When the enemy saw them hiding in the woods, they immediately abandoned their bows and crossbows and rushed forward with swords.
There were enemies everywhere, as dense as locusts. Chu Qiao's sword skills were amazing and invincible. She pulled Li Ce and led the way, with Tie You and others chasing behind. At this time, there were less than fifty people left. Everyone was covered in blood and seriously injured, and had no strength to fight anymore.
Chu Qiao's mind worked quickly, and she searched everywhere for the weak spots in the enemy's encirclement. She was ruthless and killed six or seven people in a row. The martial arts experience of two lifetimes plus years of hard training finally gave him a huge advantage in this jungle battle. Although she is short in stature, she is able to make use of the terrain, moving and slashing in the jungle, and almost no one can withstand her.
"Jojo! Jojo!"
Li Ce suddenly shouted loudly. Chu Qiao turned around and saw a big man approaching him with a knife. Tieyou was covered in blood and was staggering. It was obvious that he couldn't hold on for much longer.
Chu Qiao flew up, kicked the big man on the shoulder, and slashed down with a sword in the air. The Broken Moon Sword made a dragon roar and slashed along the big man's cheek to his shoulder. The man screamed and fell to the ground, his skull shattered and blood dripping.
There was a sudden burning pain in her left shoulder. The girl raised her eyebrows, reached out the dagger from under her ribs with her left hand, and stabbed it into the attacker's eye socket. With a flick of his right wrist, he blocked a spear coming from the right, and while the opponent staggered back, he stabbed with his sword, flew up, and kicked the man's head and face repeatedly with his right foot. Then the sword followed and pierced the man's heart.
"Qiao Qiao!" Li Ce was horrified and rushed forward to hug Chu Qiao, "You are injured!"
"Don't worry about me! Tieyou, take your master and run west!"
"No! I can't leave you!"
Li Ce stood there stubbornly, picked up a long sword from the ground, fiddled with it for a few times, and shouted fiercely: "Come on, you scoundrels!"
With a snap, the sword scratched his sleeve before it pierced the enemy, and he fell to the ground.
"Idiot!" Chu Qiao yelled, pulling his hand and shouting to Tieyou and the others, "Follow me!"
The blade of the Broken Moon Sword was razor sharp and could cut through iron like mud. With a swish, only a short piece of the enemy's sword was left. The man was horrified and was knocked down by Tie You who followed behind him with a knife. He fell to the ground covered in blood.
Chu Qiao passed by quickly, stepping on the corpses of the enemies. Everyone followed her up a high slope and saw the river below rushing with waves. There seemed to be ice in it, and it turned out to be a river that had just thawed.
"Jump down!" Chu Qiao screamed, kicked an assassin in the abdomen, and shouted to everyone.
"Ah?" Li Ce stood behind Chu Qiao, stretched his neck to look down, frowned and said, "Qiao Qiao, you will freeze to death!"
"If you miss, stay here!"
Li Ce stood on the high slope hesitantly, unable to make up his mind several times. Suddenly, a man came up from the high slope with a knife in hand and attacked the girl from the side who was fighting the enemy. The pampered Prince Bian Tang found the courage from nowhere, picked up a big rock and smashed it on the man's head. With a whoosh, the man's head was broken and bleeding, and he rolled down like a gourd.
"Haha!" Li Ce was very proud of his success and continued to hold the stone to fight off the enemy.
Seeing the prince's great power, everyone began to follow his example. For a moment, the enemy's momentum was suppressed.
"Hurry up!" Chu Qiao turned around and hugged Li Ce who was having a great time fighting, and pulled him down the slope. With a bang, everyone fell into the water. The biting coldness hit them in an instant, and Chu Qiao and Li Ce immediately sank to the bottom of the water.
Chu Qiao remained calm and swam upstream quickly, but no matter how hard she tried, she could not float up. When he looked down, he was furious. He saw Li Ce with his hands on his chest, holding a big stone tightly, as if he was holding a gold brick.
She punched the man on the back and snatched the big rock out. However, before she could float up, she suddenly heard a dense rain of arrows shooting in, and screams came from both sides. It was obvious that Tieyou and others were hit underwater. Chu Qiao secretly said that fools have good fortune, and she pulled Li Ce and swam away secretly.
The water was flowing very fast. After a while, the two men emerged from the water. The enemies on both sides were still chasing them, but they had gone far away.
Chu Qiao's lips were blue and white, her shoulders were stained with blood, and she was gradually losing strength.
"Qiao Qiao, Qiao Qiao?" Li Ce's voice seemed increasingly vague. Chu Qiao turned her head with great effort, only to see Li Ce paddling with great effort. When he saw her looking at him, he quickly said in a deep voice, "You have to hold on, we will be out of danger soon."
This was the first time Li Ce spoke to her seriously. His face was a little blue, his lips were pale and bloodless, and his eyes no longer had the usual playful and wanton look, but were more serious. His whole temperament seemed different.
Chu Qiao wanted to talk to him, but she opened her mouth several times but couldn't say a word. She was shivering with cold, and the excessive blood loss made her feel weak all over.
The river water was dark red, and the enemy's shouts and screams could be heard from behind. Gradually, beacons were lit on other hilltops. It seemed that as long as they left the city today, no matter which direction they went, they would be killed. The enemy's assassination was on a huge scale, and the number of troops mobilized was unimaginable.
