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Bai Lan dodged the arrows with great agility, and the four royal experts and the dark guards started to move as well.

Bai Lan hugged Leng Qiyue and said, "It's a crossbow."

Leng Qiyue rubbed her forehead. "It's the empress dowager, right? That's how she treated me the last time I went back to the palace."

Bai Lan didn't say anything as she stared at the direction the arrow had come from. He hoped that the dark guards would be able to catch the assassin or disrupt his range. This place was only a few dozen meters away from the palace gates. The land was relatively spacious, and once he ran out, his whole body would be exposed. He could not take the risk.

After the time it took for an incense stick to burn, there was actually no movement from outside. The four experts had also not returned, and the dark guards were nowhere to be seen.

Leng Qiyue suddenly smiled, "Bai Lan, am I not hateful to others?"

Bai Lan smiled faintly, "Yes, you are a hateful person, but you have no choice but to love me."

Leng Qiyue sighed and buried her head in Bai Lan's chest. The smell of his body was really pleasing to the nose, causing people to feel at ease.

After an incense stick of time, two of the four experts returned, both of them wearing black robes. One of them said, "Sir, please hurry back to the palace."

Bai Lan nodded, carrying Leng Qiyue as she ran towards the entrance of the Imperial Palace.

This time it was the same as last time, there was no danger. Leng Qiyue complained even more that Dongfang Haotian had sealed her martial arts. If she still had her own martial arts, then she wouldn't be afraid of those people.

After Bai Lan sent Leng Qiyue back to the Night Fragrance Pavilion, she left without saying anything. The two of them no longer needed to speak much; just a glance was enough to understand each other's intentions.

Dongfang Haotian had come to see Leng Qiyue in the middle of the night. He didn't say anything, only tightly hugging her and fiercely wanting her for a single time. He couldn't refuse. That night, Leng Qiyue discovered the weakness of Dongfang Haotian. This man loved her very much. It was just that at this moment, he had too many helplessness and difficulties that she understood.

Before Dongfang Haotian left, he held her and said, "Don't leave me. Protecting yourself is equivalent to protecting my life."

Leng Qiyue didn't react for a while. By the time she understood these words, Dongfang Haotian had already disappeared. He was a king, yet he could make this life-and-death vow. How could she not be moved?

Because of a few words from Dongfang Haotian, Leng Qiyue had dispelled the thought of fleeing from the palace. She loved him; this was an indisputable fact. Therefore, she wanted to stand together with him against the empress dowager's power and stabilize the situation. However, their strength was still too weak, unable to resist the empress dowager's next move …

"The Empress Dowager's imperial decree, Lord Leng accepts it." The sharp voice of a eunuch drifted in the air above the Night Fragrance Pavilion.

Leng Qiyue hurriedly ran out and knelt on the ground.

The eunuch glanced at her before unfolding the yellow silk in his hand and reciting, "Lin Fei is pregnant. To ensure the safe birth of the dragon embryo, Lord Leng will go to the Guanyin Hall tomorrow to pray for Lin Fei."

"Chenqie shall obey."

The eunuch gave a haughty grunt before leaving. Leng Qiyue stood up and sneered, "Are you planning to use a powerful technique this time? So many people didn't go looking for me, yet they did? "

Senior Servant Lan stood at the door, her eyes filled with worry as she looked at Leng Qiyue.

White Crystal walked out of his room and said, "You are unavoidable with this trade. Go ask the Emperor to send you more guards."

Leng Qiyue shook her head. "It's useless. We'll leave it to fate."

Senior Servant Lan said, "If there's anything you need, I'll get the First Prince out of the palace. Are you willing?"

Leng Qiyue gratefully held onto Senior Servant Lan's hand. "Senior Servant Lan, you really understand my feelings. If anything happens to me, I hope that you can bring the First Prince out of the palace and hand him over to Phoenix Peony who begs for the phoenix. "

"Yes, I have." Senior Servant Lan sighed.

Bai Jing said, "Perhaps it's not as complicated as we thought. It's said that a woman who has given birth to a child will be very effective at praying to the Guanyin Palace. Esteemed Empress Dowager probably has her eyes on you."

Leng Qiyue smiled faintly, but did not explain. It was best not to drag the white crystal into the water.

Dongfang Haotian had never appeared, but Leng Qiyue did not blame him. She knew that the Empress must have hidden it from the Emperor, or found a reason to hold him back.

On the second day, a sedan stopped in front of the Aroma Pavilion. There were ten guards and four eunuchs accompanying them. As for the hidden guards, she couldn't see them, so she didn't know if they existed or not. However, the one leading them was actually Bai Lan. This made her feel a lot more at ease.

"Empress, let this servant follow you." Han Liu looked at her worriedly.

Leng Qiyue shook her head. "Niu Jun needs you."

