Chapter 230

The sound of footsteps grew denser all around, even the boats carrying the officials on the riverbank had come to surround them.

Obviously, at this moment Zuo Feichen could not possibly take Princess Yalan from the bed and leave.

Swish! Zuo Feichen suddenly drew the sword at his waist and stabbed toward Princess Yalan on the bed.

"What are you doing? Are you crazy?" Gu Jiu Ling grabbed Zuo Feichen's wrist, her expression stiffening slightly—was this guy insane?

They had gone through countless hardships, taken such great risks to barely save Princess Yalan, and now Zuo Feichen actually wanted to kill her?

Zuo Feichen's voice sank to an icy extreme: "Kill her, dump the corpse in the river, destroy the body and erase traces—then we have nothing to fear!"

Gu Jiu Ling was momentarily speechless; the noisy clamor outside drew ever closer, clearly leaving them no time to think.

Zuo Feichen looked at Gu Jiu Ling and said, word by word: "If a choice must be made, I will protect you and the child in your womb."

"If you come to any harm, the Prince will surely fly into a rage—my father's wrongful case still rests on the Prince!"

"Princess Consort, step back—I'll handle this," Zuo Feichen suddenly lowered his sword, then raised his hand and directly clasped Princess Yalan's neck.

"Hey! Stop stop stop..." Gu Jiu Ling was utterly dumbfounded by Zuo Feichen's actions—she could hardly bear to watch.

He looked like a gentle, pretty scholar, yet his strike was incredibly vicious.

Zuo Feichen furrowed his brow, his hand already pressing against Princess Yalan's neck.

"Princess Consort, there's no time to lose—if we're discovered, the Prince's side would face total defeat."

"Moreover, with so much stuff on the boat, it's hard to hide."

"Wait! Wait!" Gu Jiu Ling hastily raised her hand and grabbed Zuo Feichen, who was about to exert force to strangle Princess Yalan to death.

"Hold on!" Gu Jiu Ling's heart gave a slight pause as she focused her mind and probed that space.

She raised her hand, and a halo of light gradually stained her palm.

Gu Jiu Ling's hand reached for an oxygen cylinder nearby, and the cylinder instantly fell into her space.

Meanwhile, Zuo Feichen had already stared, dumbstruck.

He was usually steady in his conduct, but this move by Gu Jiu Ling left him startled and flustered; he didn't know what to do, hastily rose and stepped back several times, looking at Gu Jiu Ling in disbelief.

At this moment Gu Jiu Ling had no time left to explain anything to Zuo Feichen.

She discovered that her space had expanded compared to before; previously she could only take out small items from it.

Even if she wanted to store things in the space, they could only be rather tiny trinkets.

Now she could actually store something this large inside; Gu Jiu Ling looked at Princess Yalan lying on the bed.

She hurriedly placed her hand on Princess Yalan's body, but no matter how she meditated or tried to enter that space, she could not put the princess inside.

Gu Jiu Ling silently cursed, wondering if the space couldn't hold a living person, or if it simply wasn't large enough.

Gu Jiu Ling suddenly realized something.

Her space was only that large, and there was a certain ratio between what was taken out and what was put in.

Before, she had taken many medicines and medical devices from the space, which allowed her to put some small items inside. Perhaps now she needed to take some things out of the space first?

Gu Jiu Ling could no longer worry about anything; the footsteps were crowding together, rushing toward her—if they were caught at this moment.

Not only would she and Zuo Feichen be implicated, but crucially, the Prince Rui's mansion would also suffer misfortune.

Gu Jiu Ling didn't have time to think further; she simply moved all the cabinets and tables out of her space.

The cabin of the black‑awning boat was piled high, leaving hardly any room to stand.

Suddenly a loud shout came from outside: "Those on the boat, come out!"

Damn it! Have we already reached the riverbank?

Besides his shock, Zuo Feichen still had some courage.

Although he had just witnessed the most unimaginable sight, he now quickly composed himself, drew the sword at his waist, and stood at the cabin door—anyone who rushed in would meet his blade as a ghost.

"Gu Jiu Ling is still moving things out of her space, and she discovered that, volumetrically, the items inside her space and those outside are not in a one‑to‑one ratio.

She needs to move out fifty or sixty percent of the space's contents before she can fit in ten percent of the outside world's items; as for why it's like this, Gu Jiu Ling herself can't explain—after all, her crossing into this strange space was itself inexplicable.

"Come out quickly! Who exactly is in there? If you don't come out soon, don't blame us for being impolite."

Instantly the sound of bows being drawn to full rang out; in the blink of an eye they would be aimed at the black‑awning boat, and then neither Gu Jiu Ling nor Zuo Feichen could escape.

Gu Jiu Ling's forehead instantly beaded with cold sweat; she pressed her lips together.

The arrows outside had already whizzed past the gunwale; Gu Jiu Ling let out a low growl, and Yalan Zhu's entire body was instantly shifted into her space—at that moment she felt her palm burning as if scorched by fire, red and painful.

She turned her body to look at Zuo Feichen.

Zuo Feichen shook his head at her, and Gu Jiu Ling could only relent.

Her space already held Princess Yalan; if she tried to put Zuo Feichen in as well, she would have to empty all the major equipment from her laboratory—but then the tiny black‑awning boat couldn't hold that much.

Outside, the people clearly had no patience left; they shot arrows at the black‑awning boat, and suddenly another ship glued slowly to the riverbank.

"Hah, quite lively."

"Why is the Commander of the Guard not catching assassins but instead running to the riverside to seize mandarin ducks?"

The Commander of the Guard is a subordinate of the Embroidered Uniform Guard, a direct force of the Third Prince, and is essentially opposed to the Imperial Guard.

The Commander of the Guard, having just arrived at the Imperial River, saw the Imperial Guard's Commander Zhou, invited his Embroidered Uniform Guard subordinates to drink, and instantly flew into a rage.

Knowing Commander Zhou certainly harbored ill intent, he seized one of Zhou's subordinates, dragged him to the Embroidered Uniform Guard's underground dungeon, and after a thorough interrogation naturally sold out the approximate whereabouts of Gu Jiu Ling and her companions.

He hastily brought his men in a grand show of force; Gu Jiu Ling, a pregnant woman and Princess Consort of the Prince Rui's mansion, appearing by the riverbank in the dead of night was certainly suspicious.

He even considered that it might be linked to the recent assassination attempt on the Third Prince; if so, he would have rendered extraordinary merit, and the Third Prince could later promote him.

At this moment Xiao Yin was still leading the remaining Imperial Secret Guard through the streets and alleys of Shang Jing, unaware that Ling Feng had received word that the Princess Consort's location had been discovered by the Embroidered Uniform Guard, whose men were now heading toward the riverbank.

Xiao Yin was greatly startled; he hurriedly brought his men racing to the riverbank, where several forces surrounded the inconspicuous stretch of shore, leaving no gap.

The Commander of the Guard had just brought his men to block this black‑awning boat at the riverbank, when unexpectedly a splendid large ship appeared on the river.

On the prow stood a young nobleman clad in a plain white gauze robe, wearing a black‑jade crown; his pair of lustrous purple eyes smiled, yet gave an impression of danger.

Gu Jiu Ling had just placed Princess Yalan into her space and was about to hide Zuo Feichen somewhere when, from outside, Tuoba Yuqing's voice, cold as jade, rang out—she froze on the spot.