Though Moonless Convent was a family convent, it covered quite a large area. Ye Li pushed the wheelchair with Mo Xiu Yao in it and walked around the quiet bamboo forest behind the convent. She was a bit down because of Wen-shi.
"Ah Li, if it was you, you wouldn't have made the same choice as sister-in-law, would you?" After a good while, Mo Xiu Yao asked deeply.
Ye Li nodded. It suddenly occurred to her that Mo Xiu Yao couldn't see her move and she said: "No. I would try my best to live a better life."
Mo Xiu Yao smiled slightly: "Good. My sister-in-law… she isn't a suitable choice as the princess of Prince Ding's Manor. Our family has treated her unfairly." His elder brother probably wouldn't choose Wen-shi, who was born to an ordinary family of scholars if he wasn't to avoid Mo Jing Qi's suspicion.
Ye Li thought about it and said: "Maybe sister-in-law doesn't regret it." Every time that Wen-shi mentioned her husband, Ye Li could see from her eyes a slight gentleness and reminiscence. Mo Xiu Wen probably chose her for the sake of Prince Ding's Manor, but it didn't mean that Wen-shi didn't love him or he didn't have feelings for her.
Mo Xiu Yao smiled slightly: "Prince Ding's Manor never gave her a chance to regret."
In Great Chu, a woman who had lost her husband was allowed to remarry, however, it wasn't as easy for a widow of Prince Ding's Manor. Wen-shi didn't have the courage to put herself in the center of the world's attention so she never had a thought of regret.
"However, Ah Li. I give you the chance to make another decision."
"Your Highness, are you telling me that I can marry someone else once you pa.s.s away?" Ye Li raised her eyebrows and asked.
Mo Xiu Yao didn't deny that and nodded: "Yes, that's what I meant."
Ye Li looked up at the sky and rolled her eyes at some place where Mo Xiu Yao couldn't see. An indescribable anger made her sneer: "Then… do you want to die young or soon, Your Highness?"
Mo Xiu Yao raised his eyebrows at Ye Li's strange question and laughed: "I want to die in bed of old age, if possible."
"Is that so? That doesn't sound like a good news…"
"Step aside!" Before Ye Li finished her sentence, Mo Xiu Yao abruptly turned around and pushed her away.
"Hoot! Hoot! Hoot!" Sharp sounds brushed past them and three rhombus darts shining with cold blue light was nailed into the bamboo next to Ye Li.
"Why don't you show yourself since you are here?" Mo Xiu Yao lowered his eyes, staring at his hands on the armrests and said indifferently.
"Haha… Mo Xiu Yao, how are you finally willing to leave Prince Ding's Manor? I have thought that you were going to hide in that manor and cut yourself off from the world for the rest of your life." A tall man appeared among the bamboos, laughing impudently. Soon, a group of men in black surrounded the three of them.
Mo Xiu Yao lifted his head at the man, his smile cold as snow: "Do you… dare to say that without the cloth on your face?"
The man suddenly stopped laughing, his dark gray eyes narrowed. He snorted and turned to Ye Li, who was standing by the side: "Is this… Princess Ding?"
"Yes. May I ask… who you are, sir?" Ye Li nodded coldly.
"You've got guts." The man praised her and looked at her with some pity: "Too bad…"
"Mo Xiu Yao, you won't have any regret having such a woman die by your side." Clearly, the man didn't want to waste his breath. With his signal, those men in black surrounded them in a smaller circle.
"Take princess away first." Mo Xiu Yao said with indifference. Several men flied inside the circle. Ah Jin landed in front of Mo Xiu Yao with a sword, staring vigilantly at those men in black around them. Two secret guards landed beside Ye Li, one on her left and one on her right, wanting to take her away. The rest of them already started to fight those men in black.
With a glance, Ye Li saw that Ah Jin only brought seven or eight men with him. If two of them left with her, then there would only be five of them. However, there were at least 20 to 30 a.s.sa.s.sins around them. Having no time to think further, Ye Li got rid of the secret guards and said: "Stay and help."
"Princess…" The secret guards were shocked, wanting to say something against her decision.
Ye Li already turned around impatiently while taking down an a.s.sa.s.sin who wanted to attack them in surprise. She said coldly: "Shut up and take down those men first." She turned around once more and kicked down another a.s.sa.s.sin who was attacking her while speaking. When she landed, her feet hit the a.s.sa.s.sin who was brought down by her kick and was about to stand up. Then the a.s.sa.s.sin wailed in anguish and pa.s.sed out.
The two secret guards looked at each other and decided to follow her order to take down those a.s.sa.s.sins first. Though they were well-trained secret guards, they didn't see clearly what skill she was using. But they did see that she warded off the attack from one a.s.sa.s.sin and knocked another unconscious. The unconscious poor man would be lucky if he only needed to lie in bed for three to five month and paralyzed for the rest of his life if he wasn't lucky enough.
