Rejected Beauty Practices the Villain Play
Chapter 118 Escaping Danger

Chapter 118: Chapter 118 Escaping Danger

The pain enraged Dugu Jing’s beastly nature, and he let out a roar, wanting to tear Fengyu to pieces.

Xie Xun swept up his longsword and thrust it towards Dugu Jing, who reacted swiftly, suddenly blocking Fengyu in front of him and pushing her towards Xie Xun.

At the same time, he shot a sleeve arrow aimed at Fengyu’s back. If she couldn’t leave alive, then he’d kill her.

Xie Xun had to kill Dugu Jing, and Fengyu was doomed.

Kill his arch-enemy or protect Fengyu?

In a flash, Xie Xun wrapped his arms around Fengyu, barely dodging to the side and shielding her in his embrace. He turned to block the sleeve arrow, which pierced into his back.

The two fell by the riverbank, amidst jagged rocks. Enduring the intense pain, Xie Xun placed a hand under Fengyu’s head to prevent her from getting hurt.

Dugu Jing drew a dagger, tossed it on the ground, and mounted his horse.

Seeing the sleeve arrow in his back, Fengyu’s heart ached intensely, "Xie Xun..."

Xie Xun looked at her in her dishevelment, deeply hating the Beiman. This shouldn’t have been her calamity to bear. Fengyu was frail, and if he hadn’t caught up, she’d never have made it to Ningzhou alive.

Fengyu felt her whole body numb with pain, yet weakly pointed behind Xie Xun, "He... he’s escaping."

Xie Xun turned to see Dugu Jing on horseback, pointing a scimitar at him, ignoring the blood from his abdomen. This youth, honed from childhood by the wind and snow, swore a lifelong oath, "With the gods above, one day, my Beiman Army will surely break into Yanyang and slaughter the entire Zhenbei Mansion clan!"

Xie Xun’s fury was ignited, filled with rage, holding the fragile girl on the brink of death, could only watch his enemy disappear into the dust.

The ninth son of the Beiman King, Dugu Jing, fierce as an eagle, brave as a tiger, was the most promising war god of the next generation of Beiman. The gods always favored Beiman, a generation of prodigies, a generation of gods, perpetually granting them near-divine strength and courage.

He dared to lead over a dozen men to the outskirts of the Capital City, demonstrating his unwavering mind and commendable courage.

"Xie Xun..." Fengyu’s bloodied hand clutched his collar, breath weak as a wisp. Xie Xun’s mind returned to clarity, holding her horizontally and placing her on the horse. Fengyu noticed his limping, "What’s wrong with your leg?"

"Just a slight injury, nothing serious." Xie Xun spoke lightly, not telling her the poison in his left leg had flared up. Fengyu had first been kicked, then injured, and after a day and night of riding, had developed a fever so high it was frightening. She was barely holding on from losing consciousness, afraid she’d never wake if she slept.

Xie Xun wasn’t much better off, with poison attacking, his left leg felt like a knife drilling, his right arm slashed by a Beiman scimitar, bleeding non-stop, his back pierced by a sleeve arrow. Xie Xun pulled out the sleeve arrow without flinching, tearing a piece of his robe to simply stanch the bleeding.

They both needed treatment.

Xie Xun looked back at the full ground of corpses, his gaze deep, "Can you hold on for the time it takes a stick of incense to burn?"

Fengyu nodded drowsily. Xie Xun laid her on a large rock by the river, entered the forest, and gathered firewood to build a small wooden platform. The morning sun emerged from the clouds, the light covering the river’s surface, stretching Xie Xun’s shadow long and strong.

Fengyu watched him limp, his left leg injured, but she had witnessed clearly that Xie Xun killed nine men, severely injuring Dugu Jing. Only his arm took a slash, deeply cutting to the bone, but it hadn’t injured his leg.

Was it an old wound?

