As soon as Li Yue opened his mouth, he realized that he had switched back with Meng Fu. If they were going to switch, why not earlier or later? Why had it happened only after he got sick? Just now, when he was in a daze, he seemed to hear someone shouting “Cangtian you yan” \[苍天有眼 – Heaven has eyes], wasn’t that just nonsense!
Gao Xiheard His Majesty say they were talking nonsense, and for a moment, actually felt an indescribable sense of closeness. He turned his head, wore a fawning expression, and asked, “Your Majesty, are you alright?”
Li Yue swept a glance around and asked Gao Xi, “I’m fine. What’s going on here?”
Wasn’t the Emperor supposed to know better than them what was going on?
Gao Xi thought for a moment — perhaps His Majesty was a bit muddled from being struck by lightning — and honestly replied to Li Yue, “You were assassinated. Just now, auspicious omens descended from the heavens. How are you feeling now?”
Li Yue thought to himself that Gao Xi really knew how to talk nonsense. That strange phenomenon earlier was most likely because he and Meng Fu had switched bodies.
Looking at the surrounding black-clothed assassins, Li Yue’s face showed no trace of nervousness. But the current situation did seem more serious than just Meng Fu catching a cold. Switching back at this moment wasn’t necessarily a bad thing either.
The leader of the black-clothed men saw that Li Yue had been struck by lightning, yet bore no injury on his body. Remembering what Gao Xi had just said, he couldn’t help but let out a cold laugh, and said: “Looks like Heaven really is blind. Dog Emperor, it seems your life still has to be taken by me personally!”
Li Yue raised his eyes and looked at the man, asking Gao Xi: “Who’s this?”
Gao Xi replied unhurriedly: “Replying to Your Majesty, this servant saw that the weapon he uses is the Yin-Yang Twin Swords, so he should be Su Hezhen, known in the jianghu as the ‘Twin Sword Hero.’”
The leader of the black-clothed men laughed as soon as he heard this: “You eunuch have some sharp eyes. Pity all of you will die here today.”
Li Yue paid him no mind at all, merely let out an “mm”, then asked Gao Xi again: “Is this person very powerful?”
There were countless people in the jianghu who used twin swords, but only Su Hezhen had earned the title of “Twin Sword Hero.” Gao Xi replied: “Among the many experts in the jianghu, he can rank in the top three.”
Li Yue’s face still showed no sign of worry. He continued asking Gao Xi: “Is he one of Prince Xuan’s people, or the former Crown Prince’s?”
“This servant doesn’t know.” Gao Xi replied.
Su Hezhen on the other side was listening to their back-and-forth, and was utterly enraged. They were still chatting leisurely — did they even have him in their eyes?!
He let out a cold laugh, raised both swords, and said to Li Yue: “Once you’re in the underworld, you’ll find out.”
As soon as his words fell, he pounced at Li Yue like a great bird. The twin swords in his hands were like two streaks of silver lightning, carrying a fierce wind as they came swiftly — he was clearly aiming to take Li Yue’s life directly.
Li Yue stood in place, unmoving. A thread of doubt passed through Su Hezhen’s mind, but he didn’t think too much of it. He only wanted to quickly end Li Yue’s life.
Just as Su Hezhen’s twin swords were about to pierce between Li Yue’s brows, a zheng sound rang out — Gao Xi had actually used two fingers to catch Su Hezhen’s sword barehanded. He then turned around and flicked the twin swords backward with a twist of his hand. The sword blades, infused with internal energy, swept back toward Su Hezhen.
Su Hezhen was forcibly pushed back half a step. The web between his thumb and forefinger tingled faintly — he was greatly shocked. Lifting his head in astonishment, he asked, “Who are you?”
Gao Xi took out a clean handkerchief from his bosom and handed it to Li Yue. Then he turned around and said unhurriedly, “This servant is the Inner Palace Supervisor of the Palace Management Bureau, Gao Xi.”
Su Hezhen had heard of Gao Xi’s name before. But he only knew that he was the Emperor Li Yue’s personal eunuch — just a castrated servant, what waves could he possibly stir?
But now, with just one move, Gao Xi had made Su Hezhen utterly lose his nerve. He had roamed the jianghu for years and had never encountered such a terrifying opponent. Just now, Gao Xi had told Li Yue that Su Hezhen’s martial skills ranked top three in the jianghu — but truthfully, even if he encountered the other two, he might not necessarily lose.
A strong wind rose again. The clouds covered the sun overhead, the sky darkened once more, and fine rain began to fall.
Li Yue used the handkerchief to wipe the rain off his face and urged Gao Xi: “Hurry up.”
Gao Xi responded: “Yes, Your Majesty.”
From the other side, a dark guard threw over a long and a short sword to Gao Xi. Gao Xi picked them up and walked forward. As he approached Su Hezhen, his face still wore a friendly smile — but when he struck, the sword energy was piercing cold, like a ten-thousand-foot snow mountain collapsing, ice crystals bursting, snow waves surging — soul-shaking, spine-chilling.
