Just as Song Liang was debating whether to dispose of this person as well, the masked woman seized his wrist and hauled him toward the exit.
“Come with me!”
Song Liang had never expected her to be so strong. She pulled him straight out of the carriage, and he stumbled, nearly falling to the ground.
Song Liang: 【Ah, I’m so delicate.】
【…】
Perhaps hide the corpse in the carriage before saying that?
The masked woman quickly steadied him. “Are you all right?”
“I’m fine.”
Song Liang straightened his wide-sleeved robe. He was just about to look up and speak when a tall, thin masked man ahead drove his blade into the chest of someone lying on the ground. Blood welled along the steel, quickly soaking the fallen man’s robes. Moments later, he stopped breathing.
Only then did Song Liang notice the others outside the carriage. Apart from the masked woman, there were several more people, all with their faces covered and blades in hand. Bodies lay scattered at their feet in pools of blood, and the heavy metallic stench struck his nose.
Song Liang: 【This instance is that intense?】
【What did you expect? It’s a proper A-rank instance! Watch yourself and stop pulling stunts!】
Perhaps Song Liang’s stare was too obvious, because the tall, thin masked man suddenly looked up at him.
“Scared?”
Song Liang said nothing.
The man gave a derisive snort, pulled his blade from the corpse, and walked toward them. Fresh blood dripped from it all the way.
“This is the person our master wants us to protect?” His exposed eyes assessed Song Liang critically. “Looks like a stiff breeze could knock him over. What use is he?”
“Enough,” the masked woman rebuked him with a frown. Then she turned apologetically to Song Liang. “I’m sorry. We meant to take a calculated risk by having you travel separately from us. We didn’t expect word of the plan to get out or for someone to intercept you. Fortunately, we arrived in time. You’re not hurt, are you?”
Song Liang shook his head, then asked, “Can I still be emperor?”
【…】
What an extraordinary appetite for high office.
The masked woman merely assumed he was still thinking about their earlier plan. Feeling even guiltier, she softened her voice.
“We have to wait for word from our master. Until then, stay with us. When the right opportunity comes, we’ll see whether we can get you to the capital.”
Song Liang nodded. As long as he could still become emperor, he had something to look forward to.
Someone behind them inspected the carriage, then approached with a frown.
“He Yong is dead.”
The tall man’s expression immediately darkened as he looked at Song Liang. Song Liang was about to speak when the masked woman pulled him behind her.
“A man called You Hua killed him.”
Song Liang: “…”
The tall man cast him a sidelong glance and said coldly, “He Yong was the nephew of the head of Xinyi Escort Agency.”
“I’ll explain it to Chief He,” the masked woman said.
With her taking responsibility so plainly, the man could hardly say more.
“The authorities will be here soon. We need to leave.”
Then he looked at Song Liang. “Can you ride?”
Song Liang had barely opened his mouth before the masked woman pulled him toward her own horse.
“He’ll ride with me.”
Song Liang: “…”
He had suddenly acquired a mother.
Song Liang really had never ridden a horse. In the previous world, he had spent his time either absorbed in games or recuperating at home. Riding had never come up, so settling onto the saddle felt rather novel.
He was just reaching for the reins when a voice behind him said, “Hold on to the saddle.”
“…”
Song Liang silently gripped the saddle instead, leaning as far forward as he could. This was an ancient setting, after all, and she was a young woman. He couldn’t be as casual as he had been before and risk causing trouble for her.
【Very good. Keep it up. No flirting with everyone you meet.】
Song Liang: “…”
He was about to ask when he had ever done such a thing when his gaze suddenly shifted. He turned his head toward the trees beside the road behind them.
The horse jostled beneath them. In her haste to leave, the masked woman didn’t notice his movement—until Song Liang suddenly grabbed her right hand on the reins and yanked it forward.
“Li Huai—”
She cried out as she pitched forward, pressing against his slender back. Before she could rebuke him, the horse veered sharply toward the tall man’s mount. He hurriedly reined in and moved aside.
Fury flared in his chest. He was about to turn and berate Song Liang when a burning pain grazed his cheek. An arrow skimmed past his face and flew into the dense woods ahead.
His expression changed drastically. Whipping around, he saw soldiers in black armor emerging from the surrounding trees, bows trained on them. His men had all taken arrows in the back and tumbled from their horses. Only he and the masked woman remained.
The woman was equally shaken. The instant Song Liang pulled her down, she had tried to straighten, only to hear something slice through the air just above her back. An arrow whistled over her head and punched clean through a tree trunk beside the road.
Her face drained of color. She recognized the unusual weapon at once.
“Blackfeather arrows!”
The others paled at those words. Something stirred in Song Liang’s mind as well.
Blackfeather arrows were weapons exclusive to the Dark Armor Guard and Black Armor Guard, two divisions of the imperial household guard. Forged from thousand-year-old dark iron, they were virtually indestructible, sharp enough to pierce armor, and devastatingly lethal.
The two guard divisions were also the trump cards of Regent Xie Yun, the most powerful of the many antagonistic forces in A Realm to Rest Upon. In the early part of the novel, their very names were enough to strike terror into people’s hearts. No wonder everyone reacted like this.
The two escorts knew they had ridden into an ambush, but it was already too late. The Black Armor Guard closed in swiftly from all sides, sealing off the road ahead. A middle-aged man in light armor stepped out from among them, one hand resting on his Yanling saber, his expression cold and stern as he faced the three travelers.
