Chapter 867 Crying in the Corner
Before a stick of incense...

"Quick! Quick! Faster!"

On the pitch-black streets of Lin'an, Qin Wei led Chu Mao and more than 30 other golden sword officers and galloped towards the imperial palace.

"Clap! Clap!"

Qin Wei was so anxious that he wanted to break the whip, fearing that the horse would not be able to move forward as far as it could. He whipped the poor horse harder and harder, until its skin was torn and blood was dripping.

"Report!"

Suddenly, a hurried shout came from a distance, and then a captain with a golden sword who had been scouting the way came up on horseback.

"Shut up!"

Seeing this, Qin Wei hurriedly tightened the reins, causing the horse to neigh and raise its front hooves high. Before the horse's hooves touched the ground, he couldn't wait to ask, "How is it? Have you seen Lord Qian?"

"Reporting to the Marquis, the guards of the palace said that Lord Qian had left the palace not long ago."

"what?"

Qin Wei's face changed, and he quickly calculated in his mind, then he turned to the captains and shouted urgently: "Don't go to the palace, go to the Privy Council instead. Quick! If you can't catch up with Lord Qian's carriage, I will kill you!"

"As ordered!"

All the captains received the order in unison, turned their horses around, and headed towards the Privy Council in a mighty procession.

Qin Wei led his men through the streets and alleys of Lin'an City like chasing stars and the moon. When they were rushing to the Privy Council in full swing, the sound of fierce fighting suddenly came from the street ahead, which sounded particularly loud and harsh in the silence of the night.

"My Lord, this is Lord Qian's carriage!"

The sharp-eyed captain was the first to figure out the situation and reported it to Qin Wei impatiently.

"That person is... Liu Xunyi!" Chu Mao's exclamation followed closely, and his voice became trembling due to excessive panic.

"Chu Mao, go to the Privy Council immediately to mobilize troops and ask them to send someone to support us."

"My Lord, what about you?"

"Stop talking nonsense, just go!"

After saying that, the upset Qin Wei whipped Chu Mao's mount, and the horse felt the pain and immediately ran away.

"Not good! Master Qian is in danger..."

"boom!"

Before Qin Wei could sort out his thoughts, the captain beside him suddenly pointed forward. Before the trembling shout had ended, the tall archway had been cut off by Liu Xunyi's sword. It collapsed with a loud bang amid wailing, smashing Lord Qian's carriage into pieces. The dust that was raised high covered the bloody and cruel scene like a whirlwind.

"No... No... Absolutely not!"

Seeing the murderous, bloodthirsty and cruel Liu Xunyi desperately drawing his sword and walking towards the dying Lord Qian, Qin Wei, who was filled with sorrow, suddenly felt his heart sink. Countless complex and tangled emotions condensed into ice in an instant, and only a blank remained in his mind.

At this moment, Qin Wei no longer had time to weigh the pros and cons of friendship and propriety. He now had only one belief in his heart, which was to save Mr. Qian's life at all costs.

Because to save Mr. Qian is to save himself.

"Brother Liu...don't...please don't..."

Qin Wei stared at Liu Xunyi, who was holding the sword against Mr. Qian, and looked at the familiar figure. Qin Wei's tearful eyes gradually showed a murderous intent. At the same time, his heart began to ache uncontrollably.

"Brother Liu, don't force me... don't force me..."

However, at this time, Liu Xunyi was obsessed with revenge and had already ignored everything around him.

"Suffer to death!"

The moment Liu Xunyi vented his murderous intent without any concealment, Qin Wei's heart suddenly stopped beating as if someone had grasped it tightly.

At the same time, he was so angry that he drew his sword and threw it with all his might in a flash.

"Do not……"

"Whoosh!"

"puff!"

Accompanied by Qin Wei's roar filled with grief, anger and despair, the sharp blade was as fast as lightning and unstoppable, piercing straight through Liu Xunyi's chest.

"Boom!"

When Liu Xunyi knelt down and the sword fell from his hand, Qin Wei's vision was gradually blurred by tears, his lips and teeth trembled, his facial features twisted, and his body trembled like a sieve.

