Rising Phoenix

"Ouch, stop." Feng Zhiwei complained, dragging her feet. "Fifth Prince, you're pressing too hard, I can't walk."

"Stop your tricks!" The Fifth Prince snapped, not trusting Feng Zhiwei a whit. He pressed the tip of his dagger into her flesh, "Into the study! Ning Yi, summon the cabinet!"

Feng Zhiwei sighed, looking down at the blood slowly seeping into her green robes.

Ning Yi glanced over, his face expressionless.

"Fifth Brother, stop wasting so much time on this minor minister." He said,

"Compared to His Majesty, he's nothing."

"Sixth Brother, don't waste your words." The Fifth Prince sneered, "I don't care who he is, as long as I have someone to accompany me on my pyre!"

He retreated into the study, his dagger gleaming coldly.

"Summon the Cabinet Ministers. Father Emperor will write in the Golden Book before all the ministers that: 'Everything today will be forgiven. If I go back on my words, let the Heavens and Earth punish me, and let the Ning Family fall in this generation!' After that, you will give me an honor guard escort out of Dijing and title me lord of Ximin Province. Father and son will live in peace and never meet again!" The Fifth Prince spat out decisive orders.

"You go in first!" He called out to Ning Yi. "Don't lag behind!"

"Everybody else back!" He shouted, pausing afterwards to listen to the breathing in the darkness. He nervously eyed the Tian Sheng Emperor and Ning Yi, and the Emperor could only sullenly gesture the crossbowmen back.

Silence fell upon the clearing and only wind rustled an accompaniment to the nervous breathing.

Ning Yi sneered and slowly backed into the study, keeping his eyes locked onto the Tian Sheng Emperor. He was so focused on the Emperor's safety that he missed the threshold at his feet and tripped, falling by the basin stand beside the door. Ning Yi quickly caught himself, lifting the stand as he passed.

"Old Six, it's not the time to have weak knees!" Fifth Prince snared at Ning Yi, shaking his head in disdain as Wei Yong approached the door with the Emperor.

Ning Yi had moved the basin stand slightly, blocking the right side of the door, forcing Wei Yong to hold the Tian Sheng Emperor on his left as he edged forward.

"Peng!"

A light cold as snow flashed!

The snowy light pierced forward from the bottom-right of the threshold, instantly shattering and swarming upwards at Wei Yong.

The machine's spring was powerful enough that no one could react in time, and the snowy lights pierced into Wei Yong's lower body, spilling blood!

Wei Yong screamed in pain but quickly reached forward to grab the freed Tian Sheng Emperor.

Ning Yi flashed forward like lightning, grabbing the Tian Sheng Emperor as he swept past Wei Yong to pounce towards the Fifth Prince.

Ning Yi rushed forward faster than he'd ever moved and paid no wind to Wei Yong's cold snort or the piercing wind behind him.

Everything happened in the blink of an eye. The Fifth Prince could barely react to the flash of snowy light before Ning Yi was upon him. In all the chaos, he was stunned still with no time to think or act.

"Don't kill him!" A harsh voice commanded and a white shadow rushed towards the Fifth Prince.

Suddenly, the long corridor's ceiling broke open and a light cyan sleeve reached out through the dust, aiming for the Fifth Prince's head. The hand moved with such strength that it looked like a single touch would remove the Fifth Prince's head from his body forever.

As the harsh call filled the air, the Fifth Prince stirred out of his astonishment. He could make out nothing in the chaos as lights and shadows raged around him and fierce wind roared. The Fifth Prince did not know who was attacking him, but he knew he would not survive; a vicious gleam filled his eyes and he pressed down with his dagger!

Everything happened all at once —

Ning Yi had arrived.

Princess Shao Ning had also appeared by the Fifth Prince's side, pushing forward with her whole body to push aside the Fifth Prince's dagger.

Above the Fifth Prince, Gu Nanyi reached out to pull the Fifth Prince into the air.

And in the chaos —

Princess Shao Ning missed the Fifth Prince's hand and collided with Gu Nanyi's, knocking his aim awry.

Gu Nanyi's hand slammed into the Fifth Prince's chest, pushing him back a step and knocking Feng Zhiwei out of Ning Yi's reach. This time, Ning Yi and Gu Nanyi tangled together, blocking each other from reaching Feng Zhiwei.

The three had come forward to save Feng Zhiwei, but had instead ruined everything and left the Fifth Prince unattended.

The dagger was already at Feng Zhiwei's waist and a light pressure would be enough to endanger her life.

And the dagger had already been pressed.

Her green robe ran with red.

Instantly, Ning Yi's eyes filled with red as well.

Ning Yi struck forward with his sword, grabbing at Feng Zhiwei with his other hand and pressing down on her wound. Before his strike could land, the Fifth Prince collapsed; and when Ning Yi pressed down on the wound, he noticed something strange.

He looked down and his hand was covered in a stickily sweet and fragrant red sauce.

Fresh crabapples sauce.

The woman in front of him breathed out the gentle fragrance of the crabapple, quirking her lips into a half-smile as she said: "I have more than one slice of crabapple pancake."

Ning Yi immediately understood. Feng Zhiwei had already been prepared when she handed over the book, and since she had not known which part of her the Fifth Prince would stab, she had probably prepared these pancake shields over her vitals. Clearly, there was one at her waist. The reason she had been stumbling and feigning weakness was because she needed a distraction to adjust the pancake's positioning without alerting the Fifth Prince.

And the Fifth Prince had been so nervous that he had been tricked two times by her crabapple pancakes.

As he breathed in the fragrance and looked into Feng Zhiwei's tranquil eyes, he was moved by her imperturbable calm and felt himself relaxing. His face flushed as he gazed at her, his voice somewhat hoarse as he replied: "That's good…"

The Fifth Prince lay on the floor surrounded by swords and blades. He had been hit by Feng Zhiwei and had his acupoint sealed, but he was still alive and alert. He got a clear look at Ning Yi's expression and a sudden flash of understanding filled him. His mind raced as a frigid smile emerged on his lips.

He smiled as he coughed, sneering at Feng Zhiwei as he called out: "Look, you did not guess wrongly. He saved whom he needed to save."

Words aimed to cut the heart.

Ning Yi's expression fell and he had almost began speaking when his face flushed again and he quietly closed his mouth.

Feng Zhiwei was not looking at Ning Yi, and she turned to examined the Fifth Prince, her smile disappearing: "Don't mock your Sixth Brother. You would have made the same choice."

Her tone was calm and without complaint, but Ning Yi felt as if coarse sand had been ground against his heart. Pain filled him as he opened his mouth once more to speak.

But then a hand reached over and pulled Feng Zhiwei away.