Chapter 156: The Prefect, a Dog in Desperation, Jumps the Wall to Assassinate His Majesty

Xiao Qidi steadied his stance by bracing the tip of his blade against the ground, gritting his teeth: "We were careless… He must have slipped poison into the wine we were drinking."

"I see now, His Majesty, you only had one cup." Duan Wu suddenly understood, then angrily rebuked You: "Dog Official! You already knew His Majesty's identity—why didn't you say anything earlier! Quickly give His Majesty the antidote!"

You sneered, "Hah, I never intended to take your lives at first; I only put a bit of Soft Tendon Powder into your wine jars as a precaution. As long as you truly obey me, there's no danger to your lives. I didn't expect it would end up like this."

As the words fell, You's arms surged with force, snapping the thick rope tied to his body, then whispered a few words to a servant, who hurried away on command.

Duan Wu's face turned pale with horror; His Majesty was right—the Dog Official's martial power was indeed not below his.

"Dog Official!" Duan Wu shouted, "You're rebelling!"

A ruthless glint flashed in You's eyes, "My deeds have already been known to His Majesty. If I let you leave alive, I'll end up tortured, dead without a body, and cursed in the annals forever. Sorry, His Majesty, no matter what, I must make you both die today."

Xiao Qidi gently set An An down, shielding her behind him, his expression unchanged: "Still want to assassinate His Majesty? That's truly a dog in desperation jumping over a wall."

Summoning all his strength, Duan Wu rose, "Dog Official! General Duan tells you, I'm not only leading fifty soldiers; I also have thousands of elite troops, and today we should reach He Wan County! They all know that His Majesty and General Duan left the County Office with you. If His Majesty meets misfortune, you won't escape responsibility! Then I'll add another charge to your heinous crimes! You still want to save your life? Avoid being cursed forever? Dream on!"

After that tirade, Duan Wu was exhausted, his vision went black, and he nearly fell.

Xiao Qidi silently gathered his strength and lunged at You with his blade.

Unfortunately the medicine had already taken effect; both his strength and speed had slowed too much, and You evaded him in time.

You then repeatedly stepped back and leapt onto a rock more than a yard high, looking down and laughing, "General Duan, I'll tell you this: as long as you and His Majesty are dead, I can pin the crime of assassinating His Majesty onto you."

"Pah!" Duan Wu roared, "Do you think my soldiers would believe that?!"

"Hahaha!" You laughed wildly, "What if they don't? Let me tell you, I'm a relative of the nobles and princes; otherwise, how could a man in his thirties become a Prefect of a region? After His Majesty and you die, do you think the nobles of Daxuan and the court ministers will trust me, or the watchdogs of the border lands under your command? If your men ever try to plead your case, the court will label them accomplices in regicide, traitorous rebels!"

Those words left Duan Wu speechless, his rough face turning a sallow black.

Xiao Qidi felt a hidden dread; he had never fully understood the workings of officials. If it weren't for the border Yu Guo refugee incident and following Ning Jinli's advice to covertly visit He Wan County, he could never have imagined that, centered on this Longyuan Governor, the local county magistrates and the court's nobles and ministers could be so deeply colluding.

hurried footsteps rang out.

You's guard squad arrived, brandishing sharp blades.

About thirty men, instantly surrounding Xiao Qidi and Duan Wu.

Xiao Qidi immediately tossed his battle sword to Duan Wu.

That battle sword, like the General's armor Duan Wu wore, was made with modern technology; although Duan Wu was severely affected by the medicine, the equipment still gave him a fighting chance.

Xiao Qidi drew the dagger he had brought, cut two strips of cloth from his clothes, and tightly bound An An to his chest.

"Big brother…" fear spread across An An's little face.

Xiao Qidi smiled down, softly saying, "Don't be afraid, close your eyes and cover your ears."

An An held back tears and obediently complied.

"Kill them." You ordered lightly.

Over thirty guards surged forward as one.

Duan Wu went berserk, first slashing his own left palm to burst a wound, using the intense pain to force himself awake, then swung his battle sword forward.

The life‑or‑death battle erupted in an instant.

Normally, Duan Wu could match thirty opponents even without an equipment edge, but now his stamina started at a disadvantage; without the armor's high defense he would have been pierced like a sieve in a heartbeat.

Xiao Qidi and Duan Wu fought back‑to‑back; Duan Wu swung his sword in a wide arc, while Xiao Qidi harvested with his dagger.

