His Rui

The arrows started again as soon as An Si left with Li Hua.

With his sword, Xi Ying and An Ping deflected many arrows coming towards their direction. The arrows were actually pointed towards Li Rui and since they covered her completely. 

With every arrow that Xi Ying threw away, his deep black eyes became sharper and colder.

Amidst his thoughts and deflecting the arrows away, Xi Ying didn't notice Li Rui suddenly coming stand beside him but when he did his eyes flashed with panic and he hurriedly pushed away behind him while throwing the arrow away with his sword.

If he had been late even by a moment, then Xi Ying didn't want to imagine what could happen.

"Rui, stay behind."

Xi Ying shouted angrily as he thought of the consequences.

Behind him, Li Rui bit her lips as she looked around.

From her sleeve, she took out a small box. Still standing behind Xi Ying, she noticed the direction from where the arrow came and then threw something.

In Xi Ying's sight was a needle going towards a tree and then the next moment there was sound 'thud'.

A man fell from the tree with the bow and arrow in his hands.

"Woah…"

An Ping who saw all this was also startled but he composed himself very soon and paid his attention towards deflecting the arrows away. 

"Can I come in front now?"

From his behind, Xi Ying heard his wife's voice and said instantly.

"No, just do whatever you want to do from there only."

He would be a fool to let her come to the front when she was their sole target.

And the next moment, Xi Ying knew that he took a very wise decision. This was the tenth shadow guard and archer they had killed in those forty.

Perhaps the death of another shadow guard angered the others because as soon as the dead shadow guard hit the ground, all of them came out of their hiding places.

Almost thirty of them, all of them were now standing in front of Xi Ying, Li Rui and An Ping.

The problem increased when they used qingqong and suddenly made a circle around them. Now Xi Ying could not hide Li Rui any longer.

This time Xi Ying didn't wait to attack them. Pulling Li Rui behind himself, he started to fight with whoever came in the front but he never let any single one of them touch Li Rui. An Ping, on the other hand, stayed behind his master ensuring his and Li Rui safety.

The strength of the shadow guards slowly started to seem less.   

Twenty of them were still alive. As Xi Ying pulled out his sword from now dead shadow guard, his deep black eyes fell on the hem of his black clothes. The sign he saw only made his eyes colder.

How could he not recognize it?

The archers were sent by the Emperor.

Ha…Xi Ying smirked coldly.

The Emperor seemed too restless. Inside his heart, Xi Ying felt confused again as to why the Emperor wanted to kill Li Rui.

However this was not the time to think all this.

Xi Ying noticed that the sun was soon going to set and hence the dense forests would seem denser in the night darkness.

Li Rui was pregnant. He can't keep her here anymore.

With this thought, Xi Ying stepped backward pulling Li Rui along with him. Since he wanted to whisper something in An Ping's ears, he had to step near An Ping. 

Li Rui perhaps understood what he was trying to do so she cooperated with him nicely. However this nice way was never supported by Xi Ying.

His eyes went wide open as he was suddenly pushed to the back.

"Rui"   

An angry shout escaped from Xi Ying's mouth.

However, now he could only watch as Li Rui stabbed the shadow guard with dagger and with other hands threw the needle in her hands here and there. 

Xi Ying would have probably felt proud and laughed heartily seeing the confused faces of the shadow guards who looked at the small needle coming towards them as they tried to comprehend what harm exactly that small needle could do. However at this moment he was not in the mood of doing that at all.

He could only hug Li Rui's waist with one hand and made her walk backward in An Ping's direction.

When he was near An Ping, Xi Ying stood with his back against An Ping's back and he whispered in such a low voice that only An Ping could hear him.     

"An Ping, confuse them."

An Ping eyes instantly flickered.

The next moment, Li Rui found herself in An Ping's arms.

"Xi Ying."

A shout escaped from her lips and her mind went blank.

As she flew away in the sky, she saw the man fighting on the ground with so many shadow guards alone trying to stop them … from following An Ping … because he wanted to save her.

The cold wind slapped her face very harshly and Li Rui soon composed herself.

"You…go back, Your master is alone there."

She said to An Ping as she didn't know his name. The only thing she knew at this moment was that she didn't want to leave the man alone who was fighting to save her for almost a shichen.

An Ping, however, didn't seem to agree with her. He continued flying with his highest speed and said

"My Lady doesn't need to worry. Master is very capable of protecting himself. Those few are a piece of cake for master. My Lady will be able to see the master very soon."

And Li Rui went silent.

She knew that Xi Ying was very capable. He was a very intelligent man as well as a very capable martial artist.

But still, there was an ominous feeling inside her heart that made her feel very restless.

As if something very bad …very bad was about to happen.