Han Liu didn't say anything else. She knew that Leng Qiyue wanted her to take good care of him, especially if something happened to her.

Leng Qiyue climbed onto the palanquin and slowly walked out of the palace. In the tallest building in the palace — — A person stood on the Star-Seizing Tower and silently looked at this group of people …

After half a day, the group had already left the human traffic area and entered the public road. At the beginning, they could still bump into cars and sedans from time to time. Before the sky turned dark, they entered a small path, but unexpectedly, they had missed their lodging. They could only spend the night in the desolate mountain.

Bai Lan looked at the sky and said, "Stop. We'll camp here today."

Although all the guards were puzzled, none of them resisted. They obediently took out their camping equipment and began to set up camp.

Bai Lan walked up to the palanquin and said, "Lord Leng, I have missed my place today. Please have a good night."

Leng Qiyue sat in the palanquin, still in a daze from the shaking. She gave a grunt of assent before continuing on her journey to the Zhou Mansion.

Bai Lan frowned. He lifted the curtain of the sedan chair and saw that Leng Qiyue was sleeping soundly. There was still saliva on the corner of her mouth, but she smiled in relief.

The guards moved quickly, and soon two tents were set up. One was for Leng Qiyue, and the other was for the guards to take turns to rest.

Bai Lan opened the curtain of the sedan, carefully carrying Leng Qiyue into the tent. The guards felt that it was inappropriate, but didn't dare to make a sound. Logically speaking, the emperor's woman couldn't be touched by another man. If Bai Lan were to hug Leng Qiyue without a care in the world, wouldn't she be beheaded afterwards?

Bai Lan ate a steamed bun and looked at Leng Qiyue. Seeing that she was still sleeping, she did not wake her up and sat at the entrance of the tent, holding her sword as she took a nap.

The night passed without incident, and everyone was woken up by the early birds.

Bai Lan stood up and stretched his muscles. Seeing a black pigeon hovering in the sky, he let out a whistle. The pigeon heard the whistle and landed on Bai Lan's hand.

Bai Lan took out the letter from the bamboo tube on the pigeon's leg and let the pigeon fly away.

"Bai Lan, what's the matter?" Leng Qiyue came out of the tent, rubbing her eyes as she asked.

Bai Lan glanced at the letter, crushed it with her hand, and said indifferently, "It's nothing. The place where we were planning to stay at has turned to ash."

Leng Qiyue shuddered and suddenly lost all sleepiness. At this moment, she finally understood why Bai Lan had insisted on travelling and missed his place. If they had rested at the relay station last night, they would have already become ghosts by now.

Bai Lan smiled, "I won't let anything happen to you."

Leng Qiyue smiled back, "I know."

After a hasty breakfast, they started on their journey again. Leng Qiyue felt a knot in her heart could not be resolved, so she opened the curtain of the palanquin and asked, "Bai Lan, we did not go to the relay station, why is there still dust?"

"The route was arranged by the empress dowager. The emperor knew that this trip would be dangerous, so he had already arranged for a countermeasure. Yesterday, another group of people carried a palanquin similar to yours and moved it into the relay station."

Leng Qiyue's heart trembled. Another group of people? That means there are sixteen other people who have become scapegoats? Her heart tightened and she was unable to speak.

Bai Lan continued calmly, "The Emperor has said that he will protect your life no matter what, even if it means more sacrifice."

Leng Qiyue put down the sedan chair's curtain, tears gushing out of her eyes. Her heart felt very sad. She had seen a lot of life and death while practicing medicine, but these people were different. They had died because of her.

Bai Lan heard Leng Qiyue's sobbing. His heart ached, but he didn't know how to comfort her.

They were traveling in silence. They only rested a little at noon and arrived at a temple to stay the night.

Leng Qiyue got off the palanquin and saw that the door to the temple in front of her was tightly shut. The plaque on the door read, "Temple of Precious Spring".

A guard went up and knocked on the door knocker, and a moment later, the back door opened and a little Shamei with red lips and white teeth walked out. He put his hands together and chanted: "Amitabha, what's the matter?"

The guard returned the greeting and said, "Young master, if we pass by, can we stay the night when the sky is too late?"

Little Shamei raised her head and looked at everyone before saying, "Benefactor, please wait for a moment. This little monk will ask the host to help you before anything else."

The guard nodded and backed away. Leng Qiyue tilted her head to look at little Shamei. She kept feeling that something was wrong, but she couldn't say what was wrong.

After a moment, Little Shame came out and said, "The host has invited everyone."

The group entered the temple. The courtyard inside was overgrown with weeds, and the two-foot wide stone road was clean.

Leng Qiyue sniffed and smelled a strange fragrance. She immediately grabbed Bai Lan's sleeve in alarm. At this moment, Bai Lan also realized something was wrong and shouted, "Wait!"