A Deadly Strike
Was this situation a matter of the Crown Princess—or the Crown Prince himself—trying to discipline the Princess of Xiliang?
Within the magnificent Crown Prince's residence, red lanterns and silken drapery hung beneath the eaves. On the surface the atmosphere was one of festive warmth, but it was far too quiet, and a strange, uneasy air hovered over everything.
Li Tianfu cared not one whit whether her own wedding ceremony was grand or shabby. The sole reason she had dressed herself so carefully and come to this place was vengeance for Liu Chentuo.
With reddened eyes, Li Tianfu looked around the great hall through the artfully strung beads. She had stepped through the gates of the Crown Prince's residence prepared to die.
It was Li Tianfu herself who had sent word of the assassination plot to Bai Jingyan's residence.
If Bai Jingyan came, she meant to kill her on the spot.
But if she did not come, then Li Tianfu would kill the Crown Prince instead. And she would tell the guests gathered here today to offer their congratulations that she had sent a letter to Bai Jingyan. Bai Jingyan had known the Crown Prince would die, and still she had not come—the Emperor would surely punish her for it.
Even if the assassination came to nothing, a goodwill princess of Xiliang would have attempted to kill the ruler of Jin at his own wedding ceremony. Would Jin simply let Xiliang be?
Xiliang would have no choice but to take up arms. It would fight with its back against the water!
She would make all of Xiliang avenge Liu Chentuo!
Her heart was brimming over with hatred.
They were both legitimate daughters raised under the same father and mother, yet her elder sister had grown up learning her letters in her father's embrace. She, meanwhile, could do nothing but imitate her sister, forever trailing behind her.
Her sister had become Empress; she had become a goodwill bride.
Bitterness choked her at her father's unequal love, resentment curdled in her at her mother's favoritism—and she hated, most of all, the elder sister who had sent her away for this political marriage.
But of course, what she hated above all was Bai Jingyan—the enemy who had taken Liu Chentuo from her.
Liu Chentuo was dead, and vengeance had not yet been had.
From that moment on, Li Tianfu's one wish had been to devote the rest of her life to fulfilling his. She would kill Bai Jingyan, and she would kill every last one of the Bai family.
Only then could she go to meet Liu Chentuo with an easy heart.
Beyond the swaying curtain, Li Tianfu fixed her gaze on Bai Jingyan seated beside the Crown Princess. A madman's gleam flickered for an instant in her bloodshot eyes.
Staring at Bai Jingyan unblinkingly, she brought her hand to the Heavenly Silk Sword coiled at her waist—a national treasure of Xiliang, its blade thin and flexible as silk thread, yet sharp enough to pierce through anything in a single stroke.
Bai Jingyan set her teacup down on the tray held by the maidservant beside her. Then, turning her gaze away from the emerald jade ornaments trailing from Li Tianfu's waist, she straightened her sleeves, twisted slightly, and spoke to the Crown Princess.
"Since you must receive tea from your side consort, I shall withdraw for now."
The Crown Princess had never imagined Bai Jingyan to be one who observed such courtesies. She gave a light laugh and nodded, patting Bai Jingyan's hand warmly.
"How considerate of you."
Bai Jingyan rose and stood off to one side, watching as Li Tianfu stepped over the threshold into the great hall.
One of the Crown Prince's guards quietly closed in on the direction where the Crown Prince stood.
Li Tianfu offered a light bow to the Crown Prince and Crown Princess. The Crown Princess's maid had the tea prepared and waiting, and the senior attendant had laid a cushion on the floor.
With her head bowed, Li Tianfu walked toward where the Crown Princess sat, her gaze boring into Bai Jingyan like a wolf's. Just as the maid was helping her to her knees, a cold glint flashed at Li Tianfu's waist, and in one swift motion she drew the Heavenly Silk Sword.
Zhen Xiangzhi had been watching Li Tianfu's every movement, and the instant the sharp light flashed, he shouted at the top of his lungs.
"Protect His Highness!"
In an instant, the great hall descended into chaos.
The guards all drew their swords and threw themselves in front of the Crown Prince. The distinguished guests seated in the hall shrieked in terror; some, dignity utterly forgotten, hid behind their chairs or fled headlong for the exits.
The Crown Princess, who had understood nothing, went wide-eyed. Staring at the blade in Li Tianfu's hand, she screamed in fright and dove into her attendant's arms.
The attendant, believing Li Tianfu meant to kill the Crown Princess, wrapped her mistress tightly in her embrace and shielded her with her own back—a scene that spoke volumes of her devotion.
Li Zhijie, too, could not contain his shock, and he lunged toward Li Tianfu, bellowing at the top of his voice.
"Your Highness the Princess—no!"
The maidservants standing behind Li Tianfu drew daggers from their sleeves in unison and surged toward where Bai Jingyan stood.
Bai Jingyan's beautiful, clear eyes were as calm as still water. She retreated swiftly, undoing the sandbags bound around her arms.
The guards were entirely occupied with protecting the Crown Prince, and Bai Jingyan held nothing in her hands—while the sword in Li Tianfu's grip was aimed unmistakably at her.
Killing intent surged from every direction.
Their eyes met, and Li Tianfu's seething fury was set alight by Bai Jingyan's frigid, unshakable gaze. Her hatred pierced the heavens, boiling like oil in a hot pan. Bai Jingyan's eyes had been just as steady back then, when she had pierced Atak's throat. That look—Li Tianfu would never, ever forget it.
The moment Bai Jingyan twisted aside to evade Li Tianfu's whirling blade, one of the maidservants struck at her with a dagger. Bai Jingyan wheeled again and dodged the blow, the poisoned blade grazing past her waist.
A single nick from that venomous edge meant instant death. Like a fish swimming in boiling water, she was forever one misstep from the grave.
