Chapter Eighty-Nine: Die with Me

The men in black clutched their wounds and gathered around Li Yuxi, unwilling to leave.

Li Yuxi let his gaze sweep over them, his voice low and hard. "Go."

Just that one word carried a tone of utter resolve.

The others gritted their teeth, dropped to one knee, and bowed deeply. "Master, take care!"

Li Yuxi looked impatient. "Stop spouting nonsense and get lost!"

The men in black offered one last salute to Li Yuxi, then supported one another as they made their way down the mountain.

Only after they had gone far away did Li Yuxi curl his lips in satisfaction. His charming, slanting eyes turned toward Ren Changfeng as he smiled faintly. "Lord Ren truly does value my little maid... Since that is so, I cannot possibly hand her over to you."

With a sudden motion, he seized Chu Bing by the wrist and pulled her into his arms, pressing his long sword across her throat.

"Be careful!" Ren Changfeng blurted out at once, his concern impossible to hide, afraid that Li Yuxi might accidentally injure Chu Bing.

Chu Bing could not help looking up at him. His features were cold and sharp, yet the concern in his eyes for her was plain and undisguised.

Her feelings tangled in knots. She closed her eyes, then opened them again, her gaze cool and clear. "Li Yuxi, if you're going to kill me, then kill me cleanly. What kind of man dawdles like this?"

Her face was deathly pale, and the usual impish air about her was replaced by a touch of fragility. A strange thought flashed through Li Yuxi's mind, but before he could dwell on it, he had already cast it aside.

Unconsciously, the sword in his hand eased a little farther from her.

He leaned close to Chu Bing's ear and said slowly, word by word, "Let's make a bet. A bet on whether Ren Changfeng will save you."

Chu Bing flicked a glance at him, unwilling to engage, yet she could not help thinking it over. Ren Changfeng... should save her, shouldn't he? He did seem quite worried about her.

Well, last time she had saved him. Perhaps he was truly a man who valued loyalty and wanted to repay that kindness?

As if he had seen through her thoughts, Li Yuxi gave a low scoff and murmured near her ear, "I bet he won't."

Chu Bing looked down on that. Whether he would or not was hardly up to him. Besides, she was not expecting Lord Ren to truly risk himself for her.

Then she heard Li Yuxi call out behind her, "Lord Ren, prepare a horse for me and have your men retreat ten paces, or else..."

He tightened his wrist, and a cut opened at Chu Bing's throat.

Bright red beads of blood immediately welled up from the wound, starkly glaring against her pale neck.

"Li Yuxi!" Ren Changfeng's expression changed at once, his handsome face turning livid, his eyes sharp with fury. "She is innocent. Let her go!"

His reaction seemed to delight Li Yuxi. A wicked smile curved his lips as he brought the sword closer to Chu Bing's throat.

That expression, that posture, was plainly a challenge.

The veins on Ren Changfeng's forehead throbbed violently, as if the blade had been drawn across his own flesh, causing him unbearable pain.

If it were not for the subordinates holding him back, he would have long since been unable to control himself and charged forward.

He would rather Li Yuxi stab him with that sword than have him hurt Miss Hongxiu.

"Lord, you must not act on impulse! For the sake of one maid, we have already let so many rebels go. If we let Li Yuxi escape as well, we will have no way to answer to our superiors!"

This time they had come to suppress the bandits. They could not possibly return having brought no one back simply because of a woman.

A flicker of struggle passed through Ren Changfeng's eyes. While he still hesitated, Li Yuxi could not help but laugh softly. His sensuous red lips brushed near Chu Bing's ear. "Did you hear that? This is what they call concern. Once their grand righteous cause comes crashing down on them, the first thing they think of is still abandoning you..."

A flicker passed through Chu Bing's eyes. A helpless feeling rose in her heart. Why did it seem as though Li Yuxi was speaking not of her, but of himself?

Before she could react, Li Yuxi suddenly yanked her hard and dragged her forward to flee.

He was astonishingly fast, like a gust of wind. Chu Bing was pulled along like a kite, nearly lifted off the ground.

Behind them, Ren Changfeng led his men in pursuit.

Li Yuxi was already injured, and with Chu Bing in tow he had not gone far before they were caught up again.

