Chapter 121 Counterattack (3) Everyone is in his game...
Feng Tan's bending motion resembled that of a kiss between Xiao Yinshi. Their breaths mingled, and even the hostility in their eyes after their sexual encounter had made their gazes less pure.
Feng Tan looked at his ever-annoying gaze beneath his raised eyelashes, her tone steady, her whole demeanor seemingly much gentler, "Even the hottest blood loses much of its warmth after passing through your hands."
"You flatter me." Xiao Yinshi's Adam's apple bobbed, and as the carriage swayed, his body slowly leaned upward, almost touching Feng Tan's lips. He said, "Feng Tan, in this world, not only do they need a savior, but evil people also need a savior. You must save me first."
Feng Tan misunderstood him. She glanced up and down at the shackles binding him, slowly stepped back, and sneered, "Save you? Xiao Yinshi, I'm being lenient by not killing you."
Xiao Yinshi knew that given Feng Tan's character, the two of them would never reconcile in this lifetime. Just as even if he had been gentler with Feng Tan back then, it would have been futile. Their relationship was a dead end from the start.
Throughout history, most kings and nobles have enjoyed their existing positions of honor, and it is rare to find someone like Feng Tan who would abandon empty fame for the sake of "fairness" and suffer half his life in the process.
Xiao Yinshi was attracted to her bone structure, but was defeated by her sharp and unyielding nature.
The man turned his dark eyes, staring intently at Feng Tan, and chuckled softly, "The road to revenge against me won't be easy."
The man's jawline was sharp and defined, like a knife or axe. Feng Tan pinched his chin, her eyes neither humble nor fearful, and said, "If I can kill Xiao Liling, I can kill Xiao Yinshi."
Xiao Yinshi said, "Do you think I'm as easy to kill as she is?"
He was indeed incredibly difficult to kill; Feng Tan tried several times during the Great Bright Festival but failed to finish him off. As for Xiao Liling...
"Her mistake was that she was capable of growing her own wings, but she relied on you, her ladder to success," Feng Tan commented sharply, looking through the suddenly lifted sedan curtain.
Xiao Zhan stood at the sedan door with a vicious look in his eyes, staring intently at Xiao Yinshi, and said, "Xiao Ying, how have you been?"
*
The man lying in the hall was covered in blood. The long whip with barbs continued to lash him relentlessly, and blood seeped from his skin layer upon layer. Xiao Zhan used all his strength to flick the whip aside, grabbed Xiao Yinshi by the front of his shirt, and said through gritted teeth, "When you hung my father's head on the city wall, did you ever think you would end up like this?"
Xiao Yinshi's face was pale. He raised his wet eyelashes, and the whip marks on his cheeks made him look even more ferocious and terrifying. He said in a hoarse voice, "Like a rat hiding in a ditch for months, you have finally seen the light of day and are so arrogant. Xiao Zhan, you have been in the high position of the court for many years, and you have not learned a single bit of political strategy?"
Xiao Zhan grabbed Xiao Yinshi by the hair and slammed him to the ground. His forehead hit the ground with a loud thud. Looking at Xiao Yinshi's bleeding and trembling body, he grinned and said, "Scheming... I have captured you today and made you bow down to me. That is my achievement."
As Xiao Zhan approached Xiao Yin with the red-hot branding iron, he recited: "From afar, he appears divine and celestial; up close, he possesses a natural, heavenly quality. With a flick of his finger, he can manipulate events, severing flesh and bones. If you say there is no Yama in the mortal realm, the prisoners in the imperial jail will cry out for justice... Tonight, the number one Yama in the Yama Palace is prostrate at my feet. I want to see if you will still cry out for justice."
The branding iron glowed red in Xiao Yinshi's eyes, as if a cluster of ghostly flames were burning in his dark pupils. The pale corners of the man's lips slowly curved upwards as he said, "Whether you can shout out your innocence or not depends on your ability."
"Heh," Xiao Zhan sneered, forcefully lifting Xiao Yinshi's head with his knuckles. The two looked at each other and he said, "How about this, you lie on the ground like a dog and bark a couple of times, and I won't brand you, how about that?"
Xiao Yinshi looked up, and Xiao Zhan involuntarily shivered.
His gaze was so cold.
Muttering something to himself, Xiao Zhan threw the branding iron into the coal fire to heat it up. He then pulled forward the chain binding Xiao Yinshi's wrist and forcefully placed the red-hot branding iron on Xiao Yinshi's left shoulder.
The sizzling sound and the smell of burning flesh filled the hall. A sharp pain struck, and Xiao Yinshi groaned in pain, his forehead covered in cold sweat.
"Ha, you've got guts." Xiao Zhan put away the branding iron, and his subordinate immediately handed him a sealed box.
He looked at Xiao Yinshi, who was sweating profusely and in a rather disheveled state, and slowly lowered himself down to open the secret box in front of Xiao Yinshi. A long snake with flashy colors and hissing tongue emerged from it, its pale green vertical pupils cold, giving people the feeling of an inorganic creature.
Xiao Zhan looked at Xiao Yin with a leisurely grin, then forced him to open his lips and said, "Iron Yama, how about I let you taste it again?"
......
"The night is not over yet. Will Xiao Yinshi have a good night to endure?" Arslan stood opposite Feng Tan, turning his gaze from the main hall to her and saying, "Xiao Zhan wants to vent his anger tonight and also wants to obtain the military seal of the Luo Sha Army to turn the tide. Do you think he can succeed?"
Feng Tan sat by the campfire, carefully wiping his sniper rifle, and said, "Xiao Zhan is the ally you chose. The Third Prince should know him better than I do."
The red firelight illuminated Arslan's bright eyes and brows, and he seemed to radiate warmth in the winter night. He calmly sat down next to Feng Tan and said, "I haven't spent much time with him, and I know you better than I know him."
