The Demon Prince

"Good heavens, even a gentleman is wary?" Xiao Xingyue said seriously, "I'm healing, what kind of mosaic is in your head?"

"Mosaic?" Li Miaoqing blushed instantly. "You're the one with a dirty mind!"

Xiao Xingyue pressed her down to sit on the desk: "Bear with it."

He pressed his fingertips against her shoulder, and Li Miaoqing's eyes instantly reddened with pain.

But she stubbornly refused to shout it out; instead, she bit her lip and glared at him fiercely.

Xiao Xingyue looked down at the injury. "It's really big and white. It looks like the injury is quite serious. It's swollen like this. Don't move. Let me suck it out for you."

Li Miaoqing immediately tried to push him away, "No! Ah—"

……

at the same time.

Outside the abandoned academy, several figures turned in from the alleyway.

Leading the group was Cui Daoyuan, whose face was gloomy, with Xie Yuheng beside him.

"That kid Xiao Xingyue is inexplicably confident. He actually sent his men back and went in alone. Elder Cui, the fish has taken the bait. What should we do next?"

A cold glint flashed in Cui Daoyuan's eyes: "Seal off the entrance and set it on fire."

Xie Yuheng hesitated for a moment, not expecting Cui Daoyuan to be so ruthless. "Are you really going to burn him to death?"

Cui Daoyuan sneered: "Just a pawn, what's wrong with that?"

His Majesty dislikes him, the princesses also despise him, and many in the court want to sever ties with the Xiao family… By doing so, we're actually saving them trouble!

After hearing this, Xie Yuheng became bolder: "That's right. The princesses have powerful and influential backers throughout the court. No one wants them to live too long. In that case, let's burn it down!"

To the right of the two, Feng Lie lay hidden behind the broken wall, listening intently through gritted teeth.

Zhao Yuanbao's face turned pale, and he urged in a low voice, "They're courting death! Uncle Chen, Uncle Feng, we have to save the young master!"

Chen Manfu tried his best to calm himself down. "No! The young master said to wait for them to make their move! Let's wait a little longer, lest we ruin the young master's plans."

Soon, kerosene was carried into the yard, the flue was blocked, and the stone slab next to the dry well was jammed with iron spikes.

The torch hit the ground, and whoosh, flames shot up along the oil line.

……

In the underground dark room.

Xiao Xingyue was still healing Li Miaoqing, working his way down from her shoulder bone, praying in his heart, "Manfu, Yuanbao, and Lao Feng, please don't come in and ruin my plans!"

"Stop touching it, stop touching it now."

A thick plume of smoke billowed in from the vent, flames began to rise from the edge of the bookshelf, and the dry, old books crackled. Li Miaoqing frantically shoved Xiao Xingyue.

Xiao Xingyue pressed his hand against her body, saying, "That won't do. A doctor should have a compassionate heart. You still have bruises."

Li Miaoqing's voice trembled with anxiety: "Fire! You rascal!"

Xiao Xingyue turned his head and glanced at the flames climbing up the bookshelf, and the smoke grew thicker and thicker.

Instead, he laughed, his eyes deep and somewhat excited: "The snake has come out."

Li Miaoqing shuddered: "Ah—a snake? Where's the snake?"

She shrank tightly into Xiao Xingyue's arms, her shoulder injury throbbing with pain, her eyes welling up with tears: "It's over, I'm definitely going to die this time! I'm going to get bitten by snakes and burned! Xiao Xingyue! How could I be so stupid as to come in here and risk my life with you!"

Xiao Xingyue first observed the direction of the smoke flow.

The area is damp, so the fire won't engulf the entire area at once.

If a fire breaks out outside, Zhao Yuanbao and the others will definitely see it. If all else fails, he can use the Holy Dragon Technique to break open the entrance and force his way out.

He savored the scent of medicine and the woman's fragrance in his arms, and sighed, "Princess, what are you saying? If it weren't for healing your wounds, I would have left long ago! Now, it's all turned into roast suckling pig with you."

Li Miaoqing was so angry she almost jumped up: "You're the one who's roasting suckling pig! I'm the one who's at a disadvantage! I don't want to die with you!"

Xiao Xingyue's tone suddenly softened, "What if I wanted to?"

The firelight reflected on his face as he reached out and took Li Miaoqing's hand, this time with a gentle touch.

Li Miaoqing was taken aback. Xiao Xingyue lowered his voice further and said with a wry smile, "So it turns out that in the end, it was just wishful thinking on my part, Xiao Xingyue, that the King of Xiang had a dream but the Goddess was unmoved."

Li Miaoqing's heart skipped a beat: "You... what nonsense are you talking about?"

