Chapter 6

The next day, after handling most of his official duties, Li Jingci finally had time to take a stroll in front of the room where Xie Ye was being held, just before the afternoon.

The servant assigned to guard the room was dozing off, propping his head up with his hand. Seeing Li Jingci approach, he hurriedly stood up and respectfully opened the door for him.

Upon entering the room, Li Jingci glanced around. The candlestick on the table had already cooled, and the surroundings were silent and cold, devoid of any sign of life.

“How was he last night? Any unusual movements?” Li Jingci asked.

“Your Highness, last night I didn’t hear any sounds. The person inside was very quiet,” the servant replied with his head lowered.

Li Jingci slightly furrowed his brows.

With the pain of having his muscles torn and bones scraped, and the added torment of a whipping, how could Xie Ye endure such excruciating pain from a broken leg all night without making a sound?

Li Jingci stepped forward and lifted the bed curtain, only to see Xie Ye lying on the bed, still in a restrained position. His clothes and bedding were soaked with sweat, his hair at his temples was disheveled and messy, and there were dark circles under his eyes. It was evident that he had been in pain all night, struggling in agony, and now he was completely exhausted.

Li Jingci reached out and removed the cloth from Xie Ye’s mouth, getting his hand smeared with blood. Only then did he notice that Xie Ye’s lips were bright red, with blood trickling down from the corners of his mouth. He had bitten through the soft flesh inside his mouth just to avoid showing weakness, enduring the entire night without a single groan.

Such pain would have made anyone else cry out in agony long ago.

Li Jingci didn’t feel any admiration for him; he just found it amusing that someone who usually appeared so arrogant and self-important would still stubbornly maintain such a proud demeanor even when reduced to a prisoner, clinging to his pride even in the face of death.

Suddenly freed from the restraint in his mouth, Xie Ye gasped for air, coughing violently as blood-tinged saliva spilled from his lips, trickling down his pale chin onto the bed.

His hands were bound, unable to even wipe his mouth. After a while, Xie Ye finally managed to stop coughing, weakly smiling at Li Jingci.

“Sorry, Your Highness, for dirtying your bed.”

Li Jingci stood by the bed, saying nothing. He rolled up his wide sleeves, leaned down, and gently wiped the blood from Xie Ye’s mouth with his thumb, his expression unreadable.

Xie Ye tilted his head, allowing him to do as he pleased, not caring as the blood smeared across his cheek. He had bitten his lower lip too hard last night, and the bleeding wouldn’t stop. As soon as it was wiped away, fresh blood gushed out again.

His appearance, with blood at the corners of his mouth, tears in his eyes, thin clothing, and being at the mercy of others, was truly captivating.

“Your Highness, if you don’t want to keep a cripple in your residence, it’s best to release me,” Xie Ye said, gasping as he moved his wrists, the chains clinking crisply, echoing in Li Jingci’s ears.

“My hands are about to break,” Xie Ye looked up at him, speaking softly, with a hint of unnoticeable pleading in his tone.

Li Jingci, expressionless, leaned down and took out a key from his pocket, unlocking the restraints on Xie Ye’s wrists.

Xie Ye closed his eyes, painfully relaxing his furrowed brow, slowly withdrawing his hands and tremblingly tucking them back under the blanket.

However, Li Jingci didn’t let him have his way. He grabbed Xie Ye’s wrist, pulling it out with astonishing force, causing Xie Ye to gasp in pain, tears streaming down his face. “You…”

The snow-white wrist bore deep, heavy red marks from the restraints, overlapping with the previous whip wounds, turning a purplish-blue, looking utterly miserable.

Xie Ye, panting and enduring, was held in Li Jingci’s grip. His whole body was injured, unable to resist, and Li Jingci happened to be holding his wrist, which was numb and bloodless from the pain. Instinctively, Xie Ye flipped his palm, inadvertently hitting Li Jingci’s cheek.

Li Jingci, surprisingly, didn’t dodge. Xie Ye’s strength was too weak to cause him any harm. He nonchalantly used his tongue to push against his cheek, focusing on Xie Ye’s lips, suddenly speaking, “Someone gave you water last night.”

Xie Ye’s movements froze, his expression rarely showing panic, but he still stubbornly said, “No.”

Li Jingci reached out again to touch his lips, but Xie Ye quickly turned his head to avoid it.

Unhurriedly, Li Jingci turned Xie Ye’s chin back, his finger brushing over the Pavilion Master’s lips. “Someone gave you water. If it were just blood scabs on your lips, you wouldn’t be able to speak now.”

As soon as Li Jingci finished speaking, there was a “thud” behind him. The servant who had served last night fell to his knees, knocking his head on the ground.

“Your Highness, please forgive me! Last night, I saw the prisoner looking weak and worried he wouldn’t make it through the night, so I took it upon myself to give him some water. Please punish me.”

Xie Ye let out an almost imperceptible sigh.

Li Jingci’s face was frighteningly dark. He turned his head, coldly saying, “You have a kind heart.”

The servant trembled on the ground like a sieve.

“Someone, take him away and give him fifty lashes.”

