Chapter 22: Fleeing Deep into the Mountains

Pan Yueqing slightly raised her chin. From a distance, she saw that the leader didn't retract the three-foot-long sword in his right hand. He slowly raised his left hand and took off his iron cavalry mask. The iron armor was getting a bit unbearable under the intense flames. He revealed his face and stared at Pan Yueqing. "Who are you?"

She was very familiar with this face. One could say that in her two lifetimes combined, she had never been so familiar with a face. This person was called Di Geng, and he was someone around Qi Sicheng. The reason why he was able to enter the palace to rescue the king ahead of everyone else was that Di Geng had collaborated with Qi Sicheng from inside and outside. They withheld the news of the emperor's passing, and Di Geng killed the messenger eunuch.

Moreover, he dug up the divination words from the Imperial Astronomical Bureau several years ago, which said, "In the Northern Qi Dynasty, there is a female calamity, who will bring about war and kill, and will offend the Ziwei Star." He firmly insisted that the female calamity was Pan Yueqing. And it was also Di Geng who suggested to Qi Sicheng that they give her a cup of poisoned wine to end her life.

It really was a case of enemies meeting on a narrow road. To actually encounter him at this moment. Pan Yueqing's gaze towards Di Geng turned extremely cold. In her previous life, she died partly because of Di Geng. Could it be that Di Geng was her natural enemy?

"Someone destined to cross paths with you," Pan Yueqing took three steps back. The killing intent towards Di Geng could no longer be hidden in her smile. "Has sir gone the wrong way? I don't think I've ever offended you, sir?"

"Whether you've offended me or not, why don't you ask the King of Hell after you die," Di Geng didn't answer Pan Yueqing's question. He just raised his hand and gestured towards her. The armored soldiers behind him had already taken off their armor. Free from the weight restriction, they held their long swords and leaped towards Pan Yueqing. "Since you've meddled in things you shouldn't, it's not unjust for you to die."

"Whether the King of Hell will accept me or not is still uncertain," Pan Yueqing's smile didn't fade. She raised her hand and pulled the thin blanket connected to the beam of the room that was filled with charcoal, and poured it in the direction of the door. The scalding charcoal hit the attacking people directly. After a few screams, they rolled around on the charcoal fire and retreated in a sorry state.

"Archers!" Perhaps out of fear, Di Geng's face was also burned by the charcoal. He took three steps back.

The water vats made of miscellaneous soil couldn't withstand the high temperature. There was a tendency to explode in the raging fire. With a bang, the water vat closest to the fire pile cracked first. The cold water splashed on the charcoal, and with a hissing sound, a thick cloud of smoke rose.

Pan Yueqing squinted her eyes, moved the tables and chairs, and then rolled under the bed. When the Cibei Temple was built, because wood was relatively expensive, the walls were made of two layers of thin wooden boards with a layer of stone rammed earth in between. Arrows couldn't penetrate the walls. Some of the random arrows shot straight through the room and were nailed to the wall directly opposite the door.

Taking advantage of the smoke, as Pan Yueqing expected, she heard another water vat also crack with a bang. She directly reached out and spilled the half bag of soybeans towards the door.

Because of the smoke and the slippery ground, the people who wanted to break in couldn't see their feet clearly. They didn't expect such a little trick to be waiting for them. The person who entered first saw some torn clothes and a hairpin on the floor where the smoke had cleared. He pried open the cellar and reported to Di Geng at the door, "There's a cellar here. They should have escaped down there!"

"Go down and take a look!" Di Geng pondered for a moment and gave the order.

Pan Yueqing stared wide-eyed through the gap between the quilt hanging down from the bed and the floor, watching as the Mysterious Armored Guard soldiers walked down the cellar one by one. But strangely, after these people went down, there was no sound coming out. In the end, only Di Geng was left. He squatted down and shouted towards the cellar, "How is it?"

"Chief! It's really big down here! We haven't seen anyone for now!"

"Haven't seen anyone?" Di Geng lowered his head in confusion and approached the cellar. But at that moment, he suddenly turned his head and looked under the bed where Pan Yueqing was hiding. There was a hint of mockery in his eyes. Pan Yueqing was sure that he had seen her! Her heart was pounding, and there was no utensil by her side to defend herself. Just at this critical moment, it seemed that Di Geng was hit by some force from behind. Before he could speak, he plunged headfirst into the cellar.

Then the cellar door was directly closed. A pair of slender hands with distinct knuckles, stained with blood, carefully locked the cellar with a strange lock. Then the hand reached in towards the bed. "Come out quickly."

