Chapter 118 - 96: Prince Qi Is Dead, But I Didn’t Kill Him?!

Chapter 118: Chapter 96: Prince Qi Is Dead, But I Didn’t Kill Him?!

Zeng Anmin found a moment to glance at Bai Ziqing.

At this moment, Bai Ziqing’s face wasn’t flushed, nor was he panting. Zeng Anmin even heard him murmur with perfect composure: "With sword in hand, I laugh aloud, leaving home to roam the world! My ambition swallows... swallows... uh..."

He thought, "Bro, did you forget your lines??"

Just as this thought surfaced in Zeng Anmin’s mind, a sudden sensation of falling washed over him. The feeling of weightlessness made him reflexively squeeze his eyes shut.

He thought, "Slow down, bro. Not only do I get motion sickness, but I’m also afraid of heights..."

"THUMP."

The sound of feet touching the ground. In just a single breath’s time, the two had already arrived outside the city walls. A steady landing!

Zeng Anmin stepped on the ground, feeling a profound sense of unreality as he tried hard to suppress the discomfort welling up inside him. "Ziqing, your skills are truly impressive."

"Heh." Bai Ziqing’s lips curled up slightly. He slowly regulated his breath, then cast his gaze westward. "Let’s hurry, there’s no time to lose."

"Alright." Zeng Anmin obediently offered up his belt.

Although the posture was a bit undignified, if he just imagined Bai Ziqing as his mount...

He thought, "See? Doesn’t that immediately make it feel balanced!"

Naturally, Bai Ziqing couldn’t hear Zeng Anmin’s inner thoughts. Hooking a hand onto him, he lifted Zeng Anmin and bounded away with the agility of a leaping hare and a swooping falcon, gradually disappearing into the Capital City’s night.

The night was bleak. A horse-drawn carriage rolled slowly forward, facing the darkness, facing the sorrow.

The carriage had no canopy; it was merely a prison cage. Inside the cage sat a massive man, half-slumped. Even half-sitting, his towering physique almost completely filled the enclosure.

Prince Qi stared blankly at the stars in the sky. The beard around his cheeks no longer bristled fiercely as it used to. Instead, it lay in a messy, disheveled tangle, looking like scattered straw.

"When the cunning hare is dead, the loyal hound is boiled..."

For the first time, Prince Qi seemed to truly understand the words spoken by those frail Confucian Scholars. For some inexplicable reason, he wanted to laugh, just like how Emperor Jianhong had inexplicably reduced him to this current state. He didn’t even know why Emperor Jianhong would use a lie that everyone knew was false to ruin him.

His Sea of Consciousness had been shattered by Si Zhongxiao. His Martial Pill had been crushed. Right now, he was no different from a cripple.

"Dad, I’m cold..."

Wang Qianzhi was also in the procession. Pinned down by several soldiers, he looked tremblingly toward his royal father in the cage—no... toward his dad. He could no longer call the man before him "royal father."

Hearing Wang Qianzhi’s voice, Prince Qi’s body twitched slightly, but in this cramped space, his massive frame made even turning his head an incredibly difficult task.

"My lord..."

His wife, who had been an esteemed Princess Consort just the day before, was now a prisoner as well. Under the veil of night, her voice sounded exceptionally desolate.

Surrounding them were twenty soldiers, led by a Captain.

The Captain’s gaze was cold. "No whispering!"

Prince Qi didn’t look up. He didn’t even cast a single glance at the Captain, merely staring numbly at the stars in the night sky. Normally, he wouldn’t even bother to look twice at a nobody like this. Now, however, his life was held in this man’s hands.

The world was truly unpredictable.

Under the night sky, only the sounds of the carriage and horses could be heard. Finally, after traveling for a while longer, the Captain announced indifferently, "Make camp here! Take turns keeping watch!"

"Yes, sir!" The twenty soldiers, Weapons in hand, saluted respectfully in unison. They then halted the carriage and set up their tents on the spot.

West River was still nearly ten thousand miles away, and throughout the journey, they had to strictly obey orders.

The Captain sighed, his gaze sweeping over Prince Qi. There were still two months and twenty-nine days left until the deadline. Aside from getting a good night’s rest tonight, the rest of their time would have to be spent hurrying on their journey.

Gradually, the night deepened.

Everyone in the encampment fell into a deep slumber. Even the few soldiers on night watch were showing faint signs of dozing off.

In the dense forest nearby.

Bai Ziqing hurriedly arrived, carrying Zeng Anmin. "That’s the place. The one in the prison cart is Prince Qi."

Both Bai Ziqing and Zeng Anmin wore black cloth wrapped around their heads and black masks covering their faces, fully clad in night-stalking attire. Zeng Anmin looked over with an indifferent expression. Being so close to Bai Ziqing, he didn’t dare to use his Martial Arts True Qi, so he could only rely on his naked eyes.

By the moonlight, he could clearly see Prince Qi lying in the cart, his chest rising and falling evenly. Evidently, Prince Qi seemed to have already fallen asleep.

