Imprisoned

Ji Lianyi’s face suddenly darkened, and he subconsciously pointed the long sword in his hand at him. His fingers were shaking, and it was obvious that he could not hold on any longer. He could not even hold the sword steadily, let alone use sword moves.

The other party curled his lips in self-mockery, and his voice was hoarse: “The Peacock Sect really… has a plan.”

“No…”

“I can’t get out today anyway, so why not drag someone else to take the blame. If you want to kill me, I will destroy my spiritual roots and explode my body, and then you will not survive.”

Shen Leyan: “…”

[No, you should listen to me first. ]

He stopped, tore off the black cloth covering his face, and said helplessly: “Your Highness, it’s me.”

Ji Lianyi was stunned, and his voice became more gloomy: “You are also a member of the Peacock Sect?!”

[(ー_ー)!!]

He opened his mouth to explain, and after thinking for a moment, he found that this matter seemed a bit complicated to explain.

 By the time he finished explaining, the assassins from the Peacock Gate would probably catch up with him.

“First of all, I’m not from the Peacock Gate. Your Highness, think about it yourself. If I were from the Peacock Gate, how could Sect Master Lu not notice it and give me the token of Mingchan Pavilion? Secondly, it’s hard to explain why I’m here in a few words. The people from the Peacock Gate will soon realize that you have left the barrier. Finally, if you want to live, you’d better follow me now.”

Ji Lianyi narrowed his fox eyes and stared at him without saying a word.

Seeing that he no longer suspected randomly – at least he didn’t speak out his suspicion, Shen Leyan walked up quickly to support him.

As soon as his palm touched his sleeve, he felt a wet hand. Looking down, it was all blood.

“How badly are you injured?”

He asked in a low voice while supporting Ji Lianyi to walk away from the barrier.

Ji Lianyi was silent for a while: “I took a few life-saving pills, so I can survive.”

[You are quite brave. Sure enough… a man who could be the crown prince for so long could not be just as tyrannical as the rumors say. Even if he is really tyrannical, he is a tyrannical man with some real skills. ]

The rumored crown prince of Daxia, the crown prince of Daxia that he first met in the outer gate house, and the real Ji Lianyi are obviously two very different people.

“I have a Nine Revolutions Soul Resurrection Pill here.”

It was the one that Senior Brother Zheng gave him.

He has kept it and never used it.

Originally, he wanted to use it when Chen Jing lost his spiritual roots, but the Nine Revolutions Soul Resurrection Pill could not cure the damage to the meridians and spiritual roots.

Now that Ji Lianyi’s sword and knife wounds won’t stop bleeding, it is just the right remedy.

Ji Lianyi’s eyes moved slightly: “… What do you want me to use in exchange?”

[This sentence seems to be about to say “Can I pledge my body to you?” ]

Before Shen Leyan spoke, Ji Lianyi suddenly turned away, and the tone that had just eased a little became cold again: “If you don’t want to give it, forget it.”

Shen Leyan: “…”

[These days, the one who gets hurt is the boss.]

“You don’t need to exchange anything, I just mentioned it to prevent you from thinking that I fed you some poison.”

Shen Leyan took out the porcelain bottle containing the Nine Revolutions Resurrection Pill and stuffed it into Ji Lianyi’s hand.

“Eat it quickly. My spiritual power is low, if you lose too much blood and faint, and we run into those assassins from the Peacock Gate, I can’t protect you.”

The assassins from the Peacock Gate have mastered the barrier, and several guardians have come out together. Even if he is given a hundred lives, it is not enough to die.

Ji Lianyi swallowed the Nine Revolutions Resurrection Pill and stared at him for a while.

“If they really catch up, just run away by yourself.”

Shen Leyan could hear that the other party was serious about what he said.

 He didn’t respond, but changed the subject: “Speaking of which, what are you, a prince, doing here in this remote mountain?”

After taking the Nine-Turn Resurrection Pill, Ji Lianyi seemed to have regained some strength, and his voice was no longer so weak.

“There is a spy among my guards… The spy reported to me that my father sent someone to deliver a secret order, asking me to come to this mountain to receive the order.”

“So that’s it…”

[Since Ji Lianyi didn’t doubt the guard’s words, I think the guard was a loyal person in the past. ]

“What about the spy now?”

Ji Lianyi’s jaw was tight, but his tone was emotionless: “I killed him.”

Shen Leyan replied dryly, “Oh”, and thought about it and asked again.

 “…It’s especially easy to be assassinated when being a prince, right?”

“Since I can remember, there are always about ten assassinations every year.” Ji Lianyi suddenly chuckled, “I thought you wanted to ask who commissioned the Peacock Gate to kill me.”

