While Sima Yi wrote back to Sima Shi, Sima Zhao, who was heading to Liaodong alone, had already left Luoyang and arrived in Jieshi Mountain in Liaoxi County. Due to Niu Jin's secret guards along the way, Cao Shuang's plan to secretly send people to assassinate Sima Zhao several times failed, and it was extremely beneficial to ensure that Sima Zhao's life was not threatened.

When the news of the failure of the operation came back to Cao Shuang, he was furious and pointed at the assassins who failed to operate and scolded:

"What is the food for me to raise you? Even a person who has no power to deal with a chicken is unable to deal with it. He is such a bunch of waste!"

He Yan, who was sitting next to him, couldn't help but sneer:

"Mr. Marquis, you are too anxious. Now Sima Zhao is secretly traveling to Liaodong by the imperial edict. You are not the only one who wants to kill him. If you really arrive in Liaodong, Gongsun Yuan will probably not let him survive. Why should you be obsessed with killing him with your own hands?"

But He Yan did not completely deny Cao Shuang's behavior of following Sima Zhao along the way:

"But this also has benefits. You can tell Gongsun Yuan about Sima Zhao's whereabouts so that he can't find it..."

He Yan's words reminded Cao Shuang of his original intention, which was to use Gongsun Yuan to kill Sima Zhao, which made him realize:

"If the prince consort doesn't say it, I will almost forget it. You are right. I just need to steal this matter to Gongsun Yuan. I don't need to bother with the next thing. Gongsun Yuan will naturally help me deal with him..."

Sure enough, after learning the anonymous secret letter sent by Cao Shuang and the portrait of Sima Zhao, Gongsun Yuan learned that Emperor Wei Cao Rui had not given up his guard against him at all. The so-called rewards he had given him before were just to confuse and numb his smoke.

This incident made Gongsun Yuan extremely panicked, because he secretly issued conscription orders in Changli, Xuantu and Liaodong, and secretly dug copper and iron mines, and built swords, weapons and siege equipment. If all these were discovered by Sima Zhao and returned to Cao Rui truthfully, then his ambition to rebel would have nowhere to hide, and what he would face would be even more devastating.

Thinking of this, Gongsun Yuan, regardless of the authenticity of the matter, held the belief that "it would rather kill three thousand by mistake than let one go", ordered his subordinates to print and distribute the portrait of Sima Zhao, and then secretly sent several assassination horses to sneak into Jieshi Mountain to assassinate Sima Zhao.

The reason why Gongsun Yuan wanted to be in Liaoxi County, which was not his control, Sima Zhao had a clear purpose, because Sima Zhao was ordered by the king to investigate him. If he died in his own territory, then Gongsun Yuan would be like not to tell himself. However, if he died in other places and pretended to be a robber, he would not blame him for everything...

At the same time, Sima Zhao, who was camping in Jieshi Mountain, leaned against the trunk and looked quietly at the burning fire. He could not fall asleep for a long time, while Niu Jin, who had been following him secretly, hid in the depths of the jungle.

Suddenly, Sima Zhao turned his head and looked in the direction where Niu Jin was hiding and spoke:

"Uncle Niu Jin, the dry food brought by my nephew has been eaten. I wonder if you can cook some wild game in the mountains to satisfy your hunger?"

Niu Jin didn't expect that he would hide so well, but Sima Zhao was discovered. What's more, he was always worried that Sima Zhao would be hungry all night, so he had already carried a small wild deer that he had hunted.

Seeing that his whereabouts had been revealed, Niu Jin felt that he didn't have to think hard about how to keep the venison without showing up. He walked out from behind the tree with a small wild deer:

"When did you find me?"

"That's all right, of course I discovered it from the beginning..."

Sima Zhao smiled with his hands on the back of his head:

"But thanks to you, I can come here safely, my nephew."

Niu Jin asked Sima Zhao while pulling out the short knife from his waist and cutting the venison:

"Don't thank me, I came to protect you along the way by your father."

Faced with the incident where Sima Yi sent Niu Jin to protect him, Sima Zhao said nothing. He stood up and skewed the venison with branches, and then put it on the fire to wait for the moment when the venison was roasted.

Suddenly, a strange sound came from the bushes in front of them. Niu Jin, who had an extremely sensitive sense, reached out to stop Sima Zhao who was about to get up and said:

"You stay here and don't move, I'll go and see."

After saying that, he threw the long sword in his hand to Sima Zhao, and then ran forward quickly. Sure enough, dozens of men in black were found in the bushes. When they saw Niu Jin noticed his existence, they quickly turned around and fled.