Li Tianfu's blade came sweeping in again, and the Xiliang maidservants who had followed her attacked Bai Jingyan like women possessed, as though each had already surrendered her life.
In the chaos, Murong Li, the prince of Great Yan, rose to his feet and retreated several paces under his guard's protection. Resting his hand on the sword at his waist, he watched with calm, level eyes as Li Zhijie, Prince of Yan of Xiliang, rushed forward to restrain Li Tianfu.
There was no longer any doubt—Li Tianfu's target was Bai Jingyan, the Zhenguo Commandery Princess.
Weaving through the lethal blades closing in from all sides, Bai Jingyan snatched a white jade vase from a nearby table and raised it to block. When the poisoned blade came within a handspan of her body, her shoulder was suddenly seized, and she was pulled into a warm embrace.
"Protect the Zhenguo Commandery Princess, quickly!"
The Crown Prince's eyes went wide as he roared the command.
Yue Shi had already drawn his sword and thrown himself into the storm of blades.
Xiao Rongyan turned with Bai Jingyan in his arms, evading the blade. His robes were torn to ribbons by the sword, but he held her behind him, shielding her completely. His eyes were utterly composed.
Then, one of the Xiliang maidservants suddenly broke through Yue Shi's defense and charged straight for them.
Murong Li drew the sword from his waist and hurled it toward Bai Jingyan, shouting with all his might.
"Commandery Princess! Take my blade!"
Xiao Rongyan seized the maidservant's wrist in one crushing grip and drove his foot hard into her chest. Bai Jingyan slipped swiftly out from behind him and caught Murong Yan's thrown sword. In the moment Xiao Rongyan snapped the woman's wrist and turned her own dagger toward her breast, Bai Jingyan's long blade split the air with a razor-sharp chill—and severed the maidservant's head. Blood sprayed red.
"Good heavens! Since when did Brother Xiao possess such martial skill?"
Sima Ping's eyes went round with disbelief.
The Crown Prince, hemmed in by his guards, pulled a sword from the waist of the nearest one and tossed it to Xiao Rongyan.
"Rongyan—catch!"
Xiao Rongyan caught the sword and looked up, meeting Bai Jingyan's deep gaze. She gave him the faintest shake of her head.
Xiao Rongyan's identity was that of a wealthy merchant. He had been in Dadu for a long while now, yet never once had he revealed his martial prowess—startling even Sima Ping. If Xiao Rongyan exposed his skill to protect her today, the ever-suspicious Crown Prince would only grow more wary of him, and Xiao Rongyan's position would inevitably become precarious.
Bai Jingyan did not wish to owe him yet another debt.
Untying the heavy sandbags strapped to her calves, Bai Jingyan threw herself into the fray.
Watching Bai Jingyan, alive with killing intent as she fended off the Xiliang maidservants, Xiao Rongyan gripped his sword tight and roared.
"Yue Shi! Protect the Commandery Princess!"
Bai Jingyan's wrists would not move with their former suppleness. Her body had not yet fully recovered.
She could only turn back her enemies' attacks with instinct honed by nature, speed, and sheer stubborn will.
Bai Jingyan's sword blazed with dazzling, merciless light. Her movements were breathtakingly fast, and wherever the blade's afterimages flickered, red blood spattered—each spray sending a chill down every watching spine.
Li Tianfu glared at Bai Jingyan with fire in her eyes, the Heavenly Silk Sword raised. Li Zhijie strained with all his might to hold her back, his iron-ribbed fan braced against her. Blue veins stood out starkly on his forehead as he all but roared at her.
"You cannot kill Bai Jingyan! Every moment of this drags Xiliang closer to ruin! Have you forgotten—you are the Princess of Xiliang!"
Madness poured from Li Tianfu's eyes. She curled her lip in a sneer.
"You think I could forget that I am the Princess of Xiliang?"
Her gaze turned to Bai Jingyan, who was evading every attack with everything she had. Li Tianfu screamed until her throat tore.
"That is exactly why I will make every soul in Xiliang avenge him!"
Li Tianfu showed no hesitation in striking at Li Zhijie either. She yanked her whirling blade back, then swept it around in a single arc aimed straight at his throat. Only his swift block with the iron-ribbed fan saved him—had he been a hair slower, his head would have left his shoulders beneath that bloodthirsty blade.
Li Zhijie's eyes went wide as he clutched the blood trickling down his neck. Li Tianfu was clearly beyond all reason now—her strike at him had carried unmistakable murderous intent.
While Li Zhijie and Li Tianfu blocked and broke apart, blocked and broke apart, her maidservants were all either slain or captured. Li Tianfu now stood alone.
"Seize Li Tianfu—now!"
The Crown Prince ground his teeth and gave the order, his eyes gone dark.
"Even if you must kill her."
Li Zhijie shut his eyes tightly. There was no undoing this now.
Even if the mad princess Li Tianfu was cut down on this spot, there was more than enough justification for it.
At the command, the guards surged toward her in unison.
"Bai Jingyan! I will kill you if it is the last thing I do!"
Li Tianfu shrieked the words as she raised her sword and flung herself at Bai Jingyan.
The brilliant rays of the noon sun poured through the wide-open windows. Bai Jingyan stood with her sword raised, a mist of blood swirling around her, cold killing intent radiating from her upright figure.
She was as cold as a honed blade, and her calm, heavy gaze was so unfathomably deep that merely to meet it raised gooseflesh. None dared look her in the eye.
The lords and noble sons of Dadu were beholding such a gruesome scene for the very first time—and witnessing Bai Jingyan take a life for the very first time as well.
She wore no armor at all, yet this woman carried within her the awesome momentum of a thunderclap and a killing air to match.