Death Princess

"This is……"

"The pass order of the Martial Arts Conference." Zhao Lu explained, "This is an eventful time, and it is inconvenient for Jianzong and I to have too much contact with you, so it is not good to come forward to protect each other directly. Sister, you and Zhuo Xuan will take this token to Feiling Villa. Let’s go to the other courtyard in Lingzhou. Let’s stay overnight at the villa in the name of the contestants. When the time is right, we will show our identity to the owner of the young village, Duan Muxi. Go, senior sister, you can come with him."

"Feiling Villa?" Wei Zhuoxuan recalled, "But in my impression, this Feiling Villa seems to have a lot to do with the prince?"

"Because of this, going to the villa is the best choice. As the saying goes, the most dangerous place is the safest." Seemingly wanting to test Wei Zhuoxuan, Chao Lu changed the subject and asked, "These two attacks , can you see the difference?"

"What's the difference?" Wei Zhuoxuan thought over and over again but couldn't figure out why, "Isn't it all done by the remnants of Yijiao?"

"No," Ning Yuan said while still glaring at his disappointing son, "The previous attack was intended to be an attack, but it was just a formality, but this attack is intended to kill us." Pointing to Zhao Lu's wound with his eyes, "The whole inn is implicated, even the sword is poisoned. If there is no Xue Minggu, this knife is so scary..."

"Not only that," Zhao Lu nodded, "Senior Sister, you may not be able to see it, but I understand it. The previous Yijiao was the real Yijiao, but the last time, it was a deliberate imitation of the Yijiao's way of doing things. Dead soldiers. I am afraid that after this assassination failed, all these dead soldiers will commit suicide. Although for them, no matter whether they succeed or fail, they all die, but the method of death is different."

"So... so?" Wei Zhuoxuan's expression was a bit complicated.

"Dead warriors? Then..." Ning Yuan changed his posture, thought for a while and then sighed, "Although it is cruel, but thanks to the group of dead warriors, no one cares about your help today, Luer , no one knows."

"Hmm..." Zhao Lu didn't pick up the topic, but continued to analyze, "The two assassinations were not instigated by the same person. The former was to make Senior Sister, you, a great general, be attacked and disappeared, while the latter was planning to follow the trend, really They are plotting against you, Senior Sister. If this assassination fails, they will continue to do the next one until they succeed."

"Attack me, all the people in the court have a reason to attack me, and have the capital to support the dead, only..." Ning Yuan's face darkened, "Prince? In this way, the first time The person behind the scenes is... Prince Ping?"

"Probably so." Chao Lu nodded, "Prince Ping made a move, firstly to stir up the muddy water, and it would be best to expose the matter of the prince's collusion with the martial arts to His Majesty, and secondly, to make Senior Sister your whereabouts unknown, so that His Majesty will go out Give him this good job in Lingzhou. However, after the prince found out, he simply added fire to prove his innocence, and by the way get rid of the thorn in your side, senior sister. After all, it was the prince who asked the senior sister to go on an envoy. Your Majesty is not too big Maybe the prince is suspected."

"Then if you let us go to Feiling Mountain Villa, which is a good relationship with the crown prince, wouldn't it be self-inflicted?" Wei Zhuoxuan still couldn't figure it out.

"Feiling Villa is on good terms with the prince, but he is not stupid." Zhao Lu wanted to roll her eyes, "Senior Sister and you, a general and an imperial guard, have made it clear that we are staying with Duanmuxi. If something happened to you, wouldn’t it be impossible to wash it away even if you jumped into the Yellow River? He will definitely not do anything to you, but will treat you carefully with good wine and meat. And the prince did not dare to force him, so he had to stop, because the prince They are also counting on Duanmuxi to be that Lao Shizi's martial arts leader."

"That's right, the secret decree..."

"The crown prince probably doesn't know yet," Zhao Lu's words reassured the mother and son, "If he really knows that His Majesty asked you to secretly investigate Princess Liuzhi, then he will not rush to attack you, but I will wait for the opportunity to catch that princess and senior sister all at once."

"That being said," Wei Zhuoxuan recalled what his mother had said before, "but this secret decree alone makes it impossible for Aniang and I to escape unscathed. How can we find a princess who can neither live nor die? ?”

A princess who can't live or die.

For some reason, the look in Leng Tong's eyes when he left suddenly appeared in Zhao Lu's mind.

"It's not difficult to say that this matter is difficult," Zhao Lu shifted her gaze to the direction where the sound of water came from, "Since the princess can't live or die, then I'll report back to Your Majesty, as long as the princess' life or death is unknown." Slightly pursing her lips, Zhao Lu took out a box from her bosom, "Senior Sister, you only need to hand over this to His Majesty, and the immediate danger will be resolved. If all goes well, maybe you can even avenge today's revenge."

"This is..." Ning Yuan took the box and opened it full of doubts, but found that there was only an old handkerchief inside, and there were some dark brown stains on the handkerchief.Ning Yuan glanced at the stain sensitively, "Could it be blood? A bloody handkerchief? This is an old thing from many years ago. Give it to Your Majesty?"

"Sister, take a closer look."

Hearing this, Ning Yuan unfolded the handkerchief completely in front of him, only to see a vivid snow lotus embroidered on it.Even though the handkerchief is very old after time washing, but judging from the exquisite workmanship, high-quality fabric and embroidery thread, it must not be an ordinary person's thing.

"It is rumored that Princess Liuzhi was taken away by her nanny, and that nanny used to be the empress's personal maid before she got married. She is good at embroidering snow lotus and has a deep relationship with her. Even if your majesty can't recognize her, the empress will definitely I can understand the origin of this handkerchief." When she said these words, Zhao Lu deliberately avoided the handkerchief, because the handkerchief not only contained the dusty past, but also her guilt.

