Insufficient balance

  Obviously, desperately trying and competing in martial arts are two different things.

  From a young age, Xue Chongxun had competed with others countless times in martial arts, but this kind of one-on-one fight to the death was truly his first time. At first, seeing that there was only one killer, Xue Chongxun, who had always been confident in his knife skills, was not afraid at all, and even felt a thrill of excitement at having found an opponent. However, he soon lost that excitement, and of course, didn't have the time to feel fear either.

  Desperate situations don't follow any rules, the only rule is to kill your opponent. The most unfair thing for Xue Chongxun was that he didn't have a suitable weapon... this wooden staff in his hand couldn't even knock someone out, and if he wanted to take down his opponent before being killed himself, he could only rely on brute force to make up for the lack of a proper weapon, which limited his usual knife skills.

  Xue Chongxun specialized in using the heavy sword to slash horizontally and vertically, but after a few moves, he unfortunately took a hit. Suddenly, a silver nail popped out of Bai Wuchang's guqin and stabbed into his lower back.

  He only felt a slight pinch on his waist like an ant bite, and his lower body immediately lost consciousness, his legs softened and fell to the ground.

  At this moment, a thousand feelings surged into Xue Chongxun's mind, and his face involuntarily smiled wryly. No matter how much he had calculated, he hadn't expected to die like this... Life is always full of unexpectedness and drama.

  His hand still tightly grasped the wooden stick, extremely unwilling. Bai Wuchang saw him fall to the ground and lose his ability to act, and in order to seek stability, he also hastily left his attack range.

  She let out a long sigh and said somewhat tiredly: "You're quite skilled for a young master."

  Xue Chongxun bitterly smiled and said: "Not bringing a knife today is the biggest mistake of my life."

  Bai Wuchang took out another silver nail and put it into the guqin, then pulled a string on the tail of the instrument which was hooked onto a mechanism. It turned out that her guqin was also an intricately constructed crossbow. She saw Xue Chongxun still holding onto the wooden stick, and while loading the silver nails, she smiled and said: "It's already over, do you think there's still a chance for you to survive?"

  "I want to try." Xue Chongxun stared at her hand. This man would not give up until the end, and he had to die before giving up.

  Bai Wuchang smiled and aimed the zither at Yuwen Ji, who was crouching beside Xue Chongxun: "A white-haired person sends off a black-haired person; I'm even with Yuwen Xiao now."

  "Hei Niu..." Meng Xiaoyu walked towards Xue Chongxun with a pale face, her face was smeared with black ash, and her big eyes and small nose looked pitiful.

  "Stay back!" Xue Chongxun shouted at Meng Xiaoyu, then slowed down his tone and said, "Xiaoyu, listen to me, don't come over. It's none of your business. She's just a killer, with no grudge against me. She's only here for the money. If you stay back, nothing will happen!"

  Xue Chongxun dropped the wooden stick in his hand and crawled towards Yuwen Ji while saying, "Bai Wuchang, you kill me first."

  Xue Chongxun suddenly let out a loud roar, and all his strength burst forth from his arm as he pounced towards Yuwen Ji. Just then, the sound of a "thud" echoed through the air, and a silver nail flew towards Yuwen Ji, but it ended up piercing Xue Chongxun's chest instead.

  At this time, several women present were shocked, and Bai Wuchang changed his color and said: "Are you willing to die for Yuwen Ji?"

  Xue Chongxun spat out a mouthful of blood and said with some difficulty: "...... I am a noble, and I cannot bear the shame of my woman dying in front of me."

  "Alright, alright." Bai Wuchang let out a shrill laugh and quickly grabbed his zither, rushing towards the courtyard gate.

  "Xue Chongxun... Xue Lang..." Yuwen Ji shouted with mixed emotions.

  Xue Chongxun could hardly speak, that silver nail seemed to have injured some internal organs, and blood was pouring out. A big tear suddenly rolled down from Yuwen Ji's eyes, and she cried: "I believe it, I believe your words, and also the story you told."

  "Don't... don't be silly, I... I can only marry a princess..."

  At this moment, Yuwen Ji suddenly remembered what Xue Chongxun said in the Yinxian Pavilion: Don't be foolish, I'm just pretending to be romantic. Which of his words were true and which were false?

