Sueño de Jiangshan

Capítulo 45

After hearing that they had all left, she quickly crept into Leng Jie's room. Her fierce gaze fixed on Leng Jie on the bed. She cursed harshly, "You vixen, die!"

Suddenly, a gleaming dagger appeared from beneath his sleeve. Aiming at Leng Jie's heart, he plunged it in with all his might.

Chapter 81 Thrilling

Shi Fang's knife suddenly stopped just five centimeters from Leng Jie's heart.

Did she have a change of heart?

Of course not! Once a woman's jealousy is ignited, it doesn't extinguish so easily! Look at her panicked face, her eyes filled with disbelief. Her cherry lips, stained crimson with rouge, are trembling uncontrollably. Yet, her hand holding the knife remains motionless. It's clear something strange has happened.

Her current expression is like that of a puppet that has been frozen in place.

At that moment, a figure entirely in black darted from the window to the bedside of Leng Jie. A black nightsuit completely enveloped him, head to toe. Aside from two obsidian-like eyes surrounded by two white clouds, the rest of his body was pure black. No expression could be seen. With a "whoosh," a sword was drawn, its gleaming blade poised to stab Shi Fang, but it suddenly stopped halfway through the thrust.

Was he frozen in place too?

Of course not, his sword was already sheathed.

His sharp gaze swept over Shi Fang by the bedside, then began to scan the room with his eyes. Finally, his gaze settled on the large bundle Leng Jie had placed on the bedside table. He leaped over, grabbed the bundle, and began to pull it over his shoulder...

So he was just a thief after money! Shi Fang, who was so frightened she almost wet herself, calmed down a little. But she still couldn't move and could only beg the man in black for mercy with pleading eyes.

The man in black completely ignored her. He simply slung the bundle over his shoulder, tied it securely, and then went around to the other side of the bed. He carefully rescued Leng Jie from Shi Fang's knife and held her in his arms. Then, just as he had come, he leaped out of the window...

Still frozen in that position, Shi Fang watched as the man in black led the person away, and her fear vanished instantly. She was even grateful to the man in black for stopping her impulsive recklessness. Calming down, she thought about it: if she had succeeded in her attack, the prince and the Dragon Gate members would surely have torn her to pieces! The thought sent chills down her spine. Now, everything was fine. The person was gone. She had achieved her goal without lifting a finger. Now she needed to figure out how to deal with what came next…

When Qingfeng and Xuanyuan returned after breakfast, they saw Shi Fang brandishing a gleaming dagger, poking it towards the bed. For someone of Qingfeng and Xuanyuan's high level of skill, it would have been immediately obvious that Shi Fang's movement was static. Yet, neither of them noticed. Their eyes and hearts were filled only with worry and anger. Perhaps this is what they call being blinded by concern!

The two men struck simultaneously. Two powerful palm strikes rang out, "Boom! Boom!" The dagger landed on the bed with a "thud." Then, Shi Fang's body flew across the empty bed and slammed against the wall with a "bang!" Then, with a "thud!" she fell to the floor. Finally, "Pfft!" she spat out a mouthful of blood, closed her eyes, and fainted.

Shi Yu, who followed in, only witnessed Shi Fang being struck by a palm.

"Shi Fang!"

With a cry of alarm, he leaped forward and reached the base of the wall. He bent down and scooped Shi Fang up in his arms. Then, he turned abruptly, angrily questioning the two murderers:

Why would you hit a young girl so hard?

Seeing that they seemed not to have heard his question at all, their eyes fixed blankly on the bed, he involuntarily looked towards the bed as well. He couldn't help but ask in surprise:

"Where is she? Where is Xiaojie?"

Before Shi Yu could finish his question, Qingfeng had already jumped to his side. He snatched Shi Fang from his hands and placed her on the empty bed. He began to treat her wounds.

Looking puzzled, Shi Yu stood up and looked at Xuan Yuan, asking with her eyes, "What exactly happened?"

