It exploded!

Tiger’s Prison exploded!

A huge plume of smoke swallowed up Long Feiye and the others, making them vanish in the blink of an eye. Gu Beiyue had cleared s.n.a.t.c.hed away the torch in Jun Yixie’s hands, so where did this explosion come from?

“Long Feiye…!” Han Yunxi exclaimed. Dust, dirt, and sand spewed at her face as she strove to head forward.

“Poison la.s.s, you’ve gone mad!” Gu Qishao hollered.

Very soon, there was another BOOM before a second explosion rose up. This time, the impact was twice as loud as the first! All of Tiger’s Prison was submerged in the blast! Han Yunxi was sent flying backwards by the shock. As she fell towards the ground, someone flew towards her and s.h.i.+elded her in an embrace. She couldn’t see anything, but heard the successive blasts as they went off one after the other. A heat wave seemed to rise from the direction of her back.

The explosions wouldn’t stop!

Jun Yixie had buried none other than pure gunpowder in Tiger’s Prison! He had planted explosives both on Ning Cheng’s back and all the grounds! He wanted them to go in so they could die with him in the blasts!

Then doesn’t that mean Long Feiye…

And Gu Beiyue and Ning Cheng too!

Thinking up to here, Han Yunxi struggled to break free, but the person held her fast.

“Let go!” she fumed, not realizing how panicked and impetuous she was now.

“Are you courting death? Don’t move!” the voice said, extremely fierce. Still, Han Yunxi could tell that it was Gu Qishao speaking. This was the time first in her life she’d heard him so coldly furious. His scolding finally brought her back to her senses.

That’s right! Am I courting death?

With all the explosions going on behind them in such proximity, she should count her blessings that she hadn’t been blasted to death yet. All they could do now was wait. Han Yunxi stopped moving while the debris from the blast hit Gu Qishao’s body. He was half crouched with one hand against the ground, his head lowered. That devastatingly beautiful face was graced with a severity and frost that was indescribable.

With such a big explosion, the chances of Long Feiye and rest...boded more ill than good. It was almost a guaranteed death! No matter how quickly Gu Beiyue could move, he could at most save himself.

After a indeterminate amount of time when all the blasts stopped, Gu Qishao stood up to dust himself off. Han Yunxi was covered from head to toe in dirt despite being s.h.i.+elded by him the entire time. Moreover, there was a b.l.o.o.d.y patch on her right shoulder where the blast had injured her. Still, neither of them could bother with injuries now. Han Yunxi and Gu Qishao remained exceptionally silent as they slowly turned around. They dearly hoped to see a miracle, such as familiar faces they knew. But that didn’t happen.

They didn’t even see Gu Beiyue.

All they saw was a sea of flames. Tiger’s Prison had long been reduced to an infero with raging fires das.h.i.+ng to the skies. The two of them felt like their souls had been lit aflame too, burning with pain!

Manager Jin was protecting Mu Linger while Tang Li had escaped in time with little Tang Tang unharmed. Only the baby had been scared wake and was bawling up a storm. Everyone knew that Tiger’s Prison was b.o.o.by-trapped, which was why they’d stayed out. How could they predict that Jun Yixie would set such explosives? He didn’t even want his own life anymore!

A large, ma.s.sive crater greeted them with silence. Only little Tang Tan’s cries pierced the air, making it especially desolate. No one could recover their senses or take in the sight before them as reality!

Could they pretend none of this ever happened?

Could they pretend Long Feiye and Gu Beiyue were still standing by their sides?

It wasn’t known how long they simply stood and stared. Finally, Mu Linger burst into tears.

“How could this be?! Why is it like this? Sobsob...I can’t believe it! It has to be a dream, it has to be!”

Mu Linger’s sobs stirred Han Yunxi’s breaking point. She slowly fell to a crouch and buried her head into her knees to cry. Even with all the others by her side, her trembling form looked lonely and helpless.

Long Feiye...was gone.

Beiyue...was gone too.

Finally, Han Yunxi’s sobs broke out. Gu Qishao remained standing next to her, unsure of how to comfort the woman. Perhaps he even had trouble consoling himself. In the end, he crouched down and enveloped her in a hug, hoping to give her support. But she remained with her head buried in her knees, crying louder and louder.

Eventually, Gu Qishao let go and looked away. Unexpectedly, he found something that first stunned, then pleasantly surprised him.

Heavens!

Miracles really do exist! Those two created a miracle on their own!

He saw Long Feiye and Gu Beiyue standing shoulder-to-shoulder in the distance, their faces covered with dirt. Still, one was domineering while the other as handsome as ever. Long Feiye was covered in wounds while holding a senseless Jun Yixie; Gu Beiyue supported the already unconscious Ning Cheng, now stripped of explosives from his back. It was Tang Li and the others in the back who saw them first. They were so excited and moved that they couldn’t speak. Gu Qishao’s face finally regained its smile, s.h.i.+ning brighter than the noonday sun.

