Chapter 45: Ancient Road Massacre

  "Your Highness!"

  The quiet Zhuque Street suddenly echoed with a rapid horseshoe sound, and the long torches rushed towards this side like a fire dragon. Chu Li's eyebrows slightly raised, reining in his warhorse. The personal bodyguards behind him cautiously led their horses forward, surrounding Chu Li in the middle.

  Qing Xia slightly furrowed her brow, as the troops from Xichuan and Dongqi arrived. Recently, Nanchu had been strictly enforcing curfews, even the military camps were not allowed to have private outings at night. Judging by the direction these people came from, they should be the Northern Army's cavalry, arriving from the North City Gate. With such a long street blocking the imperial carriage, it seems that something big has happened.

  "Who comes?" Xu Quan stood in front of Chu Li, wearing a suit of soft armor and with his sword eyebrows raised, shouting loudly.

  "We are all garrisoned in Beijun City under Li Ping's command, and I have a matter to report to Your Highness!"

  Obviously recognizing the other as an acquaintance, Xu Quan furrowed his brow and looked at Li Ping's blood-stained clothes. He pressed on his left shoulder, clearly seriously injured, and hastily made way for him. Chu Li's expression was calm, he rode forward, and said in a low voice: "What happened?"

  "Your Highness!" Despite being severely injured, Li Ping quickly dismounted and knelt on the ground with a thud, loudly replying: "At the second watch, someone secretly exited the city gate. The guards discovered them and killed two of the city gate guards, injuring three others. I led troops out of the city to pursue, but unexpectedly there were people outside the city waiting in ambush. I fell into their trap and suffered 28 casualties. Unable to do anything else, I retreated and released a falcon to investigate. I request that Your Highness grant me a military token, so I can lead troops out of the city to capture the bandits."

  "Has someone secretly exited through the North City Gate?" Chu Li whispered to herself, then asked in a low voice: "Can you see the appearance and attire of the person who came?"

  "The person wore a night-traveling cloak and had a face veil, but I can still tell that it was a woman."

  "Women?" Chu Li's face jolted, his voice slightly raised. Qing Xia, in the crowd, carefully lifted her head to look up, a vague premonition slowly rising.

  "It was because in the fight, I tore off a piece of cloth from the other person's clothing, and this thing fell out."

  A piece of snow-white satin was carefully presented, and even from a distance, Qing Xia could see clearly that the white satin had been torn off. Li Cheng said that he had ripped off the outer fabric and pulled out what was inside. But as soon as he saw the fabric, he knew that it was clear that during the fight, the opponent had been close to Li Ping, and the outer night clothes along with the inner clothes had been torn off together in one piece. Just by looking at the surface of the fabric, you could tell that the material was soft and delicate, and the workmanship was exquisite, belonging to a high-quality product. However, none of this caught Qing Xia's attention, because she clearly saw that on the upper part of the fabric, a delicate orchid was embroidered!

  "I see that this fabric looks like it was made in the palace, and Your Highness has just issued a nationwide warrant for the arrest of Consort Lan. I suspect..." The rest of his words were left unspoken, but everyone understood what he meant. Ordinarily, one or two bandits breaking into the city gate would not be enough to report to Chu Li, and it could have been directly reported to the prefecture of Shengdu. However, because of the previous imperial edict issued by Zhuang Qingxia, these people naturally did not dare to be careless. They actually came to report to Chu Li in the middle of the night."

  "Which direction did the other party escape to?" Chu Li's voice was calm and even, with no discernible emotions, but Qing Xia could truly sense that a stormy shadow was slowly gathering in the air.

  "Ten Miles North Slope."

  A loud whooshing sound almost simultaneously rose, Lan Fei was named as Dang Fei by Chu Li on that day, the reason for which had long been exaggerated and spread throughout the streets. And in the state of Qi, where the male lead of the scandal was located, happened to be in the north direction. The name "Ten Mile Slope" has the word "slope", but it is actually a ferry crossing, crossing over the Flowing Cang River to the east, which is the best route back to Qi.

  "Xu Quan, take the army back to the large camp to reorganize the troops and horses. Everyone else, follow me out of the city."

