Chapter 674: Accident
Editor: Atlas Studios
If it wasn’t a junior nun, why was the temple so secretive? Could it be that a bad guy had sneaked in?
Spring and Rain became nervous and looked at each other. Rain immediately turned around and went out. After covering Mu Yangling with a blanket, Spring asked in a low voice, “Your Highness, do you want to put on your clothes and prepare?”
Mu Yangling nodded slightly. “Don’t make any noise.” She’d asked the servants to retreat because she was afraid of alerting the enemy.
As soon as Mu Yangling put on her clothes, she heard the sound of swords and sabers coming from the east courtyard. A sharp glint flashed across her eyes, and her aura turned cold. Spring trembled. She felt that Her Highness had instantly turned into a sharp longsword with a sharp aura that made people unable to approach her. However, just as her heart trembled, that aura instantly converged and turned into a bronze broadsword. Although it was still there and did not attract anyone’s attention, Spring knew that once someone touched the Princess Consort’s bottom line, this seemingly rusty bronze broadsword would become sharp and protect the people she wanted to protect.
Relieved, Spring respectfully retreated to the side.
Mu Yangling sat in front of Little Bear’s bed and helped him put on his clothes. Perhaps feeling uncomfortable, Little Bear muttered a few words in his sleep. His little hand subconsciously slapped his mother’s hand away before he turned around to continue sleeping.
Mu Yangling helped him put on his clothes and covered him with a small blanket. If anything happened, she could wrap him with a small blanket and immediately leave.
The sound of swords and sabers in the east courtyard became louder and louder. Hearing this, the guards who were originally stationed outside quickly rushed in and surrounded the guest room they were staying in. The guard commander, Qi San, reported outside the door. Mu Yangling nodded slightly and asked Spring to let him in. “What’s going on?”
Qi San knelt on the ground and said, “Your Highness, there are strangers hiding in the east courtyard. Our people were stopped when they entered and the two sides fought. We have to protect Your Highness and the little prince, so we don’t know the exact situation over there.”
Mu Yangling asked, “How many people did you send over?”
“Three.”
“Send two more over.” Mu Yangling said, “Let’s end this quickly.”
Qi San agreed without hesitation, then turned around and transferred two people over. Soon, the news came back. The martial nuns from Cleansing Water Nunnery were actually helping the other party resist. Furthermore, there were two martial monks among them. This was the Cleansing Water Nunnery, not White Cloud Temple. How could there be martial monks?
Qi San shuddered. He was afraid that it could be a scheme between White Cloud Temple and Cleansing Water Nunnery, in which case the twenty-odd guards might not be sufficient to protect the Princess Consort and the little prince.
Not daring to be negligent, Qi San hurriedly asked Mu Yangling to leave immediately with the little prince. “Your Highness, I’ll arrange for someone to escort you down the mountain right away.”
Mu Yangling sat by the bed and did not move. “Considering White Cloud Mountain towers into the clouds, it’ll take more than an hour to descend the mountain on a horse. On the southern face is a cliff. Although the back is a mountain, it’s rugged and difficult to travel on foot. Once the martial monks from White Cloud Mountain pursue us, where can we hide?”
Qi San’s face turned pale as Mu Yangling continued, “It will take a further four hours plus to reach Ju Prefecture City after leaving White Cloud Mountain… With that in mind, it’s better to stay here and defend ourselves at Cleansing Water Nunnery. At least there’s still a place for us to hide.”
Qi San knelt on the ground, feeling ashamed and sad. “It’s all my fault for not investigating clearly before. I didn’t expect Cleansing Water Nunnery and White Cloud Temple to collude with the rebels.”
Mu Yangling shook her head slowly. Even now, she still could not figure out why White Cloud Temple and Cleansing Water Nunnery would do this.
“Did you see who they were hiding?”
Qi San shook his head. “Our people were discovered the moment they entered the east courtyard. The other party rushed over and attacked without saying a word, so the two sides instantly broke into a fight.”
“Could there be a misunderstanding?”
“Your Highness, not to mention Cleansing Water Nunnery, White Cloud Temple has also been cleared in advance before you came to pay your respects to Buddha. Apart from us, there are no other devotees. Besides, we already identified ourselves when they attacked, but the other party continued to advance aggressively. What misunderstanding can there be? I just don’t know who they are hiding.”
Qi San suspected that they were rebels from the previous dynasty. They could not be from West Xia, right? Both the Han and Miao people in Qiannan loathed the West Xia people, after all. However, if they were rebels from the previous dynasty, weren’t all the princes of the previous dynasty already dead?
Qi San looked at the Princess Consort, wanting to ask but not daring to.
However, Mu Yangling did not notice his expression. Mind solely focused on how to retreat, Mu Yangling knocked on the table and asked, “Where are the two sparrows raised by the little prince?”
Spring hurriedly said, “They’re hanging outside.”
“Hand them to Qi San. I want you to release the sparrows immediately.”
The corners of Qi San’s mouth twitched. They had caught the two sparrows for the little prince at the foot of White Cloud Mountain this morning. Even the cage was casually woven using weeds and small branches found by the roadside.
Qi San really wanted to shout, “Your Highness, those are sparrows, not pigeons! They’re two sparrows that have just been caught!”
“After you release them, bring all our men to the guest room here. Close the door tightly and set up two lines of defense. Go ask the people in the east courtyard if they are plotting a rebellion. If White Cloud Temple and Cleansing Water Nunnery insist on resisting, ignore them and think of a way to retreat our men. We just have to guard this guest courtyard. If there’s a misunderstanding, have the abbots of the two temples come and explain things to me together.” Mu Yangling looked at Qi San and said, “Hint to them that we have already informed the Ju Prefecture that we are trapped. Regardless of whether we live or die today, they can forget about getting away scot-free. There are nearly 1,000 monks and nuns from White Cloud Temple and Cleansing Water Nunnery. I don’t believe they dare to gamble with so many lives.”
Heart trembling, Qi San said in a low voice, “But Your Highness, we don’t have a way to inform…”
Mu Yangling looked at the lights and said quietly, “Didn’t we just release two pigeons?”
Qi San’s expression changed as he knelt on the ground without moving. This method was too dangerous. Should White Cloud Temple and Cleansing Water Nunnery not fall for it, the only fate that awaited them was death. At that time, White Cloud Temple could just claim that they had accidentally fallen off the rugged mountain path and off the cliff. Even if the Prince was furious, he would probably not be able to do anything to them without evidence.
Mu Yangling’s expression softened slightly as she said gently, “Just like how you don’t want to gamble with the safety of me and the little prince, they won’t dare to gamble with the lives of the thousands of monks and nuns. It depends on whose heart is ruthless enough. Go quickly. It’ll be too late if you don’t go now.”
Qi San gritted his teeth and kowtowed three times to Mu Yangling, then turned around and ran away. Not long after, the courtyard was filled with panic and noise. All the servants were chased into the courtyard. Seeing this, Mu Yangling stood up and picked up Little Bear, who was rubbing his eyes after being woken up. She opened the door and stood on the steps to look at them quietly. She shouted, “What are you panicking for? I and the little prince are still here.”
The courtyard instantly fell silent, and everyone’s panicked hearts calmed down a little. Mu Yangling instructed the stronger servants to guard the second door with sticks and other things. The others were put into groups of three. Groups of three were lined up in the courtyard, all holding weapons that they had found at the last minute. The women and servant girls who were skilled in martial arts surrounded Mu Yangling to protect her.
Chapter end
