Chapter 93: Youth
Jinsui feared falling into the Zheng family’s trap of luring the tiger away from its mountain, and also feared that Prince Yu’s people were involved, meaning Huo Zi’an could not be fully trusted.
She had intended to have Cheng Yu stay and defend the border city while she led troops to aid Han Xing.
Cheng Yu adamantly refused, insisting she stay and defend, and that he would take Huo Zi’an to provide aid.
“Your Highness, the border city is your border city. As long as you are here, the border city stands. If anything were to happen to you, the border city would become a place that could be abandoned at any moment.”
“Let your subordinate handle the dangerous task of pursuing bandits in the borderlands!”
Jinsui was persuaded. The current border city did not require her, as a Prince, to charge into battle, especially for something like pursuing mountain bandits.
What was needed was for her to be a steady presence, to reassure not only the border soldiers but also the refugees and herdsmen.
If this incident was not handled properly, who would dare to come to the border city for trade in the future? The refugees would not only fail to be registered but would flee even further.
She quietly gave Cheng Yu ten fish oil firearms and said sternly, “Those who offend our border city will be punished, no matter how far they flee!
A single punch thrown well can prevent a hundred blows! Show them the spirit of our border city, and see which bandits and horse thieves dare to cause trouble here in the future!”
After Cheng Yu and Huo Zi’an left with their men, she did not follow the advice of Hei Hu and others to return to the city. She even sent a message to Yan Shiyi, telling him not to come to the border city today.
She herself led people in the trade zone, comforting the refugees and treating the wounded. At the same time, she patrolled outside the city with her men, guarding against any opportunistic moves by the Zheng family.
Wei Assistant Secretary conscientiously stayed in the city to guard and did not come out. Upon hearing the news, Yan Shiyi turned back to Yanzhou City and sent word that he would ask Li Heng to send troops to suppress the bandits.
Jinsui pondered whether the bandits had come to raid the border city upon hearing of its supplies, or if they had been instigated by someone.
Coincidentally, the patrol team entered a forest. It was noon, the sun was shining brightly, and both men and horses were weary. Jinsui ordered a rest.
Hei Hu had been guarding her side without leaving her, but suddenly a horse seemed to go mad, neighing and charging wildly. The soldier, not paying attention, lost his grip on the reins.
Seeing the mad horse charging towards Jinsui, Hei Hu shouted, “Your Highness, be careful!”
He leaped forward and tightly gripped the reins. The horse’s eyes were bloodshot, and it jumped and whinnied. After Hei Hu held on firmly, it foamed at the mouth and fell dead.
Jinsui, having dodged the mad horse, was several yards away from Hei Hu. The moment the mad horse fell, over a dozen people suddenly emerged from underground in the forest.
They emerged from underground because they had dug pits and concealed themselves, blending perfectly with the forest, making them impossible to detect.
These people were either shirtless or wearing coarse hemp clothes, but each held a long saber, and their target was clearly Jinsui.
Hei Hu recognized them: “Zheng family’s cattle and horses!”
Jinsui was now certain that the bandit attack was definitely related to the Zheng family!
Hei Hu struck the mad horse down with a palm, drew his long saber, and engaged them. The soldiers also rushed forward to protect Jinsui.
The two sides quickly engaged in battle. Jinsui knew that her role was to protect herself so that Hei Hu and the others could fight with all their might.
As she retreated, she shouted towards the trade zone, “Enemy attack!”
The most soldiers were stationed there, and they would be able to rush to support them upon hearing the alarm.
She took out a fish oil firearm, but the distance between the two sides was too close, making it easy to injure her own men.
She quickly thought of something: the fish oil firearm could not harm the enemy, but it could signal for help.
She threw it towards a distant wasteland, and with a bang, the intense sunlight alone caused it to explode, even without a fuse.
The commotion was so great that not only the soldiers in the trade zone heard it, but even Wei Assistant Secretary in the city heard it. Both sides dispatched men to provide reinforcements.
For some reason, the current situation was clearly advantageous to their side, and these dozen or so people could not harm them. Yet, Jinsui felt uneasy.
This was an ability she had possessed since the obsession left by the original owner had departed: an extremely strong sixth sense.
This feeling became even more accurate, especially when facing a life-or-death crisis.
She quickly realized that the bandits were a diversion, and these dozen or so Zheng family’s cattle and horses were also a diversion. There was a more formidable assassin lurking in the shadows!
The moment this thought flashed through her mind, she instinctively turned sideways, and in doing so, she saw a silver light descending directly towards her heart!
It was a hidden weapon!
The most skilled assassin was hiding in the trees, waiting for these Zheng family’s cattle and horses to distract Hei Hu and the others before launching a fatal strike!
The hidden weapon that she dodged struck the mad horse. Jinsui saw the black and red on the weapon, clearly poisoned!
She shouted, “Hei Hu, the enemy is above!”
Hei Hu was usually slow to react, but when fighting, his reactions were exceptionally fast.
Without asking where the enemy was, he directly killed the person blocking his path with a single saber strike, then powerfully punched a large tree near Jinsui.
A figure like a ghost emerged from the tree. Light as if not alive, it lightly tapped the treetops twice before leaping to another tree.
To her horror, as it leaped, it fired three hidden weapons at Jinsui in rapid succession.
Hei Hu shouted, “Your Highness, be careful!” and threw himself at Jinsui. The three hidden weapons struck Hei Hu’s back, and he fell heavily at Jinsui’s feet.
“Your Highness, run…”
Hei Hu spat out a mouthful of black blood and closed his eyes.
For the first time, Jinsui felt such deep grief and indignation, more so than when she had watched Gu Changxiao near death, or when she had seen Grandpa Ling being attacked by bandits.
Because she was worried about Grandpa Ling being influenced by the original owner, she didn’t have any other feelings for Gu Changxiao.
But she and Hei Hu, while nominally superior and subordinate, had long since regarded Hei Hu as a friend, as close kin!
“Hei Hu!” She quickly took an antidote from her space and fed it to Hei Hu, the same one prepared when Yan Twelve Niang was poisoned.
She then went to pull the poison darts from his back. In this short time, the ‘ghost’ had moved to another tree and once again threw three poison darts at Jinsui.
Jinsui did not dodge. If she dodged, these three poison darts would strike Hei Hu again.
She also couldn’t possibly drag Hei Hu; he was like a mountain when he fell.
She could only hold Hei Hu’s saber and block in front of him, using the ability she had practiced recently to knock away the poison darts.
At the critical moment, three pebbles suddenly flew through the air. These three miraculous stones struck each poison dart one by one, knocking them to the ground before Jinsui’s feet.
Before she could even see who had saved her, she heard the ‘ghost’ exclaim and fall from the tree.
Then Jinsui saw a youth dressed in black, appearing as if from nowhere, stomp on the ghost’s chest, driving him from mid-air to the ground.
The youth’s movements were incredibly fast. After stomping down, he lifted the ghost, not only shaking off all the hidden weapons on his body but also using a short knife to sever the ghost’s ten fingers in two swift strokes.
As the ghost cried out in pain, Jinsui saw black and red poison powder glinting in the fingernails that rolled onto the ground.
The youth then used another knife to slice off a piece of the ghost’s scalp. Within the scattered hair were tiny poison needles.
Before the youth could make his next move, Jinsui took out an anesthetic needle and shot it. The ghost twitched twice and fainted.
