Chapter 47: Phoenix Dance on the Battlefield

  This body is indeed not good, just one night, it made her sleep tiredly, and she didn't even notice the enemy approaching. If it weren't for the lush branches of the Huagai tree, they might have already been exposed by now.

  As soon as she opened her eyes, Chu Li covered her mouth. The man who was poisoned last night was now vigilant, with a sharp glint in his eyes, and seemed to be fully awake. He raised an eyebrow at Qing Xia, glanced at the tree below, apparently afraid that Qing Xia had just woken up and didn't understand the situation.

  A search party of eight people is lingering below, fortunately they don't have vicious dogs in their hands, otherwise there would be nowhere to hide.

  Chu Li slowly turned his head, glanced at Qing Xia, then pointed to the soldiers below and drew a horizontal line across his own neck. Qing Xia already understood what he meant. He nodded slowly, Qing Xia lightly pulled out the dagger from his boot, held it in his mouth, took out the hook lock that was always tied around his waist, and was about to stand up.

  The belt made of ring buckle was suddenly pulled by a hand, Qing Xia lowered her eyes and looked at it strangely, but saw Chu Li's eyes sinking slightly, his mouth open, silently saying: "Be careful."

  In an instant, it seemed like they were back in the African jungle, sharing hardships with their comrades from 9th Division. Qing Xia was slightly moved and nodded, reaching out to grab Chu Li's injured wrist, opening his hand and writing with his finger: "You too."

  "Just now the hunting dog indicated this direction, you few, climb up the tree and take a look."

  In the end, I finally found it here.

  One by one, the kapok trees presented themselves before him like a round roof. Qing Xia stood on top of the tree, and before those below had time to climb up, he suddenly threw out the hook in his hand, which hooked onto another tree with a clang. Grabbing hold of the rope with both hands, he exerted force downwards with his feet, and in an instant, Qing Xia seemed like a flying bird as he rapidly swung away.

  "Over there!" Such a big movement, the people below wouldn't have failed to notice. Eight soldiers simultaneously raised their hands and shouted loudly, chasing in Qing Xia's direction.

  "Release the arrow! Don't discuss life and death!" A soldier suddenly drew out a crossbow from his waist, shouting loudly. Qing Xia's eyes turned cold, her feet had just stepped onto another tree top, instantly throwing out the grappling hook, flying out in an instant, the dagger in her mouth was held in her left hand, single-handedly swinging the rope, her left hand fiercely swung down.

  A loud crack, a thick tree trunk was cut off in one go. At this time, the branches were dry and easy to chop, one broke and pressed down on another below, in an instant, a large piece of thick branches crashed down, mercilessly smashing onto the heads of several soldiers.

  Although these tree trunks didn't crush them to death, they were still battered and bruised, covered in dust. When they finally managed to crawl out of the dusty mess, there was no sign of Qing Xia's figure anywhere. A man who appeared to be the leader of the soldiers yelled, "Pursue!" The crowd scrambled out of the thicket and ran forward.

  At this moment, a figure slowly approached from behind.

  "Bang!" With a loud noise, the two people running in front suddenly fell to the ground, one of them hitting their head on a hard rock, and blood flowed out instantly. Qing Xia half-squatted behind a large tree, her wrist swung, and the hook lock in her hand swung back from another tree. She coldly glanced at the group of soldiers, then sprang up from the ground and ran away quickly.

  The crowd was furious and chased after him relentlessly.

  Qing Xia ran and jumped, as agile and nimble as a leopard. Everything in this thicket seemed to be her natural shield. In the mountains of Afghanistan, terrorists couldn't catch her even with thermal imaging sensors and satellite positioning systems. What's more, these soldiers who only knew how to wield long knives were no match for her. In the blink of an eye, Qing Xia once again hid among the trees and vines, disappearing from sight.

  The soldiers followed closely, stopping at an open space and looking around nervously. Although so far they had only faced Qing Xia alone, these people gave off a terrifying feeling as if facing an entire army.

