Li Muge looked at the gleaming curved knife and clapped his hands, laughing, "Excellent! Then I'll just sit here and enjoy General Sheng's knife - skills!"
Sheng Jiangli said nothing. He pressed the tip of the knife against Song Yinghuai's neck.
The man had been taken off the stool and was now lying face - down, tied to a long bench. One couldn't see his expression.
One could only see that the man was lying on the bench, his bare back showing strong, sinewy muscles, densely covered with pinholes.
The white prisoner's clothes thrown on the ground nearby were stained with dots of blood, looking like countless red plum blossoms scattered on a snow - covered field.
Sheng Jiangli's eyes suddenly welled up. He said to Song Yinghuai, "Do you know that back then, in order to avoid you, Shu'er chose to be shot by an arrow herself just to make you give up?"
The man lying on the bench visibly trembled. He turned his head and rested his face on the bench.
"…Was she badly hurt at that time?"
Sheng Jiangli nodded. "Badly. Fortunately, she used your Ya Jiu dagger to block the arrow at her chest, so she survived the great disaster. But she still remained in a coma for forty - six days… I thought she wouldn't make it."
Song Yinghuai's heart twitched.
He only knew that Caiyu wanted to escape from him, but he didn't know she was so determined.
His eyes slowly turned red.
She would rather take a near - fatal risk to leave him. Then how much hope did he have to win her back?
Sheng Jiangli said, "I know why you refused to leave… Shu'er said that if I didn't let you go, this wedding would be called off. Now that you won't leave, she won't marry. And I have to return to the capital tonight…"
"Song Yinghuai, you win. You use your life to stop me from marrying her. You're really ruthless."
Song Yinghuai lowered his eyes and said, "I should also thank you for not forcing her to marry."
Sheng Jiangli snorted. "Of course I won't force her to do anything. I'm not like you, always liking to force her against her will."
Song Yinghuai's bound hands hanging on both sides of the bench trembled slightly before he said, "…If she's willing to give me another chance, I won't force her to do anything again."
Just like now.
He chose to use his life to win a bit of her pity, but he would never forcefully take her away.
Sheng Jiangli pressed the tip of the knife deeper into the flesh of Song Yinghuai's neck. The sharp tip immediately pierced the skin, and blood beads oozed out.
"Your jealousy is still as strong as ever. I was just going back to have a proper farewell with Shu'er, but you just had to provoke me into staying."
"You'd rather suffer this inhumane torture than allow me to see her alone one more time."
Song Yinghuai simply fell silent.
He did have such a plan.
The next second, he spoke again. "Just do it."
As soon as the words fell, Sheng Jiangli flipped the curved knife in his hand and sliced down along the line of Song Yinghuai's neck!
His eyes were blood - red.
He used the wedding to lure Song Yinghuai into a trap, while Song Yinghuai used his life to stop him from marrying the woman he loved all his life!
They were even now!
Sheng Jiangli's knife - skills were indeed extremely fast.
After the knife sliced down, the edge of the skin first turned white, and then layers of bright red blood seeped out.
A straight bloodstain was opened from the neck to the lower back. The pungent smell of blood rushed towards them again.
The skin was split, and the flesh was torn. Bones were broken and muscles were severed.
The man's hands hanging on both sides of the bench couldn't help but tremble. His arms bulged with muscles as he resisted the heart - rending pain.
At this moment, even breathing was a kind of torture.
His wrists were tightly cut into the flesh by the fishing line again due to his struggle. His wrists were almost cut off at the pulse.
The intermittent groans reached Li Muge's ears. Finally, he was in a good mood. "General Sheng's skills are really good. When you come back from the capital another day, I'll have people prepare a feast of sea shrimps. I must give you a good welcome."
Sheng Jiangli shook off the blood beads on the knife and said, "The knife went in half an inch. It's just a flesh wound. He won't die. Are you satisfied, Lord Li?"
"Satisfied, satisfied." Li Muge nodded repeatedly. At the same time, he stepped forward and stretched his neck to look at the shocking bloodstain.
The pungent smell of blood rushed up. He covered his nose and mouth and examined it. "Where is the so - called scapula they mentioned?"
Sheng Jiangli pointed the tip of the knife at the position of Song Yinghuai's scapula on his back.