Xuanyuan glanced at Shi Fang, who was receiving emergency treatment from Qingfeng, and replied coldly:

"We just saw her raise her knife, preparing to stab the bed, and we thought she was going to kill Xiaojie. That's why we struck out in desperation."

“Impossible! I know her. She’s always been a kind girl. How could she possibly want to assassinate Xiaojie for no reason?” Shi Yu said with certainty. “Besides, there was no one in bed.”

The reason he asked her to take care of Xiao Jie was because he believed she was a gentle and kind girl. She had been by his side since childhood, yet she never took advantage of his favor and was always sincere to everyone in the palace. How could such a girl possibly harm the benefactor who had just rescued them from the clutches of the Qingyi Sect? Therefore, he simply couldn't believe that Shi Fang wanted to kill Xiao Jie.

Xuanyuan glared at Shi Yu and replied unhappily, "If we had known there was no one in bed, we wouldn't have attacked. Now that we've injured her, not only can we not find out Xiaojie's condition in time, but Qingfeng will also have to expend energy healing her!"

"But didn't you put Xiaojie to sleep? Where could she have gone?" Shi Yu asked while searching for clues in the room.

"You'll know once your maid wakes up," Xuanyuan replied casually after carefully inspecting the room.

Then they both discovered that Leng Jie's bundle was also gone.

"Did she run away again?"

But then he noticed the shoes were still on the ground. Besides, she was covered in injuries; this wasn't the time for her to slip away. But who could have taken her away from Longmen without his noticing? And the timing was so precise, right when they were all eating. The image of her entering flashed through his mind again. His heart involuntarily trembled. Xuan Yuan couldn't help but blame himself; he shouldn't have left her alone. How could he only think about her not hurting herself, but not about someone else hurting her?

"Pfft!" Shi Fang spat out another mouthful of blood. Her eyes slowly opened.

Shi Yu immediately squatted down to be at eye level with her and asked urgently:

"Shi Fang, are you alright?!"

The prince cares about her! He still has feelings for her, doesn't he? Shi Fang was overjoyed and nodded in agreement:

"Thank you for your concern, Your Highness. Shi Fang is alright now."

Seeing that her voice wasn't too weak, Shi Yu immediately launched into a barrage of questions:

"Tell me quickly what happened just now? Where is the Third Sect Master? Who took her away? And what's with the knife you're holding? You're not really trying to assassinate Xiao Jie, are you?"

"Xiao Jie! How affectionately you call me!" A lump formed in her throat, and Shi Fang's heart sank to the bottom. So, he wasn't concerned about her at all; he just wanted to get information about that wretched woman from her. She glanced at the other two men who had hit her and then rescued her. Seeing their equally anxious expressions, her hatred deepened. A flash of sinister ruthlessness crossed her eyes. She immediately feigned innocence and said urgently:

"Your Highness, please hurry and save the Third Gatekeeper! She has been kidnapped by a man claiming to be her fiancé. I tried desperately to stop him, but his martial arts were too strong, and he immobilized me instantly. He also put that knife in my hand. He must have known that you would kill me as soon as you entered and saw my posture. So he wanted to use you to kill me and silence me."

Aside from Qingfeng, who remained expressionless as he stared at Shi Fang, Shi Yu and Xuanyuan, upon hearing that Xiao Jie had indeed been kidnapped, dashed out to order their men to search for her.

Sitting on the bed, Shi Fang felt a chill run down her spine under Qingfeng's cold, sharp gaze. Feeling guilty, she dared not look him in the eye.

"Tell me! Who took Xiaojie away? What did that person look like?" Qingfeng asked without a trace of emotion.

The cold, chilling tone sent a shiver down Shi Fang's spine. After a moment's hesitation, she suppressed her panic and replied calmly:

“This servant is telling the whole truth! The Third Sect Master really was taken away by her fiancé! That man is tall and burly, and he looks like a treacherous and cruel person. The way he looked at the Third Sect Master was so fierce! It was as if he wanted to swallow her whole.”