Her eyes reddened, made sensitive by the fever. If she hadn’t fallen from her horse years ago, Xie Xun would not have been haunted by an old injury. Fengyu watched drowsily as he threw the Beiman men’s bodies onto the wooden rack and set them ablaze.

The roaring fire reflected in his eyes. Xie Xun held the torch, watching the fire burn fiercely, the bodies turning to ashes in the flames, past grievances disappearing like smoke. He could have let their bodies be exposed to the wilderness, but he didn’t.

Whether Beiman Army or Yanyang Soldiers, military orders were as unyielding as a mountain; they were just soldiers ready to die. Even if they died on foreign soil, Xie Xun didn’t wish for their bodies to be exposed, becoming a meal for hunters.

He killed them for his lord.

He buried them, respecting their loyalty and courage.

This was also his final mercy.

The cold wind swept through, Fengyu shivering from the cold, but her breathing was searing, a mix of ice and fire. She felt her fever was so intense even her hair might catch fire. Xie Xun carried her in his arms, enduring the pain in his arm and the discomfort in his left leg. Fengyu’s breath near his neck was hot as burning, mocking like a sigh, "Xie Xun, you’re truly kind."

Kindness that surprised her!

The great families feared the Zhenbei Mansion, some had remarked that the sharp and unruly Xie Xun was born rebellious. However, as the legitimate son of a family of loyal ministers and generals, how could he be rebellious?

Xie Xun paused in his steps, Fengyu had fainted. He mounted her on the horse, his rage dissipating, replaced by a newfound, never-before-felt stirring softness. As they galloped rapidly, he looked down at the girl in his embrace. She leaned gently against him, depending on him, peaceful. Her cheeks flushed with fever, messy yet lighting a fire in Xie Xun’s heart amidst the chaos of war.

She spoke of kindness, carrying her usual sarcasm.

But he understood the meaning behind it.

She had been kidnapped for a whole day and night, threatened and injured by the Beiman Man. As someone who paid kindness with resentment, she must have hated these Beiman deeply. The Empress plotted against her, she probably wanted to take the Empress’s beloved young brother to the grave, probably thinking to dismember these Beiman.

Yet seeing him cremate the bodies, Fengyu didn’t stop him, nor did she question him.

Just a faint sarcastic remark.

He wasn’t showing mercy to the Beiman. Years of battles, he didn’t care about the future or when he’d return. Many soldiers lost their lives on the battlefield, skeletal remains piled by the Shaling River. To bury loyal bones in green hills, they’d all hope their souls would return to their homeland.

He wanted the land to be peaceful, soldiers to lay down their arms and return to their fields, living in peace. No more lone journeys over a thousand miles, lives buried in foreign lands.

She understood it all!

From the Capital City to Ningzhou were eleven cities, the most crucial supply route. The governor was someone closely associated with the Zhenbei Mansion, ensuring the safety of this grain route.

Xie Xun was closer to Shun City, a fast horse could reach it in three hours. He knew every road between the Capital City and Ningzhou, whether official, supply, or minor. The swift horse carried him and Fengyu into the city at noon; even though he didn’t want to alert others, his bloody appearance and Fengyu’s unconsciousness were too suspicious. Upon seeing his waist badge, the guard reported to Prefectural Magistrate Wang.

Prefectural Magistrate Wang, a cousin of Marquis An Yuan and once a messenger for the Old Marquis Zhenbei, was a genuine direct relation of the Zhenbei Mansion. When he received Xie Xun and Fengyu, due to excessive blood loss, Xie Xun almost fainted at the Governor Mansion’s entrance.

"Little Marquis, what trouble have you encountered? Who did this to you?" Prefectural Magistrate Wang, a burly man, urgently sent someone to summon the best doctor in the city.

Xie Xun grabbed his hand, his vision blurring, the world spinning, but his tone was indisputable, "Save her, at any cost."

He relied on willpower to reach Shun City, constantly reminding himself not to faint halfway, or he and Fengyu might both perish in Huangquan. After instructing the governor, he also lost consciousness.