Following this shout, all of the fine guards from Qian Zhou completely withdrew from battle. They began to gather around the source of that voice.
Feng Yu Heng’s hand that held the surgical knife began to tremble. Looking in the direction of the voice, she saw ten people in black clothes suddenly appear on the other end of the deck. Most importantly, there was a cage placed before these people. There was a boy locked inside this cage wearing just some white underclothes. His hair was unkempt and eyes hollow. The hands that held the cage were covered in blood, and the pinky of his right hand was missing.
Tears immediately began to stream down her face. Unable to control herself, she charged forward. Xuan Tian Ming quickly held her from behind at placed his chin on her head, saying quietly: “Don’t be impulsive. You absolutely must not be impulsive.”
Feng Yu Heng also knew that this was definitely not the time to be impulsive, but she had searched for this younger brother for many days and finally found him. How could she not be in a rush? Especially seeing the missing finger on his hand, she did not even know if she could treat it. After missing it for so many days, even if she connected the finger, it would definitely lose its mobility, right?
Her raging hatred surged forth once more. The current Feng Yu Heng was like a small leopard that had become infuriated. With her body arched, it seemed that she could charge forward to fight at any moment.
Zi Rui cried loudly. No matter how strong he looked, he was still just a child. Suddenly meeting with this crisis, he had endured for a great number of days. Even when his pinky was cut off, he did not cry, but now that he saw his own elder sister, the feelings of grief could no longer be hidden. His cries caused Feng Yu Heng to feel completely heartbroken.
The people holding bows and arrows from Qian Zhou’s divine archery team had people protecting them. Seeing the affection between brother and sister, they could not help but let out a laugh. Raising their voices, they shouted into the rain: “Imperial daughter Ji An, do you want for this child to live?”
Feng Yu Heng fiercely gritted her teeth, and her entire body began to tremble. She was completely unable to say a single word. It was Xuan Tian Ming that fiercely said from behind her: “What is the exchange condition?”
The opposition let out a loud laugh, his voice filled with greed: “Your Highness, do not worry. Qian Zhou will not ask for your beloved wife’s life. If you can provide the method for producing steel, this child will be returned to you. If that’s not possible…” That person let out a cold laugh, “I heard that imperial daughter Ji An loves her younger brother the most. I wonder what sort of thoughts imperial daughter would have after seeing another broken finger?”
While that person spoke, another person to the side pulled out a dagger and began to move it up and down, waiting for their reply.
When Zi Rui heard these words, the child gradually stopped crying. When he was finally able to speak, he said: “Sis! Don’t give it to them! Zi Rui is not afraid of dying! Keep the method for producing steel in Da Shun. There will come a day when elder sister and brother-in-law will bring an army fitted out entirely with steel weapons and march into Qian Zhou. When that time comes, just kill them all to get revenge for Zi Rui! The method for producing steel must not be handed over!”
At this time, Feng Yu Heng had already begun to calm down. There was a shred of doubt that began to show itself in her heart. She suddenly raised her voice and asked: “How did you know that Zi Rui would be going on his own to Xiao Zhou? Who reported this to you?”
This question had been in her heart for a few days. At first, Zi Rui’s return to Xiao Zhou would not be happening so soon. It could be said that their departure was something decided on the spot. How could the enemy have known about it so quickly?
Xuan Tian Ming was also pondering this question. He very quickly said to her: “There is a traitor in the Feng family.”
Of course, she knew that there was a traitor in the Feng family. Feng Jin Yuan had hidden guards from Qian Zhou. But this was a truth that Feng Yu Heng did not want to accept. But it was often like this. The less that you want to hear something, the more things would develop in the way you would not want it to.
The people of Qian Zhou were very masterful in their ability to find weak spots and angering people. Feng Yu Heng asked, and they immediately replied with a smile: “You want to know who wanted for you two, brother and sister, to die? You want to know came to do business with my Qian Zhou to stage a comeback using the method for producing steel as a bargaining chip? I will tell you. It was your father. A person called Feng Jin Yuan. It was him that secretly told us. He told us about your affection for your brother and mother. He told us that if we could not control you, we had to find a way to get control of your mother and younger brother. Like this, we could use them to get you to do whatever we want! And this time, it was him that told us that you and your younger brother were leaving the capital via the people at his side.”
After he finished speaking, he looked at Feng Yu Heng with an extremely pleased look. He was waiting to see her collapse mentally. He was waiting to appreciate the moment when the omnipotent imperial daughter Ji An would go crazy.
Unfortunately, they had forgotten an important point. For Feng Jin Yuan to be able to do something so cruel to his daughter, what sort of feelings would this daughter have for her father?
Their words did not have the expected outcome. Not only did Feng Yu Heng not go crazy, even Zi Rui began to laugh from the cage. The child said sarcastically: “Who else could it have been. It turns out that it was the old friend that has tried time and time again to kill us. He wants to make use of Qian Zhou to stage a comeback? He wants to go to Qian Zhou to become to prime minister? I really am worried for your ruler! A person that can be as ruthless as this to his own children, if your Qian Zhou’s ruler ever does something that is not to his liking, would he not immediately turn to another country to go against Qian Zhou. Tsk tsk, Qian Zhou’s emperor is truly too young. He cannot even understand this.”
