Sudden Attack and Fall?

The group of bandit made way for a tall and bigger built man hidden in the middle. He walked arrogantly towards Xie De. He was wearing a hawk feathered headband, holding onto a large three ringed sabre. At first glance, anyone would be able to guess that he was the leader. He pointed his sword at Xie De. Wen Wan happened to have peeked out the window once again and caught the attention of the leader who smiled at her vulgarly. She felt disgusted and quickly pulled the curtain down. "Leave the money and the carriage and I'll let you free," he wildly demanded with a rude tone, pointing straight at Wen Wan's carriage.

The empress was the only one who did not panic. The three consorts were on the verge of crying. Maybe this was why she was the Empress. She could act fearless under such dangerous conditions. Truth was, she had full faith in Qin Xie De. She had seen him in combat before; she fully trusted that he would be able to take care of these small bandits.

"It's your luck to have run into me. I have been gathering information on you lately. Now that you have brought yourself to me, I don't mind sending you to your death," Xie De countered with a haughty and proud air.

"Hahaha….no one has been able to catch me in the last few months. What makes you think I will be afraid of a tiny man like you? Men, ATTACK!" the leader raised his sword and charged forward. The 12 guards that Qin Xie De had brought along pulled out their own swords and charged towards the bandits. There were 12 of them and 16 carriage carriers. It was a disadvantage for Xie De's men. Most of the carriers did not know how to fight well. The carriers wanted to escape but knew the consequences. Even if they were outnumbered, they knew they had to protect the carriages. The lives in the carriages were far more important than their whole family. They had no choice but to form a huge circle around the carriages. They bravely fought the men full on.

"Xiaojie, what should we do?" Da Ying felt her body slowly give up on her. She already figured out what kind of drugs was used, it wasn't lethal. It was a really strong sleeping powder. Whatever Consort Yao wanted to scheme consisted of her being unconscious. If it wasn't for her inner energy, she would have passed out already. "We can't make a move. We will have to watch and see how it plays out,"

Xie De avoided the bandit leader's sword aimed at his face. He gripped the handle of his sword tightly and counter attacked. The clink and clanks of metal hitting each other could be heard from a far. Xie De jumped off his horse and charged forward, forcing the man to take a few steps back. After exchanging a few hits, in the corner of Xie De's eyes, he could see that his men were losing. Without hesitation, he made a full turn; round kicked the leader in the chest and charged forward to the carriages. The leader didn't have a chance to react as the power of the kick sent him a few feet away.

Qin Xie De pulled out two daggers from within his belt and threw them at two bandits, hitting them straight behind the neck. As the bandits all charged towards him at once, he kicked the closest man and used the tension to jump high into the air. Within minutes, he had successfully slashed the rest, as they fell to the ground lifeless. If he wasn't drugged, he would have already killed them all minutes earlier. Empress Mei Wu who witnessed all of this smirked. She had no doubt about his skills. This was the one man she knew she could count on.

Empress Mei Wu was not the only one watching, Da Ying had secretly watched too. To her surprise, he was far superior to her when it came to fighting. She was sure she could beat the bandits single-handedly but not in the record that Xie De did. His swordsmanship was truly too powerful. If her four personal guards ganged up and attacked him, she wasn't sure they would be able to beat him.

The last man standing was the bandit leader. He stood frozen on the spot when Qin Xie De walked over to him, with his sword in one hand, dripping with the blood of his men. The man was shaking with fear. This was the first time he had encountered such a monster. Even if he wanted to escape, he knew he could not escape Xie De. Without a choice, he held tightly onto his saber with both hands and raised it up. "I won't let you go, you bastard!" the man yelled loudly, charging forward. Xie De didn't make a move; he simply moved his left foot one step over and swiftly dodged the attack.

