socalfunplaces Chapter 173 There's No Way to Avoid It
Chapter 173 There's No Way to Avoid It
"Hmph!" Tianze sneered. "A woman's heart is more fickle than the clouds. You insisted on sending her as an undercover agent, and now she's leading you by the nose, making Han Wang'an extremely suspicious of you. Do you really think she's a caged bird, to be manipulated at your will?"
He stood there, showing no sign of being a prisoner, but rather like an ice sculpture, awe-inspiring and unyielding.
Tianze is not dead.
Not only did he not die, but Bai Yifei also dragged him back from the brink of death and took the blame for treason on his behalf.
Since that state banquet, Bai Yifei had come to a complete realization—he was the prey who had been completely manipulated. Yan Lingji and Lin Tian had conspired to trap him. She was no longer a pawn he had planted, but a wild horse that had broken free. But what Bai Yifei never expected was... that she wouldn't even bother to inquire about Tianze's life or death.
"Heh..." Bai Yifei let out a soft laugh, chillingly cold. "It seems she chose Lin Tian, not you."
"She's just a living witness to the treasure map. What does it matter to me who she goes with?"
"A Baiyue woman who was willing to die for you and keep your secret, you entrusted yourself to her wholeheartedly and became her weapon. In the end, it seems that you are heartless, colder than the water in a cold pool."
Before Bai Yifei finished speaking, his eyes were already fixed on Tianze's brows—but on that face, there was no anger, no pain, not even a ripple of emotion, a calmness that sent chills down one's spine. A chill ran through him: this man's coldness far surpassed his own.
Bai Yifei stopped beating around the bush and simply revealed his trump card: "I am determined to obtain the Baiyue treasure. And the key is only in Yan Lingji's hands."
A cold glint flashed in Tianze's eyes, but his voice remained as steady as iron: "Fine. However—you know what I want."
"On the day it is accomplished, you may slaughter as you please in the Han King's palace and vent your anger as you please."
Bai Yifei suddenly stood up, took a step closer, and slid a small black bottle out of his sleeve. The bottle glowed with a ghostly light—it was the Gu worm that controlled Tianze's life.
Tianze gave a cold glance, turned around and strode away, his robes billowing like waves of blood.
Bai Yifei watched his figure disappear at the end of the corridor, his smile deepening, sinister and resolute. He straightened his clothes and headed straight for the Han King's Palace.
Since Ji Wuye's sudden death, his elite troops have been swiftly and decisively absorbed by Bai Yifei. Once commanding 100,000 soldiers, now holding the military tally, his orders are absolute, making him a true figure in control of half of the military power in Han.
His calculations were extremely accurate.
This time, he completely abandoned the Yan Ling Ji line, discarded the old strategy, and took a risky step—going with the flow, using Tian Ze as a spear, and borrowing Han Wang An's hand to pierce Han Fei's last path to survival.
Upon entering the palace, he ignored the guards' attempts to stop him with their halberds and charged straight in, reaching the depths of the royal bedchamber.
"Bai Yifei, the Blood-Clad Marquis, has an extremely urgent matter to attend to, and requests an audience with the King!"
A muffled groan of impatience came from inside the palace. A moment later, the bedchamber door opened, and King Han An emerged, dressed in his robes, and stood on the steps with a gloomy expression.
Bai Yifei only said a few words before Han Wang'an slammed his fist on the table and stood up, his beard and hair bristling, his anger uncontrollable.
Three days later, at night.
Tomorrow is the auspicious day chosen by the Imperial Astronomical Bureau, and the time for the mission to the Qin State is set at noon.
It was just past the third quarter of the hour of Xu (7:45 PM), which, according to modern reckoning, is about 8:30 PM.
Yan Lingji silently skimmed over the high wall of the backyard, her toes barely touching the ground as she moved like a swallow, disappearing into the depths of the night. No one knew why she was traveling alone in the dead of night, nor where she was headed.
Just as her figure disappeared at the end of the rooftop—
A tall, slender figure appeared silently from where she had just stood.