In truth, Zi Rui’s words were filled with holes. Feng Jin Yuan’s current basis for this deal with Qian Zhou is based on him having Feng Yu Heng as a bargaining chip. But once this bargaining chip was thrown out, it would no longer belong to him. He would not have the ability to go against Qian Zhou. Thus, Zi Rui was just wanting to anger the people from Qian Zhou. He was also using this opportunity to show some indignation towards that father. He did not really hope to scare the opposition.
The people of Qian Zhou did not pay much attention to his words. They could choose to not care whether or not Feng Jin Yuan would have the chance to betray them, but they could not do the same about the attitude that the two had toward their father. They were wanting to use those words to instigate Feng Yu Heng. Now, it seemed that Feng Yu Heng could not be instigated. Even the young Feng Zi Rui was unperturbed. That old man Feng Jin Yuan really was viewed as being lower than swine at home.
If they could not instigate Feng Yu Heng, they had to use a different method. The person at the front squatted down and reached out, grabbing the hand that had not been touched. Zi Rui’s hand was dragged out of the iron cage, leaving a bloody mark.
Feng Yu Heng’s heart ached unbelievably, and a cold aura that even Xuan Tian Ming could feel escaped from her.
Feng Zi Rui spoke up once more. The child’s voice was very resolute, loudly saying: “Sis! Don’t worry about me! Teacher said that if someone is unable to live properly, they would need to choose to value death! Zi Rui is not afraid of dying. What I do fear is our Da Shun falling into the hands of this group of criminals! Brother-in-law! Quickly say something to sis. You absolutely must not give them the method for producing steel!”
Feng Yu Heng’s eyes were bright red. At this time, if Xuan Tian Ming looked at her from the front, he would find that the eyes that were usually a little on the red side were even closer to a blood-red than normal. In these blood-red eyes, there seemed to be a bit of a golden glow. That gold color gradually began to expand. It was as though they had become two phoenixes reborn from fire. They burned brightly inside her eyes.
She did not speak for a long time. Xuan Tian Ming, however, raised his voice and spoke up on her behalf: “The person that you want to die definitely will not die, and the thing that you want to obtain will definitely not be obtained. People of Qian Zhou, from the moment that you entered Da Shun, there was no path of life left for you. Is this a truth that you will insist on having this prince teach you?”
When he spoke, his gaze was calm; however, it passed along a different message. The people from Qian Zhou had control of Zi Rui. Although they could not guarantee that they would live, they had to find a way to kill the child inside the cage.
They believed that Xuan Tian Ming had truly exaggerated too much. He was just trying to scare them. Moreover…
The person at the lead stood up and raised the bow and arrow in his hand. Under his leadership, the other members of the divine archery team also aimed their arrows at the opposition. With the arrows nocked and bows unmoving, it was clear that they had prepared to shoot tracking arrows.
On this large river, there is nowhere to hide.” That person spoke loudly, “Imperial daughter Ji An, even if you know also know tracking arrows and even if you shoot back, you are just one person. One child and both of your lives, will you trade it for the method for producing steel?”
The enemy’s words were still determined. Who knew why, but that person felt that Xuan Tian Ming was correct. They could not kill Feng Zi Rui, and they would not be able to get the method for producing steel. But if the mission failed, once they returned to Qian Zhou, they would have a hard time avoiding death. It would be better to give it one last shot. If they really could take their lives, they would be able to provide an explanation to the ruler.
Their arrow tips swayed a little more, and Feng Yu Heng knew that the tracking arrow could be shot at any given moment. But she was not afraid at all!
What was there for her to fear. Xuan Tian Ming had already informed everyone behind him to place their hands on his shoulder. And his hands were wrapped around her. Once the arrows were shot, she could bring everyone into her space at any moment to perform a disappearing trick. But this was the last trick that she had. If she did not need to, she did not want to use it. If she did not take the lives of all of these people from Qian Zhou, she, Feng Yu Heng, would not be worthy of having transmigrated. She would have lived this second life for nothing.
Curling her lips into a sneer, she ignored the people of Qian Zhou. Instead, she looked at Zi Rui and asked: “Zi Rui, are you afraid?”
The child shook his head, “Zi Rui is only afraid that elder sister will hand the method for producing steel to the people of Qian Zhou. There is nothing else to fear.”
She nodded, “It’s no loss that you are my younger brother! Don’t worry. Elder sister will not let you die. I also will not allow you to suffer any harm. Even that finger that you lost, elder sister will think of a way to fix it for you. In a moment, elder sister will break their hands and feet. Then I will give you a sword. You are no longer young, you should learn to kill people!”
These words sounded like an extremely outrageous joke to the people of Qian Zhou; however, none of them were able to laugh. Intuition told them that Feng Yu Heng was able to make it happen.
And it was in this moment of doubt that they heard a “bang” come from the other side. Someone saw some oddly-shaped black thing in imperial daughter Ji An’s hand. Nobody knew when it had been brought out. After this sound, a bloody hole appeared on the forehead of the person closest to Zi Rui. Staring at it, blood began to pour out. It arrived so suddenly that there was not a chance for defense.
Immediately following this, they saw Feng Yu Heng raise bother her hands, as one black thing became two, two became three, and three became four. Holding two in each hand, the “bang bang” sound came once more. This time, bloody holes appeared on the wrists of everyone’s bow hand.