Chapter 231: Chapter 211: Awakening from a Dream Today Chapter 231: Chapter 211: Awakening from a Dream Today Zong Yue and Hua Cuo ca to a stop.
Amman, Liu Sang, as well as the other soldiers also stopped.
All their eyes were directed towards that one hand.
It was a suprely beautiful hand, slightly thin, yet it brought out the elegance of its bones, the fingers seed as if they were carved from flawless white jade, devoid of any worldly taint, frozen amidst the vastness of the universe.
Yes, frozen.
Everything around seed to freeze as well, with only the boundless snowflakes falling gently, bathing in the lancholy moonlight, scattering over the land.
In an instant, even breathing beca subdued, in an instant, even heartbeats felt suppressed, in an instant, the killing intent transmuted into a spring breeze-like charm.
The wrist of the hand slightly turned, effortlessly resting on the side of the carriage.
The person inside the carriage sighed softly, long and leisurely, utterly composed, “What a long dream it was, and upon awakening, entered into winter.”
That voice, seed as if it fell from the heavens with the snow, blending into the endless night and moonlight.
Zong Yue’s brow furrowed as if he had thought of sothing, his expression imdiately turned sowhat grim.
The person inside continued with a hint of a light smile, “After years unseen, General Zong still retains his grace.”
Hearing these words, Zong Yue’s expression suddenly turned fiercely cold, because he had confird his suspicion and guessed who the person inside the carriage was.
Hua Cuo dazedly stared at the carriage, only ca to his senses when that person spoke to Zong Yue, his face imdiately displaying an incredulous joy.
He opened his mouth, but suddenly found his throat choked up, almost unable to make a sound.
After a trendous shock, Zong Yue finally cald down, recalling so rumors of these past few years about this person, steadied his emotions and asked, “Do you intend to just shrink in the carriage and speak to like this?”
“General Zong makes an excellent point, indeed I have neglected the courtesy of hosting,” the person inside smiled gently, naturally positioning themselves in the role of the “host.”
Then, the curtain of the carriage was lifted slightly, revealing the youth in white seated inside, his vague face in the darkness seed to be smiling, and with a brief pause, he stood up and stepped out of the carriage, his simple movent flowing like clouds and water, and when his feet touched the snowy ground, everyone could clearly see his appearance.
It was a smiling youth.
He was dressed in white, his hair loose.
His black hair softly fell on his shoulders, while the hairpin that originally held his hair now lay by Zong Yue’s feet.
When everyone saw him, they involuntarily held their breath, Hua Cuo’s eyes especially sparkled with a light of rembrance.
He exuded an extrely touching charm, as if the elegance and grandeur of the world converged on him alone, like the clear moonlight beneath serene waters, like the unlting snow on mountain peaks, like the gentle breezes amongst high clouds, like the first bloom in an early chilly spring faintly stepping to the songs.
So composed, so natural.
So… beautiful.
His tender and exquisitely sculpted features soaked in the soft moonlight, his dark eyes hinted a smile, exuding a power sufficient to provoke life and death.
His appearance was extrely young, but his deanor carried an ease far beyond all else… You could say he was seventeen or eighteen, or perhaps twenty-seven or twenty-eight.
The first to regain his composure was Liu Sang, who hesitantly asked, “Brother… Brother Rong?” His voice filled with uncertainty, the youth in front of him bore hardly any difference from the forr Rong Zhi, yet his entire being seed replaced, as if sothing inside him, unseen, was about to break out.
With him present… what of Zhong Niannian, the World’s First Beauty? How could re physical delicacy and profound charm even compare?
Rong Zhi stepped down from the carriage and leisurely smiled at Zong Yue, “The moonlight here is excellent, accompanied by white snow, a perfect place to lay to rest.”
Zong Yue, already entertaining thoughts of retreat, still maintained a cold facade, “Lay to rest? Yours or mine?”
Rong Zhi smiled slightly, “What do you think, General Zong?” His smile carried a touch of subtlety, a hint of the cutting cold.
With a flourish of his hand, he drew a sword that was a bit shorter than usual, with a slightly wider blade and beautifully etched patterns on the spine, appearing more decorative than practical. It was Huan Yuan’s sword, but Rong Zhi held it casually in his hand and took a step towards Zong Yue.
As he stepped forward, Zong Yue involuntarily stepped back; despite his utmost reluctance, gazing into Rong Zhi’s lightly smiling brow, he couldn’t help but recall the terrifying gaze of the past, a look that had once made him tremble in his dreams, serene and peaceful, wielding absolute power over life and death.
Zong Yue’s face darkened, and with a command, he turned to mount his horse first and led his n away.
Zong Yue’s side lost six soldiers, and Rong Zhi’s guards were completely annihilated, leaving more than a dozen bodies strewn across the snowy ground.
