Uроn hеаring hеr shоut, Lian Hеng lеаnеd аgainst the doоr аnd declаred righteоuslу, "Rеst аssurеd, Liеutenant Gеneral! A true man knows whаt tо do аnd what nоt tо dо. Еven if it wеrе thе Сrоwn Prinсe’s order, I wоuld nеver lеt them harm a singlе hair on thе Princе!"
Fеng Yuе twitсhеd hеr liрs and let оut а soft "рfft," sауing, "Who’s wоrried аbоut whether hе’s hurt оr not? Lоok at his bloоdthirsty demeаnоr—if уou рrotect thе Сrоwn Prinсе аnd gеt him аwаy, it’d still соunt as а meritоrious aсt of sаfеguаrding His Нighnеss! I саlled you оver to ask you tо find a way tо send a mеssagе tо Mаdam Qiu for me. Tell her I’ve been imprisoned by Prince Xiao in his mansion and to find a way to rescue me!"
Startled by these words, Lian Heng turned his head in disbelief. "You’re being held captive here?"
"Exactly!" Feng Yue gritted her teeth. "Can’t you tell?"
"..." He really hadn’t noticed. After all, she was staying in the Prince’s main chamber. Usually, prisoners were locked up miserably in a woodshed, weren’t they?
After a moment of silence, Lian Heng nodded, then his attention was drawn to the tense and thrilling fight in the courtyard.
With someone to deliver the message, Feng Yue was no longer anxious. She leisurely leaned against the door, squinting as she watched the scene outside.
Yin Gezhi excelled in group combat. Even facing over a hundred soldiers, he showed no fear. Instead, he disarmed a nearby soldier, seizing his longsword, then used the strength in his shoulder to send both the soldier and those behind him flying far away. The force shifted from soft to hard, and anyone with a discerning eye could see that this man possessed profound internal energy. However, there were also soldiers in uniform who were merely there for show, understanding nothing as they charged at his back, only to be met with a backward slash of his sword that cut straight through their throats.
Blood sprayed, and a mist of crimson instantly filled the air, choking those nearby and making them nauseous.
When he disarmed the soldier, Yin Chenjue and the retainers still held some hope, relieved that Prince Xiao seemed to have reservations and appeared unwilling to kill. But the next moment, scalding blood splattered over, soaking the hems of their robes.
Gasping in shock, the retainer who had earlier urged the Crown Prince fell silent, staring wide-eyed at the figure who resembled a god of slaughter, unable to regain his composure for a long while.
How could there be such a terrifying person? The courtyard was packed with soldiers, yet he still dared to resist?
Why wouldn’t he resist? Yin Gezhi had been in a foul mood lately. Feng Yue could cry it out, but he couldn’t. So much pent-up frustration had been weighing on his heart, with no outlet, nearly suffocating him! Now that an excellent opportunity had presented itself, why wouldn’t he chop a few "radishes" to vent his anger?!
Anyone who dared to attack him was no longer human in his eyes—they were all radishes, two at a time with a single slash! The few who rushed at him first were hardly worth his attention, so he moved slowly, his eyelids half-lowered, like Guanyin holding a flower vase, gazing at them with compassion.
However, those lurking in the back likely thought their chance had come. Raising their blades, they charged forward!
The sword in his hand had become dull, so Yin Gezhi impatiently tossed it aside. He reached out to catch a blade swinging down toward his head, his five fingers as hard as stone, gripping the blade and wrenching it away.
This scene startled Lian Heng, who quickly looked at Yin Gezhi’s hand, only to see not a trace of red on his palm. It seemed the strength in his fingers was so great that the blade never even made contact.
Incredible!With the blade in hand, Yin Gezhi swept it backward in a wide arc. The few men who had charged ahead too quickly couldn't react in time—their bodies even stumbled forward out of habit, but their heads had already rolled to the ground! The smell of blood instantly thickened, and the scene was utterly terrifying, as if hell itself had descended. Before anyone could scream, the blade whistled through the air, cleanly slicing the next few troublemakers in half at the waist. Blood mixed with yellowish-green fluid sprayed onto the ground, making Yin Chenjue, who was watching from the side, turn away and vomit.
"Hurry... hurry and help me away!"
The advisor was also terrified out of his wits and no longer offered reckless advice. Supporting Yin Chenjue, he slipped out from behind the crowd. But before leaving, he shouted, "By His Highness's order, whoever severs Prince Xiao's right hand will be rewarded with a thousand taels of gold!"
With such a heavy reward, brave men emerged. Those who had been about to retreat moments ago now surged forward again, aiming directly for Yin Gezhi's right hand.
With a cold laugh, Yin Gezhi panted slightly, tossed aside the chipped blade, and seized a new one to continue hacking away. As if venting his anger, his strikes lacked any formal technique—he slashed whenever he spotted an opening or whenever someone displeased him. Each swing severed bones and flesh, eliciting agonized screams one after another.
Lian Heng couldn't help but marvel, "Truly worthy of the legendary Great Demon King..."
"Commander Lian," Feng Yue reminded him calmly, "he's cutting down your men."
Lian Heng sighed. "Didn't you hear? These men are here for the gold. They aren't my usual personal guards. I asked at the training grounds—whoever was willing to join me in surrounding the Prince of Filial Piety's Mansion could come voluntarily. They said they were loyal to the Crown Prince, so I can't worry about them now."
Feng Yue raised an eyebrow. "You didn't bring your personal guards?"
"The Crown Prince's order goes against reason," Lian Heng replied. "Since that's the case, I couldn't put my brothers in a difficult position. Whoever was willing to come could come."
So even Commander Lian had moments when he didn't follow the rules? Feng Yue sighed inwardly. Glancing outside again, she noticed Yin Gezhi seemed a bit tired. The blade in his hand had chipped again, irritating him. He threw it aside and kicked the soldier charging at him, sending the man stumbling back several steps.