It was Lin Tian.
He gazed silently in the direction she had gone, and after a moment, his figure faded away, disappearing like ink into the night.
Deep in the dense forest on the outskirts of Xinzheng, a cold moon hangs high, its clear light like frost, bathing the entire forest in a pale, translucent glow, adding a touch of desolate chill.
Yan Lingji descended silently from the treetops, her toes touching the ground without a sound, like a cluster of crimson flames wandering in the dark night, flickering in the silvery moonlight.
She walked to a clearing in the forest, looked around, and spoke in a clear, sharp voice: "The poison of Baiyue is colorless and formless, yet carries the cold fragrance of orchids—you use this as a sign, both to show I am not dead and to lure me to our appointment. Crown Prince Tianze, what exactly are you plotting?"
"Heh..." A low laugh emerged from behind the tree shadows, and the red-browed dragon-snake slowly stepped out. The moonlight outlined his rugged features, making his sinister eyes and aura even more striking.
Yan Lingji looked up and her body suddenly stiffened: "It really is you!"
"What, you don't trust Bai Yifei, so you suspect I sent someone to impersonate you?" He took a step closer, his voice laced with sarcasm, "Yan Ling, you've almost burned out your own roots."
Tianze stopped three feet in front of her, his gaze lingering on her collarbone—where two dark lines, sharp as if carved by a knife, stretched diagonally into the depths of her clothing. He stared for a long time, a slight smile playing on his lips, as if examining a weapon he had forged over many years: "The Baiyue totem, the dragon and snake emblem, all share the same origin. What's branded on you is blood, not decoration. How dare you forget which mountains you came from?"
Yan Lingji's fingertips trembled, and a shallow mark appeared on her lip from being bitten. She suddenly took half a step back and turned to avoid his outstretched hand.
Tianze frowned and coldly snorted, "Yan Lingji! Have you forgotten how you knelt before my tent and swore an oath? Have you forgotten that you are a daughter of Baiyue? To betray me is to betray your own people!"
His gaze was like a nail, fixed firmly on the dazed and hesitant face before him, watching the struggle and wavering surging in her eyes, while a faint, enigmatic smile slowly rose to his lips—
She can't escape. And that man can forget about interfering.
Tianze was the deposed crown prince of Baiyue, a kingdom established by various tribes in Lingnan, separate from the Seven Kingdoms. He was captured after losing his throne and imprisoned in Han, becoming a prisoner. Only Yan Lingji remained loyal, serving alongside Wushuang Gui and others, willingly becoming the sharpest blade in his hand.
At that time, she was a young girl who grew up in the mountains and fields of Baiyue, and he was a crown prince of a fallen kingdom who had been exiled to a foreign land; in each other's eyes, there was blood, fire, and an unspoken burning passion.
"Come back." Tianze stood with his hands behind his back, his voice low but unyielding. "Once I retrieve the Baiyue treasures hidden in Zheng and unravel the mystery of the Azure Dragon's Seven Constellations, I will return to Lingnan and reclaim my homeland. The territories of the seven kingdoms will all fall beneath my feet—and you will be my only queen."
He pressed closer, bringing them within arm's reach: "Yan Ling Ji...choose."
She suddenly looked up, staring directly into his eyes, her voice calm as a deep pool: "What you truly want is nothing more than the Baiyue treasures left behind by the Zheng Kingdom, and the truth about the Seven Constellations of the Azure Dragon. Crown Prince Tianze, that's all."
"Hmph!" His face suddenly turned cold, his expression frosty, and his right hand swiftly grabbed her throat, kicking her off the ground.
The dragon scale chain around her waist, coiled like a living creature, moved in response, hissing and twisting, tightening its loops around her wrists and waist.
Yan Lingji felt a slight lump in her throat, but she did not struggle.
From the moment she refused, she knew that she couldn't escape this fate.
She understood Tianze too well. His heart was filled only with the word "revenge"; everything else was nothing but ashes on an altar.