Chapter 657 Clash of Titans!
"Men, drag him out and kill him!"
At his command, two soldiers immediately walked in from outside the tent and reached out to grab Shang Ruyi!
The atmosphere inside the tent instantly became tense.
However, this tension came from the ministers sitting behind the table and the woman standing behind Ashina Shali, who, though silent, looked at Shang Ruyi with a complicated expression. On the contrary, Shang Ruyi herself, who was being watched so nervously, did not show the slightest panic. When her hands were grabbed by the soldiers and handcuffed behind her back, she did not even struggle.
The two soldiers were also somewhat surprised.
However, they were merely following orders and immediately began to escort Shang Ruyi out of the tent.
Just as they were about to turn and leave, Ashina Shali's voice came from behind them again: "Wait a minute!"
The two men immediately stopped and turned Shang Ruyi around.
Ashina Shali slowly stood up, pushed away the woman who reached out to help him, walked around the large table, and walked slowly to Shang Ruyi. With his only remaining eye, which was blood red from the pain and bright with excitement at the fulfillment of his long-cherished wish, he stared intently at Shang Ruyi.
Like a wolf, it stares intently at the meat beneath its paws.
He suddenly asked, "You're not afraid?"
Shang Ruyi was very uncomfortable with her hands tied behind her back, but she did not struggle and just shook her head slightly.
Ashina Shali's thick eyebrows furrowed: "Aren't you afraid I'll kill you?"
Shang Ruyi said, "You haven't killed me yet, have you?"
"..."
Ashina Shali raised an eyebrow, immediately realizing that she was referring to him stopping the two soldiers. His expression twisted, but he immediately sneered and said, "So, you think I wouldn't dare kill you?"
Shang Ruyi shook her head again.
Ashina Shali's thick eyebrows furrowed even more: "What do you mean?"
Shang Ruyi looked up at him, her gaze calm and without a ripple, and said indifferently, "I just think that the mighty Shali Khan should not only have such means to deal with me."
She spoke slowly, pausing between each sentence, yet Ashina Shali's expression changed several times, and those around her also showed expressions of surprise.
Only Ashina Zhuxie slowly turned his head and looked at Shang Ruyi with a complicated expression.
After a long pause, Ashina Shali said, "Are you trying to provoke me?"
Shang Ruyi said, "I guess so."
"..."
Ashina Shali gritted his teeth and suddenly sneered, looking like a bloodthirsty wolf baring its teeth and staring at its prey.
However, he did not do anything immediately.
Because of Shang Ruyi's words, the first few sentences were indeed meant to provoke him—for a dignified Khan like Shali, facing an enemy woman who had shot out one of his eyes, simply dragging her out and killing her would not be enough to extinguish the anger in his heart, and would only make him seem incompetent.
However, Shang Ruyi's last few words were, "Come and deal with me."
This means that you, the mighty Shali Khan, are no match for Yuwen Ye and have no way to avenge this arrow wound, so you can only vent your anger by killing a woman!
This both provoked him and put him in a difficult position.
Ashina Shali gritted his teeth. Although he didn't say a word, his heavy breathing carried a fiery heat, which spurted onto Shang Ruyi's face. He sneered, "You know, it's no use provoking me. But if you anger me, I have plenty of ways to deal with you."
"..."
"After all, it's freezing cold."
"..."
“My soldiers wouldn’t mind having another woman warming their bed in their tents.”
"...!"
Shang Ruyi's face immediately darkened.
He was talking about the soldiers!
This was what she feared and worried about most along the way. So when Ashina Shali said he was going to drag her out and kill her, she was not panicked at all. From his previous roar, she could tell that Ashina Shali's anger could not be quelled by killing just one woman. He would have to torture himself and humiliate Yuwen Ye to quell the hatred in his heart.
Upon seeing Shang Ruyi's expression change, a cold glint flashed in Ashina Shali's eyes.
He laughed and said, "What, scared?"
Shang Ruyi looked at him, her face slightly pale, took a deep breath, and said, "That's right, I'm scared."
"..."
"This is what I've been most afraid of on this journey."
"..."
"I never expected that Shali Khan would actually intend to do this to me."
"...!"
Upon hearing this, Ashina Shali frowned again.
Although Shang Ruyi admitted she was "afraid," he didn't feel any triumphant pleasure from overwhelming her; on the contrary, she said that this was what she feared most along the way, meaning that she had anticipated his methods of punishing her from the very beginning.
Therefore, everything Shang Ruyi said, from beginning to end, could actually be summed up in just four words—
As expected.