In the midst of the fight, Consort Yao made eye contact with one of the surviving carriers who had been attending to Da Ying. When he caught her signal, he nodded in secret. When no one was looking, he pulled out a small needle that had a black foreign substance on it. He held onto the horse strapped to Da Ying's carriage and injected the needle into the horse. The horse neighed loudly, but was quickly suppressed by him. No one had paid attention to the horse as they were all too immersed in Xie De's battle. Da Ying who was trying hard to stay awake barely heard it, but it didn't go past Bai Zhi's ears. She opened the curtain and gave the man a stern look, "What's wrong with the horse?"

"Nothing, it just got excited for a moment. I have already suppressed it. Tell her highness that everything is fine," he assured her. Bai Zhi didn't find anything strange, so she put the curtain down and continued to take care of Da Ying.

While fighting the bandit leader, Xie De felt his body slow down. He himself knew he had been drugged. His inner energy was enough to get to the temple first, this he was confident in but...he did not plan for this attack. The sudden attack forced him to exert more energy. The bandit leader saw the pale Xie De with his bead sweating forehead and smiled arrogantly. He made a final charge towards Xie De. His sword rose up high and with all his strength, pulled the sword down diagonally. Xie De didn't dodge the full blade in time because he heard Da Ying's horse go wild. It was neighing and whickering like a mad horse, shaking it's body madly. The carrier who stuck the needle in the horse let go of the rein and the horse ran wild, heading straight towards the cliff. "Xiaojie, what should we do?" Da Ying wanted to jump out of the carriage but her body could barely move. She looked at Bai Zhi, "Jump off first, I'll be alright. Send a signal, have Ban Shiang send the accounting book over to Sheriff Wu Tan. I'll be back before he gets tried,"

"Xiaojie…I can't leave you…" Bai Zhi panicked. She could have pulled her Xiaojie with her out of the cart, why didn't she go? Bai Zhi didn't understand her.

"Are you disobeying me? We don't have time. Jump!"

"Take care," Bai Zhi jumped out of the carriage.

Xie De who witnessed the horse go wild got distracted. His right arm got slashed by the bandit's saber. He summoned all his energy and with one quick blow, pierced the bandit leader in the heart. He let go of the sword handle and ran towards the wild horse. The horse was right there, within reach yet he couldn't grab onto it in time. He gritted his teeth and used what little energy he had left and barely grabbed onto the rein of the horse. He didn't get a chance to calm the horse down when they already reached the cliff. Next moment, the carriage fell, Xie De followed. "Xie De'gege!" Wen Wan, Ying Me and Yue Li all screamed, hastily running out of their carriage to see. The empress and consorts followed behind closely. "Send people to search,"

The sun was beginning to set when Da Ying became conscious. She was lying in the arms of the unconscious Xie De. When they were falling, he had climbed in through the window, grabbed her and pulled her inside his chest, wrapping his arms tightly around her body. Da Ying had fainted in the middle of falling so she had no recollection of how they survived but…the fact that they didn't die from the fall meant that Qin Xie De must have reduced the fall with his powers. That was the most she could get from the situation. Da Ying didn't get a chance to assess the situation that Consort Yao put her in. She used much of her energy to sit in a kneeling position and take a look at Qin Xie De. His arm was bleeding from the attack earlier and now there were cuts and wounds from the fall. She placed her finger near his nostril and checked for breathing. She sighed in relief, he was breathing. "Qin Xie De! Qin Xie De, wake up," she tried to call him several times…no response. Seeing how hopeless the situation was, she looked at her surroundings. They were at the bottom of the mountain; only thing was trees and vegetation. Da Ying looked at Xie De hopelessly. She didn't even know if she would survive, but now she had to care for someone who was in a worse condition than her? No matter how much she wanted to abandon her, her heart did not feel at ease. "Qin Xie De, I don't know why you saved me but seeing that you did, I'll save you. We will be even after this," With much effort, Da Ying managed to place him on her back and slowly walk to find shelter. He was much taller than her, his feet were dragging on the ground. Da Ying's forehead was filled with sweat. She had been wandering for a long time yet she could not find shelter. Just as she was about to give up, she spotted a cave on the bottom of the mountain. "Xie De, we'll make it," she turned her head to him and jumped joyfully.