  Meng Xiaoyu was shocked stiff, she even forgot to cry, and ran to Xue Chongxun's front, seeing his chest bleeding, hurriedly stretched out her hand to press it.

  "Don't move! You've injured your liver, and if you press it again, it'll be even more serious!" Yuwen Ji shouted to stop Meng Xiaoyu.

  "What... what should I do?"

  "Rub my belly." Yuwen Ji said, "…a little to the left, press harder."

  After a while, San Niang also rushed in. She was indeed Bai Wuchang's sister, and Bai Wuchang had knocked her unconscious without killing her. After Yuwen Ji recovered, she immediately gave first aid to Xue Chongxun and asked San Niang to go back and call for help.

  ……

  "Was it you who hired an assassin to kill Xue Chongxun?" Li Longji stared into Gao Lishi's eyes and asked, "I have always trusted you, tell the truth."

  Gao Lishi said calmly: "Your Highness, you know it's not me..."

  "It's not you who are!" Li Longji's eyes turned red, "Apart from you, who else has a deep blood feud with Xue Chongxun? Who else has the ability to invite such an assassin?"

  Gao Lishi sighed and said: "If Your Highness is determined that it's like this, with just one word from you, I will immediately take my own life to apologize for my crime."

  Li Longji immediately took off the sword from his waist and handed it to Gao Lishi. Gao Lishi lowered his head, accepted the sword with both hands, knelt down on the ground, and "swish" drew out the treasured sword.

  The guards beside him immediately surrounded him, protecting Li Longji around. Li Longji's face was iron-green and waved his hand, the guards had to let go of one side.

  Gao Lishi turned the sword tip upside down, aimed at his own heart, and slowly stabbed it in. Just then, Li Longji suddenly shouted: "Stop!"

  Gao Lishi stopped, his sword tip had already pierced the skin, and a stream of fresh blood slid down along the blade. He raised his head to look at Li Longji.

  Li Longji pointed at his nose and cursed: "You'll die sooner or later! Just wait for death at home!"

  "Your Highness, Xue Chongxun killed my cousin and yet he has the nerve to justify it. When something happens, I have to take responsibility for him? I want revenge, but there's a saying that goes 'a gentleman takes his revenge ten years later'. Wouldn't it be more satisfying to wait until Your Highness catches them all in one net?" Gao Lishi said quietly.

  "You don't believe I can win at all!" Li Longji said angrily.

  "Your Highness... Heaven's will is with me." Gao Lishi's eyes were extremely sincere.

  Li Longji paced back and forth, took a deep breath, but still angrily said: "Whether I believe you or not, it can't save you. Taiping Princess is determined to eliminate my people, only when I become a lone wolf will they be happy. After this incident, can you be spared? Li Shi, do you know that you are one of my arms?! How can you affect the overall situation for your own personal revenge? You... Alas, it really disappoints me!

  Gao Lishi said: "A gentleman would die for a friend who understands him. With these words from Your Highness, I can die without regret."

  Li Longji shook his head and said no more, turning around to leave with a group of guards.

  Xue Chongxun had not yet stopped breathing, lying in bed with a high fever and constantly falling into a coma. The imperial physicians of the entire court were at a loss, they couldn't do anything so they used Yuwen Ji as a shield, saying to Princess Taiping: "The internal injury is not very serious, the blood clot inside is secondary, what's most difficult to deal with is that there is a small piece of cloth in the chest that can't be taken out, if one is not careful it will injure the internal organs. Yuwen Sheng's medical skills are so wonderful that even I am amazed, if she can't do anything then we..."

  Taiping Princess turned her head and coldly looked at Yuwen Ji: "How can there be a small piece of cloth in my son's chest?"

  Yuwen Ji picked up the sharp object and said, "This is a blunt instrument, so it's like this. After the silver nail was pulled out, that small piece of cloth couldn't be taken out, only by opening the wound to retrieve it... But I'm not good at this kind of thing, what if I accidentally injure the internal organs during the process, the consequences are unthinkable."

  Princess Taiping asked the imperial physicians: "What about you? Not one of you knows?"

  The imperial physicians hung their heads in silence.

  Princess Taiping coldly said to a nearby general of the Feathered Forest Army: "Keep an eye on Yuwen's father and daughter, that incompetent guard, and the courtesan singer. If Chongyun can't be saved, all these people will have to accompany him in death!"

