No one saw clearly how that leaf flew out.
Chu Shao appeared to have only lightly flicked her sleeve.
Then, emerald green leaves shot out like silver needles, carrying powerful and terrifying sword intent, piercing towards the person’s face.
The speed of the flying leaves was too fast.
In the previous moment, it barely left behind a trail in the air, and in an instant, it was already in front of the swordsman.
Seeing this scene, the swordsman’s face turned pale.
It’s unclear whether he was surprised by Chu Shao’s identity or because the sword intent carried by the flying leaf was too strong, but his hands were trembling.
Then, the swordsman took a deep breath and suddenly drew out his long sword from his waist.
The blood-colored blade radiated a dazzling light, like the last rays of the setting sun.
In an instant, he swiftly swung out several sword shadows in the air.
However, Xiao Jin inside the courtyard could clearly see everything.
Even if the opponent’s sword moves were faster and more exquisite, they still couldn’t shatter that thin flying leaf.
In a split second, sweat broke out on the swordsman’s forehead.
It was only after he had swung out the entire set of Feiliu swordsmanship that he barely changed the direction that the green leaf was pointing towards.
The flying leaf grazed past the swordsman’s neck, leaving a thin bloodstain.
Then, the leaf turned into a sharp spear and flew further away.
Only after hitting an obstacle did it firmly embed itself into the bamboo pole supporting the flower trellis with a loud bang.
“Agh!” The entire trellis of purple wisteria collapsed with a loud noise.
The swordsman leaped up just in time to avoid the pouring purple waterfall, looking quite embarrassed.
After finally steadying himself, he then used lightness skill to quickly flee backwards.
He saw that the situation was not good and wanted to turn and escape.
However, Xiao Jin wouldn’t give him that chance.
Xiao Jin had already loaded six arrows into the box.
When she saw that the other party was trying to flee, she pulled out another short blade and swiftly and viciously stabbed into the chest of the person who was entangled with the guards.
At this moment, she saw the other person trying to escape, so she drew out another short blade and ruthlessly stabbed it into the chest of the person entangled with the guards.
After dealing with the close-range assassin, she lifted her hand expressionlessly and flicked a steel blade.
Although the original owner’s archery was accurate, she still lacked experience in retaining skilled swordsmen like this.
However, in these past few days when Chu Shao and Shen Shuang were fighting, Xiao Jin would often quietly observe from the side.
She carefully observed Chu Shao’s every sword move and the landing point of her light work.
If there was any part she didn’t see clearly, Xiao Jin would ponder and recall it in her mind, breaking down the opponent’s moves into countless subtle actions.
She wouldn’t stop until she could connect those movements one by one, forming a picture, and finally remembering a complete set of moves.
At this moment, Xiao Jin looked at the light work under the swordsman’s feet, recalling the moves she used before, and a guess arose in her mind.
The swordsman’s moves seem to be of the same origin as Chu Shao’s.
Based on this guess, Xiao Jin’s face remained cold, but she quietly raised her hand, aiming at the dark and uninhabited area.
On the other side, the crown prince lifted his sword and blocked the assassin’s move.
He stared at the pair of eyes revealed outside the blood-red mask, then frowned slightly, seeming to have guessed that these assassins were from the Blood Rain Pavilion.
Considering that Xiao Jin had limited mobility, the crown prince still left a glance intentionally or unintentionally, observing the situation on Xiao Jin’s side.
With just a glance, he found that while dealing with the close-range assassin, she still had time to deal with the skilled swordsman.
However, the direction the sleeve arrow was aimed at was a rather unexpected position.
Not too far away, but too close.
Based on the internal strength the swordsman had just displayed, it could be seen that his swordsmanship and light work were both superior, so the landing point of his light work couldn’t possibly be that close.
The crown prince sighed slightly and felt that Xiao Jin would probably not be able to deal with this swordsman.
However, the next moment, he was stunned.
Because a miserable scream echoed in the courtyard.
Looking up, he saw the swordsman falling to the ground like a bird with broken wings. He curled up on the ground, groaning in pain. His calf was pierced by a feather arrow, and a piece of elm leaf was deeply stuck in his abdomen.
At this moment, he was trembling as he raised his hand to cover his bleeding abdomen, his face as pale as a dead person.
Seeing this scene, Xiao Jin couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow slightly. It was expected that the swordsman would be hit by her, but looking at the elm leaf, she was somewhat surprised.