There was no longer any sound of the guards beside him, the sound of water was getting louder and louder, the sky was gradually darkening, the river water was icy cold, the water splashed high, and the flow was accelerating. Chu Qiao and Li Ce screamed and quickly fell down a small waterfall. As the world spun around, Li Ce suddenly hugged the girl tightly and they both fell from the sky together.
Yan Xun closed the topographic map, glanced at his subordinates, and said in a deep voice: "There are two things to remember during the operation. First, rescue Ah Chu successfully, and second, do not reveal your identity. Once you are captured, you should know what to do."
Ah Jing and the others nodded and said, "We understand."
"Then go ahead."
Everyone responded loudly and left quietly with their troops.
Ah Jing was guarding beside Yan Xun and asked quietly, "Young Master, do you know who ambushed the Crown Prince Tang?"
Yan Xun shook his head and said, "I don't know. There is not enough intelligence, but there are too many suspicious targets. But that's not important anymore. Once Li Ce dies, Daxia and Bian Tang will definitely go to war, which will benefit us in every way. Since they have the same goal, we might as well help each other. Besides, if Li Ce was with Ah Chu at this moment, he might have died."
After he finished speaking, a faint smile appeared on the corner of his mouth, and he raised his head and whispered, "Even God is helping me."
Although they were already familiar with marching in the mountains and jungles, every time they climbed up, they could still see the torches of a large number of pursuers, like ghosts chasing their lives, biting their tails tightly, leaving them no time to rest or choose an escape route. They could only run towards the dense jungle and the difficult-to-climb mountains.
By the time they finally got rid of those people, it was already completely dark, and they had finally lost their way and could not identify the direction of Zhenhuang.
It was a cold and foggy night, and there was a light rain in the first half of the night. The temperature dropped rapidly, and they didn't even dare to make a fire for fear of being discovered. Chu Qiao and Li Ce sat in a dense bush. The thin girl leaned against a tree trunk. Her bones were almost broken and blood was oozing from the wounds on her body. The pain was unbearable. The arrow wound on her shoulder was particularly serious. The slightest movement caused her excruciating pain. The excessive blood loss made her feel extremely tired and weak, and she almost wanted to fall to the ground and sleep.
But years of training and experience taught her that this moment was the most important moment in her escape. If she fell down at this moment, she might never wake up again.
"Qiao Qiao?" Li Ce's voice sounded in her ear, and a robe was draped over the girl's shoulders. Chu Qiao frowned and looked up, only to see the man squatting beside her, still smiling and saying, "My clothes are dry."
Li Ce's clothes no longer had any fragrance. After being soaked in the river for half a day and fleeing in the jungle, they were wrinkled like a piece of rag. There were dark red stains all over his bright red clothes, and no one knew which unlucky killer's blood it was.
Chu Qiao moved slightly, and blood immediately seeped out from her shoulder. Li Ce was startled, and the smile disappeared from his pale face. He pressed on Chu Qiao's wound in a panic and said hurriedly, "It's bleeding again, what should I do?"
"It's okay," Chu Qiao frowned, tore off a corner of her clothes, bandaged it hastily, and said in a deep voice, "Sit down first."
"Ah?" Li Ce widened his eyes and asked in confusion.
"Sit down first!" The woman frowned impatiently. Although her voice was a little weak, it was full of vigor. "We don't have much time. Take the time to rest."
"Oh," Li Ce sat down honestly, thought for a moment and suddenly asked, "Qiao Qiao, do you know who those people are?"
"If you are so energetic, why not run a few more steps later? If you dare to clamor for a rest again, I will kill you first to prevent you from holding me back."
Prince Bian Tang was silent as a cicada, sitting on the ground with his neck shrunk, but his eyes were moving around restlessly.
Of course she also wanted to know who did it! But there were too many targets, and for a moment she was really at a loss.
If Li Ce was assassinated outside Zhenhuang City, Bian Tang would surely take the initiative to attack, and war between Daxia and Bian Tang would be inevitable. Once the two major powers in the world go to war, from the overall perspective, the first ones to benefit will be Huai Song, which is located on the eastern coast, Dahuang in the southern border, and Quanrong in the northwestern border. Especially Huai Song, their prosperous trade and abundant grain reserves will immediately become the object of strong wooing by the two countries, and Huai Song will also leap from a militarily weak country to occupy a strong strategic position.
Judging from the internal political situation, if Li Ce died, the Bian Tang royal family would have no successor, and the subordinate ancestral temple collateral relatives would get the opportunity to ascend the throne. The Tang Emperor's brothers would naturally become the heirs and get a share of the vast territory of Bian Tang.
From the perspective of Daxia, the only ones who have the ability to do this are the Daxia royal family and the major clans and families. After all, the Muhe family has just fallen, and Yan Xun has used a knife to kill people and eliminated Muhe Xifeng and Wei Jing one after another. It is inevitable that the major clans will feel grief-stricken. The stability of the Daxia regime has always come from the balance between the royal power and the power of the aristocratic families. Once one side becomes too powerful, it will inevitably lead to a series of bloody coups.
With the cunningness of Wei Guang, Zhuge Muqing and others, they would not fail to see the crisis hidden under the cloak of family prosperity. It is not impossible for them to take the initiative to provoke war, force Emperor Xia to rely on the power of the Yu family, and take the opportunity to take back the military power.
But what Chu Qiao was most worried about was that this matter was led by Yan Xun and facilitated by people sent by the Datong Guild. If this was true, then her situation would be quite embarrassing.