Ask the Nine Ministers

Chapter 410 A Leap of Faith

"stop!"

Li Zhao's boots crunched over the icy pebbles with a harsh, screeching sound. The wind and snow stung his cheeks, but he didn't even bother to blink—

The burly, dark figure ahead carried a person wrapped in a quilt on his shoulder, swaying gently with his running. The closer he got, the clearer it became that it was a slender woman…

"Put him down!"

The masked man was startled by the sound, turned around abruptly, and revealed a fierce glint in his eyes.

Seeing Li Zhao chasing after him, he not only didn't stop, but also bounced the person on his shoulder higher and ran even faster.

"court death!"

Li Zhao took out the bone-piercing nail from his sleeve.

With a flick of his wrist, the hidden weapon flew from his hand and pierced straight for the man's back.

That person was clearly no ordinary fighter. Sensing the strong wind behind him, he managed to sidestep and spun around at the last second, narrowly avoiding a fatal blow.

With a ripping sound, the bone-piercing nail tore through the cotton blanket on his shoulder, drawing out a string of beads of blood...

"Xue Ping'an!"

Li Zhao shouted.

The person inside the quilt remained motionless, like a lifeless puppet.

"Put her down! I'll spare your life." Li Zhao pressed closer.

The masked man stopped, turned around, and grinned smugly. "Your Highness? You have a keen sense of smell. It seems this young lady is indeed a precious gem..."

He nudged the person on his shoulder, his tone suddenly turning harsh, "What a pity, the lord has instructed that he be taken back for personal interrogation..."

"Xiao Dingshan?" Li Zhao's heart tightened.

A murderous intent surged straight to the top of his head.

It is him again!
This man was the leader of Xiao Yan's elite bodyguards, and he was extremely ruthless.

The last ambush was orchestrated by him and his men disguised as refugees.

Li Zhao's temples throbbed, and his heart felt like it was being gripped by an icy hand, both swollen and painful.

"The person you want is me. Let her go, and we can talk about anything..."

"Your Highness, save your tricks. Delaying won't save anyone, and I won't let go." Xiao Dingshan sneered, glancing at the person on his shoulder. "My lord said that even your life, as a descendant of the dragon and phoenix, isn't necessarily more precious than hers..."

"You bastard!" Li Zhao gritted his teeth and charged forward again, sword in hand.

Xiao Dingshan was tall and strong, like an iron tower, and his martial arts skills were also very fierce. However, with a large person on his shoulder, his movements were inevitably a beat slower.

In the chase, Xiao Dingshan narrowly avoided Li Zhao's attacks several times, retreating again and again until his back slammed heavily against a huge rock. He was panting heavily, and a corner of the quilt on his shoulder slipped down, revealing Xue Sui's pale profile...

"Your Highness, if you're not afraid she'll fall to her death, then please come!"

He made a gesture as if to slam the person on his shoulder into the stone ridge.

"How dare you!" Li Zhao roared.

"What wouldn't I dare?" Xiao Dingshan smiled sinisterly, slowly retreating towards the steep slope, turning into a pile of snow-covered rocks, his figure appearing and disappearing among the crevices...

Li Zhao did not follow.

Using the rocks as cover, he circled around to behind a rock, then suddenly lunged out with his sword, slashing at his left leg.

Xiao Dingshan roared and whirled Xue Sui, whom he was carrying on his shoulder, around to use her soft body as a shield to meet Li Zhao's deadly sword...

Li Zhao abruptly stopped in mid-air, withdrawing his hand and discarding his sword.

Clang! The sword tip fell to the ground less than an inch from the quilt.

His back was instantly soaked with cold sweat.

"Shameless madman! I'll tear you to pieces!"

"You'll have to be capable of taking it." Xiao Dingshan sneered, seizing the fleeting opportunity, he drew his curved blade and slashed down at Li Zhao, aiming straight for his vitals.

"Your Highness, be careful!" Yuan Cang's horrified shout rang out.

Li Zhao's eyes flashed with ferocity. Without dodging or avoiding, he reached out with his left hand like an iron clamp and grabbed the other's wrist holding the knife. Suddenly, his right hand drew the "Guardian Heart" short knife from his waist and stabbed it diagonally into the other's left shoulder.

"Ah!" Xiao Dingshan roared in pain, and swung his elbow back to strike Li Zhao's forehead.

The pain struck, and my vision blurred instantly...

Li Zhao seemed oblivious, raising his foot and sweeping it across, kicking him in the back of the knee...

Xiao Dingshan was in pain and lost his balance.

Thump! He knelt down on one knee in the snow, and Xue Sui, whom he was carrying on his shoulder, swayed heavily.

