Chapter 17: Escaping with One's Life

  A chill wind blew in from the corridor, and in the spacious prison cell, a man with thin clothing sat alone on an ice-cold stone bed. His eyes, as thin as water, had a cold indifference like the edge of a steel knife. After his initial shock, he gradually turned his head away, never looking at Qing Xia again. With blood-stained clothes and scars all over, Qing Xia's heart felt like it was being tightly gripped by an invisible hand. Her eyes narrowed slightly as she tried to speak, but was still rejected by his cold indifference from a thousand miles away.

  A single lamp was like a bean, under the dim light, Qing Xia suddenly came back to her senses. What's wrong with herself, why would she have such strong emotions in such a dangerous situation? Without time to think about her own abnormality, Qing Xia ran up a few steps and grabbed Prince An's arm, saying urgently in a low voice: "Can we leave?"

  Qian turned his head, his pale face as white as paper. Qing Xia's eyebrows furrowed deeply, a flash of anger on his face, and he said in a low voice: "Did they torture you?"

  The woman's tense expression suddenly broke through Qi An's calmness, he slowly turned his head, looking haggard and painful, with a low voice saying: "Why?"

  A low, hoarse voice slowly emerged from the man's dry, cracked lips. Just hearing this sound was enough to imagine what kind of suffering he had endured. Qi An opened his eyes wide and suddenly grabbed Qing Xia's arm tightly, with a force that seemed to want to crush her hand bones. His breathing was rapid, his body suddenly leaning forward, and his warm breath blew onto Qing Xia's cheek as he spoke in a slow, measured tone: "Why... did you betray me?"

  Qing Xia's hand was tightly grasped by Qi An, looking at the bloody wounds on his body, Qing Xia only felt a burning rage, those inexplicable emotions suddenly rose from the bottom of her heart, "I'll go slaughter them!"

  "Qīng Xià!" A low cry suddenly came from Qí ān's mouth, he grabbed Qīng Xià who was about to leave, in a state of urgency, a mouthful of blood suddenly sprayed out, warm and fresh, slowly flowing down Qīng Xià's pale arm, Qīng Xià hastily bent down, supporting him with one hand.

  "Tell me!" A sudden, urgent coughing sound arose, and Qi An's mouth was filled with fresh blood. Qing Xia held his body, feeling that there were wounds all over him, as if he could no longer speak any other words, only repeatedly asking for the reason.

  "Ask yourself, would the Zhuang Qing Xia you know betray you?" Qing Xia half-knelt in front of Qi An, slightly lowering her head, staring intently into Qi An's eyes, and asked seriously.

  Zi An's expression hesitated, and he didn't respond. Qing Xia knew that no matter how she explained it now, she couldn't let him let go of his suspicions. Moreover, this thing itself was unbelievable. If she said she was a soul from another time and space who had borrowed a corpse to return to the world, he might think she had ulterior motives. At this moment, he already had deep doubts about Zhuang Qing Xia, and mere words couldn't dispel the hatred in his heart.

  She grasped Qi An's arm and said in a low voice, "Listen to me, this is a trap. Chu Li set up this snare with the intention of luring you in. I was just an unwitting bait. Now that war between our two countries is imminent, Chu Li will definitely use you as leverage to coerce Qi Guo. Last night, people from your country came to rescue you but failed. You now have no choice but to trust me if you want to escape and avoid bringing destruction upon Qi Guo and its people. Otherwise, you will be the sinner of the ages!"

  Qian's eyes suddenly turned cold and his mind cleared up, he raised his head and looked at Qing Xia seriously, his eyes filled with suspicion.

  Qing Xia knew he couldn't believe himself, especially since Zhuang Qing Xia had suddenly transformed from the timid and cowardly young mistress she once was to what she is today; if it were her, she wouldn't have given herself half a chance either.

  "Can you still walk?" Qing Xia said in a low voice as he saw that he was no longer being pursued.

  Zi'an didn't say a word, just nodded, Qing Xia pursed her lips tightly and threw the set of clothes she had just pulled off the soldier who delivered food on the stone bed, saying to Zi'an: "Put it on, we don't have much time."

  Zi An's eyes were filled with even more suspicion, but he didn't say a word. He simply picked up his clothes and slowly stood up. As soon as he moved, his brow suddenly furrowed tightly, and Qing Xia knew that the wound on his body had reopened. She couldn't care about anything else anymore, so she squatted down to help him put on his pants.

  Zi An's face was frozen, just as he was about to say something, but was stopped by Qing Xia's cold and stern gaze. He looked at this familiar face that couldn't be any more familiar, yet he couldn't feel a single thread of the warmth he should have felt. The Qing Xia in his memories should be shy, simple, and could be scared to tears by just one drop of blood. She would always hide behind him, carefully hiding her hands under the desk in class, while whispering: "Prince brother, father will see us."

