Untouchable Lovers

Chapter 92: Chapter 88: The Boring Assassination

Entering the palace, telling stories, returning to the mansion.

When she returned to the Princess Mansion, the night had already deepened, but Chu Yu did not return to her room. Instead, she strode into the West Upper Pavilion and, treading the enchanting night scenery, entered Muxue Garden.

Guards patrolling near Muxue Garden saw the direction Chu Yu was heading and were stunned for a moment, even forgetting to come forward to greet her. It wasn’t until the figures of Chu Yu and Yue Jiefei had disappeared into the courtyard that they exchanged glances, their looks indicating tacit understanding.

Chu Yu ordered Yue Jiefei to wait outside, then she pushed open the door with a bang, and was somewhat surprised to find it was not bolted. After passing a few doors, she reached Rong Zhi’s bedroom.

There were no lit lamps in the bedroom, and the windows were also tightly closed, making the room even darker, like ink, so dark one could not see their own hand. Chu Yu slowed down, feeling around to make sure there were no obstacles nearby, before she approached the bed. By the time her eyes adjusted to the darkness inside, she could vaguely see a white figure sleeping on the bed. She flipped open the curtain, bent one knee onto the bed, placed a hand on it, leaned over, and grasped the person lying there, snapping irately, “Rong Zhi, get up, I have something I need to ask you.”@@novelbin@@

A moment later, a soft chuckle broke the silence.

In the darkness, the first distinct thing was a pair of eyes, clear like water, with stark contrasts of black and white, deep and bottomless, and also… with a hint of a mocking smile.

Chu Yu, who had initially held a stomach full of irritable anger, felt it dissipate in an instant upon seeing those eyes.

Rong Zhi slowly said, “Princess, are you sure we should talk like this?”

Chu Yu was startled, and finally realized their ambiguous posture. She was almost lying on the bed, with only one leg still outside, and any slight instability would cause her to fall onto Rong Zhi.

Chu Yu slowly released her grip, slowly got off the bed, steadied her nerves, and lit the lamp beside her. Only after Rong Zhi sat up on the bed did she open her mouth to ask, “Last time, you told me that Tian Rujing is worth five thousand elite soldiers. Was that true or just your fabrication?”

In the dim and soft light, Rong Zhi, wearing only a white shirt with his black hair draped over his shoulders, his eyes soft and gentle like water, yet as dark as ink, slightly smiled and said, “It is a guess. I don’t have five thousand soldiers, nor have I tried to attack Tian Rujing.”

Chu Yu couldn’t help but roll her eyes. He had exaggerated so much on that day, and now it turned out he was making it all up. She had been depressed for so long, “Why did you lie to me?”

Perhaps it was an illusion, but after a moment of silence, Chu Yu felt Rong Zhi’s smile seemed to carry a touch of helplessness. It was a while before she heard him slowly saying, “I said that because I did not want the Princess to take risks. Although Tian Rujing may not be as powerful as his master Tian Ruyue, he is probably quite skilled. Princess, you might have forgotten, but I remember. The injuries Hua Cuo has were from when he attempted to assassinate Tian Ruyue.” He could tell, Chu Yu had a subtle hostility towards Tian Rujing.

Chu Yu initially felt somewhat resentful towards Rong Zhi, but now she could only remain silent, feeling somewhat apologetic. The day before, she had already given him the Seven-leaf Snow Ganoderma as an excuse, but had not expected Hua Cuo’s injuries to be sustained like that. Thinking of this, Chu Yu casually asked, “How is Hua Cuo now?”

Rong Zhi nodded, smiled, and replied, “Thank you for your concern, Princess. I am currently collecting the rest of the medicinal materials, and once they are all gathered, I will be able to treat Hua Cuo.”

Hearing him say this, Chu Yu was also reassured. However, she still held some concerns about Tian Rujing. Seeing her look somewhat unwilling, Rong Zhi smiled and said, “If the Princess does not trust, I could let you see with your own eyes. Whenever the Princess arranges a meeting with Tian Rujing, it would also give me an opportunity to act.”

Chu Yu paused for a moment, seeing Rong Zhi’s calm and collected smile, she began to believe him. Ordinary strength could not harm Tian Rujing, yet she had been repelled twice by that strange blue Light Shield, unable to clearly observe the process from the side. If she could see it more clearly, it would indeed be a good thing.

However, in just a short while, Chu Yu came out from Muxue Garden, still wearing a satisfied smile on her face. The patrol guards hadn’t gone far, and when they saw Chu Yu coming out, they looked at each other in bewilderment: That quick?

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In the following three days, Chu Yu went to the palace to tell stories to Liu Ziyue as usual. She provided ideas and basic concepts, letting Rong Zhi make a product similar to Golden Throat Treasure to moisten and protect the throat. She would suck on one after telling a part of the story. Although the taste was somewhat unsatisfactory, the medicinal effect was quite good indeed. After talking for half a day, her voice would only go slightly hoarse, and after drinking some medicine to recuperate, her voice was back to normal the next day.