  "Your Highness, no!" Xu Quan was greatly shocked and hastily said: "Be careful of the enemy's trickery."

  Piercing eyes slowly turned over, tightly staring at Xu Quan's face, low and even words slowly spit out, making the people around him freeze for three feet.

  "Don't make me say it again."

  The horseshoes thundered forward, and the black-clad guards followed collectively. Qing Xia and Yang Feng exchanged a glance, and the cautious worry in each other's eyes was hastily conveyed.

  Because they knew that the person outside was absolutely impossible to be Zhuang Qingxia. So, the purpose of the visitor became very clear.

  In the dark of night, a group of people rushed along the outer city post road, with Black Guards surrounding them and Chu Li being escorted in their midst. Qing Xia was fortunate to be assigned to Chu Li's right side. Since leaving the imperial palace, this was her first time being so close to him, and she couldn't help but steal glances at him, her expression calm but her heart racing without revealing a single trace of it.

  Her entire body's cautious cells almost simultaneously opened, Qing Xia knew that in this seemingly quiet black night, a huge crisis was actually hidden. Countless ghosts and monsters were lurking in the dark with ulterior motives, not knowing when they would come out and bite her. From the start, she had always been careful to hide herself, but now accompanying Chu Li, this madman, on this post road, sprinting wildly, she felt like she was standing naked in front of people.

  It turns out that being someone's target feels so unbearable.

  Just as she was about to smile, a thread of vigilance suddenly sounded in her mind. Although she hadn't discovered any unusual movements, and the other party had perfectly concealed themselves, the years of experience of rolling around on the edge of life and death had given Qing Xia an almost divine sixth sense. This feeling had also pulled her back from the brink of death multiple times. With a sweep of her phoenix-like eyes, a faintly discernible cold glow flashed in the night, and the faint light reflected off the human eyeballs under the dim moonlight was like a bomb exploding in Qing Xia's mind.

  "An ambush!"

  Everything happened almost in 0.01 seconds, Qing Xia, who was guarding on the right side of Chu Li, suddenly shouted loudly and flew up, instantly leaving his war horse, pounced onto Chu Li's body, and knocked him off the horse.

  Everyone was shocked, some people shouted loudly, but before these people could react. A dense rain of sharp arrows shot out like a swarm of locusts. All the arrowheads were pointing in Chu Li's direction, and the masterless warhorse suddenly let out a mournful cry and fell to the ground. Qing Xia pulled Chu Li into a sideways roll, dodging the massive body of the warhorse by a hair's breadth. Countless arrows were densely embedded in the warhorse's corpse, with a faint blue glow flashing on the arrowheads, clearly showing that they had been poisoned.

  "Protect the prince!" The deputy of the black-clad guard, Wei Qiyong, loudly shouted, but as soon as his voice fell, two sharp arrows simultaneously shot into his chest. Wei Qiyong let out a miserable cry, and with great effort, he parried several flying arrows, but finally could not withstand them, and fell off his horse.

  In just a blink of an eye, more than 200 black-clad guards were killed or injured, Xu Quan was nowhere to be found, Qi Yong had fallen in battle, and the remaining ones were fighting separately, trying to find shelter and resist the enemy's strong arrows.

  "Don't panic! Extinguish the torches, pile up the horse corpses, and block the sharp arrows! The first team heads east, the second and third teams guard the left wing, the fourth team guards the right wing, the fifth team breaks through, the sixth team protects the lord, and the rest follow me to charge forward!" Amidst the chaos, Yang Feng suddenly stood up and shouted loudly. Several strong arrows shot towards Yang Feng as if they had grown eyes in an instant.

  Yang Feng's long spear flashed like a dragon emerging from the sea, its shadowy form swirling and churning as it deflected more than half of the arrows that filled the sky. Yet not one of them was able to hit him. Just then, a bright yellow arrow suddenly shot out of the darkness, its power unmatched. Yang Feng let out a cold laugh, his body spinning around, his hand reaching back to grab the arrow tightly in his fist. He swiftly drew the longbow from his waist and fitted the golden arrow onto it, shooting it back along its original path with a loud whooshing sound. A blood-curdling scream instantly rang out in the darkness, clearly indicating that someone had met their demise.