Shi Fang, overconfident, slightly modified the account given by Qingfeng. She thought this would surely pass muster! However, she didn't know that the fiancé was entirely fabricated by Qingfeng.

Seeing that she was still stubbornly resisting, Qingfeng's face darkened, and he coldly threatened:

"Don't try anything funny with me! I can beat you to a pulp and then pull you back from the brink of death. I can also make you wish you were dead. If you don't tell the truth, I'll gouge out your eyes, then make a human skin mask out of your face, then chop off your hands and feet, and then..."

"I'll talk, I'll talk, please stop, stop talking."

Although Shi Fang could be ruthless to others in her quest to win over her prince, she was still, after all, a young woman. She was so frightened by Qingfeng's sinister words that she covered her head and begged for mercy.

"Yes, it was a thief dressed entirely in black, with only his eyes showing. He stole the Third Master's bundle and also the Third Master himself."

"Are you talking about the Green Robe Sect?" Qingfeng asked sharply.

"Yes, yes, it's someone from the Green Robe Sect! It's definitely someone from the Green Robe Sect!" Reminded by Qingfeng, Shi Fang immediately realized that the person was indeed from the Green Robe Sect. Knowing that Leng Jie had fallen into the hands of the Green Robe Sect and would certainly not have a good end, she even forgot her fear and excitedly shouted.

"Are you happy? You think this means no one will compete with you for the title of Prince Ying?"

The icy voice instantly froze the smug Shi Fang.

Qingfeng glanced at the doorway and continued to ask:

"You overheard our conversation and learned that Prince Ying wanted to marry our Xiao Jie. So you wanted to kill Xiao Jie, who was unable to move in bed, right? But just as you were about to succeed, a man in black suddenly appeared and subdued you, right? Then he rescued Xiao Jie from your knife and took her away. You were afraid your affair would be exposed, and even more afraid that she would come back and try to steal your man. So you lied to us and said that her fiancé had taken her away. You thought that would keep us from going to look for her, right? Actually, you already knew that she had been taken away by the Green Robe Sect, didn't you? You were imprisoned by the Green Robe Sect for so long, how could you not recognize their attire? You..."

With each question Qingfeng uttered, Shi Fang's face paled a little more, and her heart trembled. In the end, she huddled up, trembling all over. The bed creaked and groaned from the trembling.

Before Qingfeng could finish speaking, Shi Yu burst in through the door. Without a word, she threw Shi Fang off the bed and onto the floor. She slapped Shi Fang twice across the face before coldly saying:

"You are not worthy to sit on Xiaojie's bed!"

Shi Fang, on the verge of collapse from Qingfeng's sinister words, hadn't even reacted before she was thrown from the bed onto the cold floor, followed by a burning pain on her cheek. But that wasn't the worst of it; what terrified her most was the voice—"Your Highness!" She jolted awake, scrambling towards Shi Yu and grabbing his leg. She cried out in protest:

"No, no! It's not what he said! Your Highness, please listen to me, I didn't, I didn't want..." She suddenly looked up and met Shi Yu's cold, ruthless face, as black as Guan Yu's. She swallowed the words that were on the tip of her tongue.

"I never imagined you were such a vicious woman! You've even fooled me for so many years." Shi Yu said in a cold and ruthless tone, "Since you enjoy acting so much, it's really too much of a waste for you to stay in the palace."

Shi Yu paused for a moment. Then, facing the door, he said in a deep, emotionless voice:

"Shi Wu, send her to the Hundred Flowers Brothel. She shall never be freed from her status as a prostitute."

"No, no! You can't do this to me! I need to see the old princess. I need to see the old princess..."

A young woman who dreamed of marrying into wealth and status was buried by the very pit she dug herself...