Helping Leng Tong burn her mother's relic, but the purpose was that "relic".

"The handkerchief is stained with blood, the princess' nanny, Luer, have you already..."

"No," Zhao Lu interrupted Ning Yuan eagerly, "I failed to find the princess, but only found this veil."

Ning Yuan did not believe Zhao Lu's answer, but she did not continue to ask, "Then the owner of this veil?"

"Deceased." Zhao Lu sighed deeply from the bottom of her heart.

"...a bloody handkerchief. The nanny is dead, and the life and death of the princess are unknown. Perhaps, as you said, Luer, this is the best answer I can give to His Majesty. But," Ning Yuan's gaze became deep "Lu'er, are you planning to start? Use this matter to dig out all the old things and remove the fig leaf between His Majesty and the Crown Prince. You, you and Hui'er, really plan to do this? You know , there is no turning back on this road.”

Zhao Lu didn't answer, but when Ning Yuan was about to repeat the question, she nodded silently.

"...Okay." Ning Yuan sighed, and let go of the topic, "Then senior sister will thank Luer again for her advice. It's getting late, we should leave, and you have to go back to treat the wound. Say hello to your mom and dad for me. And take care of Droel for me."

"Well, just in case, let Chestnut follow you." After Zhao Lu winked at Chestnut who came out of nowhere, she saluted Ning Yuan and the two, "Senior Sister, Zhuo Xuan, take care, see you at the Martial Arts Conference .”

Ning Yuan and Wei Zhuoxuan took the chestnut away, and when their backs disappeared into the depths of the jungle, Zhao Lu carried the sleeping Yao Jingyu and walked in the completely opposite direction.

. . .

When Leng Tong heard the news and rushed back, the inn was already covered with charred corpses and ruins.She couldn't find Liu Lu, Yao Jingyu, or even Chestnut. She only found black corpses one after another whose identities couldn't be identified, and who couldn't distinguish between friend and foe.

The residual heat in the air, the lingering burnt smell, and the ubiquitous smell of death, all of these are very familiar to Leng Tong, and he is familiar with every frame and every scene in it, which has been deeply rooted in him day after day. in her soul.She can't forget, she can't forget.

Leng Tong frantically searched in the inn where there were not half of the living people left, rummaging through the charred corpses, she hoped that she would not see anything familiar on the corpses, because at least it was still there. It means that Liu Lu and the child may have escaped.She frantically knelt in the pile of corpses and searched for it. While searching, she also blamed herself.

She hates it, hates why she left, if she didn't leave, she might still be able to help Liu Lu.Even if her hands were already covered in blood, even if she didn't have the right to save people, at least...

Leng Tong's hand suddenly stopped, and she touched the familiar object from the side of the charred corpse in front of her.She hoped that she had touched it wrong, but she knew that this was the only thing she could not touch wrong.Because, that was her cold pupil's bone whistle, her sixth finger.

When picking up the bone whistle, Leng Tong's hands trembled; when he saw the bone whistle that had been stained black with his own eyes, Leng Tong's heart trembled.A pair of bone whistles, but now there is only one left.The rope that originally connected the two bone whistles had been burned, and the other bone whistle was missing. On the side of the only bone whistle, there was an extremely deep knife mark.

Liu Lu, the bone whistle is on Liu Lu, and the charred corpse in front of her...

Leng Tong tightened her skirt, her nails dug into her palm through the skirt.

She stared at the corpse, staring, staring, time seemed to start to go backwards, and everything in the inn began to go back.She seemed to see the man in black who broke through the window suddenly, heard the sound of killing and howling, she saw Liu Lu hugging Yao Jingyu, fighting hard but was outnumbered, and even saw...

Everything in front of her eyes coincided with the memory of ten years ago, and she became that helpless child again, returning to the day when the whole village was slaughtered.

A Niang hid her in the pigsty, hoping that the group of lunatics from the Yi sect would forget about the animals and save her life.But she ran out, because she was afraid of the fire outside, the screams outside, she didn't dare to stay alone in this small and smelly pigsty, she wanted to find A Niang.

She ran to the river, and found A Niang, but what she saw was a scene she would never forget: the group of lunatics surrounded A Niang in tattered clothes, laughing wildly.At that time, she didn't understand what they did to A Niang. She only knew that she had never seen that expression on A Niang's face. Never showed the kind of desperation for death.

A Niang committed suicide. A Niang bumped herself into their knife. When the blade pierced A Niang, A Niang smiled, a smile of relief. At that time, A Niang might have thought that Leng Tong had escaped with her life. .But after laughing, when she was dying, A Niang saw Leng Tong, A Niang couldn't laugh, and the deep regret and fear stayed forever on the face that would never smile again.

A Niang fell, and those who fell together, and the one who couldn't say, "Tong'er, run."

Leng Tong didn't run because she couldn't stand up straight anymore.She just looked at the knife that pierced A Niang, approaching little by little, preparing to pierce herself little by little, watching without blinking.

Hurry up, that's what Little Lengtong thought at the time, she wanted to make the knife faster, and send herself to see A Niang sooner.

But at that moment, just when her "dream" was about to come true, something flying from a distance knocked on the blade in front of her eyes, and the blade froze instantly, and the next moment, the blade shattered.

Leng Tong couldn't remember what happened next, all she could remember was the red Daotanghe, and the words she couldn't say to A Niang.So, she listened to A Niang's words and kept running, running, running...