In an instant, the past scenes between him and Liu Xunyi came to his mind uncontrollably...

During their days in Xinglin Village, they chased and played in the fields, stole meat and vegetables in the village houses, played with shrimps and caught fish by the river, caught insects and birds in the mountains, wrestled in the threshing ground, and made pyramids under the trees... They were young at that time, and although their family was poor, they were carefree and enjoyed themselves.

During the days of wandering, they hugged each other for warmth, picked vegetables to fill their stomachs, carefully calculated half a pancake, and each had a mouthful of rice porridge... They were miserable at that time, and although they were hungry and cold, they depended on each other and never left each other.

During their time in Tianji Pavilion, they practiced together, studied together, found ways to be lazy together, and dozed off during morning classes together... Life was hard for them then, and although they were exhausted both physically and mentally, they encouraged and comforted each other.

Especially the first conversation between Liu Xunyi and Zhao Yuan on the streets of Qianzhou, which Qin Wei still remembers vividly. Every time he recalls it, his heart aches and he feels so painful that he wishes he were dead...

"Come with me! Not only can I provide you with food and drink, but I can also make you rich and prosperous! What do you think?"

"Really?"

"I only said I wanted to take you away, but I didn't want him."

"This……"

"What are you doing? Do you want to freeze to death here?"

"Qin Wei is my good brother. I can't leave him alone. I won't go with you. I want to stay with Qin Wei. Even if I freeze to death or starve to death, I will never leave him."

"If I can only take one of you..."

"Then please take Qin Wei away. He is weak and about to die."

"Are you willing to starve to death?"

"I won't starve to death. The old man just gave me a copper coin. I can exchange it for a steamed bun and a bowl of hot porridge. With them, I won't starve to death."

...When Liu Xunyi's childish yet determined smiling face slowly emerged in Qin Wei's mind, the painful figure of Liu Xunyi gradually became clear in his blurry tearful eyes.

At this moment, he could even hear Liu Xunyi's heartbeat and breathing becoming increasingly rapid and weaker.

"what!"

Qin Wei, heartbroken, could no longer endure the great grief. He screamed and fell off his horse. He sat on the ground, beating his chest and stamping his feet, crying loudly: "Why didn't you hide? Why didn't you listen to me? Why did you come back...ah..."

When crying was not enough to express his inner grief, Qin Wei actually howled to the sky. Under the bewildered gaze of the captains, his fists hit the horse's legs, the ground, and himself like raindrops, and his feet kept kicking around like a child at the end of his road. The heartbreaking cries echoed over the city of Lin'an and reverberated in the night sky, lingering for a long time.

Perhaps, at the moment when he threw the sword, deep down in his heart Qin Wei did not want to kill Liu Xunyi.

Perhaps, this was just his tactic of "encircling Wei to save Zhao", with the purpose of forcing Liu Xunyi to give up the assassination of Mr. Qian.

Unfortunately, there was no possibility for Qin Wei, as his sword really pierced Liu Xunyi's vitals.

Perhaps, Liu Xunyi had no chance to dodge and therefore could not avoid it.

Maybe he had a chance to dodge, but... he was unwilling to continue living in humiliation.

Unfortunately, there was no hope for Liu Xunyi, as the cold sword had already pierced his chest.

"My Lord, the troops from the Privy Council have arrived. What should we do?"

"We might as well go all out and rush forward to capture Liu Xunyi first, so that those guys from the Privy Council won't take the credit."

"My Lord, we know that you and Liu... have a close relationship, but now that things have come to this, we have no way to retreat."

"That's right! Liu Xunyi's fate has ended, Lord Marquis, you must not act on impulse!"

"At worst... we can give him a grand funeral in the future. But for now, my Lord, you must stay rational and not become confused because of your momentary sadness."

"This is a golden opportunity for the Marquis to consolidate his position in front of the Emperor. Time is of the essence and we must not miss it."

Seeing the flickering fire in the distance, hundreds of sharp-armored soldiers led by Chu Mao came running towards them. The golden sword captains around Qin Wei offered suggestions and urged him to put the overall situation first.

