abcnovels
Chapter 231
Chapter 231
Devoted (1)
Ye Mu’s heart was moved. Afterwards, Mo Linyuan secured his hold of her, “Hold on tight, there’s a cliff ahead!”
Heeding the warning, Ye Mu quickly clung to Mo Linyuan closely. Immediately, the horse whined loudly as it leaped forward. They then traveled three meters into the abyss before rushing out of the thick forest.
The horse they were riding was already considered a fast premium breed, and with that paired with Mo Linyuan’s exceptional horsemanship, they easily traveled the long distance. Evidently, not long after they arrived, a couple of men in black appeared around them, but Mo Linyuan effortlessly avoided them. The men in black could only watch as the couple fled.
Ye Mu glanced at the ambushers behind them and lightly chuckled, “Is this game still going on?”
“Of course, it’s not over yet!” Mo Linyuan engaged his bow and shot an arrow. Provoked, the assassins charged forward to attack. The unnerving sounds of misery and blood splatters soon followed! Ye Mu tilted her head to look at Mo Linyuan’s frigidly calm demeanor. Unconsciously, he already turned into a monarch worthy of the total devotion from his followers. He was a high-spirited, master strategist. Just like the emperor in the book, no matter what the situation held, he still possessed a graceful charm!
An hour later, in the dead of night, everyone returned to the campsite, covered in blood.
Mo Linyuan waved an arm to set off three fireworks into the air, officially announcing the end of the night hunting event. Seeing the signal, those who entered the forests knew that they were now permitted to return.
For safety measures, Mo Linyuan first took Ye Mu out of the forest to clean themselves with the lake water. They then slowly made their way back. During that time, a small group of a little over 40 officials waited in dread. They were the only few among the initial 300 officials who returned from the hunt.
All 40 people were pale with fright, not knowing what exactly happened in the forest. Each and every one of them resembled a traumatized bird as they stood there, surrounded by a wall of imperial guards.
Mo Linyuan brought Ye Mu with him to sit down first. Afterwards, he signaled for everyone else to sit as well. However, they remained standing, their legs trembling uncontrollably.
Quite a few people were drenched in blood. It seemed like these civilians had never in their life experienced anything like what they just witnessed. After a while, they noticed that tons of people haven’t returned. Upon pondering, the survivors were overwhelmed by extreme fear after realizing that those people were probably all dead!
“Why aren’t any of you sitting down?” questioned Mo Linyuan. He was wearing his gold crown, his handsome face was illuminated by the fire as it faded in and out of the darkness.
His words echoed in the empty space around him. The people started to tremble downwards, before crashing down onto their knees.
Tall upon the dragon throne, the young teenager gazed down with a smile, “What’s wrong? Didn’t I already say so before?”
He lightly tapped the arm of his chair, “Tonight there is no monarchy, so why are you all being so courteous?”
The people who were kneeling down below shivered silently. On this early autumn night, a piercing chill came through the woods and the nearby spears emitted a cold light.
At that time, another group of people returned. This group contained around ten people, all of whom were highly loyal to Mo Linyuan. They had imperial guards escorting them back. Although they had an unsightly complexion, no one was injured.
After they arrived, they saw the others who knelt on the ground in silence. Under Mo Linyuan’s suggestion, they all quietly took a seat.
Seeing the other group’s entry, how could they still not comprehend what had occured? It would seem that Mo Linyuan already prepared for the blood cleansing of the court early on. The group who returned safely was his way of warning others!
Mo Linyuan wanted to inform them of their fate: those who followed him were safe while those who misbehaved were destined to die.
Realizing this, an unexpected weeping individual could be heard among the 40 people on the ground.
The crying man was in his fifties. The tears he wept were unhindered old tears* that would bring sorrow to anyone that heard it.
(T/N*: Original ???? = “unhindered old tears” also means “crying profusely”, but ? = “old” also refers to his old age. A little double entendre.)