  "With a 'poof' sound, a silver arc suddenly burst in the air, and everyone was shocked. A soldier's body shook, and a blood hole instantly exploded on his forehead, with fresh blood gushing down. Before he could even cry out, his body had already crashed to the ground."

  "Who's there? Come out!" someone shouted loudly, two people had already died, but they still hadn't seen the enemy's face. The crowd was in a panic, the soldier yelled loudly, waving his war knife and rushing towards the source of the silver light.

  But before he could run to the place, a sudden sound of breaking through the air came from the jungle, and a black strong arrow flew swiftly and hit the soldier's back.

  Fresh blood spurted from the soldier's mouth, and he convulsed twice before ceasing to move. The crowd turned pale, hastily turning around to stare in the direction of the crossbow bolt. In a flash, a petite figure suddenly leapt out, taking two strides before landing behind the group of soldiers who had already lost their composure. With a reverse grip on the dagger, she fiercely stabbed at the back of the heart, and the sharp blade pierced through, not pulling it out in time. Another soldier, alert to the danger, drew his battle knife and counterattacked.

  Qing Xia's eyebrows and eyes turned cold, his body following the knife's momentum to fall down, the dagger in the injured soldier's body was pulled out like a saw, and half of his shoulder suddenly separated from his torso. The ear-piercing scream rose into the sky. With a swift swing of the hook lock in his hand, he hooked onto another attacking soldier's ankle, and with a slight effort, that person fell heavily to the ground.

  Qing Xia rolled on the ground and happened to roll onto that man's body. She grabbed his hair with one hand, and Qing Xia suddenly jumped up from the ground. The soldier whose hair was grabbed let out a miserable hum, and fresh blood dripped from his scalp.

  With a "whoosh", Qing Xia suddenly flung the dagger in her hand, neatly lodging it in the neck of the man who was charging towards her with his knife. At the same time, a long sword flashed with lightning speed, slashing open a huge bloody gash on the chest of the man who had lost a big chunk of hair in her hand.

  Chu Li stepped forward, treading on the corpses of several other soldiers. Eight battle-hardened soldiers were thus eliminated. With agile movements and perfect coordination, Qing Xia smiled faintly at Chu Li and said in a low voice, "Let's go."

  Chu Li nodded and casually used his toes to flip over the corpse, then nodded again.

  Just then, a sudden noise came, Qing Xia and others were alert, and they immediately flew up, the dagger that had just been retrieved was thrown towards the source of the sound, a breaking air sound also rang out, a palm patted on Chu Li's body, almost at the same time, a burning pain came from his back, Qing Xia knew instantly that he had successfully injured himself.

  A soldier who was still alive made a final counterattack and was stabbed in the center of his chest by Qing Xia's dagger, after which he could no longer move.

  Chu's eyebrows were tightly knitted, his face was cold and stern, he quickly got up from the ground, hugged Qing Xia's body, and said in a low voice: "How are you?" As he spoke, he also wanted to pull out the crossbow arrow on her back.

  "It can't be pulled out!" Qing Xia hastily said: "There's a barb on the arrowhead, once it's pulled out, the bleeding won't stop. Fortunately, there's no hemostasis, otherwise, his life would be in danger today." He took the knife from Chu Li's hand, flipped it over and chopped off the arrow shaft. Tore off a piece of pant leg, wrapped it around his back and tied it in a circle, biting one corner of the cloth strip and tightly securing it.

  After scouting around, Qing Xia said in a low voice: "This place is not suitable for staying for long, Your Highness should leave quickly. I am heavily injured and cannot escape far, so I will stay behind to hold off the enemy and cover your retreat."

  This is a rare opportunity. Not only did he successfully escape from Shengdu, but also had the best reason to disappear after dying in battle. Unbeknownst to anyone, it would not implicate Yang Feng either. He deliberately left this hidden danger, just for the sake of using this trick. Otherwise, no one would have escaped under Qing Xia's command, and that soldier wouldn't have been possible either.