Shen Leyan also smiled: “You don’t completely trust me, and you won’t tell the truth if I ask you about this kind of thing – and I’m not interested in the answer to this question at all.”

[What a joke. Assassinating the prince of Daxia is a serious crime worthy of exterminating the family, and the people involved must be in high positions and have great power. It’s a fight between gods, how can an ordinary outer disciple of Yunxi Sect like me get involved? ]

[The more you know, the faster you die. I still want to live a few more years. ]

No words along the way.

After walking for about half an hour, Ji Lianyi said: “Is there a place to hide nearby, I…”

It’s not easy for the other party to walk to this point without saying a word despite being injured all over.

 Shen Leyan shook his head: “This is my first time on this mountain, and I’m a road idiot, so I don’t know where to hide – if you want to rest for a while, sit down against a tree, I’ll guard you.”

“… You have a wind spirit root, why are you only at the middle level of Qi Refining now?”

Shen Leyan sighed. His face filled with vicissitudes, and said quietly: “If you don’t study hard when you are young, you will regret it when you are old.”

[Why do you ask even though you haven’t studied hard? ]

Ji Lianyi smirked: “You are so old-fashioned.”

“Don’t talk for now, take a good rest. We have to continue on our way soon. No matter how powerful the Peacock Sect is, they dare not kill you in the outer gate of Yunxi Sect in public.”

A smile flashed across the depths of Ji Lianyi’s beautiful fox eyes, but it quickly disappeared.

Shen Leyan noticed the change in the other party’s expression: “Huh?”

“The assassins from the Peacock Sect are chasing us.”

He quickly pulled the person up from the ground: “Then hurry up! How far are those assassins from us?”

“It will take about a quarter of an hour to catch up.”

He dragged Ji Lianyi and continued on his way: “Do you have any life-saving magic weapons on you?”

“I have used them all up in the barrier.”

It makes sense. After escaping from the siege of so many masters, what life-saving things can be left?

 “It will take at least half an hour to reach the outer gate of Yunxi Sect – you are injured, and our speed is too slow, it may take an hour.”

Ji Lianyi grabbed his wrist with one hand and pulled his hand away from his arm.

“As we agreed, you go first. The people from Peacock Sect will not continue to chase you after they find me.”

Shen Leyan was slightly stunned.

Ji Lianyi emphasized: “Use your skills to quickly return to Yunxi Sect to find someone. If Sect Master Lu can come -“

“Do you have a way to live that long?”

“…If Sect Master Lu can come, maybe he can leave me a whole body.”

[Nervous! ]

He took out the “Pretending to be Dead” from his arms: “Let’s try it out – I’ll carry you on my back, take a look at this first.”

He stuffed the “Pretending to be Dead” into Ji Lianyi’s hands, and then carried the person on his back without waiting for the other party to speak.

 [Eat less lychees next time, you are quite heavy. ]

He walked towards the outer gate of Yunxi Sect while circulating his spiritual power to dispel the bloody smell left nearby with the wind.

Although he didn’t know if it would work, he could only do so much.

Ji Lianyi’s breathing was a little heavy, and it sprayed hotly on the back of his neck. He could feel that the other party’s breathing was getting faster and faster. That was not a good sign. It meant that in addition to the flesh wounds left by the swords, Ji Lianyi’s internal injuries were not light.

If it weren’t for the effect of the Nine-Turn Resurrection Pill, the other party might have fainted long ago.

“… Talk to me for a while, don’t fall asleep. Take a good look at the martial arts book I gave you, at least it’s better than letting it fall apart and waiting for your body to be collected.”

“… Don’t you want to see me die?”

If he said that he had any feelings for Ji Lianyi, he would go through fire and water to save him… That’s really not the case.

 He saved the man purely because he happened to see him, and it would be a shame if he didn’t try to save him.

“You are the crown prince of Daxia. If you die in Yunxi Sect, it may cause trouble for the sect. And I am a witness to this assassination. What if your Daxia royal family sends someone to arrest me and interrogate me, and wants me to take the blame and confess by torture?”

“You are honest – this strange technique was given to you by Sect Master Lu?”

Shen Leyan was vague: “No, I got it by chance.”

The other party was quiet for a while, and threw the “Pretending to be Dead” back to him.

“I’ve finished reading it.”

He was slightly surprised: “You learned it so quickly?”

“The name is strange, and it’s not a profound technique -” Ji Lianyi’s voice suddenly sank, “Silence, the people from the Peacock Sect are very close to us. Put me down, and run!”

Shen Leyan didn’t hesitate. He put the man next to a tall tree, and told him at the fastest speed.

 “Try to delay for a while. If you have no other options, use the “Play Dead Method.”