In other words, the actions and thoughts of the mighty Shali Khan were completely within the expectations of others!
This is not just a sign of his incompetence, it's an utter disgrace!
Ashina Shali gritted his teeth, panting heavily for a few breaths. The sound coming from his throat was like the low growl of a wild beast. He was just like a wild beast that had reached the extreme of anger, his blood-red eyes staring at Shang Ruyi, as if he wanted to tear her to pieces with his own mouth!
He gritted his teeth and said, word by word, "Do you really want to try and see what kind of cruel tortures we Turks have?"
"..."
Shang Ruyi looked at him with a furrowed brow and a flickering gaze.
But he didn't respond.
Immediately after that moment of silence, hurried footsteps sounded outside the tent, followed by the tent flap being pushed open forcefully, and a familiar yet urgent voice rang out—
"don't want!"
"...!"
Upon hearing that voice, Shang Ruyi felt a shiver run down her spine.
She tried her best to restrain herself, but she couldn't stop herself from trembling all over. Her eyes were instantly scalded by the hot tears that welled up. Slowly, she turned her head, and a familiar, long-lost figure finally came into view—
It's Lei Yu!
She was wearing a Turkic-style fur coat, tied only at the waist with a belt. Although her hair was combed back, it was still somewhat messy, showing that she had rushed over and hadn't even had time to tidy herself up.
Even so, it did not stop Shang Ruyi from almost bursting into tears the moment she saw her. The last time they met was on the night Luoyang fell. The two were on opposing sides and about to become enemies. At that time, she realized that it would be difficult for her and Lei Yu to meet again, and even if they did, it would never be the same as before.
But I never expected that we would meet at this moment.
Some things, it seems, haven't changed.
"Lei Yu..."
Shang Ruyi's lips moved slightly as she uttered those two words. When Lei Yu saw her, her eyes instantly turned red. She almost couldn't help but rush over, but she gritted her teeth, suppressed the surging emotions in her chest, lifted her foot, stepped over the threshold, and bowed to Ashina Shali: "Khan."
Upon seeing her, Ashina Shali's fierce expression, which had been filled with gritted teeth, softened slightly.
The atmosphere inside the tent seemed to change as well.
Shang Ruyi kept her head turned and stared at Lei Yu, so she didn't notice the strange expressions on the faces of Ashina Zhuxie and the charming Turkic woman who had been standing behind the table. However, she could still clearly sense the change in the atmosphere around her.
So he immediately shut his mouth.
Ashina Shali regained his composure, narrowing his remaining, bloodshot, and murderous eye: "Lei Yu, why did you come out?"
"..."
"You usually never leave your tent, do you?"
"...?"
Shang Ruyi was taken aback, then opened her eyes wide and looked at Lei Yu.
At this moment, Lei Yu had already walked to her side, and it was clearer to see that compared to the time they had spent together in the past, and even the last time they parted, Lei Yu's eyebrows and eyes had softened a lot. But that softness was not a gentleness from the heart, but a softness that had to be shown after being tempered by the vicissitudes of life. It was almost unimaginable what she had been through these days.
Even so, when facing Ashina Shali, her gaze remained as firm as ever, revealing an inherent toughness.
She said, "I heard that an old friend has come here, so I came to see him."
"..."
"I also hope that the Khan will not harm her."
After saying that, she took another step forward, subtly moving around to the front of Shang Ruyi and blocking her behind her.
At this moment, even though she knew she was in danger and could die at any moment, Shang Ruyi's heart softened.
Her eyes were red as she looked at Lei Yu, who was blocking her way.
At this moment, however, she didn't notice that Ashina Zhuxie and the middle-aged woman standing in front of them were both staring at them with complicated expressions. Ashina Shali, standing before them, had even sharper eyes than before, as if trying to pierce their very souls. He coldly said, "Your old friend is an enemy of our Western Turks!"
"..."
"Have you forgotten who shot me in the eye, Khan?!"
"..."
"Or is it that you can't forget your origins?"
"..."
"If that's the case, then you are the enemy of the Western Turks!"
He spoke those last few words with unusual heaviness, even more dangerous than when he had spoken to Shang Ruyi earlier. Upon hearing these words, Shang Ruyi immediately widened her eyes, looked over Lei Yu's shoulder, and stared in astonishment at the Western Turkic Khan.
Lei Yu's shoulders trembled slightly involuntarily.
The atmosphere inside the royal tent suddenly became tense again, like a taut bowstring, as if it would collapse at any moment!
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