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Chapter 54.2 Assassination
*****
Two days traveling in the carriage passed peacefully between Su Su and Ye Bing Shang.
Occasionally, the group would stop to use the toilet. Until the third day, when they came upon a stream, Ye Bing Shang said that she wanted to wash up.
Not long after, a maidservant frantically ran over and said, “Side Imperial Concubine is missing! T-this maidservant just lowered my head and the Side Imperial Concubine disappeared!”
Something felt strange about the situation, so Su Su couldn’t sit still in the carriage and ran to the stream too.
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Before she could get close, she smelled a fishy odour.
Su Su frowned. Unlike the head commander, she didn’t look around the stream and went straight to examine the underbrush instead. As expected, a large patch of grass showed traces of being pressed down.
Su Su smelled the air, then looked at the trace again, and her face changed.
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“Rv’p y tkydv ruvbsd!”
Gv bla osaep, lhlausdl’p qynlp vwadle ryzl.
“Ebyv pbswze ol es dso?”
Rv xktbv dsv sdzu cl y tkydv ruvbsd, cwv y ruvbsd elxsd, svblaokpl, kv oswzed’v cl vbyv qypv.
Fw Fw pyke, “R’zz ts yqvla kv, ts kdqsax Tkp Tktbdlpp Ikdt Dwyd yde ypj bkx vs plde blzr.”
Gqvla prlyjkdt, pbl qszzsole vbl vaykz vs nbypl yqvla kv.
Mbl pszeklap vakle vs tkhl nbypl vss, cwv qswde vbyv vblu nswzed’v jllr wr okvb Fw Fw, ps vblu nswze sdzu pyu, “Qs cynj yde alrsav vs Tkp Tktbdlpp!”
Mblu olald’v qya qasx Uydtgbsw, ps vblu nswze alynb kv kd vkxl kq vblu oldv yv qwzz prlle1.
Su Su chased it all the way to a cave. She hesitated for a moment, then took out a luminous pearl, and walked inside.
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Drips of water sounded inside the cave.
She hadn’t gone far when she saw a horrifying scene, a giant piebald python was hissing and flicking its forked tongue at Ye Bing Shang.
Ye Bing Shang was coiled up in its tail, her face pale.
Seeing that the python was about to swallow Ye Bing Shang, Su Su had no time to hesitate. A hidden talisman paper flew out and stuck to the giant python’s head, burning it with a puff of black smoke. It writhed in pain and subconsciously let go of Ye Bing Shang.
Su Su flew over to catch her, “Leave quickly.”
Ye Bing Shang’s legs were weak and she timidly said, “M-my legs have no strength.”
“I’ll carry you!” Su Su said.
She didn’t want to keep fighting, so she fled with Ye Bing Shang. The python recovered from the pain and followed after them.
Being chased by a python was terrifying. It was huge and fast. Snakes could climb trees and swim, so it was useless to hide.
If she couldn’t run, she could only fight.
Su Su put Ye Bing Shang down and said, “Hide well!”
Ye Bing Shang pursed her lips and held back her fear as she hid behind a big tree. Su Su pulled out a talisman paper, intending to exorcize the snake directly.
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But a giant python was different from ordinary demons.
It already had its own consciousness, knew to dodge, and had rough and thick skin. Su Su and the python were deadlocked for a long time, she could only wound its skin, and was almost swept away by its tail several times.
It hid its weak spot to prevent Su Su from ever touching it.
For the moment, Su Su couldn’t do anything to it.
As the stalemate continued, Ye Bing Shang suddenly screamed. Su Su turned around and saw Ye Bing Shang running towards her.
There were several triangular-headed venomous snakes following behind her.
Su Su frowned, “Use your heart protecting scale!” As she was distracted, she was swept by the snake’s tail and fell to the ground with a painful grunt.
Ye Bing Shang took out the heart protecting scale in a flurry. The small snakes menacingly eyed their prey, but were obviously afraid and didn’t dare to go near her.
Ye Bing Shang’s face paled as she watched Su Su climb back up without a word and continue to fight the snake demon. She looked at the scale in her hand, hesitated for a moment, then silently clutched it tightly.
Su Su had no intention of using her heart protecting scale either. As long as Ye Bing Shang didn’t cause trouble, the situation wasn’t too bad.
It’s just that Su Su was just a mortal, and mortals would eventually get tired, but snake demons wouldn’t. Once she used up her physical strength, things would be dangerous, so she hoped that Xiao Lin would come quickly.
After a while in a stalemate, a giant spider appeared above them.
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The spider stared at the heart protecting scale in Ye Bing Shang’s hand for a long time, fear and desire flashing in its eyes. It was very smart and chose to attack Su Su who didn’t have the heart protecting scale.
Ye Bing Shang was the first to see the spider. She subconsciously wanted to speak to warn Su Su, but remembering something, she slightly hesitated.
A moment later, the spider spat out silk that wrapped around Su Su’s waist.
Su Su was hung up in the air, and the python’s bloody mouth opened wide2 in front of her.
Su Su momentarily panicked, but forced herself to calm down. Several small swords flew out from her waist, some struck the snake’s head to briefly stop it, and the rest cut the silk around her.
She fell from the air.
As she fell, she noticed more and more demons around them, and the small demons who’d opened their consciousnesses were eyeing them covetously.
Su Su suddenly thought of something—— The heart protecting scale!
They all wanted the heart protecting scale, so she turned back to Ye Bing Shang and shouted, “Use the heart protecting scale to kill them.”
Ye Bing Shang refused, “I don’t want to kill people.”
“It’s killing demons!” Su Su said.