  Those youthful years, those days of reading in the attic, all seem to have vanished suddenly like a fleeting dream.

  He put on his pants, and Qing Xia carefully opened the blood-stained clothes that covered his body. Under the luxurious fabric, the robust muscles were densely packed with wounds and scars from flogging, among which the most severe was the deep knife wound he had inflicted on himself that day. Qing Xia looked at him for a moment, feeling a little dazed, and a thread of guilt rose up in his heart. He involuntarily raised his head and asked softly: "Can you still...? I can carry you on my back."

  Zi'an was taken aback and hastily shook his head, saying in a hoarse voice: "You're still trying to take my life."

  Qing Xia nodded, neatly dressing him and putting on his helmet. Seeing no flaws, he picked up a battle knife from the ground and handed it to him, saying in a low voice: "Follow me!"

  Two people quickly ran to the door of the corridor, and Qi An also knew that there were strict guards outside. He looked at Qing Xia with a puzzled expression, and Qing Xia gestured for him to follow her. Then she counted silently for a few seconds before pulling open the heavy giant iron gate.

  "The Crown Prince of Qi is dead, someone is breaking into the prison!" Qing Xia rushed out in a flurry, seemingly unintentionally pouncing on the iron floating pavilion guard standing outside to demonstrate vigilance, grabbing him and shouting loudly: "The Crown Prince of Qi is dead, hurry! Someone is breaking into the prison!"

  "What?" The fourteen iron floating pavilion guards exclaimed in unison, and several of them couldn't help but rush in immediately. Qing Xia saw that the timing was already ripe, and a fierce glint flashed in his eyes as he suddenly swung out his dagger, cutting off the throat of the guard watching the alarm with one knife. The man hadn't even realized what was happening before a stream of blood suddenly shot up into the air, and his body fell to the ground.

  "They're not our people!" A guard reacted, shouting loudly. Qing Xia's eyebrows furrowed, and the dagger in his hand flew out instantly, stabbing into the center of that guard's forehead. The rope on the gate was suddenly pulled by Qing Xia, and the heavy iron door crashed down, trapping the eight Iron Floating Pavilion guards who had already run inside to check the situation.

  Since ancient times, the primary purpose of prison architecture has been to prevent prisoners from escaping, and secondly to prevent outsiders from sneaking in. Therefore, wanting to escape from within is even more difficult than ascending to heaven. Here, it's over a hundred meters deep, and once this heavy iron gate falls, no matter how loudly you shout, no one will hear you.

  Two iron floating temple guards rushed to the front of the iron gate, trying to open it. Qing Xia suddenly drew out a heavy iron long knife from her waist, which was specially used by the iron floating temple guards. With one foot on the wall corner, the thick scabbard heavily smashed down on another guard's head, and with her powerful kick, red and white colors instantly splashed out of his brain. Quickly and cleanly resolving the three guards, the other eight were locked in prison cells. Qing Xia wielded her long knife, opening and closing it swiftly, using a fierce and violent Japanese Eastern martial arts style to launch a fierce attack on the remaining three people. At this moment, it was all about who was faster than whom.

  Compared to the reaction, Qing Xia asked himself not to lose to anyone. The previous action almost happened in one second. Qi An was dazed and only saw Qing Xia suddenly rushing up with a hard fight. His moves were agile and powerful, like a female tiger. It seemed simple, just chopping a few moves, but it was full of great power. Suddenly, someone let out a miserable cry, his head was chopped off by Qing Xia, and he fell to the ground.

  The Iron Floating Pavilion was indeed the best elite guard of the Southern Chu Imperial Capital, despite facing such a strong and sudden attack, and suffering heavy losses in several rooms. However, they remained calm and fought back, not showing any fear at all. But they were so focused on responding to Qing Xia that they forgot about Qi An by their side. Qi An drew out his long knife and launched a surprise attack from behind, striking one of the guards on the shoulder. Unfortunately, this move only made Qi An's shoulder bleed even more, and the suffering he had endured for two days became even more apparent. Moreover, having not eaten for two days, he was already at his last gasp, and as soon as his body went limp, he fell to the ground.

  Just as the iron floating pagoda guard's war knife was about to come down on Qi An, Qi An closed his eyes and stopped struggling. With just the two of them, it was already too difficult to escape from the Tian Prison in South Chu, which had the strictest defenses. But the next second he heard a dull thud like meat sound, opened his eyes to see Qing Xia covered in blood, kicked open the iron floating pagoda guard's corpse with one foot, and went up to add another knife with a cold gaze.