Just now, Qin Wei wished he could shed all the tears in his life. He sat on the ground depressed and exhausted, staring blankly at Liu Xunyi not far away. There was no expression on his pale face. His numb lips and teeth opened and closed, but he could not utter a word.

"My Lord, this opportunity is rare and will never come again..."

"According to...what you said..."

Using up almost the last bit of his strength, Qin Wei finally squeezed out a mosquito-thin response from his throat.

"As ordered!"

Seeing Qin Wei's agreement, the golden sword captains were all overjoyed. They drew their swords and rushed towards Liu Xunyi with great momentum.

In the eyes of these golden sword captains, Liu Xunyi is now not just a person, but a person of great merit.

Whoever can be the first to rush forward and cut off his head may not necessarily be promoted, but he will definitely become famous.

At this moment, Liu Xunyi, who was in the center of the vortex, knew that a group of "hungry" tigers and wolves were approaching him, but his life was hanging by a thread and he could not muster the strength to resist or dodge. Even the thought of living disappeared. All that was left was the increasing pain and gradually weakening consciousness.

Even his eyes could no longer see the things around him, and his ears could no longer hear their shouting and cursing. He was so weak that he could only see endless double images and hear chaotic noises.

As for his heart, apart from the endless sadness over his brother's feud and the helplessness over his ill-fated fate, he probably had no energy to think of anything else.

Who says there is always a way out?

Liu Xunyi is now in a desperate situation.

"kill him!"

Lord Qian was overjoyed to find that he had survived the disaster. He urged the Golden Sword Captains who had surrounded him: "Kill him quickly!"

"As ordered..."

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

At the critical moment, a sound of breaking air suddenly came from the night sky.

Immediately afterwards, dozens of sharp arrows whizzed in like a storm, instantly killing most of the thirty or so golden sword captains who were eager to try.

"Quick! Protect the adults!"

It happened in a flash. After a round of arrow rain, Chu Mao led more than a hundred soldiers to rush forward. They did not kill Liu Xunyi immediately, but raised their shields to protect the wounded Lord Qian behind them.

"Don't fight any longer, take Liu Xunyi away!"

Accompanied by a cold female voice, twenty or thirty masked men in black rushed forward like hungry tigers. With their swift momentum and excellent martial arts, they knocked down a dozen armored soldiers around Liu Xunyi in the blink of an eye.

Immediately afterwards, a burly masked man flew over, picked up the unconscious Liu Xunyi on his shoulders without saying a word, and then soared into the sky under the cover of others and fled.

Everything happened so suddenly that before the soldiers could figure out the number of enemies, this group of masked men of unknown origin had quickly withdrawn from the battle, scattered in all directions, and disappeared without a trace in the blink of an eye.

The soldiers were confused and looked at each other. They didn't even know which direction to chase.

From the sudden attack of rain of arrows to the rescue and escape, it all happened in the blink of an eye. A normal person would be caught off guard, let alone Lord Qian who was still frightened and Qin Wei who was confused?

……

Outside the city of Lin'an, masked men in black who fled from all directions got into a dozen horse-drawn carriages that had been waiting there for a long time. Accompanied by a burst of whips and shouts, a dozen carriages drove out of Lin'an overnight.

In one of the carriages, two men in black looked solemnly at Liu Xunyi, whose life or death was unknown. One of them held a candlestick and carefully checked his wounds, while the other tried to pull out the sword stuck in his chest.

"Wait! He is injured in the heart and lungs, don't draw your sword rashly, otherwise he will surely die!"

Accompanied by a clear and pleasant voice of dissuasion, a petite masked man in black entered the carriage.

"Then...what should we do?"

"We are not good at medicine, so we can't act rashly. First, use your inner strength to protect his meridians and use the golden wound medicine to stop the bleeding. Find a place to stay before dawn, and then find a doctor with excellent medical skills to help."

The woman responded calmly while slowly taking off the black scarf in front of her. In the candlelight, her fair, flawless, exquisite and stunning face was revealed.

This woman turned out to be Xunzhen, who had traveled to the Western Regions and whom she had not seen for a long time.

……

(End of this chapter)