The stag let out a plaintive whine and launched into a frenzy. It dismounted
the nearest imperial bodyguard off his horse and charged straight into the
forest in the distance.
Everyone around was thrown into a panic and hurried to give chase.
However, it was the His Majesty's prey. Without His Majesty's order, none
of them dared to hunt it.
The Hou Zhu looked around, turned his horse's head and headed towards
Jiang Suizhou.
"Fifth Brother, quickly give chase and help me get that stag back!" the Hou
Zhu ordered loudly
Jiang Suizhou was stunned.
You want me to go after it?
However, before he could refuse, the Hou Zhu had already rushed to his
side. He tugged the reins to hide, but the Hou Zhu raised his whip and
fiercely brought it down on his horse.
The horse neighed and rushed toward the direction of the stag.
Jiang Suizhou was caught off guard and hastily tugged the reins to stop his
horse. But at this point, the sound of a slash echoed in the air behind him. It
was swift, and then he heard his horse neighing again.
This time, the horse has gone mad and galloped forward like the wind.
Jiang Suizhou pupils instantly shrank.
That's undoubtedly a concealed weapon!
But he couldn't care less. He desperately attempted to stabilize his body on
the horse, to prevent being thrown off the horse's back. He saw the dense
jungle in front of him, and further ahead, the mountains hidden in the forest.
He had to find a way to make his horse stop!
However, there was no question that a concealed weapon hit the horse. It
was already driven mad and was bent on charging ahead. An imperial
bodyguard nearby wanted to stop it, but he heard the Hou Zhu's command
behind him.
"Get out of the way!" The Hou Zhu roared, "Jingwang is in a hurry to go
chase the prey for me. Why are you blocking the way?!"
Jiang Suizhou's heart chilled.
In the midst of the violent bumps and gusts of wind, he vaguely recalled the
look on the Hou Zhu's face just now.
Malicious intent was painted his face, and he frequently exchanged glances
with Pang Shao. It turned out that among so many great gifts that Pang
Shao prepared for the Hou Zhu, he was the finale.
——
The stag rushed into the forest and ran out of sight in the blink of an eye.
Immediately after, Jiang Suizhou's horse also rushed into the forest.
The luxuriant branches and leaves in the forest finally slowed the horse's
speed, so that Jiang Suizhou could vaguely observe the circumstances
around.
Still, the horse was galloping, and was even faintly stumbling. Jiang
Suizhou wasted no time to try to pull the reins, even if he could not drag it,
but also to control the direction.
Unfortunately, Jiang Suizhou had poor horsemanship and a frail physique.
At this time, he had exhausted all his strength. Not only could he not
control the horse, he gradually lost control of the reins and was about to fall
off the horse's back.
He clenched his teeth, his lips turning white.
He knew that the horse was fairly tall, so at such a speed, falling down
meant either death or disability. The forest was scattered with branches and
tree forks, and it was even more dangerous than falling on flat ground.
He forced himself to calm down as much as possible to think of
countermeasures for his present dilemma.
The horse bolted at full speed that in the blink of an eye, it had disappeared
into the boundless forest. He knew that the terrain of Tianping Mountain
was steep, and there were not only continuous mountains, but also a
multitude of canyons and abysses ahead. If the horse kept speeding up like
this, he would die even if he didn't fall off his horse.
It was now plain how much Pang Shao hated him after these past few days.
Just then, Jiang Suizhou saw a rotting tree lying in the forest not far from
the left front. The tree was tall, supported by trees on either side, and was
lying horizontally in mid air.
Here!
Jiang Suizhou clenched his jaw, pulled on the reins with his last bit of
strength and steered the horse under him in that direction.
With a resounding bang, the horse hit the huge tree trunk.
The horse whined and fell to the ground. With its sudden slowdown, Jiang
Suizhou was shot out and fell to the ground with it.
The horse tumbled to the ground, and so did Jiang Suizhou. He felt like his
whole body was shattered apart. But amidst the pain of such a fall, an
incisive stabbing pain struck his ankle.
That was when he finally landed on the ground. His foot braced his fall and
was probably sprained.
Jiang Suizhou sucked the pain in and gasped deeply.
Fortunately. He thought. I escaped death and came to a stop.
However, before he could breathe a sigh of relief, he discovered a few black
shadows above the dense canopy around him with his perspective of lying
on the ground.
Somebody's here!
Immediately after, a familiar whistle in the air greeted him.
A sharp arrow was reflected in his pupils, and the tip of it was flying
towards him.
So it was the mantis stalking the cicada, unaware of the oriole behind it.
Jiang Suizhou was beyond exhausted, not to mention that the arrow was
flying swiftly toward him in just the blink of an eye.
He realized he could not avoid it.
He faced the arrow and closed his eyes tightly.
But simultaneously, a gust of wind blew.
In front of him, a crisp 'crack' echoed. Something actually stopped the
arrow.
Jiang Suizhou opened his eyes incredulously.
However, before he could register what was going on in front of him,
someone grabbed his arm. A herculean surge of force lifted him off the
ground.
He followed the inertia and crashed straight into the arms of a tall, upright
man.
The next moment, his waist felt tight, being locked tightly by the man.
