*Bang* *Bang* *Bang*
On the outside of the entrance, Song Yue was bored after waiting for several hours.
So, she started to practice shooting fruits by keeping them on the head of a four-circle knight.
Due to his higher level, he wasn't worried about getting injured by a no-grade weapon.
Despite not showing any interest on the surface, the five-circle royal knight captain who was guarding the entrance was also watching it from the corner of his eyes.
He was curious about the strange-looking ranged weapon that was firing a tiny metal thing. What he was surprised is the speed the bullet was going.
He felt like even a five-circle warrior like him couldn't evade it if he stays in ten meters range.
Right then, he heard noises from the underground passage.
As he turned his head, he found the prince and the others returning.
"Welcome back, Your Highness." He greeted him with a bow and then, sighed in relief.
Even though he was confident that nothing can happen to the prince because of the hooded ally, he was still happy that Shang Wei returned without being harmed.
If anything happens to the prince, he was sure that the Emperor will not hesitate to take off his head.
"Captain Gao, you stay here to guard this place until General Liu returns with the army. Meanwhile, seal up the entrance and destroy these pillars. It shouldn't look any suspicious. And, don't spare anyone that dares to enter the passage. Understand?"
While the prince was busy passing the instructions, Huo Jing's hand turned to blazing red and the rope suddenly started to burn.
Quickly, the rope turned to ash and Huo Jing became free, sending everyone into alert.
"Argh…"
Huo Jing pressed his blazing hands on the two soldiers that are accompanying him from the moment he was captured and pressed on their arms where there are no protective bracers.
"Gao Meng." As the prince spoke his name, the five-circle realm warrior dashed towards the traitor who started to run after becoming free.
However, Huo Jing never intended to escape as he knew he knows very well that he couldn't escape from Gao Meng's pursuit.
He rushed towards Song Yue and grabbed her.
Gao Meng had no choice but to stop in midway.
"Song Yue" "Lady Song" "Yue Yue"
Everyone screamed her name with a panic. Even Lin Xue was the same as she knew that Song Yue was too weak to escape from the traitor's clutches.
One of his hands once again started to become blazing hot as he put it near her neck, "don't come closer if you value her life."
"How dare you?" Zhang Kong shouted in fury. "Leave your filthy hands off my woman."
"I gave you the opportunity to live but I guess you really wanted to die, don't you, Huo Jing?" The prince's face turned colder.
Song Yue was a precious person to him, someone he was friends with from his childhood. For him, she was like a sister. Taking her a hostage crossed his bottom line.
"You can't fool me by telling that you'll spare my life. If I return to the palace, the only thing that will wait for me is that dark prison. I would rather risk my death than going to that place." Grabbing her, Huo Jing continued to back off a bit by bit. "Anyone dares to try anything funny, I'll take her life. Don't come forward. Stay away."
Meanwhile, Lin Xue gripped the sheath of her sword but didn't take it out as she doesn't want to risk her best friend's life.
She was only hoping that her hidden guard would make a move and rescue Song Yue.
However, a whole minute passed, but nothing happened except for Huo Jing slowly backing away two steps while they were going forward one step.
As Song Yue knew that she couldn't get away by struggling, she too didn't resist and stayed still with her eyes fixed on her free left hand that had a pistol in it with a bullet loaded.
At the same time, she also knew that she had just one chance to escape. Song Yue decided to wait for a perfect time.
Huo Jing was slowly increasing the distance from the prince and others. All this while his hands were occupied with one was grabbing her right hand and the other was at her neck.
His attention was completely on the prince and the others. Song Yue realized that too.
After they reached the entrance of this abandoned village, Huo Jing realized that it was the perfect time to escape.
Just as his arm loosened, all of a sudden, Song Yue spun around once and her left arm appeared in his view.
His pupils constricted seeing a strange metal thing in her hand that was only a couple of centimeters away from his eye.
Song Yue pressed the trigger.
*bang*
"Argh…" Huo Jing screamed loudly in pain as his left eye started to bleed heavily.
Song Yue was released from his grip and fell onto the ground.
She hurriedly stood up on her feet and started to run towards her friends.
As soon as they saw she was freed, Gao Meng and the others dashed towards her in case he captures her again.
However, contrary to their thoughts, Huo Jing who was gravely injured in the eye started to run for his life.
Seeing Song Yue safe, the prince ordered Gao Meng to chase the culprit and capture him.
"Thank goodness, you are alright." Zhang Kong tightly hugged her as she reunited with her fiancée.
"That was some hit, Sister Yue." The prince also sighed in relief to see her okay and praised her for injuring the enemy. After all, she was only in a one-circle realm. It is indeed a brave act to even try to attempt such a feat. Much less getting succeeded in it.
Smiling brightly, she raised the pistol, "I should actually thank my guard's sacrifice. If I didn't know that the bullet can injure one's eyes, I wouldn't have dared to try shooting at him."
"Bullet?" The Prince went into a daze as he stared at the pistol.
With Zhang Kong partially blocking his view, he didn't see how she did it.
All he heard was a loud sound. So, he assumed it must be some kind of explosive made out of black powder.
As the eye is a vulnerable spot even for higher realm warriors, he thought she's really lucky to hit.
Now that he realized the weapon, its unique shape caught his eye. He became curious about it.
More than him, Lin Xue was the one who was most curious about the weapon. She pointed out, "What a strange name. Its name is just as strange as its appearance. Bullet…"
"No…" Song Yue waved her hand. "This is called pistol. The thing I fired from this is called a bullet."
"Hmm?"