I Married a Disabled Prince in Prison

Chapter 76

"How did you know it was me?"

"First, when we met outside the tea shed, you didn't speak, fearing I'd recognize your voice. Second, some merchants in Jinzhou City have seen you, indicating you came from the direction of Duanji City. Third, someone reported that your left leg was lame, and you're not mute. Fourth, you were originally heading towards the capital, but you avoided thorough checks by the officials, which shows that you have changed your appearance. Fifth, I always felt like I'd seen you before, with your outstanding and aloof demeanor. After thinking it through, besides His Royal Highness King An whom I've been following for eight years, you're the only suitable candidate. Does King An find these five reasons convincing?"

Xiao Yeheng, feeling exposed, removed the mask covering his face, revealing a partially disfigured yet handsome face. "Only King Jin's people would know about my injured left leg. Tang Dongjin, I've always treated you well. Since you've followed me for seven years, why not turn back? King Jin is just a petty person. Do you think following him will lead to a good outcome?"

"King An indeed has keen insight, knowing that I, your subordinate, have defected to King Jin." Tang Dongjin remained unmoved. "In the past, perhaps I wouldn't have betrayed you. But now, nearly half of your supporters and the emperor's party members have been eliminated, and even the Emperor has fallen victim to the Qihuan Poison. A wise man knows how to adapt to their circumstances, so I ask for King An's forgiveness. Out of gratitude for King An's past favor, I promise to ensure you a proper burial." With a wave of his hand, he ordered, "Charge them!"

Hundreds of soldiers rushed forward, emanating a murderous aura.

Xiao Yeheng drew the dagger from his waist and engaged in battle with the approaching soldiers.

While Xiao Yeheng and Tang Dongjin were talking, Yan Shuixin took the opportunity to retrieve the prepared poison powder from the carriage and scatter it towards the nearby soldiers. She also tucked a coil of rope into her spacious sleeve, just in case.

Dozens of soldiers fell victim to the poison, their bodies going limp.

Yan Shuixin had spent money to procure the poison and prepared it herself, just in case she was caught and needed it.

In an instant, Xiao Yeheng wielded his long knife, slashing in a circular motion, and five people ahead each had their necks slashed open, falling to their deaths.

The poisoned soldiers convulsed on the ground, devoid of life.

Seeing this, Tang Dongjin shouted, "Hold your breath; be careful of the poison!"

Yan Shuixin continued to scatter the poison powder, saying with a smile, "Holding your breath won't help. Once it touches you, you're dead!"

She and Xiao Yeheng had taken the antidote beforehand.

With a flick of her wrist, she continued to scatter the poison powder carried by the wind, spreading even farther.

Several dozen more soldiers succumbed to the poison.

Tang Dongjin ordered a retreat, deploying shields to form a barrier.

Yan Shuixin smiled. "Hundreds of people are still afraid of the two of us. Don't worry, I've run out of poison."

Tang Dongjin, enraged, gestured, "Attack, decapitate this vile woman!"

"You despicable and shameless traitor!" Xiao Yeheng condensed his true energy in his palm, chopping off several heads with his long knife. "How dare you disrespect my princess? I'll exterminate your entire clan!"

King An never spoke falsehoods, so Tang Dongjin was greatly alarmed. "Those who don't want to die, kill him quickly!"

Hundreds of soldiers surged forward. Yan Shuixin pulled out another packet of poison powder from her sleeve and scattered it. Dozens more soldiers fell victim to the poison, collapsing.

Tang Dongjin fumed, "Didn't you say you ran out of poison?"

"Yeah, this isn't poison; it's just bone-softening powder." She wasn't lying.

"You!" Tang Dongjin's anger boiled over. "You cunning wretch, kill her!"

Several people attacked Yan Shuixin. She drew a soft sword from her waist, one she had used before Xia Chuxue, and infused it with a weak true energy, making the sword straight and powerful, slashing with all her might.

Unfortunately, there were simply too many soldiers; it seemed they couldn't be defeated.

Xiao Yeheng and Yan Shuixin found themselves at a disadvantage in the fierce battle.

Tang Dongjin sat on a high-headed horse and stretched out his hand, and an attendant handed him a bow and arrows. He aimed at Yan Shuixin and released the arrow swiftly.

Yan Shuixin was entangled by a skilled opponent, unable to pay attention to the flying arrow.

Xiao Yeheng chopped off the head of an attendant who was about to attack Yan Shuixin and positioned himself in front of her. "Be careful!"

The arrow struck his arm, and blood gushed out.

"Husband!" Yan Shuixin called out anxiously as several soldiers approached from three sides, their long swords swinging. Xiao Yeheng wielded his sword, cutting down several long swords. With a leap and a spin, he kicked more than ten soldiers away.

Archers behind Tang Dongjin released arrows, causing the besieging soldiers to retreat.

A dense rain of arrows shot towards Xiao Yeheng and Yan Shuixin. There was a large flat area beside the cliff, and the only obstacle was the carriage.

The two had no choice but to dodge behind the carriage.

The carriage was pierced with arrows on all three sides. The horse neighed and collapsed under the onslaught of countless arrows.

