Yelang, take your medicine

Silver moonlight blanketed Bluestone Street.

The turmoil had subsided, leaving only a black-clad swordsman standing before the bookshop, facing the circular crater ahead.

The sudden clash had actually been very brief, lasting barely a dozen breaths from start to finish.

Only now did lights begin to appear in the distant Academy, with numerous figures emerging from their rooms to investigate.

Ye Jingtang remained poised to draw his blade at any moment. Only when the street had fallen completely still did the sharpness leave his gaze.

Looking down, he saw a round hole punched through his robe over his heart, exposing the gleaming golden page beneath. Moving the Dragon-Elephant Diagram aside, he looked through the hole and saw that the skin over his chest muscle had split from the impact, leaving beads of blood and bruising.

Blood Bodhi had misjudged him and suffered for it, but he was indeed a veteran Grandmaster of the martial world. The power behind that lightning-fast strike had been anything but light.

The Dragon-Mingling Diagram had stopped the piercing blow and spread its force across half his left chest, but it had still felt like a heavy fist slamming into him. The injury was minor, yet certainly unpleasant.

Dongfang Liren peeked out from behind the counter, then came to the bookshop entrance and looked him over.

"Ye Jingtang, hurry inside. Are you hurt?"

Ye Jingtang patted his chest, sat down on the threshold, and casually raised a hand.

"I'm fine. There's no need to be afraid, Your Highness. I've already..."

"Who's afraid?"

Dongfang Liren seemed to have forgotten all about hiding behind Ye Jingtang earlier. She half crouched beside him and tilted her head to inspect him.

With the jade hairpin on her head shattered, her long hair spilled down like flowing water. Her normally heroic features now displayed their full femininity. She still wore her fitted Python Robe, but the stern aura of a prince was gone; she looked more like a noble princess with fiery red lips.

Noticing the hole in Ye Jingtang's robe and the dark bruise beneath it, Dongfang Liren reached out to tear his clothes open.

Ye Jingtang hurriedly held his collar shut. "No, no, there's no need. I really am fine!"

Dongfang Liren had been timid when facing the assassin because, as the target, she had to put her own safety first rather than cause trouble for her guards.

Before Ye Jingtang, however, the female prince's imposing air naturally returned. Her eyes narrowed slightly.

"Hmm?"

Faced with a female prince who only threw her weight around at home, Ye Jingtang felt rather helpless. He pulled open his own collar, exposing half his chest and shoulder.

"I really am fine. It's just a scratch."

The sight of Ye Jingtang's muscular chest and shoulder brought a slight change to Dongfang Liren's gaze as she carefully examined his injury.

"How were you hurt? Why does this look like a blunt-force injury through a breastplate?"

"I didn't see clearly. It might have been a signature hidden weapon."

Ye Jingtang gave an offhand explanation and changed the subject.

"Who exactly are these Green Bandits?"

Dongfang Liren thought there was something odd about the injury, but she did not pursue it. Her slender fingers pressed against Ye Jingtang's chest and beneath his ribs, checking for broken bones.

"Her Majesty ascended the throne as a woman, and there are more than a few people at court and beyond who resent it. Every few days, assassins enter the capital to kill her loyal supporters and relatives. Most are hardened outlaws like Blood Bodhi, so we call them all the 'Green Bandits.' As for who commands them, or whether they belong to a single faction, we still haven't found out."

Having the female prince feel his chest left Ye Jingtang decidedly uncomfortable, but he could hardly push her away. He could only treat it as a patient setting aside embarrassment before a physician and ask:

"Could it be the Sky-Pacifying Sect?"

"The Sky-Pacifying Sect is merely a martial-world faction, clinging to its little mountaintop and wishing the court would never notice it. They don't have that kind of reach. In my view, only a regional prince, an aristocratic clan, or the Northern Liang court could be behind the Green Bandits."

After speaking for a while, Dongfang Liren suddenly remembered something and scrutinized Ye Jingtang.

"Why do you know the Tianhe Blade?"

Ye Jingtang looked baffled. "Prince Jing told me to learn blade techniques from Qiu Tianhe. Is it strange that I know them?"

"You've only been learning for a few days, and you can already use them against Blood Bodhi?"

"If I couldn't learn it in four or five days, why would I even wield a blade?"

?!

Sensing the contempt in his words, Dongfang Liren's gaze cooled slightly.

"Are you saying I'm unworthy of wielding a blade?"

Yes. You're practically abusing my blade...

That was what Ye Jingtang thought, but he could hardly say it aloud.

"Of course not. You actually learn very quickly, Your Highness. Among the young blade wielders I know, you rank in the top two, at least."

A flicker of delighted surprise flashed through Dongfang Liren's eyes at the compliment.

