Chapter 17 : Encountering Assassins En Route

Three hours ago, at the crown prince’s palace in the imperial palace.

“You said Gentleman Wan Ting went to Qingxiu Temple? Even Murong Heng went along too.” Murong Cheng turned around and eyed the undercover guard kneeling on the ground. He frowned a little, but quickly came back to his senses before speaking in a deep voice, “Immediately bring a team and proceed to Qingxiu Temple. Ensure that when you’re there……” After he finished speaking, he moved his fingers across his neck in a slicing motion.

The undercover guard nodded knowingly and withdrew from the hall.

Murong Cheng stood in front of the desk and chair, and a smile gradually appeared at the corners of his lips. He’d finally managed to wait for this opportunity to get rid of the thorn in his flesh and snap off Murong Heng’s wings. Therefore, their operation this time can only succeed and not fail!

Although he, Murong Cheng, was already the crown prince, that didn’t mean that the position of the future emperor would undeniably be his. Now that his other brothers are ready to make trouble, he cannot be unprepared, and the best way was to strike first in order to gain the upper hand.

Once he’d disposed of these brothers, his ultimate goal was to seize the throne in one fell swoop. Imperial Father has remained in this position for long enough. He ought to give up the throne and allow him to rule over the empire!

At the same time, the fifth prince was sitting in front of the desk and chair, listening to his subordinates’ report. He lowered his head and sipped warm tea. Subsequently, he raised his head with a huff, and said, in a deep voice, “Go, dispatch people to Qingxiu Temple right now. We mustn’t arrive later than the crown prince’s men. Kill both Murong Heng and Gentleman Wan Ting.”

Who told this good imperial elder brother of his to have given him this opportunity at the right time to shift the blame onto him? He would send troops to secretly kill Murong Heng, and then put the blame on the crown prince’s henchmen. Not only could he get rid of Murong Heng without anyone noticing but he could also take the chance to frame the crown prince and deepen his imperial father’s suspicion of him. It could be deemed as killing two birds with one stone, so why wouldn’t he do it?

The undercover guard received his order and led the troops to Qingxiu Temple. After he left, Murong Chong held the teacup in his hand, then instantly loosened his palm. The fine teacup fell to the ground and shattered into a dozen pieces. He glanced down at the pieces of porcelain spread all over the floor and sneered.

He is determined to take the throne!

****

Murong Heng led Shen Ci to traverse the path through the mountains. All the guards scattered around to protect them. He sensed that the mountain was exceptionally quiet and felt increasingly uneasy in his heart.

When they located the kitten’s mother, Shen Ci released the kitten from his arms onto the ground, and heard its joyful mews upon reuniting with its mother. Just as the two were about to depart, the surroundings abruptly changed.

Countless men in black rushed out from everywhere and headed towards them!

“Be careful! Protect His Highness!” The guards said in unison, then drew their swords out from around their waists at the same time. They clashed against the force emitted by the swords of the men in black and began battling.

Murong Heng’s pupils shrank. He subconsciously pulled Shen Ci, who was next to him, to his front, then he drew out the sword at his waist. He scanned his surroundings and did not allow anyone approach to him.

Despite the guards’ defences, there was still one of the men in black who managed to break through and arrive before him. Murong Heng’s gaze was cold as he raised his sword to meet the man in black while his left hand held tightly onto the person with him. Although his movements were somewhat restricted, he was still able to retaliate.

“Da Ge, be careful!” Shen Ci, who was being held by him, was worried beyond measure. His eyes couldn’t see, so of course he couldn’t assist with anything and had even become Murong Heng’s burden. But he knew that if he distracted him now, he would become his biggest hindrance. Therefore, he remained quiet after speaking. He listened to the voices and followed Murong Heng’s form to evade the assassination of the man in black.

Without warning, a man in black advanced towards Shen Ci’s back. As it happened, Murong Heng was dealing with the assassin in front of him and had no time to attend to his side. From the corner of his eye, he caught sight of the man’s sword point, which was fast approaching Shen Ci’s back, so he instantly hauled him away and took the chance to dodge the force of the sword from the person in front of him. But the energy emitted from the sword was too strong, and a piece of his sleeve was sliced off.

Shen Ci heard something unusual, like the sound of a sword piercing into flesh. His heart abruptly tensed. He couldn’t help tightening his grasp on Murong Heng’s sleeve and asked anxiously. “Da Ge, are you alright?”

