Fall from the Cliff

The commander of the Black Armor Guard lowered his head and accepted the order. "Yes, Your Majesty."

Hm?

Something was wrong.

His Majesty had said-he wanted her alive?

Cold sweat instantly streamed down his forehead.

When he had ordered the pursuit just now, he had said, "Execute her on the spot. Leave no one alive."

But now that His Majesty had spoken, everything had been turned upside down.

He did not dare ask why a condemned prisoner was suddenly to be taken alive. He forced all his questions down his throat, scarcely daring to breathe.

"Your Majesty, before I came to find you, I had already learned the condemned woman Qiao Shuyi's whereabouts. The Qiao Family has a secret passage leading straight to the mountain behind the residence. Presumably, she means to escape that way. I have already sent the Black Armor Guard after her. I expect-"

"Lead the way!"

Zongzheng Heng barked the order, his whip already landing hard on his horse's rump.

The blue-roan steed reared up on its four hooves, whinnying in pain.

Indescribable emotions churned in his chest like a tangled skein of hemp.

But beneath that tangle, he breathed a sigh of relief.

She was with child.

It seemed he had gained another reason not to kill her.

Only... every time afterward, she had drunk a contraceptive draught.

She had said it was not time for a child yet; there was no rush, and they could wait until they were married.

At the time, he had secretly been relieved-he had not wanted her to conceive either.

When had she become pregnant?

His brow furrowed more and more deeply.

Could it be...

The day before he left, she had clung to him, from the couch to the table, from the bath to the high stool, and they had carried on for an entire day.

That day, she had not drunk the medicine.

She had never intended to drink it at all.

He clamped his legs around the horse's belly, and the blue-roan steed went faster still.

"Faster!"

The commander of the Black Armor Guard chased desperately behind him, his whip whistling through the air.

He cursed his plight inwardly. His Majesty's blue-roan steed was one of the Six Steeds of Zhaoling, capable of covering a thousand li in a day. His own ordinary horse could run its legs off and still never catch up.

But he dared neither complain nor slow down. He only gritted his teeth and whipped his horse harder.

Elsewhere, on a mountain path, An Yi and Qiao Shuyi were making their way toward the cliff on the mountain behind the residence.

Qiao Shuyi had surveyed the terrain there countless times.

A swift river ran beneath the cliff, and halfway down the cliff face was a projecting ledge, narrow enough for only one person to stand on.

Dense vines and wild grass grew all around the ledge, concealing it completely from anyone looking down from above.

Behind the vines, however, lay a cave large enough for four or five people. She had ordered the shadow guards to carve it out, and it had been stocked with gold, silver, valuables, dry rations, and fresh water-enough for her to make a life for herself outside.

She intended to fall from the cliff in full view of everyone.

There was no way a woman heavy with child could survive a fall from such a height.

No one would suspect a thing.

Only... today was the day of her beheading.

While she was fighting for her life here, what was that man doing?

Reviewing memorials at the government offices?

Plotting how to deal with the remaining members of the Qiao Family?

Whatever he was doing, he really had forgotten all about her. There had not been the slightest word from him for half a month!

Even as she recalled the Black Armor Guard who had caught up to her earlier, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Condemned woman Qiao Shuyi, halt at once, or you will be killed without mercy," her lips curved coldly.

Killed without mercy.

What a fine order: killed without mercy.

In the end, she had underestimated an emperor's ruthlessness.

An icy light glinted in her eyes.

An Yi was riding the same horse with her.

"Master, when you fall from the cliff in a moment, there is no need to be afraid. A Qi is already waiting outside the cave and will make certain no harm comes to you."

"Mm. It's my first time being hunted down. Why would I be afraid of something so thrilling?"

An Yi had been at Qiao Shuyi's side since she was five.

He had seen her fall as a child without crying or making a fuss, getting up and brushing off her skirt by herself.

He had seen her, when bullied, turn around without telling on her tormentors and deal with them until they were on their knees begging for mercy.

He had long known she was different from other women, but he had never imagined that a young lady of a noble family would take life and death more lightly than he, a shadow guard who licked blood from the tip of a blade.

The two soon reached the edge of the cliff.

