Chapter 124 Part 1

 

Pei Xiaoyuan was unarmed, wanting to give chase and fight close combat would actually work to his advantage.

But just as he moved to give chase, a gust of thick, blood-scented wind rushed toward him—both leopards, unable to wait any longer, leaped at him one after another.

Forced to halt, he shifted behind a nearby temple pillar, using it to momentarily evade their attack.

The door slammed shut, and the sound of chains rattling could be heard.

At the same time, a sharp arrow wrapped in oil-soaked cloth fell from the hole in the roof of the temple. With a thud, it slanted and nailed onto the pillar of the temple.

Amid the continuous whooshing of fire-tipped arrows cutting through the air, more flaming projectiles rained down like a torrential downpour, piercing through the gaping holes in the roof. The tattered, decayed banners hanging in the hall were the first to catch fire, as tongues of flame coiled upward, devouring them in an instant.

The sudden fire and smoke in the hall made the leopard even more violent and agitated.

The two leopards were lean and strong, their razor-sharp claws curved like hooks, fierce and flexible. Unarmed, he struggled to fend them off. With a sharp rip, one of the leopards lunged at him head-on, its claws tearing through his sleeve. At the same time, the other attacked from behind. Just then, another sharp arrow shot down from above. He was a fraction too slow to dodge, and in that instant, a set of fangs clamped down on his boot shaft, wrenching him off balance and slamming him to the ground. Twisting his waist, he bent one knee and drove his other foot forward, the sole of his boot smashing viciously on the forehead of the leopard lunging for his throat. The beast was sent tumbling backward, rolling across the temple floor.

But even as that one was thrown off, the other bared its fangs, claws extended, and pounced at him again.

Cursing the beast under his breath, Pei Xiaoyuan no longer dodged. Instead, he jumped up from the ground, yanked free the leather belt around his waist, and snapped it taut in his grip. Like a whip, he lashed it straight at the incoming leopard’s head.

The bronze buckles on the belt were like iron thorns under his strength. The leopard felt the pain, howled wildly, and jumped away to avoid it.

Pei Xiaoyuan took advantage of this brief opportunity to escape, ran to the door and tried to pull it, but found that it was indeed locked tightly from the outside.

The temple doors were tall and solid. He gathered his strength and rammed into them several times. Dust and bits of stone crumbled from the top of the doorway with each impact, yet the doors refused to budge. As for the windows, there was none. Since this Linggan Temple was considered an illicit shrine and forbidden by the court, Crown Prince Jingsheng had secretly built it to ward off his nightmares. Naturally, he had been extra cautious in choosing its location: deep in the mountains, sandwiched between two sheer cliffs, with the rock faces serving as natural walls. There was only one entrance door, with no windows. This, too, showed the meticulous planning behind Li Yan’s choice of meeting place. If Pei Xiaoyuan’s allegiance was genuine, then all would be well. But if it was not, one shut door, a raging fire, and the two leopards’ attack—his chances of surviving would be next to none.

In a blink of an eye, one of the leopards pounced again. Pei Xiaoyuan took advantage of the cover of the thick smoke and fire rising in the hall and walked around the pillar again.

The two leopards had been hungry for three days. They finally saw their prey and were even more stimulated by the smoke and fire. Becoming extremely frenzied, they chased after the prey relentlessly.

Just as one of them caught up only to missed again, Pei Xiaoyuan let out a furious roar, his strength surging from his shoulders and back. Seizing one of the beast’s hind legs, he swung the entire leopard into the air, whirling it mid-flight before slamming it against a pillar with a resounding crash. The leopard’s spine shattered on impact. When it hit the ground, its limbs went limp, its bones broken beyond repair, filth spilling from its body. A miserable whimpering sound came from its throat, and it could not get up again.

The other leopard pounced on him again.

Pei Xiaoyuan was pinned to the ground.

The leopard opened its mouth and tried to bit his neck. Its rancid, viscous saliva dripped from its fangs, spattering onto his face. Pei Xiaoyuan punched the leopard’s forehead like lightning, knocking its head to one side. Its claws faltered. Seizing the moment, he flipped the beast onto its back, then lunged, his hand grasping an arrow embedded in the ground. With a swift turn, he drove the arrow straight into the leopard’s eye.

With a “puff” sound, he twisted the arrow again, breaking the arrow shaft, and then stabbed the half-broken shaft in his hand deeply into the leopard’s other eye.

The leopard’s eyes suddenly turned red with pain, and it roared and ran wildly. Pei Xiaoyuan finally managed to escape.

