Chapter 112 - Jiang Ying Yue (8)

His high accomplishment in martial arts enabled him to land safely at the bottom of the cliff. Jiang Li only got some superficial wounds. So although he wouldn't really bat an eye even if one of his arms got broken, since he was fine, he had no problem appreciating that his search for the villainess wouldn't be hampered down by any injury. 

While catching his breath and dusting his clothes off, he swept his gaze around, finding a place full of grasses and other kinds of vegetation.

His eyes went up to where he came from and observed that it was no more than six meters high. The slope was actually quite gentle and with only few rocks along with it. He reckoned this was the plot's way of ensuring the fall wouldn't claim Jiang Ying Yue's life. After all, she would have a very important role in the future - to create troubles for the leads which would push them cultivate feelings for each other. 

'She's not here again.' That irritating phrase was probably said by him more than five times today already. 

With an ever-present frown on his face, he began to track the woman. This time, the job became a lot easier due to the Original's experience and the traces on the plants and grounds. He was simply very thankful that Lu Ling, the one who provided him this body, was bonafide soldier and had been several times in the wild before. 

A little more than five minutes later, he finally arrived in front of a cave-dwelling. The tall trees, small stream a dozen meters to its west, and the small hill next to it corresponded to what he saw in the memory. 

It was the witch's hideout. But he didn't immediately enter because at almost the same he got there, another person appeared in his field of vision, talking to an old lady there at the entrance.

It was somebody no one would expect to see at this almost god-forsaken place.

This person's appearanced force Jiang Li to admit admiration for the plot. 

The unknown talk between those two people lasted for almost an hour. For that long too, Jiang Li remained crouching there, watching those two discuss something with serious expressions on their faces. When boredom got into him, he started wondering just how incompetent the soldiers were to not find this place even after so long. Dissatisfaction washed over him so after moving on from the issue with the soldiers, he came up with hypotheses why that person appeared here. 

Only when the young man finally left did Jiang Li emerged from the bushes where he was hiding. He then hurriedly walked towards the cave's entrance. 

She was about to go back inside the cave. But after hearing the sudden sounds of footsteps coming behind her, the old lady oddly dressed like a normal city grandma turned around while saying with a hint of a smile on her lips. "Heng, child, I hear you going back. Did you forget to say something to me?"

She must have probably thought the footsteps were from the male lead who just left. When she turned her head, the dumbfounded look she put on was quite great, especially after finding an unfamiliar, tall, and dignified man in his mid-twenties appearing behind her. It was bot the refined prince that she was expecting.

Her expression instantly changed. "Who are you?!"

The old witch brandished her wooden staff at him, hostility spilling from those eyes which were still holding warmth and affection a couple of seconds ago.

Jiang Li ignored the aged lady and flickered beside the woman lying on top of a stone bed unconscious. The sight of blood and uncleaned wound on her forehead stunned him, making him hold his breath for a full thirty seconds.

In this moment of rare nostalgia and being at a loss that he was resenting the fact that this woman looked exactly like 'her'. It simply raised his mission difficulty by a few notches. He couldn't help feeling confused and torn, fully aware that he only hated seeing Jiang Ying Yue hurt due to seeing Na Yu in her.

Just when his mind was being plagued by countless maybes and what ifs, the aged woman's angry shout rang in the dim cave, knocking him out of his dazed state. 

"I asked you, who are you?" 

He withdrew his gaze from the villainess and glanced at the old woman. The rare tenderness and confusion in his eyes vanished, replaced by endless frost that also manifested in his voice. After sizing the witch up and remembering how she reacted before seeing him, he narrowed his eyes.

"I clearly heard you affectionately calling Hai Wang by his first name as if he's your grandson. The way you dress is very updated to the trend. It means you've just recently been to the city. I am more well-known than the two-faced man earlier. How come you don't recognize me?"

The old lady's pupil dilated after she examined the young man before her.

Young, with royal bearing, wearing red combat attire and has a military man's aloof disposition.

"You're Your Highness Lu Ling, the current Chen Wang?'

The old lady had been taken aback by his indifferent nod, brain short-circuiting at thinking why someone like him was here. Was his soldiers also with her?

It didn't take long for several rodent creatures to appear from the shadows confirming her guess. Damn. This kid did bring an army!

"I'll now carry her back."

"What? The young lady is injured and need to get some immediate treatment!"

"She's only wounded on the forehead. My residence has many doctors greater than you. They'll be able to treat her."

The old lady wanted to protest when the man suddenly scoop up the young lady from the stone bed there.

But her words got stuck in her throat when he looked at her indifferently, like she was already dead in his eyes, and added, "Come with us. I know you have an amusing art. I want you to come back to the city with us and teach me and this girl of that. Don't play tricks. You seem pretty close to that Chen Heng. If you don't come with us, I will have no choice but call my whole army to flatten this mountain  down or the Hai Wang estate. What do you say?"

"...", 'Even if you're a first-rank prince, I'm sure you can't summon your army inside the capital lest it alarms His Majesty.'

The old witch interchangeably looked at Chen Wang and the little lady in his arms who almost became her guinea pig. There was regret in her heart as she followed him outside. When they got to where small number of soldiers congregated near a huge carriage on the upper ground, this feeling of regret became stronger.

The old hag thought, had she known Chen Wang only brought so little people, she would have just fought him in the cave. What was with his eyes that caused her to feel frightened and think that he would really be insane and burn down a whole mountain?