Chapter 183: Can’t Recognize It
Lin Xin followed behind Mo Ziyuan to the door of the Imperial Study. As soon as she stepped onto the last step, she saw Chu Qingye standing tall and majestic behind the threshold, and the little dumpling Chu Mingchen in his hand looking at her with sparkling eyes. The discomfort in her heart inexplicably vanished.
A captivating smile bloomed on her face, stunningly beautiful.
Suddenly, Lin Xin’s expression changed drastically. She quickly turned around and waved her right hand repeatedly. Invisible water blades formed in the air, colliding with the incoming arrows. The water blades vanished into thin air, while the arrows fell to the ground, glistening with silver-blue light under the bright sunlight, clearly poisoned.
Mo Ziyuan and Chu Qingye had anticipated this, but they didn’t expect the enemy to act so soon.
“Your Majesty, please take Your Highness and take shelter for now. Your humble subject will guard here.”
Chu Qingye obediently pulled Chu Mingchen back a few steps, his face cold as he watched Lin Xin who had leaped onto the courtyard wall and the arrows glowing blue on the ground, lost in thought.
After blocking those arrows, Lin Xin knew their purpose wasn’t to kill her but to lure her away. After all, the heads faintly visible on the opposite wall were clearly discernible.
Her expression turned completely cold. Besides setting a trap for her by luring her away, these people most likely aimed at Chu Mingchen.
That was her little dumpling she had raised with all her heart for over three years—these people truly deserved to die!
Thinking this, her hands didn’t stop. She swiftly leaped onto the wall and saw about ten fools in black clothes pretending to flee forward while turning back to check if she was following, which almost made her laugh in anger.
Leaving was impossible—how could she feel at ease without personally guarding her little dumpling!
Thus, those black-clothed men who had been performing so diligently suddenly felt a chill on their necks, followed by a warm sensation. They instinctively touched it, feeling something wet and sticky. Looking down, they saw a patch of bright red blood.
Before they could even show surprise, their consciousness had already left their bodies.
The others lying in ambush nearby were stunned—this wasn’t what they had planned!
How did this fiend kill them before they even chased after? Wasn’t the plan to lure her away? Now, should they go out or not?
If they went out, with that fiend there, their lives were surely forfeit. But if they didn’t, would that fiend really be unaware of their presence?
Lin Xin stood expressionlessly on the courtyard wall, scanning around before saying coldly: “Are you coming out yourselves, or do I have to invite you out personally!”
The ambushing few exchanged glances, gritted their teeth, gripped their weapons tightly, and charged out from their hiding spots shouting, some rushing toward Lin Xin, others toward the Imperial Study door.
Lin Xin snatched the long sword from the foremost man’s hand, then stabbed it into the second man’s chest. With her other hand, she snapped the neck of the black-clothed man whose sword she had taken. She then pulled out the sword and flicked it lightly, leaving a trail of splattering blood on the ground.
This clean and efficient killing method stunned the rest, but they quickly reacted and charged again. They knew charging meant death, not charging meant death too, but charging might bring luck to injure that fiend, or even kill her if fortune favored them!
However, their luck didn’t hold. Otherwise, with Mo Ziyuan’s shout of “Leave some alive,” these black-clothed men would probably have been wiped out.
Once all the attacking black-clothed men were either dead or captured alive, Lin Xin walked to Mo Ziyuan’s side and whispered to him: “Something feels off. These people are too stupid—far worse than those who blocked us on the road. There must be a trick.”
Just as she finished speaking, a loud “bang” came from inside the Imperial Study. They turned to look inside and saw Eunuch An lying on the ground with blood staining his right thigh, uncertain if alive or dead, a steel needle about an inch long embedded in his leg.
The imperial desk Chu Qingye used for reviewing memorials was split in two and toppled messily on the ground, with scattered memorials everywhere. Chu Qingye held Chu Mingchen and crouched beside Eunuch An, while two black-clothed men held long swords pointed at each other in confrontation.
Lin Xin and Mo Ziyuan exchanged a glance, both seeing surprise in each other’s eyes—especially Lin Xin. For someone to enter the Imperial Study undetected by her and even harm those inside was simply unprecedented.
They leaped into the room, positioning themselves one on each side in front of the Chu father and son.
Seeing them enter, one black-clothed man visibly relaxed a bit, his sword pointing at the other steadying.
Lin Xin stared intently at the two, strangely noticing a flash of contemptuous amusement in the other black-clothed man’s eyes before he suddenly lunged toward them.
The relaxed black-clothed man was stunned for a moment, then followed closely, seemingly trying to intercept the first one.
Mo Ziyuan had already dragged Eunuch An to a safer corner. Chu Qingye followed holding Chu Mingchen, while Lin Xin stood in place unmoving.
The two black-clothed men reached her almost instantly, one after the other. The first sidestepped to slash at her ribs with his long sword, while the second, whose sword had originally aimed at the first’s back, suddenly changed direction toward her chest.
“Hmph!” Lin Xin snorted coldly. Instead of dodging sideways as the first black-clothed man expected, she met his sword tip aiming at her ribs with her own sword. With a “ding,” his sword tip struck her blade and, uncontrollably following her force, veered diagonally—just in time to meet the shoulder of the second man’s sword hand.
A “pfft” sound of blade entering flesh and a muffled grunt rang out simultaneously. The long sword pierced through the second man’s shoulder from front to back, impaling him completely.
His hand could no longer grip his sword, and he could only watch helplessly as his sword tip hovered just an inch from Lin Xin, unable to advance further.
The first black-clothed man froze momentarily, then reacted swiftly, a resolute glint in his eyes. He pulled a black round ball from his bosom and moved to throw it toward Lin Xin and the others.
Lin Xin’s pupils contracted sharply. She swiftly lunged forward with her sword, and a scream of “Ah~” rang out as half a severed arm flew into the air amid a spray of blood.
At this point, both black-clothed men had lost their fighting ability.
They exchanged miserable glances and bit down hard on their back teeth simultaneously. Black blood overflowed from the corners of their mouths as they collapsed limply to the ground, their faces rapidly turning blackish-purple.
Mo Ziyuan walked over to check their breathing, then gently shook his head under Chu Qingye’s gaze.
“Aren’t you going to see what they look like? What if you recognize them?” Lin Xin asked.
“No point in looking—they’re unrecognizable.” Mo Ziyuan said.
“Why?” Lin Xin skeptically used her sword tip to lift the face-covering cloth from one black-clothed man, revealing a face covered in scars and pockmarks, probably unrecognizable even to close ones.
Thanks to Luoye Zhiqiu-Ad and Beiji Xiaolan for their votes, thanks to caroletu for the reward, and thanks to everyone for your support, thank you!
