Chapter 227: Chapter 225: Bloodthirst_1 Chapter 227: Chapter 225: Bloodthirst_1 Shen Qingzhu bit down on his teeth and nodded, urging his horse up the steep slope.

Bai Qingyan, sitting atop his steed, watched as the gallant horses of the Huying Camp and the Dong family’s death warriors charged up the mountain. He tightened the reins, standing firm like a sea-stabilizing anchor in the middle and lower part of the slope.

From the high slope, a hundred arrows were loosed, flying from behind Bai Qingyan toward the front, and where they landed, Xiliang soldiers fell with screams.

Li Zhijie’s group had yet to reach Qiushan Pass when they heard the deafening sounds of battle within the city, accompanied by what seemed to be a blaze reaching toward the sky.

The Xiliang general leading the way immediately ordered the team to stop advancing. He rode swiftly to Li Zhijie’s carriage and shouted, “Prince, something seems to be happening in the city! Please wait while I take some men to investigate the situation!”

Lu Tianzhuo sensed something was wrong when the team suddenly stopped before entering the city. He glanced at the exhausted, sleeping Li Tianfu, then opened the carriage curtain and galloped toward Li Zhijie’s carriage. “Prince, has something happened?!”

Li Zhijie, having heard of the trouble within the city, had already dismounted and was about to accompany the Xiliang supervising general to check it out. Seeing Lu Tianzhuo approaching on horseback, he mounted his horse and said, “Let’s go and see together!”

As the city gates opened, a death warrior who had been trapped inside hurried over. “Prince, someone is seizing people!”

Li Zhijie’s grip on the reins tightened. “Who?!”

“The Bai family army, the Huying Camp!”

“Where are they?! Have they been intercepted?!” Li Zhijie’s eyes widened, the veins on the back of his hand bulging as he grasped the reins.

This time, Li Zhijie had not used the Bai family member for the peace talks, intending to use him as bait to kill Bai Qingyan. But if this Bai family member were rescued or killed, it would render pointless the effort of bringing him all this way.

“I don’t know!” Li Zhijie’s death warrior bowed his head. “Lord Yan Da sent me to inform you, but… the city gate of Qiushan didn’t open, and I… couldn’t get out!”

Lu Tianzhuo, breathing heavily, couldn’t wait for Li Zhijie’s order. He squeezed his horse’s sides and galloped toward the inn where the Bai family member was held.

Li Zhijie gritted his teeth and led his troops rapidly in the direction of the inn.

Before they got close, they saw flames leaping into the sky and a strong smell of blood assaulting their nostrils. Xiliang crossbowmen were kneeling at the foot of the mountain, continuously firing arrows toward the high slope.

Li Zhijie arrived at the foot of the mountain, yanking his reins. His fiery horse reared its head and hooves, wanting to charge up the slope to face the person on horseback at the top.

He held tightly to the reins, calming his fiery horse. His deep, mesmerizing eyes widened as he looked up at the top of the mountain. It was Bai Qingyan!

How did she know the Bai family member was here?! How could she come to rescue him herself, and so quickly?!

Just now, he had personally seen Bai Qingyan leave with the Jin Crown Prince. How did she arrive at Qiushan Pass before him?!

Li Zhijie suddenly thought of that maid named Qianzhou. Could that maid truly be a Jin plant embedded in Xiliang?!

No… it couldn’t be!

Even if the maid was a plant, how did she know he hid the Bai family member? How did she know where he was?! Why would the Jin Crown Prince let Bai Qingyan rescue the Bai family member? Not killing him secretly would have been good enough!

Li Zhijie’s heart pounded. It seemed he could feel Bai Qingyan’s cold, murderous gaze on him.

Thinking of the wounds on Jinzhi, Bai Qingyan seethed with hatred, wanting to tear Li Zhijie limb from limb for the humiliation and torment he brought to Jinzhi.

Under the bright full moon, the proud and gallant Bai Qingyan aimed the Sun-shooting Bow in Li Zhijie’s direction. Though she had no arrows, a killing intent like the Grim Reaper’s sliced through the air, making Li Zhijie’s steed instinctively take two steps back.

Bai Jinzhi sat behind Bai Qingyan, clutching her waist tightly. Seeing the Xiliang soldiers shooting arrows in vain below and Li Zhijie at the foot of the mountain, she said, “Eldest Young Lady, let’s go!”

Hearing her sister’s voice, thinking of her injuries, Bai Qingyan lowered the Sun-shooting Bow and yanked the reins forcefully.

Li Zhijie’s chest heaved violently, watching helplessly as Bai Qingyan’s furious horse neighed and galloped away.

Lu Tianzhuo gritted his teeth and turned his horse’s head. “Prince, give me a hundred men, and I will give chase!”

Li Zhijie closed his eyes briefly. When he opened them, his deep, mesmerizing eyes were calm and cold. “Even if you catch up, you won’t kill Bai Qingyan. It would only be sending more heads to her! A Zhuo, you must remain calm. Remember, I desire Bai Qingyan’s death even more than you. Leaving her alive… will bring great trouble for Xiliang if war breaks out between the two kingdoms in the future!”

Lu Tianzhuo’s heart pounded as he glanced back at the high slope. “But…”

“Pursuing her won’t work! We must use other means!” Li Zhijie’s face was livid as he looked at the strewn corpses; among them were not only ordinary Jin death warriors but also members of the Huying Camp. He narrowed his eyes and said, “I don’t believe Bai Qingyan would dare tell the Jin Crown Prince about her rescue. She must have come secretly! Gather the bodies of these Jin death warriors and Huying Camp members! Now, I will take these bodies to demand an explanation from the Jin Crown Prince.”

With that, Li Zhijie bent down to pull a short knife from a Huying Camp corpse and forcefully stabbed it into his own shoulder.

“Prince!”

“Prince!”

The Xiliang soldiers were shocked.

Li Zhijie gritted his teeth and handed the knife to Lu Tianzhuo, covering his wound with one hand as blood flowed through his fingers. The pain made the veins on his forehead bulge.

“Send for a military doctor!”

Li Zhijie bit his lip and coldly said to Lu Tianzhuo, “Gather these Jin soldiers’ corpses and come with me to Youhua Road! Let’s ask Bai Qingyan and her Bai family Huying Camp why they’ve come to kill me right after signing the peace treaty!”

His secret imprisonment of the Bai family member wasn’t mentioned during the peace talks, so it couldn’t be mentioned now either! Therefore, what was Bai Qingyan doing at Qiushan Pass if not rescuing? It could only be an assassination attempt on him, Xiliang’s King Yan, Li Zhijie!

With the peace treaty just signed, Bai Qingyan’s Huying Camp secretly attacking Qiushan Pass to kill Xiliang’s King Yan, how would the Jin Crown Prince react?!

The trust within the Jin court was already fragile and precarious, and the Jin royal family was always wary of the Bai family.

Would they not think Bai Qingyan sought to provoke another war due to fear of losing the Commander’s Seal and military power?

Even if the Jin Crown Prince did not punish Bai Qingyan today, he would plant a seed of doubt in the Jin royal family, letting them know that even with just ten thousand Bai family soldiers, Bai Qingyan dared to move the army under the Jin Crown Prince’s nose secretly to attack the Xiliang Prince who just signed a peace treaty with Jin! Tomorrow, if the Bai family army grew stronger, Bai Qingyan would do the very thing the Jin royal family feared most.