Tong Shuxue did not want to concern herself with whatever grudges the people outside had between them. At the moment, her side still appeared to be safe for the time being.
The entrance to the cave was concealed by vines. Presumably, those people did not know about it. Otherwise, they would have already searched their way into the valley.
“Continue monitoring them. As long as they don’t enter our valley, there’s no need to bother with them for now.”
As Tong Shuxue spoke, she brought the other six robots out of the dimensional space as well. If a fight really broke out, then naturally she wanted their combat strength at full capacity.
Outside the valley, Zhao Jingyuan’s people were being cornered on the slope near the cave entrance.
Mo Shen and the others wanted to escort Zhao Jingyuan deeper into the mountain range and force a breakthrough, but unfortunately, the enemy forces were gathering far too quickly.
Out of the more than two hundred people beside Zhao Jingyuan, only one hundred belonged to the Xuanjia Army. The remaining hundred or so consisted of elite soldiers he had brought from the Northern Frontier, as well as Secret Guards from his elder brother, the Wise Prince’s residence.
These people were evenly matched against the Feiyu Army, while accompanying the Feiyu Army in the mountain search and encirclement were the Tieying Guards, every one of whom possessed formidable combat strength.
The situation was extremely unfavorable for Zhao Jingyuan. Coupled with the fact that his injuries had not received proper treatment, there was absolutely no chance of escaping now.
Forcing himself to remain conscious, Zhao Jingyuan gave instructions to Mo Shen, who stood protectively in front of him.
“Mo Shen, take the brothers and break through. This prince is dying anyway. Let them take me if they want. I’ll leave my elder brother and Imperial Mother Consort in your hands.”
Mo Shen’s eyes reddened. To him, his master was the only person he had ever sworn loyalty to. How could he stand by and watch his master fall into despair again?
“Master, your subordinate and the brothers will definitely escort you out. You cannot give up.”
Zhao Jingyuan closed his eyes briefly and was just about to speak again when one of the Xuanjia soldiers fighting under siege was kicked away. His body slammed into the mountain wall not far away.
Coincidentally, he crashed directly into the entrance leading into the valley.
The Xuanjia soldier suddenly felt empty space behind him. Overjoyed, he shouted toward Zhao Jingyuan’s side.
“Your Highness! Commander Mo! Over here!”
The cave entrance was not large, but once inside the cave, it would become a place easy to defend and difficult to attack. If there happened to be another exit within the cave, they might truly gain a slim chance of survival.
Mo Shen followed the sound and looked over. The vines had been knocked aside, revealing part of the cave entrance. Joy immediately surged within him, and he hurriedly ordered the people beside him to carry Zhao Jingyuan as they rushed toward the cave.
Meanwhile, Ling Yi was reporting the battle situation outside the valley to Tong Shuxue in real time. Although they did not know which side the dead belonged to, they knew exactly how many had died.
“Major General, the cave entrance has been discovered. People have already entered the cave.”
Tong Shuxue sighed softly.
“Let them come in first. We’ll see what happens after that.”
The cave passage was only around fifty to sixty meters long. Soon enough, she would know what kind of people had intruded into her hidden paradise.
Mo Shen and Zhao Jingyuan were also greatly surprised. They had never expected there to be people inside the cave, much less familiar faces.
Tong Shuxue had not changed into the ancient clothing purchased by Ling Yi and the others, mainly because ancient robes were nowhere near as comfortable as her camouflage uniform.
Among the ten robots, only Ling Yi and Ling Er had changed into local attire. Since Tong Shuxue had not instructed the others to wear ancient clothing, the remaining robots had not changed either.
When Mo Shen had rescued Zhao Jingyuan previously, he had only seen five strangely dressed men beside this young woman. Now there were ten, and judging from their appearance, every one of them looked extremely formidable.
At this moment, they were caught in a dilemma.
Outside were enemies. Going back out would mean certain death.
As for the people inside, at the very least they were not the Emperor’s people. Otherwise, during their first encounter, Zhao Jingyuan’s group would never have escaped.
Mo Shen was stunned for only a moment before immediately reacting.
