Chapter 58: Hit By An Arrow
Source: https://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=3614052
This translation is originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com please read it there. and check out other stories too.
Meng Chang'an's gaze darkened. She immediately pulled out the blade that was lodged in the heart of the assassin in front of her and turned around to throw it at the person pursuing the Princess closely from behind.
As she drew the blade, the person still standing before her had already widened his eyes. Yet he could only watch helplessly as blood flowed endlessly from his chest, unable to grip the weapon in his hand any longer.
By the time his weapon fell to the ground, the blade Meng Chang'an threw in the Princess' direction had already collided with the cold blade suspended above the Princess' head.
In just an instant, she kicked away the person obstructing her path, leaped toward the Princess' direction, and grasped the knife that had been blocked by the person pursuing the Princess.
Fortunately, the distance between them was not far. In just a brief moment, the Young Master Meng arrived swiftly, reaching the Princess' side.
At that moment, a sudden surge of murderous intent arose from the Young Master.
Without hesitation, she continued to advance, turning her hand to grip the knife in reverse and slashing through the opponent's throat.
Blood splattered everywhere, staining Young Master Meng's cheeks.
Yet she did not even blink, directly gathering her energy again to strike at the remaining assassins who had just burst through the door.
The two assassins who were originally under the corridor had already died under Meng Chang'an's blade, collapsing straight onto the veranda, and dying with their eyes open.
Upon escaping danger, Li Qiubai, unlike Yuechu who was panicked and flustered, calmly leaned against the wooden pillar of the corridor when no one paid her any attention, gazing at Young Master Meng's figure intently.
The Young Master's fierce killing intent, terrifyingly cold gaze, and ruthless momentum made the Princess unable to look away, unwilling to avert her eyes.
When Shu Yao hurried over, what she saw was the faint smile at the corner of Li Qiubai's mouth.
At a time like this, it seemed that only this person could still manage to smile.
Shu Yao sighed helplessly.
Taking advantage of the chaos, she ambushed one of the black-clad men who was about to descend from the roof to provide support. Sliding down through the hole in the eaves of the corridor, Shu Yao, who had arrived upon hearing the news, finally ran to Li Qiubai’s side and softly called out, “Imperial Sister…”
That long-missed address caused Li Qiubai to be momentarily stunned.
When she turned her head at that soft call, what she saw was Shu Yao’s face partially covered by a mask.
As her gaze fell on Shu Yao’s left eye, concealed under the mask, Li Qiubai’s smile had already faded, and she furrowed her brows slightly.
However, before Li Qiubai could speak, Shu Yao helplessly asked first, “Did I not already send word to inform you that there is an ambush here? Why did you still come, risking yourself like this?”
“What is meant to come will not be avoided, after all.”
Unlike Shu Yao, who was concerned about her safety, Li Qiubai did not care about the layers of danger inside and outside. Instead, she reached out to touch Shu Yao’s half mask, her fingers falling on the place where the corner of her eye should have been. She gently caressed the damp mask and asked in a deep voice, “What is going on?”
Her gaze seemed to penetrate through the silver mask, landing on the eye concealed beneath it.
At that moment, Shu Yao unexpectedly did not know what to say. She opened her mouth, but in the end, she silently closed it again and lowered her eyes without speaking.
Seeing this, Li Qiubai’s heart sank even further.
“Is this what you call a ‘minor injury’?”
When Meng Chang'an glanced back at the Princess, she saw the Princess gently touching Shu Yao’s cheek.
The way the two of them looked at each other in a daze caused an immediate surge of irritation in Meng Chang'an’s heart.
What, could it be that the two of them were old acquaintances?
Young Master Meng was filled with doubts, but amidst the clash of blades, there was no time for her to think further.
Seeing that the Princess was unharmed, she tightened her grip on the knife and forcefully suppressed the agitation in her heart, slashing once more at the person beside her.
At that moment, the killing intent around Young Master Meng grew even more intense than before.
With Young Master Meng’s obstruction, the two sisters were given a moment to exchange words.
