After being reborn, the aloof prime minister was once again forced by a tyrant.

When Xiao Jingyuan and Xie Qinglan stepped out of the General's Mansion, night had already fallen. Gao An followed behind, jogging to lift the carriage curtain first. The red tassels and copper bells of the carriage jingled softly in the night breeze, and two lanterns at the alley entrance cast warm red light, making the shadows of the three of them appear longer and shorter.

The carriage rumbled away. Shen Hanzhou's wails and the boisterous laughter of the hall gradually faded into the distance, while the sound of clappers rang out intermittently on both sides of the long street.

The carriage was dimly lit. Xiao Jingyuan's hand restlessly rested on Xie Qinglan's knee, his fingertips gently tracing the dark patterns on his clothes.

"What were you doing, pulling me like that?" He leaned closer, his voice low, his nose almost brushing against the other's ear.

Xie Qinglan remained seated as usual, her expression cool and indifferent. Upon hearing this, she raised her hand and decisively slapped away his mischievous hand: "Your Majesty, as the supreme ruler, should not meddle in the family affairs of your subjects."

"Oh," Xiao Jingyuan responded, and taking advantage of the other's unpreparedness, he reached out again and grabbed her slender wrist.

Xie Qinglan frowned, glanced at him sideways, and her clear eyes held a hint of warning: "Don't touch me."

"Oh." He responded obediently, but Xiao Jingyuan's fingers slid down and intertwined with his own, holding on tightly and refusing to let go.

Xie Qinglan struggled twice but couldn't break free, so she simply ignored her and looked down at the street scene flashing by outside the car, her ear tips secretly turning a light red.

The unexpected happened the moment the carriage turned off Suzaku Street.

The horse suddenly pulled back its hooves, causing the carriage to lurch violently, and the copper bells at the front of the carriage rattled loudly.

Xiao Jingyuan reacted swiftly, his long arm immediately reaching out to firmly protect Xie Qinglan's shoulder. His aura solidified, and he asked in a deep voice, "What happened?"

Silence reigned outside the carriage; not even the driver uttered a sound. Gao An's voice, trembling slightly, came from outside the curtain: "Your Majesty, at the alleyway ahead, it looks like—"

Before he could finish speaking, a sharp "thud" pierced the air. A jet-black crossbow bolt pierced through the thick carriage wall, its arrowhead gleaming coldly, barely grazing Xiao Jingyuan's upper arm before embedding itself in the wooden plank. The bolt's fletching trembled violently from the impact.

In an instant, the sound of tiles rubbing against each other echoed from the rooftops on both sides. Twenty or thirty assassins in black leaped down from the eaves and walls, each wielding a cold blade, and quickly surrounded the carriage.

Xie Qinglan lifted a corner of the carriage curtain and quickly scanned the area, her eyes instantly turning cold. This group of assassins landed steadily, their grip on their knives, their stances, and their advances and retreats all adhering to standard military combat techniques. Their formation was disciplined and their coordination was impeccable, far superior to the hastily assembled group of desperados from the last Flower Festival.

Xiao Jingyuan subconsciously reached for his waist, only to find it empty. He hadn't brought a sword to the wedding banquet tonight, and Xie Qinglan's Guilan sword was left at Tingxue Pavilion. Both of them were unarmed, while dozens of well-trained assassins stood outside the carriage.

"Your Majesty, Lord Xie, outside—" Gao An's voice trembled uncontrollably. Having lived in the deep palace for so long, he had never seen such a killing formation before. He gripped his riding whip tightly, and his hands and feet were ice-cold.

Xie Qinglan knew that the assassin's target was him and Xiao Jingyuan. Gao An and the coachman were unarmed and would only die if they stayed there.

He lowered his voice, his tone steady: "Gao An, you two hide inside the carriage. His Majesty and I will lure the people away. No matter what noises are happening outside, do not come out."

"Thank you, Lord Xie..." Gao An was so frightened that his face turned pale.

"Listen to him," Xiao Jingyuan ordered in a deep voice.

"Yes, yes!" Gao An gritted his teeth, pulled the driver along, and the two of them crouched down and hid in the carriage, drawing the curtains tightly shut. Gao An huddled under the seat, clutching a whisk in his hand, trembling like a leaf, but biting his lip hard to keep himself from making a sound.

"Go!" Xiao Jingyuan shouted, and the two of them jumped out from both sides of the carriage at the same time.

Xie Qinglan lightly touched the carriage shaft with her toes, and her pale figure drew an extremely fast arc in the moonlight, landing steadily on the other side of the long street.

