They were in charge of being beautiful, and she was in charge of taking the hits.

Wu Ziyan and Sima Lingchuan didn't dare to go too far. All the way here, they always felt like they were being followed, so they remained vigilant.

They walked a little further from the camp and came close to where Lu Aza and his men were hiding. At that moment, Wu Ziyan heard something making a cracking sound.

It was that kind of silence, the sound of someone scratching their scalp in the night. She wondered if there were any wild animals. While scratching herself against a tree, she pulled Sima Lingchuan behind her to shield him: "What's in the woods? I don't even know if it's a person!"

Sima Lingchuan's expression changed slightly. Wu Ziyan gestured for him to be quiet and slowly walked towards the fire. A group of guards were drinking water and eating dry rations. When they saw Wu Ziyan, they greeted him politely.

"Your Highness"

"Yes, be more vigilant tonight. There might be people around, perhaps plotting something," Wu Ziyan advised, before sitting down beside the fire herself.

The captain of the guards nodded, stood up, and led a few men to patrol the surrounding area. After walking a distance away from the captain, the men began to speak in hushed tones: "Captain, if the Fourth Prince dies, we'll all probably lose our heads."

“Yeah, what kind of fate do we have to be sent out to protect her!” someone chimed in.

The captain didn't speak. She was always taciturn, but she would do her best to do what was assigned to her by her superiors. Moreover, she was also a member of the Holy Martial Arts Academy and could not doubt the orders from above.

Seeing that their captain wasn't speaking, the team members lost interest and started chatting about everyday matters, appearing somewhat disorganized. However, their casual conversation was overheard by Lu Aza and others hiding in the shadows.

Around midnight, when the patrolmen were about to change shifts, the two gossiping men walked a little further away when suddenly a dark figure darted out of the woods and held a knife to their necks.

"Who are you people!" Despite being afraid, he was still a royal guard and loudly questioned them.

"Shh, keep your voice down, or you'll be dead if someone hears you." Lu Aza stood in the shadows speaking broken Wuchao dialect.

"We are top-notch guards, why would we be afraid of you!"

Lu Aza ignored them and threw a package on the ground with a clatter: "This money is enough for the two of you to live comfortably for the rest of your lives, but you have to do one thing for me."

The package gleamed golden in the dim firelight. How much was their salary? They couldn't earn that much in a lifetime. But they couldn't go against their professional ethics, and they were torn.

After a while, the group whispered among themselves, their faces showing distress. Then, as if they had made up their minds, they composed themselves and pretended nothing had happened before returning to the camp.

As dawn broke, nothing had happened. Wu Ziyan got up early, surveyed the surroundings, and secretly counted the number of people. Two were missing. She asked the captain, "Why are two people missing?"

"Oh, they went ahead to scout the way."

No sooner had they finished speaking than the two returned, panting: "Ahead, ahead... I don't know if the dam has been opened or what, but I doubt the carriage can get through, though the horses should be able to wade through the water!"

Wu Ziyan stroked her chin, carefully observing the expressions of the two. They were clearly flustered, and with her staring at them, they dared not look her in the eye.

She smiled and guessed the gist of the matter: "Okay, let's talk about it when we get there. Opening the sluice gates and releasing the water will only take a little while, we can wait."

"But Your Highness, your health..." They let slip that the question slip. Among the accompanying guards, apart from the captain, no one knew the specifics of Wu Ziyan's health condition. However, Lu Aza explained the risks to them last night, which made them decide to proceed with the next steps.

Wu Ziyan turned around, looking quite energetic: "What's wrong with my body?"

The conversation left everyone confused and puzzled. What was wrong with Wu Ziyan besides being a little weak? Wu Ziyan didn't say anything more, got into the carriage, and the procession moved forward.

After a while, sure enough, a section of the road was flooded. The two pointed to a spot and said, "Your Highness, the water looks very deep." Wu Ziyan peered out and saw that there was some water, but it didn't seem as serious as they described.

Wu Ziyan got out of the carriage, found a small tree branch, and went in the direction they pointed. She poked it into the water, and it wasn't deep, only about knee-deep. It was a bit of a problem for the carriage, but they could still get through.

But as she was thinking, bubbles started rising in the water. Wu Ziyan became alert and stepped back, but the ground was slippery and she lost her footing. Suddenly, a person emerged from the water, with water plants on their head and a cut on their face from being scratched by the branch.

Their eyes met, and Wu Ziyan lost control of her body, leaning forward and knocking the person in the water back into the water. Wu Ziyan thought to herself, [This is it, we're done for.]

But the nameless person in the water was speechless. Wu Ziyan bumped into her head, and they both fell into the water with a splash. The dagger she was holding was nowhere to be seen in the water.

Wu Ziyan was an excellent swimmer. As she swam in the water, she realized this person was no good. She kicked her and swam towards the shore. The other person, also an impatient swimmer, grabbed her foot from behind and pulled her back, yelling, "Die!"

Glug glug, Wu Ziyan lost his balance and swallowed two mouthfuls of water.

At this point, the people on the shore could not sit idly by. Several skilled swimmers jumped into the water and began a struggle to pull Wu Ziyan.

Several more heads popped up from the water, pulling Wu Ziyan back into the water. These guards pulled her towards the shore, and Wu Ziyan felt as if her arms and legs were being stretched out.

Han Yuxiu and Sima Lingchuan also came over. Seeing this situation, they immediately thought of something. Sima Lingchuan looked at Han Yuxiu and asked, "Does Yuxiu have any medicine bottles or anything like that on him?"

"Yes, I do. Why are you asking?"

Sima Lingchuan whispered a few words in his ear, and his eyes lit up. He quickly went over and saw a bottle of medicine fall into the water. He exclaimed, "Heavens! You have to get out of here! This is corpse-dissolving water! If you get it on your skin, it will rot and eventually your whole body will ooze pus and turn into corpse water, and you will die!"

All three parties were stunned and stopped pulling, but none of them let go. At this moment, someone shouted, "It itches! It itches!"

Han Yuxiu added, "Yes! At first, you'll feel itchy all over, and then you'll scratch until your skin breaks out!"

For some unknown reason, several people started scratching, but Wu Ziyan felt perfectly fine.

At this point, no one cared about Wu Ziyan anymore; they all swam ashore. Only the captain grabbed Wu Ziyan's hand and pulled her ashore.

Standing on the shore, Wu Ziyan looked at the people dressed like water ghosts: "Speak, who are you? What are your intentions? Why do you want to kill me?"