The cold blade made Song Yinghuai's skin shiver involuntarily.
He gritted his teeth tightly, his eyes full of pain.
Those who practiced martial arts all knew the consequences of having the scapula pierced.
"Here." Sheng Jiangli pointed at the scapulas on both sides in turn. "If these two sides are pierced, he'll become a useless man. Not to mention assassinating you, even if he were to fight a weak woman forcefully, he might be subdued by the other party."
Li Muge was overjoyed. "Then what are we waiting for? Hurry up and do it!"
Being able to torture the unparalleled Prince of Yan into a useless man, he would be the first person in the world!
"Okay!"
As soon as Sheng Jiangli finished speaking, the knife fell. Song Yinghuai finally let out a cry of pain.
The flesh and skin behind his shoulders seemed to be torn like rice paper, silently and lightly.
His knife was so fast that the blood seemed to hesitate for a moment before gushing out one after another.
Song Yinghuai's teeth were almost broken. He intermittently spat out words, "Sheng… Jiangli… Hurry up…"
At this moment, he just wished he could die quickly.
"I'm already going as fast as I can."
As soon as the words fell, there was another stabbing pain like skin - peeling and bone - crushing on the other scapula.
The scapula split in an instant, but the pain spread infinitely and became more and more intense.
In the severe pain, Song Yinghuai unexpectedly vaguely remembered that when Caiyu was shot by an arrow in the chest that day and then fell into the cold river, would she feel as painful as he did now?
It's okay, it's okay.
Let him experience Caiyu's pain once!
The pain on his back was continuous. Blood gushed out and merged with the blood flowing from the bloodstain connecting his neck and lower back, completely staining his upper body red.
Sheng Jiangli looked at the skylight where the sky was gradually turning white. He put away the curved knife. His voice was as cold as the snow outside the pass, sending chills all over. "Lord Li, I should set off."
Li Muge nodded contentedly. "General Sheng, set off quickly so as not to delay your journey. Don't worry. Since you're so sensible, I'll definitely take good care of Miss Caiyu and the young master."
Looking at the back of the man striding away, Li Muge then looked down at the man lying on the bench, trembling constantly. Finally, he couldn't help but burst into laughter looking up at the sky:
"Hahaha… Prince of Yan, when you used a knife to force me to kneel at the banquet back then, did you ever think that one day you would fall into my hands?"
Song Yinghuai closed his eyes tightly and said nothing.
Sheng Jiangli had already left, and the wedding was off. He was too lazy to deal with this bastard Li Muge.
Feeling ignored, Li Muge was so angry that he picked up a bucket of ice - salt water and poured it on Song Yinghuai's back.
Song Yinghuai gasped for air and panted heavily.
Before his eyes was a bloody mess. The bloodstains on his body were diluted by the salt water and turned light pink, making his skin look snow - white, with a bit of indescribable coquettishness.
Li Muge still wanted to torture the man, but the jailer beside him advised, "Lord Li, the prisoner has been tortured three times in a row and has lost too much blood. If we continue to torture him, his life may be in danger!"
Only then did Li Muge stop. He waved his hand reluctantly, ordered the man to be untied, and had Song Yinghuai dragged into the cell.
Dawn broke.
Tan Xiong and Zhang Ce were sitting high on their war horses. Behind them were 100,000 Yan troops and 50,000 Xu family troops.
They had been waiting here for a whole night.
But there was no sound from within Jizhou City.
Tan Xiong and the others had a bad feeling in their hearts.
Could something really have happened to the prince?
Xu Buyue's eyes were blood - red. She stared fixedly at the closed city gate of Jizhou.
Tan Xiong looked up. Seeing that the agreed time for withdrawing the troops had arrived, he sighed:
"The military order is like a mountain. Lao Zhang, Princess, let's withdraw separately!"
"I won't!" Xu Buyue disobeyed the military order for the first time. "I'll wait for Brother Si to come out! If he doesn't come out, I'll fight my way in!"
Tan Xiong said anxiously, "The subsequent 200,000 Southern troops will arrive soon. Without the prince in command, it's dangerous for us to win with fewer troops!"
Suddenly, Zhang Ce pointed at the slowly opening city gate in the distance and shouted, "Look! Someone's coming out!"