Violent wind and sudden rain, fallen leaves and withered flowers—after only a few moves, only one of Su Hezhen’s twin swords remained. He fought while retreating, completely not a match for Gao Xi. Never before had he imagined that within the imperial palace’s inner court, there could exist such a top-level expert—and that this expert was even a eunuch!
Su Hezhen was momentarily distracted, and Gao Xi slashed another wound into him. Blood sprayed out. He rasped out a hoarse voice and asked, “Who… exactly are you?”
Gao Xi’s smile remained unchanged. Su Hezhen continued, “I recall that several years ago, there was an unknown expert who appeared in the jianghu. He fought alone against the ten great masters of the Demonic Sect. Those who saw him said he had a pale face without a beard, and a high-pitched voice. Was that person… you?”
Gao Xi neither said yes nor no. He used his long sword to block Su Hezhen’s path and stabbed the short sword directly through his arm. Su Hezhen let out a miserable scream, tried to raise his sword to block, but was kicked by Gao Xi, the force sending his whole body flying far away.
He fell to the ground, his body covered in wounds inflicted by Gao Xi. In the blink of an eye, the land beneath him was dyed blood-red. Su Hezhen coughed twice and struggled with great difficulty to rise from the ground. He asked Gao Xi, “Your martial arts are unparalleled, rarely seen in the world. Why would you be willing to stay at the side of that dog emperor!”
Gao Xi thought to himself, How strange—Su Hezhen’s martial arts are decent too, isn’t he also selling his life for the prince he calls his lord? So why’s he asking me this? At least my master is the emperor, after all!
He still didn’t respond to him, only turned his head and asked Li Yue: “Your Majesty, should we leave him alive?”
Li Yue stood within the misty drizzle, his expression cold and detached, and replied indifferently: “No need. Just kill him.”
Whether he was someone of the former Crown Prince, or someone of Prince Xuan—it didn’t matter. If one came, he’d kill one; if two came, he’d kill a pair. He wanted to see just how many people they had left under them.
Gao Xi flicked the short sword in his hand—right into Su Hezhen’s heart. Su Hezhen died instantly.
Once Su Hezhen died, the remaining black-clothed men, though also not weak in martial arts, were still inferior to the dark guards who had crawled out from heaps of corpses and specialized in trickery. After half an hour, the dark guards had eliminated them all.
The rain grew heavier again. The blood dissolved into the rainwater, forming little streams that flowed through the forest.
Dusk was settling, the sky dim. Gao Xi stood beside Li Yue, holding an umbrella for him, and asked: “Your Majesty, where shall we go next?”
Li Yue asked, “Where are the others?”
Gao Xi replied: “After Your Majesty’s carriage was frightened off, several massive boulders fell from Mount Luo and blocked the road. The others likely won’t be able to catch up for the time being.”
Li Yue said: “Then let them wait there. Send someone to carry firestones and blow open the road. I will go to Jun Mountain first. On the way, tell me clearly what exactly happened today.”
So Gao Xi began carefully recounting today’s assassination attempt to His Majesty. But because they had chased after him as soon as the incident began, there were still many details that would require thorough investigation later.
Li Yue listened for a while, and his thoughts drifted elsewhere. Now that Meng Fu had returned to her own body, she should have discovered that she’d caught a cold. Back when Qingping kept nagging him about it, he only found her annoying. But now, thinking about how Meng Fu would find out that he got sick because he left the window open while sleeping… his heart suddenly felt a little guilty.
After Gao Xi finished speaking, he worried that the emperor would get angry. He looked up and sneaked a glance at His Majesty—only to see him touching the corner of his lips, which were slightly curled upward, his expression brimming with waves of amusement.
The ground was still littered with corpses, not yet cleaned up, and His Majesty wore such a look. It was a little… twisted.
Gao Xi also laughed along with His Majesty.
Outside, the soft rain continued to fall.
—
Meng Fu suddenly woke up with a start. She sat up straight from the bed, opened her eyes, and looked around at the furnishings. She instantly realized that she had switched back with His Majesty.
In that instant, countless terrifying guesses flashed through Meng Fu’s mind. She hoped His Majesty could turn misfortune into blessing, live a long life, just like the wish she wrote on the river lantern during the Shangyuan Festival of the eleventh year of Wenkang: peace and joy, all things going well, no worries and no troubles. But she didn’t know whether His Majesty could make it through this calamity.
There was also another matter. After taking the medicine from Pang Huazhen, Meng Fu had worried that she might suddenly switch back with His Majesty during the autumn hunt, so she had specifically instructed Eunuch Gao to remind her to take her medicine.
But this accident was not in her plans. At that moment when the lightning struck, she saw that it was Eunuch Gao who had stood in front of her. She had no way of knowing what would happen next.