C187 Bonfire Dinner(2)

Jing Yuan recalled the words that Gu Qingruo had said to her. Biting her lower lip, she began to ponder over Lin Lisheng's suggestion.

The bonfire illuminated half of the sky, and the pipa's intense and resounding sound rang out, followed by Hu Qin's melodious and distant voice. It was completely different from the gentle and beautiful wind and bamboo music of the palace; it contained an inexplicable ability to move one's heart.

Following them, a palace maid dressed in a narrow sleeveless dress came forward to the music, singing and dancing around the bonfire. Her dancing style was different from that of the palace dancers. It was filled with a primitive enthusiasm and tension, attracting glances from others as their blood boiled as the alcohol reached their throats.

Lin Lisheng's gaze followed the dance as it turned and gradually dimmed. He was a little puzzled. "When we left, did we have this many palace maids with us?"

Jing Yuan looked at it and answered, "She's a palace maid. She's usually not only in charge of the palace, but she also helps the hunters clean up the grasslands."

"A bunch of scouring palace maids, they are actually so skilled at dancing, not any worse than you."

Jing Yuan pouted. "Are you praising them, or do you dislike me?"

Lin Lisheng's gaze turned even deeper as he said solemnly, "Don't you think that's strange? Their movements are completely different from the gentle and beautiful movements of the palace dances, and their music also carries a bit of wildness. "

"This is the temporary residence. Although it belongs to the capital, it is still very far from the capital, okay?" Geographically, this is the border with Zhongzhou, perhaps with a stronger style. "

"Even if this is the style of the Zhongzhou dance, why do you think that this group of female court ladies with such outstanding dances should be willing to do rough labor in the palace?"

Jing Yuan said impatiently, "Brother Lin, why are you always staring at her dancing?"

Lin Liesheng suddenly strode forward and waved his arms as he said, "Western Garrison, listen up!"

The guards at the western border quickly responded in unison. Even the guards who were not on duty tonight and were surrounding the bonfire immediately stood up. They stood in a well-trained formation, and under Lin Lisheng's command, they surrounded the center of the bonfire.

Before the princes could recover from their shock, the situation took a turn for the worse. The group of gigolo dancers and musicians took out their bright short blades from under their skirts and pounced on them!

Jingyuan was so shocked that he fell into a daze. As he rushed forward, he called out to the princess.

No one was allowed to carry weapons at the bonfire party, other than the guards on duty, most of them were unarmed, and this group of female palace maids who performed the dancing were surprisingly powerful. Seeing the guards fall one after the other, blood and flames shot up into the sky together, and arrows painted with resin shot out of nowhere.

The four princes carried a weapon with them, and they weren't weak either. Gu Qingruo's beautiful face had already turned pale, and her entire body was trembling as she pulled Princess Lan Xun to the back to hide.

When Princess Lan Xun saw such a chaotic and bloody change, she was not the least bit shocked or fearful. With a swish, she lashed out with her long whip and charged forward. She did have some skill, and even though she was flogged by the whip, she did not seem to be at a disadvantage at all.

He couldn't even squeeze himself into the fray, so he had no choice but to retreat. His gaze, however, had been following the princess from beginning to end in anxiety, and he had unintentionally discovered that Gu Qingluo was moving in and out of the crowd, gradually moving out of the battle.

Gu Qingruo was a delicate lady from a noble family. Because of her lithe figure and good flexibility from childhood, she avoided the crowd and the frontal assault. She stamped her feet as she muttered vexedly, her eyes filled with fear and anger.

Jingyuan had always had a good impression of Gu Qingruo, so he felt protective towards her. He walked over from the shadows and patted her lightly on the shoulder. "Princess Mu …"

Gu Qingruo was startled and pushed out with her hand. Fear filled her eyes, as if she was afraid.

Jing Yuan was also startled by her sudden shock and attack. She quickly retreated, dodging the push, and instinctively twisted Gu Qingruo's arm behind her, reminding her of her actions, "Princess Mu, it's a servant, Jing Yuan!" With that, she quickly let go of Jing Yuan and hurriedly said, "Princess Mu, it's a servant!"

Gu Qingruo was scared out of her wits. She stared at the starlight and the firelight for a while before her body went limp. She fell and sat on the grass.

Jing Yuan didn't think that this Princess Mu would be so weak and useless. She frowned and squatted beside her, saying, "You don't have to be afraid. We're outside of the attack range."

Gu Qingruo calmed herself down and looked left and right. After confirming that the location should be safe, she patted her chest and glared fiercely at Jingyuan. "You slave girl, you scared this wangfei to death!"

Jingyuan was stunned. Although her status had changed from a princess to a palace maid, Gu Qingruo's gentle words from before, like a lady from a noble family, had completely disappeared. The gaze she used to look at her was filled with undisguised disdain and disdain.

Gu Qingruo didn't notice Jingyuan's change in mood. She nervously stared at everyone in the battle, shifting her gaze from Xiao Yimo to Gu Qingli, standing there motionlessly.

Jing Yuan looked around in bewilderment. She couldn't see any concern in Gu Qing Ruo's tense expression, but it was strange and hard to describe.

Gu Qingli attacked with her empty palm, but she didn't take the initiative to attack. She mostly dodged and occasionally counterattacked with close range attacks. Most of the time, she just stood in front of Xiao Yi as if she was protecting him.

At the first incident, Gu Qingli suddenly stood up and stopped the two dancers who had been recently attacked. No one paid attention to what she was doing, they only saw the two women rolling around on the ground, the sounds of fighting mixed with their wails and wails, as though they were in extreme pain. Gu Qingli ignored them and listened attentively to everything that was happening around them.

As for Xiao Yixiu, he calmly sat in his own seat. He neither dodged nor retaliated against any attacks, as if he was extremely weak. Strangely, no one was able to attack within three feet of him. He remained cold and quiet as he sat with his hands under his sleeves. If one looked carefully, they would feel the wind around his sleeves move, as if he was changing his hands occasionally.

His vision and hearing did not miss a single movement within a radius of several dozen meters. The battle between every pair was well within his chest, and according to his calculations, if there were no accidents, the assassination should end within an hour. The other party's archers had already been ambushed in the distance, and the pine resin fire arrows could only occasionally shoot over.

If the number of these fire arrows was astonishing, the damage would be far greater than that of those Hu Pai dancers and musicians. Not only were the pine resin and sulfur on the arrows burning intensely, they would also occasionally explode in midair.

However, it was strange. Ever since the Fire Arrow had shot out, apart from the dense rain of fire at the very beginning, everything else had been scattered. Soon, the movements of the hidden archer had become smaller and smaller, and the scattered fire arrows were no longer a threat.

As for the people around the bonfire, because of Lin Lisheng's alertness, they had taken the initiative to gain the upper hand.