Ye Bing Shang pursed her lips, “I’ve never done anything like this before.”
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“Then give it to me, let me do it! We’re almost surrounded by them.” Ye Bing Shang didn’t respond and Su Su couldn’t help getting a little angry, “You know how to chase them away at least, right?!”
This time, Ye Bing Shang didn’t hesitate and began to try and activate the heart protecting scale. She completely fumbled about when using it. The heart protecting scale lit up, and the small snakes surrounding her retreated and dispersed. Ye Bing Shang was overjoyed.
“Help me!” Su Su said.
Ye Bing Shang nodded.
As soon as the heart protecting scale lit up, Su Su saw the black eyes of the python in front of her turned red. Not only the python, but even the spider and other demons’ pupils turned a restless red.
Su Su secretly cursed. Her reaction was quick, she simply stopped fighting with the python and turned around to pull Ye Bing Shang.
Ye Bing Shang said with surprise, “Third Sister!”
Su Su coldly said, “Don’t you want to die with me? I’ll fulfill your wish.”
Ye Bing Shang flurriedly said, “I didn’t do it on purpose. I’m not very good at using the heart protecting scale. I just wanted to help you fight them.”
She was telling the truth, but it was still very infuriating.
Su Su thought to herself, I shouldn’t have come to save Ye Bing Shang!
She wanted to see if Ye Bing Shang knew how to use the heart protecting scale in a moment of life and death.
The red-pupiled demons, in their devilized state, were desperate to devour them as if they’d gone mad.
Just then, a figure in white came over with a sword in hand. The cold and sharp wind of the sword cut through the air and stabbed into the snake’s head.
The python’s body hit the ground in a frenzy.
Seeing Xiao Lin’s arrival, Su Su sighed in relief.
There was a cry of surprise beside her, Ye Bing Shang’s ankle was wrapped by the spider’s silk. The red silk dragged her towards the spider’s mouth.
Xiao Lin turned back and pulled her hand, “Bing Shang!”
“Your Highness!”
Xiao Lin cut the spider silk and caught Ye Bing Shang. Still frightened, she softly whimpered.
Xiao Lin said, “Don’t be afraid, it’s over.”
Ye Bing Shang hugged him tightly. A muffled grunt came from his side and Xiao Lin looked back to see Su Su being coiled up by the demonized giant python, instantly disappearing into the forest.
His face paled and making a quick decision, he said to Ye Bing Shang, “Take the heart protecting scale and go all the way north, Martial Uncle Ji is on his way here, he’ll protect you.”
Ye Bing Shang sobbed and said, “You’re going to save Third Sister? Your Highness, don’t leave me behind!”
Xiao Lin said in a deep voice, “Bing Shang, she saved you!”
Ye Bing Shang closed her eyes, “Okay, Your Highness, be careful.”
With a deathly pale face, she walked towards the path Xiao Lin had mentioned, holding the heart protecting scale.
After walking for a while, Ye Bing Shang looked back and saw that Xiao Lin had already disappeared.
She wiped away her tears, unable to describe how she felt inside.
Ye Bing Shang tightly clenched the heart protecting scale in her hand.
She lowered her eyes and slowly walked out of the forest. The heart protecting scale emitted a soft light and none of the demons dared to approach her.
*****
On the other side, after everything stopped spinning3, Su Su turned back but was wrapped up by the giant python’s tail.
Under the influence of devilization, it slithered very fast.
Su Su couldn’t break free at all. She looked back, and in the silent night, no one else could be seen, there was only the fishy smell from the snake assailing her nostrils.
Curved Jade’s heart ached. It angrily said, “We shouldn’t have saved her!”
Su Su didn’t speak.
Right now, it was best to preserve her physical strength. Even if there was no one to save her, she still had to try to save herself.
This time, the python didn’t flee back to the cave, but instead came to the top of a steep slope. It was badly wounded, and without its consciousness right now, it turned back and tried to eat Su Su to heal its wounds. Su Su had a divine weapon inside her body, so to the demons, her flesh and blood were fragrant and sweet.
“Little Master, draw a talisman to deal with this demon!”
Su Su seemed unable to move.
Curved Jade felt something was off, but it didn’t know how to describe it.
Luckily, a man in white slashed its sword against the snake’s jaw, and Xiao Lin shoved a bead into the giant python’s mouth.
Curved Jade recognized it and joyfully said, “Little Master, it’s the evil repelling spirit essence.”
Sure enough, the python’s body soon exploded.
Xiao Lin opened his arms and caught the falling Su Su.
Su Su’s clothes were covered in the demons’ blood. Without strength, she fell softly into Xiao Lin’s arms. Her face was pale, just like the pitiful Sang Jiu from the Fleeting Life Wisdom.
Xiao Lin felt sorry for her, and the part of his memory that belonged to Shao Ju made his heart dully ache.
“Can you still walk?” he asked Su Su.
Su Su softly closed her eyes and shook her head, “I’ve no strength.”
Xiao Lin was silent for a moment, then said in a low voice, “Excuse me.”
He bent down and carried Su Su on his back, “I’ll take you out.”
The young girl behind his back coughed twice, obviously exhausted, and leaned her head weakly on his shoulder.
“Little Master?” Curved Jade asked.
Su Su still didn’t respond.
Xiao Lin protected the young girl on his back with one hand and killed the demons that were chasing them with the other.
The young girl behind his back suddenly said quietly, “Thank you, Your Highness, for coming to save me.”
All of a sudden, fear and restlessness engulfed Curved Jade.
A dagger suddenly pierced through Xiao Lin’s chest.
Su Su was holding the dagger, her eyes were soulless and the corners of her mouth curved upwards.