Yin Gezhi had always been accustomed to using a long crescent-moon blade. Feng Yue blinked, then scanned the room, her gaze settling on a wooden box in the corner that was longer than she was tall.
The courtyard was small, and the gate was narrow, so only a few soldiers could enter at a time. Yin Gezhi didn't feel much pressure, but as more and more soldiers poured in from behind, his weapons kept chipping after just a few strikes, forcing him to constantly switch. This displeased him greatly, and his brows furrowed.
Just as he was beginning to miss his long blade, he suddenly heard a shout from behind: "Your Highness, catch!"
Hearing the voice, Yin Gezhi turned in surprise to see the woman in the red robe struggling to carry his crescent-moon blade. She wanted to toss it to him with flair, but her strength failed her. Losing her balance, she nearly collapsed under the weight of the blade.
In the midst of such a serious and bloody battle, the Great Demon King Yin actually laughed out loud, startling the surrounding soldiers who were about to charge again, making them shiver.
Stepping back a few paces, Yin Gezhi leaped to the doorway and picked up the long blade.
Struggling to stand upright, Feng Yue gritted her teeth and said, "I never realized before how heavy this thing was!"The situation was still critical, so Yin Gezhi didn’t pay much attention to these words. He simply lowered his head and swiftly planted a kiss on her forehead. Then he turned and, with great delight, charged back into the fray.
The soldiers hadn’t yet reacted, only noticing that Prince Xiao now held a rather imposing-looking blade in his hand. They continued trying to slash at his right arm.
Little did they know, Prince Xiao seemed to have transformed into a different person. The ferocity on his face had lessened, but his movements became even faster. The blade in his hand was sharp and unyielding—with a single horizontal sweep, it managed to pierce through the stomachs of three men at once!
Those behind sensed something was wrong. Seeing that the men in front not only failed to wear Prince Xiao down but were instead dying faster and more gruesomely, they hurriedly tried to retreat.
However, Yin Gezhi was now in the heat of battle. With the Crescent Moon Blade in hand, how could he let them escape? He immediately leaped over the courtyard wall, cutting off their retreat, and launched into another round of slaughter!
Yin Chenjue had been waiting outside the wall for the outcome, but who would have thought his imperial brother would emerge without warning, blade in hand? Terrified, he turned and fled, shouting as he ran, “Imperial Brother, I was only joking! Don’t chase me!”
Yin Gezhi had no intention of pursuing him. He let him run off, only stopping the advisor, whom he stabbed through the heart with a single thrust.
What a pity for the advisor, so eager to achieve merit and glory. Because of one foolish idea, he lost his life just like that.
Tossing aside the corpse, Yin Gezhi held his blade and glanced coldly at the remaining men kneeling and begging for mercy. He asked, “Do you want to live?”
“Spare us, Your Highness! Spare us! We never intended to fight!”
“Fair enough.” The red in his eyes faded. Yin Gezhi said, “Clean up these corpses, take them to the mass burial ground, and then you may go home.”
“Thank you, Your Highness!” The remaining soldiers were overwhelmed with gratitude! They had thought they would be killed, but it turned out the prince was a good man who didn’t slaughter the innocent indiscriminately!
Feng Yue, crouching at the entrance of the main room, rolled her eyes, thinking how pitiful these men were. They had come seeking trouble, only to be slaughtered by Yin Gezhi to his heart’s content. Those who survived still had to clean up the mess for him—and even thank him for it?
The Crescent Moon Blade gleamed with a cold, bluish light. Yin Gezhi returned with the blade in hand, his black robes stained an even deeper shade by blood. There was also blood on his face. If not for the silver crown on his head instead of a helmet, she would have truly believed he had just returned from the battlefield.
“My apologies.” Lian Heng clasped his hands and bowed to him. “Since the Crown Prince has left, I shall take my leave as well. I will come another day to apologize to Your Highness.”
“Take care.” Yin Gezhi nodded, watching him leave, then turned his gaze back to Feng Yue.
The latter gave him a big, exaggerated eye-roll, turned around, and went inside.
Looking down at the Crescent Moon Blade in his hand, Yin Gezhi smiled slightly, then followed her inside, cleaned the blade, and put it away.
“Were you worried about me?”
She knew this man would say something shameless like that. Feng Yue sneered, crossed her arms, and without pausing for breath, retorted, “Who the hell would worry about you? Rather than worrying about you dying, I’d worry about you not dying! It’s just that if you couldn’t hold the gate, and they caught me, my fate would be terrible. In the end, I was only looking out for myself!”
Raising an eyebrow slightly, Yin Gezhi couldn’t help but clap. “Truly worthy of someone who eats three bowls of rice in one meal. Big appetite, long breath too.”
Feng Yue turned her head and gave him the cold back of her head!The air still carried the scent of blood, and the sky outside was beginning to turn pale blue. There was no chance of sleeping now. After a moment of thought, Feng Yue muttered, "Your father wants to exile you, your brother wants to chop off your hand, and you’re still so magnanimous as to tolerate them?"
"After all, they are my parents, after all, they are my siblings," Yin Gezhi said. "Even if they’ve done wrong, I’ll settle accounts with them, but I won’t kill them."
"You and Yi Zhangzhu are truly a perfect match," Feng Yue sneered. "She should be Guanyin, and you should be Buddha. The two of you should go to a temple and save the world!"
"I’m not like her," Yin Gezhi replied. After washing his face and changing his clothes, he donned a set of white robes, straightened his collar, and said calmly, "I’m still more suited to descending into the eighteenth layer of hell with you."
With that, he opened the door and called out softly to Guan Zhi, "Bring the prince’s crown and seal. We’re going to the palace."
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