"Fall back!"
At Zhou Kou's order, the soldiers in the front immediately crouched down to conceal themselves and withdrew from their original positions. The next moment, they saw a volley of arrows shooting forward, aiming exactly at the places where they had just been hiding.
Seeing this, the soldiers couldn't help but feel a chill of fear. They were glad to have escaped death. However, this feeling only lasted for a moment. Then they straightened their expressions and tightened their nerves, waiting for the general to give another order.
Zhou Kou lay on the ground, hiding his tracks behind the lush grass and vegetation in front of him. His eyes, as big as copper bells, were fixed intently on the distance.
After receiving the emperor's secret order, he had disguised himself and his men and planned to take a small path to Yangxian. Unexpectedly, they ran into the Wolf Guards less than a day later.
There were ten of them in that group, all traveling light, and their speed was much faster than his own troops.
Although Zhou Kou didn't understand the purpose of these people, he knew they had a fearsome reputation. Moreover, he always remembered his mission: to escort Prince Jing back to the capital.
Therefore, he didn't dare to arouse their suspicion and could only watch helplessly as they got ahead of him.
After traveling for a few more days, they encountered another group of people. This time, they couldn't avoid them like they did with the Wolf Guards before. Instead, they ran into them face - to - face.
The two sides immediately clashed in the forest, resulting in the current situation.
"Captain Zhou, you only have a few hundred men. You're no match for me. It's better to lay down your weapons and surrender," a rough voice of provocation came from the opposite side. Zhou Kou was startled but didn't respond. Instead, he pressed his body lower. He had anticipated that this journey might be dangerous, but he didn't expect the actual situation to be far beyond his imagination.
Seeing that Zhou Kou didn't answer, the rough voice rang out again.
"Captain Zhou, you're bound to lose anyway. Why struggle so desperately? You might as well surrender and come with me to see the prince. Maybe the prince will arrange a good position for you in the army."
A good position?
Zhou Kou sneered and waved his hand without hesitation.
Almost at the same time, an arrow, with the momentum of breaking through the air, shot like a ghost towards the enemy's camp and immediately disappeared into the night.
Immediately afterwards, a scream came from that side.
Then there was a riot as the group was leaderless.
This is the chance!
"Attack!"
Before the voice faded, Zhou Kou had already charged forward at the head of his men. He knew the owner of that rough voice. He was just a lackey of the Regent.
Just like Zhu Chengjie back then, he was extremely jealous of Shang Mozheng's favor towards Zhou Kou.
Therefore, when he found out that the enemy general in this encounter was Zhou Kou, he immediately took advantage of his numerical superiority to launch an attack and surround him, and quickly gained the upper hand.
Zhou Kou had had several contacts with this man before and knew his character. So he played along with his arrogance. He had an expert archer in his team who could tell the position by sound wait in the dark and then killed the enemy leader.
Without a leader, even a thousand - man army was just a mess. Naturally, Zhou Kou won the victory!
In contrast, Lu Yinxi in Zhao County was not doing well.
Ten Wolf Guards suddenly appeared in the inn lobby. Blood stained the ground, but none of them on the second floor noticed!
"Miss, you take the prince and leave first. I'll go and hold them off," Lu Hu said, then picked up his sword and was about to rush out.
He couldn't have not heard of the Wolf Guards' reputation in the capital, not to mention there were ten of them downstairs. He was willing to sacrifice his life to buy time.
"Old Lu, wait for me. I'll go too!" Fang Qinhu also stood up and echoed, "Anyway, I'm from the prince's mansion. How can I miss the chance to kill the Wolf Guards?"
His tone was bright and heroic, as if this trip was not to face death but to kill a few insignificant villains.
"I'm also willing to go!"
As if inspired by the two of them, the other personal guards in the room also knelt down and expressed their willingness to go.
Looking at the group of people kneeling on the ground, Lu Yinxi was slightly touched. She had known before that Shang Luoshu was good at managing his subordinates. Otherwise, he couldn't have had so many secret agents without any of them defecting.
But today was the first time she directly witnessed their loyalty to him.
Would they even give up their lives for their master?
This was almost unthinkable in the last - days world she used to live in, because everyone was selfish. Only in this way could people survive longer in that cruel world where the strong preyed on the weak.
"None of you need to go!"
She closed her phoenix - like eyes. The room fell silent. Everyone seemed surprised by this words and looked hesitant. If they didn't go, what should they do about the Wolf Guards? And who would protect the prince?
Although no one said it explicitly, Lu Yinxi could feel their concerns.
She opened her eyelids, and a murderous intent instantly poured out of her eyes, making everyone look sideways. The young girl tightened her jaw, slowly got up from the stool, and her cold gaze passed through the door, as if she could already see those ten people.
Then, her red lips parted slightly: "I'll deal with those Wolf Guards!"
"Miss, are you joking!"
Lu Hu's face changed. He immediately blocked the door, full of disapproval. Not to mention that Lu Yinxi was their master, just talking about her martial arts, she could deal with ordinary people, but those were the Wolf Guards. If she went, it would be like sending herself to death.
"Whether I'm joking or not,"
The young girl smiled, then turned her head to look at one side of the room, "Hongrui can testify for me, right?"
Under her gaze, Hongrui immediately understood her meaning, "Fourth Miss..."
But before she could finish her words, Lu Yinxi's gaze had already shifted elsewhere: "Lord Lin, after dealing with those people, I may have to trouble you with the following matters!"
"Miss Lu, you don't have to..."
Hearing that there was a hint of entrusting her affairs to others in her words, Lin Zihan wanted to dissuade her, but Lu Yinxi had already left her seat and walked to the door. Lu Hu was still stubbornly guarding there.
The young girl was too lazy to waste words with him. She just gave Fang Qinhu a look to signal him to drag Lu Hu away. He also knew her secret and must have guessed her plan, so he shouldn't stop her.
Just as the young girl thought, Fang Qinhu only hesitated for a moment. Then, taking advantage of Lu Hu's inattention, he gave him a chop with his hand. Lu Hu fell directly at the door.
"Thank you!"
She stepped out of the door and came to the corridor on the second floor.
Lu Yinxi looked down with lowered eyes and took in the whole view of the lobby, including those ten people.
There was still a corpse lying at their feet.
Hearing the footsteps upstairs, the ten Wolf Guards all looked up and saw their target of assassination smiling at them, her red lips parting again.
...
Madam has been in the room for several hours!
Looking at the closed door in front of her, Liusu was pacing back and forth anxiously.
Since Madam came back from the Regent's mansion during the day, she had locked herself in the room. Liusu thought she was feeling unwell after seeing Shang Mozheng and needed to rest, so she didn't think much about it.
But now the dinner time had passed, and Madam still showed no sign of coming out!
Inside the room, the candles were not lit, and it was completely dark.
Madam Lu was sitting on a stool, staring blankly at the swinging white silk on the roof beam. Her eyes flickered slightly.
If she was the root cause of all these things, then would everything return to normal as long as she died?