"Really?"

The only blade wielder of his own generation Ye Jingtang knew was little Yunli.

By his estimate, Dongfang Dumdum might not even be as skilled as little Yunli. Still, she was indeed in the top two, so he nodded sincerely.

"Why would I joke with you, Your Highness?"

Clearly pleased by Ye Jingtang's praise, Dongfang Liren continued carefully examining the bones and muscles of his chest.

"It seems you do have some discernment. You simply lack experience. The chance to assassinate me was fleeting. Why would the Green Bandits leave men waiting in the shadows? Retreating just now cost you a golden opportunity."

Ye Jingtang naturally knew he should have pressed the attack then, but he had only worked out the third strike that afternoon. He did not know a fourth, and he could hardly follow up with something random.

"My self-created White Slash currently has only three strikes. After sending out two, I had no follow-up left. If I'd attacked again, he would have seen through my limits, so I retreated and put on an act. The next time I encounter Blood Bodhi, he'll die without question."

Dongfang Liren froze, sensing something amiss.

"Doesn't your White Slash have only one strike?"

"I figured out the second while catching Wingless Owl a couple of days ago. This afternoon, I was waiting so long for you that I got a little bored and came up with another..."

(⊙_⊙)??

Are those even human words?

In the time it took me to bathe and put on makeup, you casually worked out such an overpowering blade technique?

Who do you think you're fooling?

Dongfang Liren stared at him, her expression impossible to describe.

From the reactions of several Grandmasters, Ye Jingtang had already established that he was a tiny bit cleverer than ordinary martial artists.

Seeing that the female prince had suffered a blow to her confidence, he offered quiet reassurance.

"I'm making breakthroughs quickly now because I've practiced the blade since childhood and built up enough experience. I'm reaping the benefits of that groundwork. Once I've used up those past reserves, I should be about the same as anyone else..."

"..."

Dongfang Liren had no idea what to say, so she simply stopped speaking, lowered her head, and withdrew into herself while carefully examining his injury.

After confirming that Ye Jingtang had no broken bones or internal bleeding, Dongfang Liren breathed a sigh of relief and raised both hands to lift the loose hair off her shoulders.

Ye Jingtang had assumed she meant to tie her hair back, but a brief glance revealed that Prince Jing had reached behind her neck, unfastened a gold necklace, and was pulling it out through her collar.

The pendant seemed to be caught on something, however. Through her Python Robe, she shifted the soft mound beneath the fat-headed dragon...

?!

Ye Jingtang hurriedly turned his head away and kept his gaze firmly to himself.

Her expression unchanged, Dongfang Liren pulled a tiny gourd from her collar.

The little gourd was pure gold and no larger than a fingertip. When she unscrewed it, a red medicinal pill could be seen inside.

Any medicine Prince Jing wore around her neck had to be a miraculous lifesaving remedy. For all he knew, every pill consumed was one fewer left in the world.

Ye Jingtang hurriedly raised a hand. "There's no need to spend something so precious on me, Your Highness. I have medicine..."

Looking quite stern, Dongfang Liren held the vermilion pill and commanded in a queenly tone:

"If I tell you to take it, take it. Would I harm you? Open your mouth!"

Ye Jingtang did not want to waste it, but Dongfang Dumdum was so overbearing that she tried to grab his chin and force it into his mouth. He had no choice but to take it from her and toss it into his mouth himself.

The pill dissolved on contact with his tongue, still carrying a milky warmth. Its taste was truly difficult to describe.

As the two spoke, a sound came from overhead. Niao Niao flew back from the river, landed before the entrance, and spread his little wings, gesticulating excitedly.

"Chirp, chirp, chirp..."

"Blood Bodhi was highly alert. He knew a bird was scouting overhead, so he escaped into the water and lost his pursuer."

Dongfang Liren had just been wondering where Niao Niao had gone. Slightly surprised, she reached out to stroke him. "Quite clever, aren't you?"

Then she rose and looked around outside the entrance, waiting for the Black Bureau guards to arrive.

After swallowing the pill, Ye Jingtang found that his chest and abdomen felt as though they were soaking in hot water. The aching vanished instantly, but at the cost of making him rather sleepy.

Afraid he would fall asleep when the medicine took effect and the Dragon-Mingling Diagram would be discovered, Ye Jingtang could only wrap it in cloth and signal Niao Niao with his eyes to take it home when the chance arose.

"Your Highness."

"Your Highness..."

Soon, a dense clamor rose from the riverside.

Dongfang Liren went outside. Seizing the opportunity, Niao Niao grabbed the cloth bundle and flew out through the rear window. Ye Jingtang inwardly sighed with relief, stopped fighting his drowsiness, and leaned against a bookshelf with his blade in his arms...