Chapter 216 Ambushed Half-way

There was a look of doubt in Qinghu’s eyes.

Qinghu’s instinct to sense danger as a killer enabled him to confirm his suspicion in this state of silence.

He lagged behind the rest on purpose and hid himself among the woods and no one noticed or became suspicious.

If the person behind all this was a small fry, he would settle it quietly on his own.

The rest of the group proceeded with their journey forward but for some reason, Lin Mengya’s thoughts were in a whirl.

She stole a glance at Long Tianhao, but finally decided to keep quiet about her bafflement.

Why would there be water caltrop grass in the Emperor’s medicine? The main function of water caltrop grass was to neutralize the poison in a person’s body. She had never heard how it could benefit man’s health in any other way.

Moreover, her teacher even lamented that this medicine had existed purely for neutralizing poison when he talked about the water caltrop grass.

She hoped that it was only because she and her teacher had been ignorant.

This matter concerned the monarch of the country. She should not make any careless deduction if she did not have any solid evidence.

“Hang on tight!” cried Long Tianhao with a serious expression on his face.

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Lin Mengya instinctively tightened her arms around the neck of the horse.

The horse they rode on lifted its front legs as it made a great leap.

Unfortunately, the horses following behind Long Tianhao’s horse did not react in time and fell forward one by one.

In that instant, a number of soldiers were injured, although not seriously.

“A horse-tripping rope! Why is there a horse-tripping rope?”

Long Tianhao pulled the rein and his horse stopped in its tracks and looked around gravely.

He had expected that the journey to pick the herb would not be smooth-going, however, he was surprised that they were ambushed so early into their journey.

“Be careful, everyone! We’re ambushed!”

Immediately, the leader of the group of soldiers kept his guard up.

They were experienced soldiers who had been through countless battles, therefore they were naturally aware of the situation.

“Protect Miss Lin. The rest of you, separate yourselves and search in different directions!”

Most of them were left behind to guard Lin Mengya, while a few highly skilled soldiers headed in all four directions.

“Stay by my side,” Long Tianhao said with a somber expression as he drew out his sword.

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“Ah… Be careful!”

Someone shouted a warning as the sentinels who went to check out the surrounding were nowhere to be seen.

There was a pained look on the leader’s face and the grave expression on his face had instantly turned to that of deep hatred.

Although they were prepared to die at first, the leader thought it necessary to avenge the lives of his subordinates.

“All of us soldiers must protect Miss Lin with our lives!”

They were all the soldiers of the Lin Family. They were ready to sacrifice their lives for the lives of Lin Muzhi and Lin Nansheng anytime.

At this moment, a great number of assassins dressed in black emerged from the surrounding woods, flying.

However, their movements, including their footsteps were quiet and steady and strangely swift.

Although Lin Mengya did not know any martial arts, she knew that they had met with a great crisis today.

“The soldiers of the Lin Family are an elite troop. Your ambition ultimate should be to go for war at the battlefront. I’m here for that girl today, so I’m prepared to let the rest go,” said one of the assassins.

He was the leader of the group of men dressed in black. His voice was hoarse but cold and threatening.

Their target was indeed Lin Mengya. However, after hearing what the leader of the assassins said, the soldiers of the Lin Family were not the least shaken from their resolve.

They remained standing tall in response to the confrontation of the men in black.

“Charge!”

Seeing that his threat was not working, the leader of the men in black lost all patience.

He cried out his order and his subordinates moved like a wave to surround Lin Mengya and her companions.

The soldiers remained silent as they started wielding their weapons and charged forward at the same time.

Soon, the common windy path through the woods was filled the noises of fighting and the smell of blood.

“Run away, Your Highness!” cried Lin Mengya.

Long Tianhao had been standing in front of Lin Mengya, trying to block her from any attacks. However, Lin Mengya wanted him to leave first, so he could be out of danger.

She could see that the soldiers were having a hard time defending against the assassins. She was afraid she would likely fall into their hands this time.

“Don’t worry,” Long Tianhao tried to reassure her.

Nevertheless, Long Tianhao was gradually finding it tough to defend against the kungfu moves of the assassins in black.

He looked at those men in black coldly, hoping that he could spot something on them that identified them. However, they were completely unlike any powers that he had seen.

He could more or less guess that these were the same people who assassinated Lin Nansheng.

They seemed so highly skilled. It was no wonder they were able to fully escape when faced with the valiant soldiers of the Lin Family.

“Capture Lin Mengya, alive or dead!”

The target the men in black were focusing on was indeed Lin Mengya.

For this reason, it was especially trying for Long Tianhao and Lin Zhongyu, who were her guardians.

Lin Mengya also drew out the dagger which her elder brother had given her.

If she eventually fell into the hands of the men in black, she would rather die than to become a hostage through which they threatened those who loved her.

“You stay here and bear in mind to be on your toes and use your wits!”

Long Tianhao instructed Lin Mengya and pushed her into some bushes nearby, then he continued fighting their enemies.

As Long Tianhao realized that there seemed to be countless men in black who kept appearing, he was prepared for the worst.

It was obvious that these men knew his identity. They were careful not to use all their strength when they attacked him.

Not long after, there were a number of dead bodies lying around Long Tianhao.

