A flash of curiosity appeared in his eyes. Having failed to bring Xie Lin Lang down in one hit, he quickly swung his dagger again in her direction!
Xie Lin Lang couldn’t drag the battle on for much longer. The situation was already risky because she had to deflect the sneak attack from earlier.
This time, Xiao Xi saw that the situation wasn’t looking well for them and immediately fought his way over to her for assistance. Having Xiao Xi covering her, Xie Lin Lang was able to step back from the front lines. Today’s situation was very odd, so she must retreat from the battlefield with Qin Jue first!
As she grabbed the young man’s hand and began dragging him without sparing a glance, she only made sure that the cape being worn was the correct one.
Immediately following this, Xiao Xi began his fight with the opponent.
Seeing this, Xie Lin Lang quickly shouted in warning, “Be careful, Xiao Xi! He’s from Ze Nation!”
Having heard this, a hint of fierceness flashed over Xiao Xi’s expression, each of his hits increasing in strength.
But suddenly, the group of bandits surrounding Xiao Xi swiftly changed direction and began swinging their weapons at the substitute young man!
Having been on the alert and keeping an eye on their movements, Xie Lin Lang was quickly able to dodge the attacks with the boy she brought along. But the moment she moved to the side, the opponents headed straight for Dong Qi!
Dong Qi did not expect that someone would still be paying attention to him at a time like this. As the enemies swung their swords at him, he had no choice but to block the attacks with his sword!
Simultaneously, he passed Qin Jue over to the protection of his subordinates, urging them to leave as quickly as possible. But at this moment, a group of around ten inconspicuous bandits suddenly charged forward with all of their force!
Among the chaos, they managed to seal Qin Jue’s pressure point, stunning him, and quickly escaped after capturing him!
And all of this happened only within a few seconds!
It wasn’t until Xie Lin Lang made her way out with the young man that she finally noticed there was something different about the person she dragged back. All of her attention was focused on tracking the enemies, so it was natural that she missed the moment when the real Qin Jue had been kidnapped!
Dong Qi finally managed to regain his composure. As the kidnappers took Qin Jue farther and farther away, he swung his sword mightily and pushed the enemies back. Then, he quickly went to chase after the prince!
The group of white cloth-wearing bandits immediately escaped among the chaos following this. When Xiao Xi walked over after taking a long time to finish killing the regular bandits blocking their way, the dust on the battlefield had already been settled.
Upon seeing that GongZi and the Crown Prince were both unscathed, he let out a sigh of relief.
He ran to Xie Lin Lang’s side and spoke with a somewhat guilty tone.
“I’m sorry, GongZi. I was no match for that group of people.”
Xiao Xi’s expertise was in QingGong in the first place while his KungFu was terrible in comparison. On top of that, the enemies he faced were many years over his age and they also had years of battling experience above him.
But right now, Xie Lin Lang was not in the mood to speak comforting words to him. She stared unmovingly at the young man that was in front of her.
Slowly and cautiously, she asked, “Who are you?”
The young man blinked his eyes a few times with those icy pupils of his. The corner of his lips slightly curled into a grin, then it turned into a simultaneously dangerous yet innocent smile.
“Lin Lang, what’s wrong? It’s me, Qin Jue.”
His voice, tone, movements, and every change of expression was the exact imitation of the real Qin Jue’s. Yet when Xie Lin Lang heard, she only facepalmed herself with a face full of distress!
Seeing her behavior, Xiao Xi couldn’t understand why she acted like this.
“What’s wrong, GongZi?”
Xie Lin Lang replied, “We got the wrong one.”
The wrong one?
The moment she spoke these words, not just Xiao Xi, but even the substitute young man was caught off guard, as a hint of surprise flashed past his eyes.
It was impossible! How was it possible that just by hearing a single sentence and seeing a few movements that she had already recognized him? His mimicking of his master was close to that of perfection!
This time on the other side of the battlefield, the guards have already concluded the battle. Because of the sudden departure of more than ten “bandits”, the bandit troops lost their morale and quickly surrendered themselves.
After having surrendered, the soldiers began tying the bandits all up and sending people this way for inquiry.
“DaRen, all of the bandits have already surrendered. What should we do next?”
Before Xiao Xi was able to answer, Xie Lin Lang stood up and spoke.
