As the two were chatting on horseback, they suddenly sensed a commotion in the air. Instantly, they became vigilant, and even Yaoji inside the carriage felt something amiss.
"Who's there! Show yourself!" Qi Xiao roared loudly.
Lian Cheng also frowned and scanned the surroundings, trying to detect any movement.
Then, two groups of men emerged from the nearby grass. Their faces were covered, making it impossible to identify them. Without saying a word, they charged towards the group in front of them and got entangled with Lian Cheng and the others.
There were only about two or thirty of them, but they were not ordinary soldiers. Each of them was quite skilled. In no time, they had killed all the escorting soldiers.
Lian Cheng and Qi Xiao back - to - back resisted the assassins, guarding the carriage to prevent the men from harming the person inside.
"Who on earth are you?" Qi Xiao couldn't help but ask, but no one responded.
Fortunately, the two of them were highly skilled. In the end, they only suffered minor injuries, and they even managed to capture an assassin alive. After pulling off his mask, they found that he was not from the Dongsheng Kingdom but from the Southern Neighboring Kingdom.
When Qi Xiao saw the man in front of him, his heart skipped a beat. Then he frowned tightly and angrily asked, "Who sent you?!"
But the captured man just sneered and seemed to bite something. Soon, he spat out blood. It was obvious that he chose death rather than reveal anything.
Seeing this, Qi Xiao angrily pounded the carriage and roared out of control, "Why would someone from our own kingdom want to harm the princess? Why?!"
"Humph, I'm afraid some ill - intentioned person wants to stir up a war between the two kingdoms. That's why they don't want your princess to return alive," Lian Cheng frowned and replied.
These assassins were clearly quite skilled and couldn't be ordinary palace soldiers. Judging from his willingness to commit suicide, it was clear that he was a loyal death - servant of someone. Such people were usually loyal and tight - lipped, so it was impossible to get any information from them.
Thinking of this, the solemn look on Lian Cheng's face deepened. He then realized how important the task entrusted to him by the emperor was. So he said to the man in front of him, "Let's hurry on our way. We must safely send the person in the carriage back to your country."
Inside the carriage, Yaoji had heard everything clearly. Sure enough, there were people who couldn't tolerate her. Her life was destined to be sacrificed to start a war so that someone could reach the highest peak.
"Hahaha!"
She laughed hysterically, not caring that the laughter would pull at her chin and cause severe pain.
When the two outside the carriage heard this somewhat crazy laughter, they couldn't help but look at each other and let out a long sigh. Then Qi Xiao said, "Your Highness, we will surely send you back to your father safely!"
But his words received no response. The originally large escorting team had now become just three people, and they continued on their way towards their destination.
The woman inside the carriage was sneering. Sent back to her father? That man only wanted eternal glory. Compared to her, a tiny daughter, he probably wanted to annex the entire Dongsheng Kingdom.
So were those assassins sent by her father or her elder brother?
Thinking of this, she sneered. She never thought she would end up speculating whether it was her father or brother who wanted to kill her. How ridiculous.
Their carriage traveled for another day without stopping even at night. They were afraid that another accident might happen, and they were even more worried that after the person who sent the assassins knew that Yaoji was still alive, they might send more powerful assassins. With only two of them now, it would be difficult to fight on all fronts.
On the other side, in the Southern Neighboring Kingdom.
The assassins were, of course, sent by Yaoji's elder brother, Ye. He had made up his mind to start a war, so he couldn't let Yaoji return to the Southern Neighboring Kingdom. That's why he sent killers to deal with her on the way.
But now a day had passed, and the assassins he sent hadn't returned to report. This meant that they had been defeated and none of them had survived.
Thinking of this, he frowned. He didn't expect that the person sent by Helian Qi this time was a master. Although he still wanted to kill Yaoji, now that they were about to enter the territory of the Southern Neighboring Kingdom, it would be too easy to be exposed if he made another move. So he had to give up.
After thinking all this through, his face became even more solemn. He waved his hand and swept all the cups and dishes on the nearby table to the ground.
The servants nearby immediately knelt on the ground when they saw their master like this. Their shoulders were trembling as if they were extremely scared. After all, Ye was an extremely cruel man. Any servant who angered him would often die for no reason, so the servants were very afraid of him.
"Zhu Qing!" he shouted.
Then a young boy in a cyan robe walked out. He wore a lotus hair crown on his head, and his pink - cheeked face looked extremely cute.
After coming in, he bowed to the man in front of him and said, "Zhu Qing pays respects to the master!"
After seeing the young boy in front of him, Ye said, "Come on, accompany this king to welcome the princess of the Southern Neighboring Kingdom!"
Then he strode out. Without accident, the escorting team would arrive at the Southern Neighboring City within two hours. Then he would see who the escorting people were who had defeated his assassins.
On the other side, the escorting team.
Seeing the Southern Neighboring Royal City in sight, Lian Cheng said to the man beside him, "We've finally arrived. I've fulfilled the emperor's trust. Let's enter the city!"
Qi Xiao looked at the man in front of him and smiled. Although the journey had not been long, the two of them had formed a friendship. They both knew that the other was a true - natured person without any affectation, so they were willing to be friends.
"Why don't you come into the city with me and have a drink at my mansion?" he said with a smile.
But the man in front of him hooked his lips and refused, saying, "I have to hurry back to report to my emperor. Let's do it next time. Next time, we'll surely have a good drink and get drunk!"
Then he tugged on the horse's reins, turned the horse around, waved to the man behind him, and galloped away.
The man still standing there watched the back of the man in front of him gradually disappear from his sight. The smile on his lips deepened. Then he led the carriage into the Southern Neighboring City.