Chapter 402: I can help you
The guard did not even have a chance to breathe much less say a word as his body fell to the ground, Ji Yu who was startled by this sudden attack took several steps back but it was as if the person who was hiding in the dark had no attention to attack her in fact it seemed as if they had no intention to walk out and see her either.
Ji Yu realised that this was merely someone's ploy to talk with her, she was the daughter of the Ji family even though she was not as scheming as the other women in the harem, she understood what was going on at the very moment.
Her face turned dark as she crossed her hands in front of her elegantly before raising her head and speaking in a cold voice, " I will not call the backup guards whoever is hiding in the dark step out with the same courage with which you shot this concubine's guard, do not hide behind the trees and the dark veil night."
Her voice was firm and without a stutter, even when she was alone she did not show any fear or terror on her face instead she faced the unknown with a brave expression on her face while keeping her back straight as if she owned a spine which was made out of steel.
" As expected from her highness the imperial concubine," Liu Dong Ming stepped out of the forest, his face was calm and he was being followed by his aide who was holding his arrow and bow in his hand, which he used to shoot the guard. " I expected nothing from you, your highness. I knew that you will understand the worries of this official and agree to see me without a hassle."
Ji Yu did not expect that the person who was hiding in the dark would turn out to be the head of the Liu family, she looked at Liu Dong Ming who bent his waist to bow down in front of her, greeting her respectfully as if he just didn't shoot the guard who was guarding her just now with the bow and arrow.
Her gaze then flickered to the guard who stood silently behind Liu Dong Ming, she could not understand what was going on with the two of them but she dared not to drop her guard as she looked at Liu Dong Ming who was standing in front of her with a calm expression on his face while his lips were curled in a soft smile.
As she looked at him, her eyes could not follow the unsheathed sword and arrow in the hands of the guard behind her and then after she was done studying the carving of the arrow in the wicker basket that the guard was carrying, she turned to look at the arrow which was sticking in the back of the guard. And sure enough, she saw that the two arrows were completely the same!
" Oh don't worry, these arrows are not for you," said Liu Dong Ming as the aide behind him drew his bow and perched an arrow on the string of the bow before he raised it in the air with his eyes closed as he muttered, " Seventh art, fire rain."
As soon as he shot the arrow it burst into flames which turned into small sharp edges that shot in different directions of the forest causing the guards of the Ji family who were hiding in the forest while keeping an eye on Ji Yu and Liu Dong Ming to fall on the grounds of the forest before their bodies burned into crisps.
Seeing this Ji Yu was so startled that she took a step away from Liu Dong Ming and his aide who was now standing behind his master like a tamed dog with his arrow dangling in his fingers while keeping his eyes closed, he did not open his eyes even for one second in fact the man did not even seem to breathe, it was as if the man was dead with only a skin of human donned on his rotten body.
" Wh…What are you?" Ji Yu had never seen something like this happen before and she was sure that something like this was can never be done by a human. No matter how skilled a martial artist was, how was it possible for him to morph an arrow into multiple fire shards? There had to be something wrong with this novel sight that she just saw!
Liu Dong Ming's smile was as calm as ever as he looked at Ji Yu and then with a slight blink of his eyes, he looked at the fallen guard and then the grave that she had dug for Xiao Lin. Seeing that the man who killed a bunch of guards without even blinking an eye and even burned their bodies in a manner where nothing but ashes were left, Ji Yu covered the grave of her maid.
She swore that she will protect Xiao Lin's grave even if she had to fight with Liu Dong Ming!
As she thought about the outcome of her precarious position, she lunged forward and grabbed the sword from the guard who was now dead and aimed the tip of the sword in front of Liu Dong Ming, with her eyes hard and lips set in a thin line, she looked at him fiercely and said, " Do not try to test my courage, Lord Liu.
I did not say a word when you as a man cornered me, a woman who does not know how to fight in a battle. But if you dare to harm me or my maid, either by weapons or actions, I will fight you to death, I would rather have you kill me than stomp on my pride as the imperial concubine and a sister!"
The wind rustled past the three figures that alone stood at the centre of the clearing which lay between the forest. Yet the flowers blooming in the clearing could not hide the smell of blood that overwhelmed their scents and someone's anxiety.
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