Xuanyuan and Shiyu split up to chase after the person, but each only realized at the fork in the road that they didn't know who they were chasing. Shiyu went back to Qingfeng first to ask. He happened to overhear Qingfeng asking Shifang those questions.

Xuanyuan chased after them even further, and when he returned, Shi Fang had already been taken away. As soon as he entered, he anxiously asked:

"Qingfeng, I was so anxious just now that I forgot to ask you what Xiaojie's fiancé's name is and where he lives?"

Instead of a gentle breeze, dark clouds anxiously rushed in:

"Sect Master, the Third Sect Master has been taken away by the Green Robe Sect..."

Before Wu Yun could finish speaking, his collar was grabbed. A menacing, domineering question followed, startling even the seasoned veteran, Wu Yun.

"What did you say? Where's Qingfeng? What exactly happened?"

"Young Master Qingfeng and Prince Ying have gone to the Qingyi Sect with their men to demand the release of the person. It was Shi Fang who lied; she wanted to harm the Third Sect Master."

After saying that, Wuyun's collar was loosened, and he was thrown aside by Xuanyuan.

"What about the woman?"

A cold, bloodthirsty voice escaped Xuanyuan's lips. He himself didn't understand why he felt so uneasy upon hearing that she had been betrothed. Seeing Leng Jie gone, it felt as if half his heart was missing. Seeing or hearing that someone wanted to harm her made him so angry and violent. He wanted nothing more than to chop that person up and feed them to the dogs.

"He was sent to a brothel by the Prince of England."

This was indeed more satisfying than killing her; Shi Yu was ruthless. Xuanyuan turned his horse around and chased after the Green Robe Sect...

"Miss Leng, you're awake!"

Leng Jie opened her eyes and heard a gentle, soothing voice. Looking closely, she saw a beautiful young woman, about sixteen or seventeen years old, sitting by the bed. Her face was delicate and beautiful, with bright eyes and white teeth; her demeanor was elegant, refined, and refreshingly charming. "What a beauty!" Leng Jie couldn't help but admire in her heart.

Fortunately, Leng Jie wasn't bewitched by the beauty. Although her eyes were fixed on the woman without blinking, she had already taken in her surroundings out of the corner of her eye. She was certain she had changed camps again. Although she was currently like meat on someone's chopping block, completely at their mercy, she didn't want to be a fool. So, she asked sincerely:

"You called me Miss Leng? Do we know each other? How could I forget such a beautiful girl? It's such a sin!"

"Hehe, Miss Leng is indeed very interesting. Miss Leng really doesn't recognize me. My name is Duanmu Xingyue, and I am Duanmu Xingchen's younger sister." The girl's cheerful smile added to her sunny beauty.

Hearing the name Duanmu Xingchen, Leng Jie's heart eased slightly. Although many questions remained, she didn't want to ask. Instead, she smiled and teased:

"I never imagined Brother Duanmu had such a beautiful younger sister. No wonder he doesn't react to other pretty girls!"

Two shy blushes immediately rose on the girl's cheeks, and she pursed her cherry-red lips. She said coyly:

"No way! Ever since my brother came back from the capital, he's been raving about how Miss Leng is the most extraordinary woman in the world!"

“Oh! Your brother wasn’t wrong about that. I am indeed the best in the world.” Leng Jie paused, noticing the girl looking at her expectantly. She continued, “The strangest woman. All men avoid me from a distance of ten feet. Because of the fishy smell on me.”

The girl stared blankly at Leng Jie. She shook her head in disbelief, then said firmly:

"How could that be? My brother never praises women. If he says you're good, you must be good. He even told me about how you helped the fishermen figure out how to salt and dry fish! And I've even eaten the salted fish you made yourself! It was really delicious!"

She's such a naive girl, idolizing her brother so much. Leng Jie is now certain she won't be her prey. It's time to get down to business:

"Little sister Xingyue! May I call you that?"

The girl immediately replied excitedly, "Then I'll call you Sister Leng from now on!"