Only Han Yunxi remained cluelessly sobbing her heart out.

Long Feiye threw the dying Jun Yixie aside with furrowed brows before marching towards Han Yunxi. He was already standing behind her while she remained clueless. If grief was a sea, she was wallowing in it right now.

Long Feiye’s fatal weakness was seeing her cry. He never knew what to do when it happened. He was planning to say something, but ended up pulling her upright and firmly into his arms instead to hold her tight. Han Yunxi’s head whipped up until she saw his familiar face.

“Long Feiye!” she trilled, her tear-stained eyes filled with stupefication and joy. “Long Feiye, Long Feiye you--”

She was so thrilled so couldn’t speak, much less wanted to. Like a little girl, she buried her head into his chest. It was unclear whether she was still crying or acting spoiled instead. Faced with this kind of Han Yunxi, Long Feiye was left at his wit’s end. He didn’t do anything except hold her tight and rest his lips on her hair, allowing her to cry. Every hug might be warm, but not all hugs offered security. Gu Qishao arched his brow and looked away again, whistling a soft and merry tune.

Mu Linger finally witnessed Han Yunxi’s weak side for the first time today. That woman too, was one would could break down completely. She looked at Qi gege in the distance whistling a tune and unconsciously began to join him.

Today, she also realized that she and Qi gege were very much alike.

--

Han Yunxi didn’t cry for long, but soon raised herself from his embrace and hastily wiped away her years. “Where’s Gu Beiyue?”

“Princess, this subordinate is fine,” Gu Beiyue was smiling from the sidelines. “Ning Cheng is unharmed as well.”

Han Yunxi silently exhaled, but Tang Li asked urgently, “Gu Beiyue, did you save them all by yourself?”

Gu Beiyue might be fast, but carrying all those men would just cancel out his speed.

“I could only escape with Ning Cheng. His Highness...this subordinate isn’t sure either,” Gu Beiyue replied honestly.

The explosions just then had started from opposite sides. Gu Beiyue had been grabbing Ning Cheng in one hand and Jun Yixie in the other. Even if he wanted to save Long Feiye, it would have been impossible. He knew that grabbing Long Feiye would sentence them all to death, which was why he only released Jun Yixie and fled with Ning Cheng.

As soon as they escaped Tiger’s Prison, the successive blasts began. He threw himself and Ning Cheng to the ground and didn’t dare to move. Once all the explosions were over, he discovered Long Feiye and a wound-riddled Jun Yixie standing by his side. Long Feiye was covered in ma.s.sive injuries himself, but Jun Yixie’s were worse.

“What the Black Clan owed to my East Qin imperial clan was paid by Jun Yixie today,” Long Feiye said coldly.

After the explosions started, he knew Gu Beiyue would pick to take his nearest person, Ning Cheng. As a result, he grabbed Jun Yixie and used him as a human s.h.i.+eld. Although he fled Tiger’s Prison as fast as he could, he couldn’t get very far. In the end, he used a depression in its outer walls and Jun Yixie’s body to s.h.i.+eld him from the blasts.

Jun Yixie’s body was covered in severe burns and riddled with wounds from flying debris. If he hadn’t acted as a sheild, those injuries would be on Long Feiye’s body instead. Currently, Jun Yixie was lying on the ground, bleeding from his wounds and on his last breath. He didn’t even have the energy to raise his head. Still, he managed to hear Long Feiye’s words.

“On...on what grounds?” he rasped stubbornly. “Long Feiye, Great Qin is already gone. This...this world, right now, you...why do you want my Black Clan’s loyalty? My Black Clan...has long...stopped owing your East Qin anything!”

“This is the debt of the past. The Black Clan betrayed my East Qin to instigate the internal strife within the Great Qin Empire!” Long Feiye said coldly before unsheathing his Profound Frost Sword. He rested its edge on Jun Yixie’s neck and declared, “You still owe this crown prince a debt!”

Jun Yixie had already forgotten it, but it was fine as long as Long Feiye remembered. With a slash, Long Feiye stripped apart Jun Yixie’s upper robes. “Even if you die, you have to repay it!”

At last, Jun Yixie remembered. In truth, this was a debt he owed Han Yunxi. Before he could speak, Long Feiye stabbed without hesitation into his back! He had been waiting for this for a long, long time. Before they even started the rescue operation, he had told Gu Beiyue and Gu Qishao that Jun Yixie could only die by his hands. Jun Yixie knew he was going to die today, but never expected it’d be alone.

He struggled until he saw Han Yunxi and asked, “Tell me...who am I in the Black Clan? Bai Yanqing...just what does he want to do?”

Han Yunxi had just been making things up. It’d be nice if she actually knew about Bai Yanqing’s plans. She simply looked at him coldly without a word.

“Han Yunxi, you--you tell me...tell me!” Jun Yixie used the last of his strength to howl.

Han Yunxi still didn’t speak, but Manager Jin said…