  Struggling to prop herself up on the ground, Qing Xia gritted her teeth and managed to stand up, albeit a bit unsteadily. She had suffered more severe injuries before, in the Syrian mountains, where she was shot in the right lung while rescuing innocent hostages. Despite the pain, she relied on stimulant injections to numb it and fought off the enemy for three days. After that operation, she underwent surgery to remove half of her lung and received a medal. Many times, people can create miracles, and the resilience of life far exceeds human imagination.

  Chu Li's face was gloomy, looking at Qing Xia's slightly stumbling footsteps, he suddenly walked to her front, bent down and said in a low voice: "I'll carry you on my back."

  Qing Xia was shocked, knowing that her current identity was just a low-ranking black-clad guard of Chu Li, and it was very normal for her to take an arrow for him and die. As the crown prince, even if he abandoned her and escaped alone at this moment, it would be reasonable. She quickly said: "I dare not, Your Highness is a precious treasure, my life is worthless, you don't have to risk being suspected for me."

  "Come up!" Chu Li's voice was low and seemed reluctant to say another word.

  Qing Xia had gone to such great lengths to get this opportunity, and the next time he escaped, who knew when it would be. How could he give up like this? He continued to say: "As a black guard, I am willing to die for Your Highness, Your Highness does not need to consider my life..."

  A cold gaze swept over, and Qing Xia suddenly stopped talking.

  One hand held Qing Xia on his back, Chu Li wrapped both hands around his body from behind, circled Qing Xia's legs in front, and covered Qing Xia's body with a large cloak before tying it to himself.

  Qing Xia was tightly bound to Chu Li's body like a rice dumpling, her small frame not matching Chu Li's long arms and legs, which were now dragging on the ground as she was carried on his back. Chu Li's expression remained unchanged as he picked up the long knife and crossbow from the ground, saying in a low voice: "Hold onto my neck."

  Failed to steal the chicken, but lost a handful of rice. Qing Xia's heart was filled with even more frustration. Helplessly, she stretched out her hand and wrapped it around Chu Li's neck. Chu Li lowered his head and took a glance at the pair of pale small hands in front of him, and his eyebrows furrowed slightly.

  With the crossbow and arrows in hand, Chu Li suddenly took off running at an astonishing speed, not hindered by carrying a person on his back. The terrain of the forest was treacherous and unpredictable, but fortunately, Qing Xia had exceptional memory skills, combined with Chu Li's familiarity with this place. By noon, the two had already reached the edge of the forest.

  Zhu Qingxia leaned on Chu Li's shoulder, gazing sideways at the outline of his firm eyebrows and eyes, suddenly feeling a sense of familiarity. In fact, this person wasn't as detestable as she had thought. It was just that he had attached himself to Zhu Qingxia, this traitor. Throughout history, every country has always taken a ruthless attitude towards traitors; if it were her, they might have simply killed him off already.

  As she was lost in thought, a loud horseshoe sound suddenly rang out, Qing Xia was startled and her palms involuntarily grasped tightly onto Chu Li's shoulders. Chu Li also stopped in his tracks at the same time, his eyes gleaming with cold light, cautiously looking towards the direction of the sound.

  "Divide all men into thirty teams to search for His Highness, with smoke and fire as signals. If suspicious persons are encountered, kill them without pardon!"

  A loud clang suddenly rang out, and although he knew that this escape was completely hopeless, Qing Xia still shouted with joy, shouting loudly towards the distance: "General Ao, Your Highness is here!"

  The chaotic footsteps rushed towards this side, and Xu Quan led a large group of people to rush over crazily. However, everyone's expression turned stiff after the initial joy, even Xu Quan couldn't help but change his face, staring blankly at Qing Xia who was lying on top of Chu Li, with his eyes wide open in shock.

  "Hmph!" A sudden, ominous voice rose up, and Chu Li's eyes turned cold as a killing aura instantly spread.

  He was indeed a seasoned official, and Xü Quán immediately withdrew his gaze, knelt down on the ground with a clang, and loudly exclaimed: "Your servant arrived late to save Your Highness, please forgive me!"

  Row upon row of black-clad soldiers knelt on the ground, their voices shouting in unison for pardon. Qing Xia's face was as white as paper, she knew that from now on, wanting to escape would be harder than ascending to heaven.