Niu Jin was worried that they would return, so he planned to wipe them out in one fell swoop, so he chased after them.

Sima Zhao, who was still sitting in the same place, saw that the venison was cooked, reached out and took the branches with the barbecue off the fire rack. However, before he could put it in his mouth and bite it, someone secretly approached him behind him.

"Uncle Niu Jin is really good. Such an obvious way to lure the tiger away from the mountain is actually fooled..."

Sima Zhao naturally noticed that the danger was approaching them. He stood up and patted the leaves and dust on his butt, then turned around and looked at the men in black who had lit up their weapons at him, looked down at the long sword in his hand, and shook his head helplessly:

"What's the use of giving me this? I can't use a sword..."

As soon as he finished speaking, a man in black waved his sword and rushed towards Sima Zhao. But just as he raised the knife, he was shot by a short feather arrow in the middle of his eyebrows and fell to the ground immediately...

At this time, all the men in black noticed the crossbow gun in Sima Zhao's hand. It turned out that this was hidden in the gift bag behind him. He looked calm, holding the crossbow gun in his right hand, and taking out a short feather arrow from the quiver at his waist with his left hand and putting it on the crossbow gun. He aimed at the people in black in front again:

"But fortunately, Uncle San taught me this, so I can do it much more easily..."

The man in black did not expect that Sima Zhao had this thing and did not dare to step forward for a while. But they soon discovered a huge disadvantage of the crossbow gun in Sima Zhao's hand, that is, every time he needed time to fill in new feather arrows after firing, which would give them an opportunity to take advantage of it. Of course, Sima Zhao was also very clear about this, but he caught the man in black who wanted others to die and was stalemate with them. What he was waiting for was that Niu Jin could come back soon.

Suddenly, the sound of horses neighing and hooves came from the depths of the jungle. When everyone looked in the direction where the sound came, Wang Yuanji rode a tall white horse and jumped up from the bushes, jumped into the encirclement of the men in black, and came to Sima Zhao.

"you..."

Compared to the man in black, Sima Zhao was much more shocked than them. Then, just when he was surprised, Wang Yuanji, who was riding a white horse, did not mean to stop by the reins, but instead extended his right hand towards Sima Zhao.

Sima Zhao subconsciously reached out and held her right hand. As a result, Wang Yuanji, who held the reins with his left hand, used the power he had when the white horse ran to pull Sima Zhao onto the horse's back, and the two rushed out of the encirclement of the man in black.

Seeing that Sima Zhao was rescued by a mysterious woman, the man in black in the black said to the others beside him:

"They can't run much, and immediately inform other assassination teams..."

But he did not realize that on the hill not far away, there was a mysterious woman squatting on the grass, aiming at his head with the crossbow gun that was very similar to the "Fuyuwu Meteor" in his hand...

Just as the leader ordered his subordinates and had not finished speaking, the mysterious woman deducted the mechanism to fire the "Featherless Meteor" and shot out quickly. This pierced through his temples and killed the leader on the spot.

Before the rest could react, more than ten short arrows shot out in a very short time and instantly shot into the vital points of all of them. Without any struggle or shouting, they took their lives...

Sima Zhao, who was sitting on the horse's back, looked back and found that the man in black was not chasing him, so he turned his hand to Wang Yuanji and tightly tied the reins. The white horse raised its hooves and neighed, and then stopped running.

"Are you okay?"

Almost at the same time, Sima Zhao and Wang Yuanji asked the same question, and soon they felt embarrassed.

At this time, Sima Zhao noticed that because he was raising his horse's hooves just now, he was worried that Wang Yuanji would be injured due to being dismounted, so he immediately let go of Wang Yuanji and stepped off the horse's back:

"Don't you be under house arrest? How could you show up here?"

If Wang Yuanji asked him to speak straightforward words like worrying about him, it would be difficult for a innocent girl to speak out, but at this time she could not find any other excuses for a moment, so she had to stammer and answer:

"Madam, she doesn't worry about you, so she asked me to follow you..."

Obviously, such an excuse could not deceive Sima Zhao. He raised his eyebrows and looked at Wang Yuanji, but it was not exposed. However, he still expressed strong opposition to Wang Yuanji continuing to follow him:

"After Uncle Niu Jin meets us, I will ask him to send you back to Luoyang."

