Chapter 072

Chapter 72: Credit for Saving the Emperor

Du Zi Heng glanced at Madam Yao and saw his own mother looking calm, even stretching her neck to watch the fighting outside; he was speechless.

Suddenly Chancellor Du asked Yi’er: “For this jade pendant’s defense, does one slash count as one use, or does it trigger once per day?”

Yu Zhi Yi answered: “It counts once per fatal strike. The defensive jade pendant’s protective barrier can shed about a thousand jin of force, which means a grown man might need several chops to break a single barrier.”

Chancellor Du looked at the room full of assassins and found his confidence again. He said: “Stay here. I will protect Your Majesty,” then strode quickly toward the Emperor.

There were no guards inside the hall, but the eunuchs at the Emperor’s side were not ordinary men. They might not win three on one, yet one on one they could still hold their ground, and their fly-whisks were their weapons. A few assassins were stopped outside the throne dais and could not break through for the moment, though a fly-whisk was no match for steel, so a breach was only a matter of time.

Just then the Emperor noticed the corner where Chancellor Du’s group hid. Seeing that the assassins had not spotted the Du clan, he took the Empress by the hand, came down from the dais, and moved toward Chancellor Du. In a flash Chancellor Du understood the Emperor’s intent and guided the imperial couple back to the corner. The space behind the narrow stone pillar instantly became crowded.

Yu Zhi Yi felt a shiver of dread rise again after all her plans had been ruined by that pig teammate Yu Jiao Jiao: [I have a bad feeling about this.]

Sure enough, the assassins who had ignored them before now all noticed the corner. After clearing the obstacles in front of them, several assassins sprinted straight toward it.

Yu Jiao Jiao’s eyes went wide with a feverish light. [The credit for saving the Emperor should be mine. I will not let the chance slip away, and I will not let anyone else snatch it.] She suddenly shouted: “Your Majesty, watch out,” then raced toward the Emperor.

Her cry was so sharp that not only Yu Zhi Yi and the others heard it, the assassins did too. Even more assassins turned and discovered the little corner. Compared to the eunuchs with real training, Yu Zhi Yi’s group were either bookish scholars or helpless women, which made them a far easier target than the throne dais, so even more assassins charged their way.

High on the beams, a masked man in a tight silver outfit watched the scene. Seeing every gaze pulled toward Yu Jiao Jiao, he twirled his wrist and flicked his long sword into a neat flower, then dove like an eagle straight for the Emperor’s vital point. His hiding place was so well chosen that no one noticed him except Yu Zhi Yi.

Yu Zhi Yi was about to push the Emperor and Empress aside, but the instant she moved, her body lurched forward on its own and she ended up squarely in front of the Emperor. The sword that should have pierced the Emperor’s heart stopped less than half a finger-width from Yu Zhi Yi’s shoulder, unable to go forward at all. It could not advance, and it could not retreat.

The assassin stared: “???”

Yu Zhi Yi met the assassin’s shocked, ghost-struck face and had no words. The protective barrier was about to fling him away when, in a spark of decision, she changed her mind. The assassin watched, eyes bulging, as the long sword that could neither go in nor out seemed to bend, angled off, and slid into the woman’s abdomen.

The assassin gasped: “?!!!”

Cries exploded all around them: “Yi’er!” “Zhi Yi!” “Young Madam Du!” The scene dissolved into chaos.

Madam Yao, shocked and furious, forgot that the man before her was a killer drenched in blood. She plucked a hairpin from her hair and rushed the assassin. Du Zi Heng shouted: “Mother,” but he could not stop her.

The assassin might have been doubting reality, yet he still had the strength to answer the danger rushing at him. He frowned, thrust out an arm, and slammed his palm toward Madam Yao’s chest. He did not use any killing move, but he was a top assassin of the martial world with bottomless inner force; even a casual strike like that could be deadly to an ordinary woman.

Then came a bang. A figure flew backward. It was not Madam Yao but the assassin. As he sailed away, one of his comrades was moving to strike at Duchess Ding Guo; the flying assassin’s heavy body crashed into his comrade, knocking them both back several paces. When they hit the floor, the comrade lay stunned, and the assassin’s head lolled to the side on his fellow’s blade, his life or death unknown.

Yu Zhi Yi watched it all in silence. In her last life she had heard the inside story of this assassination: a master of the martial world had hidden on a roof beam, dove in while the hall was in chaos, and went straight for the Emperor’s heart. At the last moment, You Bing Yue stood before him like a divine maiden and traded a dozen moves, stopping the attempt. Seeing he could not succeed, the man cut down any court officials, family members, and guards who blocked his retreat, then fled. Afterward he caused more trouble again and again, always like a sword hanging over the Emperor’s head. She looked at today’s mess and thought: [All that, and the truth is just this? Did I get fake intel in my last life?]

All of this took longer to say than to happen. Madam Yao and the others were already rushing over. Yu Zhi Yi covered the bleeding hole at her belly and let out a startled gasp: “Such strong inner force,” then her eyes rolled up and she went limp as if she had fainted.

Madam Yao’s eyes turned red: “Yi’er!” The Emperor snapped out of his brush with death and shouted: “Imperial physicians, summon the imperial physicians at once!”

Du Zi Heng stared at his own hand. He had not meant to, but he had indeed shoved Yu Zhi Yi into the enemy’s blade. He suddenly whipped his head toward Yu Jiao Jiao, hatred flashing in eyes that were usually gentle, but he spoke to Zhang Tian Shun instead: “Third Young Master Zhang, I will not let today’s matter pass.”

Zhang Tian Shun frowned but said nothing; he only shot Yu Jiao Jiao another glare. If not for that foolish, meddlesome woman rushing out to show off, she would not have tripped on her skirt and shoved Du Zi Heng, and Du Zi Heng would not have been knocked into Yu Zhi Yi.

Yu Jiao Jiao had no room left for fear. She stared, dazed, at Yu Zhi Yi’s white robe stained red and muttered to herself. If anyone came close, they would have heard her say: “The credit for saving the Emperor should be mine.”