The sisters had not seen each other for a long time and could only communicate secretly through letters. Even in the great hall earlier, Shu Yao had only taken a distant glance at Li Qiubai from the shadows, never allowing Li Qiubai to see her face.
Shu Yao was not ready to meet Li Qiubai, nor was she prepared to let Li Qiubai see her disfigured half-face. However, in such a dangerous situation, there was no chance for Shu Yao to continue hiding.
Before Shu Yao could open her mouth to explain, another group of people slid down from the broken hole in the eaves behind her.
Source: https://www.jjwxc.net/onebook.php?novelid=3614052
This translation is originally posted on https://love4baihe.blogspot.com please read it there. and check out other stories too.
In this way, Shu Yao had no time to explain anything to Li Qiubai and immediately swung her sword to meet the attack.
In just a moment, cold arrows shot toward the corridor from the shadows once again.
This time, all the guards around Li Qiubai had already perished, and she and Yuechu could only temporarily hide behind a sturdy wooden pillar to conceal their figures. The only one left in the line of fire was the Young Master Meng, who was busy killing.
As Shu Yao turned to fight off the enemies, Li Qiubai cast her gaze toward Young Master Meng.
Before the arrow could pierce the Young Master’s back, the Princess, noticing the sound of the arrow slicing through the air and without hesitation, had already rushed out from behind the wooden pillar with her sword drawn, swinging it to strike at the cold arrow.
Due to the arrow disrupted by Li Qiubai, it did not hit the Young Master Meng's back as the archer had originally anticipated but instead pierced the open wooden door beside her at an angle.
If it were not for the occasional cold arrows disrupting the battle, Li Qiubai would not have worried about the Young Master Meng's safety. After all, with the Young Master’s skills, even against multiple opponents, that group of people might not be able to injure her.
But now, since the expert shooting arrows from the shadows had yet to reveal themselves and Li Qiubai could not find the archer's position, how could she feel at ease allowing the Young Master to face the enemies alone?
However, seeing that the Princess was still willing to offer herself to the knife's edge, the Young Master Meng, who had narrowly avoided the cold arrow thanks to the Princess' help, did not know whether to be angry or to laugh.
After dealing with the person beside her, the Young Master was already covered in thick blood. At that moment, only two of the several assassins who had ambushed them inside the house remained.
The Young Master Meng's fierce appearance, with her eyes bloodshot from killing, left them momentarily shocked. They had originally thought that by incapacitating most of the guards and holding back the expert who accompanied that woman, they would easily take her down. They did not expect to encounter such an unexpected iron wall in Meng Chang'an.
While they were horrified and hesitant, Meng Chang'an showed no mercy. She immediately seized the opportunity to throw a hidden blade that she had concealed for a long time at the neck of one of them. Even with her left hand, the force of Meng Chang'an's throw was not much worse than that of her right hand.
With a swift strike of her knife, Meng Chang'an once again killed two assassins in front of the Princess. Only after that did she step back a few paces, retreating with the Princess to the wooden pillar. She turned her head to alert the Princess, who was pressed against her back, and warned, “Be careful. There might still be many others lurking in the shadows.”
Thinking that she could now be considered as fighting side by side with the Young Master, and not being seen as a burden, the Princess slightly curved her lips and replied, “Alright, I will protect you from the hidden arrows. You can focus on attacking.”
At the same time, outside, Yu Jin had also dealt with several people surrounding him. Injured, he pushed a few others aside and charged back into the corridor, shouting for reinforcements.
With Yu Jin's help, Shu Yao, who had been holding off the newly arrived reinforcements alone, finally had a moment to catch her breath.
Unfortunately, it seemed that the hidden archers had no intention of giving them a moment's peace. The cold arrows quietly changed direction, shooting toward the spot where the Princess was hiding behind the wooden pillar.
At this point, Meng Chang'an finally saw where the arrow was coming from. After quickly pulling the Princess out of the way of the arrow, she didn’t say much.