A few steps away from Tong Shuxue, he dropped to both knees and kowtowed heavily.
“My name is Mo Shen. I beg this young lady to lend aid to my master.”
The moment she saw Zhao Jingyuan, Tong Shuxue guessed that one of the groups outside consisted of the same people who had previously hunted her down.
At present, this War King posed no threat to her. However, once the group that had pursued her charged into the cave, she would inevitably become involved anyway.
She turned toward her robots and gave her orders.
“Ling Yi and Ling Er stay behind. The other eight will leave the cave and eliminate the enemy. This time, try not to let anyone escape. Otherwise, we won’t be able to stay in this place much longer.”
The robots obeyed immediately and headed toward the cave entrance.
Tong Shuxue then looked at Mo Shen.
“You’re called Mo Shen, right? Go outside and direct your people. Otherwise, my people might accidentally kill them too.”
Mo Shen hesitated slightly, but Zhao Jingyuan nodded at him.
“Go. If this young lady truly wishes to act, none of you have the ability to resist.”
After thinking it over, Mo Shen realized it made sense. He quickly followed the robots and rushed toward the cave exit.
Tong Shuxue no longer paid attention to the display screen on Ling Yi’s body. By the time Zhao Jingyuan and the others had entered, Ling Yi had already buttoned up his clothes, and the display screen on his chest had been turned off.
Zhao Jingyuan was carried by his men and placed against the cave wall.
The exit of the cave hall facing the valley was quite large, so the interior remained relatively bright. Zhao Jingyuan’s complexion clearly looked abnormal.
He had already been weak to begin with, and the rough journey just now had further drained his strength.
Only after seeing Mo Shen leave the cave hall did Zhao Jingyuan turn toward Tong Shuxue. Although he could no longer control his palms properly, he could still raise his arms.
He lifted his arm toward Tong Shuxue and performed an imperfect salute.
“Many thanks to this young lady for saving me. I am Zhao Jingyuan, the former Prince of Dingbei.”
Tong Shuxue sat in a chair she had taken out from the dimensional space. After examining Zhao Jingyuan for a moment, she finally spoke.
“Prince of Dingbei, your condition looks even worse than it did a few days ago. Out of your two hundred people, didn’t you bring even one physician?”
Zhao Jingyuan was inwardly astonished. How did this young woman know he had over two hundred men with him?
Then he reconsidered. The place where his forces had previously camped was not far from here. Perhaps this young lady’s people had secretly investigated the area.
Despite his surprise, his expression remained calm.
“My physician did not accompany this prince back to the capital. As for this prince’s current condition, ordinary physicians would probably be helpless anyway.”
Judging from Zhao Jingyuan’s complexion, he was clearly running a high fever. Beneath the pallor was an unhealthy flush of red.
For once, Tong Shuxue showed a bit of kindness. She retrieved a box of fever medicine and a box of anti-inflammatory medicine from the dimensional space and tossed them to the person guarding Zhao Jingyuan.
“Give your prince one pill from each. One reduces fever, the other treats inflammation.”
His high fever was most likely caused by untreated external injuries. Reducing the fever and inflammation was a necessary step.
The person beside Zhao Jingyuan looked rather young. After receiving the medicine, he showed it to Zhao Jingyuan.
Such Western medicine did not exist in this era, and the medicine had even appeared out of thin air in Tong Shuxue’s hands.
Zhao Jingyuan suppressed the storm raging in his heart. This woman was far too strange. Judging from both her clothing and accent, she was definitely not from the Great Yong Kingdom. Yet among all the neighboring nations he knew of, none dressed like this either.
His gaze swept over the medicine box. The packaging described the medicine’s effects. Although the writing was in simplified Chinese, the characters for “reduce fever” and “reduce inflammation” did not differ too greatly from traditional Chinese, so Zhao Jingyuan could still understand them.
He did not suspect that Tong Shuxue intended to poison him. The strength of her group was completely unfathomable to him. If she truly wanted to kill him, there would be no need to resort to medicine.
Without hesitation, he nodded in agreement.