten pastry back into her package and wrapping it up. "Instead of gloating, why don't you give me some advice or point me in the right direction?"
"That's easy. Do you want to ask Xinran for help?" the system chuckled.
Hua Cai was speechless: "Asking him for help? Let's not even talk about whether I can find him now. Even if I could, are you sure he wouldn't tie up the target and use him as a tool to blackmail the female lead the moment he sees us?"
The voice paused, and Hua Cai suddenly stood up.
“No, no, no.” Hua Cai curled her lips: “Xin Ran and Zhao Min are not stupid. With Zhao Qiang missing, all the pressure is on Zhao Min. If we use Zhao Qiang as a threat now, it will only anger the Seventh Prince and completely transfer his anger from Zhao Min to the Ming Cult.”
How could I not understand this?
"That's right, so Xinran will only help you leave, allowing Zhao Qiang to continue to weigh on the female lead due to the pressure of Zhao Min's missing subordinates." The system laughed smugly.
Hua Cai was ashamed: "System, you've changed. You're no longer that innocent 300-year-old child you used to be."
but.
"Won't this affect Zhao Min's plans?" Hua Cai glanced at the smug, shimmering orb in front of her.
"How could that be?" The system spun around smugly: "Do you think the female lead is you? People have halos. As long as the male and female leads can be together in the end, everything else is irrelevant."
Hua Cai paused, grasping the key point in the system's words with exceptional precision: "As long as the male and female leads end up together, the process is irrelevant?"
The system froze instantly: "Did I...did I say that?"
Hua Cai smiled and said, "It's okay, I understand. Now, let's talk about collaborating with Xin Ran."
The system looked at Hua Cai as if she had found the door to a new world, and felt as if the whole world had gone dark.
pill!
Feeling like the sky was falling, the system lost interest in cooperation: "Oh, cooperation? Just wait. You were unconscious yesterday and probably didn't hear, but Xinran's favorability rating has risen to 75. That's enough for him to send people out to look for you when your life is in danger."
so.
Hua Cai touched her chin.
They haven't left the Ming Cult's sphere of influence yet, since it's the Ming Cult's stronghold. Even if Zhao Min wanted to send people to search, she wouldn't dare to do it openly.
Moreover, Hua Cai had a guess in her heart: rather than finding them, Zhao Min might prefer that Zhao Qiang fall into the hands of the Demonic Sect. That way, she could kill two birds with one stone, and the Seventh Prince would have no reason to attack the Ruyang Prince's Mansion.
As for the matter of Hebi Weng, the fact that he could even harm his own senior brother clearly indicates that he is not in a normal mental state. With Zhao Min's intelligence, it wouldn't be a problem to fool him.
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