  The Grand Preceptor Dou Huaizhen said beside him: "This matter is highly suspicious of Gao Lishi, should we ask the Emperor to arrest him?"

  Taiping Princess said, "This matter doesn't need you to speak, I will personally tell my imperial brother and make a statement. Gao Lishi must die! Also, issue an order to all the government offices to fully investigate and capture the murderer, don't let anyone related to this case go... Wu Yuji, whether or not you are an accomplice of the murderer has yet to be investigated, if you can cure Zhongxun, I can spare your whole family."

  Yuwen Ji said expressionlessly: "If he can't be cured, then there's no need for you to take action."

  Just then, someone came in and reported: "Your Highness, there is a man outside the gate who wants to see you. He claims to be Li Xuan-yi."

  "Master?" Yuwen Ji's face suddenly showed a glimmer of hope. The imperial physicians also exclaimed: "Li Gui Shou has come out of the mountain, if it is really Li Gui Shou, then Xue Lang's life will have great hope."

  Princess Taiping had never heard of Li Kui's skill, and was somewhat astonished. An imperial physician said: "Li Kui is a master of his craft in this world, with no place inaccessible to him, even the dead can be revived! Twenty years ago he served as an official at Tai Chang Temple, but only for a few months before leaving without notice, and there has been no news of him since."

  "Let's go out and take a look."

  A group of people walked to the gate of Weiguo Gong, and when the gatekeeper saw Princess Taiping, his hands trembled as he opened the door. The gate swung open, but outside stood only an old man wearing a worn-out hemp robe, with clothes that were tattered and patched up, yet extremely clean. His hair was all white, but his clear face had a healthy rosy complexion, and just looking at him revealed a hint of an ethereal aura.

  "Master!" Yuwen Ji shouted and rushed over.

  Many people did not know what Li Gui Shou looked like, but Yu Wen Ji was his apprentice, and the apprentice naturally recognized his master. So when everyone confirmed that this person was indeed Li Gui Shou, their emotions were somewhat excited. They crowded together, stretching their necks to catch a glimpse of him with reverence, especially those imperial physicians who admired Li Gui Shou greatly.

  Yuwen Ji knelt down in front of Li Gui's face and sobbed: "Master, please save Xue Lang."

  Li Gui made a supporting gesture with his hand and said calmly: "I came to visit you today, precisely because of your matter."

  Princess Taiping stepped forward and said to Li Kui, "As long as you can save my son's life, I will not hesitate to offer high official positions and rich rewards."

  "Haha……" Li Gui suddenly burst out laughing and shook his head, saying, "No need for high positions or wealth, I'm a lazy old man by nature and can't enjoy it. However, since your family has money, my price is fair, ten taels of gold, no cheating the young or the old."

  "A hundred thousand taels of gold." said Princess Taiping, "Chongzhen's life is worth more than a hundred thousand taels of gold."

  "Just ten taels, how can I move a hundred thousand taels? Where should I put it?" Li Gui smiled and said, "Let me take a look at the injured first?"

  "Li Gui Shou Tian Shi... After you've finished your official business, can you spare some guidance for a junior like me?" "Immortal, the silver needle you used, could I have one? Just one will do." As Li Xuan Yi walked to the door, he was almost surrounded and couldn't move.

  Li Xuan-yi smiled and said, "Everything is just a name. If you were to resign from your position at the Imperial Hospital now and live in seclusion for twenty years, who knows, maybe people would also praise you... Excuse me, excuse me, I'll go take a look at the injured person first."

  Everyone followed Li Xuan-yi to Xue Chong-xun's room. Without looking at Xue Chong-xun, he first asked someone for the clothes he had worn and took a look at the murder weapon, saying: "That small piece of cloth must be taken out as soon as possible, otherwise it will fester and rot after a few days, and even a god cannot save him."

  "Yes, we also think so. However, in the chest and abdomen, which are the locations of the five internal organs, how can such a small foreign object be removed by surgery?"

  Li Xuanyi made a fist at Princess Taiping and said: "I'd like to take the wounded away, if they recover, I'll return them to Your Highness, if not, this old man can still run."

  Everyone was shocked.