"Мiss! Мiss..."
Quiсklу taking scissоrs tо сut thrоugh thе bandages, Jun Qiluо rеgained сonsciоusnеss аmidst thе раin.
"Dong Yin... I hatе him!" she murmured.
Dong Yin held her shouldеrs, а firm resоlve in hеr еуеs.
"Miss! Сhаngе intо Нan сlothes and еsсaрe! As long аs you rеach Yоuzhоu аnd еntеr Наn territorу, уou'll bе sаfе. You сan gо hоme and givе birth tо yоur child in peаce..." She ореned thе bundle in her hands, rеvеаling sevеrаl соаrsе clоth gаrments аnd a fеw gold ingots.
"Dоng Yin?" Jun Qiluo stаrеd аt her in shосk.
Dоng Yin hurriеdly helpеd her change clоthes, tears strеaming down hеr faсе. "You аre a good person, you don't deserve this treatment! Some want to kill you, others want to harm you. And the Young Master... the Young Master treats you like this. I can't bear to watch. I drugged everyone outside. Run, now! Get as far away as you can."
Where could she go? How could she face going home?
But she never wanted to see him again! She'd rather die! She grasped Dong Yin's hands, speaking sincerely, "Thank you, Dong Yin. For your kindness, I'll repay you in my next life!"
"Don't say such things! Come, Miss, there's a horse at the back gate!" Dong Yin supported Jun Qiluo as they rushed toward the rear entrance.
Mounting the horse, she took one last deep look at the villa.
Farewell! To everything!
Relying on her memory, she spurred the horse eastward.
Dong Yin watched her figure disappear into the night before closing the gate, clasping her hands together and gazing at the sky. She knew what she did was right, but why did an ominous shadow linger in her heart? She couldn't bring herself to kill the miss, but if the miss returned to the tribe, she would surely face assassination again. Moreover, after the Young Master married, he would treat the miss even worse! Truly, she couldn't bear to see anyone share the same fate.
She ran back to the kitchen, looking at the drugged cook. She scooped a ladle of water from the bucket and drank it, immediately falling unconscious as well. With everyone in the villa drugged, the Young Master's first thought upon returning would be that the miss had been kidnapped, and he wouldn't know it was her doing. By misleading the Young Master this way, he wouldn't realize the miss had fled south alone. Would the miss be safe?
Miss, I hope you return home safely...
What Dong Yin didn't know was that after she closed the back gate, a gray horse that had been waiting in the woods galloped out, following Jun Qiluo's direction. On its back, a red-haired man with a broadsword slung across his shoulder wore a sinister grin, his eyes fixed on the prey he had long coveted, his mind already delighting in fantasies of what this woman would taste like!
※ ※ ※
Yelü Lie rushed back to the villa and immediately sensed something was wrong. The house was eerily silent, with no one guarding the main gate. The Twelve Riders and tribal soldiers were camped outside the Imperial City, but there should have been at least twenty servants and Duoluo Qi guarding the villa! He kicked open the gate and saw the unconscious gatekeepers on either side. Checking their breathing, he confirmed they had been drugged! Suddenly, he sprinted toward the west wing room, no longer stopping to check the servants lying along the way. Qiluo! She was all he could think of at that moment.
In the room, aside from the items he had destroyed, only bloodstained bandages scattered by the bed remained.
She had been taken! By whom? Why was there blood on the bandages? Yelü Lie felt as if his heart and liver were being torn apart, nearly collapsing on the spot.No! Impossible! The person who abducted her wouldn't be so cruel as to chop off her hands, and there wasn't a large amount of blood on the bed...
Though a raging fire burned in his heart, his steps did not delay for a moment. In critical moments, even when fury surged within him, he could still maintain a calm mind. He would save his anger until he found the one who had kidnapped Qiluo! Fortunately, the snow had stopped, otherwise finding anyone would have been even more difficult.
As expected, at the back door, he saw hoofprints in the snow. He crouched down and noticed the prints were too light—only one horse's tracks, so light it seemed as if it carried no rider.
Had Qiluo escaped alone?
