Chapter 58: Breaking Out of the Encirclement

  A blood-curdling scream burst forth, merging into a deafening explosion that shook the heavens. Countless people stood agog, watching in horror as a silver blade flashed with lightning speed and ferocity towards Yan Pingxi's neck, only to whip back around his throat before flying back along its original trajectory the very next second.

  Yan Pingxi's eyes suddenly widened, a hint of panic flashing across his pupils. In the dead silence, it seemed as if everyone could hear the sound of bones shattering. Yan Pingxi's body suddenly slumped to one side in an eerie posture, a circle of fresh blood flowing down from his neck. The next second, his once elegant head had fallen to the ground, lifeless, kicking up a cloud of dust.

  Everything happened in the blink of an eye, and when everyone looked up in terror, they saw a handsome young man with bright eyebrows and eyes sitting proudly on horseback on top of a high slope. He held a sharp dagger in his hand, and a silver-white silk ribbon was tightly wrapped around his arm, attached to the dagger. Fresh red blood flowed slowly from the dagger and seeped into the snowy ground, splashing out small dark red whirlpools.

  "The commander is dead, why don't you run quickly?" Qing Xia smiled lightly and rode her horse slowly down the slope, as if the four hundred soldiers in front of her were not fierce wolves, but a group of old friends.

  "Is that you?" A surprised voice suddenly rang out. Qing Xia turned to look, and saw the black-clad man who had been tied up in a tree on that day.

  That man glared at Qing Xia fiercely and said with hatred: "You're also the one who secretly plotted against Lord Lie and Lord Feng?"

  Qing Xia raised an eyebrow, but didn't say a word.

  A man in black suddenly said in a cold voice: "Brothers, now that Yan is dead and Li and Feng have turned traitors, if we return to Kyoto like this, not only will we die without a whole body, but our families will also be difficult to keep safe. At this point, there is only one way to fight with our backs to the water, and there is a possibility of escape!"

  He suddenly drew his longbow and shot a fierce arrow at Qin Zhiyan.

  The arrow came with a fierce momentum, but unfortunately it was broken by the eighteen iron guards before it reached Qin's side. The man in black drew out his long knife from his waist and said in a low voice: "You want to die, follow me!"

  Awe-inspiring weapons whistled in the night wind, their roar shook the sky, and before the pressure of life and death, they temporarily forgot the intimidation of the Great Qin War God, and followed the black-clad man's back towards Qin Zhiyan and others' direction, rushing forward!

  A loud shout and the sound of horseshoes echoed, figures flashed in the firelight, black armored cavalrymen galloped across the wasteland with swords raised, eighteen iron guards protected Qin's flame in front, row after row of rockets shot out fiercely, but how could they contend with hundreds of enemies.

  The distant battle suddenly turned into a close-quarters melee. The circle formed by the eighteen iron guards gradually shrank, wails filled the air, blood splattered everywhere, and figures fell down in large numbers, but new people immediately supplemented from behind, joining the new battlefield.

  Qing Xia beheaded a black-armored soldier with one slash, secretly blaming his own soft-heartedness. Yan Pingxi was already dead, and the enemy's morale was greatly shaken. If he had killed that black-clad man that night, the disaster would have been resolved instantly, and things wouldn't have turned out like this now.

  At this moment, a loud rumbling sound suddenly rose, Qing Xia was stunned, and he quickly turned his head to look back, only to see countless dark shadows rushing towards him in the night color on the distant wasteland, black armor and the people who were fighting in front of him were exactly the same!

  The enemy actually has reinforcements?

  Suddenly, the words of Yan Pingxi's instructions to the black-clad man yesterday came back, it seemed that they didn't completely believe in Feng Li either, and had left a backup plan. Thinking of this, Qing Xia knew that breaking through was now completely hopeless.