"How did you..." Pan Yueqing heard Qi Si'an's voice and felt a bit more at ease. She reached out and touched Qi Si'an's hand, and with his help, she came out. Seeing that Qi Si'an's lips were still pale, she was a bit puzzled. "Weren't you locked in by me..."

"With that kind of lock that a little girl plays with?" Qi Si'an looked disdainful and threw Pan Yueqing's lock to the ground with a thud. He felt that there seemed to be some movement under his feet, so he pulled Pan Yueqing and ran towards the Ten-Thousand-Ghosts' Sorrow Mountain at the back. "I can't hold on for long. Let's go quickly."

The Ten-Thousand-Ghosts' Sorrow Mountain was steep, with peaks sticking up like sharp knives towards the sky. There were usually few people going there, and no one knew if there were any venomous snakes or wild beasts. In fact, Pan Yueqing didn't want to take this path with Qi Si'an. She could clearly go directly to the town to find Pan Haiyun. But Qi Si'an's hand was strong and unyielding, and he pulled her into this deep mountain forest.

"What are we doing here?" Pan Yueqing stopped, panting. It was getting close to noon, and she was also a bit hungry. Qi Si'an was silent for a moment and pointed to a cave. "I used to hide here before. I think this place is relatively safe."

"Safe? Here? You're injured, and I don't know any medical skills. Are we here to wait for death?" Pan Yueqing felt that she couldn't quite understand the thinking of this "venomous snake" Qi Si'an.

"You actually don't know?" Unexpectedly, Qi Si'an covered his wound, leaned against the inner wall of the cave, and sat down slowly. After hearing Pan Yueqing's words, he actually showed great surprise.

Pan Yueqing was so irritated by this matter-of-fact tone that she didn't know whether to take advantage of Qi Si'an's injury and stab him to death to vent her hatred, or just turn around and leave. There was a hint of a smile in Qi Si'an's eyes, which seemed much more sincere than his previous smiles. "The women around me, more or less, know some simple pharmacology."

"Then heaven really has the virtue of loving life," Pan Yueqing gave Qi Si'an a look. "If I knew it, based on the fact that you tried to kill me before, I would have poisoned you to death first."

"I've had a low pain tolerance since I was a child, so it doesn't really matter," Qi Si'an pointed to the herb at the door and spoke plausibly. "Take that herb for example. That's honeysuckle... that is, Jin Yin Hua. If I get inflamed or have a fever, I can pick it and eat it. It's just that it hasn't fully bloomed yet..."

"Have you eaten it before?" Pan Yueqing took a look at the "honeysuckle" that Qi Si'an mentioned and couldn't help but interject.

"No, didn't I say it hasn't bloomed yet?" Qi Si'an closed his eyes, and his tone was full of disgust.

"I really believe the saying 'fate doesn't want one to die'," Pan Yueqing silently sighed at how miraculous fate was. Meeting Qi Si'an's suspicious gaze, she clicked her tongue and shook her head. "That's the Heartbreak Grass! If you ate it, those people wouldn't have to go to so much trouble to hunt you down."

Qi Si'an let out a long "oh" sound, looking as if his evil plan had succeeded, with his eyes curved in a smile. "So you do know it?"

When Qi Si'an smiled, his lungs ached. He guessed that his ribs were injured. He then put away his smile and said to Pan Yueqing, "You and I have shared adversity. There is true love in the world. I'll have to trouble you these few days." When Pan Yueqing heard Qi Si'an's words, she only felt that she had underestimated the thickness of this "venomous snake"'s skin. She forced a "kind" smile, grabbed Qi Si'an's neck, and with their eyes meeting, Pan Yueqing's gaze was intense. "How about we try to see if there is true love in the world from me or if you are immune to all poisons?"

Qi Si'an slightly lowered his gaze. Facing Pan Yueqing's delicate pink lips, he could smell the unique faint fragrance of a young girl on his nose. In his ears, he seemed to hear the sound of his own swallowing and his heartbeat. Pan Yueqing could tell exactly what this "venomous snake" was thinking from Qi Si'an's expression. She immediately pinched Qi Si'an's chin, and while he wasn't paying attention, she stuffed a piece of grass into his mouth. There was mockery in her eyes. "The Heartbreak Grass. It tastes slightly sweet on the tongue and bitter when it goes down the throat. Do you feel sweet or bitter now?"

Qi Si'an's gaze shook slightly. Then he reached out and pressed Pan Yueqing's head. Before Pan Yueqing could react, he kissed her lips.

Pan Yueqing pushed Qi Si'an away. Before she could utter a scolding, Qi Si'an smiled halfway. "There's half poison in my saliva. If I'm going to die, we'll die together."