She tried to pull her hand away, but Xiao Xingyue quickly grabbed it again:

"So be it. Thirty thousand Chinese characters, yet love is hard to express. Now that I can die with my beloved, it is not in vain that I, Xiao Xingyue, have come to this world."

Li Miaoqing's face was already flushed from the smoke from the fire outside, and now it turned even redder because of Xiao Xingyue's words.

This bastard never tells the truth, but now he's surrounded by fire, and death is imminent.

Why does it suddenly feel like... he's confessing his feelings to me?

Li Miaoqing's last shred of reason crumbled: "Xiao Xingyue... don't... don't talk nonsense..."

"I only have the courage to say this when I'm almost dead." Xiao Xingyue pulled her into his arms: "Seventh Princess, hold me, let me be burned to death first, then you won't be so afraid!"

This trick had worked for him countless times in his past life; after all, that's how it was portrayed in Qiong Yao dramas.

Li Miaoqing bumped into his arms, her shoulder still aching, but her heartbeat became even more erratic.

She wanted to push him away, but the smoke made her throat tight, and the flames were getting closer and closer.

"Never mind... I'm going to die anyway, so I'll let you hold me for a little while, just a little while..." She gripped his collar, her gaze rising gently, "Xiao Xingyue, before you die, do you have any regrets?"

Xiao Xingyue waved his hand, mimicking Tang Sanzang's refusal to reveal the past of the Women's Kingdom, "It's better not to talk about it, you definitely won't agree."

Li Miaoqing's eyes were red and misty.

"Tell me, we're about to die, and you're still being so coy. Are you even a man?"

Xiao Xingyue stared at her blankly:

"My biggest regret is that I didn't become a real couple with the Seventh Princess..."

Li Miaoqing's mind went blank for a moment:

"A real, genuine couple?"

Xiao Xingyue's expression was somber: "It's like this, I heard that if they're not truly husband and wife, they'll be separated even in the afterlife, and then the Seventh Princess will only be a wandering ghost..."

Li Miaoqing's heart tightened. "Really?!"

"It's true, I swear on my father Xiao Junlin's name!"

"This!" Li Miaoqing's delicate body trembled. She feared she would truly be adrift alone on the road to the underworld. "I don't want to!"

She glanced at the fire, then looked at Xiao Xingyue: "Is it still too late for us to become a real couple?"

Finally, I can eat... Xiao Xingyue said seriously, "It's barely enough, I'm short on time."

Li Miaoqing stared at him blankly: "Huh? Uh-huh..."

……

After a few cups of tea.

The fire outside is big enough.

Chen Manfu could no longer hold back, "Save the young master! Quickly!"

Feng Lie had already arrived with a group of guards: "Surround them! Someone is setting fire to murder the Crown Prince!"

The veterans, like wolves released from their cages, surrounded Cui Daoyuan and Xie Yuheng.

"This...didn't you retreat to the Prince's Palace?" Cui Daoyuan sensed something was wrong, his eyes darted around, he flicked his sleeve, and cupped his hands with a smile: "Gentlemen, you've misunderstood. I was just passing by."

Seeing that he was surrounded by the guards of the Prince of Zhenguo's mansion, Xie Yuheng's face turned pale, and he immediately retreated: "Yes, we were just passing by. We don't know anything. Your young master is courting death every day. Who knows who he has offended?"

"Just passing by?" Feng Lie said coldly, "Passing by my ass!"

Cui Daoyuan's old face twitched. "You! My sister has been dead for many years, and you're so rude!"

He gave Xie Yuheng a wink, and Xie Yuheng understood. He wanted to stall for time, to let it burn longer inside, and burn that little bastard Xiao Xingyue to death!

Xie Yuheng was about to speak when he interrupted, "Gentlemen, please allow me to explain. I am the newly appointed top scholar... Ah!"

Feng Lie, a rough and uncouth man, didn't care about him. He smashed Xie Yuheng's face with the hilt of his knife, and Xie Yuheng, covered in blood, shrank back in fright.

Seeing this, Cui Daoyuan also chickened out. At this moment, Zhao Yuanbao came running from the alley entrance: "Damn it, the people from Beitang Mansion said that the Seventh Princess also went in."

The moment those words were spoken, the entire room froze.

The color drained from Cui Daoyuan's aged face in an instant!

Xie Yuheng's legs went weak.

Burning Xiao Xingyue to death could still be covered up, but burning the Seventh Princess would drag Beitang Jimin and the Emperor into the fire together!

What will their fate be? It goes without saying!

Cui Daoyuan shouted sternly, "Save them! Save them!"

Feng Lie had already rushed in, and the veterans swung their sledgehammers, smashing them wildly against the wall next to the underground entrance.

Smoke billowed out, some people were carrying water, others were throwing dirt, and the commotion quickly escalated, reaching straight into the basement...