After leaving the Princess in Yu Jin's care, she charged directly into the curtain of rain, gathering her strength to fly toward the eaves of the house across from her.
Meng Chang'an still did not know why Shu Yao had come to help, but even though she had questions in her heart, she did not have the energy to explore them. What she knew now was that if the hidden archer was not eliminated, the threat hanging over the Princess' head would never be dispelled.
Perhaps sensing Meng Chang'an's intention. As soon as she stepped into the rain curtain, several arrows shot toward her.
Fortunately, Meng Chang'an's qinggong was always good. She spun in mid-air and dodged the first arrow.
She did not dare to let her guard down. After successfully stepping on the second arrow that followed closely, she used its momentum to propel herself and shot toward the eaves.
The arrow that had originally been beneath her foot was kicked down toward one of the black-clad men below.
Seeing the third arrow coming toward her, Meng Chang'an did not dodge again. Instead, she swung her knife and directly split it in half.
The sharp arrowhead was split in half by the knife in Young Master Meng's hand, falling powerless to both sides.
Seeing Meng Chang'an already climbing onto the roof with her knife, the archer, who had been hiding for a long time and frequently changing positions, showed a moment of panic.
Before Young Master Meng could chase him down, he ran along the eaves, changing positions as he went. He knocked an arrow again and aimed at Li Qiubai in the corridor below.
At this moment, the sky was bright. The details that were hard to see before were now fully revealed to everyone.
"Be careful!"
The arrows flew swiftly. Unlike Li Qiubai who was completely focused on the Young Master on the eaves across from her, Shu Yao, standing beside her, first noticed the arrow that cut through the rain curtain.
Unexpectedly, after hastily pulling Li Qiubai to avoid that arrow, several more arrows shot at them from different directions. Unlike the previous method of shooting one arrow at a time, deliberately and slowly, this time, the arrows came at a rapid pace. Each arrow was faster and more lethal than the last, making it nearly impossible to defend against.
Fortunately, Meng Chang'an had already reached the archer's side. While engaging him in combat, she temporarily blocked his assault, giving Shu Yao and Li Qiubai a brief moment to catch their breath.
“Do not overestimate yourself.”
After a sneer, the archer waved his hand and summoned two men in black from below, temporarily holding down Young Master Meng.
At this moment, the assassins in the corridor were still fighting fiercely with the injured guards brought by Yu Jin.
Just as Shu Yao intended to lead Li Qiubai away from this place, she was unexpectedly drawn in by a gaze not far away.
When Shu Yao saw the only woman in white standing under an umbrella beneath the rain curtain, she was momentarily stunned.
In the chaos of the battle, everyone was fighting in the rain, yet that graceful figure stood quietly under the umbrella, gazing at her from a distance through the crowd. Compared to the perilous fighting scene, she seemed out of place.
Shu Yao's heart paused slightly; she had not expected that Shen Lingyun would also come along.
This moment of distraction made her miss the best opportunity to dodge the arrow aimed at her throat.
“A’Yao!”
Seeing that Shu Yao showed no signs of dodging, Li Qiubai panicked. Without hesitation, she leaped forward, hugging Shu Yao and rolling to the ground, just barely avoiding the arrow that whizzed past them.
In an instant, the next arrow pierced through Li Qiubai’s back, going all the way through to her front.
The cold arrow passed through her body.
When Shu Yao felt her imperial sister’s warm blood, she became flustered and no longer cared about what that person under the rain curtain would do. She trembled and called out, “Sister... Sister...”
Even though the pain was excruciating, Li Qiubai still managed to force a smile at Shu Yao.
“It is...nothing...”
Even though there was a rain curtain in between, Meng Chang'an on the opposite roof could still see Li Qiubai getting hit by the arrow while saving Shu Yao. She saw the scene of the Princess collapsing into Shu Yao's embrace.
The Young Master's heart instantly ached with pain.
Author’s Note:
Ah, I failed to add more updates. I will try again tomorrow and see if I can add more...