The smoke and fire all around him became increasingly intense. He held his breath and ran as fast as he could while taking off his outer robe which was already on fire. He ran through the smoke and fire to a statue on the wall that had not yet collapsed. He quickly climbed to the top of the statue, raised his arms and leaped up like an eagle. He grabbed a beam above his head, pulled himself up with his arms, turned over, and landed his feet steadily on the beam that had not yet touched by the fire.

He stooped over the beam and took a few steps, then crawled out from a hole in the roof of the temple, climbed onto the roof and looked around.

At this time, Chen Shao, Zhang Dunyi, Liu Bo and others had divided into several groups and surrounded the Linggan Temple.

Although the distance seemed very close just now, and even the broken roof of this deserted temple hidden in the cliff could be seen clearly as if it was only a few feet away, but in reality, there were vines and thorns entangled under their feet. What should have been a mere few dozen steps up the mountainside had become a grueling, time-consuming struggle to clear a way forward.

Before they could reach the temple, thick smoke began to billow from its rooftop. The thought of Prince Consort Pei having gone in alone, with his fate uncertain, filled them with mounting anxiety.

Chen Shao was the first to arrive with his men. Just as he was about to rush up and chop open the door that was locked with an iron chain, he looked up and saw Pei Xiaoyuan standing high on the roof, facing the wind, raising an arm and signaling toward the back of the temple. At once, Chen Shao understood and immediately led the pursuit in that direction.

From his vantage point above, Pei Xiaoyuan finally gained a complete view of the terrain surrounding the Linggan Temple. The structure was wedged precisely at the convergence of a deep, vertical chasm formed by two cliffs, standing in stark opposition to each other like a narrow sky gap. On one side of the cliff, there was a snake-shaped path that was opened by natural rock cracks and led to the valley at the foot of the mountain.

The rock crack was estimated to be several feet wide. If not for his elevated perspective, its entrance—shrouded in thick vines and shadowed by ancient trees—would have been nearly impossible to detect, even from close range. Yet in this place, there was actually such a secret path down the mountain.

Li Yan and his group must have escaped from here.

Pei Xiaoyuan turned to Zhang Dunyi and Liu Bo, who were a little behind, and signaling them the directions before leaping down from the now-burning temple roof to join the pursuit. The further they descended, the more treacherous the terrain became. The opposing cliff face loomed ahead, towering with an oppressive presence—like the sky itself was about to collapse and crush everything below. Between the two cliffs lay a vast, empty chasm over ten feet wide; a single misstep would mean a fatal plunge into the abyss, leaving nothing but shattered bones.

After chasing for a while, they finally caught sight of Li Yan’s group below. Roughly twenty to thirty men were moving swiftly toward the bottom of the valley, with Li Yan guarded closely by seven to eight escorts at the front. At his side, there also appeared to be a woman.

Even in such tough situation, he still took great care of the woman, holding the sword in one hand and holding her tightly with the other so that she could keep up with him at all times and not be left behind.

Not far from him, at the bottom, where the two cliffs gradually narrowed, there was a narrow passage that should be the exit. Pei Xiaoyuan saw someone with horses waiting for him.

Once Li Yan was allowed to leave the pass and enter the open valley on horseback, while they were chasing him on foot, it would be extremely difficult to catch up.

Moreover, there was no telling whether reinforcements awaited him outside.

They had to intercept him before he reached the pass.

Chen Shao had clearly realized this as well. He took the lead in the chase, repeatedly urging his men to quicken their pace. However, the path was narrow—at its widest, it barely allowed two people to pass shoulder to shoulder. On one side was an abyss, and the stone path they were standing on had been seldom walked for many years, and was almost covered with slippery moss. A single misstep could mean a fatal fall.

Seeing Li Yan and his group running non-stop and getting closer and closer to the pass, Chen Shao ordered his men to shoot arrows downwards to stop them. However, due to the terrain, the road was not straight, with many twists and turns in the middle, so the power of such an attack was limited.

Li Yan’s men also knew that they were about to escape, so they gradually slowed down and waited for an opportunity to shoot arrows back.

Arrows whizzed past the cliff. Chen Shao ordered his men to be careful to avoid the arrows while continuing to chase.

Pei Xiaoyuan frowned slightly. He stopped on a slightly larger stone platform recessed beside the cliff, leaned out, and checked the terrain again.

The arrows from below hit the nearby cliff, loosening the rocks on the cliff and causing rocks of various sizes to fall from above his head.

“Prince Consort, be careful!” Chen Shao shouted.

Pei Xiaoyuan avoided the falling rocks. Soon, the bottom of the cliff emitted a dull and chaotic echoing sound of rocks falling to the bottom.

His eyes moved slightly, as if he was inspired, and he suddenly raised his head and looked towards the cliff opposite.

There, a massive, weathered boulder—roughly egg-shaped and estimated to weigh several thousand pounds—was precariously attached to the cliffside, with only a small portion of its base anchored to the cliff. The rest hung suspended in the air, tangled in a web of intertwined roots and withered vines.

