Chapter 441: The Recklessness Beneath the Dan Liang Royal City (Part 1)

Chapter 441: The Recklessness Beneath the Dan Liang Royal City (Part 1)

Each spring rain brings a touch of warmth.

The spring rain descended in the middle of the night, and by the next morning, it was still drizzling as it had been the previous evening.

The spring breeze, carrying a damp freshness, made the spring atmosphere even stronger. The spring rain brushed against fair faces, warm and soothing.

Outside the Dan Liang royal city, in a pavilion ten miles away, a pair of striking figures stood side by side. The maiden, dressed in red again, extended her slender and pale hand, enjoying the sensation of the fine rain brushing over her. The raindrops trickled softly into her palm, leaving behind tiny, crystal-clear droplets that gradually gathered in her hand.

"Ah Xiao, are you ready to take back what belongs to you? Are you ready to return to that dark place ten miles away that imprisoned you for six years?"

Two questions.

Su Rao glanced at the person beside her. He was still in his black robes, but the heavy cloak he wore had been replaced by a spring cloak, a profound, enigmatic black.

"Are you willing to let Rao Rao heal your soul?"

Another question, Su Rao asked Han Mochen one last time, giving him one final chance. Would he leave, or was he truly willing to stay by her side, entrusting everything to her, letting her handle it all?

The slender fingers that had been clasped behind his back slightly curled up after Su Rao's question, as though hesitating.

After a moment, he extended his hand, letting the spring rain fall into his palm, the fine drizzle quickly gathering.

His body was cold, his heart filled with bloodlust, so the spring rain he felt was also cold. But when those delicate, rain-drenched hands grasped his jade fingers, also wet from the rain, he felt a warmth flood his heart.

Turning his head, his slender phoenix eyes locked onto the maiden in red.

She looked at him, her gaze sincere and genuine.

His heart stirred again, uncontrollably.

She was Rao Rao, the one he treated specially even when he had forgotten everything. Compared to the burning hatred he had always harbored, he should care more about Rao Rao. That place ten miles away was a hell that devoured people. He wanted to stay by Rao Rao's side, to personally protect her, to guard her.

"Although Rao Rao doesn't need my protection, I fear... I fear that Rao Rao might get hurt, that Rao Rao might disappear again, and that I might lose her once more."

The icy coldness in his phoenix eyes was completely gone, and there was no trace of deep affection. This was just Han Mochen's instinctive feeling, something he didn't fully understand yet. He simply wanted to protect his Rao Rao.

Her cherry lips curved into a radiant smile, her peach blossom eyes sparkling with radiant brilliance. Su Rao retrieved the silver-black mask that belonged to Han Mochen from Yun Ling and personally placed it on him. She then stood on her tiptoes to adjust his cloak, making Han Mochen look just as he had when they first met on that stormy night.

Hidden beneath the cloak and mask, he was enigmatic and unfathomable, impossible for anyone to see through.

"When we enter the royal city, set foot in the Rong Palace, and stand before those demons, Rao Rao will personally banish this darkness for Ah Xiao. I want Ah Xiao to step out of this darkness, to accompany me for the rest of my life."

The silver-black mask concealed Han Mochen's stunningly beautiful face, highlighting his phoenix eyes even more. Without the aura of killing, they appeared all the more mesmerizing.

Stepping out of the darkness had always been Yun Ji's desire, something Han Mochen found utterly ridiculous.

A soul trapped in hell, yet yearning to return to the human world, living under the sun—it was nothing but a delusion.

But now, when Su Rao spoke of this desire with such determination, telling him she wanted him to accompany her for the rest of her life, to soothe the darkness in his heart, Han Mochen felt his heart racing again. This feeling was suffocating, yet he couldn't help but crave it. For this, he seemed willing to let himself go, to choose to sink into it.

Suddenly, another gust of wind blew, swaying the branches of the trees outside the pavilion. The fine rain fell on the newly sprouted green buds, nourishing them to grow strong.

It also gently swept aside a lock of hair from both of their heads, brushing against their faces, softening the scene in the pavilion.

Jade fingers reached out, gently sweeping aside a lock of hair from Su Rao's face, then moved past her shoulder to pull her into an embrace.

First time strangers, second time friends, no longer that greenhorn lad.

Han Mochen pulled Su Rao into his arms, pressing his face, hidden behind a silver-black mask, into the curve of her neck. After a moment, he murmured softly:

"If this is what Rao Rao desires, Ah Xiao will give it a shot for her..."

The wooden carriage was swapped for two snow-white horses, which raced out of the ten-mile pavilion once the spring rain stopped.

Tagging along were the dazzling siblings.

Yun Ling and Yun Feng of the Cloud Guard would join Xiao Mubai later to enter Dan Liang's capital, meeting up with others from the Freedom Pavilion and staying out of sight.

After all, Yun Ling and Yun Feng, as Prince Yun Ji's guards, couldn't openly trail Su Rao.

Especially Yun Ling and Yun Feng, who'd been at Prince Yun Ji's side for years—their presence with Su Rao would clearly hint that Prince Yun Ji was close to the princess of the former dynasty.

Given how suspicious the Dan Liang royals were, they might question Prince Yun Ji's identity and figure out that Rong Xiao was still alive. After all, Prince Yun Ji was the heir of the Cloud King's mansion and a cousin to Rong Xiao. It wasn't yet the time for them to know that Rong Xiao was still alive.

As for Xiao Mubai, still a wanted fugitive in Dan Liang, he couldn't show his face in public.

The snow-white horses raced down the mountain roads, kicking up spring mud from the rain, and soon vanished.

By the time the four of them showed up again, it was midday.

The sun blazed overhead, drying up the dampness from the spring rain. Golden sunlight poured down, cutting through the lingering moisture, bathing the white city walls in a golden hue, especially lighting up the words 'Liang Jing' on the gate tower.

Dan Liang's capital, Liang Jing.

At the city gate, guards stood at attention with long spears, sharp-eyed and thorough, scrutinizing everyone who passed.

Such tight security...

First, the Xiao family had been accused of treason—their head conspiring with a court official to rebel, a plot quickly uncovered by the Dan Liang royals. The Xiao family and the official were arrested, preventing a major crisis in the capital. But the Xiao family head got away, and until he was caught, the capital stayed on high alert.

Second, there was Su Rao, the infamous and scandalous daughter of Yunlang's Su family.

Though the chaos stirred up by Dan Liang's people had died down after the royals invited Princess Yunlang to stay at the posthouse, and the makeshift setups were taken down, it didn't mean the people had let go of their suspicions.

Even without tables at the gate, a few idle folks still showed up daily to keep a sharp eye out.

"Is... is that woman in red heading for the gate the notorious Su family daughter from Yunlang?"

When the figure of the red-clad woman riding a horse appeared within sight of the Dan Liang capital's city gate, a sudden shout erupted.

The orderly gate scene was thrown into chaos by the sudden shout.

The Su family's infamous daughter, always in red and marked by the scar on her forehead, was known far and wide across the Three Kingdoms.

Always dressed in striking red, bold and unrestrained.

When they spotted the ugly scar on Su Rao's forehead, confirming she was the infamous Su family daughter from Yunlang, they all froze in horror, eyes locked on her, bodies taut as bowstrings.

Suddenly...