Three days passed in a blink of an eye, and on the fourth day, which was the day Chu Yu had arranged to meet Tian Rujing, she had already taken a day off from Liu Ziyue, saying she would rest and not go to the palace. She got up early in the morning in the mansion, freshened up, and quietly waited in her room. She had sent someone to wait at the street corner, and as soon as they saw Tian Rujing, they would come back to report, and she could go to the gate to greet him and also observe the play Rong Zhi had prepared for her.

Standing at the gate, watching Tian Rujing step down from the horse cart, Chu Yu felt exceptionally calm, so calm that even she found it a bit unbelievable. Regarding what was about to happen, she did not feel nervous at all.

Tian Rujing was still dressed in his purple attire, elegant and otherworldly. When he got about ten steps away from Chu Yu, a shout came from across the wall, “Evil Path, your life is forfeit!”

Four figures appeared on the wall, all wearing bamboo hats and straw coats, dressed exactly like the assassins who had previously tried to assassinate Chu Yu. Seeing this, she could not help but frown, but at this moment, there was no time for her to think further, as the play had already begun.

After those four men shouted from atop the wall, they jumped down and sprinted towards Tian Rujing. Logically, one would greet their foe before an assassination—an admittedly foolish tactic, but even more absurd was that Tian Rujing, the target of this greeting, did not so much as glance at the assassins charging towards him, his clear and penetrating gaze fixed solely on Chu Yu, “I have arrived.”

For Tian Rujing to react in such a way surprised the four assassins. They had originally planned for the four of them to draw everyone’s attention while the real killing move would come from a fifth person. However, they hadn’t anticipated that Tian Rujing would not even bother to look at them, and the guards of the Princess Mansion were all focused on protecting Chu Yu, not sparing a single person to protect Tian Rujing.

Chu Yu understood clearly in her heart. She naturally knew why Tian Rujing did not even look; his light shield was an all-angle, all-direction defense with not a single gap or blind spot. With that being the case, why should he turn back?

The targets were so cooperative, which left the assassins quite helpless. At that moment, the coachman on Tian Rujing’s carriage pulled down his hat a bit and jumped off, drawing a longsword from beneath the carriage yoke, joining the four assassins.

He was the hidden fifth person. Had their employer not specifically ordered them to kill in front of the Princess Mansion, he might have taken action on the way there.

Five swords thrust towards Tian Rujing simultaneously.

Blue light, yet again blue light. Light shield, again the light shield.

But this time, Chu Yu saw it more clearly. First, a brief flash of blue-violet light emitted from within Tian Rujing’s left sleeve, followed immediately by the appearance of the light shield.

The perfect sphere enveloped Tian Rujing, who stood firm and unmoved, while the five assassins were uniformly blasted away. The force was exceptionally great, smashing through the wall behind them and still not stopping. When Chu Yu sent guards to check on the five men, the guard reported back that they were barely clinging to life.

How formidable!

Chu Yu stared in astonishment at Tian Rujing and felt a hint of fear. She knew that the light shield could defend, but had not anticipated it could also attack. Five healthy, strong men were nearly dead in an instant. Had her impulsive act that day almost led her to the same fate?

It was truly fortunate that she was still alive.

Upon inviting Tian Rujing to her room and closing the door to deter any inquiries, Chu Yu finally looked up at Tian Rujing. From the moment he was attacked to the moment he entered the room, and even now, he maintained his silence, his expression exceedingly cold, as if indifferent to everything or perhaps understanding everything. Chu Yu even felt that he might have guessed that she had instigated the assassins.

Standing opposite Tian Rujing, Chu Yu cleared her throat and spoke, “May I take a look at your Heavenly Book?”

Tian Rujing shook his head and said, “The rules of my sect forbid showing it to outsiders.”

Chu Yu sighed and said, “This Heavenly Book, you might not be able to fully understand it either, right? What if I could resolve your doubts?”

Tian Rujing’s handsome eyebrows furrowed slightly, his expression still detached, and he said, “This is the first time I’ve heard someone say that.” A mere mortal presuming to guide him in reading the Heavenly Book? Wasn’t that a bit too presumptuous?

Chu Yu hesitated for a moment, steeled herself, and decided to gamble once more. She took a deep breath, pulled out a piece of paper from her bosom, unfolded it, and showed it to Tian Rujing, “Have you ever seen these characters?”

She had written them down the previous night—written in simplified characters, not the traditional characters used in ancient times.

Upon seeing the content on the paper, Tian Rujing’s eyes lit up slightly.

Seeing that Tian Rujing’s reaction was not intense enough, Chu Yu took out a second piece of paper. This time, it was filled with symbols that most ancient people would not understand, but for modern people, they were all too familiar; they were: a, b, c, d, e… all the way to z, the twenty-six letters of the alphabet.

When he saw these English letters, Tian Rujing’s composure was finally shattered completely. He stared intently at Chu Yu, his eyes unable to suppress the astonishment.

His facial expression shifted constantly as he struggled between compromising and standing firm. Chu Yu did not interrupt him but waited quietly.

After a long time, Tian Rujing’s right hand finally slowly reached for his left sleeve’s cuff.