Feng Tan became interested and asked, "Then, in Your Highness's eyes, how is he, and how am I?"
Arslan stroked his chin thoughtfully for a moment, then commented, "He's like a venomous snake, adept at lying in wait, striking the enemy's heart with sharp fangs when they least expect it, but he lacks composure. He has the ambition to shake up the court, but struggles to achieve his goals. As for you... you're like a lone wolf in the snowy mountains of the Eternal Heaven, outwardly tranquil, but inwardly wild, no less so than those in officialdom. You're dissatisfied with the world, even wanting to overthrow it. Am I right?"
Feng Tan paused in wiping his sniper rifle, glanced at Arslan's face, and after a moment, said, "Are all the men of the grasslands as meticulous as you?"
“That won’t do,” Arslan laughed heartily, chewing on a dry blade of grass. “I am the wisest son of the world, and they can’t be on the same page as me.”
Feng Tan also laughed and said, "Arrogant."
The night was as dark as ink, the warm orange glow of the campfire illuminating the outlines of the surrounding pine trees. In the dappled light, Arslan softly hummed a song from the grasslands, “ргнуудам бэлчээр, Талхээр талдморьдгйлдэн, Баатарлагдайчидминь, энддуулахнь, Эрэлхэгзоригтдайчид, талдээр.”
Feng Tan couldn't understand it, so she glanced at his focused and handsome face and asked softly, "What song is this?"
Arslan said, "The songs from my hometown, the folk tunes of Sotaha, were often hummed by my mother when I was a child, so naturally I remembered them."
Feng Tan put away her sniper rifle, stretched out her fingers to warm them by the campfire, and asked in a soft voice, "Do you miss home?"
Arslan did not answer the question directly, but only said, "I want to go home. The winter in Sotaha is not easy to endure. Xiao Zhan must become emperor as soon as possible to fulfill his promise."
Qingcang spread its wings slightly, flapped its feathers lightly, and flew from the pine tree to Feng Tan's side. Its feathers were like black jade in the dark night, shimmering with a faint silver light. Arslan became interested and said, "It is larger than the eagles on the grassland. It is very purebred. Such a gyrfalcon is really rare. You have the ability to tame such a king of eagles."
“However,” Arslan changed the subject, looking at Feng Tan and Qing Cang’s intimate interaction, and said thoughtfully, “Those who play with eagles do not know the pain of the eagle’s peck. Don’t get so close to it, be careful.”
The bird pecked at Feng Tan's cheek with its beak, then rubbed the tip of its head against her nose with the feathers on its head. Feng Tan's eyebrows twitched slightly, and she said, "It knows what to do."
Arslan said, "That's true. People who fly eagles are usually not easily pecked in the eye by eagles."
Those who handle eagles are generally not easily pecked in the eye by an eagle...
Feng Tan paused, her fingers stroking Qing Cang's feathers, when suddenly an alarm bell rang in her mind.
Things have progressed too smoothly so far. Xiao Yinshi stands at the top of the power pyramid, yet they were able to coerce him out of the palace without firing a single shot. As a result, Feng Tan has been feeling uneasy all the way.
She always believed that Xiao Liling was Xiao Yinshi's partner, and that their marriage was a mutually beneficial arrangement. But what if Xiao Liling was just a pawn of Xiao Yinshi from the beginning?
Perhaps her death was something Xiao Yinshi had anticipated, with the aim of completely eliminating Emperor Jingde Xiao Songyun's entire lineage!
Feng Tan suddenly stood up and hurriedly walked towards the wooden house in the woods.
Arslan noticed her expression was off and followed behind her, asking, "What's wrong?"
Feng Tan pushed open the tightly closed door of the wooden house and saw several bloodstains. The guard protecting Xiao Zhan had been pinned to the wooden board by a sword. His eyes were wide open, filled with disbelief.
Feng Tan suddenly thought of the night Xiao Yinshi exposed her female identity. The executioner had died in the same way, pinned to the wall by Xiao Yinshi's sword, his eyes wide open in death.
My gaze shifted slightly, and in the southwest corner of the wooden house, Xiao Zhan was being pressed hard against an iron pot burning with charcoal. His back was burning and smelled awful. His mouth was wide open, and Xiao Yinshi's fingers were tightly gripping his jaw.
A snake's tail swayed in his mouth, its body mostly swallowed. Suddenly, the wooden house door was opened, and Xiao Yinshi looked toward Feng Tan in the direction of the sound.
The man's cold gaze was enough to send chills down one's spine. He looked at Feng Tan's shocked eyes, smiled indifferently, and pinched Xiao Zhan's mouth shut with his fingers. The snake's body was severed in the middle, blood splattered out, and the remaining small piece of the snake's tail fell onto the shackles that had been removed from the hard stone slab.
Feng Tan had witnessed Xiao Yinshi's brutality, but he always managed to easily surpass her perception of his cruelty. She should have realized from the beginning that someone who had served as the commander of the Embroidered Uniform Guard for nearly ten years must have already mastered all kinds of tortures in the Imperial Prison and was well-versed in them. Even if his hands and feet were shackled, how could he not be able to break the shackles?
He orchestrated the entire scheme, scheming and calculating, with everyone caught in his game.
Xiao Zhan struggled in agony on the ground. When Xiao Yinshi stuffed the venomous snake into his mouth, its flowery tongue and fangs pierced deeply into his cheek flesh. This snake's venom was extremely potent; anyone who was poisoned by it would die.
Xiao Yinshi stood up. His blood-stained clothes and the subtle expression on his face made him appear ambiguous and eerie in the lamplight, like a heartless demon climbing the human path. His dark eyes captured Feng Tan's now quiet face, and he said, "Catch them all in one fell swoop."
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