  Looking at Qing Xia, who seemed like a bloodthirsty beast, stabbing each corpse repeatedly, Qi An's eyebrows furrowed tightly. After walking around the short corridor and seeing that there was no one else alive, Qing Xia stretched out his hand to Qi An and said, "Let's go."

  Qing Xia's hands were covered in fresh blood, and he couldn't help but think of the gentle and elegant woman from before. Qi An felt a wave of disgust wash over him as he thought about how she might have been deceiving him all along, pretending to be someone she wasn't in front of him. A surge of anger rose up, and he ignored Qing Xia, standing up on his own and walking towards the dark tunnel.

  Qing Xia was taken aback and followed along with him.

  The alley was still dimly lit, and the fight inside apparently hadn't alarmed anyone upstairs. The place was quiet for a moment. Suddenly, Qi An slowed down, Qing Xia hastily flashed forward, and said in a low voice: "How are you?"

  "Get out of the way!" Qi An growled, continuing to walk forward. Qing Xia naturally knew what was going on, but didn't say a word, still following behind him.

  They quickly walked out of the tunnel and came to the dark room where Qing Xia had hidden before. Opening the door with ease, they saw that there was no one in the corridor, so the two of them swiftly made their way back to the storage room they had entered from.

  It's laughable that the guard who was sleeping earlier is still fast asleep. Qing Xia found it amusing and thought to herself, "If this person wasn't sleeping, he might have also died at my hands tonight." She didn't regret killing those guards; after all, as a soldier, one should always be prepared to sacrifice their life for their country. If Qi An couldn't escape, the number of deaths would multiply by hundreds and thousands. Entering the storage room, Qing Xia looked around and saw that there was no one in sight. She then jumped down agilely. Qi An, who was severely injured, felt a wave of dizziness as he landed, but he bit his teeth and leaned against the wall, still not making a sound.

  Qing Xia saw his bitter endurance, furrowed her brow, and turned away. Escaping from the opposite side was much easier, as Qing Xia had left a rope for escape earlier, and the 15-meter wall was no longer an obstacle. This place is located in the east of the city, close to the Junji Barracks, Qing Xia stole two horses and quickly escaped to the East City Gate. The two wore Iron Floating Pavilion military uniforms and rode warhorses from the Junji Barracks, easily passing through the city gate. They didn't stop until they had traveled more than ten miles away.

  "I can only send you here." Qing Xia jumped off the horse, took out a package that had been prepared in advance and hidden outside the Tianlao wall, handed it to Qi An, and said seriously: "There are clean clothes, wound-healing golden medicine, dry food, water, silver, maps, and a homing pigeon. You can notify your subordinates first and let them come to meet you. Chu Li will soon know that you have escaped, and at that time, he will set up a net to catch you. Although the distance from here to Qi is not far, I still advise you to take the road to Qin first, and then think of a way to return to Qi, in order to avoid Chu Li's pursuit. The journey is long, be careful."

  Taking over Qing Xia's burden, Qi An suddenly felt a surge of unspeakable bitterness in her heart. However, thinking back to the many years they had spent together, she couldn't shake off the feeling that Qing Xia might have had ulterior motives all along.

  Qing Xia knew what was on his mind, and her heart couldn't help but feel a pang of sadness, unsure if it was for herself being unworthy or for the real Qing Xia's suffering. With a lack of enthusiasm, she said faintly: "No matter how you think, Qing Xia has never betrayed Qi An, everything can only be said to be fate playing tricks on people, yin and yang errors."

  Having said that, he turned around, mounted his horse and was about to leave.

  "Wait a minute!" Qi An suddenly shouted loudly, grabbing Qing Xia's reins and frowning, "Are you going back?"

  Qing Xia smiled wryly and said faintly, "You may think I'm heartless and ruthless, but if I hadn't struck mercilessly just now, it would have been you and me who died. That's how things are in this world - when you do something, you must see it through to the end, no turning back. But the people of the Zhuang family are innocent, and though my words may be carefree, I couldn't ignore their lives and deaths. And then there are the servants at Lan Ting Da Dian... I couldn't just walk away from them either. Qi An, farewell for now, we'll never meet again. Goodbye."

  Qing Xia shouted loudly, striking the horse's flank with her whip, and galloped away swiftly, leaving behind only a trail of yellow dust.

  Ziyan watched as Qingxia's slender figure gradually disappeared into the darkness of the post road, and suddenly felt a wave of sadness surge up in her heart. The moonlight at the horizon was fading, and the long dark night was about to pass.

  Dong Er wrote 10,000 words today, I'm exhausted, come praise me!