Xiao Jingyuan then flipped over and leaped onto the roof of the car, and then used the momentum to jump onto the opposite roof ridge, exposing himself to the center of the assassins' line of sight.

"They're over there! Chase them!" the lead assassin shouted, making a hand gesture. Dozens of dark figures immediately split into two groups and pounced on the two like hungry wolves.

Xie Qinglan lightly touched the bluestone ground with his toes and sped along the long street towards the palace gate. His movements were so fast that only a fleeting afterimage remained, and the night wind made his robes flutter like butterflies.

Xiao Jingyuan ran across the rooftop, tiles shattering and falling with a crackling sound. He seized the opportunity and leaped off the roof, just in time to meet Xie Qinglan.

In a few leaps and bounds, they had lured all the assassins away from the carriage and were now following behind them.

"We are outnumbered and unarmed, so a direct confrontation is the worst option." Xie Qinglan's voice remained calm, but her speech was three points faster than usual. "Run towards the palace gate; the Imperial Guards are on duty there."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Jingyuan not only stopped running, but also abruptly stopped.

The night wind suddenly whipped up his dark robes, making them flutter like ink. He turned to face the pursuing assassin, a familiar, defiant rage forged in mountains of corpses and seas of blood welling up in his eyes.

"What a joke," he sneered, his voice not loud, but filled with an arrogant disdain for everything. "I am the Emperor of Beishuo, how could I be forced to flee in disgrace by a few cowards!"

"That's not just a few, it's dozens!" Xie Qinglan said urgently, reaching out to grab his wrist.

But the moment his fingertips touched Xiao Jingyuan's sleeve, he had already rushed out.

Like a tiger that had been gathering its strength for a long time, he charged head-on at the assassin who was rushing towards him. The assassin clearly did not expect him to meet him head-on. Just as he raised his curved blade, Xiao Jingyuan neither dodged nor avoided it. He slightly turned his body and twisted the man's wrist tightly with his left hand like an iron clamp—and there was a crisp "crack" sound.

Before the assassin could scream, Xiao Jingyuan's right hand gripped the cold blade. The sharp edge instantly sliced ​​through his palm, and blood gushed from between his fingers, dripping onto the bluestone slab.

He seemed oblivious to the pain, forcefully snatching the still-chilling scimitar from the assassin's hand while simultaneously kicking him hard in the chest. The assassin flew through the air like a rag doll, crashing into the wall and dying instantly.

"If you don't have a knife, just grab one!" He grinned, revealing the savagery and domineering nature he had developed from fighting on the battlefield.

An assassin slashed from the shadows, and even before the blade reached the neck, a chilling aura was already present.

Xiao Jingyuan dodged the blade, then with a swift movement of his right hand, he severed the man's arm holding the knife. Blood gushed out, splattering onto his black robe, leaving several dark, damp streaks. He spun around to avoid another diagonal slash, his blade flashing in his palm, causing two more assassins to drop their weapons.

With lightning speed, he grabbed a longsword that had fallen to the ground, and without even looking at it, turned and threw it towards Xie Qinglan: "Qinglan, catch!"

Xie Qinglan caught the sword with precision, remaining silent for a moment. In the moonlight, he clearly saw the blood dripping from Xiao Jingyuan's palm, leaving a long, glaring trail on the bluestone slab. His heart felt as if something had clenched it tightly, a mixture of pain and anger.

Before he could think further, three assassins attacked from three directions simultaneously, their curved blades flashing coldly, blocking all his escape routes. Xie Qinglan's eyes flashed with a cold light, and with a flick of his wrist, his longsword twirled into three sword flowers.

With three soft "thuds," three curved blades fell to the ground simultaneously. The three assassins staggered back, clutching their bleeding wrists, their faces filled with horror. Xie Qinglan's sword was too fast; so fast that they didn't even have a chance to see his movements clearly.

Blood splattered on his moon-white sleeve, like a few specks of cinnabar. He didn't even blink, but simply turned his head slightly and said to Xiao Jingyuan in a deep voice, "There are too many people. Fight our way back."

Xiao Jingyuan cleaved back the enemy in front of him with a single strike and immediately retreated to Xie Qinglan's side. The two stood back to back, sword and blade intertwined, forming an impenetrable defensive line.

Xiao Jingyuan's swordsmanship was bold and unrestrained, each strike carrying the brute force to split mountains and shatter rocks, the wind from his blade whistling, forcing the assassins to keep their distance; Xie Qinglan's swordsmanship was as light and agile as flowing water, wherever the tip of her sword touched, someone would fall, yet she precisely avoided vital points—deliberately leaving survivors alive.