Yan Shuixin watched as the horse closed its eyes. It had carried her and Xiao Yeheng for over 1,300 kilometers, traveling tirelessly day and night.

And it was extremely obedient. Several times, she untied the reins from the carriage and let it roam freely.

She had even planned to let it retire peacefully. Though it was just a beast, she had grown fond of it, never expecting it to die so tragically.

Yan Shuixin's eyes reddened with anger. "Tang Dongjin, I want you to be torn apart by five horses!"

Xiao Yeheng held her tightly in his arms, fearing that the arrow rain would harm her.

The carriage was made of wood, and the arrows were blocked by the other side of the carriage.

"My lord, your wounds..." She looked at the several cuts on his body, and the arrows in his arm were oozing dark blood.

He was wearing bamboo armor, but unfortunately, the unprotected areas were hit by the arrows.

Xiao Yeheng pulled out the arrow lodged in his arm, and dark blood immediately gushed out.

Yan Shuixin sprinkled the prepared wound medicine on his wound to stop the bleeding.

The bleeding from his wound ceased.

Seeing that frontal attacks with arrows were ineffective, Tang Dongjin instructed archers to shoot from the sides. Xiao Yeheng pulled out several arrows and threw them towards the side archers, hitting one of them dead.

"How long do you think you can hide behind the carriage?" Tang Dongjin saw this and attached a paste to the arrows beforehand, igniting them before shooting.

Several other archers followed suit, shooting arrows with grease at the carriage. The entire carriage quickly caught fire, containing grains and oil.

Instantly, thick smoke billowed, and the carriage burst into flames.

Xiao Yeheng gathered his strongest true energy and swung it towards the burning carriage. The fiery carriage flew towards Tang Dongjin's group, causing several soldiers to fall.

"Useless! Just two people, and yet you can't kill them? Kill them, and there will be a generous reward!" Tang Dongjin shouted.

"Charge!" Hundreds of soldiers surged forward, blades glinting, and shouts echoing.

Xiao Yeheng was forced to fight again, hoping to find an opportunity to break out of the encirclement, but they were surrounded on all sides with no way out.

The archers were unable to shoot accurately and were afraid of accidentally hurting their own people, so they hesitated for a while.

Yan Shuixin lifted her soft sword, moving with agility amidst a sea of blood and carnage.

Unnoticed, she received two shallow cuts on her body, narrowly avoiding serious injury.

Xiao Yeheng was wounded in multiple places, but he still shielded Yan Shuixin in the midst of the battle.

Tang Dongjin wielded his long sword, leaping into the air, stepping on the heads of several soldiers, and soaring towards them. Xiao Yeheng followed suit, engaging in a chaotic mid-air battle.

Yan Shuixin was surrounded by hundreds of soldiers. As she fought with her sword, she felt a faint pain in her abdomen. Suddenly, she crouched down, planting her sword into the ground.

The child...was in danger, and she felt the onset of miscarriage!

As she was about to be struck down by several swords, Xiao Yeheng, momentarily distracted, unleashed a powerful palm strike, forcing back the soldiers attacking her.

Seizing the opportunity while he was distracted, Tang Dongjin swung his sword towards Xiao Yeheng's shoulder with enough force to sever his entire arm.

To his surprise, Xiao Yeheng's shoulder was as solid as a rock, and the sword couldn't penetrate! Tang Dongjin was taken aback.

A cold smile displayed on Xiao Yeheng's lips. The bamboo armor his wife had made was truly impenetrable.

His own blade pierced Tang Dongjin's chest, and the latter was sent flying like a kite with a broken string.

In an instant, Yan Shuixin was forced to retreat to the edge of the cliff by the encircling soldiers. Her abdomen ached, and it was not suitable to use her true energy. To avoid six simultaneous attacks from several soldiers, she flashed backward but ended up falling off the cliff.

Xiao Yeheng's eyes were bloodshot, and he let out a despairing roar, "Xin'er!"

A powerful aura emanated from him, sending the surrounding soldiers flying.

At the same time, the thunderous sound of galloping hooves filled the air as Emperor Xiao Jing personally led tens of thousands of troops to the scene. Seeing Xiao Yeheng, he joyously and excitedly called out, "Third Imperial Brother!"

Xiao Yeheng's lone eye was red, and he seemed deaf to the world around him. A fake eyeball had fallen out at some point, leaving a cold hole in his left eye socket, and his scarred face resembled a bloodthirsty demon. His blood-dripping, long knife struck fear into anyone who dared to oppose him.

The terrifying momentum he exuded was more frightening than that of Yama, the King of Hell!

For a moment, the soldiers surrounding him retreated in fear.

Tang Dongjin, with a knife in his chest, lay on the ground with only a breath left.

Of the five hundred guards he had brought, only three hundred remained alive. Seeing the Emperor leading a large army, they all became too afraid to continue fighting.

It seemed as if a gaping wound had opened up in Xiao Yeheng's heart, and an endless pain engulfed him, suffocating him.

His Xin'er had fallen off the cliff... His Xin'er was dead...

His beloved wife was still carrying their child. He had just learned the joyous news of becoming a father. How could she die? How could this be?

