Ao Jing was helped back to his room, and the physician quickly revived him.
"That bitch Bai Jinshu!"
He was nearly driven mad with rage, his eyes burning crimson with fury. Gnashing his teeth, he roared, "She's seriously injured and can't have gone far. Search for her! Even if you have to dig three feet into the ground, bring her back to me!"
The guards immediately swarmed out, launching an extensive manhunt for Bai Jinshu.
Bai Jinshu was chased to the entrance of a bamboo forest, where a massive stone tablet stood.
Carved into the tablet were eight large characters: "Entry Forbidden. Trespassers Will Die."
"Princess Consort!"
From behind, the panicked shouts of the guards echoed in the distance. "Come back! You mustn't go in!"
Bai Jinshu paid no heed, running headlong into the bamboo forest without looking back.
Since trespassers would die, they surely wouldn't dare to follow her in recklessly.
"Princess Consort!"
Sure enough, the guards stopped at the forest's entrance, not daring to take another step inside. They could only watch helplessly as Bai Jinshu's figure grew smaller and smaller in the distance.
"Captain, the princess consort has fled into the Yuxingsi Forbidden Grounds. Should we continue the pursuit?"
"Are you trying to get yourself killed? Who dares to trespass into the Yuxingsi Forbidden Grounds? Send men to block all exits. If the princess consort manages to come out alive, bring her back to the prince's manor immediately."
"Yes, sir!"
Bai Jinshu pushed herself to keep running for a long time, only stopping to collapse on the ground when she was certain no one had dared to follow her inside.
Damn it.
In her previous life, she had never been chased like this.
She caught her breath. Though drenched to the bone, a warm current enveloped her body, making the ordeal somewhat bearable.
As time passed, the pain in her body gradually subsided. After resting for a while, she stood up and continued forward.
The rain still poured heavily.
The original owner of this body had never been here either. Recalling the eight characters at the entrance—and the fact that even Prince Jing's men hadn't dared to follow her in—she wondered what dangers lay within.
Bai Jinshu remained on high alert.
After trudging through the rain for what felt like an eternity, she finally spotted a bamboo hut in the distance. She quickened her pace toward it, but suddenly, her foot slipped, and she plummeted downward.
A sudden brightness flashed before her eyes.
She had fallen into a cave.
Inside the cave, a dense white mist swirled, and faint, eerie glimmers of light pierced through the haze.
Bai Jinshu scrambled to her feet. Her soaked clothes were now caked in mud, leaving her filthy and exhausted, but she paid it no mind. As if guided by some unseen force, she walked toward the direction shrouded in mist.
After passing through the thick white fog, she suddenly sensed danger approaching. She jerked her head to the side, and her gaze abruptly met a pair of blood-red eyes.
Startled, Bai Jinshu stumbled backward several steps.
In the dim light, she saw a face that was both demonic and enchanting.
His features were exquisitely defined and profound, his brows and eyes like a painting.
Yet his skin was pale, almost translucent and as thin as a cicada's wing. Half of his face was covered with dark purple veins and bloodstains, and his thin lips were a vivid crimson, like blood. At first glance, he resembled a monstrous fiend, terrifying enough to scare someone to death.
At that moment, those chaotic, bewitching crimson eyes were fixed unwaveringly on her.
His gaze seemed to pierce through her body and into her very soul, sending an involuntary chill of fear down her spine.
Bai Jinshu's breath hitched, and her body stiffened for an instant.
"My apologies!"
Reacting quickly, she turned to flee.
Yet, for some reason, after taking only two steps, a powerful suction force pulled her back, sending her crashing straight into the man's embrace!
The man was burning hot all over, seemingly struggling to suppress something, but his body was relatively weak. With Bai Jinshu crashing into him so forcefully, the two immediately fell together.
As their breaths mingled, a strange force surged from the man into her heart, and a voice exploded in her mind.
Destiny Bond, life and death entwined!
Prosper together, suffer together!