Taking a man down by one move made Ye Li surer about herself. Though she was confident about her skills, in fact, she wasn't sure about the power of ancient Kung Fu. After all, she was never in a situation where she needed to fight for real. Given the flying skills of Young Master Feng Yue, it would be difficult to deal with. After all, no matter how skillful people in contemporary times were, they weren't able to fly here and there. But fortunately, few people had as good flying skills as Young Master Feng Yue did. Ye Li felt that she could take the most skillful people in close combat.
It obviously never occurred to those a.s.sa.s.sins that Princess Ding who looked so innocent could take down a person with one move. When they recovered from their shock, Ye Li knocked down another a.s.sa.s.sin with her elbow.
In her previous incarnation, Ye Li learned a lot of skills, from Kung Fu, Tae Kwon Do to Judo. Since she had many siblings, she was extremely experienced in fighting, too. After she was admitted into the army, especially special forces, she learned more about how to kill her enemies than how to take them down. Women didn't have the same physical strength as men did so Ye Li specialized in skills and speed as well as how to kill her enemies with one move. Not only women but also men in her team didn't dare to fight her. At first, Ye Li wasn't used to all those moves, however, after she had knocked down two men, she felt her former skills were coming back to her slowly. Her insistence to exercise paid off. Otherwise, her experience of actual combat and skills would be nothing if she didn't have a strong body.
"Prince… Princess…" Ah Jin, who was guarding Mo Xiu Yao loyally, was shocked and speechless seeing what was going on over there. Was the woman who kicked blood out of an a.s.sa.s.sin who was taller than she was the gentle and graceful princess? Ah Jin remembered faintly that once he seemed to see her knock Prince Li unconscious not knowing how she did it. He always thought she had used some kind of concealed weapons. Now it seemed that she probably did it by force.
"Ah Li!" Mo Xiu Yao's voice reached Ye Li from behind and the edge of a sword brushed past her back. She hurriedly bent backwards, narrowly escaping the sharp point of the sword and slashed at the hand which was on the sword with a dagger that appeared in her hand without anybody else noticing. Then she held on to that hand and taking advantage of him, she stood up while twisting backwards. With a crack from that man's arm, he hit the ground while his eyes lost their light. Ye Li looked down with confusion. She saw a knife cut deep into his back, only with the handle left outside. Clearly, he died because of that.
Ye Li raised her eyebrows. She dodged those a.s.sa.s.sins in a flash and reached Mo Xiu Yao.
Mo Xiu Yao frowned: "Didn't I tell you to go first?"
Ye Li was on guard against those a.s.sa.s.sins as Ah Jin was and said: "What if we run across another group of a.s.sa.s.sins? Is sister-in-law safe?"
"I've sent men to protect her." Mo Xiu Yao said indifferently: "There is a lot of mechanism in Moonless Convent. If they entered it first, we would have found out."
In a short while, over half of those a.s.sa.s.sins were knocked down. The man who had been standing by sneered: "The secret guards of Prince Ding's Manor live up to their reputation. It's a pity there are only a few of them." The man jumped up, flying towards Mo Xiu Yao with his sword pointing forward. Ah Jin blocked him with his sword and the two of them were engaged in a fight instantly. However, Ah Jin was only a teen. With a careless move, his left arm was badly wounded by the man. The man didn't pay attention to Ah Jin any longer. He avoided Ah Jin's attack and aimed his sword at Mo Xiu Yao. Ah Jin cried out in fear. He wanted to come to Mo Xiu Yao's aid but couldn't get away since two a.s.sa.s.sins were at his heel.
"Step aside, Ah Li." Mo Xiu Yao pushed Ye Li away and went backwards in his wheelchair. He evaded the first blow when the second blow came closely after that. A man in a wheelchair wasn't as quick as a man on his feet. Mo Xiu Yao tilted his head when the sword stabbed at the back of the wheelchair. Meanwhile, Mo Xiu Yao suddenly grabbed the sword with one hand. With a slight move around his sleeve, a group of hidden weapons went directly at the man. The man was caught unprepared. He withdrew his sword quickly and backed several meters away to get rid of those concealed weapons. He sneered and flied forward once again. Clearly, he was aware that Mo Xiu Yao's major weakness was that he couldn't move at will. Though Mo Xiu Yao was exceptional, he would run out of concealed weapons at some point. Mo Xiu Yao didn't run away this time. With a crack, a long whip came out of nowhere. The distance between them became widened. For the time being, neither could do anything against each other.
Ye Li wasn't worried by the side. She would take care of those who wanted to attack Mo Xiu Yao out of surprise, and stared at the man, looking for his weakness.