Their coordination was seamless; after the first round, several of You's guards lay in pools of blood.

Duan Wu's spirit surged, roaring, "A bunch of small fry, nothing more! If you want to die, come at General Duan!"

Clang!

Two swords struck his shoulder, the massive force sending him stumbling backward repeatedly.

Xiao Qidi pressed his back against him to keep him steady.

The two charging guards felt their palms numb; they were astonished to find that the powerful slash left no mark on Duan Wu's armor, while their own blades bent and became unusable.

While the two were stunned, Duan Wu lunged, raised his sword, and cleaved both of their throats.

Fresh blood gushed out like a raging fountain.

Covered in blood, Duan Wu looked up, glaring fiercely at You, who stood not far away.

You exclaimed in surprise, "When did Daxuan acquire such sturdy armor and such sharp weapons?"

"Dog Official! Die!" Duan Wu roared, leapt up, and charged at You with all his might.

Fearing the sharp battle sword in his hand, You immediately vaulted backward.

Bang!

A muffled thud.

The rock You had just stood on was split open by Duan Wu's slash; splintered stones cut a shallow bloodstain across You's face.

Xiao Qidi timed it perfectly, and while You was airborne and had not yet landed, he flung his dagger toward him.

Yet You's skill was extraordinary, and moreover Xiao Qidi could no longer exert his normal combat power; just as the dagger was about to strike, You twisted mid‑air, kicked it back with a soaring foot.

Swoosh—

The dagger tore through the air, heading straight for Xiao Qidi's face.

Xiao Qidi raised both hands to shield An An in his chest, leaned back quickly, and the dagger that flew from the upper left barely brushed his nose, almost ruining his appearance.

"Are you all useless buckets?" You, still shaken, wiped the blood from his cheek and shouted at the remaining guards, "Two of them were already at the end of their strength, yet they still managed to hurt me!"

The remaining twenty‑plus guards gave their all, attacking Xiao Qidi and Duan Wu again.

The two fought while breaking toward the outer forest, and after dispatching the last guard, they finally burst into the woods.

You then gathered all the palace troops from the Hot Spring Residence, a total of two hundred, and entered the forest to hunt them.

He also ordered the five thousand Longyuan Commandery elite troops he had previously summoned to seal the outer perimeter tightly according to the terrain.

In his view, Xiao Qidi and Duan Wu were doomed this time, with no chance of escaping alive.

In the forest, Duan Wu's stamina was spent; his body collapsed like soggy mud.

Xiao Qidi also reached his limit, one hand covering the little girl in his arms, the other gripping the back of Duan Wu's armor, laboriously dragging him to a hidden spot among the grass.

"Your Majesty……don't bother with me……" Duan Wu's eyes were hollow, gazing at the sky, only a few gaps visible through the dense canopy, "You figure out a way……escape……I, the lowly officer, am incapable……cannot help you any longer……"

Xiao Qidi lowered his voice, "Say a few less words to conserve your strength."

"Big brother……" An An trembled as she asked, "Are we all going to die……?"

Xiao Qidi felt heavy-hearted; judging from the situation, it was indeed impossible to fly away, but he still comforted: "No, I will still take you to reunite with your mother."

An An asked again: "Where did the Fairy sister go? Will she come to save us?"

Xiao Qidi lowered his gaze, Ning Jinli's voice and appearance surfaced in his mind, and he murmured in his heart: "Jinli……I have no ideas left now; can you feel it……?"

At that moment, a rustling sound came from afar.

The troops dispatched by the Longyuan Governor had already come this way to search.

——

At this very moment.

In the ruins of the Kuchberg nuclear power plant.

Ning Jinli had been meditating here for most of the day.

After sending Duan Wu and a troop of soldiers to He Wan County in the morning, she came here to recover her internal strength, sitting cross-legged on the ground, not moving at all.

The radioactive energy permeating the surroundings was continuously absorbed by her and then transformed into internal strength via the Tian Xuan Heart Method.

She entered a selfless state, her body and mind seeming to merge with the surroundings; even the occasional wild animals passing by did not notice her presence.

"Jinli……"

Suddenly, a call echoed in her mind, breaking her tranquility.

She thought it was just her suddenly missing Xiao Qidi again, but when her consciousness returned to reality, a sense of unease quickly welled up in her heart.

This feeling was very familiar; she had felt it before.