  A dull rumbling sound kept echoing above her head, Qing Xia raised her head and saw a large patch of snowflakes tumbling down from the mountain top. A bold idea suddenly rose to her mind. Without time to think carefully, Qing Xia snapped her fingers at the entrance, blew a loud whistle, and a fine horse arrived in an instant. From the bundle on the horse's back, she pulled out the hook lock used that day against the disguised water bandits at Jia Ling River. Qing Xia nimbly mounted the horse, grasping the hook lock as she charged into the crowd.

  The sky was dark and the ground was stained with blood, as the battle raged on, the road was gradually blocked by corpses. Qing Xia's hands were quick and agile, in the blink of an eye, he charged into the crowd, taking horses but not people, hooking locks onto the legs and feet of the warhorses with ease. At this time, the sound of killing was deafening, who would notice if someone was secretly attacking the warhorses? Qing Xia was like a mud eel, swiftly passing through the crowd, suddenly flipping over and jumping off the horse's back, tying dozens of ropes to his own horse's legs.

  "Sorry!" Qing Xia said softly, suddenly picking up the dagger and fiercely stabbing it into the horse's thigh. The warhorse let out a loud whinny, angrily rearing up and charging forward with a burst of speed.

  Just as it was about to run away, more than 20 ropes suddenly tightened, and a piece of bright red flesh was suddenly torn from the bodies of more than 20 war horses!

  A shrill, ear-piercing scream suddenly rose to the sky, covering all the shouts of killing, the wounded war horses cried out in unison, their voices pierced through the clouds, making people's ears buzz, sharp and mournful like a ghost crying.

  The shouting suddenly stopped, and except for the long neigh of the war horse, there was a silence on the desolate plain.

  Just then, a deafening roar suddenly came from above the crowd's heads, and the rumbling sound shook the sky, like thunder on the horizon, rolling in rapidly. In an instant, it felt as if the earth was shaking, and a mighty roar rose up from the ground, piercing through people's spines and bursting out of their scalps. Everyone's face turned pale in an instant, and they looked around in terror, only to see the same fear and incredulity on their companions' faces.

  "How dare you plot to assassinate the current crown prince at the foot of Longshan Mountain? The heavens are outraged, don't you quickly flee?"

  Qing Xia flipped over and climbed onto a masterless warhorse, shouting loudly.

  As she gestured, the crowd looked up in terror, and saw a snow-white wave rushing down from the majestic Dragon Backbone Mountain, forming a line that became a surface, sweeping away clouds and sky, with a momentum like ten thousand horses and a thousand troops!

  "Snow... avalanche!" The seasoned veteran shouted, throwing down the war knife in his hand and rushing wildly towards the vast wilderness.

  A domino-like chain reaction, everyone was frightened by the ominous aura of nature, and their faces turned pale in an instant. The black-armored reinforcements who had rushed to the nearby area were more than 3,000 people, but at this moment, they also saw such a scene and were terrified, turning around and riding horses wildly, no longer caring about Qin Zhiyan and others.

  "What's wrong with you? Standing there like an idiot? Hurry up and go!"

  Seizing Qin Zhiyan's slightly pale and weak wrist, Qing Xia leaned in close to his ear and shouted loudly.

  "Where to escape?" Qin Zhiyan also asked loudly, Qing Xia looked at him shouting loudly next to her ear and couldn't help but feel a little amused, didn't expect this god-like calm person would also have such a loss of composure. With a sweep of her phoenix eyes, Qing Xia slightly narrowed her eyes, beckoned to Zhong Taifu and the others with a wave of her hand, shouting: "Up the mountain! Into the Imperial Mausoleum!"

  "What?" The royal son of the Qin family suddenly widened his eyes.

  The snowstorm was getting closer and closer, Qing Xia and others were tightly attached to the crevices between the rocks, but there were still large pieces of wind and snow surging in, far away on the barren plain, the soldiers who were running stumbled, and fell into the deep snow one after another, and no trace could be seen. At this time, if you don't find a place to hide, running on the plain will only lead to death.