Their teamwork was seamless, as if they had fought side by side a thousand times before. The sounds of clashing swords filled the long street, sparks flew, and the stench of blood gradually permeated the air.

However, the number of assassins was simply too great. No sooner had one wave been repelled than another surged forward like a tidal wave. These men were extremely well-coordinated, attacking in groups of three, each strike deadly.

Xie Qinglan forced the two men back with her sword, but her sleeve was torn by the blade of a third person.

The two fought and retreated, gradually approaching the palace gate. Finally, the sound of the imperial guards' night patrol clappers and the crisp clinking of armor could be heard in the distance—Zhao Kuo had arrived with his night patrol.

The lead assassin paused, his sinister gaze sweeping over Xiao Jingyuan and Xie Qinglan, then glancing at the approaching torches in the distance. He gritted his teeth unwillingly and gestured for retreat.

Twenty or thirty dark figures simultaneously sheathed their swords, disappearing into the night in a few leaps, leaving only a few of their fallen comrades lying on the ground.

"Chase them!" Zhao Kuo hurriedly ordered his men to give chase, then quickly walked to Xiao Jingyuan and knelt on one knee, his voice filled with lingering fear, "This humble general has arrived late to save Your Majesty, please forgive me!"

"Alright." Xiao Jingyuan casually tossed the stolen knife to the ground. "Send men to follow the blood trail. Some of them are injured, they can't have gone far. Also, take these survivors to the Heavenly Prison for Ling Feng to interrogate."

After saying that, he turned to look at Xie Qinglan, looked him up and down, and only breathed a sigh of relief after confirming that he was not injured.

Xie Qinglan had somehow torn a strip of cloth from her moon-white sleeve and, with her eyes lowered, deftly wrapped it around his still-bleeding hand.

His eyes were lowered, his long eyelashes casting soft shadows beneath them. His slender fingers moved with extreme gentleness as he wrapped the strips of cloth around his wounds, as if afraid of aggravating them, yet the force he unconsciously tightened as he finished tying the knot. Anger was etched on his cold face, his jawline taut, and his fingertips trembling slightly.

"It's just a superficial injury." Xiao Jingyuan looked down at him, his tone somewhat nonchalant.

Xie Qinglan looked up and glared at him.

"Does Your Majesty consider yourself to be made of copper and iron?" His voice was not loud, but it was as if it had been tempered with ice. "Disarming with bare hands—if Your Majesty does not want this hand, you might as well tell me sooner rather than later, and I will cut it off for Your Majesty, so as not to waste it like this."

Xiao Jingyuan was taken aback by his scolding. He looked down at his tightly bound hands, then looked up at Xie Qinglan's tense jaw and slightly trembling fingertips. He could easily see through the ruse. This man appeared to be reprimanding harshly, but in reality, he was filled with lingering fear.

His tone immediately softened, and he lowered his stance to beg for forgiveness: "I know I was wrong."

Xie Qinglan paused, her fingertips pausing.

"I won't do it again next time." Xiao Jingyuan looked at him, his eyes filled with flattery and sincerity.

Xie Qinglan remained silent for a moment, then withdrew her hand, turned around, and strode towards the palace gate: "We'll settle this score when we get back to the palace."

Xiao Jingyuan quickly caught up and walked alongside him under the palace lanterns. After a few steps, Xie Qinglan unconsciously rubbed his torn sleeve with his fingertips and said softly, "The methods of these assassins are completely different from those of the assassins during the Flower Festival. They use the orthodox swordsmanship of the Southern Yue Army."

"Pei Nanchi." Xiao Jingyuan's voice suddenly turned cold, and a fierce aura surged in his eyes.

"It's most likely him." Xie Qinglan nodded. "He's had Pei Yuning's secret letter for a long time, and now he can't hold back any longer. Tonight's assassination attempt seemed like a death sentence, with seven out of ten moves aimed at me, but it was just a test of His Majesty's attitude and a probe of Beishuo's bottom line."

The two stepped into the palace gates, where the vermilion palace walls stood silently in the night. Xie Qinglan suddenly stopped and turned to look at Xiao Jingyuan. The moonlight fell on his face, reflecting the undercurrents surging in his cold eyes.

"Your Majesty," his voice was soft, yet carried an undeniable certainty, "Since Pei Nanchi dared to extend his blade into the territory of Beishuo, he will not stop here. If I am not mistaken, news will arrive from Nanyue in the next few days."

Xiao Jingyuan looked into his eyes and slowly nodded.

"I'll be waiting."