The two sides confronted each other in dead silence.
Around them, arrowheads gleamed with a chilling light in the hands of the lightly armored guards. A single command from this man would turn them into mangled flesh beneath a storm of arrows.
The masked woman and the tall man broke into cold sweats. Only Song Liang studied the middle-aged man’s face and spoke calmly.
“How dare you, Ruan Chong? Why do you not kneel before your emperor?”
The armored man’s expression changed instantly. He dropped to his knees.
“Your subject, Ruan Chong, deputy commander of the Black Armor Guard, pays his respects to Your Majesty! Long live Your Majesty! Ten thousand years!”
At the same time, every guard around them lowered his bow, knelt on one knee, and called out in unison.
“We pay our respects to Your Majesty! Long live Your Majesty! Ten thousand years!”
“…”
The masked woman and the tall man stared wide-eyed at the imposing scene. She hurriedly leaned toward Song Liang’s ear and whispered, “How did you know who he was?”
“I studied beforehand.”
“…”
The woman was deeply shaken. Not only had Song Liang agreed to risk his life by entering the palace as an impostor, he had also put in so much effort in secret. He truly was a man of loyalty and courage.
Even the tall man couldn’t help speaking. “I thought you’d only agreed to enter the palace because you wanted wealth and status. I see now that I misjudged you. My apologies.”
【This fellow is a pretty good judge of character.】
Song Liang: “…”
Of course he hadn’t studied anything. The moment Ruan Chong appeared, the system had displayed his information. Clearly, he was an important NPC.
Song Liang deliberately left him kneeling for a little longer before saying lazily, “You may rise.”
“Thank you, Your Majesty!”
Ruan Chong slowly stood, then looked uncertainly at the masked woman and the tall man.
“May I ask Your Majesty who these two might be?”
“Guards I hired among the common people.”
Song Liang remembered that Chen Min had left the palace without permission, taking no guards, only a personal eunuch and a palace maid.
“We encountered bandits earlier. My eunuch and maid were both killed. Fortunately, these guards saved me. I intended to reward them upon my return to the palace, only to run into you—and have you slaughter the lot of them.”
He deliberately drew out the last sentence, letting a cold killing intent seep into his voice. Ruan Chong immediately broke into a sweat and dropped to his knees again with a thud.
“I was ordered to pursue the rebels who abducted Your Majesty. Seeing Your Majesty held on horseback, I was so eager to rescue you that I ordered my men to attack! Please forgive me, Your Majesty!”
“Forgive you?” Song Liang sneered. “It looks to me as though you intend to rebel. Get out of my way!”
Ruan Chong scrambled up and stepped aside, ordering, “Clear the road!”
At his command, all the Black Armor Guards parted to open a path. They even remained kneeling, not one daring to lift his head. The masked woman and the tall man watched, terrified and dumbstruck.
Song Liang looked up at them. “Well? Shall we go?”
Only then did they recover, gather the reins, and urge their horses forward.
With black-armored soldiers lining both sides of the road, their hearts were in their throats. Neither said a word, terrified of making a mistake that would expose them.
When they had nearly cleared the encirclement, Song Liang said, “They’ll follow us shortly. They won’t be too far behind, but they won’t come too close either. Once we pass those woods ahead, pick up speed immediately. Understood?”
“…Understood.”
The masked woman swallowed. Looking at Song Liang’s composed face, she couldn’t help asking, “You don’t seem afraid at all.”
“Pretending,” Song Liang replied casually.
She opened her mouth, wanting to say that she truly couldn’t tell. The tall man didn’t dare speak or even look back. He could only sit rigidly and guide his horse slowly forward.
Soon they reached the far end of the woods. Their eyes met, and both raised their whips at once.
“Hyah!”
The horses neighed and surged forward. They were almost around the bend when a piercing rush of air sounded beside their ears, carrying something like the shrill cry of a crane.
Alarm shot through them. Before they could turn, two Blackfeather arrows punched through their chests.
The wet sound of torn flesh followed.
Both toppled from their galloping horses. Song Liang, seated in front of the masked woman, was dragged down with her.
The world spun. Then a savage pain flared through his left leg and rapidly spread. Lying on the ground, Song Liang’s vision darkened in waves. It took him a long moment to recover.
Fuck.
He cursed under his breath and slowly pushed himself up. A black horse with four snow-white feet came to a stop before him.
A low voice, cold enough to pierce bone, sounded above him.
“If they were traitors, why was Your Majesty leaving with them?”
“…”
Perhaps his injuries were too severe, or the pain had muddled his senses, because Song Liang thought the voice sounded familiar.
He slowly raised his head.
A tall man sat astride the horse, dressed in black with fitted archery sleeves, an ornate belt adorned with gold and jade at his waist. He held a bow in his left hand and the reins in his right. Wealth and authority radiated from him, accompanied by an indescribable aristocratic grandeur.
Squinting against the light, Song Liang finally made out his face.
His black hair was tied high. His features were deeply defined, his lips thin, his nose straight and high. Beneath a pronounced brow, emerald eyes shone with a clear, icy light—like a deep green pool, like a dense forest beneath an overcast sky. A single imperious glance carried enough force to make a person tremble.
Song Liang’s eyes widened in a daze.
Around him, voices rose in unison.
“We pay our respects to Your Highness!”
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