Earlier, Xiao Jin had noticed that the swordsman’s moves seemed to have some similarities with Chu Shao. She thought that with this added factor, Chu Shao probably wouldn’t try her best to keep the swordsman, so she took the initiative.
But she didn’t expect Chu Shao to be as ruthless as ever.
It was truly ruthless to sacrifice one’s own kin for the greater good.
She didn’t know when Chu Shao had returned to her side. She casually swung a few sword moves, taking care of the remaining assassins, and then lightly raised her hand to wipe away the bloodstains from the corners of the prince’s mouth.
At this point, Chu Shao had regained her usual gentle demeanor, and there was no trace of her previous mercilessness.
A slight smile appeared on her lips as she softly asked, “I’m a little curious, Your Highness. How were you able to determine the person’s landing position just now?”
Xiao Jin said lightly, “It’s just that the princess has practiced swordsmanship so much that I estimated the person would probably have to use seventy percent of their inner strength to barely avoid being injured by the flying leaves thrown by the princess earlier.”
“Since he has used up his inner strength, his lightness technique won’t be as fast as usual, so I positioned myself in a location closer to him.”
Chu Shao nodded with a smile, understanding everything now.
Xiao Jin had secretly watched her practice swordsmanship, and that was the most important factor.
In fact, this was the most crucial part of the plan. If it weren’t for Xiao Jin’s observation of Chu Shao’s swordsmanship and the reasonable suspicion that the opponent’s techniques were similar to those of a swordsman, he would not have been familiar with the next landing point of the swordsman.
But this crucial part of the plan was difficult for Xiao Jin to explain to Chu Shao. She could only speak vaguely about it.
At this moment, the crisis should have been resolved, but Xiao Jin’s brow was still furrowed, and her heart was uneasy.
She took the injured person’s hand and ordered Yin Zhu to fetch some water and ointment, while whispering to Chu Shao, “I don’t quite believe that Blood Rain Pavilion’s spies are everywhere and would be foolish enough not to know that the Crown Prince was coming tonight.”
“Since Blood Rain Pavilion knows that the Crown Prince is coming, the security at the mansion should have been strengthened. So why would they choose today to assassinate me?”
The smile on Chu Shao’s lips gradually faded as she furrowed her brows and said, “So Your Highness means that Blood Rain Pavilion’s true target is not you, but someone else.”
As expected of the female lead of this book, it took her so long to come to this conclusion, but Chu Shao understood it so quickly.
Xiao Jin thought to herself, feeling amazed by the female lead’s prowess, but remaining composed on the surface. She nodded her head and said, “However, there are not many people living in this courtyard. Apart from the prince and the princess, there is also the crown prince who came to Qinzhou for disaster relief…”
Then, her voice trailed off and she said, “Wait a minute.”
Xiao Jin’s expression changed slightly and she coughed up blood again, saying in a slow voice, “The target of the Blood Rain Pavilion is not me, but Xia Sanniang and the two sisters from the Qin family.”
…
Tonight, Qin Xueyi couldn’t sleep well.
She lay on the windowsill, looking up at the moon in the sky, recalling the willow trees swaying in ChunTan Street, and her father lifting her up above his head so she could grab the dangling silk ribbon.
At that time, her mother and older sister were both wearing emerald green clothes, just like the blue color of the lake.
She still remembered that it was a very beautiful color.
But after going to the capital, she probably wouldn’t see it again.
Qin Xueyi felt a bit sad because she heard that her elder sister wanted to take the three of them back to the capital.
The capital seemed to be a very cold and snowy place.
Thinking of this, Qin Xueyi looked sadly at the frost outside the courtyard, imagining it as a scene of white snowflakes falling.
Then she suddenly noticed a pair of black boots among the snow.
Although Qin Xueyi didn’t know what those black boots represented, she saw the long sword in the black-clad person’s hand.
It was a very beautiful sword.
The whole body was snow-white, and the blade was engraved with silver-blue patterns.
If Xiao Jin appeared here, she would recognize the sword in the black-clad person’s hand, which completely matched Xiao Shuang’s description of another sword.
There are many famous swords in the world, but that sword could only be Shen Lang’s sword.
Because its name “Nameless” was engraved on the blade.
Shen Lang’s sword did not have no name.
But its name was “Nameless”.
However, Qin Xueyi was not Xiao Jin.
She didn’t know that the sword in the black-clad person’s hand was the Nameless Sword, and she didn’t know that the other party was most likely Yao Country’s number one swordsman, Shen Lang.
But as she looked at the unmasked face of the black-clad person, she always felt that the other party’s eyebrows and eyes were vaguely similar to Chu Shao’s.
