Chapter 48 – Prequel to the Battle of Hearts

Haitang let out a soft hmmm in what looked like pain and dived into the bottom of the cold lake water once again, wanting to drive away the flame burning inside her body, her body rolled over, flattened out, and swam, and from the surface of the lake, it looked like a white fish was swimming non-stop in a graceful stance. The fish in the distance followed suit, swimming cautiously next to her naked body.

After a long time, a white splash exploded on the lake, and Haitang broke out of the water and swept to the edge of the lake, a fresh breeze swept up, and she had already put on the rough clothing.

This woman was not born how beautiful, but between her eyebrows there was always a faint flavor of the countryside, very relatable, her pair of eyes were exceptionally clear, reflecting the white birds on the lake sand resort, but at this time there were two more threads of anger.

“Fan Xian, I’m going to kill you!”

Obviously, this time, forcing the poison still ended in failure.

Fan Xian woke up from his meditative state and walked faithfully through the camp. The ambush troops from the Northern Qi side had already been massacred by the Black Riders, and those corpses on the sands were the best proof of that, and at this point, there were already ambassadors crossing the Misty Ferry River to express their strongest protests to the Northern Qi side.

“Some regret.” Wang Qinian followed behind him and sighed, “It was not easy to calculate the location of the other side’s strike, so that I could push Sean’s death onto the other side’s prisoner hijacking, and all sorts of evidence had been arranged extremely well, Sean’s death was in your lordship’s plan, but unexpectedly, that woman spoiled the big event.”

Fan Xian shook his head, walked under a tree, looked at the mist slowly drifting over from the distant valley, and said softly, “Perhaps, I also spoiled her big event. Sean didn’t die at the right place, at the right time, but it’s fine, at least it let me know what exactly he was hiding in his heart.”

“Use torture.” Wang Qinian began to come up with bad ideas.

Fan Xian stared at him and said coldly, “Chen Pingping has used torture for twenty years and hasn’t even pried it out. Do you think we can make progress in these two short days?”

“What then? Really hand Sean over to the north?” Although he didn’t know exactly what Sean knew, Wang Qinian, from the standpoint of a Procuratorate official, was really reluctant to give this clay pot harboring secrets with both hands to the enemies in the north.

“Let’s give it to Northern Qi first, anyway, the people who want to kill him over there are also very powerful, and the people who want to protect him are also quite powerful.” Fan Xian furrowed his brows, thinking to himself, do we really need to use that chest? But the chest wasn’t by his side, and Uncle Wuzhu didn’t know where it was.

“Don’t think about that.” Fan Xian shook his head, “Prepare to cross the Misty Crossing River tomorrow, be careful of some of that woman called Haitang, if Sean is killed within the borders of the country, the responsibility will all be ours.”

“Should we send the Black Riders to eliminate the target?”

“You’re doing your best to come up with bad ideas today.” Fan Xian coughed twice, realizing that there was still some pain in his chest and abdomen, and holding onto the trunk of a tree, he said, “If it’s a battle between two armies, even if it’s a great master, when he meets the black riders in formation, he’ll only be able to drift away. But if the black riders are used to search for people, I’m afraid that they will only be chopped up one by one by that girl’s short sword, silently.”

“You are very self-aware.”

A slightly rancorous voice came from the mountain path ahead, and a woman with long, slightly damp hair draped over her shoulders, dressed in rough clothing, stared at Fan Xian.

This place was about ten feet away from the camp, and the tiger guards had been ordered by Fan Xian to go rest because they had labored all night. Wang Qinian glanced at Fan Xian and was shocked, realizing that this was the ninth rank upper expert who had nearly killed Fan Tisi in the morning, Beiqi Haitang!

Fan Xian’s face was calm as he waved his hand and said, “You go back.”

Wang Qinian didn’t even let out a single fart, and ran back towards the camp in a bored manner. In his heart, he thought that he had to hurry up and call up all the silent masters of Gouda, the herd of horses on the Black Rider’s side were in a collective heat today, and he didn’t know what kind of evil had struck them.

Fan Xian slightly inclined his head to look at Haitang and said softly, “You’re not afraid that he’ll go shout for help?”

“You’re not afraid that I’ll immediately step in and kill you? It’s not morning at this time, and I believe I can cut Mr. Fan down to the sword within three rounds.”

“You can try …… if the poison in your body clears up.” Fan Xian’s tone seemed a bit frivolous.

Haitang lightly bit her lips, her eyes clear and bright as she looked at Fan Xian with a piece of resentment, and only after a long time did two words burst out, “Shameless.”

Fan Xian gently licked his slightly dry lips, his eyes narrowed slightly as he looked at Haitang with a shameless face. Quickly, he responded, “Many thanks.”

“Give me the antidote.”

“On what grounds?”

“If you don’t give it to me, I’ll kill you.” Haitang said viciously, but Fan Xian was sharp-eyed enough to notice some panic in the girl’s eyes.

“Kill me, and you’ll be soaking in the North Sea water every day.” Fan Xian appeared somewhat reckless.

The negotiations had broken down, neither one of them refused to give in, and neither one of them was able to make the next step of exchanging benefits, so this pair of men and women were staring wide-eyed at each other like two small children having a temper tantrum, looking at each other underneath the trees on the mountain road, looking a bit comical.