  This is the first time since being ambushed that they have injured the enemy's men and horses, and the morale of the Black Guard has been greatly boosted. After all, they are all carefully selected elite soldiers, and the reason for their previous panic was because they were unexpectedly ambushed, with two main commanders absent, and the enemy attacking with bows and arrows, hiding in the darkness, making it impossible to even catch a glimpse of them. Now, seeing Yang Feng's unparalleled bravery, easily shooting down the enemy's men and horses, under the shock of his momentum, they hurriedly followed his orders and took action in an orderly manner.

  The torches almost went out at the same time, and the entire post road was in a state of darkness for a moment. The black-clad guards didn't need to be targets under the bright torches anymore. At this moment, both sides were in the dark night, shooting arrows randomly, without any aim. The arrows flying all over the sky suddenly became like flies with their heads covered, flying around randomly but couldn't find their target. The pressure on the black-clad guards was greatly reduced, and they took out the bows and quivers from their waists and counterattacked.

  Others were shooting arrows blindly at this time, but Yang Feng seemed to have grown eyes in the dark, listening to the sound and identifying the position. Every arrow shot out had a miserable cry. For a while, he was like a regional envoy, with every arrow hitting its mark, and his side kept cheering.

  Qing Xia hid behind the two dead horses, drew out a long black uniform knife from his waist, carefully avoiding the flowing arrows while scouting around for the enemy's situation. Although the current situation was still unfavorable to their side, as long as they could drag on for time, Xu Quan's reinforcements would arrive, and what they feared most was that the enemy wouldn't wait and charge forward for close combat. The black uniform guards had many dead and wounded, and there weren't many people left with fighting power; once they got close, their chances of winning would be slim.

  However, as if in response to Qing Xia's idea, a soft whistle suddenly came from the dense forest beside the post road. The chaotic arrow rain paused for a moment, and the noisy footsteps quickly approached. It was clear that the other party knew the Black Guard like the back of their hand and knew that dragging it out would not be beneficial, so they could no longer wait.

  Yang Feng had apparently thought of this point, and was not surprised. He hung his bow and arrow at his waist, held a long spear in his hand, and went forward to meet them. His speed was extremely fast, and in an instant he had already flashed into the crowd. The intense smell of blood spread out in the dark night. Yang Feng's spear pierced the throat of a bandit, and he shouted loudly: "The fifth and sixth teams break through the siege and escort the lord back to the city, everyone else follow me!"

  At this moment, he has become the mainstay of all black guards. Everyone listened to his orders and acted accordingly. The remaining black guards from the fifth and sixth teams rushed towards Qing Xia and Chu Li's direction.

  "Hmph! If I, the king, were to be intimidated by these petty thieves and flee in disarray, how could I then command the millions of troops of Southern Chu? Who would listen to my orders?"

  Chu Li suddenly stood up, his eyebrows and eyes stern, his voice loud and majestic. However, before he could finish speaking, he was punched hard in the abdomen by someone, causing Chu Li to grunt and bend over.

  Qing Xia pulled Chu Li to one side and they both fell prone. As soon as the words left Chu Li's mouth, countless arrows flew rapidly towards them from all directions. After dodging a round of attacks, Qing Xia shouted loudly: "Fifth and sixth teams follow me, charge out from the left flank!"

  He grabbed Chu Li's collar and pulled him over to a warhorse that had fortunately escaped injury, gritted his teeth and with great force flung him onto the horse.

  "You! How dare you!" Chu Li burst into a rage, shouting loudly. Qing Xia had never heard of such a thing before, so he flipped over and got on his horse, sitting behind Chu Li, letting him lie on the warhorse's back like a turtle. Suddenly, he raised his whip and shouted loudly: "Follow me!"

  Everyone was also afraid of the future emperor's mighty display, wanting to stay and fight to the death. They ignored Qing Xia's great disrespect, mounted their horses and followed behind Qing Xia, charging towards the left flank.

  "Stop them!" The enemy suddenly shouted, and someone quickly moved towards Qing Xia and the others. Yang Feng's long spear was raised, and one person with a gun seemed to be a tight army that blocked the way.

  When they finally rushed over, Qing Xia and others had already disappeared without a trace.