If they could make the boulder fall…

“Get the rope!” Pei Xiaoyuan said.

Chen Shao followed his gaze and landed on the boulder, then leaned over to look down. He immediately understood and hurriedly gave orders.

They made thorough preparations before setting off, and of course they would not be lacking essential items for mountaineering, such as ropes.

Soon, a hemp rope as thick as a child’s arm was ready. Pei Xiaoyuan tied a lasso knot at one end of the rope, and after aiming, he raised his arm and threw it to the other side.

The rope circled in the air, unfolding section by section, and the front end flew above the boulder. The lasso knot landed accurately on the boulder. When the rope loop slid to the bulging middle section of the boulder, Pei Xiaoyuan quickly pulled the rope, and the rope tightened. The buckle was locked tightly, locking the stone firmly.

While Chen Shao ordered his men to continue shooting arrows downwards to slow down the speed of Li Yan and his party approaching the pass as much as possible, he summoned a dozen strong men to work together to pull the boulder.

The location of this huge rock was just above the pass. If it fell, it would block the pass and stop people from coming down.

The huge rock began to sway slightly due to the great force from the opposite side, and many smaller stones and mud attached to it fell down one after another.

Everyone continued to exert force, the boulder shook even more violently, and the rope was stretched straighter, making a slight creaking sound.

However, no matter how hard they tried, they couldn’t budge it.

In addition to the sand and gravel sticking to the bottom of the rock and the cliff, tree roots and dead vines entwined on the rock surface were also very thick. They stretch out from the cracks in the cliff, like countless tough and powerful arms, tightly hugging the boulder and fixing it in place.

As for Pei Xiaoyuan’s side, the space on the stone platform was limited and could not accommodate more people.

“You hold the rope, I’ll go over!” he said immediately.

Chen Shao understood immediately, looked down at the bottom of the cliff, and hurriedly stopped him: “Sir, no! I’ll go over!”

“I’ll go!” Pei Xiaoyuan had already taken the sword from a guard beside him and carried it.

“Prince Consort, don’t take any risks. Let me go instead!” Chen Shao tried his best to stop him.

“Time is running out, no need to fight. I’m younger than you, it’s better for me to go.”

As soon as Pei Xiaoyuan finished speaking, he crouched down, grasped the rope with both hands, and gave it a firm test. Then, like an agile ape, he swiftly swung himself onto the rope, suspending his body in midair.

With both hands gripping the rope above him, he moved forward rapidly, alternating his arms to propel himself toward the opposite side.

Chen Shao was very nervous and ordered his men to hold the rope tightly. At this time, the people below also noticed something strange above their heads, and soon, a barrage of arrows was once again unleashed toward him.

“Protect Prince Consort!”

Chen Shao roared. The archers launched a fierce counterattack, and with the advantage of being on high ground, they finally suppressed this wave of attacks.

At this time, Pei Xiaoyuan was almost at the other side.

Below, Li Meng ordered his men to speed up and escort Li Yan down to the pass quickly. He chose the best position, drew his bow, aimed, and shot three arrows at Pei Xiaoyuan.

Pei Xiaoyuan, suspended in midair, swung his body to dodge the first two incoming arrows in quick succession. He then kicked away the third arrow before swiftly continuing forward. Reaching out, he grasped an old vine growing along the surface of the massive rock and pulled himself up onto the cliffside.

Pressing his back tightly against the cliff wall, he moved behind the boulder, then quickly drew his sword and began to chop at the thickest tree roots and dead vines that were entangled with the boulder.

There was no pause during the entire process.

The root vine was successfully cut off by him. Chen Shao ordered his men to exert force again.

Finally, this time, accompanied by a strange and dull sound of stone moving, the boulder was completely separated from the cliff.

“Let go!”

At Chen Shao’s shout, all the guards loosened the ropes. At the same time, Pei Xiaoyuan quickly untied the noose from the boulder.

Like a mountain peak falling from heaven, the massive boulder rolled down the cliff with a terrifying force that that sent shivers down the spine.

In an instant, the narrow valley erupted with a deafening roar, a sound that seemed to come straight from the depths of hell. As the boulder tumbled downward, it dislodged countless other rocks—large and small—sending them crashing down in a devastating cascade.

Li Yan was almost at the pass. His horse awaited him just ahead. But the sudden, overwhelming thunder of destruction from above struck him with such shock that he instinctively looked up, momentarily frozen in place, utterly forgetting to react.

“Your Highness, be careful!”

It was Wei Yinniang’s frightened call beside him that woke him up.

“Protect His Highness!”

At this time, Li Meng pounced and pushed Li Yan back.

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