Chapter 9: 009 Escape

“Boom… rumble…”

A deafening explosion resounded throughout the entire villa, shaking the very earth. In the blink of an eye, the entire master bedroom was blasted to smithereens, the shockwave rippling into the courtyard. Before anyone could regain their senses, they were blown far away by the scorching heat.

Dust filled the sky, blurring everything; nothing could be seen clearly. Only hazy flames flickered and danced everywhere. Everyone lay on the ground, covered in falling debris and dirt, faces gray and grimy, all of them injured.

If this villa hadn't been hidden in the mountain forest behind the Murong estate, this explosion would surely have shocked the entire Han Kingdom.

Explosives were something only the Xuanyuan possessed, and they were very, very rare!

It was said that the secret formula was held by Prince Qi, Xuanyuan Che, which was why the Xuanyuan Emperor relied on him so heavily.

As the dust gradually settled, the crowd finally dared to scramble up. Sadly, in this moment of crisis, everyone was concerned only with their own lives; no one had thought of General Murong.

“Father!”

A miserable cry rang out, and a young girl, appearing to be seventeen or eighteen years old and dressed in simple, elegant clothing, rushed out from the crowd. She ran straight toward the ruins. This was the third young lady of the Murong estate, Murong Yue.

At her cry, the crowd swarmed forward, searching through the ruins. After a long while, they finally discovered the dying Murong Bo beneath a large boulder.

Murong Bo was quickly rescued and carried away in a hurry. As she left, Murong Yue looked back at the unscathed eastern corridor, then glanced at her eldest sister, who was still searching for Murong Wei, but said nothing. She turned and walked quickly to catch up with the carriage.

“Hurry! Even if it’s just a corpse, dig it out!” Murong Lan commanded coldly, her heart filled with anxiety.

The attendants searched for a long time, clearing almost the entire ruin, yet they still could not find the Fourth Young Lady’s body.

“Mistress, only the path to the east is intact; she could only have escaped that way.” Finally, a burly man beside her noticed this.

“Impossible. Even Father couldn’t escape; how could she? She was even carrying a child!” Murong Lan said coldly.

“She must have escaped. There is no second body here,” the man said decisively.

“Chase! Go after her! If you don’t find her, don’t bother coming back!” Murong Lan roared like a madwoman, looking every bit like a tigress.

She had gone to such great lengths to ensure everything was a done deal, yet she hadn't expected this outcome. Murong Wei—she had hidden herself too well. But she couldn't understand why she had hidden so deeply for so many years; it brought her no benefit at all!

And these explosives—their power far exceeded any explosives the Xuanyuan had used to date. Where did she get them? And her skills—it was all a mystery, all too sudden.

Yes, Murong Wei had great skills, but having just given birth and carrying a child, she couldn't possibly escape unscathed. Even though she had calculated everything with extreme precision—the time, the location, the direction, even every movement of her escape and how to protect the child and herself—she had calculated it all clearly.

However, she had ultimately miscalculated her own physical strength. At this moment, holding the baby, she was running desperately toward the mountain, unable to pay attention to the damp heat between her legs or the searing, burning wound on the right side of her face.

The child in her arms seemed to have been stunned by the massive explosion earlier; he remained motionless, letting her hold him, neither crying nor fussing.

Murong Wei was both relieved and worried. If the baby didn't cry, her tracks wouldn't be exposed. But had the baby been scared silly?!

She dared not stop, fearing that if she did, she would never be able to move again. She gritted her teeth, trying hard to ignore the numbness in her legs and hands, ignoring the warm, wet blood beneath her, and ran desperately toward the mountain. Gradually, however, she went from running to walking, until even taking a single step became incredibly difficult.

Even so, she dared not sit down. But people have their limits. Just as she reached the top of the mountain, before she could even see what lay on the other side, her legs went weak, and she collapsed.

Her eyelids felt heavy, so heavy. She wanted to fall over and sleep until the world turned dark, but the child in her arms let out a “waa” and began to cry.

“Shh!” Murong Wei jolted, instantly wide awake.

“Waa waa waa… waa woo woo…” The baby didn't cry often, but when he did, it was startling, and he wouldn't stop.

“Shh, you little brat! Quiet… quiet… if you want to keep your little life, then be quiet!” Murong Wei warned, her breath uneven. She had never been around children and had no idea what to do with him. Many, many days later, she would realize that under normal circumstances, the child wouldn't cry unless… he was hungry.

“Baby, be good… Mommy will sing to you, so stop crying… Pleasant Goat, Beautiful Goat, Lazy Goat, Happy Goat… don't cry, good baby, stop crying… Slow Goat, Soft Goat, Red Wolf, Gray Wolf, don't look at me like a… if you cry one more time, just try it!” As Murong Wei sang, she grew angry; her love for this child was clearly as limited as her patience.

Yet, at her angry shout, the baby’s crying stopped abruptly, as if he were truly frightened.

Murong Wei finally let out a long sigh of relief. No matter how difficult it was, she could endure it if she just caught her breath, but she couldn't handle the baby’s endless crying.

She really didn't want to get up, but thunder was rolling in, and a rainstorm was imminent. She had to find a place to shelter from the rain. She might be made of iron, but this baby was delicate porcelain!

However, just as she stood up, she discovered torches covering the mountainside. Without a second thought, she turned and fled toward the other side of the mountain.

She wanted to roll down, but with this little burden, and the mountain being extremely steep, going down was even harder than going up.

Murong Wei gritted her teeth, her delicate face terrifyingly stern. Suddenly, a bolt of lightning streaked across the sky, illuminating her disheveled state and the festering wound on the right side of her face. At this moment, she looked like a vengeful spirit of the mountain forest.

Suddenly, she stopped. Looking into the darkness ahead, a cold sneer curled the corners of her tightly pressed lips!

It was a graveyard! Thanks to the lightning, she suddenly realized that what lay ahead was a cemetery!

“Little brat, remember today. Mother will give you some courage. When you grow up, don't fear people, don't fear ghosts, don't fear the heavens, and don't fear the earth!” After saying this word by word, she gritted her teeth and stepped into the graveyard, not noticing the trail of blood she left behind. How could she not bleed after such strenuous exercise right after giving birth?

The torches that had been flickering on the mountainside had reached the summit, and many were now descending, soon reaching the middle of the slope. At this moment, thunder rumbled, and the heavy rain was about to arrive.

“Boss, it’s about to rain. In such darkness, why don't we search tomorrow and seal off the roads at the foot of the mountain!”

“That’s right, Boss. There’s a graveyard on this mountainside belonging to the Ning Prime Minister’s estate. We can’t trespass there!”

“It’s the middle of the night; who would know if we went in? Prime Minister Ning has always been frugal; he doesn't even hire gravekeepers for his ancestral tombs.”

…

Several guards discussed it in a jumble. The leader was still hesitating when suddenly someone shouted, “Boss, there’s blood here!”

Instantly, everyone’s attention was drawn to it. Just then, another bolt of lightning tore through the dark night, and the cold, eerie white light illuminated everything around them, including the scattered tombstones in the graveyard not far away…

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