Chapter 39: Kill or Be Killed

Chapter 39: Life or Death

Top Courtesan Mu seemed reluctant to speak.

Li Zhiming studied her micro-expressions closely, then shifted gears: "Miss Mu, I know where your man is. Do you want to find him?"

"You know where he is?"

Her eyes lit up. It seemed she really had lost touch with the Crown Prince.

More accurately, the Crown Prince had dumped her.

The current Crown Prince cared more about what the Emperor thought of him than anything. Every move and word was carefully weighed against the Emperor's reactions. He was meticulous and paranoid about losing his position.

Many of his brothers were eyeing him hungrily, especially the second and fourth princes, both out for his blood.

Even the Emperor wasn't all that impressed with him as Crown Prince. Any slip-up would be used against him, so the Crown Prince kept himself on a very tight leash.

A fling with a brothel girl—something so scandalous—was the last thing the Crown Prince could afford to have exposed.

Li Zhixing became his scapegoat.

As for why, that came down to whatever interests and deals tied them together.

"I do know, but I can't just tell you where he is. I can pass along a message, even help you meet him, but I can't guarantee what'll happen. Is that okay?"

"Yes! As long as you can get to him, I'm in!"

She looked a little worked up.

Poor lovesick thing.

Li Zhiming let her go and got Li Zhixing's hiding spot out of her. He told her to make her own escape, then rushed off to Li Zhixing's place.

He'd rather not die if he could help it.

Using the cover of wind and moonlight, he steered clear of the ambush spot in the woods, taking a huge detour that almost took him out of town before he finally reached the little place she'd described.

It was like a secret paradise.

A winding path led to a courtyard. The door was open, and faint figures were visible inside.

"If you kill me, you're dead! I'm a court official, the future head of the Chancellor's estate. You'd better think twice—killing me won't do you any favors."

A voice that was familiar yet strange.

Hearing the shout, Li Zhiming rushed over, sprinting to the courtyard gate, and no one stopped him.

Only two people were in the courtyard.

Sang Yu and Li Zhixing.

Both were banged up. Sang Yu was already hurt, and now he had several fresh wounds, his clothes soaked in big patches of dark red.

Li Zhixing was hurt as well. He glared daggers at Sang Yu, his face so dark and sinister it was unrecognizable from the young man Li Zhiming had seen before.

"Sang Yu."

Without a second thought, Li Zhiming moved to stand beside Sang Yu, wanting to help him but afraid of getting in the way.

Both men had swords out, the tension thick.

When they saw Li Zhiming, their expressions changed in different ways. Li Zhixing especially went from surprise to a sneer of contempt.

"So the useless fool actually found this place. Looks like this bastard's the reason you're still alive."

Li Zhixing wasn't even trying to pretend anymore, not bothering to hide his hatred and resentment. He even dragged Sang Yu into his cursing, as if he was dead sure he wouldn't die.

When he saw Li Zhiming, the fury in his eyes was about to explode. Like a madman, he lunged at him with his sword, hell-bent on running him through.

Li Zhiming had no martial arts skills, and there was no way he could dodge a strike that fast.

The sword was about to go straight through his throat.

Thud.

Someone threw themselves in front of him at the last second, spitting up blood to save his sorry ass.

Sang Yu. Again.

Li Zhiming's eyes went wide: "Sang Yu!"

He lunged to catch Sang Yu as his body went limp. As Li Zhixing tried to pull his sword back out, Sang Yu gritted his teeth and shoved his own blade backward.

The sound of steel slicing through flesh was nasty.

By the time Li Zhiming snapped out of it, Sang Yu had collapsed in his arms, drenched in sweat and panting hard, another wound on top of everything else.

Like some poor, prickly little hedgehog.

Li Zhixing collapsed to the ground too, but his eyes still glared at Li Zhiming, refusing to give up, as he clutched his stomach, twitching.

"Are you jealous that I'm the legitimate heir?"

Li Zhiming snapped.

Li Zhixing didn't answer.

"You went to all this trouble to lure me here, just to kill me in Liangzhou? I didn't know you had this many tricks up your sleeve. Covering for the Crown Prince's affair with Miss Mu—what, did he promise you a reward?"

"You're a useless fool. You'd never get it."

"I don't get it, but I know one thing—you deserve to die!"

Li Zhiming didn't know where the rage and guts came from, but he yanked the sword out of Li Zhixing's gut.

Instantly, his face went deathly pale, blood gushing out like crazy.

He was going to die.

Now he was a murderer too.

Li Zhiming felt a wave of fear and couldn't stand to watch the man's face slowly go gray. He quickly hoisted Sang Yu onto his back and took off in the opposite direction.

"Sang Yu, hang in there. There's gotta be a clinic up ahead."

He moved fast, his steps quick.

As soon as he entered the medical clinic, he frantically grabbed the doctor: "Doctor, hurry, save him, please save him quickly."

Sang Yu had already pulled the sword out of his own body.

He had lost so much blood, as if his body were draining dry, which was alarming to see.

The doctor, seeing how severely wounded this person was, quickly took him into the inner room and began treatment without a word.

"Doctor, here's the silver. You must save him, quickly, you must heal him well."

Li Zhiming's hands trembled as he pulled out banknotes and silver ingots from his chest, placing them all on the table, staring nervously, not daring to blink.

Back at the prime minister's estate, Sang Yu had also bled profusely like this.

But at that time, the doctor had been found by Feng Yin, someone whose medical skills were absolutely reliable and who would certainly do his best. Besides, Li Zhiming had been too consumed by his own fear, and Sang Yu had just been a ticking time bomb—he hadn't given it much thought.

But now, it felt different.

This was his friend, a real, living young man, and he had no clue about this doctor's skill.

Li Zhiming paced anxiously, unable to sit still, but too afraid to interrupt.

"Sir, don't worry. Perhaps you could wait outside? Watching you pace back and forth like this is making me dizzy."

"Alright, alright, I'll wait outside."

Li Zhiming obediently went outside, wringing his hands nervously. In his moment of anxiety, Feng Yin suddenly appeared, looking like he'd rushed over in a hurry, his clothes all messed up.

"You—"

"Master!" Feng Yin explained urgently, "I don't know what happened to me that day—I suddenly blacked out. When I came to, I rushed to find you. Miss Mu told me where you went, and I tracked you all the way here."

"You found that place?"

"Yes."

But Feng Yin didn't ask further, and Li Zhiming was too down to go into detail. He just sat gloomily and briefly mentioned that he had clashed with Li Zhixing, that Sang Yu was severely wounded and still being treated.

As for the Fourth Prince's matter.

Feng Yin had no idea the Fourth Prince was dead, let alone that Sang Yu had done it.

Perhaps Sang Yu had used some means to cover it up.

Li Zhiming thought to himself but said nothing more—this was a crime punishable by death, and careless words could bring disaster.