Princess, Spare My Life - Chapter 10

Chapter 10: Successful Escape

Pretending to be frightened but in a mild manner that wasn’t too excessive, she spoke to the Princess Minghui behind her, “I am fine! These assassins are so reckless, do they really think they could get away with agitating the princess?”

In her mind, she thought, “Damn it! Are those goddamn assassins even professionals? If it weren’t for that assassin, I would have already been free! Now that the princess, who is a martial arts expert, is watching me, it’s more difficult to run away.”

Princess Minghui said, “This princess had just encountered one in the cabin, but fortunately, the Su family bodyguard was there to save this princess.”

Yuan Shang smiled. “Princess, I am fine!”

At this moment, Yuan Shang noticed the flying knife assassin breaking through the line of guards and detected her. As the assassin rushed over here, she was inwardly elated, but she pretended to be shocked and said, “Princess, be careful!”

She suddenly threw herself between the princess and the assassin. However, she used too much force in doing so and rushed to the railings at the side of the boat. A flying knife slid past the back of her neck. As soon as she turned over, she fell into the Twilight Lake as countless people cried out in surprise.

In the air, Yuan Shang did not forget to evade the flying knives that aimed towards her. However, at this moment, a cold light flashed from the stern of the boat as an arrow flew towards her chest.

Yuan Shang hastily curled her body. The arrow missed its target; while it avoided her chest, it nailing into her shoulder.

—Bastard! Where did this second assassin come from? When she was shot, why didn’t she sense any killing intent?

She suddenly had a thought. Was that the assassin who was capable of making Su Yin’s hands full in the cabin?

Plop—

Yuan Shang fell into the water. As she plunged into the splashing water, Yuan Shang pointed her sleeves in the direction of the assailant. Instantly, three silver needles were simultaneously shot in that direction. In response, a figure fell from the ship’s railings. While the person’s features were unclear, she could discern that this person was a woman dressed as a palace maid.

Su Yin, who was freed from fighting with the palace maid assassin at the cabin, rushed to jump down. However, he was caught by the approaching flying knife assassin.

Yuan Shang thought, “It’s no wonder that I would always feel some inexplicable sense of crisis before I left the house today. It just so turns out that those bad feelings were a sign of this injury!”

In the water, she could still hear frenetic voices on the ship. Even when sinking, through a layer of shallow water, she could see the princess looking down to search for her at the ship’s guardrail. For the first time, Yuan Shang noticed that she, who was normally calm and unperturbed, was now shocked after seeing how Yuan Shang threw herself in front of the assassin before her eyes. Hesitation flickered within her eyes.

“Prince Consort—” On the surface of the lake, the heavy wind blew Princess Minghui’s clothing into a mess. Yuan Shang noticed that her hands were gripping the guardrail tightly. Her face was ashen, and she looked at the Yuan Shang, who was in the lake. However, she did not jump. If she jumped into the lake and started fighting with the assassins, she would ruin her image as a gentle and delicate princess and reveal that she was a martial artist. So, wouldn’t she be exposed if she went out to save Yuan Shang?

Yuan Shang felt a stab of pain in the area near her left chest, which was followed by a faint stinging. She figured that even if the wound on her shoulder and near her chest was covered in water, it should not be so painful. Was he poisoned?

Underwater, some assassins were attacking the boat. Some of the guards who were accompanying the princess were battling in the water. Zhu Yu awkwardly glanced at the princess, waiting for the princess’s instructions.

The princess’s eyes flickered. After a few breaths, she finally let go of the railings and looked towards Zhu Yu. Zhu Yu immediately took a few steps back, pretending to be scared of the assassins on the boat. She turned over and fell into the lake as well. The assassins swimming in the lake did not hurt her, allowing her to move directly towards Yuan Shang.

While Su Yin saw that she fell off the boat, he seemed extremely anxious as he dealt with the chaos on top of the boat. Right now, he was entangled with the assassin who threw the knife, so how could he slip away?

Yuan Shang allowed herself to submerge into the water. As assassins swooped over her and their weapons dangerously swung past her head, they couldn’t catch her. They could only helplessly watch her fall to the bottom of the lake. After a while, the group of assassins, the princess’s guards, the princess, and even the Zhu Yu, had all disappeared from her.

By the time Su Yin seriously injured the flying knife assassin and jumped into the lake, Yuan Shang was already a few miles away.

❀❀❀

Right now, it was still in the spring, so the water was only a little chilly. Yuan Shang dived following her already planned route. While she was trained on an island, she used to swim underwater to catch sharks. During those days, if she was just a little bit slower, she would have died. Behind her would be miserable screams of her peers as salt water mixed with the pungent bloody smells. After going through life-or-death situations, she developed a superior swimming technique, so snorkeling was akin to a child’s play and not a problem at all.

Since she wasn’t in any danger, after a few minutes, Yuan Shang climbed ashore from the lake. She took out the cloth that was fastened on her waist, opened it, and let the silver inside drop out. While holding some of the silver in her arms, she put the rest away tied the cloth onto her waist again.

The place where Yuan Shang came ashore was a hill. Before the hill was a forest that she walked into. When she went out today, she deliberately wore a dark robe with a white coat inside. In a dark place, she would be able to blend in with her surroundings with the darker robe. If she was surrounded by a beach or a place that was brightly colored in particular, she would just need to take off her outer robe. Her clothing could camouflage her depending on her surroundings. 

Since there was just a forest here, she didn’t need to take off her outer clothing. As the trees parted, she walked into an open area within the forest and observed the surrounding environment. It seemed to be a  hidden area as the terrain was slightly concave. One side was encompassed by water, both sides were covered with shrubs, and there was a hill not far from here. At least, on the outside, it would not be easy to find. This area was low in terrain and had no caves; it was suitable for resting and relaxing in.

Yuan Shang sat on a large stone and rolled up her trousers, revealing a cloth that was bound to her legs. She removed the cloth, revealing an oil bag that was tied to her leg. Yuan Shang wrung the cloth and used it to wipe the water off the oil bag. Then, she opened the oil bag and exposed its contents, a few packets of powdered drugs and a few silver tickets.

It was now almost. Although it was still spring, the hot summer sun was out. Yuan Shang wrung the cloth once again and placed it on a large stone to let it dry under the sun. Next, she took off the clothes covering her left shoulder, exposing her injury.

The arrow was half an inch deep and the exposed part was made of pure steel. She concluded that the arrowhead inside her was also made of steel. The wound had been soaked in the water for too long as the flesh surrounding it had already started decomposing. Luckily, the wound caused by the arrow was small, so there wasn’t a lot of bleeding. If otherwise, Yuan Shang would have died after swimming with an arrow stuck on her. After having a brush with death, she did not have time to leisurely enjoy the sun.

When her wound started to dry off, Yuan Shang pulled apart the clothes on the left calf, revealing a sharp knife. She took out some kind of white powdered drugs from her small oil bag, sprinkled it around the wound, and then slowly cut the wound on her left shoulder. Immediately, blood flowed. From Yuan Shang’s past life, she became accustomed to pain. As the knife slowly sliced through her white shoulders, her complexion remained unchanged while she didn’t even blink. Until the arrowhead was removed, Yuan Shang was forced to control the muscle contractions in her left shoulder. Using her right hand, she sprinkled some red powdered drugs onto her wound and pick up strips of cloth that were drying on the large stone.

While going through these series of very natural movements, she did not hesitate at all and quickly treated the wound. Yuan Shang observed a faint tint of cyan on her wound, which was residue from the drug she applied.

This drug was really toxic; it was no wonder why the area around her left chest near her heart was still aching in pain…