In the forest clearing, everyone focused on the galloping people and didn’t notice the direction from behind.

Long Yue rode a pony over, also from the side, but she happened to see a few dark shadows flashing in the distance.

These shadows moved quickly and vanished in an instant, but she still caught the small crossbow in their hands.

The crossbow was only about a foot long, and it looked very delicate, but Long Yue knew that such a crossbow was the most lethal because it was highly mobile and very powerful!

Just as she saw the other, the person fired the crossbow, "whoosh," and an arrow shot quickly toward Li Qingmu!

The angle of the arrow was very tricky, with no obstacles along the way, and the speed was astonishingly fast. By the time everyone heard Long Yue’s voice, the arrow had already approached right in front of Li Qingmu!

Fortunately, Li Qingmu’s reaction time was always quick. When he heard the swishing sound behind his ear, he instinctively leaned down.

"Buzz——"

The arrow flew over his head and was nailed to the large tree opposite.

"Sizzle sizzle sizzle..."

The bark of the big tree made a harsh noise, the poison spreading, and the bark blackened and peeled off at a speed visible to the naked eye.

"There’s an assassin, protect him!"

Everything happened so suddenly that no one expected someone would have the nerve to assassinate in this forest clearing. They immediately formed a surrounding formation to protect Li Qingmu in the middle.

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh..."

Following that, waves of arrows were continuously shot, furiously aiming for this side!

"Protect Your Majesty!"

The Imperial Guard’s Capital Commandant Zhou Kai Xuan was right next to Li Qingmu, shouting loudly, gathering everyone to protect him.

At the same time, over thirty agile figures in black emerged from the woods. They not only had small elastic crossbows but also carried a bizarre curved blade!

The blade of this curved knife and the back of the knife were serrated, shockingly sharp, flashing fiercely under the sunlight!

"Clang clang clang!"

As soon as these men in black arrived, they engaged in a fierce battle with the Imperial Guard. The sounds of weapons clashing echoed endlessly, and some civil servants watching for entertainment were even losing their composure and screaming miserably.

This place was in chaos!

"Your Majesty!"

Taking advantage of the moment when the formation was consolidating, Long Yue hurried to Li Qingmu’s side, looking at him with concern.

Li Qingmu slowly shook his head, indicating she shouldn’t worry.

"Pfft——"

A blood arrow spurted from afar—it was the blood of a soldier, whose arm was sliced by one of the black-clad men’s curved blade, instantly spraying out a massive cloud of blood mist. The entire arm was slashed open to reveal stark white bones, with the bone even split in two, making for a grisly sight.

Long Yue instinctively covered her little mouth, not out of fear, but shocked by the sharpness of that serrated knife!

If the knife were chopping powerfully, it could sever the bone, but to split a bone in half like that is quite terrifying.

Li Qingmu’s pupils contracted slightly; he was equally surprised.

But he was the Emperor and must not show any emotional fluctuation, so he only watched indifferently.

The Imperial Guard and the men in black fought intensely in the forest. The Imperial Guard had a force of over a hundred people, but there were only thirty-some black-clad men, yet the situation did not look favorable.

"Pfft!"

Another pillar of blood shot up. This time it was a man in black, besieged by seven or eight Imperial Guards. To break through, he even injured himself, thrusting his long knife out horizontally.

Then, he was hit by a massive club, and the long knife pierced into his own body, cutting half of his torso open.

The scene was gruesome and horrific!

Long Yue watched the bloody scenes unfold, suddenly turned her head, and looked at the man by her side: "Don’t you feel like we’ve seen this somewhere before?"

Li Qingmu’s gaze shifted slightly, but he didn’t speak.

His silence showed he agreed!

"Protect Your Majesty, capture them, we need some alive!"

This commotion naturally couldn’t escape Rong Si’s side’s attention. She arrived with a large group of people and gave the order.

Suddenly, a thousand soldiers flooded into the forest clearing, and the black-clad men’s advantage disappeared, trapping them in a dire situation.

The sides clashed again. The black-clad men were reduced from over thirty to just a dozen, and it seemed they were about to be completely surrounded and captured.

At this moment, someone blew a whistle, and after one last push, the black-clad men swiftly retreated.

"Stop them!"

Rong Si shouted sternly, immediately projecting an image of controlling everything.

At once, the elite Imperial Guards ready to stop acted again, lunging toward those remaining black-clad men, and the battle continued!

The black-clad men were down to just over ten, and seeing that it was no longer a problem, Li Qingmu dismounted and approached Rong Si.

"Mu’er, are you hurt?"

This was the common concern of a mother. Li Qingmu gently shook his head.

Rong Si’s eyes showed a hint of coldness, and she said sharply, "These people are utterly unscrupulous, daring to come to Beifeng Forest to assassinate the Emperor. Just leave it to capture a few alive; kill all the others!"

"Princess, we couldn’t keep any alive; they bit their tongues to commit suicide!"

A soldier ran over to report, and Rong Si coldly replied, "Useless! You can’t handle even this small matter!"

She turned to Li Qingmu and said, "Mu’er, you are too merciful to these people! If I were in charge, I would have dislocated their jaws the moment they were caught!"

On this point, Li Qingmu actually agreed. He cupped his hands, saying, "From now on, I must ask for more guidance from mother."

Only then did Rong Si feel a little better, and then she completely took over authority, deploying measures for the remaining issues.

"The forest area within a fifty li radius, fully deploy forces, never let any schemer approach this place again! If this happens again, come bearing your head!"

"Understood!"

Zhou Kai Xuan quickly dispersed with his men, preparing to thoroughly clean up Beifeng Forest.

Long Yue followed alongside them, and Rong Si glanced back at her, nodding slightly, "You are quite perceptive!"

Following the Emperor, the first thing isn’t to think about how to please him, but to look around and see if anything is amiss; few concubines have this thought. 𝚏𝐫𝚎𝗲𝕨𝐞𝐛𝕟𝚘𝐯𝚎𝗹.𝕔𝐨𝗺

This time, Long Yue’s face was recognized by the Princess, and she gained some approval from her too.

Long Yue curtseyed, "Princess, you’re too kind. It was just a lucky hit for me."

Though she said that, Long Yue’s heart was always tense internally, feeling that things weren’t that simple.

That piece of ink jade arrived so mysteriously, making it really hard to put one’s mind at ease.

Thinking internally, Long Yue’s steps were half a beat slow.

There were eight palace maids following behind Rong Si, Li Qingmu stood on Rong Si’s right side, and Long Yue was in the middle of them.

Suddenly, Long Yue saw one of the palace maids’ hands lift slightly, a hint of inky color flashed through her fingers.

Long Yue’s pupils suddenly shrank; she was too familiar with that inky color; it was precisely the color of ink jade!

And the direction the palace maid raised her hand was towards Li Qingmu!

In that split second, without considering, Long Yue rushed over and shoved Li Qingmu away fiercely!

"Whoosh whoosh whoosh!"

Almost simultaneously, three silver needles shot out from the woman’s fingers, piercing into Long Yue’s body!