In a wink, the man unsheathed the sword on his side. A glint of silver
flashed in front of Jiang Suizhou's eyes, and he witnessed the man carrying
him in one hand and wielding a sword with the other flawlessly. With more
than a dozen crisp sharp clangs, chopped arrow debris rustled around him.
Jiang Suizhou froze and raised his head in a daze; a side face with sharp
edges and corners like a sword blade caught his eyes.
Beneath his long eyelashes were a pair of dark eyes as sharp as an eagle.
… Huo Wujiu?
Jiang Suizhou froze in place, and for a while, he thought that he was
hallucinating.
But the next moment, he was dragged back into reality.
He heard the whistling of the wind, accompanied by the rustling sound of
tree branches and leaves, and then a few dark shadows surrounded them in
an instant.
Before Jiang Suizhou could react, he felt the man tighten his hold around
his waist and protect him in front.
"Be careful," he heard the man beside him say in a concise whisper.
The bunch of shadows closed in and impermeable rushed forward like
wolves hunting in the dead of the night.
With two against many, and surrounded by a group, it was no doubt a dead
end.
However, the long sword that served as an ornament in his place, morphed
into a sharp weapon in Huo Wujiu's hand that sealed throats with blood.
The sword displayed not the tiniest bit of fancy stance, but the several
assassins trapping them simply couldn't get close. With only a dozen
rounds, the black-clad assassins who attacked fell down one after the other.
After chaotic rustles of branches and leaves, calm was restored to the
surroundings.
It was just that seven or eight corpses were left beneath Huo Wujiu's feet,
and blood stained the brown soil with dark shade.
He looked up and saw Huo Wujiu holding his sword in one hand while
checking on the motionless corpses on the ground.
The blade of the sword on his hand was still dripping with blood.
"… Huo Wujiu?" Jiang Suizhou called blankly.
Was he crazy or was he hallucinating? Why would Huo Wujiu appear at this
time, and still stand in front of him, with his legs working as if he had not
been injured at all?
Before Huo Wujiu could respond to him, an indistinct whizz broke the
silence in the air.
A silver glittering concealed weapon broke through the condensed dark
branches and headed straight at Jiang Suizhou's face.
Huo Wujiu immediately carried him and dashed sideways. The silver
concealed weapon whipped past his cheek and cut off a strand of his hair.
At the same time, a person leapt straight down from the canopy. In no time,
he was already in front of him with a short dagger aimed straight at Huo
Wujiu's throat.
He was the leader of this bunch of assassins. He used concealed weapons to
attract Huo Wujiu's attention and then attacked while he was distracted.
Because Huo Wujiu dodged just now, he was now facing the blade.
Although Huo Wujiu couldn't deflect it, he didn't panic at all. He wielded
the sword in his hand steadily, and in the next second, the man's warm
blood splashed on half of his body.
Nonetheless, the dagger also landed straight into his shoulder socket.
Jiang Suizhou was too close to him. In a tick, he did not even see how the
two moved. In just a few short rounds, he heard an inaudible muffled grunt.
It came from the chest that was pressed against his back shoulder.
His pupils shrank, and he glanced back at Huo Wujiu.
But Huo Wujiu's eyes wandered around for some time. Afterward, he
slowly let go, and the sword in his hand clattered on the ground.
"Are you injured?" Jiang Suizhou heard Huo Wujiu ask him in a deep
voice.
He himself, rather blandly, raised his hand and drew out the dagger in his
shoulder.
His blood spurted and mixed with the assassins' blood.
For some reason, a burst of heat flooded Jiang Suizhou's eyes.
"… You're hurt," he stammered.
——
The Hou Zhu watched as the mad horse carried Jiang Suizhou into the
forest. The forest ahead of the hunting ground was originally part of
Tianping Mountain. The terrain inside was complex, with dense branches
and bottomless depths.
The bodyguards and ministers around were all greatly frightened, but the
Hou Zhu sat on the horse with his head held high, quite like a victorious
general.
"No one is allowed to go in." He stared at the forest that swallowed people
like a beast, and added, "I want to see whether this Fifth Brother of mine
has the ability to hunt back that stag for me."
Who in the court did not know that His Highness Jingwang had not
practiced martial arts for a day since he was born because of his frailness?
Of course, he was incapable of hunting a stag; he was only capable of
breaking his neck in the depths of the jungle.
But no one dared to speak, because this was the family business of His
Majesty.
If His Majesty wanted him to hunt stags, he had to go hunting; if His
Majesty wanted him to die, then he also must die.
The expressions on all their faces were masked, while Hou Zhu raised his
head and stared deep into the distance behind the forest.
It was a sublime mountain range covered by impermeable trees.
His eyes shone smilingly.
It was no secret that he wanted to kill Jiang Suizhou long ago. But at the
same time, the ancestral rites and laws reigned supreme, so he couldn't
easily kill Jiang Suizhou.
But this time, his uncle agreed with him.
His uncle promised that this time, no one had to do anything. Jingwang
would never come back alive.
The Hou Zhu stared far back at the mountain range, and after a moment,
with a flip of his whip, he led his horse around and trotted toward the few
prey scattered in the pasture in front of him as if nothing had happened.
"Why are you looking dazed?" he asked.
Only then did the crowd regain their senses. Each acted as if nothing had
happened, and continued to follow the Hou Zhu to round up the hunt.
——