“Did you kill Sean yet?” Haitang suddenly changed the topic and looked at him, “If you are concerned about my existence, I can pretend that I don’t know about this matter. I didn’t come south this time to stop you from killing him, in fact, you and I have a common purpose.”

Fan Xian shook his head, “I do want to kill Sean, but since you want to kill him, I have to keep him alive.”

“Why?”

“There is no reason.” Fan Xian naturally wouldn’t tell the other party that he also wanted to know that secret in Sean’s heart.

Haitang was furious and drew her sword with a shrieking sound, and today’s sword no longer had any natural softness to it, the sword’s energy rushed to the heavens, and actually cut off the tree with a touch of flowerless new buds beside her from it with precision and incomparability.

Fan Xian’s corner of the eye trembled twice, although his face was still calm, but deep inside he was really appalled, this village girl, if she really wanted to kill herself, at this time there was no black rider around her, and there was no tiger guards, she really didn’t know how to cope with it.

Suddenly the tip of Haitang’s eyebrow twitched, walking towards the back of the mountain road, turning back to Fan Xian, “I don’t like dealing with these idle people, are you coming or not?”

“Coming or not?” What kind of an invitation was this? Is it the abyss of death, or a sweet pile of sugar?

Fan Xian, however, smiled with his hands behind his back and followed him over. As an official of the Supervisory Yuan, there really wasn’t a second person who was as reckless as he was, and to put it in a more serious way, this was an irresponsible behavior that didn’t treat his life as an important thing.

Watching the figures of a man and a woman disappearing at the end of the mountain path, swish and swish several times, several silhouettes flew out from behind the branches and grass at the top of the forest, converging into one place. Gouda, carrying a long sword, frowned at the side of the mountain road and asked Wang Qinian, “Lord Wang, we should follow them.”

Wang Qinian’s face showed slight worry: “Your Excellency is absolutely brilliant, just a little too horny.”

Naturally, Fan Xian was not lusting after Haitang’s beauty to follow him, it was just that he knew that the next conversation with this woman must not fall into the ears of outsiders, or else this Haitang girl would be so enraged that she would no longer be threatened by herself, and would kill herself even in death.

“I can cure this poison.” Fan Xian quietly looked at the woman who was half leaning on the tree, looking at the slightly damp flowery cloth garment she was wearing, “But I need a promise from you.”

“I don’t accept your threats.”

“Not a threat.” A faintly sad look appeared on Fan Xian’s face, “I am an official of the Qing State Supervisory Court, and girl, you have penetrated deeper into the country in a vain attempt to kill the raw criminals that I am escorting, so I have to use all the means at my disposal to stop you. Using such underhanded means, do you think I would feel honorable myself?”

A self-deprecating smile duly appeared at the corner of his lips.

Haitang was slightly stunned, and after a long period of quiet, he suddenly said, “What do you need me to promise?”

“There should still be a day’s journey from here to the north of the Misty Ferry River, and I hope that the girl won’t make a move during this day.”

Haitang quietly looked at him and said, “You know very well that once I enter the Da Qi territory, I can’t make another move.”

“Why?” Fan Xian acted surprised.

“Because …… I am a citizen of Da Qi, and I must consider the people of this country. It is impossible for me to break this agreement in my own country. Once the royal family is angered, and the two countries go to war again, the ones who will die or be injured will not be the unarmed people after all.” A faint color of worry surfaced in Haitang’s eyes, “But I don’t want Sean to return to Northern Qi alive.”

Fan Xian listened with a calm face, but in his heart, he gradually gained a sense of proportion, it seemed that it was really like what Si Li Li said, this Ninth Grade Upper Master in front of him was really a village girl in habit. Compassionate? This was Fan Xian’s favorite good virtue that his enemy possessed.

“Why did you kill Sean?” Strangely enough, a hint of disapproval and disgust appeared in Haitang’s eyes, “Don’t you realize that if Sean dies, that high official of yours who fell into the hands of the court will also die?”

Fan Xian was silent, of course he would not tell the other party the darkest side of his bones, and smiled slightly, “Isn’t there no killing? Even if Sean dies, it’s still your Beiqi’s responsibility, you sent troops to infiltrate the country, can you wash your hands of the suspicion? As for Duke Yan’s piece, I believe I can bring him back to Qing.”

He paused and then asked curiously, “Why did the girl kill Sean again?” His expression was a little naive, even a little stupid.

Haitang gave him a disgusted look and said, “I don’t need to explain myself to you.”

Fan Xian shrugged his shoulders, took out a pill from his pocket, and said softly, “The …… aphrodisiac that the girl has been hit with is one that I developed on my own, and it can’t be forced out with my true qi.” After saying this, he threw the pill far away.

Haitang’s face was furious, then turned shy, repeatedly furious again, her face was actually changing, then the pill, looked at him and said coldly, “I didn’t promise you, why are you willing to give me the antidote?”

Fan Xian sighed and turned his body around, turning his broad back to the woman behind him, his hand gently holding a new branch, looking at the valley where the first green would color the peaks, and looking at the dots of wildflowers on the distant slopes.