No one stopped them.
Watching as Zong Yue and his n led the group away, disappearing around the corner of the path as the sound of horse hooves faded into the distance, Rong Zhi let out a long sigh and said, “They’re finally gone.” Before he had finished speaking, he seed unable to support himself and collapsed next to the carriage. Hua Cuo hurried over to help him up, asking, “What’s wrong with you?”
Rong Zhi’s eyebrows lifted slightly, and he smiled, “If you slept as long as I did, you wouldn’t be able to stand either.” Although his health had recovered, the long period of deep sleep had greatly depleted his strength.
“What about just now?” Hua Cuo was startled.
Rong Zhi smiled and said, “Of course, I was deceiving him.”
He glanced around and, not seeing Chu Yu and rembering Huan Yuan who had been unconscious in the carriage as well as the body of Liu Se lying on the ground ahead, he roughly guessed the current situation.
As the ecstatic joy of seeing Rong Zhi awaken gradually faded, Hua Cuo finally rembered what he’d done, the act of sabotaging Rong Zhi’s plan, and looked at him, hesitant to speak.
Rong Zhi glanced at him and said, “You go and bury Liu Se first.” Then he instructed Amman to drag the other bodies to the roadside.
Watching Hua Cuo carry Liu Se’s body to the side, a mysterious smile appeared on Rong Zhi’s lips, but from around the corner of the road ca a sinister voice, “You were indeed only putting on a show of strength.”
After Zong Yue had walked a considerable distance, he thought it over and felt sothing was amiss, believing that Rong Zhi wouldn’t let him go so easily. He ordered all troops to dismount, taking twenty-five soldiers to return.
Without their horses, their return went unnoticed, which allowed Zong Yue to overhear the statent, “I was deceiving him.”
Angered at himself for being frightened away due to his mories from four years ago, Zong Yue’s desire to kill only intensified.
He drew his knife and rushed over.
Hua Cuo tried to co and help but was blocked by the twenty soldiers Zong Yue had sent, and Amman, who was dragging the bodies of the dead attendants to a distant place, couldn’t return in ti.
At Rong Zhi’s side, only Liu Sang remained.
Liu Sang hastily drew his sword from the side to try to stop Zong Yue, who brushed him off with a casual swing of his blade. However, at that mont, he instinctively sensed an extrely dangerous and sharp chill, and he reflexively tilted his body, which was then followed by a cold sensation and a sharp pain on his neck.
Rong Zhi smiled as he sheathed his sword.
Zong Yue, clutching the wound on his neck, staggered back a few steps and stared at Rong Zhi in shock and anger, “You!” He had thought that Rong Zhi was at his rcy, but it turned out he had been led on another futile chase at Ghost Gate. Had he not tilted as he had, the sword would have struck his throat.
Rong Zhi did not pursue with another strike but rely smiled and said, “I anticipated that you would return, so naturally, those earlier words were… I was deceiving you.”
After a pause, he added, “Even though I might not be in the best condition, I still have the capability to protect myself montarily. General Zong, if you still rember my preferences from four years ago, you should be concerned about yourself at this mont.”
What preferences?
A chill went through Zong Yue’s heart, and he suddenly rembered that this youth in front of him loved to use poison—so on that sword…
Rong Zhi cautioned, “The poison acts slowly, yet the death it brings is extrely terrible. General Zong, if you wish to save your life, you’d better hurry back to the city and seek dical treatnt.”
Zong Yue, pressing on his wound and filled with hatred, cast one last look at Rong Zhi and commanded his n to follow him in a hasty retreat.
This ti, they truly left.
Rong Zhi breathed heavily, his entire body collapsing back into the carriage. He rasped, “Amman, drive the carriage. Let’s hurry away from here; we must not linger!” His mystique, twice-over deception, along with his previous formidable repute, had successfully tricked Zong Yue; otherwise, a direct confrontation would likely have brought them no good fortune.
The group rode on for a long while until the dawn began to break, and at the fork in the road ahead, a dark figure stood.
As they drew closer, Rong Zhi smiled and motioned for Hua Cuo to wake Huan Yuan.
Upon awakening, Huan Yuan saw Hua Cuo and rembered being knocked out by him, along with his concerns for Chu Yu, which made him both anxious and furious. Before he could lash out, though, a hand landed on his shoulder—it was Rong Zhi pressing him down while lifting the curtain at the front of the carriage.
The ground was covered in snow, barely revealing the shape of the path, and at the fork, a person dressed in a black fur coat stood—it was Chu Yu!
Huan Yuan exclaid, “Princess?!”
Chu Yu stood in the snow, her slim figure erect. She turned her head, her eyes bright and warm as spring water, and she laughed out loud, “Who is the princess, and who is the princess?”
What happened yesterday might as well have happened a lifeti ago.
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