Chapter 66 Attack
Meng Guanqi looked anxiously outside the temple: "I have two more attendants who have fallen behind. My maid went back to find them."
Thinking of the skilled female attendant beside him, Li Er suddenly realized: "So that's how it is. How long has she been gone?"
Meng Guanqi said, "It's been about an hour, they should be back soon."
Li Er asked, "Where did you come from? Why are you trapped in these deep mountains?"
Meng Guanqi said, "We came from Luzhou, and we didn't know we'd be caught in this heavy rain when we set off..."
Li Er leaned against the wall, muttering, "Luzhou, what a wonderful place! It has the world-famous peach blossom wine, the Huaining Imperial Workshop, and, oh yes, the Wanshan Academy..."
He glanced at Meng Guanqi and asked, "Could it be that you've returned from Wanshan Academy? Did the prefectural education commissioner of Lin'an fail to persuade your father to let you enroll in the prefectural academy?"
Li Er had guessed that he had returned from Wanshan Academy based on just a few words. Meng Guanqi was secretly shocked, but had no choice but to reply, "The headmaster of Wanshan Academy, Gu, was in the same class as my father..."
Li Er smiled slightly: "I see. In recent years, Wanshan Academy has become very famous, much more so than Lin'an Prefectural School. Your father is also a student of Gu Henian. It is only natural that he wants to send you to Wanshan Academy."
He actually knew the name of Headmaster Gu! Meng Guanqi felt that this person must have a very complicated background, and he could still talk and laugh with him calmly despite being seriously injured, showing no signs of anxiety. This showed his firm mind and deep thoughts.
But a wise man doesn't stand under a dangerous wall. How could a perfectly good person invite disaster upon himself? Meng Guanqi didn't want to know the reason; he just wanted to stay far away from him. He couldn't afford to offend such a complicated person.
He secretly hoped that Li Xiaoxiao would come back soon.
Pang Shi, who was half-lying on Wan Shuan, suddenly opened his eyes and stared straight at Meng Guanqi: "Boy, take our Second Master and leave here immediately."
Meng Guanqi was startled. What did this mean? The wind and rain were heavy outside, and the sky was gradually darkening. Going out would be tantamount to suicide.
Li Er gave a wry smile: "Have they caught up?"
Pang Shi forced himself to sit up, slamming his broadsword into the ground to support his weight. "They're here..." He closed his eyes, leaned down, and pressed his ear to the ground. "Judging from the sounds, there are at least five horses and at least five people... There must be a back door in the temple. Meng family brat, no matter what, you must take Second Master away from here today to find your followers and head towards Luzhou. I know your maid knows martial arts; help Second Master back, and you'll probably run into them. Remember, don't look back. You must get Second Master to Luzhou..."
Li Er's facial muscles twitched violently, his eyes reddened, and a hint of tears welled up in them.
Pang Shi didn't even glance at him, but shouted at Meng Guanqi, "Go quickly!"
Wan Quan also stood up, trembling: "Second Master, don't turn back. This old servant will be satisfied if we stop one person. If we stop two, we'll have made a profit. No matter what, we will stop them. You should leave quickly!"
Li Er cried out in anguish, "Pang Shi! Wan Quan!"
Wan Quan cried out urgently, "Second Master, hurry! It will be too late if we wait any longer!"
Meng Guanqi's mind went blank. He couldn't understand why he was so naturally dragged into their feud. What did those people chasing Li Er have to do with him? If he just found a corner to hide, these people chasing him had no grudge against him and probably wouldn't necessarily kill him. Why should he risk his life to escape with Li Er?
He couldn't help but take a step back.
Pang Luan strode forward, grabbed his collar, and almost lifted him up, whispering in his ear, "Kid, you dare to dodge? Do you know who's in front of you?"
His gaze was as dark as ink, and he gritted his teeth as he said, "This is His Highness the Crown Prince! If anything happens to him, your entire Meng family will likely be executed! I don't care what methods you use, you must rescue His Highness the Crown Prince. As long as you rescue him, you will have everything you could want: promotions, riches, and honors!"
The Crown Prince?! Li Er is the Crown Prince?!
Meng Guanqi's knees went weak, and he subconsciously wanted to bow to the Crown Prince, but Li Er waved him off, saying that now was not the time to worry about such things.
He gasped, snapping back to reality. Right, the current crown prince was indeed the second son, and there was also Wan Quan, who was pale-faced, beardless, and had a gloomy expression. He only felt uncomfortable looking at him, but he never expected that he was a eunuch.
Now that he could no longer avoid it, loyalty to the emperor and love for the country were ingrained in every student's bones. Now that the crown prince's identity had been revealed, he could not stay out of it no matter what.
But what should he do now? He's completely powerless; how can he possibly rescue the prince?
An invisible fear enveloped him like a spider web, and he could only rely on instinct to lift the prince up and stumble toward the back door of the small temple.
Turning past the dilapidated back door, a gust of wind mixed with ice shards rushed towards him. Meng Guanqi shivered and realized that he was only wearing an inner garment and a middle garment. His outer garment was still wet and lying on the ground in front of the temple. Extreme cold, tension and fear intertwined and reached a strange balance, which suddenly calmed his mind.
The Crown Prince was nearly a head taller than him, with a slender build. With the Crown Prince half-leaning on him, Meng Guanqi struggled to support him as they walked, saying, "Your Highness, we must find my maid, Li Xiaoxiao, now. Only by finding her will we have a chance of survival. Otherwise, you are too badly injured to walk, and I am too hypothermic to walk either. We won't be able to get very far..."