Almost at the same instant, several groups of Black Armor Guards closed in from both sides of the mountain path, blocking their escape completely.

The Black Armor Guard at their head urged his horse forward and pointed his blade at her, his voice cold and hard.

"Condemned woman Qiao Shuyi, surrender at once! It is not yet three quarters past noon. If you come back with us obediently, you may still die alongside the rest of your Qiao Family. If you insist on resisting, you will be executed on the spot!"

Qiao Shuyi stood at the cliff's edge, her eyes fixed coldly on the Black Armor Guard.

An Yi stood in front of her, his longsword held across his chest. "If you want to take the young lady, you'll have to kill me first."

The Black Armor Guard said no more and simply waved his hand.

Bowstrings twanged, and arrows came pouring down like rain, blotting out the sky.

An Yi's martial skills were superb. He whirled his longsword in an impenetrable guard, knocking the arrows down one after another to clatter across the ground.

But the Black Armor Guard were the Son of Heaven's own troops, filled with men of extraordinary ability. How could they be ordinary opponents?

Amid the chaos, a lean Black Armor Guard silently nocked an arrow. Its tip moved soundlessly through the crowd, then shot through a gap in An Yi's defense, straight at Qiao Shuyi.

Qiao Shuyi instinctively stepped back. Loose stones tumbled beneath her feet and fell into the bottomless ravine.

She had retreated to the cliff's edge, with nowhere left to go.

The arrow sliced through the air toward her, impossible to evade-

"Pfft-"

The arrowhead sank into her right shoulder. She swayed, clutching her lower abdomen, and her foot found empty air. Her figure plunged straight down.

"Young lady-!"

An Yi screamed hoarsely and lunged for the cliff's edge, only to be held back in an instant by several long sabers.

"How dare you-!"

The furious shout exploded across the mountain, making everyone freeze.

As Qiao Shuyi fell, she faintly heard that shout of "How dare you."

It was him.

She had not seen him, but she had heard his voice.

A smile suddenly bloomed on her face, which had been as cold as ice.

Zongzheng Heng, I thought you really were cold and heartless, waiting for me to die.

But did you come to save me, or to save your child?

It doesn't matter anymore.

I, Qiao Shuyi, am not afraid of death.

What I fear is not living freely enough.

Glory and riches-I want them. The emperor on high-I want him too.

Zongzheng Heng's eyes nearly split with rage.

He saw the arrow sink into her right shoulder with his own eyes, saw her sway, saw her clutch her lower abdomen, saw her foot find empty air and her body fall.

When she was wounded, her first instinct was to protect her belly.

To protect their child.

He... had arrived too late.

He had already persuaded himself to spare her life. He had already accepted letting her live.

Yet just like that... just like that, she had fallen before his eyes.

All the Black Armor Guards dismounted and dropped to their knees.

"Greetings, Your Majesty-"

Zongzheng Heng dismounted and walked, step by step, toward the Black Armor Guard who had shot the arrow.

The guard's face changed abruptly when he saw His Majesty approaching. He had just opened his mouth to speak when-

Zongzheng Heng kicked him.

The kick carried the full force of his inner energy. The Black Armor Guard grunted and crashed heavily into a pile of loose stones more than two zhang away. Blood poured from his mouth, and he could not get up again.

Silence fell over the mountain. The Black Armor Guards kneeling on the ground did not dare breathe loudly.

Just then.

An Yi broke free of the blades holding him back. In the next instant, he drew the short blade at his waist and plunged it into his own lower abdomen with a reverse grip. Then he leaped from the cliff, following his master into the ravine.

Zongzheng Heng was not surprised by the shadow guard's actions. If a master died, a shadow guard would naturally follow in death.

He stood at the cliff's edge, the wind whipping his robes and tossing his black hair into disarray. His voice carried fury suppressed to its very limit.

"Find her. If she is alive, bring her to me. If she is dead-I want to see her body."

The commander of the Black Armor Guard knelt on the ground, his forehead pressed against the loose stones, his body trembling.

What... was the relationship between this daughter of the Prince of Jin'an and His Majesty?

He dared neither think nor ask.

He only prostrated himself and answered in a trembling voice, "Yes, Your Majesty."