“Enough talk. Let’s fight, Third Imperial Prince.” Since verbal communication did not work, she decided that it was time to use force. He has killed too many of her soldiers, and her supposed persuasion was simply to break him down from within.
“You’re finally showing your true colours, Ning Rulan. Aren’t you worried about your current husband, Pei Qianhao?” Situ Li looked in the direction of the peak and pointed towards it. “Prince Hao’s men are trapped at the peak. They won’t be able to escape from the maze-like trap I’ve laid.”
He then observed Su Xi-er’s expression, but there wasn’t even a slight ripple to be seen.
“What an emotionless woman. You killed Prince Yun after he treated you so well, and now you’re not even concerned about Pei Qianhao.”
“It’s not that I don’t care about him, it’s that I simply have no need to worry. The one who should be concerned about their own well-being is you, since you’ll be meeting a very tragic demise.”
“Is that so? How does the Eldest Imperial Princess wish for me to die? Are you going to burn me, hang me, or slash me?”
“These methods probably aren’t cruel enough for you. You wanted to turn a living person into a clay statue[1] while they were alive.”
Situ Li spoke with a sigh, “I wanted to present Pei Qianhao with a gift, but I didn’t expect you to be smart enough to escape under the watchful eyes of so many guards.”
“Enough talk!” Su Xi-er then moved to attack, prompting Situ Li to dodge out of the way and raise an arm to strike back.
The two moved at lightning speed, and despite his best efforts, Feng Changqing was unable to find an opening to take Situ Li down.
Situ Li pulled out a whip and lassoed Su Xi-er at the waist, lifting her up and flinging her sideways. He yelled, “As you said yourself, I should let go of my deceased mother. Since you’re supposed to be dead as well, there’s no need for you to remain in this world either!”
Situ Li was prepared to die since he had already fallen into Pei Qianhao’s trap. Dragging Su Xi-er into the afterlife with him would only be a bonus.
Feng Changqing unsheathed his sword as he saw Su Xi-er being flung against the ground, jumping up in an attempt to cut the whip in two.
Situ Li smirked and pulled at his whip to tighten the grip on Su Xi-er before he jumped into the bushes, disappearing into the night just like that.
Situ Li flung Su Xi-er against the ground again, and the latter took the opportunity to shoot a silver needle into his face.
Situ Li felt a numbing feeling spread from his forehead and staggered backwards before hitting a tree trunk behind him. Raising a hand, he pulled out the silver needle. Under the moonlight, he could see that the needle had turned black.
A poisonous needle!
“I never thought that an imperial princess would use such a lowly method.”
Su Xi-er scoffed. “Compared to your cruelty, this is nothing short of kind. Instead, don’t you think that this is simply revenge for you disregarding my warnings and killing so many of my men?”
“I hate poison. Empress Mother was poisoned to death!” Situ Li’s aura turned stone cold as a vicious evil look made its way into his eyes.
1. Something like the bingmayong or terracotta army.
