Lingxi was dragged up the mountain, thorns tearing at her skirt and her ankle twisting with every step, sending sharp pains through her.
But she could only grit her teeth and endure, daring not to make a sound that would draw the attention of these people, trying to make herself as inconspicuous as possible.
Su Yurou, captured with her, was also present.
These people intended to use them to threaten Liu Donghuai into a prisoner exchange.
There were more than a dozen of them in total, and the bandit leader at the front seemed to hate Liu Donghuai with a burning passion, cursing all the way.
"We're here! Stop here for the exchange. If he tries anything clever, I'll push both these women off the cliff, and no one will get what they want!"
Su Yurou, her face deathly pale, begged, "Brother, please let me go. I have nothing to do with Liu Donghuai. He killed my parents; I have a vendetta against him."
At this point, the bandit leader didn't bother with her pretense, letting out a mocking laugh. "Fool, it was us who killed your parents."
If they hadn't killed her parents, Liu Donghuai wouldn't have found any leads, and then, like a persistent dog, he wouldn't have let go. Truly hateful.
Who knew if he was avenging this woman.
Su Yurou stared blankly for a moment, then cried, "I really have nothing to do with him anymore. He abandoned me and found a new love, it's her! You don't know, do you? She's a princess! Liu Donghuai cherishes her the most right now!"
As she spoke, she was filled with both hatred and jealousy.
"I also want to remind you brothers, you'd better not exchange her. Otherwise, if she lives, she will definitely send people to hunt you down."
How could there be such a vicious and foolish woman!
Couldn't she just wait quietly to be rescued?
Lingxi saw the bandit leader's eyes flash with a shrewd glint as he looked at her, and her scalp tingled.
"I am not a princess. How could a princess be here? Don't listen to this madwoman; she's just saying that out of jealousy."
Unexpectedly, the bandit leader stared at her for a moment, then turned to Su Yurou.
"You say you have nothing to do with Liu Donghuai?"
"Yes, I have nothing to do with him. Now I wish he were dead!" Su Yurou's expression was fierce, as if Liu Donghuai had an irreconcilable hatred for her.
Did this woman really have no problems with her brain?
She clearly did something wrong, yet she blamed others.
"Disgusting!" Lingxi spat coldly.
"Then you're useless!" The bandit leader's gaze towards Su Yurou was already like looking at a dead person. "Throw her down!"
Immediately, two bandits grabbed her arms from either side and dragged her towards the cliff.
Su Yurou screamed shrilly, "I misspoke, he's my husband! Don't throw me down! We have a connection, we have a connection!"
"So you're playing me!"
The bandit leader went up and slapped her, knocking Su Yurou to the ground. Half her face quickly swelled up like a steamed bun. She shivered and cowered, not daring to speak again.
"Damn it, I hate sluts like you the most!"
Then he looked at Lingxi again, his sinister eyes calculating something.
"Zhou Xingshen is here!" Liu Donghuai's shout, sounding from a distance.
The bandit leader quickly grabbed Lingxi, holding a knife to her throat, while another grabbed Su Yurou.
Then the remaining men all ran over and surrounded Liu Donghuai, who was slowly approaching.
The bandit leader saw Zhou Xingshen, his face covered in blood, and cried out in pain, "Second brother!"
Liu Donghuai looked at Lingxi anxiously. Seeing her looking back with concern, and that apart from the knife across her neck, she had no other injuries, he felt a little more at ease.
Su Yurou, with her swollen face, tearfully pleaded, "Donghuai, brother, save me, save me..."
"Big brother, he came alone!"
The bandits behind checked and reported to the leader.
The bandit leader then relaxed his grip on the knife. A frail scholar, he didn't put him in his eyes.
"Big brother..." Zhou Xingshen's mouth was leaking, his once handsome face beaten beyond recognition.
This greatly pained the bandit leader. He fiercely slapped Su Yurou again, "You hit my second brother, so I'll hit your woman! Let's see, who do you care about more? This old wife, or this new love like a delicate flower!"
After hitting Su Yurou, he also hit Lingxi.
"Stop! If you're going to exchange people, do it quickly!" Liu Donghuai shouted.
Lingxi took a solid slap, her eyes watering from the pain. She had never been hit in the face in her life, and it really hurt!
It stung fiercely; it must have swelled like Su Yurou's, into a pig's head?
"When you're in my territory, do you still have the right to speak? This is a shining princess, of noble birth. How dare you not exchange her? Kneel down for me!"
"Liu Donghuai! You are not allowed to kneel!" Lingxi roared.
The bandit leader slapped her again.
"Shut up!" Liu Donghuai roared back, his eyes red, then his knees bent, and he knelt on the stony ground.
After Zhou Xingshen untied himself, he turned and stomped on Liu Donghuai's chest, then kicked him wildly like a madman.
"Liu Donghuai! Liu Donghuai!" Lingxi's eyes were teary, "You idiot!"
"I don't need you to worry about me, just go quickly!"
Why was he so foolish, so utterly foolish? He would die!
Lingxi struggled, disregarding the blade cutting her neck, and lunged at the bandit leader.
"Lingxi! Don't be reckless!" Liu Donghuai spat out a mouthful of blood, watching the bloodstain on Lingxi's neck with terror.
The bandit leader grabbed Lingxi again. Damn it, was she really a princess? How could she be so reckless? He was counting on her to protect them as they left! She couldn't die here.
"Do you know Black Dragon?" Lingxi said fiercely to the bandit leader.
"What Black Dragon, White Dragon! I'll turn them all into dead dragons!" The bandit leader spat, then shouted at Zhou Xingshen, "Second brother, finish him quickly, and we'll leave by the small path!"
Zhou Xingshen vented his anger and took the knife handed to him by a bandit.
"Liu Donghuai, run!" Lingxi cried until her voice was hoarse.
If he didn't run now, he would really die! Why was he so stubborn!
Just then, a blood-covered figure emerged from a small path in the mountain.
"Leader! The village was wiped out by Black Dragon! All the brothers are dead!"
"Who?"
"He said he is Black Dragon!"
The bandit leader roared to the sky, "This enrages me!"
Who was Black Dragon! How could his more than two hundred brothers be gone!
"Second brother, let's go first!"
Zhou Xingshen, unwilling to let Liu Donghuai go, swung his sword. Liu Donghuai dodged it. Enraged, he raised his sword again, only to be pierced through the heart by a sharp, incoming sword.
The Imperial Guards had arrived!
Liu Donghuai shouted, "Lingxi, get down!"
"Second brother!" The bandit leader's teeth gnashed, wanting to grab Lingxi again, but more than a dozen swords had already pierced his chest.
He opened his unwilling eyes and fell backward, plunging into the bottomless abyss.
The dozen or so bandits were annihilated in an instant.
They were saved!
As Lingxi was about to stand up, she heard Liu Donghuai's heart-wrenching cry.
"Lingxi—"
Immediately, a force lunged at her.
In her ear, Su Yurou's sinister voice was heard: "Die with me!"
She knew there would be no good outcome. Her parents were dead, yesterday her aunt had instigated her uncle to sell her to the pleasure house, and just now she had offended the princess.
Liu Donghuai had not looked at her once from beginning to end, completely disregarding their past.
She had only made one mistake, and she had already suffered such severe punishment. She knew she was wrong, so why wouldn't he forgive her?
He had promised to treat her well, to give her a good life, to let her wear silver hairpins and gold rings!
But he had forgotten all of it and fallen in love with this woman!
She couldn't live, so why should he be allowed to live well.
Liu Donghuai, the woman you care about will never get what she wants!