Clouds Stir

Li Qingjun stood rooted to the spot with the Jade Pendant in hand, utterly bewildered.

Qin Yi had been wrong to mock her for being thoughtless. At heart, Li Qingjun was no less clever than he was. As Southern Li's only princess, she had been surrounded by stars and worshipped by the moon. No matter what reckless thing she did, her father indulged her and her brother yielded to her. Since childhood, she had rarely faced situations requiring cautious thought, and over time she had grown accustomed to charging ahead blindly.

At that moment, with the Jade Pendant in her hand, a sense of foreboding surged into her heart. Li Qingjun suddenly realized that this was not merely a matter of whom she would marry, not something she could solve by throwing a tantrum. It was an unprecedented upheaval for Southern Li, one that could determine its life or death.

What her brother had discussed with Qin Yi in secret after sending her away last night must have been something she would find hard to accept.

Unfortunately, for some reason, her brother had not told her about this entire matter. Even Qin Yi had kept it from her. Now she did not know the beginning or end of it all and was completely lost; even if she wanted to help, she had no idea what to do.

Right... there was one person who definitely knew!

Li Qingjun abruptly turned and ran toward Ye Ling's small courtyard.

Ye Ling was sleeping sprawled on the ground, with a small blanket tucked over her. The pill Qin Yi had given her yesterday treated internal injuries in humans, so it was not quite suited to her condition, though it still had some healing effect. The sensation of her injuries recovering and being nourished made her terribly sleepy. She had slept for nearly five or six hours now and was still unconscious to the world.

With a bang, the door was shoved open. Ye Ling sprang up in alarm, and Li Qingjun clearly saw the wings on her back flare wide, the viciousness on her little face seeming ready to devour someone.

The next moment, when she saw that it was Li Qingjun, her wings immediately drooped, and her little face became extremely embarrassed. "P-Princess..."

"Ye Ling is so fierce..." Li Qingjun slowly walked in.

"Um, hahaha... I just have a little morning temper..." Ye Ling slowly backed away.

"So your wings can move... I always thought they were a cloak."

Ye Ling retreated into a corner. Li Qingjun stopped several feet in front of her. She did not press her too hard, merely looked at her quietly.

Ye Ling lowered her head and mumbled, "I'm a demon, Princess."

"No wonder. A guard as small as you has her own courtyard and was assigned to protect Qin Yi—though you never fulfilled that duty at all." Li Qingjun was not surprised. In a low voice, she said, "The Demon Qi that soared into the heavens in the residence yesterday was because of you, wasn't it? That was why my brother and Qin Yi even came here to discuss matters. Then... you should know very clearly what my brother and Qin Yi are doing, right?"

"I really don't know what they're doing. Yesterday, Qin Yi refused His Highness's proposal, and His Highness left on his own..."

"What proposal?"

Ye Ling squatted down and wrapped her wings around her head. "I didn't hear clearly..."

Li Qingjun looked at her black feathers, then raised her head toward the hole in the roof. The scorched black edges around it were still plainly visible. She looked for a long, long time before slowly saying, "Black. Demon. You were the one who killed my eldest brother."

Ye Ling leaped to her feet and ran toward the rear courtyard.

"No need to run." Li Qingjun said calmly, "Since it was you, then you were Second Brother's blade."

Ye Ling halted in her tracks.

"No wonder Qin Yi wanted to hide it from me. He did not want me to know these things either." Li Qingjun smiled at herself. "I'm the one who never uses her brain. There were so many signs—I should have seen them myself."

Ye Ling cautiously studied her expression, only to find that she truly was very calm.

Li Qingjun spread open her hand. Li Qinglin's Jade Pendant lay in her palm, and her expression became increasingly complicated.

This was what Li Qinglin used to preserve his life, yet he had given it to her. Judging from the Corpse Worm Demon's reaction upon touching it, this was a genuine treasure, priceless beyond measure. Perhaps not even all the land of Southern Li could be exchanged for it.

"You are the greatest flaw in Second Brother's scheme. Why didn't he kill you?" Li Qingjun suddenly asked.

Ye Ling hesitated for a moment, then shook her head.

Actually, Li Qinglin's reason for protecting her back then—that she had come into contact with Minghe—now sounded somewhat impossible to explain.

