"The Ambush"
Sun was to set down soon, and he knew he only has a little time to save his sister,who was to be put to death after the sunset.
As he galloped back on his horse,he was intercepted by a surprising charge of mounted attackers,which threw him and Yun off his horse, rolling on the ground. And,Things started seeming to be falling out of favour for Zhang as the horsemen circled him...Zhang realised that his sword is utterly missing from his clutches.
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He fell in a deadly ambush!
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The laughter of the soldiers surrounding Commander Zhang became sounding like a bunch of onlookers of an 'ancient execution'.
Seeing their laughter, Zhang suddenly started laughing too...surprising the well confident Attackers,who stopped laughing seeing a man whose life is in their hands to laugh like a fool.
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Out of rage,The Ambushers took their swords and started approaching the Commander to terrorize him-
But,They didn't knew that 'if a fierce beast is injured,it will be a thousand times fiercer than what it was earlier!'
As the person placed his sword pointed to Zhang's neck,Zhang sprung up with the blink of an eye- taking out the small hidden dagger from his 'Youli'* armour,which he had forged himself- and it was only one of its kind. because of which,it was the only reason why Zhang still laughed at the face of death coming to seize him...(that sounds funny XD)
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He tore the neck of the approaching attacker,slipping behind the Leader in the next moment.
But,He got outwitted in the next attempt to surprise the leader-
Archers, hiding on the treesides fired their Crossbows- whistling down arrows to Zhang's left ear, almost passing next to his neck.
Surprised by this,he backed out for defense- trying to maintain his stance again.
But now, a whole group of people were before him- each having intentions to kill him for a mere sum of profits.
And as they came upon him,all at the same time- The sun stumbling down the horizon,almost going to set down ...Zhang closed his eyes,and decided to face his fate having only one dire desire to meet his sister last time.
But.....
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A barrage of arrows and daggers appeared from somewhere, killing the goons surrounding Zhang!
...getting a chance from this, He immediately snatched the sword of one soldier and Thrusted its peircing tip deep inside the Leader's heart-
The ground became red with the stream of blood.
Seeing their leader dying and already on high casualties,the other ambushers panicked and started fleeing back.
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Getting rid from the close call, Zhang looked towards the direction from where daggers came.
The scene was mesmerising,with the amazement of something really unexpected-
A young girl on the horseback,standing by the end of the path..
A black sword was clinging to her horse, showing her martial prowess, confirmed by the daggers she threw with ultimate accuracy on the goons fleeing back to the woods.
Her face was covered by a fine cloth, but her aura of elegance was extremely deadly!
For a moment, Zhang stood frozen by her elegance staring at his saviour like a fool...
It was evident if He was'nt attacked by another soldier he would have even fell for her.
Despite being attacked,He managed to dodge the Attackers...
But,the poor Attackers were'nt so lucky to dodge from a surprise-
A group of mounted Imperial Gaurds galloped in...
Cutting down the remaining attackers almost unharmed.
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As Zhang turned again to see his saviour, No one was there!
Instead of the Girl on the Horse,Not very far, under a tree nearby-
Ruoyun was still lying unconscious with the ultimate calmness on his face,which was smeared with the small splattered drops of blood from the earlier combat.
The girl was vanished in thin air,well Zhang looked around for a while,But having no time to care about the girl, He immediately rushed towards the Execution ground-
Again competing with the unstoppable 'time', as the sun was already near to dive-in down the horizon and with it the fate of his sister was also going down to death-
Restless with the momentum of the unstoppable time, Zhang nearly tore his way through the rioting mobs in the Capital. The only thought he was having at that time was, What if the jailer betrays him by excuting his sister before he can arrive?...Well, shrunken into his thoughts,he managed to reach the Investigation Bureau almost charging past through the barricade spikes,causing panic among the gaurds surrounding the Altar-
His sister was already at the Execution Altar, and the Jailer was about to execute the 'order' as directed by the emperor sitting inside the bureau.
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"STOP!", shouted Zhang with restless breaths blocking his dialogues,"Your Majesty!...I brought second Prince back!"
The Emperor inside the bureau smiled.
He was well informed earlier by Zhang about the 'evidence', which had led to the breaking of this mysterious case-
The Evidence was none other than an old unbalanced ledger of Consort Ruyi, which hinted towards the secret location where Ruoyun was kept.
Later when Daifu regained consciousness after surviving another assassination attempt- Daifu told Zhang that he was attacked by Consort Ruyi, As he had found the location of his master's abduction and was going to expose the her.
Putting all these, Zhang and Daifu planned a trick on the Consort :
He faked Daifu's death causing the Consort to be off-gaurd. Also, he informed the Emperor about this personally and got a promise from the Emperor to delay his sister's execution.
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As Ruoyun was brought back, he was found to be highly toxicated by the poison, but later mysteriously he was found to be intoxiacted under mysterious conditions. But still, he was immediately sent to his mansion where he remained unconscious because of the toll taken on his body due to the poison.
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And like this, Caizhou was saved as the riots stopped with the arrest of Consort Ruyi...who was on the same day banished to Seclusion, where she died under mysterious conditions.
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But, Consort Ruyi was'nt the only one who was in this-
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It was evident that she needed a powerful backing to do these things, but the link between 'her' and 'her backing' broke with her Death, which buried the truth.
But...
who knew that this Second Prince was a serious anomaly of this Alternate Realm...
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Afterall, The souls from the future have started impacting the 'Past' and the 'Present' of this Alternate Reality!
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Guess Who?