At last, when Mo Xiu Yao's whip was on the man's sword, Ye Li sneered. She took off her gold hairpin and threw it at the man's wrist. The moment the man was forced to give up his sword, Ye Li went at him, attacking his vital parts ruthlessly with the dagger in her hand. Ye Li's attack was fairly relentlessly compared with those in the Kung Fu instructions. In three to five attacks, the man had taken a blow on both his left shoulder and right arm. Ye Li snorted unhappily. She took a risk and aimed the dagger at his chest, not paying attention to the blow from his right hand. The man's expression changed. His right hand went at Ye Li ruthlessly and quickly. By then, it was too late for Ye Li to withdraw. However, the end of a whip surrounded Ye Li's waist and took her backwards in no time. Ye Li therefore got away from the man's attack and landed in front of Mo Xiu Yao.
Blood welled out of the man's chest who gritted his teeth and looked pale, standing not far away. When Ye Li was taken back by Mo Xiu Yao's whip, she twisted the dagger in the man's chest and took it out when it went around half a circle inside him. The man couldn't stop the blood from that ugly hole in his chest.
Ye Li looked down at the dagger in her hand and frowned, unsatisfied. This kind of dagger was garbage compared with her favorite triangular army dagger.
"Mm… You are really someone, Princess Ding, keeping a low profile." The man kept his hands on his wound, coughing before he said that in pain.
"If you let me alone, I'll let you alone." Ye Li said coldly with her eyes fixed on him.
"Today isn't my lucky day. Mo Xiu Yao, count yourself lucky for marrying such an outstanding woman." Looking at those few subordinates who were still standing, the man knew that this a.s.sa.s.sination had failed. Though seven or eight of his subordinates were still fighting, there was no way that they could defeat those secret guards of Prince Ding's Manor with the same number of people. "Well, you could survive once or twice, but not eight or ten times. Mo Xiu Yao, you are well aware of how many people want you dead, aren't you? Haha… I'll wait for you in h.e.l.l!" After he had said that, he gave up on Mo Xiu Yao and Ye Li and yelled: "Quit the mission and pull out!" While those a.s.sa.s.sins in black were retreating, he tried to block those secret guards and died under one blow.
"After them!"
Mo Xiu Yao shook his head: "Don't chase a hard-pressed enemy. Let's head back first"
Those secret guards who wanted a chase stopped immediately and checked those a.s.sa.s.sins who were lying on the ground under Ah Jin's instruction.
Ah Jin ignored the wound on his right arm and grabbed tightly at his sword: "Princess… you killed it."
Ye Li shook her head: "I was just lucky." It seemed to be an easy win. However, without Mo Xiu Yao's help, even if she could injure that a.s.sa.s.sin, she would get badly hurt herself. At last, she didn't have enough strength, neither was she quick enough. At multiple occasions, she had hit that man but couldn't hurt him severely enough since she didn't have the strength. Besides, even though she knew the enemy's weakness, she couldn't hurt him because of her speed.
"You were good. I couldn't have defeated him." Ah Jin insisted.
Ye Li smiled: "If I couldn't kill him in 15 minutes, I would be the dead one."
"You are extraordinary, princess. Can I learn Kung Fu from you?" Ah Jin was a stubborn kid. He looked at Ye Li anxiously and wouldn't let her off. If he was as good as princess, His Highness didn't need to fight himself.
Mo Xiu Yao looked at Ye Li with mixed feelings and said: "I thought you only have Kung Fu to keep yourself safe. It seems that I was wrong. You always surprise me, Ah Li." He had seen what Ye Li was capable of when she was fighting. The expression in her eyes and her neat and efficient moves were beyond ordinary women. Many secret guards weren't as decisive and ruthless as she was. He was confident that Ye Li wouldn't be the loser when three secret guards attack her all at once. But Mo Xiu Yao didn't know how Ye Li could have such skills as a girl brought up in the boudoir. Those who didn't know her might take her as one who was used to risk her life on the battlefield, not a well-bred girl from a good family.
Ye Li smiled slightly. She wasn't in a hurry to explain for herself: "As long as you aren't scared, Your Highness."
Mo Xiu Yao looked at her for some time before he sighed slightly and asked: "Ah Li, are you truly the third miss of Ye Family and granddaughter of Xu Family?"
Ye Li answered: "of course."
"Then… tell me about it in detail when you want to."
Ye Li stopped for a moment. She stared at Mo Xiu Yao and didn't say anything for quite some time. She didn't expect to hear that from Mo Xiu Yao considering the condition he and Prince Ding's Manor were in at the moment.
After a good while, Ye Li said in a small voice: "For now, I can't tell you everything but I guarantee you that I'm truly Ye Li. Besides, I have no malice intention in marrying you."
"I trust you. We are a couple, aren't we?" Mo Xiu Yao said in a low voice.
"Thank you." Ye Li was touched and replied softly. She did think about strategies if she was found to be different. She had planned to learn from the instructor Mo Xiu Yao found her and let others get used to her skills. However, that wasn't a good strategy since she wasn't sure that she could hide it from Mo Xiu Yao. There would be more trouble if Mo Xiu Yao was suspicious of her. Now, it saved her a lot of trouble. No matter what, Mo Xiu Yao at least wanted to believe in her. She didn't know how much he trusted her but it was better than she could have imagined.