He widened his gaze, setting aside this question for now. About fifty feet away, he saw the hoofprints of another horse. Clearly, someone had followed her, or perhaps met up with her? And it was a man!
Yelü Lie's eyes turned icy blue, his face shifting from furious rage to a terrifying calm. A storm gathered beneath the placid surface.
"Whoever you are! You have made me desire to wield a blade once more!" His chilling tone was colder than frost, piercing to the heart. He drew a scimitar from his saddlebag and leaped onto his horse.
The black steed shot out like an arrow, vanishing in an instant along the direction of the hoofprints.
※ ※ ※
"Come along quietly with me, little beauty!"
Keli Han leered, step by step advancing toward Jun Qiluo. Under the moonlight, the whip scar on his face twisted with his malicious grin, making him even more hideous.
Jun Qiluo looked at him fearlessly and unflinchingly. Behind her was a bottomless abyss; falling would not only shatter her body to pieces but likely leave no intact flesh connected to her limbs. If anyone ever passed through the valley below and saw her remains, they would never recognize her as a member of the Jun family.
This was originally the place she had intended to come to, but Keli Han thought she had taken the wrong path. Standing where the retreat lay, he threatened her as he approached, treating her like a turtle in a jar, with no escape. Therefore, he was savoring his advantage, in no hurry to capture her immediately.
"Do you know how I'll cherish you? Once I've had my fill of you, I'll carve a few cuts on your face first, chop off your beautiful fingers one by one, then—"
He rambled on about every torture he could imagine, his bloodthirsty glare revealing everything he said he would do.
Jun Qiluo gently patted the horse beside her, letting it return on its own. Then, she walked toward the cliff edge.
"Hey! You... you don't have the guts, don't try to act tough!" Keli Han laughed uneasily, not believing this woman would dare to jump!
Though there was a river below, at this height of several hundred feet, sharp rocks protruded. Long before she could drown in the river, she would be impaled on those rocks and die.
Jun Qiluo gave a faint smile, so enchanting that Keli Han was momentarily spellbound.
"Do you think I came here by accident? Do you really think I didn't know this was the direction of Fatal Cliff?"
"You..."
Suddenly, her gaze shifted past Keli Han, toward the urgent sound of hoofbeats emerging from the woods.
It was him! She knew it was him! This decisive, swift gallop—only he could have it!
She smiled. As Yelü Lie burst out of the woods and saw her face, she looked at him one last time, telling him: She hated him!
Then she leaped down...
So fast that even Keli Han couldn't grab her in time!"No!" Yelü Lie roared in terror. How could she do this to him? How could she bid him farewell in such a manner? How could she bear to treat him so cruelly? After he had fallen deeply in love with her, her ultimate act of revenge was to die before his very eyes, without even giving him a chance to forbid it!
Keli Han, seeing Yelü Lie's state, panicked and tried to flee, but before he could take a single step, he felt a sudden chill at his neck. In an instant, he saw his own gaze drawing closer and closer to the ground, then watched as his headless body shattered into pieces in a flash! In that brief moment, before he could even comprehend death, he witnessed his own body being dismembered. Under the blade's gleam, not a single patch of skin remained intact!?
What death could be more terrifying than this? His lifeless face bore wide, bulging eyes, filled with fear and despair...
"Qiluo! Qiluo..." He knelt at the edge of the cliff, straining his eyes to peer into the darkness below, but he could see nothing.
Was she dead? Was she dead? How could she exact such a merciless revenge upon him? He had given her everything, yet she repaid him with hatred, even willing to die to make her feelings known.
No! She could not escape him—not even in death! If she descended to the underworld, he would chase her there! If her soul returned to the Western Heaven, he would pursue her there! Through all lifetimes, whether in life or death, she belonged to him! As long as he did not permit it, she could never flee from him! From the highest heavens to the deepest underworld, no one could stop him!
His frenzied mind was consumed only by the thought of descending to the underworld to seize his woman, oblivious to everything around him. Thus, when he rose to leap from the precipice, a heavy blow to the back of his neck caught him off guard, plunging him into unconsciousness.
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