Even in the dense forest, large raindrops and ice crystals still pierced through the layers of withered branches, hitting their faces and bodies. Li Xiaoxiao was riding back along the official road to find Zhao Jian and Asheng. If he could just carry the prince to the official road, he might run into them on their way back...
Li Er suddenly stopped in his tracks.
Meng Guanqi was startled: "Your Highness! We can't stop—" His voice suddenly stopped in his throat, because a black horse blocked their way. The black-clad man sitting on it wore a bamboo hat and a raincoat, his face was covered with a cloth, and he held a knife in his hand. Only his eyes were visible as he coldly stared at them.
The Crown Prince clutched his chest and laughed bitterly, "I'm sorry, Young Master Meng, I may have dragged you down with me today!" These assassins could fight ten against one, and he was seriously injured. Meng Guanqi was just a weak scholar, no match for this man in black.
Meng Guanqi gritted his teeth and stood in front of the Crown Prince. He shouted at the man in black in a deep voice, "Get out of the way! Do you know who you're blocking?"
The man in black didn't even blink as he slowly drew his knife.
The crown prince shook his head: "It's no use. These are assassins. After they kill me, except for one who goes back to report, the others will commit suicide. They will not be threatened."
Assassinating the crown prince is a heinous crime, so why would the person behind it leave any evidence for others to investigate? These assassins are not only fearless, but they also leave no marks on their bodies to prove their identity, and they don't even say a word. Otherwise, if someone could hear their accent, it could become a flaw at any time.
The Crown Prince stepped forward and pushed Meng Guanqi away: "To raise someone with such extraordinary skills, I can guess who is behind you without you saying a word. We are all seriously injured and can't escape, but this young man is just a passerby who happened to be warming himself by the fire in the dilapidated temple. Let him go. He doesn't know anything and didn't see anything."
Meng Guanqi felt a tightening around his waist; it seemed the Crown Prince had stuffed something into his belt. He didn't dare turn around, but instead took a step to the left.
This direction is the only possible way to avoid the men in black.
The man in black stared coldly at the Crown Prince, but the hand holding the knife slowly pointed at Meng Guanqi.
The prince closed his eyes. He knew it was useless to say these words. The assassins would not leave any evidence, especially since Meng Guanqi was a living person.
Meng Guanqi was so frightened by the intense killing intent in the man in black's eyes that he took a step back. The next moment, the man in black leaped up like a swallow and slashed at Meng Guanqi's face with his knife.
Meng Guanqi's retreating foot kicked a tree stump, causing him to fall backward and narrowly avoid a fatal blow.
The man in black gave a cold snort. He had luckily dodged the first blow, but what about the second?
Meng Guanqi fell to the ground and couldn't get up for a moment. The second slash came down. A flash of cold light exploded in front of his eyes. The sound of swords clashing almost shattered his eardrums. It was the Crown Prince who drew his sword and clashed with the black-clad man's knife.
The prince roared, "Run!" His sword flashed faster and faster, but he gradually ran out of strength.
He was already injured, and now that he was fighting, his body, which was barely covered with white medicine, began to bleed again. His body could only rely on instinct to parry the attacks of the men in black one sword at a time, giving Meng Guanqi a chance to escape.
The man in black swung his sword down again with great force, knocking the sword out of the prince's hand. The force of the blow shattered the prince's hand, and he had to kneel down to barely support himself. Even so, his body was still trembling uncontrollably.
After a fierce battle and escape, he encountered rain and snow, and was seriously injured. He was at his last gasp.
The man in black, anticipating that he couldn't escape, gave him a cold look and turned to chase after Meng Guanqi.
Killing this small fry and then dealing with him won't take much effort.
In his extreme fear, Meng Guanqi didn't know he could run so fast. He didn't run in a straight line, but kept circling around the dense forest. He could hear the wood chips flying from the black-clad man's blade as he chopped at the trees. Some of them grazed his cheeks, causing numbness and pain, and he didn't know how many wounds he had made.
He was skilled in the Six Arts of a Gentleman, but his martial arts skills were merely decorative and only good for physical fitness; they were utterly useless in actual combat. He could only use all his strength to escape.
Despite the life-or-death situation, he was surprisingly fast, but he was still far from the official road.
He could only find Li Xiaoxiao and Zhao Jian if he ran onto the main road.
Unfortunately, he tripped over a dead branch and fell face-first onto the ground, which was covered with fallen leaves and dirt.
He fell so hard that he didn't have time to get up and continue running.
His short life flashed before his eyes like a fleeting dream. He wasn't thinking about his impending death, but rather what would happen to his father and mother after losing him...
His mother had been married to his father for eighteen years and only gave birth to him. He couldn't imagine how his parents would live after learning that he was gone.
The sound of a blade slicing through the air was already close to his ears. He trembled and closed his eyes, two lines of tears mingling with the raindrops and dripping straight down.
But then there was a "clang" sound. The knife that was slashing at him was suddenly moved a foot away and cut into the dirt next to his ear. Meng Guanqi was shocked. He saw a gray-brown figure flash past and kick the man in black in the chest. The man in black was sent flying high into the air like a kite with a broken string. Then he fell down quickly, smashing through two big trees before crashing to the ground like a tattered straw doll, splashing water more than a meter high.
Before Meng Guanqi could react, he felt himself being easily lifted off the ground, and the fallen leaves clinging to him were brushed off. He heard Li Xiaoxiao's complaining voice in his ear: "Damn! I almost missed it!"
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