But Wang Yuanji, who finally escaped from his home, was willing to go back easily after seeing the man she had been thinking about day and night:

"Since I have already arrived here for a long distance, I have never thought of going back like this. Besides, Cao Shuang wants to use Gongsun Kang to kill you. I also want to inform you not to go to Liaodong. Now Gongsun Yuan must have received the news and is preparing various means to kill you. I think those who have just been..."

Because of his impatience, Wang Yuanji accidentally revealed his concern and concern for Sima Zhao without reservation. This deeply touched Sima Zhao's heart, but it was precisely because of this that he did not want Wang Yuanji to follow him...

Seeing that she refused to leave, Sima Zhao had to force herself to put on her face and said coldly:

"So what if that's it? Does it have anything to do with you?"

Sima Zhao's words were like a basin of cold well water, which made Wang Yuanji feel cold and gave her a loud slap.

Seeing Wang Yuanji's sad expression, Sima Zhao felt his heart being stabbed suddenly. The piercing pain was even more uncomfortable than what Wang Yuanji felt. But even so, he could only let go of his unbearableness. As long as he could let Wang Yuanji go home safely, it would be worth it.

"What can you do if you are a weak woman, stay by my side? It's just that you have an extra burden. Don't overestimate yourself. This is not the place you should come!"

Each cold word was like a heavy hammer, ruthlessly hitting Wang Yuanji's heart.

At this moment, the man in black who suddenly raised a torch and surrounded them again.

"Damn it, I caught up so quickly. How many squads did they chase me?"

This time, not only were the number of men in black more than before, but five or six of them also had strong attack crossbows in their hands, which made Sima Zhao lose its deterrent advantage.

In desperation, Sima Zhao knew that he could not escape the disaster, so he could only block Wang Yuanji, who was already dull, and then said to the man in black who surrounded them:

"I am the one you want to kill, and it has nothing to do with this girl, so can you please let her go? I will not do any resistance at the cost..."

After saying that, Sima Zhao threw the crossbow gun in his hand to the ground, and then raised his hands.

When Wang Yuanji saw that Sima Zhao had actually abandoned the only crossbow gun in her hand that could save her life in order to protect her safety, she instantly broke free from the sad state of disgust and sarcastic state of sadness. Although she had always thought that her feelings for Sima Zhao were unilateral, now she can gradually be convinced:

Sima Zhao also has his own heart...

Although Sima Zhao proposed a deal, the man in black, who was very confident in killing the weeds, did not mean to let Wang Yuanji go.

Just as all the archers aimed at them, a "featherless meteor" suddenly shot from the hill not far away, and accurately shot one of the archers' heads, instantly arousing the alertness of the people in black around them.

All Sima Zhao thought about at this time was to help Wang Yuanji escape, and he had no time to care about who was helping him. He seized the opportunity of the black-clad assassins being attracted by the mysterious people, and quickly turned around and forced Wang Yuanji to the back.

"Anyway, you have to live, don't look back, keep walking south..."

All Sima Zhao said to Wang Yuanji before was cruel and ruthless, but this sentence was full of warmth.

"But what do you do..."

Before Wang Yuanji finished speaking, Sima Zhao slapped the horse hard, causing the white horse, who felt the pain, to neigh out of the man in black. Wang Yuanji, sitting on the horse, looked back at Sima Zhao who was getting farther and farther away from him, and his heart repeatedly echoed what Sima Zhao said to him just now, and his increasingly strong thoughts reminded him:

She must never give up Sima Zhao's only life. If he dies, she will also accompany him!

After strengthening his belief, Wang Yuanji suddenly tied the reins and turned his horse's head and jumped over the man in black and jumped into the encirclement. Sima Zhao didn't expect that she would come back. He was shocked and angry when he saw him stepping off his horse and running in front of him:

"You idiot! Are you afraid of your life? Why are you coming back?"

Wang Yuanji, who was sobbing with his head down, reached out and grabbed Sima Zhao's arms tightly, so that his voice kept trembling:

"Why do you lie to me... You obviously care about me... Why do you still drive me away?"

This question made Sima Zhao unable to answer. Suddenly, Wang Yuanji stretched out his hand and kept pounding Sima Zhao's chest:

"Sima Zhao, I hate you! Why did you take away my heart but stay away from me? If you weren't you, I wouldn't have chased you from all over the place! If you weren't you, I wouldn't have been so painful as today! I hate you! I hate you!"

Her crying look made Sima Zhao's whole heart seem to be melted. He could no longer suppress or hide his inner emotions. At this moment, he threw all his concerns behind him and hugged Wang Yuanji tightly into his arms:

"sorry..."
To be continued...