This seemed to have provoked the men in black to anger, and they stopped being hesitant but started attacking Long Tianhao with fatal strikes!

Lin Mengya, who was in hiding looked out of the bushes anxiously.

Xiaoyu could be seen using bizarre moves and he would flee when he was unable to defend some of the attacks of the enemies. Long Tianhao, on the other hand, stuck to using strong counterattacks. Soon, his clothes were torn by the enemies’ weapons at several places.

He had no doubt sustained some injuries on his body.

By this time, everyone’s attention was attracted to Long Tianhao and the remaining soldiers. No one had yet to discover Lin Mengya’s hiding place.

However, as time went by, the men in black realized that something was amiss.

As Lin Mengya was worrying about the others, danger had crept up on her.

One man in black who had been ambushed among the others had spotted where she was hiding.

He quietly crept up to her unnoticed.

There was a look of pride and satisfaction in the man’s eyes.

If he managed to capture this girl, he would have done a great service and be handsomely rewarded!

He drew out the long sword which reflected an evil ray of light.

The alarm on Lin Mengya’s radar went off. She instantly turned around and saw the light reflected off the man’s sword.

Fortunately, she came to this realization at the last minute and made herself fall backwards, thereby dodging the man’s attack. However, her arm was slashed by his sword and started to bleed from the laceration.

The other party had not expected a girl to be so alert. He recovered from the little shock and struck out again with another smirk.

This time, Lin Mengya was not so lucky.

Being unable to react as fast, she could only lie on her back and watched as the man’s sword came towards her chest.

“Click…” the man’s long sword smeared with poison was blocked by another sword.

The sharp sword merely made a small cut on Lin Mengya’s outer coat.

In the next moment, a figure dressed in white was fighting with that man in black who attacked her.

Lin Mengya, who just had a brush with death, panted heavily as she realized that the person who saved her life was none other than Long Qinghan, whose acupuncture point was sealed by Long Tianhao earlier!

“You really are a troublesome thing! You’ve got to repay my kindness if we are able to overcome this crisis!”

Lin Mengya rested her hand on her chest. She would never have expected Long Qinghan, who was usually playful and cheeky, was actually such a highly-skilled martial artist.

She calmed her breathing as she watched Long Qinghan and some other men join the battle.

Although their men were fewer than those men in black, they were a highly-skilled elite group of fighters. Soon, all the men in black were overcome by them.

“Be careful, Your Highness!”

While Lin Kui fought against the enemies, he cried out to Long Tianhao to warn him of the dangers.

The leader in black, knowing these men who just arrived were Long Tianhao’s men, wanted to catch hold of Long Tianhao first so he would have the upper hand in the attack.

“Be careful, everyone. There’s poison smeared on their swords!”

Lin Mengya shouted out as a warning to the other, but at the same time she exposed her hiding place.

Long Qinghan furrowed his brows. Not only was Lin Mengya unable to help out in any way, she had made things even more complicated now.

Just as he expected, women spelled trouble!

The man darted towards Lin Mengya immediately while she went deeper into the woods with a fluid motion, as if it was part of her plan.

The man in black pursued Lin Mengya into the heart of the woods, when she stopped in her tracks and turned around to look at the man with fear in her eyes.

“If you’re clever, you should follow us. Perhaps you’ll be able to preserve your life in this way!”

The leader said confidently. To him, catching a girl who did not know any kungfu alive was as easy as pie.

The man knew Long Tianhao was busy fighting his way out, so he began closing in on Lin Mengya.

Just when the leader was about to grab hold of Lin Mengya, she took out something from her clothes in a flash and waved it in the air.

Immediately, a white, powdery substance went into the air and filled the space.

Lin Mengya smirked in a bizarre way as the white powder fell onto nine out of ten of the men in black.

“Be careful! The powder could be poisonous!”

The leader of the group covered his mouth and nose with his hand. However, Lin Mengya took out something else from her clothes and the men backed from fear.

“Indeed it’s poisonous so don’t move. Do you think it’ll be alright just by covering your mouth and nose? Let me tell you, as long as the powder comes into contact with your skin, you’ll be poisoned!”

She had completely turned her pathetic situation around. The lives of these men in black were now in her hands.

However, the men in black who had yet to experience any reaction from the powder did not believe her words.

“Get her! What poison? She must be blowing smoke! How dare you, lass!”

The leader was obviously not taking Lin Mengya’s words seriously. He waved at his subordinates, indicating for them to tie her up.

“Shush… shush…”

A sound came from within the bushes which made the people’s hair stand.

Lin Mengya fixed her eyes to look forward as the men in black started to put some rope around her securely.

“Bring her away!”

Those men were about to bring Lin Mengya away when the other men standing at the peripheral started screaming in an alarming voice.

“Something, something crawled into my clothes!”

“Ouch! It’s biting me! Something’s biting me!”

All the men in black stopped in their tracks at the cries.

At this moment, the bizarre smile at the corner of Lin Mengya’s mouth looked creepy.

Great! It looked like the toy which her teacher gave her was taking effect on these men.

“What’s all that panic! Calm down! Find your footing!”

The leader of the men in black ordered with a deep voice, however, the men seemed to have disappeared.