The most reliable explanation seemed to be that Li Qinglin had truly been moved by compassion and had been protecting her, even at the cost of leaving behind such an enormous flaw.

Li Qingjun gazed at the Jade Pendant in contemplation. "No matter what they discussed in secret last night, since Qin Yi did not agree, I do not want to know either. I only want to know: what is Second Brother doing now?"

Ye Ling pursed her little lips. I originally thought I knew more than you and didn't want to answer. But now it seems I might not know more than you after all, because I don't know the answer to that question either...

Li Qingjun's heart suddenly jolted. "Oh no! Qin Yi entered the palace alone. He's in danger!"

With that, she grabbed her spear and was about to leave, no longer caring to get to the bottom of things.

A streak of black light flashed past. Ye Ling blocked her path, and her little face, which had always acted cute, finally became incomparably serious. "If you go out now, then you truly will be alone."

Ye Ling's speed made Li Qingjun narrow her eyes. She did not blame her for stopping her, only said, "Then come with me. Aren't you Qin Yi's guard?"

Ye Ling said seriously, "I can go, but you cannot. Whether it is His Highness or Qin Yi, your safety is their first concern right now. The place you should go is Qin Yi's rear courtyard. Stand beside that Wooden Sword Array and do not go anywhere. There, aside from Minghe, no one can touch you."

Li Qingjun glared at her. "I have practiced martial arts all my life not to wait timidly for protection like some delicate young lady embroidering in her chamber."

Ye Ling pressed her lips together. "Regrettably, in this game, your little bit of martial arts is no different from embroidery."

She raised her head and looked at the sky through the hole in the roof. White clouds drifted leisurely there, their shapes distorted by the fierce wind.

"Princess, if I wanted to kill you, I would probably need only one move." She said softly, "But I do not know how many demons like me Dong Huazi has at his command."

Qin Yi was weaving wildly through the crowd, leaving chickens flying and dogs leaping in his wake. In a daze, he felt as though he were filming a Jackie Chan movie.

There was no helping it. Though that earlier fight had looked impressive, there were still too many enemies. If they caught up to him, he would definitely be finished. There were even men lying in ambush on the road back to the Crown Prince Residence, making it difficult for him even to return.

The arrangement for this assassination was actually meticulous. They had even planned for the possibility that he might escape, determined to finish everything in a single battle.

But no matter how they calculated, they could never have imagined that he would recognize one of them, causing the entire plan to collapse.

The Wolf Tooth Club roared past, carrying the sound of a tiger's howl. The burly man before him was smashed at the waist, his body folded in half. Qin Yi did not pause as he crossed over the corpse. Instead of returning to the Crown Prince Residence, he charged toward the Princess Residence.

He did not know that Li Qingjun had not returned to her residence. In the current situation, he felt that if Li Qingjun was in the Princess Residence, she would definitely be in danger. He had to join her.

It was easy to understand why Dong Huazi and Mang Zhan wanted to assassinate him. They still hoped to settle the matter of Li Qingjun and Mang Zhan's union before the king died. As long as Qin Yi died, even if the king flew into a rage, he would no longer have any wavering choice.

But there was another way to accomplish this: the "drug her unconscious" method that everyone understood without saying.

If Mang Zhan got Li Qingjun first, then it would all be over. Though Southern Li was a remote little kingdom, it had understood propriety for many years. One only had to see how bashful Li Qingjun had been when she and Qin Yi were in love to know how deeply she cared about her chastity. Once it came to that, she would either kill herself or resign herself to fate. There would be no third choice.

So, since people had ambushed Qin Yi, would there also be people going to the Princess Residence to seize her?

Perhaps they had initially feared Li Qingjun's famous unyielding nature, knowing she would most likely commit suicide, so this was a last resort they could not use. But since the attempt to assassinate Qin Yi had failed, they would probably be forced to use that last resort.

Because the king truly did not have many days left to live. They had to settle this during that time; they could not afford to delay.

Having understood all this, Qin Yi grew even more anxious, yet his spiritual platform became ever calmer.

A disturbance arose ahead. Another group came to intercept him, and someone exclaimed, "Eh? Why does this Qin Yi look a little familiar to me?"

Another man who bore a blood feud with him.

Qin Yi's heart was still as water. With a whoosh, he accelerated and darted into a side alley.