Can't a princess ascend the throne?

Chapter 113 Heartbeat
The thrill of that life-or-death moment caused Wei Yuan's heart to stop. Just then, a figure suddenly appeared, blocking the intense sunlight. Because he was facing away from the sun, Wei Yuan couldn't see the person's face at first. But once his eyes adjusted, he finally recognized the casual, free-spirited face—it was Cui Zhufeng…

There must be someone in the world whose martial prowess could appear before him and cut through all those hundreds of arrows. There's probably no one else like Cui Zhufeng.

This should have been a simple matter for Cui Zhufeng, but Wei Yuan felt his heart pounding erratically. Thump, thump, thump—his heart felt like it was about to jump out of his chest! Something wasn't right. Wei Yuan told himself this calmly as he clutched his chest, his eyes involuntarily following Cui Zhufeng's every move.

Why is she so dazzling? Is it because she's standing in the sunlight? Or is his previous injury affecting his current state? Otherwise, why would he feel short of breath and have his heart racing?
Seeing that Wei Yuan couldn't utter a single word, Cui Zhufeng suspected he had been beaten and damaged his brain. Had she arrived too late? But there was no blood on his head. She stepped forward and helped Wei Yuan up from the ground, carefully examining him from head to toe. Finding only minor external injuries, Cui Zhufeng was relieved. She already felt ashamed for losing these children; if they had suffered any more serious injuries, she would have felt terribly guilty.

"Who is this woman? How did she get here? Quickly, fire arrows and kill her! This place must not be leaked!"

"Yes!"

Although they were taken aback by Cui Zhufeng's displayed martial prowess, the surrounding guards didn't give up. After all, they were fully armed and wielded the sharpest swords. How could so many of them possibly be no match for a mere woman? Yes, even after witnessing Cui Zhufeng's extraordinary strength, they still underestimated women. Perhaps it was just a coincidence? After all, they hadn't even seen how those arrows were cut down.

With this in mind, the group continued to fire arrows from a distance, determined not to stop until they had emptied their quivers. But when the rain of arrows stopped, there were no two more corpses on the ground. Instead, there were limbs and broken arrows scattered everywhere, and a small, clean clearing—the very spot where Cui Zhufeng and Wei Yuan had stood.

Cui Zhufeng casually waved his sleeve, and the broken arrows on the ground were swept up by a sword aura and flew out in a flash, heading straight for the bewildered guards.

While those people were still in shock and confusion, they saw the shadow of death. After a few screams, there was not a single guard left standing.

"Monster! Monster! Run, run! He'll kill us all!"

Manager Huang was so frightened that he scrambled to escape Cui Zhufeng's sight. However, Cui Zhufeng, who hated being called that, was not about to let him go. After all, he had just seen this fat-headed guy whipping the poor Wei family boy when he flew over.

With a slight twitch of his toes, the long whip scattered beside him suddenly snaked forward like a snake with eyes, biting Huang's right leg and pulling him backward. Huang's fat body was lifted up like a duck and landed heavily on the ground in front of Cui Zhufeng.

He was so terrified that he was wriggling backwards, and a small patch of his body was already wet. He had actually wet himself from fear.

Cui Zhufeng glanced at him with some disdain, then looked at Wei Yuan, who remained silent beside him.

"Little Wei, he's in your hands now. Avenge any wrongs, settle any grudges, and give him a good beating before he's beheaded." Wei Yuan finally snapped out of his daze, glancing at the pleading, terrified Steward Huang, his eyes quickly turning cold and ruthless. He was the most vengeful person, settling scores on the spot. This Huang fellow was now in his hands; he'd make him taste the Ten Great Tortures of the Great Jing Dynasty!

Wei Yuan, who was originally about to take action, suddenly changed his mind after glancing at Cui Zhufeng, who was like a gust of wind that would disappear in the blink of an eye. He didn't want this person's blood to taint Senior Cui's eyes.

So he simply stepped forward and kicked Manager Huang a few times, and only after hearing the sound of bones breaking and continuous screams from his body did he turn away in satisfaction.

"Senior Cui, how did you find this place? Where are my foolish subordinates? And have you seen the three of them, including Princess Ying? I haven't seen my other three colleagues since they were drugged."

Cui Zhufeng sighed sadly, unwilling to admit that he had lost four juniors right under his nose. But since they were already lost, sighing was useless. Seeing that Wei Yuan had recovered, Cui Zhufeng immediately perked up and looked towards the distant mine.

"I've been searching around here for the past few days. About half an hour ago, I saw red smoke rising into the sky, accompanied by a huge roar. I guessed that a mine had collapsed. The sound was extremely similar to the thunderbolt that Jiuque made before, so I thought I'd try my luck here. I didn't expect to hear your voice as soon as I got here. What a coincidence."

Wei Yuan wasn't surprised that Cui Zhufeng could hear him from across the mountain, after all, this man's skills were recognized by the palace's top experts. His Majesty kept many masters in the palace, and they had naturally seen Cui Zhufeng suddenly appear beside Princess Ying, and acknowledged that his skills far surpassed their own, making him undoubtedly the number one master in the world.

It is said that martial arts masters like Cui Zhufeng have reached the pinnacle of skill and are quite different from ordinary people. It is not surprising that they can achieve this.

At this moment, Wei Yuan also remembered his responsibility, and immediately followed Cui Zhufeng, picking up a long sword from the ground and preparing to go with her to find Princess Ying and the others. Cui Zhufeng did not refuse, after all, the Wei family lad's martial arts were quite good.

Cui Zhufeng led the way, and soon they found the site of the ore collapse. The two adjacent mines came into view. She had encountered about eight mines along the way, most of the workers there looking emaciated and constantly digging and moving stones under the supervision of overseers, with almost no time to rest. But the two mines before her were somewhat different. Although the laborers were still working, their spirits seemed much better.

Moreover, although the people dressed as foremen in these two mines were holding long whips, they were just making a show of it and never actually hit anyone.

Upon seeing this, Cui Zhufeng was certain that Ying Jiuque was in this mine.

(End of this chapter)