He cast a sharp glance back, his eyes flashing, then suddenly pushed off the ground and dashed straight into the deep mountains.

Chu Bing's wrist was held fast. While being dragged along helplessly, she used her other hand to grip Li Yuxi's clothes tightly. When she noticed him stop ahead, she found before her a sheer cliff.

And a very familiar one at that—the very place where she had nearly fallen before.

Chu Bing twitched her mouth. Was she really this fated with this place?

Ren Changfeng and his men caught up. Li Yuxi turned to face him, his brows and eyes bright. "Ren Changfeng, do you know what the common people outside are saying about you now?"

Ren Changfeng swept his sword through the air in a cold arc. "I am the emperor's general, not the people's!"

He served only the one seated on the dragon throne.

Li Yuxi gave a soft laugh. "The water that bears the boat can also overturn it. If you aid the tyrant in wrongdoing, there will come a day when all the world points its finger at you!"

His words rang out across the empty wilderness. The horse beneath Ren Changfeng shifted uneasily, as if echoing his sentiment.

Ren Changfeng glanced at the men around him and found that many of them had a trace of agreement in their eyes. Clearly, they felt that what Li Yuxi had said was right...

A flash of coldness passed through Ren Changfeng's eyes. He pointed his sword straight at Li Yuxi. "That is a matter for the future. I, Ren Changfeng, serve only the emperor in this lifetime."

"Whoever kills Li Yuxi shall be promoted three ranks and rewarded with ten thousand taels of silver!"

At his words, the men behind him could hold back no longer. They surged toward Li Yuxi in a flood.

Li Yuxi tightened his grip on Chu Bing. "Are you afraid?"

Chu Bing did not understand what he meant. Li Yuxi let out a low laugh, and the sound carried a trace of madness. "Even if I die, having you keep me company will make it worth it."

Die?

Chu Bing froze. Before she could even react, Li Yuxi had already turned with her in his arms and leaped from the cliff behind them.

"Red Sleeve!" Ren Changfeng's eyes nearly split with rage. He jumped from his horse and rushed toward the precipice, only to be seized and held back tightly by the men behind him.

"Lord! It is a bottomless cliff below. If you fall, you will die!"

Ren Changfeng's eyes were blood-red. His fists clenched so tightly that his knuckles whitened. "Red Sleeve..."

No, how could she die like this? He had not even brought her home yet.

Step by step, Ren Changfeng walked to the edge of the cliff. All he could see was the cloud bank beneath the precipice. Falling from here offered no chance of survival.

He reached out and touched the place over his heart. It ached there with a hollow fierceness, as though something precious had been torn away from him forever.

Chu Bing was stunned. Being dragged off the cliff by Li Yuxi left her face numb from the wind.

This was the third time already.

Did she and cliffs have some sort of cursed fate?

Truly damnable...

Her mouth twitched, and she hurriedly turned to the system for help. "System, system, hurry and activate the shield!"

Even the system was speechless at Chu Bing's luck, but since Chu Bing was its only host, it had no choice but to raise the protective barrier.

Li Yuxi's brows and eyes carried a hint of frenzy. "Chu Bing, I never expected that at the very end, it would be you keeping me company. At least I have not made a vain trip through this world."

Chu Bing rolled her eyes. With the wind roaring in her ears, she cursed through gritted teeth, "You sick freak! Meeting you is the worst luck I've had in eight lifetimes!"

"And what of it? You're still going to die with me."

The smile on Li Yuxi's face grew ever brighter. Snow-white skin, black hair, his brows and eyes relaxed and handsome as a painting, so strikingly beautiful it could stir even the wrath of gods and men.

It was the first time Chu Bing had realized he was more beautiful than a woman. And with a face like that, yet acting like some little rogue all day long, calling her beauty this and beauty that—she, this fake "beauty," certainly dared not accept it.

The wind howled in her ears, slicing at her face like a blade. She closed her eyes, thoughts turning rapidly as she tried every possible way to land safely. She did not want to die.

Beside her, Li Yuxi seemed to sigh. Holding her tightly, as though he wished to fuse her into his very flesh and blood, he said, "Chu Bing, if I am still alive after today, I will certainly set you free."