A cold wind swept over the street, carrying with it the lingering echoes of the auction's chaos. Jun Mo Xie and Jun Wu Yi had barely stepped out of the hall when a tiny white shadow streaked through the air like lightning.
Shua!
Before Jun Mo Xie could even blink, the soft, furry creature slammed into his chest with trembling urgency. Its tiny claws clutched his robe, tugging desperately as pitiful squeaks escaped its throat. Its eyes were wide, shimmering, and overflowing with tears, filled with unmistakable panic.
Jun Mo Xie stiffened. 'Little White? At a time like this?'
His gaze sharpened as he noticed the torn strip of light-green cloth tied around the beast's neck.
It was Dugu Xiao Yi's favorite color.
A cold smile flickered through his eyes. 'Heh… so the curtain has finally risen.'
Without hesitation, he turned to Jun Wu Yi. "Third Uncle, return to the residence first. Dugu Xiao Yi seems to be in trouble. I'll go check on her."
He spurred his horse fiercely, hooves cracked against the cobbled street, throwing sparks as the beast surged forward like an arrow released from a taut bowstring.
But before he could gain distance, a second weight landed behind him.
Thud!
Jun Wu Yi had leapt directly onto his horse with the skill of a seasoned general. "You think I'll let you run off alone?"
Jun Mo Xie didn't bother arguing. He knew this was coming. Instead, he loosened the reins slightly and allowed the wind to swallow them as they tore after Little White. The tiny creature raced ahead with surprising speed, glancing back anxiously every few breaths as though afraid they would vanish.
But when they reached the outskirts of the quiet grove, everything was already over.
The sunlight hit them like a blade as they finally saw the scene.
At the center of the square, a pool of blood had gathered, and lying motionless in that blood was Ye Gu Han.
"Little Ye! Ye Gu Han!"
Jun Wu Yi's voice shattered the silence. The veteran general who rarely flinched even before armies leapt from the horse and dropped to his knees beside the gravely wounded man.
Ye Gu Han's chest rose only faintly. His breath came in thin, broken threads.
The air around him reeked of iron and despair.
Jun Wu Yi's fingers trembled as he touched Ye Gu Han's wrist. Then he jerked his head up, eyes filled with a mixture of desperation and disbelief. "Mo Xie… can you… save him?"
Jun Mo Xie knelt silently.
The moment he touched Ye Gu Han's hand, he felt a body already colder than it should be. A pulse flickering like a candle in a storm. The meridians had been torn apart, and organs were ruptured, with dozens of bones shattered.
'This is severe.'
Ye Gu Han wasn't alive by any logic. Only sheer willpower kept a thread of life clinging to his soul.
Jun Mo Xie exhaled slowly, pressing his palm against Ye Gu Han's chest as a steady stream of pure aura flowed into him.
Behind them, the sound of stumbling footsteps echoed.
Dugu Xiao Yi and Sun Xiao Mei emerged, both covered in dust and tear streaks. Xiao Yi's face was pale, her breath shaky with panic.
"Brother Mo Xie!" She cried. "The Princess has been captured! We must quickly save her!"
Jun Mo Xie lifted his head and looked at her. His expression was calm, troubled, perfectly crafted, almost enough to fool even himself.
But the effect on Ye Gu Han was like an explosion.
His entire, broken body convulsed violently. The man who moments ago seemed barely alive suddenly flushed with a trembling spark of color. His lips parted, leaking blood as he tried to force sound through a ruined throat.
His voice was nothing but a choked, gurgling breath. Yet he still burned the last of his life force, just to speak two trembling words.
"Request… save…"
Then his head lolled to the side, and the last of his strength vanished.
Jun Wu Yi froze, grief and fear twisting his face. "Is he… dead?"
"Not yet." Jun Mo Xie's voice remained steady, though a storm surged beneath it. His hand continued channeling pure aura into the dying man. "But if his state continues like this… even a miracle won't be enough."
The air turned deathly silent, and the wind seemed to hold its breath.
Dugu Xiao Yi rushed forward, her breath uneven and her face still pale from fright. She didn't hesitate before seizing the front of his robes with both hands, her voice trembling yet forceful.
"To save people is like putting out a fire; you still haven't saved everyone!" She exclaimed. "Hurry up and save Princess Ling Meng. What are you waiting for?!"
Jun Mo Xie looked at her in genuine bewilderment.
"How is this my concern?" He asked plainly. "Why are you asking me to save the Princess? Isn't this something a prince or a royal guard should handle? You want me to throw my life away? Ye Gu Han is a Sky Xuan expert. Look at him... they turned him into nothing more than a sack of blood. I'm nowhere near his strength, yet you want me to confront multiple Sky Xuan-level killers? How can you even say that?"
His reasoning was sharp and direct for Dugu Xiao Yi, who froze for a moment.
Only then did she realize what she had said in her panic.
Jun Mo Xie wasn't a strong cultivator in everyone else's eyes. He couldn't compare to Ye Gu Han, let alone several assassins of the same rank.
Her voice softened immediately.
"You… then… what do we do?" She looked around helplessly. "Why haven't the Imperial Guards arrived yet?"
Jun Wu Yi stepped forward, his tone calm despite the urgency of the situation.
"Mo Xie, for the sake of Ye Gu Han's efforts… we should help. And she is the Princess."
Jun Mo Xie met his uncle's gaze.
That quiet persistence in Jun Wu Yi's eyes was something he knew well.
It wasn't pressure, but it was a request he couldn't ignore. If he refused, his uncle would attempt to act on his own, and that was unacceptable.
Suppressing a sigh, Jun Mo Xie knelt again beside Ye Gu Han. He placed his hand over the dying man's chest and infused a steady stream of pure Origin Qi into him. The pulse beneath his palm stabilized slowly, indicating that Ye Gu Han would remain alive barely.
Only after securing his condition did Mo Xie rise to his feet.
"Fine. I'll go. But you're not coming with me. Bring him back home immediately."
Without waiting for argument, he mounted his horse. The animal recognized the urgency and began pacing anxiously under him.
"You… scoundrel! Just… be careful!" Dugu Xiao Yi shouted after him, her voice unsteady with worry.
Jun Mo Xie gave her a faint smile and tugged on the reins. The horse surged forward, hooves pounding against the ground in a steady rhythm.
Yet the moment he rode beyond everyone's line of sight, his demeanor shifted entirely.
He had sensed someone hiding in the shadows from the beginning. Only once he felt the hidden observer's attention drift away did he act freely.
His body flickered and then vanished completely as he slipped into his void form.
He swept across the landscape silently and trailed behind the three black-clothed assassins who were transporting Princess Ling Meng. He maintained a consistent distance of a little more than a hundred meters, matching their speed without alerting them.
The hidden expert who had been watching earlier also followed the assassins from afar. His primary target seemed to be the killers themselves, but he repeatedly scanned the surroundings, trying to locate Mo Xie, who was now effectively invisible.
--- ✦ ✦ ✦ ---
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