Tears of sorrow flowed down his handsome right cheek, numb with grief.

Like a walking corpse, he approached the edge of the cliff, gazing into the abyss below without hesitation. "Xin'er, do not fear. I am coming to be with you!"

"Third Imperial Brother!" Emperor Xiao Jing had long noticed something was amiss. Utilizing his lightness skill, he leaped from his horse and, with a few bounds, reached the edge of the cliff. He embraced Xiao Yeheng, who had just leaped, and began to pull him away from the edge.

"Leave me alone; I'm going to be with Xin'er. I want to accompany her!" Xiao Yeheng screamed hoarsely, struggling forcefully to break free.

Emperor Xiao Jing waved his hand, and several Imperial Guards rushed forward to restrain Xiao Yeheng, but the latter's immense strength overwhelmed them all.

Emperor Xiao Jing couldn't bear to watch his most beloved brother die and ordered, "Render him unconscious."

Several elite Imperial Guards surrounded him, and one of them seized the opportunity to strike him on the back of the neck, knocking Xiao Yeheng unconscious.

Emperor Xiao Jing surveyed the scene of devastation. More than two hundred bodies of soldiers littered the ground, and the unconscious Xiao Yeheng was being supported by two Imperial Guards, covered in countless wounds.

Combined with what he had witnessed from afar during Tang Dongjin's battle with King An.

Emperor Xiao Jing was a clever man and immediately understood what had happened. He glared fiercely at the three hundred or so surviving soldiers present. "You, who have sided with King Jin, are all guilty of treason!"

The three hundred or so soldiers stood facing the Emperor with their weapons drawn.

Behind Emperor Xiao Jing were over ten thousand iron cavalry. "I have led ten thousand elite soldiers this time. Do you still wish to seek death?"

Facing such overwhelming force, the three hundred or so mutinous soldiers trembled in fear.

Emperor Xiao Jing's gaze fell on Tang Dongjin, who was barely standing. "King An has treated you generously, and this is how you repay him?"

"A wise bird always chooses a safe tree to nest in." Tang Dongjin wiped a trace of blood from the corner of his mouth. "Emperor, you have been poisoned and will soon go mad. The world will soon enough belong to King Jin. How can we not obey our future monarch?"

"Before I go mad, I will delegate the throne to King An." Emperor Xiao Jing sneered coldly. "I will never allow the second prince, Xiao Shen, that ambitious wolf, to inherit the throne."

"I'm afraid Your Majesty will be disappointed." Tang Dongjin pointed at the blood seeping from King An's wound. "Look at the color of the blood oozing from King An's wound, which is black and blue. Our blades were not poisoned, and just now, his eyes were blood-red. His symptoms indicate that he has been afflicted with Qihuan Poison for some time now. It's uncertain, but he may already be mad. Emperor, you should abdicate before King Jin. Perhaps King Jin will spare your life out of brotherly love."

The Third Prince was actually poisoned! Emperor Xiao Jing was extremely shocked. Looking at Xiao Yeheng, whose body was soaked through with black and blue blood, his eyes filled with pain. "My empire was obtained by King An five years ago, which led to the loss of his left eye and half of his left face. This prosperous land will not be handed over to King Jin. Guards, seize Tang Dongjin and his accomplices and execute them on the spot!"

Tang Dongjin, clutching his severely wounded chest, was eager to lead the troops into battle.

The Emperor spoke sternly: "Those who surrender on the spot will not be executed, including their relatives. However, if they resist, their entire families will be executed!"

The more than three hundred guards looked at each other, and in the end, almost all of them threw down their weapons and kneeled on the ground, bowing their heads.

Thinking about King An's words about wiping out his entire family, Tang Dongjin led a small group of guards to resist. As a result, they were all killed.

The guards who surrendered were spared by the Emperor, showing mercy for their consciences, but they couldn't escape imprisonment. They were demoted to slave convicts and sentenced to life as laborers in the imperial mines.

Emperor Xiao Jing walked to the edge of the cliff, glanced at the abyss below, where the person called 'Xin'er' by Xiao Yeheng was likely shattered to pieces.

But he still ordered a search down the cliff.

He also had a carriage prepared to send Xiao Yeheng back to King An's residence and ordered the best imperial physician to treat him. The results showed that King An was indeed deeply poisoned.

The imminent change of power in the world was painful.

Before King A disappeared, his left leg was intact, but now half of his left leg is missing.

Emperor Xiao Jing was heartbroken, tears streaming down his face.

He had harmed the Third Prince again. If it weren't for Xiao Yeheng helping him stabilize the empire, he wouldn't have been seen as a thorn in the side by King Jin, nor would he have lost another part of his body after losing his left eye and left half of his face.

Third Prince, how can I repay what I owe you?

...

After being forced off the cliff, Yan Shuixin's body swiftly plummeted downward. Several clumps of resilient weeds mixed with small branches cushioned the force of her fall.

She maintained the clearest state of mind, trying to grasp onto something. After falling hundreds of meters, she finally managed to grab hold of a section of a tree trunk growing horizontally out of the steep cliff.