“I’m alright, don’t worry.” For some reason, Murong Heng felt exceptionally happy when he heard that Shen Ci was worried about him. His sword moves grew even faster, and his movements became more relaxed.

The men in black gradually began to weaken. Murong Heng pursed his lips and sneered. Right when he was about to deal with the person in front of him, many men in black charged out from nearby all of a sudden. There were nearly twice as many men in black compared to the earlier group. This new group rushed in and made a beeline for him.

Murong Heng’s eyes instantly widened. The man in black had an absolute advantage in numbers. Besides, he and his guards had just undergone a battle, and his physical strength had diminished somewhat. His might wasn’t able to keep up when facing the new group of men in black.

Not daring to be careless, Murong Heng held onto Shen Ci and focused on confronting more and more men in black. For a moment, he failed to look. Someone managed to carry out a sneak attack on him, and he suffered a bloody gash on his back.

“Da Ge?” Upon hearing the sound of a sword piercing flesh and the faint smell of blood permeating his nose, Shen Ci was sure that Murong Heng next to him was definitely injured this time. His eyes widened. He was somewhat regretting why he’d chosen today to pay his respects to his parents. If he hadn’t done so, Murong Heng wouldn’t be injured because he’d been protecting him.

Just when he was upset, the person next to him gave him a yank, and he heard the sharp ring of a sword swooshing past, inadvertently startling his heart. He’d actually been distracted. If it wasn’t for Murong Heng pulling him away at the critical moment, he would have been injured by the sword.

Murong Heng handed Shen Ci over to the guards who came to his aid; he quickly loosened his grasp and spoke hurriedly. “You follow them and leave first; I’ll be right there.“

Shen Ci nodded. This wasn’t the time to be unreasonable. He had to leave posthaste, so that the battle could end as soon as possible. But the heavens didn’t grant his wish. Just as he was about to follow the guards away, he suddenly heard Murong Heng shout: “Be careful!”

Right away, there was the sound of swords clanging with feathered arrows. A man in black had emerged out of nowhere and was hiding in the dark, firing arrows at them. Many guards were unable to dodge in time and were killed by the arrows.

“Still not leaving?” Murong Heng shouted when he saw that Shen Ci hadn’t gone yet.

Shen Ci was stunned for a moment, then he was hastily dragged away by the guards. Suddenly, he detected a very minute movement in his ears, like the sound of a bow and arrow being drawn and poised for release. His eyes grew large in an instant, and he wanted to quickly evade, but it was too late. There was a burst of pain on his shoulder, and the mighty recoil force of the feather arrow thrust him backwards until he slammed against a tree. Blood sputtered out from his mouth, and his body slid weakly to the ground.

“Ah Ci!” Murong Heng saw Shen Ci being struck by an arrow. The rims of his eyes turned red, and a staggering power suddenly erupted. Like an Asura in the dark of night, he slaughtered all the men in black. He ruthlessly brandished his sword. He raised his hand and his sword fell, and another life met its end.

A short while later, the ground was completely covered with blood and corpses. Murong Heng flung away the sword in his hand and dazedly headed over to the tree. He saw that Shen Ci’s body was covered in blood, his eyes were closed, and his face was pale. With trembling fingers, he reached over and checked his nose for breath.

He’s still breathing; he’s still alive!

“Quickly, go get a doctor to my residence!” After shouting aloud, he picked up Shen Ci, who was on the ground, into his arms. Murong Heng didn’t bother with his own wounds and hurried down the mountain. Upon reaching the city, he began to run. The man in his arms had the appearance of breathing weakly. His heart was so overly anxious that he wished he could arrive inside the prince’s mansion at the next moment.

After hurrying through a shortcut, Murong Heng returned to his mansion with Shen Ci in his arms. He carefully placed him on the bed, not caring that his clean bedding was being dirtied and soaked by blood. The feather arrow was still embedded in Shen Ci’s shoulder, with blood seeping out.

“Ah Ci, you need to hold on.” Murong Heng whispered, his voice unwittingly shaking. He felt more pain seeing this person injured than he did his own wounds. He squeezed Shen Ci’s hand tightly and examined his injury a little before the doctor arrived.

He gently handled the feather arrow on Shen Ci’s shoulder, causing him to frown slightly. Murong Heng’s eyes fell on the place where the feather arrow joined the flesh, and his sharp eyes abruptly focused.