Ji Lianyi closed his eyes: “Get lost.”

Shen Leyan immediately used the “Qingying Xuan Jue” and rushed towards the outer gate of Yunxi Sect with all his strength.

He had just left for less than a mile when a sinister voice came from behind him. It sounded like a damaged throat, and the voice sounded strange and uncomfortable.

“Your Highness the Crown Prince ran quite fast… It’s hard for us to find him.”

The assassins from the Peacock Gate have found Ji Lianyi!

Shen Leyan used all the spiritual power in his dantian. The wind spirit root seemed to sense his urgency and started to work rapidly.

No – he suddenly retracted his spiritual power and stopped.

The darkness behind him seemed to come alive suddenly, wrapping around him stickily. The surrounding environment seemed to suddenly transcend time, stagnated for a moment, and then changed slightly.

 The trees were still the same trees, and the moonlight in the sky was still blocked by clouds, but suddenly a fine rain like clouds and fog fell from the sky.

He could feel that the rain falling on his hair contained abundant spiritual power, and also contained sharp murderous intent.

It was a barrier.

He left a step too late and failed to escape the range of the barrier.

He didn’t expect the assassins of the Peacock Gate to be so cautious. Even though they found that Ji Lianyi was at the end of his strength, they still deployed a barrier to prevent the other party from escaping again.

And he was also trapped in the barrier. The owner of the barrier could naturally find that there was an extra person inside – even if he hid or ran further away, it would be useless.

Shen Leyan gritted his teeth, covered his face with a black cloth, and turned back to the direction where Ji Lianyi was.

 “Your Highness the Crown Prince seems to be different from what is rumored… When your father was still a prince, he also commissioned us, the Peacock Gate, to assassinate other princes, and finally succeeded in ascending the throne. In view of this friendship, your Highness the Crown Prince can choose to kill himself.”

He vaguely heard Ji Lianyi’s low laughter.

“So, which of my good brothers wants to take my life?”

The assassins of the Peacock Gate just repeated: “Your Highness, do you choose to kill yourself, or fight to the end?”

“This is in the territory of Yunxi Sect. If you kill me, you will offend more than just the Eastern Palace.”

“Your Highness, don’t worry about that.”

Shen Leyan braked suddenly and accidentally hit a tree. The branches and leaves suddenly shook.

Several assassins who were talking nonsense with Ji Lianyi turned their heads to look over at the same time. One of them was the “good brother” who had mistaken him for an accomplice before.

“I told you to guard outside the barrier, why did you let him run away?!”

The assassin scolded him, and then respectfully saluted the leader and said: “Big Protector, this kid is a newcomer who just joined the Peacock Sect not long ago. This is his first time to participate in a mission…”

The Protector stared at him for a while and moved his eyes away.

“Is he one of the new disciples recruited by the Sect Master himself?”

“Yes… The others should still be guarding outside the Yunxi Sect.”

After the two of them finished talking, Shen Leyan couldn’t even say a word of the words he had prepared before.

He lowered his head, made a look of annoyance for not fulfilling his duties, and stood silently beside Ji Lianyi.

Ji Lianyi naturally recognized him, but His Royal Highness the Crown Prince had been learning the Royal Expression Management Course since he was born, and he didn’t reveal any clues.

 The guardian of the Peacock Gate gradually lost his patience: “If your highness wants to delay time, wait until Yunxi Sect notices and sends someone over. You can give up this idea as soon as possible – someone come!”

“Good brother” the killer bumped his shoulder and whispered: “Why are you standing there! The guardian is calling you!”

“… Guardian!” Shen Leyan suddenly realized and hurriedly stepped forward to salute, saying in a self-blaming tone, “I was not doing my job well before and failed to kill Ji Lianyi on the spot. Please punish me!”

The guardian was quite generous: “It’s okay. Ji Lianyi has many magic weapons on his body, and your cultivation is still shallow. Don’t blame yourself too much – now I’ll give you a chance to atone for your sins, are you willing?”

He naturally couldn’t answer “I don’t want to”.

Shen Leyan said solemnly: “Please give the order!”

“If His Highness the Crown Prince doesn’t want to end his life, then you can help him.” After the guardian finished speaking, he threw him a dagger.

 The dagger was made of fine steel and could cut iron like mud.

If he really killed Ji Lianyi here, the people of Peacock Gate would not doubt his identity in a short time.

When they left Yunxi Sect, he could find an excuse to slip away and return to Yunxi Sect… No one would know who he was, and no one would know that he was the one who killed the Crown Prince of Daxia…

Shen Leyan held the dagger and walked towards Ji Lianyi step by step with an expressionless face.