To be honest, Qin Xueyi was a little afraid of the smile on Chu Shao’s face.
So at this moment, she instinctively felt fear towards the black-clad person who appeared in the courtyard.
Although Qin Xueyi knew that there were guards sent by the eldest sister to protect them in the courtyard, for some reason, these guards seemed to have gone elsewhere now.
Realizing that there was no one to protect them in this courtyard, Qin Xueyi suddenly remembered the blood that splattered on ChunTan Street a few days ago.
She was very young and didn’t know many words.
But now she could understand that because this person was holding a sword, he might be here to kill her, her mother, and her older sister.
Qin Xueyi was extremely frightened.
But the black-clothed person wouldn’t stop his steps because of her fear. His steps were fast, getting faster and closer to her.
Her heart was pounding, almost bursting out of her chest.
At this point, Qin Xueyi was too late to wake up her sleeping mother and sister.
She felt hopeless. Could she only watch the black-clothed person push open the door?
No.
Qin Xueyi suddenly remembered that she could secretly climb out of the window and find the secret passage to the underground.
That was what her elder sister told her.
If in danger, she could escape from there.
But Qin Xueyi couldn’t slip into the dark passage now to inform Xiao Jin because her sister and mother were still inside.
She had to protect them.
So Qin Xueyi tried to calm her pounding heart.
Before the black-clothed person pushed open the door, she pushed it open first.
Qin Xueyi looked at the face of the black-clothed person and forced a sweet smile.
The black-clothed person looked down at Qin Xueyi, and the long sword in his hand gleamed with a silver cold light.
He didn’t speak.
Qin Xueyi looked at the long sword in the black-clothed person’s hand, trembling all over.
Despite being scared to the point of almost crying, she still maintained an innocent and carefree smile, and softly asked, “Uncle, this is my home, why are you here?”
“Did you take the wrong turn?”
The black-clothed man remained silent.
After a moment, he answered, “I did not take the wrong turn, and this is not your home.”
Qin Xueyi’s voice trembled, “But I have no home left, so this is my home… Uncle, your appearance here at night will make me and my mother very scared.”
The black-clothed man looked at Qin Xueyi.
After a moment, he suddenly laughed, “You are very smart.”
“You know I came to kill you, so you deliberately talked to me to delay time. You also know that after I kill you, I will go and kill your sister and mother, so you only mentioned your mother and deliberately did not mention your sister.”
“You are waiting for someone to come and save you. But I’m sorry, no one will come to save you now, and no one can save you.”
Qin Xueyi widened her eyes.
Before she could even remember to breathe out of fear, a silver-blue long sword pierced through her chest and penetrated her heart.
The black-clothed man then looked into Qin Xueyi’s eyes and slowly withdrew the sword.
His strength was light, so not much blood flowed from Qin Xueyi’s body.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t want to kill you, but someone paid for your lives. You can’t save them, just as I can’t save you.”
The black-clothed man explained seriously, his face calm and almost cold.
He then picked up the sword and prepared to step into the room.
Feeling the pressure on his leg, the black-clothed man frowned slightly.
He lowered his gaze to his leg and saw a pair of snowy white hands there. They were soft and delicate, but the back of the hands were covered in blood.Â
Before she died, Qin Xueyi stretched out her hand and grabbed the black-clothed man’s leg tightly, as if she were grasping a willow branch.Â
The black-clothed man remained silent for a moment. Instead of kicking the dying Qin Xueyi away, he squatted down and gently pried her hand open. It was then that he noticed the bamboo leaf in Qin Xueyi’s hand.Â
He didn’t know why she was holding it, but he didn’t care. After all, Qin Xueyi was just a little girl who had her own secrets that he didn’t need to explore.Â
 Under the moonlight, the black-clothed man watched as the bamboo leaf fell into the pool of blood and was gradually covered by redness.Â
He finished watching and then indifferently raised his head and walked into the door of the room.Â
 At that moment, a voice suddenly sounded outside the courtyard: “It’s late at night, please stop, sir.”Â
 The black-clothed man stopped in his tracks because the voice was gentle and pleasant, making him feel familiar yet unfamiliar.Â
After all, that was a person and an event from a long time ago.”
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
 Author’s note: Thank you to the little angels who voted for me or irrigated me with nutrient solution between 23:59:28 and 23:59:31 on March 23-24, 2022.
Translator’s note: Qin Xueyi!ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜ðŸ˜
TO BE CONTINUE…
Comment