Sure enough, it was a lotus arrow!

It seems that the crown prince truly spared no effort to get rid of him, even to the extent of using lotus arrows. The so-called lotus arrow was a special foreign weapon used in ancient times to hunt large prey. Its excessive power was evident. The most terrible thing was that once the lotus arrow pierced into flesh, it would expand into the shape of a lotus flower. In order to extract this arrow, the surrounding flesh would need to be cut off. One could imagine how extremely painful the process of removing the arrow was.

A distressed Murong Heng reached out his hand and wiped away the blood from the corner of Shen Ci’s mouth. But after he wiped it off, new blood mixed with foam started to leak out, which was a sign that his inner organs had been injured.

At this moment, the doctor managed to rush over. He inspected Shen Ci’s injury a little, and what he said was exactly what Murong Heng already knew: in order to extract the arrow, he had to cut off the flesh around it.

Murong Heng gazed at Shen Ci, who was lying on the bed, struggling a little due to the pain, and nodded distressingly. He immediately instructed Lian Jin to have the maids in the house prepare the anaesthetic soup, hot water, handkerchiefs, strong liquor, and a sharp knife. Once all the necessary items had been prepared, he drove everyone away, leaving only him and the doctor in the room.

Murong Heng sat at the edge of the bed and carefully lifted Shen Ci up, letting him recline in his arms. After feeding him the anaesthetic soup, he stuffed a sufficiently thick, soft cloth in his mouth to prevent him from biting and injuring himself due to the pain. When he was ready, he nodded to the doctor, signalling that they could begin.

It was also the first time the doctor had come across a lotus arrow, and he was extremely careful when he started the procedure. He used scissors to cut open the clothing at the shoulder of the young man on the bed. Then he swapped it for the sharp knife and steeped it in strong wine. He took a deep breath before slicing off the flesh surrounding the arrow.

“Ng…” It appeared that Shen Ci, who was in a stupor, still sensed the pain. He instantly frowned. His body struggled, anxious to evade it, but he was restrained by Murong Heng, who didn’t allow him to thrash about. When the pain was too extreme, he couldn’t help convulsing. His entire body was drenched in cold sweat.

Forcefully holding down Shen Ci’s body, Murong Heng pressed his chin against his forehead and grasped his hand tightly with his left hand. He said softly, “Ah Ci, hold on, it’ll be done soon.”

Perhaps his words had a comforting effect, because Shen Ci’s body gradually calmed down, but it was still shaking incessantly, accompanied by spasmodic bursts.

Minutes followed minutes, and an unknown amount of time passed. The doctor finally released a sigh of relief, dabbing the layers of sweat on his forehead. He removed the lotus arrow and placed it on a tray beside him. Right now, Shen Ci’s shoulder is a bloody mess. With swift movements, he treated the wound, cleaned off the blood, applied medicine, and dressed it.

Half an hour later, the doctor let out a breath he’d been holding, stood up, and said respectfully: “Your Highness, this gentleman’s wound is no longer critical, but the condition of the injury is extremely bad. Therefore, it must be properly tended to. The wound cannot get wet, and he must not catch a chill.”

“Understood, go ahead and decoct the medicine.” Murong Heng gave a light nod. His gaze didn’t leave Shen Ci, who was in his arms, and he gently lowered him to lie on the bed. He wiped clean the sweat from Shen Ci’s body and forehead himself and brought a fresh set of inner wear to put on for him. His own clothes were a little big on Shen Ci’s slender body, making his whole body appear more haggard and triggering anguish in Murong Heng’s heart.

Wrapping Shen Ci with a warm quilt, Murong Heng held his hand and placed it inside, then tucked in the corners of the quilt. It was then that he realised he also had wounds on his own body that had not been treated. Earlier, he’d only been concerned with Shen Ci’s injuries and had no time to take care of them. He only felt the pain from his wounds when he’d calmed down.

Murong Heng sat at the side of the bed as he stared at the sleeping visage of Shen Ci on it. “It’s good that you’re alright.” His voice was slightly choked with sobs. He’d never felt such heartache. Seeing him get hurt was tantamount to someone forcefully grabbing his heart—the pain was unbearable.

Just as he was feeling remorseful, the guards’ voices could be heard obstructing someone from outside the door.