"I’ll keep watch for you. Get ready to move."

As Zeng Anmin stared at Prince Qi’s prison cart, a murderous intent flashed across his face. Any enemy who could threaten his life had to die.

"Mhm." Bai Ziqing didn’t waste words, gently slipping his fingers into his robes. A dagger gleaming with a cold edge appeared between his pale fingers. He had foregone his longsword for the sake of maximizing his stealth.

With his skills, it would be extremely difficult for the sentries to spot him. Once he killed Prince Qi, he just needed to leave swiftly.

However, just as he was preparing to leap into the air, an incredibly sharp sound pierced the silence.

"SWISH!!!"

In the darkness, a flash of silver light suddenly appeared.

"Ugh..."

A Hidden Weapon had already embedded itself in a soldier’s throat. He didn’t even make a sound before he died.

"SWISH! SWISH! SWISH!!!"

The whistling sounds of dozens of Hidden Weapons followed in quick succession. In the blink of an eye, all twenty-something soldiers were lying dead on the ground.

The scent of blood drifted through the air, catching the nose of Zeng Anmin, who was hiding in the shadows.

"Who’s there?!" The leading Captain hadn’t been sleeping deeply. Hearing the noises outside the tent, he violently snapped his eyes open, intending to grab his Weapon and rush out to investigate.

But in a split second, he saw a flash of silver light pierce through the tent fabric.

"SHLUCK."

A throwing knife was suddenly lodged in the Captain’s throat, accompanied by a few spurts of fresh blood...

Back in the dense forest.

"This..." Zeng Anmin furrowed his brows tightly.

This sudden turn of events left not only him but also Bai Ziqing utterly bewildered. The two exchanged a glance in the dark, remaining completely silent as they quietly waited to see how the situation would unfold.

Inside the cage, Prince Qi was jolted awake by the commotion. He jerked his head up, peering through the wooden bars into the night. He saw a blurry figure slowly walking toward the prison cart. The figure stepped over the corpses of the soldiers beneath his feet, seemingly oblivious, and simply approached the cage at a measured pace.

"Who are you, sir? Are you here to rescue me?" Prince Qi spoke up for the first time, looking at the approaching figure.

His heart pounded wildly in his chest.

He thought, "I’m saved... Uck—!"

Prince Qi’s eyes suddenly went wide. He stared at the figure in front of him, his eyes filled with absolute incomprehension.

He tried to make a sound but couldn’t muster an ounce of strength. He wanted to pull the Hidden Weapon out of his throat... But even though his hands were covered in his own blood as he clawed at it, he was destined to fail in stopping the reality of his impending death.

"THUD!"

Losing all strength, Prince Qi collapsed in the prison cart, his blood dripping steadily from his throat and fingers. A member of the imperial family, the great Prince Qi who had dominated the Capital City for over a decade, had died just like that, silently in a prison cart.

He didn’t even know who killed him; he hadn’t even gotten a clear look at the person’s face. He had only vaguely seen that the person wore a bamboo hat and walked with light footsteps.

"AHH!!"

It was only then that Prince Qi’s family members startled awake from their dreams. Seeing the twisted corpses of the soldiers strewn across the ground, they finally let out terrified screams.

"SWISH!!" Silver light flashed once more.

"Ghk..." Like his father, Wang Qianzhi clutched his throat, his eyes bulging wide in the darkness... before slowly losing the light of life.

As for Prince Qi’s wife, a throwing knife Hidden Weapon had embedded itself in her throat even earlier, while she was still asleep.

Even after the mysterious figure had departed into the distance, Zeng Anmin and Bai Ziqing continued to wait in the darkness for a very long time.

Neither of them made a single sound. Time slowly ticked by.

Zeng Anmin pursed his lips. He and Bai Ziqing just stared wide-eyed at each other in the forest.

The plan had been solid. Come here and kill Prince Qi, only for someone else to beat them to the punch??

"Did you recognize that Hidden Weapon Technique?" Zeng Anmin looked at Bai Ziqing and asked in a grave tone. The killer had concealed themselves extremely well, so this was the only clue they could start with.

Bai Ziqing frowned. His own Hidden Weapon Technique was already considered first-rate in the world, but when that person struck just now, he hadn’t even seen how the Hidden Weapons were drawn.

Taking a deep breath, Bai Ziqing said solemnly, "That person’s Hidden Weapon Technique is superior to mine. In terms of Hidden Weapons alone, I’m afraid I’m no match for them."

"Oh?" Zeng Anmin’s brows furrowed deeply.

"Let’s hurry and leave. If we don’t make it back to the Capital City before dawn, the two of us will be in huge trouble!" Bai Ziqing looked gravely at Zeng Anmin.

"Alright!"

Before leaving, however, Zeng Anmin still had Bai Ziqing go over and confirm whether the dead man in the cage was truly Prince Qi. After receiving a definitive answer, the two sprinted back toward the Capital City at breakneck speed.