However, shouldn't the soldiers Prince Ji Sheng have placed held them back? Wei Liuying couldn't understand how things could go so wrong.

"There's a young man here!"

"Kill him."

"Aye."

Wei Liuying took out another arrow and docked it to the string. She raised her hand and aimed to the men who came. Without hesitation, her fingers released the arrow.

Dzing!

It killed the first man.

By this time, Wei Liuying had already taken more arrows. The arrows were supposed to be used for hunting, but she didn't have the time to care for that anymore. She had to defend herself and make sure that she would be able to get out of here safely.

The man was stunned when they saw how she managed to kill them so easily.

"Get him!"

Wei Liuying's hand reached to the back only to realize that she had used up all of her arrow. She threw the bow to the side and unsheathed her sword. Loud metallic sound of metal clashing reverberated in the quiet forest.

Clang!

'Ugh.'

The force was completely different from what she used to face. Comparing Wei Hong Zheng's attack to these grown up men was truly different. Her muscles hadn't developed fully, and it was not like she focused her attention to martial arts all the time. The result was that she wouldn't be able to face the bandits on her own.

Clang!

Twisting her body and rushed forward, Wei Liuying kept her calm. Even though they were stronger than her, she needed to find a way to defeat them as soon as possible. Her body was already tired from the constant fight.

Clang! Slash!

Wei Liuying managed to wound the man and moved back to avoid the second man's attack.

*pant* *pant*

Her eyes focused on the man as she readied her sword. Just as she was about to attack, an arrow shot towards the man.

Jleb!

"Ugha!"

Several more arrows shot towards the other bandits, killing them almost immediately.

Wei Liuying kept her calm and looked up. She could see several men riding on horses sped through the forest. One of them break away from the formation and rushed over to her direction. His hand was holding a bow as the arrow killed the last bandit who was nearby.

"Are you alright?"

"I'm fine," Wei Liuying replied. She sheathed her sword again and sneaked a glance at the young man. "What are you doing here? Don't you need to take care of the young master and misses back in the villa?"

The one in front of her was Yang Xian. He smiled slightly when he heard her words. "There's no need to worry. We have found out the location of the breach and their destination, so those who were kidnapped will be retrieved."

"Oh."

Wei Liuying was not too surprised that Yang Xian had already found out the location. Based on this strategist's capability, it would be a piece of cake for him to find it all out. Probably, he had already gathered enough information beforehand.

"You're very calm. Aren't you curious?"

"I'm just wondering whether you're worried that you'll be blamed or not," Wei Liuying replied bluntly.

Yang Xian chuckled. "It's not our fault. You see, half of the soldiers in this area are actually Imperial Guards. A quarter was from Xie Family and the last quarter was from Prince Ji Sheng. The area where the breach occurred was in the place that the Imperial Guards were located. If there's anyone to blame, it would be them."

Hearing that, Wei Liuying fell silent. It seemed that her knowledge over the distribution of power was a bit lacking. She didn't even know that they actually divided the guards to be from several parties.

But it made sense as the Emperor would never fully trust one party.

Unless he wished to be killed because of trusting someone too much, it would be better for him to divide the task of guarding to several people. After all, the history didn't lack leaders who were overthrown because his supposed right hand was the one who backstabbed him in the end.

"You're not trusted."

"Who would trust someone they didn't favor?" Yang Xian asked back.

Ji Sheng was the unfavored son among the four princes. He was the only one who was sent to the frontline and never asked to return except for this one party. It was obvious that the Emperor wouldn't even care whether he sick or died during his time serving in the military.

On the other hand, the three princes lived well in the capital city and built their power through many connections.

"I see."

"For a young girl, you sure know a lot about politics," Yang Xian remarked. He patted the horse. "Get on."

"Are you sure that you want a young girl to ride the same horse with you, Strategist Yang?"

Yang Xian looked at Wei Liuying and smirked. "Right now. you're Wei Hong Zheng, the second son of Wei Family. Is there anything wrong for me to help out an official's 'son'?"

Hearing him stressed on the word 'son,' Wei Liuying felt a bit annoyed for some reasons. It felt as if he was taking advantage of her current condition. But then again, she didn't want to stay in this dark forest forever.

"In that case, I'll trouble you, Strategist Yang."

"You do know how to ride horse, right?"

Wei Liuying shot him a glare. She had spent an entire day learning how to ride horse until her back was hurt. Even though she couldn't gallop properly, it was still much better than nothing at all. She bent down to pick up the bow that she had casted aside when fighting with her sword and put it on her back.

She walked to the horse and held the horse's back. With a swift movement, she got on Yang Xian's back.

"Held on tightly."

Wei Liuying frowned. She stretched her hand and held the hem of Yang Xian's clothes from the back. Yang Xian was wearing long robe along with an armor, so she could only hold onto the cloth that was still peeked out of his armor.

Yang Xian looked to the back and smirked playfully. "Are you sure that you won't fall with just holding onto the hem of my clothes?"

"No."

"If you feel like you're going to fall off, feel free to hold differently."

Towards his statement, Wei Liuying merely sent a death glare. If only they were in different situation, she would have surely try to fight back and anger Yang Xian to death too. Unfortunately, she barely knew anything about this strategist aside from what she had seen and what Shi Yan told her.

"Hold on to me tightly."

Yang Xian urged the horse to move faster. On his back, Wei Liuying was stunned, but she managed to tighten her grip. Her brows furrowed as she noticed that Yang Xian was galloping so fast in the middle of the forest. Was he not worried that they would crash onto a tree?

However, her worry was for naught as Yang Xian continued to gallop in the middle of the forest without stopping. His fluid control over the horse��s movements seemed as if he knew the entire forest like the back of his hand. Wei Liuying knew for sure that this was the first time Yang Xian ever went to the capital city.

How did he familiarize himself with the terrain despite only staying here for several months?

Wei Liuying didn't know.

The horse continued to gallop. Wei Liuying frowned when she realized that Yang Xian didn't regroup with his men who came with him before. "Don't you need to go with your men?"

"They're His Highness' men," Yang Xian corrected. "They're heading up to help the other youngsters to get away from the inevitable battle. We're going down to regroup with the people who have managed to escape first."

Escape first?

Wei Liuying looked at Yang Xian with furrowed brows. "How do you know that there are people who have already escaped first?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"Is it?"

"There is sound of horse galloping in the middle of the forest from the main road. Aside from the carriages, the others wouldn't be stupid enough to use the main road. Besides, who do you think will benefit from this situation?"

Who?

Wei Liuying began to think as she calmed down. She noticed that there were several people who were coming in their direction. Her brows furrowed as she recognized them as bandits.

"Stay here and don't do anything. Young lady shouldn't dirty their hands," Yang Xian said as he pulled two arrows and aimed to the men who came there.

Dzing!

"Gah!"

Wei Liuying passed a glance at Yang Xian and stole an arrow from him. She couldn't shoot two arrows at once, but one at a time was plausible. Her finger released the arrow to the third man as her mouth muttered out, "It's already dirty. There's nothing wrong with adding a few more."

Dzing!