“Xiao Xi, take these people to Xiang City. I’m going after Qin Jue.”
Earlier when they were being attacked, all of her attention was focused on protecting this boy in front of her. In fact, who would still have that much extra awareness of everything when there’s so much going on! Of course, it was obvious that she would protect what’s in front of her first.
But within those few pivotal seconds, they were able to kidnap Qin Jue!
Xiao Xi’s face was filled with confusion.
“His Highness? But isn’t His Highness here right now?”
‘Qin Jue’ was also visibly confused, “Did something happen?”
The more Xie Lin Lang looked at him, the more she wanted to sigh loudly. Suddenly, her hand quickly reached out and pressed on his sleeping pressure points. When she handed his body over to Xiao Xi, he was completely flabbergasted.
She explained to him in a low voice, “It seems that Qin Jue was kidnapped during the chaos. And there’s also another group of people chasing after him. Although I’m not completely sure what happened, the one that had been kidnapped is definitely the real Qin Jue.
Additionally, one of the two groups of people is the traitor from the neighboring country. Although I don’t know how they managed to mix into the group of mountain bandits, they have most definitely been accumulating power in Xiang City!”
Having heard this, Xiao Xi was completely stunned. But Xie Lin Lang didn’t stick around long enough to explain more. She hopped on her horse, and before she could leave, Xiao Xi quickly called out to her.
“GongZi, are you sure you’re not misunderstanding something? If the group of traitors was plodding their roots in Xiang City, then how did we not find out anything about them while we searched the city?
As you know, the Xiang City guards are extremely strict in who they let in. Their accents are different nor do they have official documents. Wouldn’t they be caught easily no matter how you think of it?”
Sitting on the horse, Xie Lin Lang squinted her eyes in thought.
“What if they never entered the city in the first place?”
Having said that, her eyes suddenly lit up!
“I think I know where they’re hiding!”
(This translation was brought to you by LeafInBloom on Patreon and Sleepy Translations.)
Thereafter, her shoes tightened around the horse’s belly and galloped away, leaving Xiao Xi in his own confusion. It hasn’t even been long since GongZi came to Xiang City, so how would she possibly know where the traitors’ hideout is?
Not good! He must send backups to help GongZi!
While heading towards the destination on her horse, Xie Lin Lang’s mind kept going over what had happened on the battlefield.
She believed that Qin Jue had to have known something was up. In fact, it’s highly possible that between the two unknown groups of people, one of them was his men.
Otherwise, it wouldn’t make sense how he was swapped out so soundlessly. And that young man who looked identical to him… if it hasn’t been planned out beforehand, how would it be possible to have put scars in the same exact locations?
Adding these events together, it all began to make sense. Qin Jue wanted to find a substitute for himself. That way, he could hide in the shadows and begin working on his plot to revenge.
Thinking thus, a soft mocking scoff escaped Xie Lin Lang’s lips and anger flashed past her eyes.
It was one thing to treat children with kindness and spoil them when they need it, but when they’re acting up, and even starting to keep secrets of their own…then it was time for them to suffer some punishments…
On the other side, inside an enclosed and secret space, someone released Qin Jue’s pressure points.
He observed the white cloth bound around the person’s neck, narrowing his eyes, and asked, “You’re from Ze Nation?”
Hearing his question, Lian Ke reached up, touching the white cloth.
He smiled ominously, “That’s right, Your Highness. I’ve waited here for more than a month. Now I’ve finally caught you!”
Having said that, he sat down on the leader’s seat across Qin Jue. By his side were more than ten of his subordinates who were staring cautiously and intently at Qin Jue, not daring to miss a single of his movements even if he was just a young lad.
Qin Jue quickly scanned the subordinates around him, finally landing on Lian Ke.
“Waiting so long just for me…what are you trying to get me to do?”
Seeing how easy he is to talk to, Lian Ke also went straight to the point.
He grinned menacingly, “All of this effort just to invite His Highness for a visit, of course, it’ll be something worth your time!”
Pausing for a moment, his malicious eyes floated straight into Qin Jue’s.
“His Highness of the Qin Nation, it is said that you have been tormented terribly by your biological father. And all of the people in your biological mother’s family were slaughtered without mercy. Experiencing this kind of betrayal, would you be interested in cooperating with us, the Ze Nation? We can help you… take revenge.”