Lin Qingdai watched the group of people run away and walked over to them, asking softly:
"Your Highness, are we really going to let them go? What if they change their minds and go back to tell Inukami Jusaburo?"
"Tell them out? With Inukami Jusaburo's current paranoid and mad dog-like state, if these guys were to go back with Great Yan's white flour buns in their arms and were discovered, they'd be beheaded as spies before they could even explain."
Gu Moran turned around and looked at Kim Seon-a standing beside him, his gaze lingering on her wind-blown temples and snow-white neck.
"If they don't find out, the three thousand Satsuma infantrymen guarding the gate will soon mutini. No matter how you look at it, we're not at a disadvantage. This is what you call winning hearts and minds."
Looking into his mischievous eyes, Kim Seon-a remembered how he had casually touched the back of her hand earlier, and her cheeks flushed again.
She turned away from his gaze and walked to her white horse, grabbing the saddle.
"Smooth-talking... If all the generals of Goryeo had half your cunning, Busan wouldn't have fallen so quickly."
Gu Moran walked over and stood behind her. Taking advantage of helping her with the stirrups, he pressed his entire body close to her back, his warm breath directly onto her fair and delicate earlobe.
"Your Highness, I don't like what you're saying. No matter how cunning I may be, my feelings for you are truly sincere."
If you don't believe me, touch my heart; it's still beating fiercely for you.
Kim Seon-a's hot breath made half of her body numb, her ears turned bright red, and she panicked, stepping into the stirrups to mount the horse. However, her skirt was too long, causing her to trip and fall backward, landing right in Gu Moran's open arms.
Gu Moran held her steadily in both hands, and through the thin silk, he could clearly feel the astonishing warmth.
He didn't rush to straighten her up; instead, he lowered his head, resting his chin on her shoulder, inhaling the faint scent of cold plum blossoms emanating from her.
"Look, I haven't even made a move yet, and the princess has already thrown herself into my arms. If the soldiers outside saw this, they'd think I was bullying you in front of the army."
"You... you let go!"
Kim Seon-a blushed so much that her neck turned pink, and she gripped his collar tightly with both hands, kicking her legs wildly in the air.
Just then, a sudden rustling sound of birds taking flight came from the top of the trees ahead. Immediately afterward, three whistling arrows tied with red ribbons shot into the sky with a sharp whistle, exploding into three clouds of red smoke in mid-air.
That was the highest-level enemy alert issued by Yun Shuyue five miles ahead!
Gu Moran's face darkened. He helped Kim Seon-a onto the horse, drew the Sea-Calming Sword from his waist, mounted his own warhorse, and stared at the misty Han River Canyon ahead.
"Something's wrong! Something terrible has happened in the direction of Hanseong!!"
The group rode forward on horseback.
Gu Moran reined in his horse and stopped it on the shallows of the Han River. The horse's forelegs pounded the muddy water.
Amidst the splashing water, he casually took a long spear from his personal guard, extended the tip, and used it to lift up the floating corpse of a royal guard.
The deceased's hair, which had been swollen from being soaked in the river, had come undone.
He flicked his wrist, and the tip of the gun slid down along the open collar of the dead man's clothes, directly piercing the chest of the floating corpse. Beneath the blackened and rotting flesh, countless tiny dark red blood lines crawled, and under the sunlight, those red lines continued to twist and burrow under the skin.
Shen Ling'er carried the medicine box and quickly stepped forward, squatted down by the riverbank, drew the small silver knife from her waist and slashed open the deceased's wrist. Thick black blood flowed down the cut and dripped onto the sand and stones of the riverbank, immediately emitting a wisp of white smoke and sizzling as it corroded the stones.
Meng Jiuning stood beside Shen Ling'er, bending down to carefully examine the dark gold embroidery remaining on the deceased's collar. Once she clearly saw the half-finished hibiscus flower pattern...
She turned to look at Gu Moran, pulling her sleeves up to her wrists:
"Your Highness, this is Bloodline Gu made from Nanyang corpse worms mixed with Dongying herbs. It's specifically designed to spread through living water."
Moreover, the collar of this corpse was made with silk thread from the Goryeo royal palace, indicating that it belonged to a close attendant of the Goryeo king. It seems that something has already happened at the palace.
The water source for the poison must be cut off immediately, otherwise, it will be difficult to handle if a large number of people become infected.
Upon hearing this, Kim Seon-a, riding her white horse, leaped off its back, oblivious to the mud splattering into her boots.
Her fingertips trembled as she reached for the sword at her waist. The protective aura within her body could no longer be suppressed, surging outwards along her meridians and creating ripples in the river beneath her feet.
Gu Moran a step forward and placed his large hand directly on her shoulder.
The powerful Pure Yang True Qi in his palm pressed down along her Jianjing acupoint, forcibly forcing the chaotic White Tiger Gang Qi back into her body.
Due to the force of her movements, Kim Seon-a's body sank down, and the patch of snow-white skin at her neckline, which was heaving with her heavy breathing, rubbed directly against the inside of Gu Moran's wrist. The smooth, warm touch, mixed with the scent of cold plum blossoms emanating from her body, wafted towards him.
"My father has two thousand royal guards under his command, how come not even a single messenger escaped..."
Kim Seon-a tilted her head back, her eyes red-rimmed, her chest pressing against Gu Moran's forearm with her rapid breathing. Her voice was trembling with sobs, yet she bit her lip tightly, refusing to let the tears fall.
Gu Moran gently pressed his fingers on the delicate flesh at the edge of her collarbone, and under the pretense of patting her back, his hand slid down to her back, pulling her halfway into his embrace. He whispered against her burning earlobe:
"The dead cannot speak, but the living always leave clues. If Your Highness rushes over now, what will you save besides adding another fragrant floating corpse to the Han River?"
"Don't worry, with me here, your father won't die, and the Goryeo kingdom won't collapse."
Kim Seon-a was half-embraced in his arms, pressed tightly against his hard chest, her body distorted by the pressure.
Hearing those words, half teasing and half domineering, her previously flustered mind actually calmed down. However, her cheeks were burning hot, and she could only lower her eyelashes and stare at the breastplate on his chest.
Just then, Zhen Meili jumped down from the machine-made carriage at the back and directed dozens of engineers to unload bags of quicklime and charcoal onto the shore.
She rolled up her sleeves, revealing her two pale forearms, and gestured loudly to the engineers while holding the blueprints:
"Don't just stand there! Remove the wooden planks from that old suspension bridge upstream, drive wooden stakes down this shallow area, and build a filter dam every ten steps, filling it with charcoal and quicklime. We must completely cut off the military water supply downstream before nightfall!"
"And Meng Jiuning and Shen Ling'er, you two hurry up and prepare the antidote!"