That was exactly the telepathic-like sensation that arose when Xiao Qidi encountered danger.

Moreover, this sensation was stronger than before.

"Is it because my feelings for him have deepened, or because my internal skill has grown stronger?" Ning Jinli muttered to herself, suddenly frowning, "Or perhaps he has encountered a situation even more perilous than before?"

Thinking of this, her heart pounded violently, as if it might leap out of her throat.

"No, I must go find him right away!"

Ning Jinli took a deep breath, focused all her attention on sensing, trying to determine an approximate location so she could, as before, shift the passage of the nearby Time-Space Gate.

At this moment, Xiao Qidi was hiding in a tall patch of dense grass, using the surrounding sounds to gauge the soldiers' positions while dragging Duan Wu to shift his position and avoid the search.

Several times, soldiers passed just two steps away from him, nearly detecting him.

Although the mountains were vast, facing the back-and-forth search of over two hundred men, the places where Xiao Qidi could hide were dwindling, and the Soft Tendon Powder's effect had peaked; if not for his strong will, he would likely have fainted already.

"Strange, I clearly felt someone hiding in these bushes just now, why can't we find them?" a few soldiers muttered while pacing back and forth in one spot.

"Could it be that our eyes are playing tricks on us?"

"There seem to be traces here; they must have been left by them."

"Could it be an animal? This forest often has wild boars and wolves, even black bears and tigers……"

"Could they have already slipped out of our encirclement search range?"

"Quick! Go that way! Don't let them get away!"

Then, Xiao Qidi heard those few soldiers hurry away.

After a brief wait, Duan Wu whispered in a mosquito-like voice: "Your Majesty……they seem to have run off to search elsewhere."

Xiao Qidi lay on the ground, slowly reaching out to part the dense grass just enough to create a gap, and observed carefully.

The surroundings were quiet; the earlier sporadic footsteps had ceased, only distant bird calls occasionally drifting over.

Xiao Qidi felt danger lurking nearby, but now it was getting late, the forest had turned dim and gloomy; even if he avoided the soldiers, he would likely encounter large beasts like bears or tigers.

Given his and Duan Wu's condition, they would surely become prey for those beasts.

There was nothing else he could do; he could only try to keep moving toward the edge of the forest.

Just as he had barely bent low and dragged Duan Wu a few steps——

Whoosh!

Suddenly, several soldiers leapt out from beside him.

"Hahaha!" a soldier laughed, lunging to Xiao Qidi's back and placing a blade at his neck, "You've fallen into our trap!"

Xiao Qidi was also helpless.

He hadn't ruled out this possibility, but he could only take a gamble, first trying to see if he could slip away; if not, he would have only one last resort.

"You must already know my identity," Xiao Qidi said calmly, slightly turning his face, "Have you considered that regicide entails punishment of nine clans? Do you truly wish to commit such a grave crime just for a prefect?"

The soldier was about to strike a killing blow when he heard those words, and his action involuntarily paused.

Xiao Qidi continued: "If you save me this time, you will have rendered great merit; I will not only not punish you, but will also grant you official rank and nobility—isn't that more promising than serving as a prefect's soldier?"

The soldier holding the blade to his neck hesitated, and the blade in his hand began to slowly shift away.

The other soldiers glanced at each other, quickly calculating in their minds.

Duan Wu timely coaxed: "This is a great opportunity for you; I, General Duan, endured countless hardships and many near-death escapes at Xi Tun Guan before earning the rank of border garrison general—you could easily achieve the merit of rescuing the emperor, and your ancestors' graves would smoke with pride……"

"Escort me, General Duan, and this little girl away," Xiao Qidi slowly turned, staring straight at the soldiers behind him, speaking each word clearly, "I will grant you marquess titles and lands—no empty promise."

The soldiers present felt their hearts race.

Such a promise was incredibly tempting for them, especially since it was personally given by His Majesty.

"Your Majesty! This humble one is willing to devote my utmost effort for you!" the soldier before Xiao Qidi sheathed his blade, bowed with clasped fists, and expressed his loyalty.

The remaining five soldiers, seeing this, also defected.

Just as they were about to escort Xiao Qidi and his three companions away, a large contingent of soldiers poured in from all directions, led by none other than You.

"Since you've captured them, why not execute them on the spot? Where are you planning to take them?" You asked, arms crossed behind his back, giving a cold smile as he stared at the six soldiers.