The servant didn’t dare make a sound, and soon, subordinates entered the room, dragging him away. The servant stumbled, calling out from the doorway, “Your Highness! Your Highness, spare me!”

Xie Ye suddenly sat up, grabbing Li Jingci’s neck, his eyes red with anger and trembling all over. “Mistreating servants, disregarding human life, how can you, as a prince of the nation—”

Li Jingci interrupted him, “Even if I disregard human life, it’s not even half as much as the Pavilion Master has over the years. Have you ever thought about how many blood debts your hands have accumulated?”

He gripped Xie Ye’s long, slender hand inch by inch, until the last trace of blood color was worn away, never relaxing his grip.

Xie Ye, struggling to breathe from the pain, gritted his teeth and smiled, “Those lost souls and wandering ghosts are not worth mentioning. When you were following me like a dog in Mingyuan Pavilion, why didn’t you care about the lives of those ants?”

“Because, Your Highness, at the end of the day, you’re just a coward who goes with the flow. You might say it’s about maintaining your integrity when poor and benefiting the world when successful, but in reality, your actions in Mingyuan Pavilion, following me and acting as an accomplice, are no different from those in the court who sway with the wind, listening to whoever is stronger and becoming their lackey.”

Li Jingci slapped him across the face, not holding back at all, causing Xie Ye to spit out a mouthful of blood, his frail body swaying weakly, finally collapsing painfully at the bedside, clenching his fists.

Li Jingci’s face was a mix of blue and red, clearly having been hit where it hurt, and he was furious.

Xie Ye, having been struck and spitting blood, wasn’t angry at all. He stubbornly grabbed Li Jingci’s sleeve, hoarsely laughing, “If what I said made you so angry, why don’t you just kill me? You only needed to use a bit more force just now, strike at the right heart, and you could have taken my life immediately.”

“I once taught you how to kill, Xiao Jing.”

“Do you not remember?”

As he spoke, his voice was weak, but there was a hint of the lazy demeanor he had when he was in a high position. With these words, Li Jingci was momentarily taken back to his memories in Mingyuan Pavilion.

Back then, he was Xie Ye’s personal guard, and Xie Ye taught him martial arts, requiring him to get up before dawn every day to practice in the courtyard, holding a horse stance for half an hour.

While the young man practiced diligently, the Pavilion Master himself would lie on a bamboo mat until the sun was high in the sky.

In the harsh winter, Li Jingci stood in the courtyard, shivering with cold, his teeth chattering, with a bowl of water balanced on his head, not daring to move.

Sweat trickled from his forehead into his eyes, stinging painfully.

His wrist was about to give out.

He heard the sound of a door opening behind him, instinctively turning his head to see Xie Ye in a simple white robe, tall and slender, lazily leaning against the door, watching him.

“Xiao Jing, practicing martial arts so rigidly, how long will it take you to master it?”

Li Jingci didn’t dare speak much, fearing that the internal strength he had painstakingly gathered would dissipate.

Xie Ye raised one elegant eyebrow, bent down to pick up a small stone, and flicked it at Li Jingci’s feet. Li Jingci, quick-eyed and nimble, dodged sideways with the water bowl, the water inside rippling with a soft sound.

Xie Ye lazily exchanged a few moves with him using the stone, then got up and walked into the courtyard, swiftly pointing a finger at his waist. Li Jingci’s eyes sharpened, and he turned his waist, sending the water bowl flying.

The fierce wind was sharp and piercing. Li Jingci switched hands, catching the bowl in mid-air, but Xie Ye’s palm suddenly pressed against his right heart, startling Li Jingci, cold sweat pouring down his body. The heart meridian is a person’s lifeline; if Xie Ye had infused some internal strength and pushed it in, Li Jingci wouldn’t have survived the night.

However, Xie Ye simply placed his hand on his chest, smiling after a moment, “Xiao Jing, you’re already dead.”

Li Jingci was so scared he was a bit dazed. He could never fathom the mind of this eccentric Pavilion Master, worried that this person might whimsically send him to the afterlife tonight.

After all, Xie Ye had done such things before, killing a subordinate on a whim.

Just as he was lost in thought, Xie Ye withdrew his hand, speaking calmly, “In a fight, protecting your heart is more important than attacking your opponent.”

“If I had wanted to kill you just now, you would have been dead, your heart meridian destroyed.”

Li Jingci stiffly knelt on one knee, “Thank you, Pavilion Master, for your guidance.”

…

“It seems you’ve truly forgotten,” the prisoner on the bed said with a smile.

Li Jingci, with a cold face, wanted to leave.

However, just before he stood up, Xie Ye suddenly struck, a hand chop slicing horizontally towards Li Jingci’s face.

Li Jingci reflexively raised his hand to block, even though Xie Ye’s power was gone and couldn’t harm him in the slightest. But half a year of undercover work had left him with a strong sense of vigilance against the Pavilion Master, so he raised his hand to counter.

Xie Ye smiled slightly, effortlessly withdrawing his strength, leaning forward a bit, allowing Li Jingci’s palm to strike directly at his right heart.

Li Jingci’s pupils contracted, and it was too late to withdraw his hand.