  Qing Xia's small body was tightly pressed into the stone crevice, when suddenly a thread of vigilance rose up, and the icy cold wind howled in from above. Just as she was about to lift her head, Qin Zhiyan suddenly moved forward, and with one swift motion, he knocked Qing Xia down and hugged her tightly in his arms.

  Qing Xia's body stiffened, and a warm air emanated from Qin Zhiyan's body. His body was extremely thin and weak, and under the thick clothes, one could even feel the tough bones. But it was this frail body that held Qing Xia tightly in his arms, outside of which were the endless snowstorms, sharp cold winds, and icy snow water, all of which were kept at bay, unable to harm her in the slightest.

  Time seems to have passed for so long, yet it feels like just a moment.

  The sound gradually subsided, Qing Xia gently pushed against Qin Zhiyan's chest and said in a low voice: "Qin Zhiyan, let me go, how are you?"

  The silence was deafening, as if the whole world had suddenly been left with only Qing Xia. A huge panic rose from the bottom of her heart, and she couldn't help but reveal her emotions. Qing Xia suddenly let out a loud cry, "Qin Zhiyan! Qin Zhiyan! How are you?"

  "Cough...cough..."

  A faint cough suddenly sounded, but to Qing Xia's ears it was like celestial music. She struggled to lift her head from Qin Zhiyan's arms, only to see that all around them was pitch black, without a single glimmer of light.

  Fumbling, he pulled out a lighter from his pocket, and a faint flame lit up in the darkness. Qin Zhiyan's pale cheek was beside him, with a patch of bright red on his shoulder, it was unclear whether it was his own blood or someone else's.

  "How are you?" Hurriedly stepping forward to help him up, he asked: "Are you injured?"

  Qin's flames finally stopped coughing and said in a hoarse voice: "I'm fine."

  Qing Xia turned her head to look, and saw that Qin Zhiyan's face was even paler now, with a faint trace of blood at the corner of his lips. Her heart tightened involuntarily. Remembering his carriage which was always hot enough to make people almost unbearable, she hastily took off her own cloak and wrapped it around him, saying: "Will this be warmer?"

  Qin's eyes slowly lifted, looking at the strange woman he had only met a few times, and smiled faintly, nodding his head, saying "Thank you."

  "Where is this?" Qing Xia stood up in confusion, only to see that the two of them were currently inside a massive black cave. The surroundings were quiet and still, and even the sound of the wind outside had gradually subsided. Such a large-scale avalanche, it was likely that even those Black Armor reinforcements would have no way to escape. Thinking about how all of this was caused by his own hands, Qing Xia couldn't help but feel a wave of fear. If he had acted just a little slower earlier, the one lying dead in the snow and ice right now would be himself.

  "Old Master! Where are you?" Qing Xia suddenly shouted loudly, but as soon as she did, another violent tremor struck, causing the ground to shake violently. Qin Zhiyan quickly reached out and grabbed Qing Xia's waist, holding her steady as the intense shaking continued for nearly half a cup of tea's time before slowly subsiding. Qing Xia looked like a mischievous child, sticking out her tongue and laughing awkwardly: "I'm really stupid, another avalanche! If I had kept shouting, we would have both ended up in the Yellow Springs!"

  Qin's eyes under the candlelight were exceptionally bright, like a dazzling gemstone. Qing Xia had never noticed before that this man's eyes were so good-looking; in their previous brief encounters, she only felt that he was extraordinary, but now at such close range, she suddenly realized that he was also a handsome man.

  Thinking like this, Qing Xia suddenly found herself leaning in a very intimate posture against Qin Zhiyan's chest, and hurriedly pushed away his hand, stood up straight, covering up her flustered expression, deliberately speaking seriously: "Do you know what kind of place this is?"

  "Hmm..." Qin Zhiyan suddenly smiled slightly, his smile as gentle and warm as the June sunshine.

  "Weren't you just going to the imperial mausoleum? This is it, the Imperial Mausoleum of Qin."