Li Zhao's heart tightened, and he grabbed the quilt wrapped around the person with lightning speed.

"None of them will have an easy time!" Under the intense pain, Xiao Dingshan erupted in a desperate frenzy.

Seeing Yuan Cang and his guards closing in, he knew that with this burden, he had no chance of survival.

In that split second, he suddenly yanked the person off his shoulder and, with all his might, threw him violently down the steep slope behind him...

"To hell with you, Prince! Choose between life and death! Hahahaha—" The person wrapped in the quilt, like a heavy burden, was thrown towards the steep, almost vertical snow slope behind him—

"Peace!" Li Zhao's eyes widened in horror.

"Do not--"

Li Zhao's hand, which was reaching for Xue Sui, missed its target, and he only managed to tear off a corner of the quilt.

His mind went blank.

I watched helplessly as that shadow rolled down the snow slope, tumbling and accelerating, plunging into the snow-covered darkness...

"Safety!"

He didn't care about anything else, without the slightest hesitation, not even glancing back at Xiao Dingshan, and followed closely behind, leaping down the steep slope...

"Your Highness—" Yuan Cang's exclamation was torn apart by the gale.

By the time they reached the edge of the slope, the masked man had disappeared behind the pile of rocks, and there was no sign of him anywhere on the steep snow slope.

"You go after Xiao Dingshan!" Yuan Cang roared, assigning tasks. "The rest of you, come with me to rescue His Highness!"

Everyone felt a chill in their hearts.

The snow slope was at least several dozen feet deep, and the slope was full of jagged rocks; there was absolutely no chance of survival if one fell down.
-
The surroundings were icy cold.

Snow clumps rolled down the slope, hitting Li Zhao's back and face, the biting cold pain seeping into his bones.

He was like a runaway stone, tumbling and falling, his ribs going numb from being hit by protruding rocks several times, but he gritted his teeth and kept staring at the falling dark shadow below, wanting only to fall even faster...

"Ping An! Xue Ping An..."

He finally managed to grab the quilt.

With a forceful pull, he drew that cold body tightly into his arms...

The immense inertia carried the two of them tumbling until they crashed into a dead tree half-buried in the snow.

Li Zhao lay on the snow, coughing several times before struggling to get up. His hands were so frozen that he could barely untangle the quilt wrapped around his body.

"It's alright, Ping An, it's alright."

He muttered to himself.

I don't know if I was trying to convince myself or comfort the person in my arms.

Xue Sui was still half-wrapped in the quilt, his face was pale, his lips were frozen and turned black, his eyes were closed, and his breathing was so weak that it was almost imperceptible.

"Peace? Wake up..."

Li Zhao checked her breathing, knelt on the snow, felt her pulse, and pressed his ear to her chest. Only when he heard her faint heartbeat did his tense nerves relax slightly.

"Wake up, look at me... Xue Ping'an. Open your eyes and look..."

The wind picked up, and snowflakes kept getting into my neck.

They tumbled down a crevices carved out by the wind on the lower part of a steep slope, surrounded on three sides by rocks, barely managing to avoid the snow shards rolling down from above. But the biting wind was like a knife, penetrating every crevice.

Li Zhao quickly checked Xue Sui's condition.

She had a noticeable abrasion on her forehead, from hitting a rock while rolling, and a bruise on the back of her neck, as if she had been struck with a blunt object. More serious was her left arm, where a long gash was cut in her sleeve, and blood had stained half of her arm, already congealed in the cold...

"Damn it!" Li Zhao cursed under his breath.

He tore open his relatively clean lining and carefully bandaged Xue Sui to stop the bleeding. His movements were quick, but he trembled slightly from the cold and lingering fear.

Immediately afterwards, he pulled the loose quilt tighter, wrapped Xue Sui up snugly, and then held her tightly in his arms, trying to warm her frozen body with his body heat...

The snowstorm showed no signs of abating.

The cold slowly eroded hope.

Li Zhao pressed her cold cheek against his equally cold neck, his chin resting on the top of her head.

"Xue Ping'an, listen to me..."

His voice was hoarse, more like a plea than a threat.

"If you dare to die, I will, I will..."

What can he do? He can't say.

Some fears cannot be suppressed by power.

Even if he was the crown prince, he couldn't escape the pain of separation and death.

Despair surged up and almost overwhelmed him.

He had never felt the fear of helplessness so clearly before; he tightened his arms around her, wishing he could meld her into his very bones…

"Ping An, you've woken up. Look at me..."

The person in his arms moved very slightly.

A soft moan, like that of a kitten, escaped from her pale lips...

(End of this chapter)